CH 21

Chapter 21:  Psyduck Psyduck!

Chi Jingxi was also in Li Boyuan's study.

He was wearing a dark red brocade robe with golden cuffs and collar. The snow-white fox fur collar complimented his fair complexion, giving him a noble look. When he was writing, his body exuded the air of a scholar.

After hearing Li Boyuan's words, he raised his head and replied, "Teacher, no need to worry about me. If I get tired from sitting, I will get up and move my hands and feet."

There was no expression on his face, but he had a pair of smiling eyes, which unconsciously makes people feel like smiling. He looked quite kind.translate(d) by puretl . com / do not steal / re po/st

The appearance of Chi Jingxi here was something that Wen Yantong had never even dreamed of. It was as if a pillow was delivered just after she had yawned.

It was just that she was still conditioned to feel nervous whenever she saw Chi Jingxi. So Wen Yantong stood by the door of the study, not daring to go forward rashly.

Li Boyuan was quite fond of this youth and said with a smile, "It's good that you know." After he finished speaking, he saw Wen Yantong still standing at the door, and his face turned black again. "Why are you still standing at the door? Come in already!"

Wen Yantong wanted to ask if Li Boyuan's hometown was in Sichuan. He seemed to have a profound knowledge in the art of face-changing.

However, she didn't dare to say those witty words and just nodded furiously like a chicken pecking rice. Wen Yantong walked a few steps into the room, looking around, but was at a loss and didn't know where to sit.

There was a cotton cushion diagonally opposite Chi Jingxi, but it was too close to him. It also seemed to be Li Boyuan's seat, so she didn't dare to sit there.

Li Boyuan took out two thick square cotton cushions from the wooden cabinet, placed them on the mat, and said to Wen Yantong, "You sit here and have Jingxi supervise your calligraphy. If you dare be careless, Jingxi will teach you a lesson."

"This student dares not to trouble the Little Marquis..." Wen Yantong said.

Li Boyuan glared at her again. "When we are at the academy, everyone is your classmate! Jingxi hasn't even said anything yet, but you dare to refuse? Look at your words, and then look at his! Even a child writes better than you! Your pair of hands grew in vain. Don't you feel guilty thinking about your calligraphy when you sleep at night?!"translate(d) by puretl . com / do not steal / re po/st

Wen Yantong only said half a sentence, but Li Boyuan was able to give a series of rebukes before she could finish. She dared not to refute anymore as she quickly lowered her head. "A mistake. This student knows they're wrong and will definitely practice calligraphy well!"

Li Boyuan said, "It's good that you know. Now, come here!"

She hopped over and slowly sat down with the crutches, putting the crutches on top of each other afterward. She then unwrapped the books and ink on her back.

Li Boyuan picked out a smaller brush. "Use this."

The brush was about the size of an ordinary ink pen. In addition, the tip looked hard, so it should be easier to use when writing.

Wen Yantong thanked him in a low voice. She then became embarrassed to find that she did not bring an inkstone but only a piece of ink.pure tl . com is the original tler / don’t re-post

Li Boyuan also realized this, but he didn't blame her because it was her first time. Instead, he pulled the inkstone by Chi Jingxi's hand and moved it a little to the middle. He then opened a book for her and said, "Just start copying from this chapter, and after you finish copying this chapter, show it to Jingxi. If he thinks it's satisfactory, you can continue to the next chapter."

Wen Yantong felt that this was not good, but she didn't dare to refute him. Thus, she scratched her head in response and quietly peeked at Chi Jingxi.

He didn't react, nor did he reject Li Boyuan's words. Chi Jingxi just continued to concentrate on transcribing something.

After Li Boyuan finished explaining, he put on a cloak and went out. The study quieted down, leaving only Wen Yantong and Chi Jingxi.

Chi Jingxi was fully concentrated when writing. Wen Yantong stretched her neck and glanced at his work. She saw that his handwriting was really good-looking, his strokes having equally thin gold bodies. The words were neatly written on the paper, straight and dense, even though there weren’t any guides.

Wen Yantong was always envious of people who could write beautifully. When she was a child, because her family was poor, it took a while before she was sent to school. Before then, no one taught her how to write.

