CHAPTER 51: CHAPTER 26: STUFFY ATMOSPHERE

"Since there’s nothing to do, I might as well teach you how to hold the brush and grind ink!" Sang Wan said with a smile.

Xingzhi and Hong Ye were more than happy, immediately smiling and agreeing. Hong Ye then laughed and said, "I’ll add a few more candles to make it brighter for us!"

The candlelight flickered, making the small study room bright and well-lit. Xingzhi and Hong Ye each sat at one side, watching intently as Sang Wan demonstrated how to grind ink, and then had them sit and taught them how to hold the brush.

Merely holding the brush was not interesting, so Sang Wan decided to write a few simple characters with fewer strokes to teach them and let them practice the feel of holding the brush. She instructed Xingzhi, while Liu Ya guided Hong Ye. The four of them concentrated with all their hearts.

When Shi Fengju returned under the faint starlight, he saw such a scene.

There were four people in the room, but his gaze unconsciously fixed on one person. Under the soft light, she was wearing a light green, elegantly simple dress, standing gracefully behind Xingzhi, her head slightly lowered. One hand was holding Xingzhi’s hand, moving the brush while softly whispering something.

The light outlined her softly curved profile: faint eyebrows, soft lips, erect nose tip, round and small earlobe. A green jade round gold hairpin was worn on her raven-black hair at her temples, and the round and lustrous pearl tassels hung beside her ears. From his angle, she appeared gentle and beautiful, irresistibly making one wish to cherish and protect her in their palms.

For a moment, Shi Fengju stared, captivated, with a peaceful and soft feeling in his heart. Unwilling to disturb this exquisite scene, he decided to quietly leave, but Liu Ya suddenly looked up and saw him.

"Young Master!" Liu Ya, who was teaching Hong Ye, hurriedly let go of her hand and stood up straight.

The other three were also startled and stopped what they were doing. Xingzhi and Hong Ye quickly stood up and greeted him, looking somewhat embarrassed as if they had done something guilty.

Shi Fengju smiled and stepped in, glanced at Sang Wan, and asked with a smile, "Are you teaching them to read?"

"Yes," Sang Wan laughed, "In our free time, I thought it would be nice to teach them a few characters. We were just about to begin!"

"Indeed!" Shi Fengju had no objection and only said, "Maybe let’s not do it this late at night, continue tomorrow when it’s daylight."

"We didn’t intend to do so much tonight; just wanted to teach them how to hold the brush for now!" Sang Wan laughed again.

Xingzhi hurriedly added with a smile, "Has Young Master had dinner yet?"

Sang Wan quickly added with a somewhat embarrassed smile, "I didn’t know when you’d be back, so I couldn’t wait due to hunger and ate first. Dinner is still warm, would you like to have some, Young Master?"

Shi Fengju felt an inexplicable disappointment in his heart, as his "wife" did not show any concern for him. Instead, it was Xingzhi, a servant girl, who asked him first. Judging by her expression, it seemed that whether he came back or not had no effect on her appetite. With this thought, the discomfort in his heart grew stronger.

He had rushed back as soon as he was done, worrying that she might be upset because he wasn’t by her side during their newlywed days. Seemed like he wasn’t needed anymore, as she got along well with these two servant girls!

Besides disappointment, Shi Fengju couldn’t help but feel annoyed. He raised an eyebrow indifferently and said, "No need, I’m not hungry yet. I need to go to the study for a bit. You, ahem! I’ll go ahead!" After that, he turned around to leave and ordered Xingzhi to change clothes.

He initially wanted to say, "If you’re sleepy, go to bed first, don’t wait for me!" But thinking again, she didn’t wait for him to eat, so naturally, she would go to sleep if she were tired. There was no need for him to remind her. That was it! Shi Fengju laughed bitterly at himself. Their relationship was like this, not even friends, worse than a business partnership. Why should she care about his feelings?

"Young Master seemed... not very happy! Madam, is that so?" After watching Shi Fengju and Xingzhi leave, Liu Ya said to Sang Wan.

Hong Ye’s face changed slightly as she worriedly said, "Could it be that us learning to read with Madam has upset Young Master?"

"You just had to mention it!" Liu Ya immediately thought it was true and scolded Hong Ye, "Keeping Madam busy this late at night, how could Young Master be happy? I think we should stop now!"

Feeling even more embarrassed, Hong Ye quickly apologized and swiftly cleaned up the brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone.

"Why would Young Master be angry over such trivial matters? You all are overthinking it! There’s nothing wrong! I cannot see any difference in Young Master’s behavior. It is most likely that he is tired, which is affecting his mood." Sang Wan said leisurely with a smile.