Dandy Escapes From Marriage - Chapter 15

A dish lacking in color, fragrance, and taste was served, and Liu Shu picked at it for a while before recognizing it as bamboo shoots. Regardless, he decided to eat first and worry about the details later.

 

Midway through the meal, the elderly almsgiver arrived.

 

“Early or not, it’s fortunate timing,” Hui Shang greeted as he entered, then went straight to the kitchen to get some utensils.

 

“You’ve come at just the right time. I need to speak with you,” Liu Shu said.

 

“What about?”

 

“You’re always out begging for alms, right? Next time you’re in town, see if there are any young masters who need their books copied.”

 

Hui Shang and Shen Ke both looked at him in surprise. “Copying books?”

 

“Yes, you have to believe, not all rich young masters who study actually want to learn. Many just do it to pass the time,” Liu Shu explained. Although he had only attended school for half a year, he still had a few good friends who often spent their days idling at school. During the day, Liu Shu would accompany them in various activities like gambling or horse racing, and at night, they would listen to music in brothels. As for the tasks assigned by the teacher, they would simply pay someone else to do them.

 

“These people are foolish and have too much money,” Liu Shu concluded, forgetting that this bad idea was originally his idea to his brothers. “They’ll even give extra rewards when they’re happy, so you can earn quite a bit.”

 

When Hui Shang left, Liu Shu quietly reminded him to help inquire about the news, while he would take care of convincing Shen Ke.

 

“Why are you hesitating? This is a profitable venture. You only need to write a few words with your hands,” Liu Shu urged Shen Ke.

 

Shen Ke remained silent.

 

“The most important thing for us now is to make money. Although we can learn a trade from the bamboo craftsman, we don’t know how long it will take, and during this time, we might not be able to make ends meet. What should we do? We can’t both spend our time on this,” Liu Shu continued.

 

Shen Ke’s expression softened slightly.

 

“I know what you’re worried about,” Liu Shu sighed.

 

“You do?” Shen Ke looked at him puzzled.

 

“Yes, you just don’t want to go to town every day,” Liu Shu understood.

 

“…No, you don’t understand.”

 

Liu Shu hated studying, so he couldn’t understand Shen Ke’s aspirations for studying. “For the stability of the world, the continuation of knowledge, and the peace of future generations.” He had never thought about copying books for a group of rich young masters who were not interested in studying.

 

Before they could reach a conclusion on this matter, they had to go to the bamboo craftsman’s place. In the afternoon, the craftsman taught them how to scrape and split bamboo, smoothing the surface of the bamboo and then splitting it into pieces of the required size. Since they were just starting out, the craftsman only asked them to split the bamboo into evenly sized strips.

 

The two of them worked, standing and squatting, handling the bamboo in their hands.

 

The craftsman found a stool from a pile of debris and threw it in front of them. “Sit down and do it.”

 

Both of them looked at him in confusion. He sat on a stool, holding the bamboo in one hand and continuously moving it forward, with the knife in his hand never changing position, quickly scraping the bamboo.

 

They understood and immediately sat down to learn. After sitting for a while, Liu Shu became a little restless. He looked at the silent craftsman, then at Shen Ke, who was earnestly learning the craft, and sighed.

 

“What’s wrong?” Shen Ke asked.

 

Seeing that he was speaking again, Liu Shu immediately whispered to him, “Don’t you find this boring? Are we going to sit here and work like this all day in the future?”

 

Shen Ke glanced in the direction of the craftsman and said, “Big brother can do it.”

 

“He’s not an ordinary person. By the way, have you thought about what we discussed at noon?”

 

“I haven’t decided yet.”

 

“Cough.” The craftsman suddenly coughed, and the two of them immediately fell silent.

 

After a while, Liu Shu nudged Shen Ke’s elbow and asked in a very low voice, “Have you decided yet?”

 

“It’s only been fifteen minutes.”

 

“I can make a lot of decisions in fifteen minutes!” Liu Shu reminisced about his carefree life, wandering around the streets, buying horses in the east, walking wolves in the west, watching boxing matches in the north, and buying clothes in the south. What a carefree life it was. He couldn’t help feeling a little nostalgic.

 

Being away from home for so long, he still missed home… and the full money bag.

 

I wonder if his family misses him. They should be looking for him everywhere by now, right?

 

“Let him get through this year first, and then he’ll definitely cry and go back to see his parents sobbing.”

 

“What’s wrong with you?” Shen Ke saw Liu Shu’s eyes gradually turning red, a light mist covering his beautiful eyes, feeling a little flustered. Could it be because he was taking too long to make a decision, causing him to feel sad?

 

“Don’t cry, I promise you,” Shen Ke said, reaching out to wipe his tears with his sleeve.

 

“Um… Um? Are you serious?” Liu Shu looked at him suddenly, “You really agreed?”

 

“Yes.” Shen Ke nodded, relieved to see him stop crying, “Copying books… let’s do it.”

