At night, the water was extra cool and clear, making it safer than it was during day time. Since it was also the time for oilfish to be out and looking for food, they both caught a lot of oilfish in a short period of time, making them even happier.
When they heard Lu Zhong’s voice from afar, the siblings got up and looked back at him. Only then, they noticed that they had already strayed very far away from the rest. It was no wonder their father’s voice sounded very worried.
Lu Xiao Shu hurriedly called back in response, while Lu Qi said, “We’ve already caught so many. Let’s get back to the group.”
Lu Xiao Shu looked at the oilfish that were skewered through the gills and nodded in agreement.
While the siblings were walking back to the group, Lu Zhong and Miao Chu He had already caught up with them in the middle. Lu Zhong frowned and furrowed his brows, “Lu Qi, you’re old enough to know better than to bring your sister far away in the middle of the night. Do you know how dangerous it can be in the woods?” He stepped forwards and took Lu Xiao Shu’s hands, asking if she fell down, got hurt, or got frightened.
Lu Qi glanced towards Lu Xiao Shu and chuckled, “See! Father’s blaming me again! Every time, it’s always this girl who started it, but I always take the blame. Gosh, who asked me to be the older brother?”
Lu Xiao Shu laughed and added, “At least you know!”
Lu Zhong agreed, “Xiao Shu is right. How old is she and how old are you? If I don’t blame you, should I be blaming her instead?” He held his daughter’s hand as the four of them returned.
On that night, their catch was plentiful. To everyone’s surprise, Miao Chu He even caught a big and a small mountain tortoise. One of them was as big as a bowl while the other was as small as a teacup. Lu Xiao Shu found them fascinating and begged to keep them at home.
Miao Chu He chuckled, “You want to keep them in the pond? Aren’t you worried that it might escape?” The water in their pond was connected to the streams. Besides, tortoises are different from fishes. Even if they crawled slowly, it would be a piece of cake for them to escape the pond.
Lu Xiao Shu nodded thoughtfully, “Then we shouldn’t keep them in the pond. I’m worried that they might eat my fish and shrimps! I think it would be fine to keep them in our garden yard.”
Miao Chu He chuckled again, “Xiao Shu, do you think you’re keeping a dog?” Lu Zhong shook his head as he laughed alongside. Meanwhile, Lu Qi rolled his eyes thinking, This girl could make anything happen. It doesn’t even seem weird if she decided to keep a tortoise like keeping a pet dog. Mr Wu was thinking something along the same line as Lu Qi, that this girl always had peculiar ideas since she was little.
Lu Xiao Shu heeded no mind to their judgments, “What’s wrong with that? I’ll put a small basin with water aside for it to bathe and to drink after it gets exhausted from playing among the flowers. I’ll feed it a piece of meat every two or three days, wouldn’t that be enough?”
Who said that a tortoise must be kept in an aquarium or a pond? She kept her tortoise the way she wanted in her past life, in the garden in the backyard with a half-buried basin filled with water. Whenever it got tired from playing among the flowers, it would bathe and crawl under the shade to cool off. When it was winter, it would disappear as it buried itself underground to hibernate. She thought that it had run away and got lost. Only when the flowers bloomed in spring, did it dig itself out from the ground and lazily laid in the water basin, cheering her up when she saw it again.
Yup, a tortoise was still a tortoise. A tortoise from the ancient days would be exactly the same creature as one from the modern days. Of course, she could keep it using the same way.
The group joked and chatted until they reached home. When they checked on the animals they caught, there were a total of thirty-something stone frogs and countless fishes of various species. Miao Cui Lan and the others were waiting for them while Tong Yu Er held Jin Er while watching them. Jin Er’s eyes grew big with curiosity as he observed the croaking frogs. Then, he tried mimicking the croaking, making everyone submit into laughter.
Having fishes as pets were Lu Xiao Shu’s favourite, so she picked out the fish that were still alive and placed them in a bucket, begging her brother to release them into the pond. In the meantime, Miao Cui Lan and the nanny started to clean the rest of the fish while the stone frogs were kept alive in a huge tank with a wooden plank as the lid. They would slaughter them for dinner tomorrow.
At the moment, Miao Cui Lan prepared fish porridge as supper for everyone, and they passed around the bowls of porridge. After having supper, Mr Wu got up to say his farewell after a short chat. Right before he left, he suddenly said to Lu Xiao Shu, “Oh, right! Since we had so much fun tonight, shouldn’t you paint the scene of Song Xi at night?”
How could Lu Xiao Shu refuse? So, she gazed at him, “Can I draw us catching fish instead?”
Mr Wu chuckled and shook his head with a sigh, “That would totally lose the aesthetics of the painting. All you know is to play and eat!” Everyone laughed at his remark.
Mr Wu left laughing while Miao Chu He chuckled at Lu Xiao Shu, “Since Mr Wu brought it up, it reminded me that I wanted to ask you to help me paint two paper fans. Summer is coming and it’s the season for paper fans!”
Ever since Miao Chu He became a Juren, he stopped going to the academy, but he would still visit his teacher and a few knowledgeable elders in the area, or he would have a gathering with the other scholars to talk about literature and theories.
