Молодой господин бесстыден

Глава 56

Fan Qingbo could tell from his darting eyes that he was thinking about something strange again. Unable to investigate further, he simply said casually, "Hmm, not bad. Be good, take a good look at what I wrote." He pushed the paper on the table.

He blinked, then his gaze suddenly fixed on her swinging legs, and he noticed her indecent behavior.

"My lady, how could you do such a frivolous thing!" Without saying a word, he pulled her off the table, moved a stool over from the side, placed her on it, and then sat back down in his own seat.

He kept a straight face the whole time, only revealing a satisfied smile at the end. Fan Qingbo found it amusing; if she didn't have important business to attend to, she really wanted to sit on his lap and be completely frivolous, to see what he would do. But for now, she could only adopt Xie Yiren's refined lady demeanor, placing her hands on her knees and forcing a gentle smile, saying, "Husband, may I ask you to take a look now?"

The scholar had no way to refuse, so he reluctantly glanced at it quickly. He originally thought he could just use his internal energy to shatter it and pretend it never happened, but after glancing at it, he was captivated. With surprise and admiration, he picked up the paper and examined it carefully.

After a cup of tea.

"How is it?" Fan Qingbo asked expectantly. These were the family rules she had spent an entire afternoon compiling.

The scholar raised his head, his gaze tender and passionate, filled with an intense and unwavering love, and said, "My lady, you truly have beautiful handwriting!"

Fan Qingbo lost his balance and almost fell off the stool, his expectant expression frozen on his face.

The scholar, oblivious to anything amiss, pointed at the paper and proceeded to praise it eloquently: "The handwriting is delicate and elegant, unique and distinctive. I've wanted to ask you this before, my wife, how did you manage to write such fine characters?"

"The key is the content! Who...let...you...see...the...text...!" Fan Qingbo suppressed the violent impulse surging within her, gritting her teeth as she spoke each word clearly. It was too frustrating. In the past, she could perfectly embody the demeanor of a well-bred lady anytime, anywhere, but in front of a scholar, she could never last three seconds before exploding. Her nemesis, he was absolutely her nemesis.

"content?"

The scholar paused, glanced at it a few more times, then suddenly realized what was going on. He picked up a writing brush from the table and began drawing circles on the paper. Fan Qingbo's lower eyelid twitched violently. He leaned closer to the table and asked in a suppressed voice, "May I ask what this young master is doing?"

He turned around and smiled reassuringly, then focused on his drawing again, saying, "My wife, don't be embarrassed. Although there are a lot of misspelled words in this practice piece, it doesn't detract from its overall beauty. My wife is knowledgeable and eloquent, so there's no need to worry about your limited literacy—what are you doing, my wife!"

"Not literate? I'm not literate?" Fan Qingbo finally couldn't suppress her violent urge and grabbed his ear, seeing him wince in pain. She thought to herself, "Good, no wonder he wouldn't listen to me before; his weakness is his ear." She twisted even harder. "I started school at six, went through the national college entrance examination and went straight to a top university. I've studied for at least sixteen years. I'm not literate? Say it again, who isn't literate!"

"Husband, it's me! My wife, you are so learned and talented, while I am not very literate!" Waaah, I have even abandoned the most important integrity of a scholar. My wife, can you please not be so cruel?

"That's more like it." Fan Qingbo let go, outwardly tough but inwardly feeling incredibly miserable, thinking that she had never taken the violent route before meeting this man... She snatched the Xuan paper, somewhat embarrassed, "What typo? It's simplified characters. Ignorant, humph." She knew traditional characters, but there were too many strokes, too much trouble. Who would want to write them in private?

The scholar covered his bright red ears and nodded repeatedly in agreement, realizing that his previous thoughts were too naive; he was the one who should be worried about domestic violence.

Fan Qingbo surrendered. Playing mind games with this guy was practically suicide. Wasn't the lesson from the beautiful brother last time enough? She took a deep breath, rallied her spirits, and said, "Forget about what happened before, let's start over." She patted the paper in her hand and got straight to the point, "These are our family rules. Take a look, and if you have no objections, sign them. They'll be in effect from today."

She had thought it through. Although the marriage was a product of a momentary impulse, it didn't mean she would settle for a life of compromise with the scholar. As a hedonist, she didn't want anything to disrupt her peaceful life. Therefore, she had to ensure family harmony and peace of mind. Since the die was cast, she had to do her best. Consensus is crucial in a family. Especially with a scholar whose thinking was so unconventional, everything had to be discussed openly beforehand, and a consensus reached as much as possible. If a consensus couldn't be reached, a preliminary compromise should be reached to avoid constant friction and conflict that could catch her off guard.

And clearly, the scholar had also noticed this.

"My wife, you're too cunning!"

The clause prohibiting fighting, poisoning, or other acts of violence at home was clearly directed at Fan Bing, which he wholeheartedly agreed to. He also had no objection to not interfering with her work at Huanxitian, and the clause about not forcing her to change her appearance was negotiable. However, the scholar stared incredulously at one of the clauses, titled "Dispute Resolution Machine": When opinions are in agreement, the opinion of Party A shall prevail; when opinions are in conflict, the opinion of Party B shall prevail.

He checked the first line of the paper several times to make sure it read "Party A: Scholar, Party B: Fan Qingbo," then silently looked at his wife, who looked guilty.

"Cough cough cough cough." Under the scholar's innocent yet furious gaze, Fan Qingbo retreated step by step. "Alright, this can be slightly modified." Damn it, you still noticed even though I deliberately wrote it in such small characters. I hate it when you say you have superhuman martial arts skills and eyesight!

