Chapter 192 World Eight (Fifteen)
The wealth of Luo County is far beyond the reach of a remote village.
Nestled between mountains and rivers, Luo County is dotted with densely packed houses and pavilions. The streets are bustling with people, a testament to its vibrant atmosphere. Furthermore, Luo County boasts the century-old Xiangjiang Academy, which has produced numerous scholars and writers.
The carriage stopped outside the Xiangjiang Academy. Shen Yunshan paid the fare, picked up his bag, and headed towards the academy. Dense and slender bamboos grew here, and on both sides of the path, trembling Clivia orchids exuded a delicate fragrance.
Shen Yunshan first went to his bedroom, bathed and dressed, then changed into the uniform blue and white robes of a disciple. He wore a dark blue hair crown, which only accentuated his elegant appearance. At Xiangjiang Academy, no matter how wealthy or distinguished one's family, one could not live alone; two people lived in the same room. Feng Wenjing, who shared the same room, smiled when he saw Shen Yunshan. "Yunshan, you're finally here. Dinner is ready in the dining hall. Come with me."
Shen Yunshan also felt a little hungry, but upon hearing this, he just shook his head and politely declined Feng Wenjing's offer: "We haven't met the Master yet, so you go first."
Watching Shen Yunshan's handsome figure leave gracefully, Feng Wenjing muttered, "How pedantic! Master, how can a full stomach be more important?"
But Feng Wenjing knew that Shen Yunshan had always been like this. He was intelligent, yet he never slacked off, treating his teachers and friends with impeccable care.
Sometimes Feng Wenjing would have bad thoughts. She wondered when Shen Yunshan would make a mistake, or when a different expression would appear on his calm face.
The Confucian master saw that Shen Yunshan's eyes were clear and bright, completely unlike those of other students.
Because he was so happy to be home that he didn't want to leave, he put his studies aside. When you looked at him closely, you could see that he looked very frivolous.
The Confucian master stroked his long beard and asked a question aloud to test the student's homework.
Shen Yunshan thought for a moment before answering slowly. His words were clear and logical, and every word was well-reasoned and well-founded.
The Confucian master nodded slightly, his eyes full of satisfaction: "Not bad."
Mrs. Ruzhang gently called Master Ruzhang to eat. Seeing Shen Yunshan, Mrs. Ruzhang's eyes were gentle: "Yunshan hasn't gone to the dining hall yet, so stay here and eat with your master."
Shen Yunshan did not stay, but made up an excuse and left.
Madam Ruchang looked at Shen Yunshan's receding figure and murmured, "He's a good boy, but it's a pity that he comes from a poor family, otherwise he wouldn't be confined to this place..."
When Shen Yunshan arrived at the dining hall, there were only a few students left and not much food left.
Shen Yunshan only took a piece of bread and a bowl of porridge, and found a place to sit down alone.
Although Shen Liushi was capable, she had to work hard to barely scrape together half of the tuition for Xiangjiang Academy.
The other half were voluntarily dismissed by Xiangjiang Academy after it examined Shen Yunshan.
The tuition fee can be waived, but Shen Yunshan needs to find a way to pay for food, clothing and other expenses himself.
Fortunately, Shen Yunshan was not concerned about his appetite and usually just filled his stomach with some simple food.
Those who could enter Xiangjiang Academy usually came from well-off families.
As a result, Shen Yunshan became the poorest person.
At first, the students always looked at Shen Yunshan with curiosity.
But Shen Yunshan was patient and knew that they were just curious for a moment. He just needed to ignore them and they would become accustomed to it within half a month.
If it were true, nowadays, students would not look surprised when they saw Shen Yunshan’s extremely simple food.
Shen Yunshan took out the mixed vegetables pickled by Shen Liushi, opened the lid of the clay jar, picked out some and put them into his mouth, chewing them slowly.
Fresh, salty, and a combination of both.
