“What is this thing?” Wen Qintan couldn’t help asking, “What… is written here?” In his entire life, he had never seen such ugly handwriting.
Lu Xiao kept a straight face without responding. He moved the paperweight away, his gaze sweeping heavily across the paper. At first glance at these characters, he had thought Shen Shangling was scribbling and smearing randomly to deliberately put on a mystifying act. Yet upon closer inspection, he actually discovered that Shen Shangling was truly practicing the calligraphy copybooks he had given him: In every hook and stroke of those characters, there was indeed an attempt to mimic the shape of the characters on the copybook. However, due to a lack of skill, the characters on the copybook were like a soaring dragon, while what Shen Shangling wrote turned out to be an earthworm.
Lu Xiao then let his gaze fall upon a small bamboo basket under the corner of the table, which was the wastepaper basket prepared for Jiang Sanwen when he came to the west pavilion. At this moment, there were several large paper balls inside that basket. He walked over, picked one up, and unfolded it, whereupon he saw even more horrifyingly atrocious “writing” upon it.
Lu Xiao raised an eyebrow, and his expression softened quite a bit.
Wen Qintan observed his reactions from the side, feeling quite amazed: Such lively and changing expressions on Lu Xiao were truly a rare sight.
“Your Highness, is this handwriting written by that Shen Shangling… person?” Wen Qintan stopped joking, “As a man of letters, did he do this on purpose?”
Lu Xiao did not conceal it from him, recounting the excuse Shen Shangling had given about breaking before standing.
“Oh?” Wen Qintan chuckled, “And Your Highness simply went along with accepting this pretext of his?”
“We are just keeping him around for now,” Lu Xiao’s smile held a somewhat malicious tint, “Besides, moments of joy are hard to come by in this world anyway.”
Wen Qintan: “…”
“Hm?” Seeing Wen Qintan suddenly fall silent, Lu Xiao gave him a puzzled sideways glance.
“To not keep secrets from Your Highness,” Wen Qintan, who always spoke without reservation around Lu Xiao, chuckled alongside, “Your Highness wearing this kind of smile… is something I haven’t seen in a very long time.”
To be precise, this sort of smile carrying a hint of mischief was what he was most familiar with—it was the most common smile of Lu Xiao back in his youthful days when he rode fine horses and wore light furs. At that time, Lu Xiao’s personality was actually quite mischievous, unfathomably deep, and unrestrained. But later on, after the deaths of Lu Xiao’s father and elder brother, and the great turmoil in his household, his personality seemed to sink and grow stern overnight, making it hard to catch any lively spirit in his eyes ever again.
At this moment, suddenly seeing this familiar yet unfamiliar mischievous expression on Lu Xiao’s face, Wen Qintan even felt rather dazed for a moment. No wonder Jiang Yuanlin had mentioned that ever since Lu Xiao returned from Jibei this time, the whole person seemed somewhat different… Looking at it now, it truly was so.
What on earth was it that had stimulated that touch of lively spirit back into the depths of Lu Xiao’s eyes?
“Some matters are simply seen through more clearly,” Lu Xiao raised an eyebrow, “Very strange?”
Wen Qintan smiled gently: “It’s good.”
Lu Xiao let out a light snort. Between close and trusted friends, many words did not need to be spoken.
“Your Highness,” Wen Qintan smiled again at this moment, “Tomorrow, I shall meet that Shen Shangling. However, should we let him go to the Qiyu Courtyard first? I will wait for him there.”
Lu Xiao immediately agreed. He knew Wen Qintan was a man of deep scheming and exceptional meticulousness, and he undoubtedly harbored doubts regarding this Shen Shangling who seemed like two completely different people. If it were just handwriting, intentional smudging was indeed possible. As for talking about vulgarities and telling Journey to the West, it might have been a random miscellaneous book the man had chanced upon somewhere previously. Bringing out the manufacturing method of hibiscus soap could also be one of the family secret recipes left behind when the Shen family was prominent… All in all, these could all be glossed over and explained away.
However, taming bees was entirely different. An aristocratic scion and a man of letters was the most aloof person imaginable. Let alone Shen Shangling, even any ordinary scholar in this world would never lower their dignity to specifically learn how to tame bees. Furthermore, could taming bees be accomplished overnight? Without having long-term experience in raising and taming bees and insects, how could anyone so skillfully domesticate those extremely ferocious Honey Rakshasas?
On the matter of taming bees, Wen Qintan would definitely want to confirm it personally.
Shen Shangling woke up early in the morning. Before crossing over, he had always gone to bed late and gotten up late, acting naturally as an old salted fish. But in this world, there was no nighttime entertainment at all, nor was there electricity! As soon as the sky darkened, it was basically time to sleep. There were still no curtains in the room, and early in the morning the thin window paper turned bright—once fully rested, it was impossible not to wake up.
