Edited by Larkspur

Chapter 15: The Beauty in the Jade (Part 2)

The Eastern rooms had been converted to a study by Chu Jin Yao. Since it was a study, it had to be cut off from the outside world, otherwise it would be messy.  At this moment, Chu Jin Yao was supporting herself with the cupboard and through the thin veil partition, she was able to see the shadow of the oncoming maid. Ding Xiang’s voice seemed to be by her ears as Chu Jin Yao nervously leaned against the cupboard, unsure whether to open the doors to let others in.

And the culprit was standing in front of the desk looking through the copybook as if one was in one’s own courtyard. Upon hearing Ding Xiang’s voice, he did not raise his head or show any signs of urgency. Instead, he looked up with a smile in his eyes and watched Chu Jin Yao.

It seemed that he too wanted to see what Chu Jin Yao intended to do.

Chu Jin Yao took a deep breath, her gaze involuntarily went down to look at the other party’s shadow. Upon seeing her movement, the other party raised his eyebrows and a light chuckled appeared on his chest.

There was no shadow, appearing suddenly and silently in her room. And appeared to be extremely condescending too. Chu Jin Yao had originally thought that she had encountered a ghost but upon seeing this person’s arrogant posture, she felt it was familiarly arrogant. She recovered herself and lowered her voice to ask tentatively, “Qi Ze?”

The other party just smiled and did not answer, and instead, continued to look through the copybooks on the table. At this moment, Ding Xiang was outside. Since she did not hear any noise from within, she became slightly flustered and called out again, “Young Lady?”

From her tone of voice, she was about to push open the doors to enter.

Chu Jin Yao shouted hurriedly, “I am fine. I just accidently knocked the brush holder down. It is all right now.”

“Young Lady, are you really all right?” Ding Xiang was still unsettled about it, “Should I come in to help clean up?”

“No need. No need…”

Right at this moment, Qin Yi said, “The calligraphy copybooks you chose are not good…”

“Don’t talk!” Chu Jin Yao quickly turned her head and glared angrily at Qin Yi. She turned her eyes slightly and gestured outside as she whispered, “I am busy. Don’t cause trouble!”

Oh. There was still someone under Heavens who dared to despise him for causing trouble? Qin Yi smiled inexplicably as he shook his head but did not make another sound thereafter.

When Chu Jin Yao had finally dismissed Ding Xiang, she breathed a sigh of relief. Before she had time to drink some tea to clear her dry throat, she hurried over to see Qin Yi.

“You have turned to a human?” She looked at him with bright sparkling eyes. Her eyes were very beautiful, a well-defined outline extending all the way to the corner of her eyes. Her eyelashes were thin and curled at the tip, it looked charming. Her pupils were black and so clear as though a gem immersed in water shimmering along the light.

When the sunlight shone from the window pane and onto her face, it was surprisingly soft. Chu Jin Yao looked at him so intently that at that moment, Qin Yi felt that the sun and moon could not compete with her eyes.

Qin Yi was unprecedentedly absent-minded and replied lowly, “En.” After a while, he realised that something was amiss and turned his head to stare at Chu Jin Yao, “I have already said that I am originally a human, why do you dare to say that?”

Chu Jin Yao mumbled her complaints, “You just now admitted that…” Qin Yi’s eyes swept over and she instantly changed her stance after being threatened, “All right, it is me who spoke wrongly just now.”

Qin Yi nodded in satisfaction. He was a man but had a long neckline and exquisite jaw. A random movement looked beautiful and had an innate arrogance to it.

Chu Jin Yao gazed at it for a while,  unexpectedly, feeling a little awkward, she then avoided his eyes. As they were living together day and night, she was quite comfortable facing Qin Yi because he was formless and only had a voice. Even though it was a male voice, in her heart, Qin Yi did not have a defined gender. But now, when such a slender, handsome and sharp featured man stood in front of her, she could no longer treat him as a close friend. Suddenly, she was at a loss.

Qin Yi waited for a while only to discover Chu Jin Yao’s head was lowered, he did not know what she was thinking. Frowning secretly, he asked, “What is the matter?”

“Nothing.” Chu Jin Yao shook her head slowly. After a while, she added, “I did not become estranged with you. I am just… Not used to it at the moment. It will get better once I am used to it.”

“What an arrogant tone.” She even dared to tell the Crown Prince that she would get used to it. Qin Yi glanced at her before he lowered his head to continue reading the copybook. This time, he finally found a satisfactory book. He quickly flipped half the book and waved to her without turning his head, “Come here.”

Chu Jin Yao moved over and looked at the copybook. “You want me to copy this piece?”

“Yes. You are a beginner and have to work with well-structured characters. Those elegant style scripts are not suitable for you.” Saying so, he picked up the brush from the holder and glanced down at Chu Jin Yao, “Look at your dazed little eyes, you still won’t prepare the ink?”

Chu Jin Yao replied with an “Oh” in hindsight. She half rolled up her sleeves and revealed her wrists as she prepared the ink for Qin Yi. He then soaked the brush in the ink and, with his wrist hung in the air, moved it across the paper like a dragon. A line of small characters appeared on the paper. Those words looked beautiful, clean and tidy, not at all inferior to the ones in the copybooks. Chu Jin Yao looked at it for a while and sighed, “Looks good.”

Chu Jin Yao had seen Marquis Chang Xing’s words and also Eldest Brother’s writings at Old Furen’s. That was perhaps the best one written by Eldest Young Master and it had always been Old Chu Furen’s pride. She would always bring it out to look when there were guests. However, after Chu Jin Yao saw Qin Yi’s, she suddenly felt that Eldest Young Master’s characters were shapeless. The one who really wrote well was like Qin Yi.

Chu Jin Yao sighed with feeling. “How can you know everything?” He was obviously a spirit not too long ago. Were spirits this scary when they learnt about humans?

“After practicing since young, one will know it.” Qin Yi replied indifferently.

“The few older brothers in my family have been practicing writing from seven years old and they diligently did it every day. Why does one not see they write well?” Chu Jin Yao did not believe Qin Yi’s words. She carefully patted his shoulder and whispered as she leaned over, “I see that you learn everything so quickly. Is it that you have a secret method? You can tell me secretly. I will not spread it around!”

A soft chuckle appeared in Qin Yi’s heart, his entire chest was shaking. His laughter was deep and seductive, and obviously sounded amused. He could not help but stop writing and wait till his hands were steady again before he continued writing, “Chu Jin Yao, you are indeed talented.”