Feng Wenjing picked up his meal and said to the person sitting at the same table, "Excuse me." Then he hurried to the opposite side of Shen Yunshan and called out, "Master, are you testing me?"
Shen Yunshan raised his eyelids slightly, but he didn't expect that Feng Wenjing had not left the dining hall yet.
Come to think of it, Feng Wenjing was a talkative person and had never followed the rule of "no talking while eating and no talking while sleeping", so it was reasonable that he took an hour to have dinner.
Feng Wenjing winked and asked, "Did the teacher scold you?"
Shen Yunshan said calmly, "No."
Feng Wenjing sighed, thinking, "As expected." Given Shen Yunshan's fluent response, how could the Confucian master bear to scold him?
Feng Wenjing rolled his eyes slightly, watching Shen Yunshan picking up the colorful vegetables, and asked hurriedly, "Yunshan, what are you eating?"
"Pickled vegetables."
"How does it taste?"
"Fine."
Unlike Shen Yunshan's poor background, Feng Wenjing's family is wealthy and he only wants his descendants to enter the officialdom.
This is why they spent a huge amount of money to send Feng Wenjing to Xiangjiang Academy.
If Feng Wenjing had talent, he would have been able to enter the officialdom in one fell swoop and also support his family business.
Even if Feng Wenjing has no talent, he can still make friends with some future officials.
With this connection, his family can donate a small official position to Feng Wenjing, and he can live a comfortable life.
Feng Wenjing had lived a life of luxury since childhood. He had never even been to the countryside and had never seen pickled vegetables.
Seeing Shen Yunshan chewing gently, he became more curious.
Feng Wenjing pushed his meal in front of Shen Yunshan and said with a smile, "How about we take turns eating?"
Feng Wenjing's meal included pickled goose legs, stir-fried shredded vegetables, and another bowl of longan and lotus seed soup.
In this way, Shen Yunshan did not suffer any loss by exchanging pickles with him.
Shen Yunshan's eyebrows were indifferent, and he said softly: "No need, just try some."
Feng Wenjing picked up his bamboo chopsticks and was about to dip them into the clay pot when he saw Shen Yunshan's brows furrowed slightly. He said in a cold tone, "Change to another pair."
Feng Wenjing quickly replaced the chopsticks with clean ones, saying, "You're still such a clean person."
Feng Wenjing put the pickled vegetables into his mouth. He was originally thinking it was something strange, but he didn't expect it to taste so refreshing. He ate a lot without realizing it.
Looking at the half-empty earthenware jar, Feng Wenjing's face was filled with guilt. He quickly promised, "From now on, I will take care of your three meals a day."
Shen Yunshan still had that indifferent look on his face, and although his tone was gentle, it was still distant.
"No need, no reward without merit."
Feng Wenjing disagreed. "How can it be useless? I just ate a lot of your pickles. Where did you buy them? I'll buy some too and send them to my parents."
If the Feng family's parents were to eat such simple pickles, they would certainly wonder what kind of people Feng Wenjing had been acquainted with during his time at the Xiangjiang Academy. Shen Yunshan closed the clay jar and said calmly, "I didn't buy it. My mother made it herself."
Feng Wenjing pestered Shen Yunshan with questions, asking when Shen Liu would make pickles and so on.
It was not until he returned to the bedroom and saw Shen Yunshan pick up the book that Feng Wenjing stopped asking questions.
Shen Yunshan was meticulous in both reciting and practicing calligraphy.
Feng Wenjing took the rice paper that Shen Yunshan had written on and recited, "Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it."
Such beautiful calligraphy, but unfortunately the rice paper is too thin, and some of the force of the brush cannot withstand the force that penetrates through the back of the paper.
Although Feng Wenjing was uneducated and spoke nonsense on a daily basis, he knew that Shen Yunshan's family was poor and probably used this kind of rice paper to save money on brushes and ink.
If he were to expose it lightly, others would mistakenly think that it was Feng Wenjing who looked down on Shen Yunshan and intended to humiliate him.
