NOVEL NEXT After getting back home, Mo Qianxue, with Ning Shaoqing’s help, completed a huge scroll of painting which kept them on the run until midnight.
Ning Shaoqing was very puzzled by what she was doing, but also intrigued by the style of her painting. As a well-educated man, he himself was a painter, so he gave her a lot of guidance in the process.
Last time, he at the beginning burst into laughter when he saw the big-headed animals that Mo Qianxue had painted but later after looking more, he began to appreciate and praised the style.
Finally, they finished the huge picture and went to bed. Exhausted, they soon fell asleep.
Early in the next morning, Mo Qianxue set off in high spirits.
Ning Shaoqing was unhappy about her going to Tong mansion alone but was dissuaded by Mo Qianxue with one sentence that as long as she utilized this picture properly, the valley would be hers without paying a penny.
That big valley? Without paying a penny? Mo Qianxue didn’t understand what the valley meant for Tong mansion, but Ning Shaoqing did.
Therefore, out of curiosity, Ning Shaoqing asked her for many times, but Mo Qianxue only cryptically told him that later she would tell him a very dramatic unreasonable story.
The butler Tong’s report amazed her. She was happy that the treatment of love on Tong Zijing worked out very well.
She was more certain that Tong Zijing only suffered slight psychological trauma but never a retard nor fool. He had just locked himself up in the world of a four-year-old child and refused to come out, a self-defending strategy after being hurt.
If he was told how big and beautiful the world was, he would surely regain trust and return to a normal person.
When she arrived, Tong Zijing was playing snowball with Su Qi in the garden.
Seeing her, he threw a snowball at her, but the snowball was hit down by another snowball that Su Qi threw.
Mo Qianxue greeted him and walked to Tong Zijing, “Jing, I bright you a new game. Do you want to try? Let’s go inside.”
Tong Zijing’e eyes lingered at the white patch of snow outside and said intermittently, “Sis…sister, let’s…play…snowball! Fun!”
Tong Zijing’s expression and movement made Mo Qianxue feel that he had grown up two or three years older overnight. Though he still behaved like a child, but there was a difference between three-year-old and seven-year-old.
Moreover, such a long sentence accurately expressed his feelings and what he wanted, which also made Mo Qianxue surprised and gratified.
From the first word, to later two words and to the present a whole sentence, it took only two days.
Of course, Su Qi made his contribution too.
She believed that he had been accompanying Tong Zijing since yesterday. Never had she expected that such an arrogant uncaring noble lord could be so patient.
Mo Qianxue smiled at Su Qi as gratitude, but he only shrugged and took out the exquisite fan from his waist, resuming his casual and elegant bearing.
Of course he wouldn’t tell her that after learning about the situation from the beginning to the end, he had guided Tong Zijing to tell all the stories all over again and kept praising him until Tong Zijing fell asleep with satisfaction.
He swore that those were the funnies and shittiest stories he had ever heard, similar to the story of two ants she had told. Certainly, only this woman could think up such whimsical animal jokes.
He had never seen a woman who could be so confident and brilliant.
And he had never seen a woman who could be so caring and patient.
Neither had he met such a woman who disregarded social formalities to unperturbedly hold a man hand and walk around without any shame or guilt, although this man had no concept of the world…
He admitted that at the moment, watching her taking Tong Zijing by hand, he was shocked.
However, he didn’t think any less of her but only, in secrecy, hoped that the one being held by the soft little hand was himself.
He even got a little envious of his defective uncle.
The small pan reminded Mo Qianxue of Su Qi being gluttonous last time. She immediately burst into laughter.
This person was so damn funny.
Yet, now this wasn’t the time for laughing. She had her task today and was full of confidence since Tong Zijing had made so much progress in merely two days.
Mo Qianxue, smiling, turned back to Tong Zijing.
Su Qi stopped making pose. What harm could it do if this could make her laugh?
Concealing his admiration, Su Qi wasn’t a bit embarrassed, looking quite normal, which gave Mo Qianxue great relief. She even furtively laughed at herself for thinking too much. After all, she was a married village woman while he was a handsome rich young lord. How absurd that she should misunderstand his feelings!
Although he had grown up quickly in two days, Tong Zijing was still a child by nature, so Mo Qianxue easily coaxed him into going to his room.
The Tong housekeeper was indeed an efficient man.
All the several servants disappeared and were replaced by two clever lads around fifteen years old.
Though they were new-comers, they were happy, all smiles, and what was more, Tong Zijing didn’t look daunted before them. It could be seen easily that the former servants were strict and tough on Tong Zijing, their lord.
In fact, they had been more like prison guards than servants.
*
When the big picture unfolded on the ground, Tong Zijing was amazed.