—Comrade Fan Qingbo, are you sure you are setting family rules for a harmonious family rather than a dictatorial one?

Given the woman's history of insincerity, the scholar puffed out his cheeks, held his breath, widened his eyes, and focused intently on scanning the paper, determined to extract every deliberately shrunk word from between the lines. Before long, he discovered the reason for her quick compromise—Article 18: Major family matters are decided by Party A, minor matters by Party B. A line of smaller print beside it read: What constitutes a major matter and what constitutes a minor matter shall be determined by Party B.

The scholar's resentful gaze slowly and lingered as he looked at Fan Qingbo. "My wife, in your heart, do you think your husband is particularly stupid?" He even tried to coax him into signing such an obviously humiliating treaty.

He paused several times, sounding like he was sobbing. Fan Qingbo's heart trembled, and her heart ached with pity for him. She quickly hugged him and comforted him, saying, "No, no, no, I've never felt that way since I came out. I've always known that you're just a bit silly."

"Otherwise, you must have some dissatisfaction with your husband!" That's why I'm doing this to him!

"No, no, I swear, you're absolutely perfect, husband, except for being a little silly!" This was no exaggeration, considering her initial criteria for judging men.

Whether talented or handsome, literary or martial, or skilled in literature or martial arts, scholars are practically perfect, except for being unable to cook and lacking in sexual prowess.

To her surprise, her unusually heartfelt attempt to please him, even resorting to cheesy sweet talk, was met with indifference from the scholar. He shoved her away, turned his head away, and, recalling his initial guess that her dissatisfaction with him could only be because of "that," he closed his eyes in an ugly expression and roared out a sentence that struck Fan Qingbo like a thunderbolt—"You clearly despise your husband's body for being defiled by that Miao woman!"

My body was defiled by the Miao woman... defiled... defiled... stained...

The phrase "defiled" kept replaying in Fan Qingbo's mind, leaving him utterly stunned and bewildered. He flipped the table. What the hell was going on? How could such a line, typical of a humiliated female protagonist in a romance novel, come from the mouth of a grown man?

What on earth is going on in that idiot's head?! She was wrong, he wasn't just a little bit idiotic, he was idiotic to the extreme!

"How could you...think that?"

She managed to squeeze out those words with great difficulty, but the scholar mistook her slightly ferocious expression for an admission of his words. Her face immediately clouded with sorrow, her expression utterly gloomy. She stared blankly ahead, muttering unconsciously to herself, "I should have realized it when I heard she was bothered by Zhou Zice having a concubine. I thought I was innocent, that I was better than that person, and I completely forgot about that mistake I made in my youth… Her attitude became strange after hearing about the Miao girl; her face was gloomy and terrifying on the way home. Later, when the young man from the Fan family interrupted, I completely forgot about it… Now that I think about it, the rumors say she's slept with countless virgins; she must secretly enjoy virgins…"

Fan Qingbo initially found it both funny and exasperating, but towards the end, her face finally darkened.

"My lord, the daylight is lovely."

A sudden remark interrupted the scholar's self-pity and mutterings. He looked up blankly and saw Fan Qingbo with a stern face, twisting her wrists and neck, slowly approaching him step by step until she forced him against the back of the chair. Then she curled her lips into a cold smile and said, "The plague god is due west, the god of death is northeast, it is auspicious to kill people."

Number 39 Love Rivals

Fan Qingbo naturally failed to kill the scholar; in fact, she was interrupted by a knock on the door before she could even make a move. At this moment, only Fan Bing could be knocking, and she understood why Fan Bing, unusually, didn't shout or yell. This man, who should have been enjoying his wedding night, had appeared in front of her courtyard—a spectacle the capital's gossip-loving masses couldn't bear. Although Fan Bing was prone to fits of madness, he was always extra cautious when her interests were at stake.

"You shouldn't be here."

"I know, but I have something to say to you, alone."

Fan Qingbo glanced at the two guys next to him whose ears had suddenly stretched out. One was holding a book upside down with an air of importance, and the other was holding an empty teapot and pouring himself a drink in a seemingly serious manner. A sense of powerlessness suddenly washed over him.

"Ahem." He gestured to Fan Bing, who always had a good understanding with him, to lead the scholar to retreat.

Fan Bing pretended not to see, "Hey, Master, what's the pronunciation of this character?" He then approached the scholar with feigned interest. Hmph, with external enemies at hand, it's best to temporarily join forces with the traitors within the family. Once the main enemy is eliminated, we'll discard them like used millstones, hehehehe.

The scholar finally released the empty teacup he had nearly bitten a hole in, and enthusiastically explained, "This is the character '礼' (li, meaning propriety). Shouheng, do you know what propriety is?" Without waiting for Fan Bing's reply, he continued, "Propriety is the essence; loyalty and trustworthiness are the foundation of propriety, and righteousness and reason are its expression..."

"You bastard, do you think I can understand what you're saying?" What kind of lousy teammate is this! Is he being discriminated against because he's not well-educated?!

The scholar's eyes glanced almost imperceptibly at Fan Qingbo and Zhou Zice beside him, then returned to Fan Bing, and he smiled apologetically, "The concept of 'etiquette' is profound and cannot be fully explained in a short time. Let me take the etiquette between husband and wife as an example. Husband and wife should respect and love each other. A wedding ceremony is a wedding with proper etiquette. On the wedding day, the husband and wife should naturally follow the rules and regulations. Only after the ceremony is completed can it be considered dignified."