Chapter 49

Li Chengqian gritted his teeth and said, "Draw!"

Lin Nanjie held up the brush in fear, and tremblingly wrote a stroke of ink under Li Chengjue's extremely oppressive gaze. A black circle appeared on Li Chengjue's straight and smooth forehead, instantly weakening the oppressive momentum and looking extremely funny.

Lin Nanjie hesitated after making only one move.

[Alas, this bastard is really not a good match for the wise and powerful emperor. ]

Li Chengqian squeezed out three words from between his teeth: "Keep painting!"

Lin Nanqi swallowed.

【Well, you ordered me to draw this. 】

There were several pairs of eyes staring at him from behind. Lin Nanjie was not good at writing with a brush, let alone painting. His strokes were trembling as he drew the faint head, limbs and tail of a tortoise around the circle. Finally, he picked up the brush and drew a tic-tac-toe in the middle. It was crooked and looked like a tortoise.

"Draw, it's done."

Lin Nanjie put down his brush and looked at Li Chengqian.

Lin Nanjie took one glance and couldn't help but take another glance.

Li Chenghuan was wearing a dark blue casual suit, with a moon-white outer robe on the outside, with delicate cloud patterns of the same color embroidered on the cuffs, and a white jade pendant tied around his waist. He didn't wear a crown on his head, only a jade hairpin to hold it up. Looking closely, the jade hairpin looked familiar, it was the one that had been taken from him during the Lantern Festival.

Lin Nanjie thought that Li Chenghuan was just playing a prank on him, but he actually wore it on his head. Somehow, he felt a little strange.

Perhaps she didn't expect that Li Chengqian, the supreme ruler and the most noble person in the world, who had nothing he wanted, had to wear a worthless hairpin.

I just don't think they're a good match.

But the surprise instantly turned into suppressed laughter after seeing the turtle on top of this angular and handsome face.

Lin Nanqi tried hard to suppress the corners of his mouth to prevent himself from laughing.

[Help...this seems really funny hahahahaha! ]

Li Chengqian's face turned black as he stared at Lin Nanjie's head.

Wang Dehai lowered his head and dared not look. The guards, eunuchs and palace maids around him hid far away.

Who would dare to paint a turtle on the emperor's head?

I dare not even think about it!

Isn't this just digging in the foot?

Wang Dehai was thinking, if this kid doesn’t fall in this battle, he will surely be very successful in the future.

Only the little prince was simple-minded. He looked up at the black turtle on his father's forehead and clapped his hands in applause.

"Eunuch Lin, I want it too." The little prince was unaware of the solemn atmosphere and pointed at the brush in Lin Nanjie's hand.

Lin Nanjie didn't dare to move.

Li Chenghuan glanced at him and said, "Didn't you hear what the little prince said?"

Lin Nan looked up in surprise, but seeing that Li Chengqian did not seem to be dissuading him, he simply followed suit and drew one for the little prince.

[Is this... to show the happy relationship between father and son? ]

In fact, Li Chenghuan didn’t think it was that complicated. It was embarrassing anyway, so he didn’t mind dragging his son into it.

After the painting was finished, the little prince exclaimed in joy: "My father is a cuckold, and so am I!"

Li Chenghuan covered the little prince's mouth with his hand, his face darkening: "Don't say that!"

"It's not a good word, don't learn it!"

The little prince finally understood the meaning and shut up obediently.

Li Chenghuan finally put himself in the shoes of others and coaxed the little prince into submission. He took the handkerchief handed to him by Wang Dehai, wiped his face expressionlessly, and ordered someone to send the little prince back to the Queen Mother.

The farce was finally over, Lin Nanjie breathed a sigh of relief, and inadvertently met Wang Dehai's gaze. He always felt that the other person's gaze was inexplicably... eager?

However, Wang Dehai just gave him a few words of advice without any pain: "Stop doing these nonsense and just do your job well."

Lin Nanjie wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and nodded repeatedly.