Therefore, Feng Wenjing just muttered it in his heart and did not say it out loud.
Such beautiful calligraphy should be framed beautifully on the finest Chengxintang paper.
Feng Wenjing thought about his own calligraphy again. It was so ethereal and formless. He used expensive Luojun paper to write it. It was really a waste of natural resources.
Feng Wenjing flipped through the pages casually. When he saw a crooked piece of rice paper, he suddenly felt lighter and raised his voice, "Yunshan, how can your handwriting be so sloppy? It's not even as good as mine!"
Shen Yunshan was completely focused, and only turned around and responded after finishing the last stroke: "What?"
Feng Wenjing had already read out the words on the rice paper: "Cousin Yunshan... Gentleman... Treasure Fan..."
Feng Wenjing frowned: "What word is this? How come I can't tell?"
When Shen Yunshan heard the word "treasure fan", his eyes turned slightly cold and he stood up to take the rice paper back from Feng Wenjing's hand.
Feng Wenjing suddenly realized what was going on and slapped his head, saying, "So it wasn't you who wrote it!"
Shen Yunshan did not deny it, but looked at the neatly arranged rice paper, then lowered his eyes to look at the rice paper in his hand that was almost soaked in ink.
——This was Baoshan’s practice work, how could he have brought it to Xiangjiang Academy?
Shen Yunshan looked at it again. The rice paper was spread out neatly without any wrinkles. He immediately had an idea: perhaps it was brought in unintentionally.
But Feng Wenjing obviously would not let this matter go easily. Shen Yunshan was gentle and polite in his dealings, but he made people feel difficult to approach.
Feng Wenjing couldn't imagine that such a person would be deceived by so-called love.
Given Shen Yunshan's personality, he actually brought such a clumsy calligraphy work into Xiangjiang Academy, which was enough to prove that it meant a lot to Shen Yunshan.
"Written by the woman you love?"
Feng Wenjing was guessing, but he felt something was strange in his heart.
Shen Yunshan was good in every way: knowledgeable, graceful, and good at dealing with people. But it always felt a little strange to associate the word "heart-pleasing" with Shen Yunshan.
Shen Yunshan denied it: "No."
Looking at Feng Wenjing's face full of disbelief, Shen Yunshan knew very well.
If I cannot tell the truth, according to Feng Wenjing's temper, he will definitely spread this matter throughout the Xiangjiang Academy tomorrow.
Shen Yunshan had no choice but to explain: "It's me—my cousin."
Feng Wenjing smiled and said, "We are cousins now, and it is inevitable that we will become -
"Brother and sister, it's all the same thing."
Shen Yunshan frowned and said, "Don't talk nonsense."
Seeing Shen Yunshan's serious expression, Feng Wenjing stopped teasing and asked curiously, "Your beloved sister—okay, ok, cousin, cousin. What does she look like? What's her personality like?"
Shen Yunshan's fingers moved slightly. He only remembered that when he left home, Baoshan was slender, with a hint of sadness in her willow eyebrows. Her eyes were as bright as water. She waved softly at him and called softly, "Cousin Yunshan."
It is soft and smooth, like boiled sugar water, with sugar added into the water, turning it into a sticky texture.
Just the slightest pull will bring out thousands of thoughts, which are endlessly entangled.
Nature is beautiful and gentle in temperament, but a little timid. It doesn't know how to resist and is easily bullied.
But when the words came to my lips, they just turned into a sentence: "I don't remember."
Feng Wenjing stared blankly, his lips wide open, in disbelief: "You don't even remember your cousin who lives in your house?"
Feng Wenjing thought to himself that Shen Yunshan was indeed the Shen Yunshan in his memory. Only reading could move him.
As for women, they are nothing but passing clouds.
Although the words were said lightly, when Shen Yunshan closed his eyelids, he dreamed of the cousin he "forgot".
Baoshan had a sad expression on her face, with tears in her eyes, and she looked at him tenderly.
"Cousin Yunshan, you..."
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