CHAPTER 392: CHAPTER 360: THE LAST PAINTING DEPENDS ON YOU (PART 2)

In a few days, Emperor Guangxi was going to the Jiangnan Palace to escape the summer heat, and Song Wei was asked to accompany him.

The day before leaving was a day off. Song Wei, bored at home, decided to teach his son the "Three Character Classic."

The little guy sat on a stool, nodding his head and studying along.

Wen Wan had learned a skill from Mrs. Jin and personally made sour plum soup to bring over.

Upon entering and seeing the father and son so engrossed in their learning, she couldn’t bear to interrupt and quietly walked over to sit on the side, browsing through the little guy’s "masterpieces" on the table, noticing that a few characters were written quite neatly.

Wen Wan’s gaze fell on the writing, and she couldn’t help but smile as she imagined the little guy clumsily holding a pen in her mind.

"Mother, I want a drink."

Just as Wen Wan was in a daze, the little guy, whose attention was no longer on the "Three Character Classic," stared at the sour plum soup on the table and said in a childish voice, "Jinbao is thirsty."

Wen Wan put his practice sheet back on the writing desk, stood up, and brought over two bowls of sour plum soup, one for Song Wei and one for Jinbao.

The little guy picked up a spoon and started taking one spoonful after another into his mouth.

"Drink slowly," Wen Wan told him, "You never used to like sour things, so why are you drinking now?"

Jinbao ignored her, smacking his lips and continuing to drink.

Afraid that drinking too much would upset his stomach, Wen Wan only gave him half a bowl. After he finished, he still wanted more, but Wen Wan didn’t allow it, "You’ve finished today’s portion. If you want more, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow."

Jinbao thought about his father going on a long trip and looked eagerly at Song Wei, "I want to go with Daddy."

"Where to?" Wen Wan asked.

Jinbao didn’t know where he wanted to go; he just knew that following Daddy would surely mean good food and fun things.

Seeing her son not answering, Wen Wan raised an eyebrow, "If you can’t answer, then you can’t go."

Hearing this, Jinbao slumped his head on the writing desk.

Wen Wan patted his little head, "What’s so fun about going with your father? Wouldn’t you rather go herding sheep?"

"Herding sheep, Jinbao wants to herd sheep." When the little guy heard this, he instantly became spirited, his round eyes shining brightly.

Wen Wan pointed to the practice paper that he had crumpled, "Look, write the characters, and when your father leaves tomorrow, Mother will take you to the manor to herd sheep with your little friends."

The little guy, full of energy, immediately picked up a pen and wrote the few simple characters that his mother indicated.

After he finished writing, Wen Wan made him recite the "Three Character Classic."

The little guy refused, "Just now Mother didn’t make me recite it."

Seeing that it wasn’t easy to fool him, Wen Wan changed her approach, "If you can recite everything your father taught you just now, Mother will not only let you herd sheep but also let you go down to the river to catch fish, how about that?"

The little guy counted on his fingers, as if calculating who was getting the better deal.

After calculating, he couldn’t resist the temptation of catching fish. He opened his mouth and recited the section of the "Three Character Classic" that Song Wei had taught him.

Wen Wan listened with satisfaction and gave the little guy a kiss on his fair, tender cheek.

She said, with such a genius father, how could the son possibly be lacking?

Jinbao wasn’t learning any slower than Yuanbao, but he was just lazy. If you don’t offer some incentives, his overall slackness made him look like a useless piece of wood.

Not long after, Old Song, looking energetic, came to take the little golden grandson away.

The study room was left with only Wen Wan and Song Wei.

Song Wei was washing his brush and spoke seemingly casually, "I heard from Wei Qian that Hao Yun is dead."

Wen Wan’s heart skipped a beat, "How did he die?"

"It’s a long story," Song Wei’s voice was devoid of emotion, "but in the end, it was because he got caught up in the Su Family’s internal strife."

Wen Wan couldn’t help lamenting, "Indeed, big families can be cannibalistic."

Song Wei sighed, "If he had used the meticulous calculations he employed against me to study instead, he wouldn’t have failed to make it into the top ranks."

"Come on!" Wen Wan couldn’t imagine Hao Yun improving, "That person was abnormal from the start. Do you remember what happened back then? After the list of the provincial exam came out, there was a cheating scandal, and all the candidates in your batch were required to re-register for exams. It was just a retake, not like he had failed, yet he thought it through and wanted to jump into the river and kill himself. With such an unstable mindset, how good could you expect him to be? If it weren’t for us meeting him, he wouldn’t have lived for so many more years.

