When Lan Yi came in, she discovered the mess on the floor at a quick glance. In the blink of an eye, she also saw the ink on His Highness's clothing. Even though His Highness was wearing black clothing, it still couldn't hide what that dampness meant. She was slightly astonished, but very quickly, she calmed down and proceeded to put things back in order.
Chu Qing-Yan flashed her a somewhat embarrassed smile, and Lan Yi returned it with a slight smile. Afterwards, she continued to tidy up the floor.
Chu Qing-Yan sighed, this girl really was exactly like what the book said a scholar was: A face like jade, making people unable to tear their gazes away.
As Chu Qing-Yan was staring like an infatuated fool, Xiao Xu's voice sounded.
"Come here."
Chu Qing-Yan, having heard this, retrieved her gaze from Lan Yi's body and turned to obediently walk to his front. At this moment, he was sitting while she was standing, so their line of sight just so happened to be at the same level.
"What did your Highness call Qing-Yan over for?" She curiously asked.
"Starting from today, this king will teach you how to read." Once Xiao Xu's words sounded, he successfully saw the change in her face which made him secretly amused.
"Why?" Chu Qing-Yan was so shocked that the words slipped out of her mouth without thinking.
The aftermath of these words that weren't sorted by her brain successfully made Xiao Xu's tone turn cold, "If news were to spread out that this king's consort doesn't know how to read a word, do you think that the only one who loses face would be you? This deeply-ingrained, long-standing resentful expression of yours, are you disdainful that this king doesn't know how to teach you?"
Chu Qing-Yan was frozen so stiff by these words that emitted cold air, she couldn't even shake her head, so she hurriedly denied, "No no no, Chu Qing-Yan isn't disdainful, only that I was too shocked and didn't return to my senses."
"Hmph! Go choose a brush." Xiao Xu already didn't want to look at her appearance of saying one thing and meaning something different. In passing, his finger pointed, letting her go to the pen rack to choose.
Chu Qing-Yan lightly sighed in her heart. She really didn't know what this Highness was thinking, thinking one thing, then another. She also wanted to learn how to write words, but if the person teaching turned out to be this person before her eyes, she felt that she would definitely be nervous.
However, she was still resigned to her fate and went to choose a brush.
And at this time, Xiao Xu let her choose her brush alone, going into the room to change his clothes. He was most unable to tolerate any stain on his clothes.
The room lost that oppressive atmosphere, and Chu Qing-Yan's pressure also plummeted, so she slowly took her time to choose. Various kinds of brushes hung from the pen rack on the table. The length varied, the thickness varied, the texture also varied. Some were made from bamboo, some with jadeite and precious stones, looking sparkling, translucent and dazzling like flowers. Under the bright light, they even seemed to glimmer faintly.
Chu Qing-Yan grabbed a brush made of white jade. It felt cold and snug in her hand. Chu Qing-Yan considered the brush in her hand, it felt very light. Before, she always thought that brushes made from jade would definitely be heavier than brushes made from bamboo. But in fact, it was really light. Using it to write would certainly be very comfortable.
"This king asked you to choose a brush, not to weigh silver."
A voice that was neither fast nor slow penetrated the air and reached her ears, subconsciously making her finger shrink back. However, the brush made from jade was too slippery, and all of a sudden, it slipped through the crack between her fingers and "Ke——" fell on the floor, splitting into two sections.
Chu Qing-Yan stared at the broken brush on the ground, dumbfounded.
Xiao Xu saw this and raised a brow slightly. He crossed over that broken brush and sat down on the imperial tutor-style chair. Hong Yi followed behind him. When Hong Yi entered and saw this scene, her brows jumped. That was His Highness's favorite writing brush of weasel bristle, broken just like that. It could be assumed that this Chu family's Miss will be censured by His Highness!
The first thing you should do when you do something wrong is to admit to your mistake. This will never be wrong.
Consequently, Chu Qing-Yan immediately lowered her head and admitted her mistake, "I'm sorry, I didn't do it on purpose."
If you must assign blame, half of the responsibility was yours. Who asked you to suddenly speak and scare me!
