Ink Burns

Chapter 246 Confirmation
“I don’t think she’s flustered. She always has leverage when dealing with the emperor.” Zhou Fangniang said this without panic.

"What about Marquis Wuding? He doesn't have the same background and good fortune as the Grand Princess."

Zhou Fangniang thought for a moment: "He seemed quite confident about it too—"

He then patted Shan Yue's hand again: "Don't worry, those who are panicking are just like us, adrift like duckweed. Those in power each have their own ways of protecting themselves!"

As he spoke, he shrank back and sneered, "In my opinion, Yuan Wenying is the most flustered. She's all flustered, like she's about to burst into tears. She doesn't have a trace of her high and mighty demeanor as the Second Assistant Minister at all!"

Zhou Fangniang covered her mouth, her eyes curving like crescent moons, her smile genuinely happy.

Shan Yue's feelings towards Zhou Fangniang were complicated: she was also a "victim" of "Qingfeng," taken by the Grand Princess of Jing'an to fill the Chang family's pit, enduring violence and abuse, as well as malice and insults from all sides; but she was also a "perpetrator" of "Qingfeng," despite her humble origins, she also picked up "Qingfeng's" bad habit of treating human life as worthless, and was able to calmly accept having her clothes stained with the blood of commoners.
"What magic weapon?" Shan Yue grabbed Zhou Fangniang's sleeve, determined to get to the bottom of it.

Zhou Fangniang turned to the side, shook her head, and was about to speak when she saw that Granny Ruan was about to enter the room, so she immediately stopped talking.

“The two children are playing around.” Granny Ruan returned with a stern face.

After exchanging a few more perfunctory pleasantries, Zhou Fangniang, maintaining her haughty demeanor, gave a few more lectures.

As they were talking, they heard several voices outside the alley, followed by two creaks from the side door. Shan Yue peeked out and saw a servant-like man enter, take a tightly wrapped scroll from his pocket, place it outside the window, shrug, and leave.

Zhou Fangniang reached through the window and took the scroll in, unfolding it with one hand.

Shan Yue peeked out to look.

"It's Zhu Siming's new work, the third of 'Twelve Spring Scenes,' depicting bamboo shoots and a jade toad." Zhou Fangniang stepped aside and showed the painting to Shanyue.

Zhu Siming's painting style is varied, but one thing remains constant: his brushstrokes. Zhu's brushstrokes are extremely delicate. When viewed from afar, one can appreciate their momentum; when viewed up close, one can appreciate their texture. When painting mountains and rivers, Zhu is accustomed to making a downward stroke at the end of the painting. When painting people or living things, Zhu is accustomed to adding a dot of white at the eyes, as if to represent the color of the eyes under light.

This painting of bamboo shoots and bamboo shoots, though shrouded in twilight, still conveys a profound meaning. It is intricate yet not chaotic, with the elegance of spring hidden within the toad and bamboo shoots. The subtle patterns of the landscape behind the painting are wild and vivid, clearly demonstrating the painting's style, spirit, and artistic merit.

With Granny Ruan present, Shan Yue still spoke in that ingratiating tone: "Guan'anzhai is closed, so why are you still sending over everyone's new works?"

“Guan’anzhai is closed, but other painting studios are still open. If we can open one Guan’anzhai, we can certainly open a second and a third, right? Your Highness likes calligraphy and painting, so you should naturally do this business. Since you’re going to do it, how can you only open one?” Zhou Fangniang smiled as she rolled up the scroll: “Let’s hang this painting up today.”

Shan Yue's ingratiating tone became even more pronounced: "If we hang them up today, tomorrow the Suzhou-style paintings will be copied all over the mountains and fields!"

“This is the confidence of the four great families.” Under the watchful eye of Granny Ruan, Zhou Fangniang continued to admonish, “Since you like painting, you should do a good job as ‘Qingfeng’. If you are sent to Xue Xiao’s side, you must be useful. If you are useful, your title of ‘Jade Plate Lady’ will naturally be promoted by ‘Qingfeng’. Then it will be passed down through the ages and become a beautiful story, won’t it?”

Shan Yue nodded repeatedly in agreement, bowed her head, and took her leave.

As I exited through the side gate, the fallen leaves, like a chessboard swaying in the wind, illuminated the path I had come by in the mountain moonlight, leading me home through a narrow alley. A horse-drawn carriage clattered past.

Inside the carriage, as if by fate, the person who arrived turned his head to look out the window at that very moment, his gaze falling precisely on the pale, lilac-like face reflected against the backdrop of the green bricks and red walls.

Her face was like a fleeting shadow, and against the backdrop of the red walls, her features transformed into a light, translucent blue-green jade.

"Stop the car." The person who got in spoke softly, then suddenly raised their voice: "Stop the car!"

The carriage screeched to a halt!
Shan Yue paused, her instinct for self-preservation ingrained since childhood preventing her from turning around. Instead, she immediately and keenly said, "Huang Zhi, let's go."

Shan Yue lowered her head and quickened her pace.

In the alley, the person dismounted and strode forward, his long robe trailing on the ground, brushing against the gravel and sand.

The gap between the two was getting smaller and smaller, while the road ahead was becoming narrower and narrower, with not even a glimmer of light coming from the other direction.

Shan Yue suddenly stopped: Today, she had made an appointment with Zhou Fangniang. She needed to be wary of whether there were any people from the Grand Princess of Jing'an secretly monitoring her. Therefore, she did not agree to Luo Feng secretly following and protecting her. Those who come are not friendly, and those who are friendly do not come. When two people meet on a narrow road, the brave will win. Since she could not avoid it, she would fight.

Shan Yue tucked his right hand into his sleeve, gripped the cold dagger handle, calmed himself, and suddenly turned around, bumping right into the person walking hurriedly!

An unexpected face!

It was a man, a man whose handsome and refined appearance surpassed that of any man she had ever seen. His extremely narrow jaw, light eyebrows, and gentle, restrained double eyelids set off his fair skin, giving it a satin-like soft glow and beauty. His extremely high nose bridge had an inappropriate hump, which just happened to break the delicate beauty and made his appearance appear tall and upright.

Shan Yue stared intently at that face.

And this face, as if caught in a pitch-black vortex, accompanied by a hurricane strong enough to tear flesh, rose and fell back and forth, finally settling on that blurry, prominent, excessively beautiful cheek illuminated by the firelight in my memory.

That "Jade Boy".

"Yulang" was among those caught in the Fushoushan wildfire.

She is an artist, and she has a photographic memory.

A person's facial features are also part of a picture.

She was certain that this person must be Cui Yulang.