Faced with the blind Wei Chengxiu, Li Qingchen no longer needed to hide, and simply watched as his younger brother read and his older sister rested at her desk.
The rain pattered outside the window, the small house was dilapidated, and the candlelight on the table was dim... This scene was strangely heartwarming.
As dawn broke, the rain that had poured down all night finally stopped. Wei Shuwan opened her eyes, and Wei Chengxiu, noticing the slight shaking of the table, closed the bamboo scroll and stood up, saying, "Sister, I'll go back now. If the people in Grandmother's courtyard see this, they'll probably be unhappy again."
Wei Shuwan got up and helped him put on his raincoat, then personally escorted him to the courtyard gate: "Axiu, I can't see you out of the courtyard. Be careful on the way, and call someone to help you if you hear any noise."
"Mm," Wei Chengxiu responded with a smile and left.
Back in the room of reflection, Wei Shuwan thought Li Qingchen had also left, but seeing that he was still there, she finally said what she had been holding back all night: "Thank you for staying with me."
"There's no need for that. I didn't leave because the rain was too heavy and I was worried about getting my wound wet. Besides, even if I hadn't stayed, you would have your younger brother with you, so you wouldn't have to worry," Li Qingchen said calmly, without taking any credit.
Wei Shuwan smiled, but in his heart he knew that this little bit of rain posed no threat to him at all. He thought to himself that there were still people in this world who did good deeds but did not want to be remembered.
Perhaps sensing the deeper meaning in her smile, Li Qingchen appeared slightly embarrassed and changed the subject: "Did you carve all of your brother's books yourself?"
Wei Shuwan was clearly surprised that he asked about this, and nodded: "How did you guess?"
"What's so difficult about that? The handwriting is just the same. But this kind of thing can be delegated to someone else. Why do you have to do it yourself?"
Wei Shuwan didn't speak, but lowered her head slightly, the answer was self-evident.
She felt guilty; her brother's blindness was partly her fault, and she felt that doing something for him would make her feel better.
Li Qingchen saw through her thoughts and regretted bringing up the very thing she shouldn't have, but since he had already started, he had no choice but to continue the conversation to prevent her from getting caught up in her current emotions.
How long will it take to engrave this scroll?
Wei Shuwan quickly pulled himself out of his thoughts, thought for a moment, and replied, "When Ah Xiu was reading Mencius and the Doctrine of the Mean, it was alright. He could finish carving a volume in just ten days or half a month. Now that he has finished reading all four books and five classics, he has started reading Records of the Grand Historian and Book of Han. They are hundreds of thousands of words long, and it takes several months to carve them."
Just as Li Qingchen was silently marveling at the enormous project, Wei Shuwan continued, "But the teacher said that Ah Xiu can now read the Zizhi Tongjian."
Her tone revealed bewilderment and helplessness, which was understandable. With over three million words and a total of two hundred and ninety-four volumes, it would take an ordinary person a year and a half to copy it by hand, let alone for her to carve it out stroke by stroke with a carving knife.
I'm afraid we won't be able to read it until Wei Chengxiu comes of age.
"If that's the case, why insist on carving it out? Why not have the teacher read it to him directly every day?"
“Teaching something by ear is like swallowing a date whole; to truly understand it, one must study and comprehend it deeply on one’s own. If he wants to take the imperial examination, he cannot be vague.”
Hearing this, Li Qingchen finally couldn't help but frown: "He still wants to take the imperial examination?"
Wei Shuwan seemed to be hurt by his words, and retorted with a hint of resentment, "Which rule of the Great Ye Dynasty stipulates that blind people cannot take the imperial examinations?"
“Of course not.” Li Qingchen nodded, both to apologize for his previous rash words and to affirm Wei Chengxiu’s ambition. Then, a slight smile appeared on his lips, and his tone revealed a rare sincerity: “I am willing to wait and see.”
Wei Shuwan's earlier sullenness finally dissipated, and she smiled with pursed lips.
The sun burst forth outside the window, casting golden rays of dawn. Li Qingchen put his hands behind his back and whispered, "I'm leaving."
For some reason, upon hearing those three words, Wei Shuwan felt a slight sense of loss, but it was only a fleeting emotion, and she quickly smiled and said, "Okay."
It wasn't until Li Qingchen left the room of reflection, leaped onto the courtyard wall, and quickly disappeared from sight that Wei Shuwan began to ponder whether his so-called "leaving" meant leaving the room of reflection to return to Fuquxuan, or leaving the Wei family.
After leaving the courtyard, Li Qingchen leaped directly onto the wall of the Wei family's backyard, landing on top of a group of servants who were sweeping fallen leaves in the yard early in the morning, and left the Wei family mansion unnoticed.
A quarter of an hour later, he returned to the gate of the Prince's Mansion and found that the people who had been keeping watch there that night had disappeared. It seemed that after two nights of surveillance, they had not been able to find any clues and had to give up.
Li Qingchen returned to the mansion through the main gate in a grand and dignified manner. Yuan Que, as if he had planned it all along, came over to greet him and asked, "Young Prince, are you alright?"
"It's nothing, I'm just a little tired from not sleeping last night. Even if the King of Heaven himself came today, he's not allowed to bother me!" Li Qingchen said as he walked towards the bedroom in the backyard. He looked somewhat weary, but his expression was as stern as ever.
"Your Highness, rest assured, I will certainly guard the gate for you!"
"Oh, right, there's one more thing I need you to do." Li Qingchen suddenly stopped, turned around and instructed, "Have someone take the Prince's Mansion token to the Imperial Academy and Chongwen Academy to ask if the printing plates that were replaced in previous years are still useful. If they are not of any urgent use, the Prince's Mansion can borrow a set."
Yuan Que looked slightly taken aback, quite surprised: "What does the young prince need those printing plates for?"
Li Qingchen didn't answer, but only glanced at him sideways. Yuan Que immediately became sensible and nodded, saying, "This subordinate will send someone to ask right away, but I don't know which set Your Highness wants?"
"Zizhi Tongjian"
*
As the sun shone brightly, its rays spread throughout the courtyard, and the old woman from Songhe Residence finally came over to this side of the courtyard.
Before leaving, Li Qingchen made a point of locking the door again. When the nanny opened it, she didn't notice anything amiss. Upon entering the room, she saw Wei Shuwan sitting calmly on a bench, looking quite well and showing no signs of depression. On the table beside her were three copies of "Admonitions for Women".
The old woman was illiterate, but at a glance, she noticed that the characters were written neatly and correctly, unlike what one might expect from a lazy attempt to get by.
"Third Miss, you must have had a hard night. Come with me to Songhe Residence and hand over this copy of 'Admonitions for Women' yourself. It will help the Old Madam calm down." Now that the punishment was over, the mistress was still the mistress, and the servant was still the servant. The old woman spoke much more politely than last night.
"Okay." Wei Shuwan replied indifferently, then picked up the three stacks of papers and left the room of reflection.
When Wei Shuwan arrived at Songhe Residence, she happened to see her aunt and Wei Shuyao coming out after paying their respects to the old lady. The three of them walked past each other at the door.
Since they had run into each other, Wei Shuwan greeted Madam Meng and said, "Aunt, Fourth Sister."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