Su Qi was stunned too. Such a big picture looked like a map but it wasn’t a map in real terms. Besides, Mo Qianxue announced that this was a very interesting game which intrigued Su Qi so much.
What Mo Qianxue had draw was indeed a map of Tianqi Dynasty.
However, it was the carton version of Tianqi map, a map of the game Monopoly.
The map included eighteen major cities of Tianqi Dynasty, and on near each city, famous places for sightseeing and special cuisines were marked out.
Mo Qianxue wanted to tell Tong Zijing how big the world was in this way.
She took out a dice and told the men how to play the game. Su Qi was dumbfounded. He never knew that to understand Tianqi was such an easy and interesting thing.
“Jing, pay attention. Let’s do it.” Mo Qianxue smiled mysteriously.
She pointed at the picture, “Our home is on this big map. Here is Tianxiang city, where we live; and here is tofu; Hanshan Temple is a place for fun…”
For fun? Hanshan Temple. Su Qi clammed up again. Hanshan Temple was the most far-reaching temple to worship Buddha cross the country. Why did it turn to a place for fun? The presider of it must be pissed off if he heard this.
There were more shocking comments.
“This is the capital, where the emperor, an old man, lives. That is Xiangguo Temple, also a nice place to visit.”
She really deserved his admiration. The supreme emperor in her eyes was just an old man. How bold!
Whenever she mentioned a place, she would talk a lot about what delicious food to eat and what fun sites to visit. Of course, these could be attributed to Ning Shaoqing.
Only these topics could attract the attention of a child. As expected, Tong Zijing quickly got crystal clear about the places on the map.
“When you see this word retreat, you go back. When you get here, stop and wait others to walk…let’s see who can finish the trip from Tianxiang city to the capital…”
after the rules were made clear, Mo Qianxue animatedly started the game with them.
Without deliberate teaching, before the noon, Tong Zijing already knew the words of the most important cities in Tianqi, through playing the game.
Su Qi was a smart man and being very cooperative in the process. Mo Qianxue heartedly believed that it was a shame that he wasn’t a kindergarten teacher.
In the game, Tong Zijing also gradually spoke more fluently, making the two adults so gratified that they constantly looked to each other with a smile.
Mo Qianxue had planned that after today, she wouldn’t come here on a daily basis. Therefore, she intentionally let the two new servants participate in the game to play together with Tong Zijing.
Tong Zijing was immersed in the game, so he didn’t mind the two teenager servants joining in and had fun together with them.
Once Mo Qianxue was spared from the game, she began to chat with Su Qi.
They talked from tofu business, to his restaurant and then to hers. Most of the time, they surprisingly shared the same opinions on many things. This made Mo Qianxue felt that if she wasn’t live in this ancient time, he and Su Qi could become very good friends.
During lunch, Tong Zijing still fumbled about, but due to the previous experience, he wasn’t as clumsy as the first time to smudge himself with soup and rice.
And because of more exercise, Tong Zijing obviously ate a lot more than usual. His face wasn’t as pale as before too.
Not like the first time she had met him, there was a world of difference in his look. By a closer look, he delicate features harmoniously formed a pretty face.
Watching Su Qi carefully demonstrating to him how to use chopsticks, Mo Qianxue couldn’t help wondering who was the top and who was the bottom if they were a couple.
Later she even roared with laughter. Su Qi rolled eyes at her. He thought Mo Qianxue laughed at him because he was being too patient and a little womanish.
They were tired of Monopoly after playing for the whole morning, so after lunch, Mo Qianxue had paper and writing brush sent to teach Tong Zijing to draw.
To be strict, they didn’t draw pictures but just sketched down the animals in the stories following their bent, merely for fun.
Su Qi imitated Mo Qianxue’s style and also drew many large-headed animals on paper. Mo Qianxue didn’t think too much. She believed that he was a caring man who sincerely wished his uncle to recover soon.
While drawing, the picture of Su Qi holding a small fan played in her mind, something that would be regarded dashing in the eye of most people but hilarious in her eyes. Therefore, she picked up the writing brush and drew a cute big-headed version of Su Qi that was stylishly holding a fan.
Su Qi loved it so much that he couldn’t moved neither his eyes nor hands off the paper, but he pretended to glare at Mo Qianxue, questioning why she drew such an ugly version of him, who in fact was a chic handsome young gentleman.
Seeing that Su Qi got a portrait, Tong Zijing yelled to demand one for him too.
Mo Qianxue couldn’t turn him down, so she also drew a cute version of Tong Zijing.
Su Qi felt as sweet as having tasted the best honey in the world and secretly put his portrait that Mo Qianxue had drawn for him into his pocket.