After washing up, Shen Shangling carefully put away his self-made toothbrush and medicinal toothpaste. This had been done before Lu Xiao returned; when he was asking for materials from the mansion to make soap, he requested a few extra things, tried to make this toothbrush, and entrusted a physician in the mansion to gather some herbal medicines like mint to boil down into this paste. For this toothbrush, he had people drill holes in bone pieces and embed horse tail hair… To be honest, it didn’t work very well, but it was still better than a flat piece.
The herbal paste boiled by the estate doctor was quite good, though; brushing with it felt cool and refreshing, and it carried a slight herbal fragrance.
After putting away the toothbrush and toothpaste, Shen Shangling glanced sideways and saw Li Yan standing right beside him. He guessed that Li Yan must have been ordered to keep an eye on him. He had no idea where Li Yan slept at night, but early in the morning he had already arrived in this courtyard.
“This is…” Li Yan broke character to take the initiative and spoke up, pointing at the toothbrush, “For scrubbing teeth?”
“A toothbrush,” Shen Shangling said mildly, “If you like it, you can also have someone make one. When making it, you can make the bristles denser; if they’re sparse, it doesn’t work well—this toothpaste was entrusted to the estate doctor to brew, it’s cooling and relieves internal heat.”
Li Yan picked it up carefully to take a look, then put it back down, remaining expressionless as before.
Shen Shangling smiled and didn’t say much more.
When the person delivering breakfast arrived, Shen Shangling felt something was amiss. Because none of the previous craftsmen had come, it looked like the small workshop in this courtyard… was temporarily shut down?
Shen Shangling took a fiercely bitter large bite of his meal: He wasn’t stupid; he somewhat guessed that this belonged to getting rid of the donkey once the mill work was done. If it weren’t for Journey to the West and those mathematical formulas… he estimated that this wicked prince wouldn’t just stop at getting rid of the donkey, but might even slaughter it. After all, he had trained a production line for making soap.
Now it was fine—the entire production line had been carted away. He had already prepared himself to set up a large workshop and be his own general manager, only for the wicked prince to pull the rug out from under him.
Damn it.
Unpleasant.
“The Prince orders you to go to the Qiyu Courtyard first,” after finishing his meal, Li Yan finally spoke, “Wen Geer wants to find you to look at the Honey Rakshasas together.”
Shen Shangling suppressed the heartache of having his production line taken away, maintained his composure, and gave a consenting hum.
Walking all the way toward the Qiyu Courtyard, he calculated in his mind: He must think of a new way to make money as soon as possible. Otherwise, once he finished telling Journey to the West and teaching those formulas… he didn’t know if Lu Xiao would bring up “serving in the bedchamber” again.
He didn’t dare to think about it.
“Old Shen~”
As soon as Shen Shangling stepped into the Qiyu Courtyard, Jiang Sanwen cheerfully called out.
Shen Shangling hurriedly raised his eyes to look, and couldn’t help being startled: Aside from Jiang Yuanlin and Jiang Sanwen, father and son, there was also a young man in the courtyard.
This young man looked… Shen Shangling felt his eyes light up for a moment. Did all ancient people look this good? Not to mention that wicked prince, even Jiang Yuanlin, Li Yan, and the others looked quite decent. But the person before him wasn’t just decent; his appearance was stunningly striking and brilliant. A pair of fox-like eyes held a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, and his vibrant spirit was compelling and extremely… good-looking.
Yet clearly possessing a light frame and an air of romantic charm, he unexpectedly didn’t feel feminine at all. Instead, he inexplicably exuded an aura that people did not dare to take lightly.
“Buzz~”
At this moment, the chubby little bug flew toward Shen Shangling with a wave of joyful emotion. Shen Shangling felt as though it was about to pounce on his face, and quickly reached out a hand. The chubby little bug obediently fluttered down to land on his fingertips.
“Bug bug bug bug…”
Jiang Sanwen was extremely excited, gesturing and dancing as he wanted to touch the bug. Shen Shangling quickly communicated with the little bug, and the little bug buzzed and took flight again, not forgetting to bring along several other bugs that came buzzing down to land on Jiang Sanwen’s hands and small arms.
Jiang Sanwen opened his small mouth and let out happy cries of “Ah, ah, ah!”
Wen Qintan calmly stared at those Honey Rakshasas, then glanced at the exceptionally massive beehive over there… A sharp gleam instantly flashed through the depths of his eyes.
He truly could tame bees. And not just any bees… ordinary beekeepers couldn’t possibly train Honey Rakshasas to such an extent, summoning and dismissing them as easily as moving one’s fingers, seeming even more sensible and compliant than a domestic puppy.
