Chapter 77
Su Zhelan felt the warmth and steady strength of Xiao Qiyun on the back of her hand, and heard Xiao Qiyun's words, which seemed to be exonerating Sheng Xuan but were actually meant to comfort and guide her. Her doubts were not completely dispelled, but the urge to get to the bottom of things was slightly suppressed.
He subconsciously released his grip on Shengxuan's wrist.
Sheng Xuan felt as if she had been granted a pardon. She immediately pulled her left arm back and quickly pulled down her sleeve to cover the glaring gauze.
He secretly breathed a sigh of relief and glanced gratefully at Xiao Qiyun. Although he knew that Xiao Qiyun might have guessed something, he was still very grateful that Xiao Qiyun had helped him out of the predicament.
"Have some soup." Su Zhelan's voice was low, with a hint of barely perceptible hoarseness. He handed the bowl back to Sheng Xuan, this time placing it steadily on Sheng Xuan's right hand. "...Be careful, it's hot."
Sheng Xuan took the bowl, the warmth of the bowl seeping through his palm. He looked at Su Zhelan's profile, still tinged with worry and a hint of lingering doubt, then at his own "gloriously wounded" left arm, and a bold, somewhat reckless thought instantly popped into his head!
His eyes darted around, and his face immediately adopted an extremely exaggerated expression, a mixture of pain and grievance. His left hand was deliberately left hanging "weakly" at his side, trembling slightly.
"Ouch..." Sheng Xuan drawled, his voice carrying a pitiful tone, his brows furrowed tightly, as if he were enduring immense pain.
"Zelan... my arm... it seems like I really can't use my strength anymore..."
As he spoke, he held the bowl in his right hand, deliberately making it look like it was about to spill, while his eyes secretly glanced at Su Zhelan. "Look... this bowl... why is it so heavy... I can't hold it steady..."
Su Zhelan's lips twitched involuntarily as she watched Sheng Xuan's exaggerated performance and the deliberately shaking bowl.
Of course he knew Sheng Xuan was faking it! Besides, when he put down the food box and pointed at Xiao Qiyun, his movements were anything but slow!
But... looking at Sheng Xuan's deliberately furrowed face, and thinking of the thick gauze on his left arm, and that barely perceptible guilty feeling that he might be injured... Su Zhelan's helplessness finally overcame her speechlessness.
He sighed, resignedly reaching out to take the soup bowl from Sheng Xuan's "shaky" right hand.
"Alright, alright, stop pretending." Su Zhelan's voice carried a hint of helplessness and indulgence as she glared at Sheng Xuan. "Sit properly."
Upon hearing this, Sheng Xuan's eyes lit up instantly! The exaggerated expression of pain on his face vanished in an instant, leaving only a triumphant, radiant smile, like a cat that had just stolen fish.
He immediately sat obediently on the cushion next to the low table, his back straight, his eyes sparkling as he looked at Su Zhelan, practically wagging his tail.
Su Zhelan sat down next to Sheng Xuan, holding a bowl. He scooped up a spoonful of warm soup, blew on it gently to make sure it wasn't too hot, and then brought it to Sheng Xuan's lips.
"Open your mouth." Su Zhelan's voice remained flat, but her movements carried a subtle care.
Sheng Xuan immediately grinned, his eyes disappearing into his smile, and without hesitation, he took a spoonful of the warm soup into his mouth and drank it down.
As he drank, he mumbled indistinctly, "Mmm...delicious! Zhelan's cooking is just different!" He glanced smugly at Xiao Qiyun, who was sitting quietly beside him, with a hint of boasting.
Su Zhelan felt her ears burning slightly at his undisguised smugness and the words "Zhelan's feeding is definitely different," but her face remained tense. She simply scooped up another spoonful of soup and quickly shoved it into Sheng Xuan's mouth: "Drink your soup! Stop talking so much nonsense!"
Sheng Xuan was stuffed with soup, but he wasn't annoyed. Instead, he smiled even more brightly and continued to look at Su Zhelan with sparkling eyes, as if he were enjoying some supreme delicacy.
Meanwhile, Xiao Qiyun had somehow returned to his seat opposite the low table. He held a freshly brewed cup of tea, his posture elegant and composed, as if he were enjoying an interesting drama.
He slowly blew on the steam from the tea, then took a small sip. The rising steam blurred the smile on his lips, but the slight upturn of his lips revealed a hint of amusement and... an almost imperceptible coolness.
