Chapter 364: A Dictionary? Learn
Chapter 364: Chapter 364: A Dictionary? Learn
At this, he suddenly stopped.
"What is it?" Shen Ningning tilted her small, fair face up, waiting. When he still wouldn’t say, she stomped her foot in frustration.
"Tell me!"
Xie Ming’an casually raised an eyebrow, settling back into his chair to pour another cup of tea.
He looked languid and completely at ease.
"If you really want to know, let me hear you call me ’Second Brother.’"
Shen Ningning’s cheeks puffed out in a pout. "Fine, don’t tell me then! Hmph, I bet you don’t even know."
Xie Ming’an frowned. "How could I possibly not know? I’m the only one in the entire family who learned the script of Hua Country that Mother taught."
"Even our older brother didn’t learn as quickly as I did. That’s why Mother gave the workbook she wrote to me."
Shen Ningning made a silly face at him. "Fine, don’t tell me! I’ll just go tell Father you pinched my cheek."
Xie Ming’an froze for a moment, then set down his teacup.
"When did I pinch your cheek? Don’t you lie!"
’If Xie Suzhi actually found out, he’d definitely punish me.’
Outside, he, Xie Ming’an, was an imposing figure. At home, only Xie Suzhi dared to truly strike him.
’Truly his own flesh and blood.’
Shen Ningning stuck out her tongue. "You pinched me before, and I haven’t told on you for it yet!"
Xie Ming’an’s eyes darkened.
’What a little grudge-holder.’
Resigned, he had no choice but to tell her, "The words carved beneath the Jade Rabbit are: ’Moon Landing.’"
Shen Ningning’s eyes went wide with fascination.
She raised the Jade Rabbit again to look.
The two words, "Moon Landing," were very simple and completely different from the script of their Cangyun Country.
"Why would Mother carve the words ’Moon Landing’ under the Jade Rabbit?" she wondered.
Xie Ming’an replied nonchalantly, "It’s a Jade Rabbit, so it must live in Guanghan Palace. What’s so strange about carving ’Moon Landing’ on it?"
Shen Ningning’s small hand gently traced the words "Moon Landing."
It was as if she were reaching through time, meeting the distant gaze of the mother who had carved these very words.
Her eyes shimmered.
Her voice was filled with awe. "How did Mother think of going to the moon, just like Chang’e?"
"Mother was so amazing. She could think of anything."
Xie Ming’an saw how carefully and preciously Shen Ningning handled the figurine.
His heart softened with affection.
’Of the three siblings, only their sister, Ningning, had never seen their mother’s face.’
At this thought, Xie Ming’an sighed imperceptibly.
"I have a workbook for the script of Hua Country that Mother gave me. It’s a very thin volume she wrote herself."
"It has side-by-side comparisons and explanations of the Hua Country and Cangyun Country scripts. If you want it, I can give it to you."
Shen Ningning suddenly looked up, her bright eyes shimmering with disbelief. "Really?"
Xie Ming’an chuckled lightly. "Why would I lie to you?"
As he spoke, he walked over to a shelf and took down a brocade box from the very top.
He opened the lock and took out a thin, brocade-wrapped book.
Shen Ningning blinked her big eyes, watching him.
Xie Ming’an had kept the book his mother left him in perfect condition.
He handed the workbook to Shen Ningning. "Here, you can have it."
She took it with both hands, holding it as carefully as if it were a priceless treasure.
She ran over to the table and slowly opened the book.
Perhaps it was just her imagination, but a sweet fragrance seemed to waft from the pages.
She imagined it was the scent that had clung to her mother.
Shen Siyi’s handwriting was unique. It possessed an unbending character, with firm and forceful strokes.
She had written some simple Hua Country characters, with the corresponding Cangyun Country script and their meanings listed beside them.
To Shen Ningning, this book was an absolute treasure!
Besides, she couldn’t shake the feeling that these Hua Country characters looked vaguely familiar.
’Had she seen them somewhere before...?’
"This book... are you really giving it to me? With no conditions?" Shen Ningning tilted her little face up, looking at Xie Ming’an with wide, hopeful eyes.
She still couldn’t seem to believe her good fortune.
Xie Ming’an said patiently, "Yes, it’s for you. A gift. There are no conditions."
"This was Mother’s. She only left it with me for safekeeping. But you are her most beloved daughter, so it’s yours too."
"Besides, I’m always busy with my duties. If it just sits in this box, it would be a terrible waste. You should have it."
Tears welled up in Shen Ningning’s big eyes.
She clutched the workbook to her chest and padded over to the doorway.
Suddenly, she turned back.
"Thank you, stinky Second Brother." With that, she was off like a shot, vanishing in a flash like a puff of cloud.
Xie Ming’an just hummed in acknowledgement at first.
But when her words registered, he snapped his head up.
"Who are you calling ’stinky Second Brother’? Shen Ningning, you get back here!"
However, her nimble little figure was already far away.
「That night.」
Shen Ningning spent the whole night curled up with the book, poring over it.
The Hua Country script was abstruse. For a little girl seeing it for the first time, understanding its meaning was extremely difficult.
Fortunately, the notes Shen Siyi had written were very detailed.
Shen Ningning studied it all night, and in the end, she had only managed to learn two characters.
...
After two days of light snow, the weather cleared.