While Jiang Sanwen and the little chubby bugs were playing, Shen Shangling couldn’t help but quietly size up this unfamiliar young man again. He was similar in height and build to himself, good-looking, and also looked like he loved to smile… If it were before crossing over, encountering someone like this, his heart still would have fluttered a little bit.
“Hanshui, have you been well since we last met?”
At that exact moment, the unfamiliar man suddenly spoke up.
Shen Shangling was taken aback: “What?”
What water?
He even glanced behind himself, wondering if there was someone else behind him. But there was no one.
“The last time I saw Hanshui was a few years ago,” the unfamiliar man’s eyes flashed with a sharp glint once more, smiling as he said, “I still remember at the Li family’s spring banquet, Hanshui’s superb painting skills astonished the entire gathering; it could be called a divine masterpiece, truly exquisite and peerless.”
Shen Shangling nodded along in a daze, his mind in a complete fog: “…Oh, oh.”
So he really was talking to himself, and this person recognized him… no, recognized Shen Shangling?
It was also at this moment that realization dawned on him as if struck by divine enlightenment.
Damn it, Hanshui was Shen Shangling’s courtesy name!
Ancient people were truly troublesome. Once they had a given name, they still had to come up with a courtesy name.
Shen Shangling’s emotional fluctuations were completely taken in by Wen Qintan. He felt inwardly astonished while his facial smile remained unchanged.
At this moment, Shen Shangling was extremely nervous, and immediately turned his face to change the subject.
“Wen Geer, I’ll take you to look at the beehive—”
As he spoke, he prepared to walk over there.
“Thump!”
Perhaps because he was too nervous, the moment he stepped out from the corridor, not watching his step on a single stair, his foot twisted and with a loud thump he took a huge tumble.
Both Jiang Yuanlin and Wen Qintan were startled.
“How did you fall?”
Jiang Yuanlin walked over and practically lifted Shen Shangling up in one haul, saying, “Are you alright… uh.”
Before he finished speaking, he saw Shen Shangling’s reddened eye rims and the shimmering moisture within his eyes.
Jiang Yuanlin: “…”
Wen Qintan: “…”
“I…”
Shen Shangling was both embarrassed and furious, “I twisted my ankle—”
He hadn’t meant to cry, okay? It hurt too much, and his eyes had watery impulses of their own that he couldn’t hold back.
“Sit down,”
Jiang Yuanlin hoisted him up, supported him to sit by the corridor, and squatted down to check on him, “Fortunately, it didn’t hurt the bone—I’ll get some medicine for you to apply, and it’ll be fine in a few days.”
Shen Shangling: “…”
“What’s wrong?” At that moment, Lu Xiao also stepped into the Qiyu Courtyard.
Shen Shangling’s heart instantly tightened.
“Old Shen fell,” Jiang Sanwen said in a crisp voice, “He twisted his ankle.”
“Go get some medicine,” Lu Xiao commanded immediately, “You, follow this Prince to the study.”
The first half was said to Jiang Yuanlin, and the second half was directed at Shen Shangling.
The moment Shen Shangling heard the two words “study,” his heart gave a sharp jolt.
“Y-Your Highness,”
he quickly said, “I… this lowly person has difficulty walking and fears losing decorum in front of Your Highness. Would it be better to return to the small courtyard first?”
“How are you going back?” Lu Xiao gave a light scoff, “Hopping back on one leg?”
Shen Shangling: “…” Begging Your Highness to find someone to support this lowly person—”
“You are this Prince’s concubine,” Lu Xiao scoffed once more, “Which manservant would dare to come support you?”
Shen Shangling: “…”
Following that, he watched in shock as a wicked smile flashed across Lu Xiao’s face.
“Ah!”
Before he could react, the world violently spun, and he was hoisted up and slung over Lu Xiao’s shoulder.
“I want to fly high too!”
Jiang Sanwen excitedly reached out his small arms toward Jiang Yuanlin, “Just like Old Shen!”
Jiang Yuanlin’s mouth twitched, and he scooped Jiang Sanwen up into a hug.
“Fly high!” Jiang Sanwen shouted excitedly.
Jiang Yuanlin then tossed him straight up into the air, caught him deftly, spun around, and seated him right atop his shoulder.
Jiang Sanwen giggled: “Old Shen~ You fly high too—”
The moment the little brat finished speaking, Shen Shangling, who had just been trying to struggle down from Lu Xiao’s shoulder, felt a premonition of bad things to come.
Sure enough, before he could react any further, his entire body was abruptly tossed from Lu Xiao’s shoulder straight up into mid-air.