Well, they were scholars. Of course, they loved their literary pursuits. To them, a foldable paper fan was a daily essential on a hot summer day. Sometimes, they would also hold a paper fan to look elegant in the winter.
Therefore, a paper fan was an important tool for any scholar.
Lu Xiao Shu immediately caught on with what he said. She asked with her eyes sparkling, “Uncle, uncle! Can my paintings really be used on paper fan surfaces?”
Lu Xiao Shu was a little nervous yet anticipating. She had used different methods to ask Mr Wu about the paintings she made. Mr Wu had given her compliments but he had never given her an approximate price of how much they were worth on the market. He also never commented on the standard of her paintings, making Lu Xiao Shu constantly curious and nervous about her performance.
Besides, there was no internet to survey the market now. She had been living in this village her whole life! How could she find out about what went on in the outside world?
“Of course you can!” Miao Chu He smiled, “Your painting style is quite impressive, and they look awesome and lively. I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of people who would admire you in your lifetime. I think that what you’re painting is way better than some famous painters!”
Coincidentally, Miao Cui Lan exited from the kitchen and could not help but add when she heard him, “You could praise her as much as you want, but she’s only a child. There’s no way she would take what you said to heart!”
Lu Xiao Shu was happy at first, but her face suddenly turned sour at the sound of her mother’s words.
Miao Cui Lan snickered and shook her head with a sigh, “Your temper is getting worse these days. I’m just worried that you’d get disappointed. Gosh! Look at that little mouth go!”
“Uncle?” Lu Xiao Shu turned towards Miao Chu He.
“Cui Lan, I’m being honest here!” Miao Chu He gave her a look, and smiled at Lu Xiao Shu, “It really is very beautiful. Your handwriting is really pretty too. Do you think you can paint one with an old plum tree and another with a pine forest?”
“As long as you don’t complain about them, I’ll do it!” Lu Xiao Shu agreed without hesitation and proceeded to linger around him, asking him about the calligraphy and painting market. Since Miao Chu He had no idea about her little motive, he told her everything he knew about it while the girl made a mental note of everything.
Half a month later, Lu Xiao Shu rolled up two paintings that she had finished; one was a painting of three friends on a winter day, another was a bird on a plum tree in the mountains. She also secretly adopted an alias, calling herself Bi Teng Shan Ren and carved a seal for herself. She snuck into Mr Wu’s study to look for a red ink pad and stamped her paintings with her seal on the bottom side. Then, she chose a day and gave an excuse to see her brother in the city. Instead, she brought the two paintings and packed them up, ready to be sold.
When she got to the city, she remembered that she was still a little girl. Who knew if the buyers would try to cheat her? So, she went looking for her brother and they dragged Lin Fang along as well.
Since the Lin Family’s name was very famous in the city, no one would dare to think of tricking her even if they had the guts of a leopard.
“You’re selling two paintings?” Lin Fang asked in astonishment, “Let me see what they look like. My family has experience with this market so I could get you a good price for them.”
“Okay!” Lu Xiao Shu wasted no time in using favors from her friend. The trio entered a tea house, and she opened her package, gingerly unscrolling the painting with care to show Lin Fang.
Lin Fang thought back to the time when he was studying, his results were never as good as Lu Qi’s, so how would he know how to judge a painting? Looking at the painting in his hands, he could not tell whether it was beautiful or ugly.
Lu Xiao Shu was losing her patience as she rolled her eyes at him, “Hey, do you actually know how to judge it?”
He could not bear seeing her judge him like that so he let out a cough, “This is quite good, very nice. Oh, right. Who painted this? Is it your uncle?” If it was a Juren Master’s painting, it would probably be worth twenty or thirty silvers. Since I know them personally, I should be more courteous to offer a price of at least fifty silvers! Lin Fang thought calculatingly in his mind.
Lu Xiao Shu hesitated at that, shaking her head in denial, “It wasn’t…” She would never dare to mess around with her uncle. Her uncle’s reputation was something more valuable than some gold pieces. Furthermore, her uncle was at home all the time. Saying that could easily expose her. If her parents found out, she would be punished.
“Could it be—”
Lu Qi suddenly widened his eyes in shock and yelped while Lu Xiao Shu nervously yelled at her brother in her mind.
Lin Fang was bewildered at their reaction, “No? Then who painted it?” Huh? The siblings were eyeing each other, making things very suspicious. Just as he got the weird feeling about them and before he could analyze the situation, Lu Xiao Shu had already calmed down and acted as if nothing had happened.
She explained with a huff, “Bi Teng Shan Ren. Hmm… He’s a very able person who isn’t willing to reveal his identity. Hey! What I’m telling you is a secret, so you better not tell anyone else!”
After listening to what she said, Lu Qi almost spat the tea he just drank. He glanced at that audacious girl from his family, thinking to himself: Little sister, you really are very daring! Not willing to reveal his identity? Very able person?
“Oh,” Lin Fang nodded. Even though what she said sounded a little suspicious, it was not impossible. Thus, he nodded and said, “Alright! Come on. I’ll bring you to a shop!”
“Okay!” Lu Xiao Shu grinned.
