Xiao Lingyu turned around and looked at him. His eyes, as deep as a pool, were shimmering with starlight. His thin lips on his slightly red face parted as he uttered those words that seemed to have a profound meaning.
"What's wrong, Xiaoyu?" Su Xingyi lowered his eyes to look at her beautiful features and asked, "Is there anything wrong with what I said?"
Xiao Lingyu smiled, her soft hands caressing his sturdy shoulders. She looked up at his starry eyes and said, "You're right. I won't take it away. They can take care of each other and won't feel lonely. Don't you agree?"
Su Xingyi lowered his head and gave her a kiss. The sounds of children playing came in intermittently, telling him that the children were still there and he couldn't behave too inappropriately, but he couldn't help it.
Every time Xiao Lingyu approached him, he couldn't help but want to kiss her.
You can't blame him. If Xiaoyu wasn't so close to him, he wouldn't be like this.
After a while, Su Xingyi whispered, "They are not alone anymore. Tonight we are still..."
"Daddy."
Xiao Xier's sweet baby voice came over, interrupting Su Xingyi's words.
The couple quickly took a step back and put some distance between themselves.
Xiao Lingyu caught sight of the two wooden sculptures on the bedside table and walked straight over.
The next second, the door was knocked open with a bang by Su Ningan.
"Big brother, you're using too much force." Xiao Xier's face tensed and she quickly glanced at her parents.
Will Daddy and Mommy say that the four of them don’t know etiquette?
Su Ningan was so frightened that he quickly withdrew his hand, "I didn't control the strength well, what should I do?"
Su Ningwen calmly walked towards the open door and said, "Close it again and knock again."
The four siblings closed the door as if no one was around.
"Dong...dong...dong...Daddy, we want to come in and see the wood carvings of you and mommy."
Xiao Lingyu and Su Xingyi smiled at each other. Aren't these kids so cute?!
Su Xingyi smiled and opened the door, "Come in, wait until your mother is done watching."
Seeing Su Ningjie, Su Ningwen, and Xiao Xier gathered around, Xiao Lingyu handed the wood carving to them and said, "Mom has finished looking at it. You can take a look. Your eldest brother is very skilled at carving your parents beautifully."
Seeing that the three little ones were all paying attention to the wood carving, Xiao Lingyu glanced at Su Ningan, who was standing at the door, not knowing where to put his chubby hands.
"Xingyi, I'll leave these three to you. Don't let them play too late. I'll take An Ge'er to the study first and talk about the coloring book."
"Okay, you and your son go ahead and do your work. I'll call you when the hot water is ready."
Xiao Lingyu thought about what he had not finished saying just now, and could probably guess what he wanted to say. He looked at him meaningfully for a few times, then took Su Ningan to the study and briefly explained to him the basic principles of color printing.
"Mom, color printing is so simple."
Xiao Lingyu said, "It's not simple, it's quite complicated. First, trace your manuscript onto a wooden board, then carve it into small pieces of wood in different colors. Dye each piece with the corresponding pigment, and piece them together to form a complete carved painting. Then, evenly apply rice paper, silk, or bamboo paper to the top. In this way, the painting in your manuscript will be printed on the rice paper or silk."
"So, if I want to print hundreds or even thousands of copies of the circling cranes painting in color, I have to carve the entire painting into small pieces of wood in different colors, and then use a whole piece of clean rice paper to make rubbings on them?"
Xiao Lingyu nodded: "That's how it's done."
"Then why carve the wood into small pieces in different colors? Wouldn't it be easier to just make a rubbing?"
Xiao Lingyu said, "If you print on silk, the painting will be fuzzy and won't look good when copied. Carving it into small, convex and concave pieces will make the printed painting more realistic and it's easier to repaint. It's similar to movable type printing. Once you make a stereotyped painting, copying it is much easier."
I see.
"Wouldn't it be necessary to produce a hundred stereotypes of my picture of a hundred beasts?"
"Of course, with the stereotypes, we can print hundreds or even thousands of copies of the album in color. As long as someone buys it, we will re-dye the stereotypes and reprint them in color to sell."
Su Ning'an imagined it for a moment and was eager to try. "Mom, I'll start carving now."
"It's getting late. Let's try to print the Circling Cranes painting in color tomorrow to see if the resulting portrait is what I want. If it turns out well, we'll start printing a few copies of the Hundred Beasts painting as soon as we return from Huayang County."
"We haven't produced bamboo paper yet. What kind of paper should we use for color printing?"
Xiao Lingyu said, "Tomorrow we will practice, and we will use rice paper. When we go to Huayang, we will buy some high-quality rice paper, cotton and linen paper, or painting silk for color printing..."
"Ang'er, it's getting late, go take a shower."
Su Ning'an was called away, and Su Xingyi followed Xiao Lingyu into the room carrying two large buckets of hot water. He poured both buckets of hot water into the bathtub, and then carried in another large bucket of hot water.
"Xiao Yu, once you've adjusted to the water temperature, you and your daughter can take a bath."
Su Xingyi did not leave immediately after he finished speaking. Seeing Xiao Lingyu holding Xiao Xier over, he knew that he could not delay any longer and had to leave the room as soon as possible.
He knew that his departure meant he would have to sleep alone tonight.
I have been accustomed to falling asleep in Xiao Lingyu's arms these days, but tonight I returned to the same old routine and felt a sense of loss.
Seeing that he was about to leave but didn't, Xiao Lingyu understood and said, "Xingyi, it's time to check your eye and leg problems. Go back and wait. I'll come over to check you later."
Su Xingyi was delighted, "Okay, I'll wait for you."
"Mother." Xiao Xier saw Su Xingyi happily leave the room. His legs were healthy and it seemed unlikely that they would relapse. "Will Daddy's eye and leg diseases really relapse?"
Xiao Lingyu stuffed it into the tub and said, "Regardless of whether it recurs or not, we must be careful and attentive."
"oh."
After Xiao Lingyu gave Xiao Xier a bath, he carried her back to the room, turned around and went to the bathroom, then slipped into the villa.
Su Xingyi lay on the bed, leaving a large space for Xiao Lingyu, staring at the two portraits on the wall in a daze.
Will Xiaoyu really come and coax him to sleep?
He was actually competing with Xiao Xier for Xiao Lingyu. This was so unlike him!
He didn't ask for much, just that Xiaoyu could talk to him before going to bed every day.
Su Xingyi looked at the paintings on the wall, a smile on his face, and fell asleep unknowingly...
After an unknown amount of time, the door was gently pushed open, and the unique scent of Xiao Lingyu floated into the room and drifted towards Su Xingyi.
This guy actually fell asleep?
"Xiaoyi." Xiao Lingyu called softly.
Su Xingyi still had a smile on his face, but he fell into a deep sleep and was unable to respond to her.
Xiao Lingyu smiled helplessly. He didn't care about whether he was lonely or not. He thought he would not be used to it if he didn't sleep with him tonight.
She was overthinking it.
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