flamboyant

Chapitre 27

"You're accusing me again..."

"Still dare to protest your innocence? I just checked your luggage, and those packets of herbal tea I brought for you were brought back untouched!" Song Xiaohua put her hands on her hips, turning herself into a large teapot: "Hmph, now you know, right? In the future, if you do something bad, remember to cover your tracks!"

Lu Ziqi placed the teacup on the tea table, suppressed a smile, and bowed, saying, "Thank you for your guidance; I will keep it in mind."

"...Don't remember this! Do you want a next time?!"

"Okay, okay, I won't remember."

"Come on, come on! Drink it all up, there's still a big bowl left!"

"...You don't mean you're planning to make up for the deficit of the past month or so all at once?"

"Smart! You got it right, ten points!" Song Xiaohua chuckled and glanced at Lu Ziqi's belly: "Today, I'm going to stuff you with a belly big enough to hold a boat like a prime minister!"

"...I am neither talented nor virtuous, how dare I aspire to the position of prime minister? So please forgive me for being a mere seventh-rank official!" Lu Ziqi bowed and begged for mercy: "It is not that I do not want to follow your instructions, but the itinerary is very tight, and most of it takes place in remote rural areas, where conditions do not allow it!"

Song Xiaohua looked up at the person in front of her, covered in dust and looking utterly exhausted. She felt a slight pang of pain in her heart. These past few dozen days of traveling must have worn him out...

He pondered seriously, "Hmm... considering your attitude in admitting your mistake was decent, I'll let you off this time!"

Feigning delight, she said, "Thank you so much, Yaoyao, for your magnanimity!"

They looked at each other and laughed heartily.

Lu Ziqi chuckled as he picked up the teacup, took a sip, and found it still scalding hot. He couldn't help but stop smiling and frown: "Did you get burned?"

"No, I'm not that delicate!" Song Xiaohua waved her hand dismissively, gesturing for him to sit down: "Let's put it down and drink it after it cools down!"

"Alright."

Seeing only a small round stool beside the coffee table, Lu Ziqi wanted to move the chair behind the desk, but Song Xiaohua stopped him: "You, an injured person, would better stay still and not move around. If you accidentally tear your wound again, it will be a disaster!" While nagging, she went around to the back of the table, and as she bent down, she saw the still-fresh ink painting: "Huh? What kind of animal is this? It's so cute! Is it a cat, a dog, a fox, or... a leopard?"

Lu Ziqi paused for a moment, then rubbed his forehead: "That's a sable." Had his painting skills really deteriorated so much...?

"Oh... so this is what a mink looks like. I've only ever seen mink coats." Song Xiaohua had completely forgotten about moving the chair, and was only focused on holding the painting, strutting around and shaking her head, muttering, "Did you paint this? Not bad, not bad, Chinese paintings are so beautiful! Look at these smooth lines, these lifelike expressions, this black and white combination of white paper and black ink..."

Listening to her pretentious and nonsensical comments, Lu Ziqi sighed again, wondering if she was praising him or criticizing him...

"Then I won't teach Ling'er to draw Donald Duck tomorrow. I'll let him learn to draw a sable instead. That's a ready-made model, hehe!"

"This..." Lu Ziqi subconsciously wanted to stop her, but seeing Song Xiaohua's enthusiastic expression, he ultimately couldn't bring himself to say it: "You... what did you just say, Tang something duck?"

"That old duck just loves sweets!"

"…………"

Lu Ziqi wisely chose to end this topic, which he might never truly understand, and took the now-warm medicinal tea and drank it down in one gulp.

Song Xiaohua looked at his left arm, which remained hanging limply at his side, and gradually her playful expression faded: "Is the injury really not serious?"

"What... Oh... Didn't I tell you? It's just a minor scrape."

A minor scrape can render an entire arm completely immobile? A minor scrape can cause a pale face and cold sweat after a relatively minor collision? A minor scrape can make that princess insist on taking him home? A minor scrape can prevent him from… well, you know…

Song Xiaohua really wanted to stage a 'healing scene' that often appears in movies and TV dramas.