His gaze seemingly unintentionally swept over Sheng Xuan's smug, dog-like appearance, then landed on Su Zhelan's profile as she gently spooned soup into his mouth, her face stern.
Xiao Qiyun maintained a gentle and composed "smile" on his face, as if he didn't care about the intimate scene in front of him.
However, his fingers, holding the teacup, almost imperceptibly caressed the warm, smooth surface of the cup, and a faint emotion, like an undercurrent surging beneath the surface of ice, flickered deep in the depths of his eyes.
Sheng Xuan finished the last sip of soup with satisfaction, and even licked his lips with lingering enjoyment, as if that ordinary soup was some kind of nectar.
He put down the bowl, and his gaze naturally fell on the completed ink plum blossom painting on the low table.
I was so focused on the "injured" and "begging for food" signs that I didn't pay much attention.
"Oh! Finished painting?" Sheng Xuan moved closer, curiously examining the ink plum tree. The vigorous branches and the buds about to bloom, although the brushwork seemed a bit immature to him as a layman, the overall effect was elegant and vibrant.
"Well done, Zhelan! These plum blossoms... they look quite vibrant!" he exclaimed sincerely. Although he didn't understand painting, he could still tell the difference between good and bad.
Looking at Sheng Xuan's genuine admiration, and recalling his childish smugness earlier, Su Zhelan felt even more helpless and indulgent. He finished clearing away the dishes and his gaze fell on the painting, saying softly, "It is Your Highness's excellent teaching."
He paused, looking into Sheng Xuan's eyes, which shone brightly with curiosity, and an idea suddenly popped into his head. He picked up a clean calligraphy brush beside him, dipped it in water, and handed it to Sheng Xuan, his voice carrying a hint of encouragement and probing: "Sheng Xuan, would you like to... give it a try too?"
"Huh?!" Sheng Xuan recoiled as if he had been burned! Looking at the calligraphy brush handed to him, he looked as if he had seen some kind of monstrous beast! He waved his hands repeatedly, shaking his head like a rattle drum.
"No, no, no! Absolutely not! I don't know how to do this!" His face was full of resistance and a "don't get me into trouble" expression. "My hands... I can handle knives and guns! But this thing? No way! I'll definitely ruin it!"
As he spoke, he subconsciously moved his "injured" left arm, as if to emphasize that he had absolutely nothing to do with elegant pursuits like painting.
Seeing Sheng Xuan's eagerness to avoid the situation, Su Zhelan couldn't help but smile. He put down his pen, his voice gentle: "I don't know how either. I've never touched these before."
He pointed to the drawing paper, "His Highness taught me patiently. Look, from how to hold the brush to how to apply pressure, how to dot the ink...His Highness taught me very carefully."
Su Zhelan's tone carried a sense of trust and gratitude towards Xiao Qiyun, and her gaze naturally turned to Xiao Qiyun opposite her.
Xiao Qiyun was holding a teacup when he heard this. He looked up to meet Su Zhelan's gaze, a gentle smile on his lips, and nodded slightly, as if to say, "It's only right."
As Sheng Xuan listened to Su Zhelan's words and saw the trusting look in her eyes when she looked at Xiao Qiyun, his initial smugness was instantly replaced by a sour feeling. He pouted and muttered to himself.
"Hmph... No matter how well he taught you... he's the one who taught you..." His tone carried a childish awkwardness, as if he were saying, "He didn't teach me."
But he couldn't resist his curiosity. He peered at the painting again, then at the brush in Su Zhelan's hand, feeling a strong urge to try it himself.
After hesitating for a moment, I couldn't resist and carefully extended my uninjured right hand.
"Then...then I'll give it a try?" Sheng Xuan's voice carried a hint of uncertainty and eagerness as he looked at Su Zhelan, his eyes sparkling.
Su Zhelan looked at Sheng Xuan's adorable expression, which was both eager to try and afraid of making a fool of himself, and the smile in his eyes deepened. He handed Sheng Xuan a brush dipped in water: "Hmm, try the pressure with water on the blank areas. Don't worry if you mess it up."
Sheng Xuan took the pen, his movements clumsy as if he were holding a dagger. He imitated Su Zhelan's earlier actions, holding the pen with his wrist suspended, taking a deep breath in front of the blank space on the paper, and then suddenly slamming the pen down!
"Whoosh—!"
A thick, crooked line appeared on the paper, like a tree trunk bent under the weight.
Sheng Xuan frowned, clearly dissatisfied. He flicked his wrist, the pen suddenly stopping at the top of the "tree trunk," and then drew a crooked, flat circle, like an underdeveloped potato.
