Shizun Will Teach You
A crooked and tangled mass of writing lay on the rice paper, looking exceptionally glaring.
Duan Wangyue looked at his own handwriting, then looked at the writing of his Shizun, and the contrast was tragic.
Pressing his lips together, he steadied his resolve and wrote it slowly once more. With the experience from last time, the characters this time were much larger, and the brushstrokes were obviously controlled, but they were still crooked and twisted, resembling black wriggling bugs.
It was hideously ugly. Duan Wangyue remembered what the tutor had shouted when he eavesdropped outside the schoolroom: “Old man, if I scatter a handful of rice on paper, chickens peck better than you write!”
Immediately following that came the slap of the ruler against palms, along with the tutor’s reprimand: “A gentleman does not easily shed tears.”
The strength in Duan Wangyue’s grip on the brush increased slightly. He raised his brow to look at Xiao Yuan, his brow furrowed slightly as if making some sort of decision before putting the brush down.
Shizun was teaching him how to write. It was just like the tutor in the schoolroom, yet different from what he used to see outside the schoolroom. He had a tutor now too, and a tutor who taught only him alone.
He was his very own Shizun.
Xiao Yuan looked at the hand Duan Wangyue extended out before him, failing to react for a moment. Back at the hospital, in order to test patients’ reaction capabilities, he had often played hand-touching games.
Whatever hand the doctor extended, the patient extended, and vice versa.
Xiao Yuan reached out and placed his hand over the palm that was several sizes smaller than his own. It was slightly cool; Duan Wangyue was as warm as a little stove. Whether due to racial talent or not, although he was a bit thin, his skin was smooth and slick, feeling quite pleasant to the touch.
Meeting the black, wide-eyed gaze of the little cub in sheer disbelief, Xiao Yuan also understood what he had misunderstood. Yet, showing no outward sign on his face, he figured that since he had already pinched the dragon claws of the little dragon cub, pinching a dragon cheek probably didn’t amount to much either.
Having pinched the dragon’s cheek, Xiao Yuan was in a rather good mood. With a large sweep of his arm, he pulled the little cub onto his lap to sit, grasped his hand, and spoke as his voice came from right above Duan Wangyue’s head: “Shizun will teach you.”
A faint breath puffed against the top of his head, sending a slight tingling sensation. If his horns could move, they would probably be trembling wildly right now.
The hand grasping his own was also exceptionally handsome, white and slender, with nails trimmed close to the flesh, and both nail beds and fingertips carrying a healthy pink.
It looked very much like the white jade peach cakes he had secretly seen in the Duan family kitchen before. He had never eaten them, knowing only that they smelled heavenly. On the night of the big fire at the Duan manor, he had gone to the kitchen and grabbed a few pieces, shoving them blindly into his mouth only to find that the taste was just so-so.
Duan Wangyue couldn’t help stealing another glance. The tip of his nose was filled with the faint, cold fragrance of wintersweet as he thought to himself that Shizun’s hand looked and smelled like it would taste exceptionally delicious.
It definitely tasted better than the white jade peach cakes of the Duan manor, because Shizun smelled much sweeter.
Xiao Yuan had no idea what kind of thoughts the little cub in his arms was harboring about his hand. Holding the little cub’s dragon claws, he neatly wrote the three characters “Duan Wangyue” on the rice paper.
After writing them out, Xiao Yuan did not immediately release his grip. His palm rested lightly over the back of the little cub’s hand. “Did you see clearly?”
Duan Wangyue’s mind hadn’t been on writing characters at all just moments ago. Now, questioned like this by Shizun, without blushing or flinching, he calmly opened his mouth and said, “No, Shizun, teach me again.”
Xiao Yuan did not expect a zero-foundation five-year-old cub to learn how to write his own name in one or two tries.
Holding Duan Wangyue’s hand, he wrote it a few more times, every single time with immense patience. After gripping his hand to finish the last stroke of the character “Yue”, Duan Wangyue moved his fingers slightly. He truly loved having Shizun hold his hand to write his name, but after doing it too many times, he grew worried that Shizun would find him foolish and dull.
Counting the attempts until the fifth time came to an end, he prepared to write it out once by himself to let Shizun take a look.
The moment he stirred, Xiao Yuan sensed it, releasing his hand to ask what was wrong.