The female lead unwrapped the male lead's bandages, her eyes welling with tears as she looked at the bloody wound, which then streamed down her face. She said coquettishly, "You're injured like this, and you still say you're fine!" Then, while sprinkling medicine powder onto the wound and gently blowing on it, she asked in a trembling voice, "Does it hurt?" The male lead, of course, would confidently reply, "It doesn't hurt!" and then add tenderly, "But your tears are making it hurt so much..."

The dim light shone down, and suggestive music began to play. The male protagonist grabbed the female protagonist's small hand and pressed it against his bare chest. Instantly, a passionate fire ignited between them...

Unfortunately, while the world of melodrama is rich and dramatic, real life is much harsher.

Song Xiaohua was very self-aware. Given her complete lack of nursing experience and clumsiness, if she were to actually pull this stunt, the best-case scenario would be that the bandage would come undone and could never be tied back up...

What are you thinking about?

“I was thinking…” Song Xiaohua rolled her eyes, revealing a smile that made Lu Ziqi’s eyelids twitch involuntarily: “You and that Liao princess are a bit like Little Swallow and the Fifth Prince, both of you were killed in one fell swoop!”

"Who...who are they?"

"A loving couple!"

Lu Ziqi was completely confused, only vaguely understanding what Song Xiaohua was saying. However, he understood some of the emotions revealed in Song Xiaohua's slanted eyes. He immediately straightened his expression, almost swearing to the heavens: "That is wrong. Princess Xingping and I are absolutely not in the slightest resemblance to them!"

"Oh? Actually, there's nothing wrong with having some similarities~"

"No, no, there's absolutely no resemblance whatsoever!"

With a half-smile, Song Xiaohua raised her eyes even further: "I've noticed you really do attract some strange and unusual people. Take Yuan Hao, for example. Tell me, what did you do to offend him that he deliberately prescribed one less ingredient in your medicine, making you cry from the bitterness? And now, you've gotten involved with a princess. Sigh! You're such a femme fatale, attracting all sorts of trouble!"

These words left Lu Ziqi dumbfounded, looking utterly wronged.

How did Yuan Hao become someone he provoked? And how could he be so useless as to be crying like that? A handsome man causing trouble, attracting all sorts of attention—what kind of nonsense is this…?

Seeing his speechless frustration made Song Xiaohua feel much better. She put away the painting, clapped her hands, and said, "Alright, I'm going to put Ling'er to sleep. He's been sleeping with me these past few days, and he'll continue like this until your injury heals, so he won't hurt your wound when he kicks or stretches his arms in the middle of the night. You shouldn't read anymore, go and get some rest!"

Lu Ziqi nodded and chuckled: "Ling'er is a bit of a restless sleeper, thank you for your hard work."

"It's nothing, anyway, I'm sometimes even more restless in my sleep than him!"

After uttering these words that startled Lu Ziqi, Song Xiaohua picked up the empty bowl and swayed as she walked out.

It turns out that she was not only a shrewish wife and a money-grubbing wife, but also a jealous wife...

Author's Note: My feelings about Little Swallow and Fifth Prince stem from the resentment I felt during the Chinese New Year period, bombarded with "My Fair Princess"~

Chapter Thirty: Moments of Tenderness

"Have you finished drawing yet?"

"Hurry up, hurry up, sit still and don't move!"

Lu Ziqi, half-sitting and half-lying in the rocking chair, let out a long sigh. Lu Ling, who was laughing so hard she almost fell to the ground, exclaimed, "This father is so ugly!" This made Lu Ziqi's face darken. As for Song Xiaohua's follow-up comment, "Ling'er, you don't understand. This is called not seeking resemblance in form but seeking resemblance in spirit!" it left him with only a sense of helplessness, wishing him good luck.

Having just returned from an inspection and still injured, Lu Ziqi decided to take a day off to spend time with his wife and children. Song Xiaohua was naturally overjoyed and, as soon as they finished breakfast, offered to paint a portrait of him to welcome him home.

This wasn't necessarily a bad thing; in fact, seeing Ling'er clapping and cheering was quite gratifying. This child had always been extremely well-behaved and sensible, never disobeying her elders in anything she learned or did. However, she had never shown such a strong interest in anything before. If she had truly fallen in love with ink painting, that would be wonderful.