She looked down at the book and saw that it was a handwritten tracing copybook.  Wen Yantong picked up her pen and remembered how a large dot of ink would blot the paper every time she practiced writing before. Thus, this time she gripped her pen a lot lighter and dipped only a little ink before she hurriedly retracted her hand.

However, because she was too cautious when writing, her hand trembled slightly, which made her first few characters extremely ugly. Her stroke was not a stroke, and her line was not a line.

Extremely frustrated, Wen Yantong slapped the back of her right hand loudly. You motherf*cker, why are you trembling?!

Unexpectedly, this sound shocked Chi Jingxi, who was concentrating on writing. With a flick of the tip of his pen, a drop of ink landed on his paper, slowly forming a black flower.

He raised his eyes indifferently, and with his tone full of unkindness, he asked, "Are your hands itchy (for a beating)?"

Wen Yantong swallowed a mouthful of saliva but did not dare to respond.

Fortunately, Chi Jingxi did not explode and simply continued to write. Wen Yantong was a lot more obedient now. After copying two or three more lines, she felt that her arms were sore, and her palms were tired from writing. When she looked at her writing again, she couldn't help but feel discouraged.

Wen Yantong put her pen down and looked around the room.

Li Boyuan himself had a very high status in the academy, so the furnishings in his bedroom were unique. There were many classical and original decorations, but the room still maintained a sense of simplicity.

There was a heater and an incense burner in the room, and the white smoke rose and melted into the air. It filled the room with a faint fragrance, which made people very comfortable.

Wen Yantong continued to look around until her eyes landed on Chi Jingxi.pure tl . com is the original tler / don’t re-post

Thinking of her plan on getting close to him, Wen Yantong took a few deep breaths and tried her best to use a calm tone. "Little- Little Marquis."

Wen Yantong really wanted to slap her mouth. So immature! Why stammer?!

Chi Jingxi's nib paused, seemingly distracted by her voice.

Wen Yantong didn't notice this and continued, "Why didn't you go to the martial arts class? Could it be because Teacher Li held you back to practice calligraphy?"

As expected, Chi Jingxi ignored her.

Wen Yantong didn't feel much loss, as it was already good that Chi Jingxi didn't slap her pen and call her noisy. Of course, she won't continue to talk and make Chi Jingxi angry.

She picked up the brush again and felt that her handwriting was not good because she was originally already not good at writing. That or it was because she was not familiar with brush pens.

Once she was proficient, then she wouldn’t tremble so much.

Wen Yantong enthusiastically picked up the pen and drew casually on the empty paper. At first, the painting was quite large, but after painting some more, she could also control the thickness of her pen strokes, knowing when to press the pen tip down heavily and when to press it lightly.

Chi Jingxi's arm was tired from copying, so he wanted to put his pen down to rest. Suddenly, he realized it had been quiet for a while, so he looked up. Hefound that the person sitting opposite of him was not writing but was drawing some strange patterns.

Wen Yantong appeared in front of Chi Jingxi many times these days.

Chi Jingxi's memory has always been very good. Originally, he only remembered that there were some rumors about this skinny person and Cheng Xiao, but now his impression of him had changed a lot.

Timid, crybaby, and always doing things that ordinary people couldn’t understand. A little dumb looking but was actually really stupid. And now there was one more: ugly handwriting, but not motivated to improve.pure tl . com is the original tler / don’t re-post

Disdain flashed in Chi Jingxi's eyes. His long arm stretched out, and he snatched the paper that Wen Yantong had put by her side.

It was a pattern he had never seen before: it looked like an animal, but there was an unspeakable strangeness about it.

"What is this you drew?" Chi Jingxi asked blankly.

Initially, Wen Yantong was fully concentrated on painting but stopped when she noticed Chi Jingxi's movements. Seeing that he seemed interested, she replied, "It's Psyduck."

"What?" Chi Jingxi's handsome eyebrows furrowed slightly. "...What is a Psyduke?"

"It's not Psyduke. It's Psyduck." Wen Yantong explained.

"Psy…duck??"