 

Actually, Xiaowu was not wrong. The family was about to enter a period of poverty, and they needed some income. This was not the time to talk about ideals and aspirations.

 

“That’s great.” Liu Shu hugged him excitedly.

 

“But from now on, you’ll have to work hard. You’ll have to learn the craft from the master bamboo worker,” Shen Ke whispered in his ear, “Can you handle it?”

 

“Of course I can!” Liu Shu said confidently.

 

“Cough!” The bamboo craftsman’s warning cough sounded again.

 

The two released each other’s hands and continued scraping bamboo, occasionally glancing at each other and smiling silently.

 

The bamboo craftsman: “…So envious, the friendship between men, always passionate, always tearful!”

 

After scraping the bamboo, it was time to split it. Shen Ke split one in half with one stroke, while Liu Shu… got stuck.

 

“Hey, can you not embarrass me at a time like this?” Liu Shu said to his own knife, then swung the knife with a fierce expression on his face!

 

“Be careful not to hurt yourself,” Shen Ke reminded.

 

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt myself.” Liu Shu raised the knife, started to exert force, took a few steps back, and accidentally stepped on the bamboo craftsman’s foot.

 

“Ah!” The bamboo craftsman couldn’t help but cry out.

 

Shen Ke: …But might hurt others.

 

“Big brother, are you okay?!” Liu Shu quickly went to check on the bamboo craftsman, but accidentally stepped on a bamboo chopstick on the ground, “Ah——!”

 

With a thud, his face fell into the bamboo shavings.

 

Shen Ke: “…………”

 

On the way back, Liu Shu lay on Shen Ke’s back and said, “I just fell by accident, it doesn’t mean I’m not suitable for this job, so you can rest assured and go copy books!”

 

Shen Ke ignored his concerns and asked, “Is your knee still hurting?”

 

“A little.” Liu Shu weakly laid his head on his shoulder, his hands swaying in front of his chest, “If you’re tired, put me down and rest for a while.”

 

“Not tired.”

 

Liu Shu pulled the corners of his mouth and noticed that the sun was about to set. There were only the two of them on the road, and the sound of the wind around them seemed particularly peaceful.

 

He hummed a tune, a Jiangnan tune that Shen Ke had never heard before but seemed to love. The melody contained the tenderness of the Jiangnan water, melodious and graceful.

 

After listening for a while, he suddenly noticed a change in the tune.

 

“Miss Ni Chang sent her lover~ Sent him to the bridge~ The lover wants to confide in me~ Even taste my sweet lips~”

 

“????”

 

Shen Ke stumbled, almost falling into the nearby field.

 

“What kind of tune is this?” His forehead vein twitched.

 

“The ‘Song of Farewell to the Lover’.”

 

“?”

 

Shen Ke had only heard of the ‘Song of the Feathered Robe’, so it was the first time he had heard of the farewell tune: “Who composed this tune?”

 

“It was composed by our courtesan Ni Chang. How is it? Does it sound good?” Liu Shu asked eagerly.

 

“…It doesn’t sound good.”

 

“You have no taste.” Liu Shu sighed deeply. The Song of Farewell to the Lover was Ni Chang’s masterpiece, a tune that many people longed to hear but could never listen to. He had spent a lot of money on it, enjoying exclusive one-on-one service every time. Who knew how many dandies envied him?

 

Back home, Shen Ke set Liu Shu down in the hall, checked the wound on his knee, applied some herbs, and instructed him to sit still and not move around before he went to attend to other matters.

 

“Wait a moment.”

 

Shen Ke felt his hand being grabbed, and a soft, warm hand pressed against his palm. He turned his head in surprise to see Liu Shu looking down at his hand, his finger pointing at the cut on his knuckle. “You’ve scraped your skin here.”

 

There was an indescribable worry in his tone. Shen Ke smiled, “It’s nothing, just a scratch, it’ll heal soon.”

 

“Don’t you need to treat it?”

 

“No need.” And applying medicine would affect his work.

 

Shen Ke returned to his room, tidying up the house. Since he was going to copy books, he needed paper and a pen. He stored away the good-quality rice paper and wolf hair brushes, opting for ordinary paper and pens. His gaze lingered on another package, carefully opened to reveal his collection of famous calligraphy and paintings. When he left home, he didn’t bring much money, but he did take these things with him.

 

As darkness fell, the kitchen became busy again.

 

Liu Shu sat by the stove, humming the Song of Farewell to the Lover. He hummed it incessantly, repeatedly.

 

Shen Ke was busy cooking, too preoccupied to stop him. But whether it was because the tune was too catchy or he had heard it too many times, when Liu Shu finished singing “The lover wants to confide in me~,” and paused to catch his breath, Shen Ke, with a serious expression, continued, “Even taste my sweet lips~”

 

As the words fell from his lips, both of them looked at each other simultaneously, the room filled with a dead silence.

 

“Classy.” Liu Shu slowly raised his thumb. He had said it before: no one could resist such a beautiful Song of Farewell to the Lover!

 

Shen Ke: “……”