Xie Suzhi had come into possession of a desolate mountain and wanted to have Shen Ningning go take a look at it.
If she didn’t like it, he would sell the mountain.
Xie Suzhi had originally planned to accompany her, but with the fighting on the border not yet fully quelled, he was too busy with government affairs to get away.
Shen Ningning didn’t mind.
She’d heard there was a villa on the mountain surrounded by snow plums, and that Xie Suzhi had already arranged for the household staff to clean it from top to bottom.
So, she invited Mo Lingwei, Ye Shangyi, and Lu Shaoyuan to come along.
The four of them traveled together to the desolate mountain.
On the way to the mountain, the carriage rattled and swayed along the rugged, treacherous road.
Lu Shaoyuan, who had handsome features, was dressed in brown quilted clothes embroidered with auspicious clouds in gold thread.
He took out a scroll, which was a topographical map he had prepared specially for the trip.
"Look, this desolate mountain we’re headed to is extremely remote. It’s a full thirty li from Wolf Mountain."
"And since it’s so deep in the mountains, those snow plums must have been neglected for ages. Why would anyone give this to Chancellor Xie as a celebratory gift?"
Ye Shangyi, dressed in a pale cyan gown and hugging a hand warmer, shot him a look.
"Ningning was kind enough to invite us out, and here you are finding fault. If you don’t like it, you can get out and go back to the capital."
Lu Shaoyuan’s expression changed, and he frowned. "That’s not what I meant at all."
He then looked at Shen Ningning, who was sitting next to Mo Lingwei.
She was dressed in an orange-red robe that made her look radiant. Two golden butterfly hairpins in her hair glittered brightly with every movement.
Mo Lingwei had his eyes closed in rest, completely ignoring Lu Shaoyuan’s words.
’As long as he could accompany Shen Ningning on an outing, he didn’t care where they went.’
Lu Shaoyuan pursed his lips and said to Shen Ningning, "Actually, my family has quite a few estates, too. We have a Plum Garden, a Pear Garden, an Orange Garden... we could go to any of them for the scenery."
"If you wanted to go somewhere, we didn’t have to come all this way."
Shen Ningning looked up from her book, blinking her large, round eyes.
"But how will I know if I like the villa if I don’t go? Father is waiting for me to tell him whether he should sell it."
Seeing that she was insistent, Lu Shaoyuan had no choice but to silently roll up his scroll.
Noticing his hesitant expression, Shen Ningning closed her book.
"Lu Shaoyuan, you’ve been worried ever since we set out. What is it? Do you know that there’s something wrong with the mountain?"
Lu Shaoyuan was silent for a moment.
He nodded. "I heard this from my mother. Behind that desolate mountain, there used to be the ancestral burial ground of a wealthy family."
"But during a great drought, the entire family died out, and their ancestral burial ground became an abandoned graveyard."
"So, you can imagine, how pleasant can a villa in front of an abandoned graveyard really be?"
Shen Ningning was surprised to hear this.
Ye Shangyi also paled.
At the thought of ghosts and spirits, the young travelers were naturally a little scared.
But on second thought, Ye Shangyi wasn’t afraid. ’As long as Ningning is here,’ she thought, ’I have nothing to fear.’
After a moment’s thought, Shen Ningning mumbled, "We should still go take a look before deciding anything."
’If it were really that bad, Xie Suzhi wouldn’t have let me come.’
Just then, Mo Lingwei opened his eyes, his tone calm.
"Don’t worry. I brought forty Hidden Guards."
’Even if a ghost showed up, they could riddle it with so many arrows it would look like a sieve.’
At his words, Shen Ningning smiled sweetly and dragged a large cloth bag into view.
"Brother brought Hidden Guards to protect us, and I brought enough food for two days of fun."
"What about you?" She looked at Ye Shangyi and Lu Shaoyuan.
Ye Shangyi chimed in quickly, "My four maids are in the carriage behind this one. They can handle making fires and cooking."
Then, both girls turned to look at Lu Shaoyuan.
Lu Shaoyuan cleared his throat.
Ye Shangyi exclaimed, "We agreed everyone would contribute. Don’t tell me you brought nothing at all!"
Lu Shaoyuan looked completely helpless.
’He’d thought about bringing guards, but then figured the Crown Prince would surely bring his own.’
’Food was something he didn’t even need to worry about, and it had never occurred to him to bring maids.’
Finally, Lu Shaoyuan pulled three thick rolls of silver notes from his sleeve.
He said, somewhat sheepishly, "I don’t have any special skills, just a lot of silver notes. Use them as you see fit."
Shen Ningning’s eyes went wide.
Those three rolls of silver notes must have added up to over a thousand taels!
The little girl said sweetly, "There’s nowhere to spend money deep in the mountains! You should put that away!"
Lu Shaoyuan was at a complete loss.
’He had just grabbed these silver notes before leaving home.’
’He’d figured that no matter where he went, he wouldn’t have to worry as long as he had money.’
’But now, it seemed...’
Lu Shaoyuan suddenly understood what his older brother meant when he talked about feeling inferior to others in every way!
’Shen Ningning had all of Wolf Mountain and its abundant resources; Mo Lingwei had power and authority; even Ye Shangyi wasn’t short on money.’
’Compared to them, Lu Shaoyuan suddenly felt that he was far too ordinary!’