Yu Qing muttered in his heart, is it possible not to force it. But how could he help Ah Shiheng break off the engagement.
On second thought, forget it. After going in a circle, he still had to do as Ah Shiheng instructed. First pretend to go along and get through the imperial examination. He must not let the Zhong family have any ideas that would cause any accident in the imperial examination. So he obediently cupped his hands and said, “This nephew will fully follow uncle’s arrangements.”
He had thought it through. Once the imperial examination ended, he would confess the truth to Zhong Su, then immediately run away. The rest would not be his concern. Let Ah Shiheng deal with the headache himself.
In short, he could not marry Zhong Su’s daughter. Even if it killed him, he would not do something like stealing Ah Shiheng’s wife.
Seeing that he had become obedient, Zhong Su’s anger also calmed. He slapped the armrest of his seat with both hands, stood up, and spoke in the manner of an elder, “Alright, you have been running around today and must be tired. You have also just arrived in a new environment and need to adapt. Rest early. Tomorrow the teacher I have selected for you will arrive. Whether you pass the imperial examination this time or not, you must give it your best try.”
“Yes.” Yu Qing respectfully agreed.
Only then did Zhong Su leave with his hands behind his back. Yu Qing respectfully saw him out of the courtyard gate. His attitude left Zhong Su quite satisfied.
Under the night sky, lanterns hung everywhere under the pavilions, towers, and eaves for illumination.
Zhong Su first returned to his own study, then came out again. He crossed the garden and the covered walkway, arriving at the courtyard where his two daughters lived.
The maidservants serving specifically in this place paid their respects. He waved his hand to indicate they could dispense with the formalities and asked, “Where are the two young ladies?”
The maidservant replied, “The eldest young lady is practising calligraphy in the study. The second young lady has been called by the madam to learn needlework.”
Upon hearing this, Zhong Su smiled. This was the daily routine of his two daughters. The eldest daughter, Zhong Ruochen, loved brushes, ink, and painting. She wrote beautiful characters and painted good pictures. The younger daughter had no such patience. He could even imagine the scene of his younger daughter being forced to learn needlework, unwilling yet not daring to disobey.
It was good that the younger daughter was not around. Otherwise he would have to prevent the conversation from being overheard.
After instructing the maidservants in the courtyard to keep watch, he went to his daughter’s study.
The study was brightly lit with lamps. Various calligraphy and paintings hung all over the walls around it. The gentle and refined Zhong Ruochen was sitting properly and elegantly, writing dense, neat small characters on a large sheet of white paper.
“The whole family has the best looking handwriting from you.”
Suddenly hearing her father’s voice, Zhong Ruochen, who had been fully concentrated on practising calligraphy, looked up. Seeing her father tilting his head to watch her write, she immediately put down her brush, stood up, and paid her respects, “Father.”
Zhong Su tapped the characters on the table with his finger, “It is a pity you are a daughter. Otherwise you could also try the imperial examination this year.”
Zhong Ruochen smiled and said, “Father is joking. With the little ink in this daughter’s belly, I am afraid I would not even qualify to participate in the provincial examination.” Then she stepped aside and offered the seat to her father.
Zhong Su was not polite either. After sitting behind the desk, he said, “I just went to the east courtyard and have settled it with your fiance. After he finishes the imperial examination, we will choose an auspicious day to hold your wedding. I came to ask you if you have any opinions, or if there is anything particular you want, you can mention it. The family will try its best to satisfy you.”
Zhong Ruochen’s cheeks suddenly turned red. She shyly lowered her head and said in a low voice, “This daughter will fully let father and mother decide.”
Zhong Su said, “Your mother does not allow you to meet, and I also agree. There are some things you still do not understand, so it is necessary to remind you. The matter of your engagement cannot be made public for the time being. His father may have offended some people in the court back then. We do not want anyone to interfere with his participation in the imperial examination. This is also his own wish. Do not overthink it.”
Speaking of this matter, he also felt some worry. But there was no way. He had already boarded the pirate ship and could not get off.
Zhong Ruochen was gentle and shy. She softly hummed in agreement, “This daughter will fully let father and mother decide.”
Zhong Su paused for a moment in silence. In the end he still reached into his sleeve and took out two identical looking metal cylinders. He placed them on the table and pointed, “Look at these two items and see what difference there is.”
Zhong Ruochen was puzzled. She immediately picked them up to examine and found no difference. Only when she saw the lid on one end did she notice the characters were different. One end had the character ‘Chen’, the other had ‘Heng’. Outsiders might not understand, but she immediately sensed something. She showed the two characters to her father and asked, “Is it that the characters are different?”
Zhong Su nodded, “Yes. These two items were made by your late future father in law. The one with your character is in my hand. The one with Ah Shiheng’s is in the other party’s hand. These are the tokens of your engagement. Your late future father in law and I agreed back then that the one in their hands was to serve as the betrothal gift. Now they have given me the betrothal gift, and I have also agreed to marry you to him. Have a look. Look at what is inside. It was agreed with your father in law back then. These things should still be given to you.”
Zhong Ruochen’s gentle and quiet face remained flushed with embarrassment that would not fade. Hesitantly she opened the two metal cylinders and poured out the contents inside. She discovered they were actually two halves of a painting cut in two. She tried piecing them together to see what the painting was.
The more she looked, the more puzzled she became. She found that two thirds of the space was a landscape painting. This landscape painting was somewhat strange. The main scene consisted of various large and small mountain peaks, about twenty or thirty of them. The remaining one third was a poem praising the landscape.