Duan Wangyue felt Shizun’s hand pull away, feeling a momentary pang of regret in his heart, but on the surface, his eyes shone brightly while two cute dimples appeared on his cheeks. Somewhat shyly, he said, “Shizun, I know how to write it now.”
Duan Wangyue took up the brush and wrote his own name. His writing had been personally taught by Xiao Yuan, so although the strokes were somewhat childish, one could still discern the shadow of Xiao Yuan’s style.
Xiao Yuan’s family of origin offered no warmth or familial affection to speak of. His parents had entered a family alliance marriage, and after giving birth to him, it felt like completing a task, let alone any concept of parent-child time. He had always been raised by nannies.
When he was small, he would still yearn for praise. If he achieved good grades, completed a task, or learned some new knowledge, he wanted to hear words of commendation.
Later on, he discovered that there was nothing at all.
Xiao Yuan ruffled his head, carefully avoiding the pair of slightly fuzzy dragon horns, and spoke aloud: “Wangyue is truly amazing.”
Duan Wangyue had initially been unaccustomed to these interactions that felt overly intimate to him, but by now he could smoothly rub against Xiao Yuan’s palm out of pure habit.
He felt it was extremely comfortable and loved snuggling close to Shizun because Shizun smelled wonderful, and also because Shizun was good to him.
The study window was propped open, allowing a view of fine snow drifting outside. The bamboo house was enveloped by a protective array, making it neither cold nor hot. Qin Ke pecked at the miniature pouch hanging around his neck, pecked out a few grains of spiritual rice to eat, and tilted his head from time to time.
Using a pair of bean-like eyes to watch the master and disciple having their writing lesson at the desk, he felt that the rumors spreading across the demon and immortal realms about Qingyuan Xianzun were not entirely to be trusted.
The small pouch tied around his neck had been tied there by Qingyuan Xianzun himself. At the time, it had nearly scared his little heart right out of his chest, making him think his bird life was forfeit.
After pecking at the pouch several times and finishing the rice grains inside, he sat on the window sill, a trace of melancholy emerging on his fluffy bird face.
Staying at the Sixth Peak all along wasn’t a bad outcome for the Young Master either, given that at least now he had Qingyuan Xianzun to protect him.
Life on the Sixth Peak passed by far too leisurely, right until the end of the month during the study writing session when Xiao Ziyun sent another paper crane asking Xiao Yuan whether he wanted to go check out the disciple recruitment assembly.
Xiao Ziyun likely factored in the consideration that his junior brother already had a small disciple, so the paper crane he folded this time was not a voice-transmission crane. Xiao Ziyun and Xiao Yuan had been instructed by the same Shizun, so their handwriting bore a slight resemblance.
After reading the content clearly, Xiao Yuan saw the little dragon cub’s curious yet hesitant little expression, raising a hand to ruffle his head and letting the little dragon cub look for himself.
During this period, Duan Wangyue had been studying the Standards for Students, recognizing basic characters as long as they weren’t too difficult, so reading the words on the paper crane was not difficult for him.
After reading it word by word, he raised his head to look at Shizun, asking, “Is Shizun going?”
Xiao Yuan asked him, “Do you want Shizun to go?”
Duan Wangyue’s gaze was exceptionally dark, as if even light couldn’t pierce through it, darkening almost to a purplish hue. Among the Standards for Students he had studied these past few days was this line: “Do not act arbitrarily or presumptuously.”
Do not act willfully, and do not make Shizun think he was a bad child.
He blinked, changing his approach to reply: “Wangyue wants to go take a look.”
He wanted to go see precisely who wanted to become Shizun’s disciple and wish to take Shizun as their master.
He was still young after all, his speech retaining a naive, milky tone, especially when he realized Shizun liked seeing him smile. Whenever he looked at Shizun, a sweet smile would blossom on his face, revealing two adorable, rounded dimples.
Seeing this, Xiao Yuan folded a paper crane in response to state he would go. Later, after finishing their evening meal, he used a small wooden sword to teach him a few basic sword techniques. Noticing the sky darkening as the hour grew late, he took his little disciple to the backyard hot spring to prepare for a soak.
The clothes brought for the little disciple still consisted of two sets: one was a very normal set of disciple robes, while the other had a hole cut at the buttocks area specifically to allow his tail to extend outward.
