Yun Shuyu temporarily set aside her tangled thoughts. In truth, the answer was already obvious; how could feelings as sweet as falling into a honey jar possibly be hidden?
She just did not want to admit it.
How could teasing someone a few times make her sell herself out?
No way… She still had to mess with him a little more and test him a little more. That would be the fun part.
Besides, that silly fool probably would not agree anyway…
Du Heng called out again when Yun Shuyu still did not respond.
“Miss Yu?”
Yun Shuyu blinked at his words.
“Why are you calling me that…”
“Isn’t that following your lead?”
“I… when did I ever tell you to call me that?”
Yun Shuyu pinched his palm with a mix of shame and annoyance.
Du Heng cried out in pain and explained, aggrieved.
“I thought you came to the academy this time wearing a gauze hat and hiding your whereabouts because you did not want these people to discover your real identity. Naturally, I could only call you that.”
Their voices were low, and the other students did not dare provoke Du Heng either. They all kept their distance, so only the two of them could hear each other.
Yun Shuyu truly did not want unrelated people to know who she was. With her status, every time she went out she would cause a stir wherever she passed.
She had come today specifically to see what Du Heng was doing. If she used her authority to make passersby retreat in fear, it would spoil her mood.
But Du Heng was quite considerate. She had deliberately not used “this princess” to refer to herself, yet Du Heng had not only seen through her intention, but even addressed her like this…
When he called her “Miss Yu,” Yun Shuyu had been dazed for quite a while.
But Yun Shuyu was displeased with her own flustered reaction. When she was displeased, she wanted to bully Du Heng, so she kicked his calf with her little foot.
“Then you can call me senior sister…”
Du Heng pretended not to understand and answered softly, “Forgot…”
Ha, forgot?
Yun Shuyu shot Du Heng a glare.
He was learning bad habits quite quickly, already pretending to be obedient just to take advantage of her.
“Forget it. I will not argue with you.”
Yun Shuyu kicked Du Heng again with her little foot and ordered him.
“Go get me some paper and a brush.”
Du Heng looked at Yun Shuyu in confusion. Her kicks carried no force at all; they were neither painful nor even particularly noticeable.
But Du Heng did not know what he had done to upset her again.
Was it just because he had not called her senior sister and had called her something else instead?
Yet the way she was throwing her little tantrum was rather adorable, completely unlike the usual dignified and noble or willful and unpleasant Yun Shuyu. It was a coquettish, innocent expression Du Heng had never seen before.
Du Heng pushed down his thoughts, turned around, and walked toward the old man guarding the inscription.
“Senior, may I borrow some paper and a brush?”
Whether it was Du Heng’s illusion or not, the old man’s attitude seemed to become a little better.
“Young Lord Du may take them himself.”
“Young Master Du may take them himself.”
Du Heng was startled. This old senior actually knew him. He was just a great scholar surnamed Qi, but Du Heng could not remember who he was.
Du Heng took a new set of paper and brush from the writing desk beside the inscription and handed them to Yun Shuyu.
Yun Shuyu took the paper and brush from Du Heng’s hands. At that moment, she was looking at the words Du Heng had written on the Stele of the Heart, softly murmuring to herself.
Not long after Yun Zhao left Sage Su’s side, she had also arrived at Sage Su’s small pavilion, just in time to catch Du Heng carving characters on the Stele of the Heart.
As she had expected, even though Du Heng had written dispirited poem lines, he still passed the Stele of the Heart’s test.
What he wrote was very good, only she did not like some of the implications, and his handwriting was still as ugly as ever.
If she did not like it, then she would change it. She had always been like that.
Yun Shuyu lifted her delicate hand and took up the wolf-hair brush, moving toward the inscription.
Du Heng had thought Yun Shuyu was going to change the words of someone who had upset her. He had not expected her to go after his words instead.
And wasn’t this the Heavenly Dao inscription?
His words were so defiant. If Yun Shuyu tried to alter them, was she not afraid of backlash?
“Miss Yu, you…”
Yun Shuyu turned back, extended a jade finger, and pressed it against his lips.
“Shh… Don’t disturb senior sister while she is writing.”
The soft fingertip lightly touched him, then vanished in an instant.
Du Heng’s body stiffened, and he stepped back from her light touch.
His feelings also settled somewhat. After calming down, he felt even more that he was acting rather abnormally.
She was the acting regent Eldest Princess of the Great Luo Dynasty. How could she make a move without knowing the consequences?
Her cultivation was not low either. Why was he worrying so much?
Yun Shuyu had already begun writing on the words Du Heng had inscribed.
The pure white gauze hat on her head swayed with the movement of her arms and shoulders. Standing half a step behind her, Du Heng could see the light yellow ribbon in her hair gently swaying as well, adding even more liveliness.
The inscription emitted faint sparks of light that flowed continuously toward the soft hand holding Yun Shuyu’s brush. Yun Shuyu paused for a moment, then continued writing. Seeing that her small hand showed no abnormalities, Du Heng guessed that the Heavenly Dao inscription had no ill intent.