This assembled calligraphy and painting had neither outstanding painting skill nor particularly well written poetry. Only the painting paper seemed somewhat special.
She looked up at her father, full of confusion.
Zhong Su had already stood up. Looking at that painting, he shook his head and muttered with a bitter smile, “Ah Jiezhuang, ah Jiezhuang. When it comes to being shrewd and calculating, I am far inferior to you.”
What he sighed about was that Ah Jiezhuang had both supported him and proactively offered a son to become his son in law.
Some things he had not thought of before. Only when ‘Ah Shiheng’ came alone this time did he faintly sense that he might only be a backup prepared by Ah Jiezhuang. So what if he was a penniless young man from the countryside. The property and connections he had built over these years had to be fully devoted to helping.
Of course, he had seen this painting before. Neither he nor Ah Jiezhuang had figured out its secret after studying it many times.
Later they simply split it in two. Only when the two halves were combined again would the two families be completely bound together. There would no longer be any worry that each side’s backup plans would expose the matter.
Zhong Ruochen however could not understand what her father was saying. She tentatively asked, “Father, does this painting have some deeper meaning?”
Zhong Su sighed, “There is no need to ask more now. Asking more would only be a waste of effort. After you and Ah Shiheng have a child, I can tell you then, or you can ask Ah Shiheng. For now you only need to properly store the items well. Do not lose them. Do not reveal to anyone that the items are in your hands, including your mother, your younger sister, or even Ah Shiheng. Understand?”
A child? Zhong Ruochen felt both puzzled and shy. She could only hesitantly agree.
Zhong Su said nothing more. With a melancholy sigh he left, thinking that a long cherished worry of many years was finally about to be resolved.
In fact, according to the agreement he and Ah Jiezhuang made back then, the painting was to be given to Ah Shiheng only after the two young people had a child.
However, as soon as he got the items, he did not keep them long. He immediately secretly handed them to his own daughter.
He was not greedy for the so called immortal blessed land. Because he had entered that ancient tomb and personally witnessed the most terrifying scene of his life. It had become his nightmare. He knew deeply that it was not something a bit of money could play with. It far exceeded his abilities.
Moreover, he had never been able to unlock the secret of that painting.
Zhong Ruochen saw her father to the steps outside the door before obediently stopping. She watched her father disappear outside the gate, then turned back into the study. She stood once more in front of the assembled calligraphy and painting.
Thinking that this was the token of her engagement, thinking that this was the betrothal gift her future husband had delivered to marry her, her slender white hands tried to smooth the wrinkles on the painting. Her face and eyes were full of tenderness, with a faint shyness appearing on her cheeks, along with longing and daydreams.
However, while the wrinkles could be smoothed, the crack from being cut in two was hard to mend.
For her, who yearned for the beautiful future to come, this crack symbolised imperfection. She was somewhat unwilling to accept it. So she turned to rummage through the bookshelf and found a thin piece of silk fabric that could be used for painting. It was mostly used for embroidery base patterns. She cut off a piece.
After that, she neatly pieced together the two half paintings, laid out the fabric, compared the colours on the painting, mixed the pigments, and began to copy it stroke by stroke with her skilled brush.
With a face full of warmth and patience, she meticulously copied it one to one. She wanted to eliminate that crack, wanted to reunite the broken mirror, wanted to leave a perfect version in her own heart, wanted to give herself a perfect future. She thought that when her future husband saw it, he would know her heartfelt feelings.
In the east courtyard, Yu Qing sat cross legged and cultivated for the whole night. In the early morning he finished his practice refreshed and stood up.
As soon as he opened the door, servants outside immediately brought hot water. After washing up, he had his meal.
After Yu Qing finished eating, Steward Li also arrived, mainly to ask if he had slept well last night.
“Very good.” Yu Qing replied casually. He was mindful that today he probably had to deal with something and asked, “What time will that teacher arrive?”
Steward Li smiled and waved his hand, “No rush. He will not come in the morning. Teacher Ming is also known as ‘Afternoon Teacher’. He usually stays up very late at night, cannot get up in the morning, and only gives lessons in the afternoon. He also has his own places to go in the evening.”
Yu Qing asked suspiciously, “So he only teaches for one afternoon each day?”
If so, that suited him perfectly. He would have more time to go out and run around.
The result was even better than he imagined.
“Yes.” Steward Li nodded. “However, he comes here every other day. This is still thanks to the master’s friend helping to arrange it. Teacher Ming is unwilling to run between two places. He is indeed quite lazy. Even with money placed in front of him, he is too lazy to earn it. He says he does not want to worry about two sets of things. The Zhong residence spent a lot of money to invite him.”
There was one point he did not tell this young master. Not only did that Teacher Ming require money, during the employment period they also had to provide him with a beautiful concubine to serve him. Her looks had to be good enough. When they saw they really could not invite him, they simply first invited a beauty to come and show herself. Only then was Teacher Ming moved.
Yu Qing clicked his tongue twice. In reality he was inwardly complaining. He earned a bit of money by risking his life desperately, yet look at others. Comparing people really could anger one to death.
Forget it. Since he would not come in the morning, he also needed to find a way to earn his own money. He changed the subject, “Uncle Li, does the family have a carriage? Prepare one for me.”
Steward Li asked doubtfully, “What do you need a carriage for?”
Yu Qing said, “I have just arrived in the capital. I want to go out for a stroll and get familiar with the place.”
This was an excuse. In reality he wanted to find suitable buyers, strive to sell the fire cricket in his hands at a high price, and conveniently collect the debt that Xu Fei owed him.