However, after sitting in the chair for half an hour, Lu Ziqi increasingly felt that his previous thoughts might be somewhat inappropriate. This was because Song Xiaohua's method of holding the brush and her brushstrokes were far from the basic requirements of painting, not to mention her strange smile. Looking at Ling'er, who was excitedly leaning against him and occasionally offering a few words of advice, Lu Ziqi's unease grew. Having Song Xiaohua as his mentor in this field seemed truly inappropriate…

Just then, Song Wuque, who had been wandering aimlessly between the rooms out of sheer boredom, slowly strolled over. He stood upright by the table, rested his paws on the edge, glanced at the nearly finished painting, then tilted his head to look at the anxious Lu Ziqi, grinned, and showed his teeth. As a result, the other half of Lu Ziqi's face also darkened…

"Yay, mission accomplished! Let's give each other a kiss!"

Song Xiaohua cheered, and Lu Ling immediately and willingly offered her face, receiving two loud pecks in perfect unison. Lu Ziqi's already dark face instantly gained even more color, making for a truly fascinating sight…

"How is it? Doesn't it look a lot like you?"

Holding Lu Ling, who had crawled into his arms and was still giggling, Lu Ziqi looked at the 'masterpiece' displayed in front of him and was speechless.

The rough and haphazard lines depict short arms, short legs, a small body, and a big head. Is this... a human?

"Tell me quickly, does it look like it?" Song Xiaohua squatted to the side with an expectant look on her face, holding onto the armrest of the chair and persistently asking.

Her simple comics are quite good; she even won first prize in a college drawing competition back in the day, although there weren't many people from an engineering school who participated in such competitions...

"Hmm... Ling'er says, doesn't he look like Daddy?" Not wanting to directly criticize her, I simply passed the buck to my son; that would be easier for him to accept. After all, children don't lie...

Lu Ling examined the painting carefully, then looked intently at his father, and nodded emphatically: "It's just like him!"

"...Ling'er, do you think your father is ugly?"

"No, Ling'er thinks Father is the most handsome!"

“But Ling’er just said that the people in this painting are... ugly!” However, if you don’t call them people, they’re not so ugly.

"That's because Mother hasn't drawn Father's eyes and mouth yet. Once she draws them, it will look even better! Father, look, the little person in the drawing looks exactly like Father when he smiles, isn't he beautiful!"

"Oh? Is that so?" So this is what I look like when I laugh. So, I've been laughing all along...

"Yes, yes!" Song Xiaohua nodded frantically. "When other people laugh, their eyes squint and curve, even if they're not slits, they're at least crescent-shaped. But your eyes only have a tiny curve; they're practically just a small semicircle. However, the curve of your mouth is quite large, and there are several laugh lines on each side that you wouldn't notice unless you looked closely. Also, even when you laugh heartily, there's a faint line between your eyebrows..."

She kept pointing at the figures in the painting and chattering away, while Lu Ziqi felt as if a string in his heart had been gently plucked. She observed so meticulously, capturing those subtle details with her brush, bringing them to life on the paper. Such a carefree, even somewhat thoughtless, girl…

"Actually, you look really good when you smile, much better than when you're stern and lecturing people. If..." Song Xiaohua raised her hand and gently touched his brow, "you would be even more perfect without this fine line. So remember, don't frown so easily in the future, and always smile happily!"

Her fingers were cool, but his heart was warm...

"Aren't you cold wearing so little?"

As the saying goes, "One autumn rain brings a chill," and this continuous rain, lasting for several days, caused the temperature to drop sharply. One had to wear thick, padded clothes to ward off the sudden chill. Lu Ling was already bundled up, while Song Xiaohua only wore a thin robe over her single layer of clothing. No wonder her nose was red and her hands were icy cold.

"It's alright, not too cold. We'll dry those thick clothes in the sun before wearing them."

She must have only managed to air out the quilts and clothes for the father and son before the rain, while hers remained damp in the trunk. This girl is very considerate of others, but she's too careless and negligent towards herself. She should have bought a ready-made outfit to make do rather than tough it out like this. What if she catches a cold again? She's only just recovered a few days ago.

Lu Ziqi looked at the smiling and indifferent Song Xiaohua, shook his head and was about to speak when he suddenly heard Song Wuque shouting outside.