After returning to the Purple Palace, seeing that it was time to change shifts, Lin Nanjie glanced around and wanted to sneak away when Li Chenghuan was not paying attention.

Who would have thought that Li Chengqian would suddenly turn around as if he had eyes on his back and say, "Lin Nanjie, come in."

Lin Nanjie retracted the half foot he had just taken with a "whoosh" sound, and followed Li Chenghuan into the warm room of the Zichen Palace with tears in his eyes.

"King of Painting...was it your bad idea to play hide-and-seek?" Li Chengqian asked, glancing at him.

Lin Nanjie smiled awkwardly and said, "Your Highness said that he was bored, so I thought of a way to relieve your boredom."

[I didn't expect the emperor to be killed halfway. ]

[Also, I didn't say I would paint your face, who knew you would agree so quickly. ]

[If you agree to come later, I will try to play something else with you. ]

Li Chengqian was stunned.

In the end, he was still wrong?

Li Chenghuan was walking out with cold air coming out. Seeing that something was wrong, Lin Nanqi quickly admitted his fault: "It's all my fault."

Lin Nanjie stole a glance at Li Chenghuan and saw that Li Chenghuan was staring at him expressionlessly, with a tearful face: "I will never dare to do that again."

Li Chenghuan remained expressionless: "Come here."

Lin Nanqi: [? ]

"Come here." Li Chenghuan repeated.

Lin Nanjie walked to Li Chenghuan hand and foot together and stopped one step away.

【Ahhhh! What is the dog emperor going to do! 】

[Will he be so angry that he wants to use violence against me? ]

As soon as the heartbeat fell, a cool touch fell on the forehead. Lin Nanjie's body froze, and when he looked up, he saw Li Chengjuan's smooth jawline. Li Chengjuan held the pen in his right hand, his eyes lowered, and he painted on Lin Nanjie's forehead seriously.

The soft and slightly elastic tip of the wolf-hair brush slid slowly across his forehead, leaving a cool mark with ink. Lin Nanji's eyelashes trembled slightly, his whole body stiffened and he dared not move, his eyes fixed on Li Chengqian's hand holding the brush.

The hand was slender and strong, with distinct joints, and a thin layer of silk where it usually held a pen.

His eyes gradually moved upwards, and Lin Nanjie saw his focused look, as if he was not drawing a turtle, but was seriously reviewing memorials.

The turtle on top of its head is finally given a tail, with smooth strokes and completed in one go.

Lin Nanqi retracted his gaze and thought: [Is the painting finished?]

Then a line of ink was placed on the left cheek.

Lin Nanjie: [Why is there also one on the left side? ]

Li Chengqian leaned forward and sneered, "Tsk, you're drawing smoothly."

Lin Nanqi stammered, "Your Majesty, please stop insulting me."

Li Chengqian drew a heavy stroke before withdrawing his hand angrily.

He called Wang Dehai in again, took out a mirror, and asked Lin Nanjie to look at himself.

Lin Nanqi looked at the turtles painted all over his forehead and on both sides of his face, and his eyes widened immediately. He forced a smile that was not meant to be: "Your Majesty painted it very well. I am really flattered."

Li Chenghuan smiled and said, "Since I paint well, it's a pity that only these few people appreciate it."

Lin Nanqie's smile almost collapsed: "What does the emperor mean?"

Li Chenghuan straightened his robes and said with a refreshed look, "I would like you to walk around the palace and let everyone admire my calligraphy."

Lin Nanqi was stunned for a moment.

【Around the palace?】

【Let everyone watch? 】

【Ahhhhhhhh! 】

[I knew he was up to no good! ]

***

In broad daylight, a eunuch in blue clothes was walking timidly on the imperial palace corridor, occasionally raising his sleeves to cover his face. That person was Lin Nanjie, who was so embarrassed that his entire face turned red.

The more he did this, the more attention he attracted from the people around him. Many people looked over and looked at the eunuch curiously. When they saw the emperor not far behind them, they retracted their gazes and bowed respectfully. Seeing that the emperor did not blame them, a few brave eunuchs came forward to check and whispered to each other.

