Самый глупый в мире

Глава 103

Then it started snowing again, and her soft voice vanished into the wind without a trace.

Shuhe now truly regrets it, and she cried so hard she almost fainted. The wind and snow were raging down, as if trying to swallow her whole, and the cold was bone-chilling.

After an unknown amount of time, Shuhe thought she had been abandoned in the snowstorm and was about to die when suddenly a fox fur cloak was put over her, and then she was picked up and embraced by a warm and familiar arms.

Shuhe immediately burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably, only able to cry out, "Father! Father! Mother..."

Shu Jun held her in his arms and sat her down in a sheltered spot, tucking her wet head into his embrace and gently cupping her cold cheeks with his hands. He said softly, "Xiao He, your mother is right. Little Pumpkin and Little Winter Melon are both your father and mother's family. I don't like you treating them like this. I'm very angry."

Shuhe's tears soaked his clothes as she murmured, "I know, I know... I was wrong. Mother was right, I can't do anything, I'm a complete waste..."

Shu Jun kissed her forehead and said softly, "Your health isn't good, so your parents won't let you practice martial arts. But you have strengths. You're incredibly smart; you can memorize a book after reading it only once, which is rare. Even your father couldn't do that when he was young. So how can you be a good-for-nothing?"

Shuhe was still young and a little confused: "But Mother said..."

Shu Jun laughed and said, "Xiao He, being a person isn't just about learning martial arts; there are many principles to follow. Some people are born strong, some are born good at studying—these are talents. You have a talent for intelligence, so why don't you use it? You should play to your strengths and avoid your weaknesses. Do you think you're so great just because you're spoiled and willful at home all day?"

Shu He understood a little, and leaned against him without saying a word.

Shu Jun continued, "For example, you like that red plum blossom, but you can't get it yourself, and you don't have the ability to ask someone else to get it right now. You can draw it, or even draw it in a larger size, and you can write a poem to praise it. Wouldn't that be more elegant than picking flowers?"

Seeing that his daughter was silent, he clearly regretted his actions, so he said nothing more and simply held her as they watched the raging snowstorm.

"A person should stand tall and upright, but I'm not telling you to actually be all 'sky-high' and 'ground-low'. A person's life should be meaningful, with genuine dignity so that others don't look down on you. Do you agree with what I'm saying?"

Shuhe nodded slightly.

Shu Jun picked her up and started walking back, then asked, "What are you going to do when you get back?"

After a long silence, Shuhe finally said, her voice trembling with tears, "...I apologize to Brother Pumpkin and Brother Winter Melon..."

Shu Jun smiled and hugged her even tighter: "That's a good girl."

At noon, the snowstorm subsided, and Shu Jun returned to the manor with Shu He.

With a mix of embarrassment, shyness, and regret, Shuhe apologized to Little Pumpkin: "Brother Pumpkin... please, please don't be angry with me... and Brother Winter Melon too..."

Little Pumpkin chuckled and picked her up, pinching her cheek and saying softly, "My little darling, who would be angry with you? You should teach me how to recite books backwards sometime, that's the real deal. I admire that skill so much, I want to learn it even more than kung fu manuals!"

Shuhe finally smiled, feeling grateful for his tolerance and developing a good impression of him. She pressed her face against his for a long time without saying a word.

Shu Jun breathed a sigh of relief and put his arm around Yi Chun's shoulder, whispering, "This time, the good cop/bad cop routine finally worked. It wasn't for nothing that you hardened your heart."

Yichun grabbed the flesh on the back of his hand: "Why did you take so long to pick her up? What if you made her health even worse?"

Shu Jun simply took her hand, intertwining their fingers, and said softly, "Wasn't I just being considerate of your hard work teaching your daughter? If I went too early and it didn't work, you'd blame me. Speaking of which, I was in such a rush to get back to the mountain this time, I didn't even..."

Yichun laughed; they'd been married for a long time, and her ears were actually turning a little red.

Seeing that Little Pumpkin and the others were talking and joking with Shu and Shu Yang, she whispered, "Shall we sneak down the mountain again? This time, we'll stay for three days."

Shu Jun frowned and grinned, shaking his neck. Yi Chun laughed and stepped on his foot, but before she knew it, he grabbed her hand and secretly jumped out of the window, laughing and saying, "My wife's orders are my duty. Come, my wife, please."

The two of them secretly slipped down the mountain again, and who knows what they were up to.

Shuhe nestled in Little Pumpkin's arms for a while, then suddenly said, "Brother Pumpkin, I still want to eat cherries."

Little Pumpkin stood there stunned for a long time, her heart pounding like thunder and lightning, bitter as gall. Sure enough, as soon as her masters left, the little girl reverted to her old ways; all this painstaking instruction had been completely useless!

Just as she was trembling with fear, she heard Shuhe chuckle and say, "What are you afraid of? Did you think I was going to ask you to go buy it?"

Little Pumpkin chuckled twice, noticing the familiar smile on her beautiful face. He was quite familiar with this smile; it carried a hint of coquettishness and fragility, as if she were feigning weakness while secretly plotting something wicked.

Shuhe said softly, "Grind the ink for me, and I'll draw a few cherries to satisfy my craving."

Little Pumpkin was overjoyed and readily agreed, picking her up and rushing off to grind ink, running faster than a rabbit.

Shuhe smiled softly again.

Miscellaneous side stories

Tuning the Qin

One day, because his old sanxian broke, Shu Jun bought a new sanxian and sat there tuning it when he had nothing else to do.

Yichun was sleeping in bed when she heard him play the piano every now and then. It annoyed her so she got up and sat down next to him, staring blankly at the piano.

Shu Jun slowly tuned the strings, saying, "Can't sleep?"

Yichun nodded: "Why does it take so long to tune the piano?"

Shu Jun couldn't help but curl the corners of his lips and said with a smile, "Flirting naturally takes a while, otherwise, if your feelings aren't stirred and your heart isn't moved, how can you perceive the fun in it?"

Yichun didn't understand the meaning behind the words at all, and was still rubbing her eyes and complaining, "Stop adjusting it, I'm so sleepy."

He then put down the zither, pulled her into his arms, and chuckled, "Then I'll not tune the zither, but instead flirt with you."

After that night, Yichun never complained about the long time he spent "tuning the piano" again, and dared not complain at all.

"back"

One day, Yichun accidentally stepped on a broken tile, cutting his foot and making it too painful to walk.

Shu Jun was happy to come and help: "Shall I carry you? Don't hop around like a one-legged chicken."

Because Yichun had been fidgeting lately, he deliberately put on a stern face and said, "If you're going to carry someone, just focus on carrying them. Don't do all this messy stuff that makes people uneasy."

Shu Jun slung her over his back, pressed her hands against his chest, and laughed, "Okay, hold my hands tight and watch them carefully, don't let them move around."