Xiao Xu didn't even glance at the brush on the floor before turning to her to say, "Didn't this king ask you to choose a brush? What are you doing standing there looking dazed for? Could it be that you think that the brush will write by itself?"
He let it pass just like this?
Chu Qing-Yan stupidly turned around to continue picking a brush. Her brain still hadn't caught up with what had just happened yet.
Not only Chu Qing-Yan, but even Hong Yi, who had just put down the pastries, also couldn't help but stare blankly. She never imagined that her family's Highness would let her go just like this. She felt this was somewhat inconceivable.
"Withdraw!" Xiao Xu said faintly.
Hong Yi knew that other than Lan Yi, His Highness didn't like other people attending to him in the study. Even Lan Yi was very rarely inside the study, except for occasions when there were matters, then she'd be summoned to enter. At this moment, Hong Yi took a glance at the petite figure whose back was facing her. His Highness seemed to really like calling this little miss to wait upon him.
Lan Yi stepped into the room and nodded towards Hong Yi in greeting as she passed by. Then, she saw the brush that was broken in half on the floor. She looked somewhat speechless. She turned to look at the clever Chu Qing-Yan who was choosing a brush, which bewildered her. This Chu family's Miss really seemed to like throwing things on the floor for fun. However, this was also the nature of children.
Lan Yi had just picked up the brush when she heard the prince's impatient voice, "I only asked you to choose a brush, it's not like I'm asking you to pick vegetables in the market. With you dilly-dallying like this, how can you do great things?"
She smiled slightly, it looks like His Highness had really put this Chu family's Miss in his heart.
Chu Qing-Yan heard this, and felt she was somewhat being wronged. There were at least ten brushes in front of her. Just looking dazzled her so much that she didn't know where to start. Now, she could only pick one in passing and turned to hand it to Xiao Xu.
Xiao Xu raised an eyebrow at her selection, "Are you sure?"
Chu Qing-Yan took a glance at the brush in her hand. The shape of the brush fit snuggly in the hand, the brush hairs were full and smooth, forming a conical shape. It was neither too flat nor too thin, bright colors and designs decorated it, making it look pleasing to the eyes. It was lithe and beautiful, of course she was sure ah! But she believed that there must be more to Xiao Xu's words, it didn't seem to have been spoken casually. However, she really couldn't find any reason to say this brush wasn't good ah!
Seeing her nod her head in bewilderment, Xiao Xu didn't say anything more. He took the brush from her, then started to explain the posture when holding a brush.
"The action of holding a brush are just these few words, follow, sign, hook, frame, press down and follow."
While speaking, he held the brush to demonstrate.
In fact, she had already learned for a year how to write with a brush in the modern world, only, she had neglected it for so long to the extent that it had become unfamiliar. Moreover, she was merely a child that grew up in a poor village, how could she possibly be literate? So, when Xiao Xu asked whether she knew how to read, she had shaken her head.
But when she saw Xiao Xu write with the brush, she recalled the teacher who had taught her before. That teacher completely could not be compared to His Highness. She couldn't help but say, the cold and cheerless Xiao Xu's posture of holding a brush was really good-looking. Moreover, his posture was more accurate than her teacher's.
The first part of the thumb should stick close to the inner side of the brush. The joint of the thumb should be curled around the brush and bent slightly outwards. The first joint of the forefinger should be used to stick to the outer side of the brush, coordinating with the thumb and holding onto the brush. The first and second joints of the middle finger bend to form a hook and catch onto the outer side of the brush. Use the nail of the ring finger from inside to out to stand up to the outer right side of the brush, obstructing inside the brush by hooking the middle finger and pushing it outwards. The little finger should press close to the ring finger, relying on the bottom of the ring finger to not touch the brush. The force of the ring finger should be small and should not single-handedly push the middle finger's hook. The little finger should also rest underneath to add a little bit of strength.
This was what her teacher had told her at that time. When Xiao Xu performed these simple steps, it gave people the feeling of wanting to totally focus on him.
After he finished speaking, Xiao Xu tossed the brush back to her, "Hold the brush."