"What's going on? Why is your face painted like this?"

"Who is this? How dare you come out like this? Aren't you afraid of being punished?"

"Tsk, don't you have eyes? The emperor is right behind us, he must have agreed."

"Yes, yes, that's right."

"It seems to be the former eunuch Lin!"

When they reached the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the ministers on duty in the palace heard the commotion outside and came out to join in the fun while changing their tea. They saw a crowd of people in the middle. The ministers craned their necks and saw a eunuch with turtle smeared all over his face.

Bai Zhang came out of Wenhua Hall while cracking melon seeds. Seeing the hustle and bustle, he had no choice but to join in. He squeezed in the middle and after seeing the man's face clearly, he exclaimed in surprise: "Eunuch Lin? Why are you not serving in front of the emperor? Why are you here with such a messed-up face?"

Lin Nanqi raised his head and looked at Bai Zhang dimly: "The emperor said that this is a treasure of calligraphy, let everyone appreciate it."

Bai Zhang laughed out loud after hearing this: "Hahahaha, who takes a turtle as a calligraphy piece…"

Before he finished laughing, he saw the emperor, who was a few meters behind him and was wearing casual clothes, suddenly became mute.

Could this be the emperor's calligraphy?

Bai Zhang immediately came up with a witty idea: "...This calligraphy is truly extraordinary! Look at the brushwork, vigorous and powerful, yet elegant, it is truly a top-notch painting! I am so lucky to be able to appreciate such a painting!"

Lin Nanjie looked at Bai Zhang with eyes full of admiration.

【High, really high! 】

[It's a pity that your boss is right behind you. He's staring at you with such a frown that it could kill flies.]

Wang Zhongcheng had come out at some point. He stood in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, frowning as he watched the noisy scene in front of him: "In front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, it's really inappropriate to flirt with the crowd like this!"

When Bai Zhang heard Wang Zhongcheng's voice, he immediately tucked his tail in.

Who would have thought that Wang Zhongcheng would say: "I... forget it. I'm here to admire the emperor's new work."

After that, Wang Zhongcheng walked to the back of Bai Zhang and stroked his beard: "Not bad, painting on a human face with such smooth brushwork is not something that can be achieved in a day!"

Lin Nanqi's eyes widened.

[Wang Zhongcheng, aren't you the most upright and incorruptible person who disdains flattery? ]

【You, you have changed too! 】

During the short walk Lin Nanjie took in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, many ministers gathered around him, and one even wanted to copy the ink marks on his face on the spot to keep forever.

Lin Nanjie wanted to cry but had no tears. What was there to collect?

In the end, even Feng Yuanxiu was shocked. He stood aside with a perpetually gentle and unpredictable expression on his face. Although he was old, he was still highly respected.

Lin Nanjie looked at Feng Yuanxiu as if asking for help.

[Mr. Feng Ge, look at this, how disgraceful! Please take care of this!]

[As a senior official of the dynasty and a role model for the officials, you cannot allow a little eunuch to disrupt the officials' work! ]

[Please, I really don’t want to die in society! ]

Who knew Feng Yuanxiu stood there and chatted with Li Chenghuan for a few words, looking like they were having a good conversation. Then he looked at Lin Nanjie with a smile: "Your Majesty is in a good mood today, and it really opened our eyes."

Li Chenghuan took a fan in his hand without knowing when, and he opened it with a "swish" sound and fanned it gently.

"Your Excellency is wrong. When I have something happy, I will naturally share it with the ministers."

Lin Nanjie gritted his teeth and said, "What the hell is this about having fun together!"

【55555 How come this kind of thing always happens to me? 】

[Why was I so obsessed that I had to mention this! ]

[Dog Emperor! I will never forgive you! ]

Li Chenghuan waved his fan while listening to the familiar voice scolding him in his heart.

Even though he was being scolded, Li Chengqian felt more at ease than ever before.

Although the weather was still chilly in spring, Li Chengqian was waving his fan as if he wanted to blow away all the strange feelings.