Dandy Escapes From Marriage - Chapter 17

The roasted chicken on the table was quickly devoured, leaving Hui Shang only able to watch but not eat. He silently ate his folded ears and cold tomatoes, not needing to diminish his presence, because these two seemed to have completely forgotten the existence of a third person.

“How do you feel? Tired?” Liu Shu asked.

Shen Ke knew he was referring to copying books. He nodded, “Not tired. Master Zhang found me a guesthouse outside, where I can write in peace without any disturbances.”

“Writing?” Liu Shu paused for a moment.

“Yeah, his master didn’t assign him the task of copying books, so he has to come up with his own articles, that’s why he wanted someone to help,” Shen Ke explained.

“Well, that works too. After all, nothing seems to faze you, right?” Liu Shu asked uncertainly.

Shen Ke nodded, and Liu Shu finally relaxed. They chatted for a while before getting up to clear the bowls and chopsticks. Afterwards, Liu Shu invited him to go to the weaver’s house together. They set off with lanterns in hand, but noticed that Hui Shang didn’t follow.

“I’m not going.” Hui Shang gazed into the distance, then withdrew his gaze with a wry smile. “I’ve been out for so long, I should go back to the temple.”

He had been staying here for the past few days. Shen Ke hadn’t asked him why, and now that he was leaving, he still didn’t inquire. He just said, “Okay, be safe on the road. You’re always welcome back, and your spot on the floor will always be reserved for you.”

“Thank you,” Hui Shang said with a twitch of his lips.

After bidding farewell to Hui Shang, the two of them walked along the path. Liu Shu asked curiously, “Did something happen to him?”

“It should be related to the new abbot,” Shen Ke guessed. He remembered Hui Shang saying that he had been picked up by the old abbot and treated as the closest person, both intimate and revered. Unexpectedly, before the old abbot passed away, he brought back a illegitimate child, which greatly shocked Hui Shang’s worldview. It wouldn’t be surprising if he wanted to leave the monastery.

They were the first to arrive at the weaver’s house. The bamboo piled up in the courtyard had been sorted into the corner, making space, as if waiting for the arrival of guests.

“Brother, are the melon seeds roasted?” Liu Shu ran into the house in a few steps.

The weaver pointed to the plate woven from bamboo on the table, which was filled with melon seeds.

“We also brought some snacks.” Shen Ke took out a bag of candied fruit he had bought on the way back today.

The three of them sat around the table, and Liu Shu started eating the melon seeds on his own. Seeing the weaver sitting still, he grabbed a handful of melon seeds and put them in front of him, “Brother, you should eat too, don’t just sit there.”

“Oh… thank you.” The weaver took the melon seeds into his hand and began to munch on them.

Who is the host here after all? Shen Ke couldn’t help but smile.

Before long, the lively voice of Aunt Zhu came from outside. She walked in while patting her husband on the back, “You’re late, you’re late. This guy took forever to finish his meal.”

After exchanging a few words, they all looked at Shen Ke together.

Shen Ke continued the story from where Liu Shu had left off this afternoon. Fortunately, Liu Shu had already told the weaver the beginning, so he could keep up with the plot. Shen Ke noticed his fists clenching as he listened intently.

When the candle was about to burn out, Shen Ke stopped talking, ending the story for the night, and they agreed to continue next time.

On the way back, Liu Shu kept pestering him about the follow-up plot, his face almost touching Shen Ke’s.

“Don’t look at me, look at the road,” Shen Ke reached out to touch his cheek, straightening it and looking straight ahead.

“If my former master had taught me these things, maybe I wouldn’t have hated school so much.” Liu Shu laughed and finished speaking, kicking a pebble on the road.

“You’ve been to school?” Shen Ke was somewhat surprised.

“Yeah, for almost half a year, then I stopped.”

“Why?”

“Because those bastards insulted me! They even insulted my mother!” Liu Shu exclaimed angrily, kicking another stone aside. “My mother was young and beautiful, and she was strong, but because she was a concubine, she was insulted by those bastards. It makes me so angry!”

Even now, just thinking about it made him yell, “I’ll kill those bastards!”

From his brief words, Shen Ke gained a little more understanding about Liu Shu’s background. Being a neglected illegitimate child at home and insulted outside, he truly was pitiful.

“Don’t be angry. It’s not worth getting upset over those people,” Shen Ke said, reaching out to pat his head, soothing his emotions.

As if by some magic, that hand smoothed away all of Liu Shu’s anger, and his agitated face slowly calmed down, even showing a hint of enjoyment.

He didn’t mention the various schemes he had used to bully those people afterward, feeling that if the other person, who seemed so noble and understanding, knew about these things, he might look down on him or refuse to be friends with him.

It was always others begging to be friends with Young Master Liu, so this feeling of insecurity was rare.

For several days in a row, Shen Ke went back and forth between the village and town, while Liu Shu followed the bamboo craftsman to learn his trade. The days passed quickly, yet also felt somewhat long.

