Chapter 2

Chapter 2

For the past three days, Xie Shijing spent half the day propping his chin in his hand and staring at me without writing so much as a single word.

He could certainly be called a wastrel. Though he did not read, he burned through an impressive amount of candle wax at night, lighting his side courtyard as bright as day.

In a few more days, Xie Shili would return to the capital. This undefeated general of the battlefield was a strict elder brother, and he kept a very close eye on Xie Shijing’s studies.

Madame Xie had hired a tutor for Xie Shijing and instructed me to watch him as well. If he did not finish his lessons, he was absolutely not allowed to go out and fool around.

His body did not go out to fool around, but his mind could certainly wander while he sat there.

I flipped through the characters he had written before. His calligraphy was, in fact, graceful and vigorous.

“You write such a fine hand. Why not pursue the examinations and take the proper path?”

“Then why must you insist on wasting away here with me?” He looked me up and down, then smiled. “Could it be that you’ve fallen hopelessly in love with me?”

“For wealth and glory.” I placed the book in front of him. “Second Young Master, once you finish the annotations for this piece, I will keep it from Madam and allow you to go out for half a day. But no gambling.”

“You don’t seem like a woman at all. So stiff and old-fashioned, like some old pedant.” Xie Shijing suddenly leaned closer. Taking in my plain, simple clothes, he said with disdain, “They say a man wants a virtuous wife and beautiful concubines. A woman as dull as you, with no charm at all, will be disliked by her husband.”

I was speechless. If women from the banks of Qinhuai did not understand charm, then where in the world would one find women who did?

But showing charm to someone like Xie Shijing was no different from playing music for an ox.

“Country bumpkin. Let me show you what a beauty is.”

He secretly took out a booklet. On it was written Collection of Beauties.

The painter’s skill was truly profound. He had captured the shy, delicate bearing of the beauties so vividly that they seemed like celestial maidens descended from the Nine Heavens.

That is, if not for the many familiar faces.

“That year, when I accompanied Commissioner Wu on a night cruise along Qinhuai, it happened to be the Hundred Flowers Festival. Beauties were out in droves, and Commissioner Wu asked me to paint this album.

“This one, holding a pipa with such a sorrowful expression, is Xiangfei. What moves people most is the way her brows knit faintly when she sees guests off, as if tears are about to fall.”

He probably did not know that Xiangfei looked sorrowful because a guest had beaten and cursed her, then pressed a lit pipe against her most treasured pipa and burned it.

“This one is Lijun. Her willful, fiery look is like a rose with thorns. It makes one cherish her all the more.”

He likely did not know either that Lijun was gentle and quiet by nature. It was only that her features were bright and vivid, and guests loved most to see her put on a difficult temper, acting jealous and possessive over them.

My heart felt bitter.

Thinking of them, my tears suddenly fell.

“Hey… I was only joking. Don’t cry…”

Seeing me cry, Xie Shijing immediately panicked.

“Second Young Master, are you showing off to me how many beauties you’ve hunted? How you passed through a field of ten thousand flowers?”

“No. I only saw them briefly on the boat and felt that each of these young ladies had her own kind of beauty. I was moved by how ill-fated beauties can be, so I painted this book…” Perhaps because he often flipped through it, he easily turned to that page. “If you don’t believe me, look at this one. My favorite is this young lady. Innocent, pure, and charmingly naive. Unfortunately, when our boats passed, we merely brushed by each other, and I never got to meet her.”

The woman in the painting was shown only from behind. Her long hair was uncombed, spilling down like a waterfall. She lay against the railing of a pavilion, casually using the fan in her hand to stir the tiny flickers of fireflies above the pond.

Because the painter favored her, he had used the most color here. Beside the woman, a pond full of lotus flowers surrounded her like stars around the moon. Even her strands of hair and the hem of her skirt seemed to flutter in the wind, utterly unadorned.

Above it was a line of small characters: Fairy of Jade Pool, respectfully worshipped by Yu’an.

Yu’an was Xie Shijing’s courtesy name.

I froze.

Because the person in the painting was me.

“If you had even three-tenths of her spirit, I would definitely…” Remembering that I had just cried, Xie Shijing hurriedly said, “If you didn’t keep meddling in my studies, you could barely be counted as having two-tenths of it.”

I was speechless. Then I suddenly thought of his lessons.

“This woman looks somewhat familiar. I think I saw her back when I was traveling north.”

Xie Shijing abruptly sat up straight.

“Truly?”

“If you can finish the annotations for this piece, I may be able to remember a little.”