Although he was unaware when we saved him, he did personally come to seek your teaching before the academy examinations, and you poured your heart out, treating him as a friend. But what did he do? Not only did he take the top score with your help, but he also treated you as a mortal enemy, trying by all means to suppress you from then on.

Husband, why do people like this exist? It’s one thing to claim other people’s achievements for yourself—after all, knowledge, even if stolen, remains in your mind—but he shouldn’t have turned against you. At the very least, you were his mentor. What kind of man behaves like that?"

Song Wei finished washing the brush, looked up, and saw his young wife chattering away in complaint. He smiled gently, "Hao Yun’s actions only represent him as an individual; it doesn’t mean everyone is like him."

"I hope so!" Wen Wan sighed, "I hope from now on, we don’t encounter such people anymore."

While the couple was talking, the servant Hui Ink came in to report: "Master, Madam, Old Marquis Lu requests to see you."

Master?

Song Wei quickly concealed his surprise, "Invite him in."

After Hui Ink left, Wen Wan asked him, "Why has your master come?"

Song Wei had been in the capital for so long, yet this seemed to be the first time his master proactively sought him out.

Song Wei shook his head, "I don’t know either, but if it requires the trouble of him coming personally, it must be something important."

After he finished speaking, he instructed her, "Wanwan, go back to your room first. I’ll go meet my master."

Wen Wan nodded, watching the man as he left the study.

Song Wei went directly to the front hall, where Old Marquis Lu was already seated and drinking tea.

After a simple greeting, Song Wei smiled and said, "To have my master visit personally, it seems our family has found another priceless treasure."

Old Marquis Lu glanced at him, "Isn’t your son the priceless treasure to you?"

Song Wei smiled, not denying it.

After he sat down, Old Marquis Lu got straight to the point, "A lifetime’s worth of my efforts has been destroyed all at once."

Song Wei didn’t know that the Qiao Family’s Charity House was related to his master’s collection, and his expression showed slight confusion.

"Have you noticed any commotion at the government office these days?" Old Marquis Lu asked him.

Song Wei thought for a moment and answered honestly, "Colleagues said the Qiao Family’s Charity House in the southern part of the city exploded for no reason, and besides human bones, many fragments of porcelain and bronzes were found at the scene. According to insiders, those items were antiques with age and significant value before they were destroyed."

While speaking, Song Wei had already guessed somewhat, "So, those collections originally belonged to Master?"

As far as he knew, his master had been collecting antiques and paintings for decades and had quite a few good items. If they were all kept at the Qiao Family’s Charity House, then this explosion practically dug out his master’s heart.

Thinking of something, Song Wei asked, "Mr. Liu’s three paintings, were they also at the charity house?"

Old Marquis Lu remained silent.

Song Wei looked at his master’s expression quietly, "Based on what I know about you, other things could be genuine, but those three paintings are the exception—they’re fake."

After all, spending decades of effort to collect those three, it’s impossible not to be cautious.

Seeing that the other party didn’t deny it, Song Wei continued, "It seems when Master was copying those paintings, you had already prepared for them to be destroyed, so the one who ruined your decades of effort is the Empress Dowager?"

Regarding this disciple’s meticulous and shrewd intelligence, Old Marquis Lu was long accustomed. Seeing the disciple infer it so easily, he only pondered slightly, "I knew she had been searching, so I deliberately leaked some clues, allowing her subordinates to discover Treasure Pavilion smoothly."

"Taking out decades of effort to let her vent her anger, I can’t understand Master’s intentions even more."

"She resents me." Old Marquis Lu said, "Since the day she entered the palace, she has hated me to this day, which I’ve always known."

"Then why don’t you explain clearly to her in person?"

Old Marquis Lu chuckled, "If it could be explained, why would I avoid her for decades?"

Song Wei didn’t pursue further.

Often, other people’s compulsion isn’t something you can resolve easily with a single ’why’.

Without experiencing the other’s helplessness, you shouldn’t judge impulsively from a divine perspective.

Moreover, the heavens are so high, they might not care for every individual’s plight.

As mere mortals, what the naked eye can see is increasingly partial.

Perhaps in the eyes of the Empress Dowager, Master is terribly wrong as a heartless man, but in places she cannot see, Master harbors his own profound helplessness.

Clearing his thoughts, Song Wei calmly asked, "Then what is your purpose for seeking me today?"

Old Marquis Lu said, "Last time I asked you to find the last painting for me, did you find it?"

"No news." Song Wei shook his head.

He had asked Wei Qian for help, but finding an item with absolutely no clues is like finding a needle in a haystack.

"I have news." Old Marquis Lu looked at him, "However, I’m not in a position to act; whether we can get the last painting depends on you."

Song Wei did not refuse, "Where is that painting now?"