My Wife Is A Sword Immortal-Chapter 178 - 159 Such a Fool
Chapter 178: Chapter 159 Such a Fool
Chapter 178: Chapter 159 Such a Fool
Linlu Academy’s southeast corner.
A serene courtyard.
The door of the study room, bearing the plaque “Elegant Orchid,” was opened from outside.
“Jing Zi, Jing Zi…”
A woman in a Confucian robe looked around the room.
It was utterly empty.
Having just returned from class, Zhu Weirui spoke in a low whisper, “This girl, why hasn’t she come back yet.”
She grasped the hem of her wide Confucian robe, stepped into the room, placed the scroll in her hand on the desk, prepared to turn around and go behind the screen to change clothes as usual.
But her gaze suddenly caught sight of the small desk on the other side of the study, specifically prepared for her personal attendant student, where books were in disarray and bookshelves haphazardly arranged.
“How many times have I said this, still so clumsy.”
Zhu Weirui shook her head, walked gracefully to the small desk, and rolled up the broad sleeves to tidy up the messy desk.
A pair of pale, delicate hands fluttered like butterflies among the dark blue covers on the red-lacquered desktop, appearing even whiter, but upon closer inspection, one could see that on the first joint of the right middle finger of these hands, which should only touch refined objects, there was a noticeable light pink callus, marring their overall beauty.
The woman in the Confucian robe stood before the desk, her expression earnest as she organized the paperwork, when at a certain moment, she picked up a stack of books on poetry and made her way to the bookshelf. She looked up, stood on tiptoe, and stuffed the books into the upper compartment.
Suddenly, a piece of white paper slipped from between the pages of one of the books on poetry, paused momentarily on her smooth forehead, and then drifted to the floor.
Zhu Weirui slightly opened her eyes, her picturesque brows gently lifting as she bent down to pick up the paper, focusing on it.
The next second.
Her beautiful eyes slowly narrowed, reflecting the few lines of small characters on the white paper.
Zhu Weirui gazed at it for a moment, her slightly upturned lips subconsciously parting slightly.
“Searching, searching, cold and clear, miserable and desolate…plaintive. Searching, searching… cold and clear…”
Soon after, her gaze reluctantly moved away from the line of text, scanning Jing Zi’s small desk from side to side.
Suddenly, as if thinking of something, her gaze searched purposefully.
Not much later.
She reached under a thick book and pulled out a folded paper, partially exposed. She opened it slowly, discovering it to be the couplet that Jing Zi had taken away in the morning and brought back at noon.
Upon unfolding it, Zhu Weirui lowered her head for a closer look.
This couplet was originally penned casually by her, so naturally, she was extremely familiar with it. However… now, someone unknown had added six more characters to it.
As those six unfamiliar characters just entered Zhu Weirui’s sight, before she had the chance to smile wryly at the skillfully continued couplet, her facial expression suddenly froze.
Zhu Weirui’s lips maintained a slight curve, no longer curling up.
The noon sunlight streamed through the window, laying upon the couplet in her hands, submerging those familiar yet strangely foreign characters, which exuded an unconventional beauty, in a dazzling golden hue.
The woman in the Confucian robe stood alone before the desk, head bowed, staring intently at the thin paper in her hands, motionless.
If it weren’t for the dust particles drifting in the light golden beam, the slight rise and fall of her otherwise still chest, and the black hair of the shawl she’d carelessly laid down upon returning to the courtyard, now being blown by the breeze onto her slightly parted lips…
If it weren’t for these, it would seem like a still frame before the desk.
Time seemed to stand still.
The woman in the Confucian robe sitting in front of the desk finally moved.
Her head still bowed low, her gaze never strayed from the characters on the paper—characters she had never seen before in her life but that radiated a strange beauty, offering her a glimpse into a new realm of endless possibilities.
The gate to a new world seemed to be hidden within the last few words of the ordinary couplet before her.
Perhaps… within reach?
Zhu Weirui unconsciously licked her dry, vermilion lips, her tongue tip, like the emerging tip of a bamboo shoot in spring, slightly showing and moist with dewy pinkness.
This action, which would have been considered unrefined and something she would never have done in the past, still happened subconsciously, and Zhu Weirui herself was not aware of it, for her eyes and heart were captivated only by those six characters, written by a person unknown.
Zhu Weirui slowly moved back to her desk, pursing her lips and swallowing, her chest, which only had a slight curve, heaving rapidly, causing her a moment of breathlessness, and a certain jade-like part of her skin was aching intensely, but at the moment she paid no attention to these sensations.
Zhu Weirui stared intently, a shallow smile on her lips, and carefully placed the couplet on the desk; she was like a naughty little girl sneaking out to explore secrets. She extended two slender fingers and gently caressed the strokes of these strange characters with the pads of her delicate fingers, feeling a bit of roughness.
Zhu Weirui focused intently, tracing Zhao Rong’s characters that he had casually written that morning with her slender Jade Hand.
About half a quarter of an hour passed, and after thoroughly indulging herself, she took a deep breath.
Zhu Weirui cocked her head, her vermilion lips curving up, her eyes rippling with inexpressible joy. Without looking up, she reached out with a practiced motion, accurately pulling out a white brush from among the many, gripping it in her hand, and turned to get her treasured high-quality xuan paper.
But halfway through her turn, she suddenly stopped.
“Ah~”
She let out a soft cry, raising her hand to pat her smooth forehead as a realization dawned on her—for she had not yet met the creator of these strange characters…
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Zhu Weirui’s eyes shifted, “Jingzi must know… Where is Jingzi?”
She hurriedly rushed to the door, pushing open the courtyard gates in her haste to find her Attendant Student.
It wasn’t until she had gone a great distance that Zhu Weirui suddenly realized that she, who had always been dignified and proper within the Academy walls, was now out with disheveled hair, not only without her headscarf but also clutching a brush in her Jade Hand.
Fortunately, she hadn’t encountered any passersby so far…
Zhu Weirui’s pace slowed as she hesitated, considering whether to turn back.
Her delicate brows slightly furrowed, her troubled expression unexpectedly adding a certain charm, and then, catching sight of the brush she had inadvertently brought along, her frown relaxed.
The woman in the Confucian robe twisted her head, gathering her silken black hair, turned her white wrist, and casually knotted it up, inserting the slender brush lightly with one move.
Then she squinted her eyes and smirked with delight, eager to seek out that person, those characters.
——————
Zhao Rong followed his esteemed senior Li Jinsu into Linlu Academy.
Curiously looking all around him.
The Academy’s interior was vast, stretching beyond sight.
And it was orderly arranged, the overall style being simple. Generally speaking, it followed the concept of “harmony between rites and music” and the rigorous order of Confucian ethical codes and rites.
The architecture was centered around the lecture halls, with dormitories, libraries, ancestral halls, and other buildings spreading out in succession.
But occasionally, some creative structures and decorations could be seen, such as the cooking school, storehouses, and Xieshan-style pavilions.
Perhaps, this also reflected that the Academy was not as stern and oppressive as it appeared on the surface; there was also a different kind of vitality within, allowing some unrestraint and poetic sentiment to nestle here.
Zhao Rong carefully scrutinized his surroundings while his thoughts fluttered.