Du Heng watched her modify his words, silently reciting the places she had changed.
『Song finished, light sword leaning on a long song, evening wind as wine, drunk with you among the flowers.』
『If it is said that in dreams one is but a guest, spring flowers and autumn moon, sharing a moment of indulgent joy with you.』
She then added another line at the bottom.
『Harmony with light and mingle with dust, with clouds and soothing rain; clear wind and bright moon, striving to cross toward peace.』
Du Heng lowered his head, momentarily unable to make sense of it.
What did she mean by that?
When he saw her begin altering his words, Du Heng had thought Yun Shuyu would more domineeringly change his self-imposed creed into words of ambition.
After all, from her previous behavior, she clearly hoped he would become more driven so he could assist her better.
But Yun Shuyu did not.
‘Drunk with you among the flowers, sharing a moment of indulgent joy with you.’
‘Harmony with light and mingle with dust, with clouds and soothing rain; clear wind and bright moon, striving to cross toward peace.’
Once these lines were added, the meaning was no longer the same.
Originally, it had been his solitary resolve, his solitary withdrawal from the world, his solitary inaction.
It had been the carefree life of idleness that Du Heng alone wished for.
But now it was different.
He only wished for peace and freedom, asking for nothing else.
But she wanted him to take her along.
Truly domineering…
Yun Shuyu was just like that letter she had sent to Ruo Xian Pavilion that day, recklessly disrupting Du Heng’s plans regardless of the consequences.
Like a Go board, where one move affects the entire game; he might very well lose the whole match because of her cheating-like move.
By then, Yun Shuyu had already finished revising the text. Looking at Du Heng’s signature, she thought for a moment, then added a few more strokes beside it.
… … … … Du Heng / Yun Ling
Once the brush was lifted, the Stele of the Heart suddenly emitted a dazzling white light, even more brilliant than the light that appeared after Du Heng had finished writing.
The light stabbed at Du Heng like he had just woken from a dream, interrupting his thoughts.
Could the Stele of the Heart be reacting this way because the words were written by two people?
If so, would the old man who had just scolded him come over and reprimand him again?
As Du Heng was thinking, the white light unexpectedly rushed toward the two of them. Its speed was so astonishing that it left one speechless, and Du Heng simply took a single step forward, no more and no less, just enough to block Yun Shuyu.
Yet the light seemed to harbor no malice. It only circled the two of them a few times before shooting into the sky, quickly disappearing without a trace, leaving only their words faintly glowing.
Du Heng looked in the direction where the white light had vanished, still completely baffled.
Yun Shuyu, who had not moved at all until now, came close to him.
“Junior brother… hmm… Ah Heng really is thoughtful.”
“Since you took that step just now, I will not hold the other foolish things you did today against you.”
Du Heng was stunned by her words.
“…Why are you calling me Ah Heng?”
And what foolish things had he done? If anything, it was only that secret conversation with the young Emperor Yun Zhao.
Yun Shuyu smiled softly, amused.
“You call me Miss Yu, so of course I do not want to call you junior brother anymore. And ‘Young Master Heng’ sounds uncomfortable.”
To be honest, “Young Master Heng” sounded very distant.
How strange. Clearly, when he called her “Miss Yu,” it made her heart feel pleasantly restless.
“You can just call me by my name…”
Yun Shuyu deliberately reined in her gentle tone and said in an overbearing voice,
“What? I just want to call you Ah Heng. Do you have a problem with that?”
With her dignified and imposing bearing, if not for today’s attire being a little more lively and graceful, Du Heng would have thought that the Yun Shuyu on the Golden Luan Hall would also speak to the officials in such a stern and forceful tone.
“I would not dare…”
Du Heng remembered something and asked, “Miss Yu, did you feel any discomfort after changing the words just now?”
Yun Shuyu shook her head, the corners of her mouth lifting. “So Ah Heng is caring about me this much now?”
Du Heng did not answer. Instead, he turned his head and carefully looked at Yun Shuyu’s handwriting again.
Last time he had tried to get Yun Shuyu’s signature, but failed. This time, he unexpectedly got to see her calligraphy.
She wrote in a refined young lady’s small seal script, graceful and dignified with a natural elegance that stood in striking contrast to his own “wild cursive script.”
His handwriting did not seem quite so ugly after all…
Du Heng had no problem in any other respect, but this calligraphy of his did hold him back a little. Calling it cursive script was more like self-comfort.
“The words have been changed. Should Miss Yu go back now?”
Yun Shuyu did not answer. Instead, she walked around to Du Heng’s right side, stretched out her left hand toward him, and those awe-inspiring phoenix eyes stared straight at him.
Du Heng looked down in her direction, then raised his gaze to meet hers.
The two stood there facing each other, neither saying a word.
But before long, Du Heng was the first to lose.
As Yun Shuyu wished, he gently reached out and loosely held her small hand from below.
Only then did Yun Shuyu speak, but once again, she answered a question with another question.
She said softly, “I changed your words. Are you not angry?”
“Not angry.”