Chapter 232: Chapter 232

Prince Luling was rescued by him, feeling immensely grateful, and hurriedly spoke words of comfort.

"Oh, what’s all this about destiny? Aren’t you fine now? Don’t listen to the nonsense of incompetent doctors; your illness can surely be cured." Prince Luling waved his hand and said.

The young man cupped his hands to Prince Luling, "Thank you for your kind words, sir."

Prince Luling then expressed a desire to take the young man to see Li Yuzhu for medical treatment.

The young man said there was no need for such trouble, as the old servant at home was already searching for a doctor.

Since they insisted they needed no help, Prince Luling had to give up.

A young servant came out of the house and exclaimed, "Young Master, why did you bring an outsider home?"

"Fusheng, this gentleman was being harassed on the street, so I brought him home to take refuge. Do not be impolite," the young man said sternly.

The young servant composed himself and approached Prince Luling with respect, offering a bow, "Please forgive me, sir."

"No problem, no problem, the ignorant are blameless." Prince Luling waved his hand graciously.

The young man then instructed the young servant, "Fusheng, go and pour some tea."

The young servant acknowledged and went off to be busy.

As he walked, he glanced back at Prince Luling, wondering, how in such a poor village could there be such a fat person? This person must weigh one hundred sixty or seventy pounds?

The young man gestured invitingly to Prince Luling, "Please come inside, sir, to talk."

Prince Luling gratefully said, "You are too kind."

"Meeting is fate, please, sir."

"Please, please, please." Prince Luling, tired from running, also wanted a bowl of water to drink, so he happily accepted the invitation to come inside for water.

Once inside, after sitting briefly, the young servant brought the tea.

The young man cupped his hands to Prince Luling and said, "My name is Pei Shenyan. I’ve lived in this market for many years, and today is the first time I’ve seen someone write cursive script so magnificently. Sir, might I request a piece of your writing?"

Prince Luling, praised thus, became even more delighted.

"That can be arranged, that can be arranged. When you reach my age, you might write even better than I do," Prince Luling said with a smile.

Pei Shenyan called for the Attendant Student Fusheng, "Quickly, prepare the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone."

The young servant secretly pondered, aren’t those who can write and paint supposed to be slender and otherworldly?

How did it turn out to be a fat and clumsy person? Can he even write? Might he just be deceiving the young master?

However, the task ordered by his young master was not to be disobeyed, so he agreed honestly and laid rice paper on the desk in the side room, setting up the inkstone, brush, and other items.

Pei Shenyan invited Prince Luling into the study.

Although the room was simple, it was furnished quite elegantly, especially the books. A half wall filled with a bookshelf was crammed with various volumes.

Many old tomes were also present.

Prince Luling was surprised, how could there be such a studious young man in a rural village?

Thinking of his three sons, none of whom currently held a book, left him feeling quite dispirited.

Pei Shenyan selected a book from the shelf and pointed to a poem within, saying, "Sir, please write this poem."

Prince Luling, seeing the poem, was startled and thought, oh dear, isn’t this the poem he wrote in his youth when drunk?

He had never admitted it was his own work, attributing the poem to the head of an acquaintance, an old Daoist priest.

It had been thirty years, how had it spread among the common folk?

"Oh, who wrote this poem?" Prince Luling asked casually, "It captures the arrogance of youth."

"Signed by Jue Chenzi, he should be a Daoist," Pei Shenyan replied.

Prince Luling sighed in relief, fortunate that the old Daoist hadn’t given him away.

If he ever met the old Daoist again, he would certainly offer several bottles of fine wine in thanks.

At that time, he was only fifteen or sixteen years old, writing audacious poetry with no sense of limitation, which surprisingly was now admired by a village youth.

Could this mean he had a potential for poetry writing?

Prince Luling mused to himself, not being a prince or a farmer, being a scholar wasn’t so bad.

He, with fluid strokes, completed the writing.

Pei Shenyan blew the ink dry and praised, "Well-written, well-written! A good poem with good writing, superb!"

Prince Luling, pleased, twirled his mustache tip and laughed heartily, "You flatter me, you flatter me."

Pei Shenyan wanted to keep Prince Luling for a meal, saying he wished to learn calligraphy.

Prince Luling was about to agree, but then thought, oh no, having run off alone , his third daughter would be anxious not finding him.

He waved his hand, "Thank you for the invitation, but I am out with my daughter, and she just left for something. If she returns to the stall and cannot find me, she will surely be worried."

Pei Shenyan said, "I see, that’s fine, I’ll ask for advice another day."