The unpolluted moonlight was exceptionally enchanting, spilling in broad swathes across the earth to cast a translucent, lustrous shell over everything beneath the night sky.
Duan Wangyue was still young, yet his eye for appreciating beautiful things was not low. The half of the bloodline belonging to a dragon deep within his bones kept clamoring for him to get closer to Shizun, closer still.
Dragons were a race that loved collecting shiny things and desired to possess whatever they liked.
He didn’t understand what liking was, nor what possession meant; he only knew that he wanted to be closer to Shizun, and closer still.
Xiao Yuan rested both hands on the edge of the hot spring pool, eyes closed as he leaned his head back, the continuously rising steam condensing into droplets of water upon his face before pattering back down into the spring water.
His entire person looked quite like an immortal banished from the heavens, inspiring no trace of desecrating sinful thoughts in anyone’s heart.
Duan Wangyue’s tail swayed gently, kicking up wave after wave of ripples.
During these days he had been extremely well cared for, gaining quite a bit of weight. The entire cub looked fair and tender, standing in absolute contrast to the little dirt-covered cub of their first meeting.
“Shizun…”
Xiao Yuan opened his eyes just as a droplet of condensed mist on his eyelashes could no longer bear its weight, falling with a patter into the water, looking as though he had been weeping.
His tail seemed to have turned rebellious, lashing at the water surface with a splash that caused Duan Wangyue to lose his balance and pitch straight forward into the water.
He instinctively closed his eyes and held his breath, only to be caught by a pair of warm arms, accompanied by a cool, clear voice carrying a trace of helplessness: “Silly dragon cub, open your eyes.”
Duan Wangyue was solidly cradled in Shizun’s embrace, his translucent white skin glistening with water droplets, flushed pink from the heat of the hot spring.
He muttered a denial, shaking his head: “Wangyue is not silly.”
Yet the tail behind him behaved as if it hadn’t soaked in any hot spring at all, excitedly thrashing the water surface with loud splashes that stirred up layer upon layer of ripples.
Both man and dragon were splashed by this disobedient tail. The harder Duan Wangyue tried to control his tail and make it behave, the more fiercely the tail thrashed, as if deliberately opposing him.
“My tail… I can’t control it…” Duan Wangyue had encountered such a situation for the very first time and was panicking immensely. “Shizun, what should I do?”
Xiao Yuan had heard before that feline tails were independent entities, and felines, especially kittens, sometimes had no idea what their tails were doing.
He didn’t know what species a dragon belonged to, but they all had tails, which should be similar to felines, meaning the tail was also an independent entity.
Watching his little disciple’s panicked expression seeking help, Xiao Yuan was crossing the river by feeling for stones. He reached out with one hand to grab the wildly thrashing tail, controlled his strength, and gave it a squeeze. The tail that had been wildly rebellious just a moment ago, acting like it was the hottest shot in the world, instantly drooped obediently behind Duan Wangyue, showing not a single shred of its previous arrogance and behaving with absolute tractiveness.
The texture was truly quite nice.
Xiao Yuan glanced sideways at the dragon tail hidden underwater, retracting his gaze with a hint of reluctance. Seeing the bright red flush on the little dragon cub’s small face in his arms, he figured that children soaking for too long was bad for their health. Taking the lead to get ashore and dress himself, he prepared to grab a small blanket to dry the dragon cub, only to turn around and see that, sure enough, the little cub’s nose was slightly red from soaking for too long.
Daring not to delay any further, he wrapped the cub up in the blanket, tucked the clothes from the pool edge into his sleeve universe, and walked straight toward the little cub’s bedroom.
Duan Wangyue was wrapped up like a silkworm baby in the blanket, his ear pressed against Shizun’s chest, quietly listening to the steady, powerful heartbeat.
Once his nosebleed stopped, Xiao Yuan sat in the outer room. Refusing to let him help with dressing, Duan Wangyue clutched his clothes and scampered behind the screen wrapped in his blanket, rustling as he put them on.
When Duan Wangyue finished putting on his inner trousers, he realized that there was a hole at the back of the trousers, neither too big nor too small, positioned just right for his tail to poke through.
The dragon tail behind him swayed happily, showing zero sympathetic resonance with its master, while his master was not happy at all.
He had grabbed the wrong set of clothes.