In the blink of an eye, it was the summer solstice. As the saying goes, dumplings for the winter solstice and noodles for the summer solstice. On this day, everyone in the village cooked noodles. Liu Shu had noodles cooked by Shen Ke in the morning, ate shredded meat noodles at the craftsman’s place for lunch, and had clear soup noodles specially brought over by Aunt Zhu in the evening.

“Burp.” That really filled him up.

It was very hot that day, so everyone finished work early, gathering at the craftsman’s place in the evening to cool off and chat. The place to hang out and chat seemed to have shifted from Sister Xiang’s house to the craftsman’s house.

The craftsman was still as taciturn as ever, but no one pressed him anymore. After all, they mainly came here to listen to the stories of the Ke brothers, so they didn’t mind whether their hot faces were met with the craftsman’s cold indifference.

Anyway, every time they came, there were plenty of melon seeds and peanuts to go around. Eating so much, everyone would naturally bring some fruits and melons to share.

After telling stories tonight, Aunt Zhu even asked Shen Ke to help her write a letter, which delayed them a bit on their way back.

Accompanied by the chirping of cicadas and the croaking of frogs, the two of them whispered and laughed alternately, finding the most comfortable moments in these “plain and unremarkable” days.

After more than half a month of training, Liu Shu could now roughly split bamboo into several pieces. Today, he had to go up the mountain again to cut bamboo.

The sun was scorching, and he was sweating profusely in no time. He wanted to finish quickly and go back to rest, so his movements became much faster. After tying up the bamboo on the ground, he struggled to lift it onto his shoulders. Suddenly, his head spun, and he staggered a few steps before falling to the ground…

*

Shen Ke sat upright at the table in the inn, concentrating on writing, dipping his pen into the inkstone. The room was quiet.

Suddenly, the door was pushed open urgently. “Ke brother, quickly! Go find a doctor!” 

Shen Ke turned around, looking at the sweaty craftsman. Rarely, a worried look appeared on his otherwise expressionless face as he stood up. “What’s happened?”

“Xiao Wu fainted!” The craftsman had heard Shen Ke writing articles for people in this inn before, so he came to find him first.

Shen Ke’s expression changed. “Where is he? How is he?” 

“He’s still downstairs.”

As soon as the words fell, Shen Ke had already stepped aside and swiftly went downstairs.

Outside the door, there was a wooden cart parked, and the innkeeper was scolding the person who parked the donkey. “Who’s this? No civic consciousness, parking the donkey here! Is someone inside dead?”

Shen Ke’s expression darkened for a moment as he hurried toward the cart. Seeing Liu Shu lying pale on it, looking fragile, made his heart skip a beat.

The craftsman also followed, not knowing which room Shen Ke was in beforehand, so he had to leave the person and start searching one by one.

“We’ll move him—” Before the craftsman could finish his sentence, he saw Shen Ke had already lifted the person horizontally, striding across the threshold and carrying him upstairs without looking back.

The craftsman stared at his back in astonishment for a moment, recalling the scene of him going to cut bamboo on the first day. Did he have this much strength?

“I’ll go find the doctor. Big brother, please look after him,” Shen Ke hurriedly instructed after laying the person down on the bed, then rushed off to find the doctor.

Soon, the doctor arrived and after examining him, he said it was due to anemia and heatstroke. “Is he usually malnourished and overworked? With the recent heat, it’s easy to suffer from heatstroke. I’ll prescribe some medicine first, but the most important thing is to eat more nutritious food and rest more often.”

Shen Ke watched the ** person intently, feeling guilty, then turned to fetch the medicine.

After collecting the medicine, there was hardly any money left, and he also had to pay the doctor’s fee. He awkwardly searched all over his body, finally pulling out a jade pendant hidden in his bosom. “This was left by my grandmother. I’ll leave it here as collateral for now. I’ll come back to pay you when I have the money. Is that alright?”

The doctor glanced at the quality of the jade pendant, unsure of its exact value, but figured the other party wouldn’t default on the payment anyway. “Go and come back quickly.”

The craftsman’s trip here had already taken up most of the day, and he had to hurry back, so he couldn’t stay in town any longer.

Fortunately, Huishang had been begging for alms in town these past few days. After Shen Ke instructed him a few words, he rode the craftsman’s donkey cart back to get the money.

“Does your family… still have money?” The craftsman had long learned about their financial situation from Liu Shu’s incessant chatter. With expenses outweighing income, he frowned with concern. “I can lend you some…”

“It’s alright,” Shen Ke said with his head lowered. “We still have some money left. Don’t worry.”

Even if they borrowed money to get through this ordeal, there would be times of financial difficulty ahead. Xiao Wu had already suffered enough following him; they couldn’t let him continue to eat humble pie every day.

Back home, he retrieved the package that had been wrapped in layers. Inside were his treasures.

Liu Shu had no understanding of these things at all. Even though he often saw Shen Ke looking at and touching them, he never thought about how much wealth these headache-inducing calligraphy and paintings could bring.