Prince Luling laughed, "I might not come to the market another day. I believe we are destined friends, how about we become friends despite the age difference? You can come to my house to find me."

Pei Shenyan was very happy, "May I ask your honorable surname, sir? Where is your residence?"

Prince Luling laughed, "My surname is Li, without the honorific. My house is easy to find, it’s the bamboo house at the foot of Niu Tou Mountain in Taohua River Village, there’s only one bamboo house there."

Pei Shenyan noted it down, "I’ll definitely visit when I’m free."

Having finished his tea and rested enough, Prince Luling got up to take his leave.

Pei Shenyan had a young servant escort Prince Luling to the street.

Prince Luling didn’t dare to go back to the original place, fearing a beating, so he gave a different address, which was diagonally opposite the Second Princess’s pastry shop.

The young servant said, "I’m familiar with that place, follow me."

He skillfully escorted Prince Luling to the specified location.

Prince Luling thanked him and walked toward his children’s shop.

The Pei Family’s young servant turned and went back.

In the shop, the Second Princess and Great Princess were anxiously pacing in circles.

The two were too worried to focus on business.

"What should we do, what should we do, should we post a missing person notice?" The Second Princess was almost in tears with worry, "Dad came to the market for the first time and doesn’t know his way around. He’s most likely lost. Today there are more people at the market than ever, he’s probably been pushed elsewhere by the crowd."

The Great Princess was anxious internally, but maintained her composure.

She said in a steady voice, "What’s the panic? Second Brother and Third Sister Si Niu have gone to look for him, they are familiar with the market, they’ll definitely find him."

"Sweet daughters, who are you looking for?" Prince Luling walked into the shop with his hands behind his back, taking broad strides. "Eh? Why is it just the two of you? Where are the Second one and Yu Zhu? Where did they go? And what about the little helper girl, Si Niu?"

The Second Princess was so glad to see her father back that she was almost crying with joy. "Dad, you’re finally back."

"I’m back, why the tears?" Prince Luling looked curiously at his two daughters.

The Great Princess sneered, "Dad, where did you go? Third Sister and Second Brother, along with Si Niu, have gone to look for you."

Prince Luling was puzzled, "Why were they looking for me? Haven’t I come back?"

"Afraid you were lost!" The Great Princess, looking at her nonchalant father, was about to lose her temper.

No money was made, and he got lost.

It caused everyone to stop working to look for him.

And he didn’t feel guilty at all?

The Second Princess took a deep breath, then turned her tears into a smile, "Dad, where did you go just now? Third Sister said she just went to the bathroom, and when she came back, you were gone, the table was tilted, the stool was missing, and so were the pen, ink, paper, and inkstone."

Prince Luling slapped his thigh, "Oh, don’t mention it, it was the unluckiest thing ever!"

The Great Princess and Second Princess both looked at Prince Luling, "Dad, what exactly happened?"

Prince Luling shook his head and sighed, "Rogues! A group of rogues!"

He recounted to his two daughters the story of how a ruffian chased him.

The Great Princess said with a dark face, "Dad, this mess is because you talk too much!"

Prince Luling disagreed, "When did I ever talk too much? I said nothing."

The Great Princess was speechless, "Nothing to say? Why argue with others? Just pretend to be blind and dumb, you talk too much, so you’re not like a blind person."

The Second Young Master, who was looking for Prince Luling, returned first.

He saw Prince Luling sitting well in the shop and immediately walked in with large strides.

"Dad, where did you go? I’ve been looking for you for a long time."

"He wandered about blindly," the Great Princess said crossly.

"I wasn’t wandering blindly, I made a friend today..." Prince Luling muttered.

The Second Young Master was speechless, "What kind of friend makes you not come back for half a day?"

Prince Luling said proudly, "A young man who greatly admired my calligraphy, by the way, he even considered a poem I wrote in my youth worthy of being displayed on the wall."

The Great Princess stretched her face longer, "How much did he pay you?"

"Uh, nothing, but he did treat me to tea." Prince Luling said proudly.

"A bowl of tea for a piece of calligraphy, Dad, you’ve been had! The tea shop next door charges only one coin per bowl, Dad, you wrote a poem, it should at least be twenty coins worth," the Second Princess counted on her fingers. Newest update provided by N0veI.Fiɾe.net

Prince Luling waved his hand, "That’s not how you calculate it."

The Second Young Master sneered, "Then how do you calculate it? Third Sister said the money you earned today is just over a hundred coins, but you’ve lost the stool, pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, which together are worth two hundred coins, meaning you didn’t earn a single coin, and instead, you’ve lost some."