As the year draws to a close, the number of farmers in the Northwest who complain has decreased significantly. In addition, the major battle with the small border country has been won, and good news keeps coming in one after another.
Emperor Yuming was overjoyed and ordered a grand New Year's banquet to welcome General Tuoyuan and Lu Chuan back, which also served as a celebration of their victory.
Lu Huai continued to secretly rub Qin Qi's stomach every night under the pretense of "being afraid of being scolded," while Qin Qi pretended not to know.
Days passed by like this, and before we knew it, it was almost New Year's Eve.
Qin Xi's carefree days are over; she can run and jump again.
"Whoosh—" Lu Huai came in from outside, took off his cloak, and squatted down by the stove.
"It's really cold today," Lu Huai said while warming himself by the fire.
Qin Xi looked into the courtyard.
Outside, the wind was howling, and the trees on both sides were so bare that they resembled the author's head. The peonies in the flowerpots had also withered almost completely, but the bamboo in the small bamboo grove remained lush and green.
Qin Xi propped her chin up, looking somewhat bored: "I wonder if it will snow this year."
Lu Huai rubbed his hands together: "Who knows? It didn't snow last year either. It was dry and cold, and without snow, I don't know how many literati and poets had no poems to write."
Qin Qi rolled her eyes at him: "Even without snow, literary figures can still write poems."
Lu Huai raised an eyebrow: "Is that so? Why don't you write one?"
She scoffed, "As if you could understand it."
Lu Huai retorted, "Hey! Who do you think you are? How do you know if I can understand it if you don't write it? Don't jump to conclusions."
"Write it then," Qin Qi stood up and asked Lele to fetch the writing implements and place them on the table.
Qin Qi was somewhat surprised to see Lu Huai grinding ink himself. This guy actually knew how to grind ink?
Lu Huai snorted, feeling that something was off.
It seems that in other families, the wife grinds the ink and the husband holds the brush, and they treat each other with respect. How come it's the other way around in his family?
Lu Huai frowned and thought for a long time, but he couldn't figure it out.
The ink was almost ground. Qin Qi smoothed his sleeve with his left hand, dipped his brush in the ink with his right, and carefully wrote neat small seal script on the paper, stroke by stroke:
The branches rustle in the north wind, and the fragrance fills the garden.
Springtime flowers and morning glory are gone forever; only the virtuous man stands tall like a pine tree.
Her movements were both gentle and strong, and her handwriting was elegant yet resilient. Even Yao, a complete novice like Lu Huai, couldn't help but be amazed.
Although not a single word describes winter, it inexplicably evokes a sense of coldness. The title of "talented woman" is truly well-deserved.
Qin Xi had no idea what Lu Huai was thinking; she just felt dissatisfied with her own poem no matter how she looked at it.
After frowning and looking at it for a long time, Qin Xi sighed: "We've regressed. These days we've been so focused on the account books that we've neglected poetry and literature."
As she spoke, she put down her pen, looked up at Lu Huai, and asked, "Did you understand it?"
Lu Huai nodded inscrutably: "I didn't understand."
Qin Xi twitched the corner of her mouth: "..."
“Even though I didn’t understand it, I can still write it down,” Lu Huai said, raising his chin.
Qin Qi raised an eyebrow and held out her hand to the calligraphy brush: "Please."
Lu Huai also picked up a pen, his posture perfectly standard, and then he wrote his masterpiece in a crooked and uneven manner:
The tree is bald on top; it looks so sad.
If you have no hair, what's the point of studying?
After finishing writing, he put down his pen with a proud look on his face: "How was it?"
Qin Xi struggled to decipher it for a while before she understood it, and her lips twitched: "..."
"You are truly a divine being!" Qin Qi praised him, ignoring the throbbing pain in his conscience.
Lu Huai said without any modesty, "Of course. Such a masterpiece should be shown to everyone. I'll have Ayu frame it later, and we'll take it for a stroll around the streets."
Qin Xi: "..." I have never seen such a shameless and deaf person.
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