Su Zhelan blinked, somewhat confused. What was this? A stone? Or... some kind of fruit?
Sheng Xuan ignored Su Zhelan's doubts. He was focused on adding two more strokes to the sides of the "potato"—standing straight up like two stubborn antennas!
Su Zhelan frowned slightly, even more confused. What... is this?
Sheng Xuan seemed to think it wasn't enough, so he added a few more strokes at the base of the "antennas" to try and fix them up... As a result, the two "antennas" looked like two flattened, limp leaves!
Su Zhelan: "..." He couldn't understand it at all.
Sheng Xuan took a deep breath and decided to draw the main subject! He exerted force with his wrist, and his brush moved like dragons and snakes!
“Shuashuashua——!”
Several rough, haphazard lines spread out below the "potato head," crooked and uneven in thickness, with some places heavily inked and others broken and discontinuous... looking just like a bunch of tangled rotten ropes!
Su Zhelan stared at the increasingly out-of-control "rope," her lips twitching involuntarily. What kind of abstract art is this?
Sheng Xuan was not giving up, so he made a few more strokes at the end of the "hemp rope" to try to draw a strong support... but those strokes looked like a few short, stiff matchsticks stuck in a pile of hemp rope!
Finally, with a flick of his wrist, he drew a thin, curved line with a hook at the end behind the "pile of ropes"... like a dying earthworm!
A highly abstract "masterpiece" composed of crooked potatoes, rotten leaves, tangled hemp rope, matchsticks, and dying earthworms, completely unrecognizable, leaps off the paper!
Sheng Xuan put down his pen, let out a long sigh, and looked at his "masterpiece" with a sense of relief on his face, even a little smug as he looked at Su Zhelan.
Su Zhelan looked at the horrible, extremely abstract doodle on the paper, and then at Sheng Xuan's "seeking praise" expression. She was speechless for a moment, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
He tried to find some logic or imagery in the chaos, but failed.
Just then, a clear, gentle voice, tinged with obvious mischief and teasing, rang out from the side:
"Oh?" Xiao Qiyun had already strolled to the low table at some point. He leaned down slightly and examined the "masterpiece" on the paper with great interest. His slender fingers lightly touched the crooked potato and two rotten leaves, and a playful smile appeared on his lips.
"Could this be... a drawing of... a tiger with its teeth pulled out?"
The word "tiger" was the perfect finishing touch!
Su Zhelan's gaze instantly focused on the "crooked potato" and "rotten leaves"—round head, two drooping ears... Then she looked down at the "tangled rope" and "matchstick" below—body and limbs? And that "dying earthworm"—tail?!
"Pfft..." Su Zhelan instantly matched Xiao Qiyun's hint with the pattern on the paper in her mind, and a huge sense of absurdity and humor surged into her throat!
He bit his lower lip hard to keep from bursting out laughing! His shoulders trembled violently as he tried to suppress his laughter!
Su Zhelan couldn't hold back any longer! He abruptly turned his face away, covering his mouth tightly with his hand, but the suppressed, leaky "pfft pfft" laughter still escaped through his fingers! He laughed so hard that his whole body trembled, and tears were almost coming out of his eyes!
“…Ears…” Su Zhelan managed to squeeze out two words through his fingers, his voice trembling with a heavy laugh. He suppressed his laughter, pointed to the two “rotten leaves,” and tried to offer some “professional” advice, even though he was a novice himself. “…Could they be…a little rounder?”
After saying that, he couldn't help but burst out laughing, and his shoulders shook even more violently.
Sheng Xuan's face instantly turned as red as a boiled shrimp! He looked at the doodle on the paper that Xiao Qiyun called "a tiger with its teeth pulled," and then at Su Zhelan's trembling laughter and teary eyes. He felt so ashamed and embarrassed that he wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into!
"Xiao Qiyun! You...you stop talking nonsense!" Sheng Xuan roared at Xiao Qiyun in a fit of rage, her voice trembling. "Who...who drew a tiger! I...I drew...it was..."
He stammered for a long time, but couldn't come up with anything decent. In the end, he could only angrily snatch the "masterpiece," crumple it into a ball, and stuff it into his pocket. "I'm not drawing anymore! I'm never drawing again! This broken pen! It's useless!"
As he grumbled, he secretly glanced at Su Zhelan, who was still laughing uncontrollably. The shame and indignation in his heart were somewhat diluted by Su Zhelan's rare hearty smile, leaving only a sense of helplessness and... a secret satisfaction, as long as Su Zhelan is happy.
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