Ling Shan Jun - 4.1

The days passed like flowing water and in a flash, five to six days have already passed.

Qing Shi Jiu woke up from the sound of rain, he rolled to the edge of the bed, extended his head out and  looked around. He saw Ling Shan Jun by the window, sitting on the divan and bending over the desk, not knowing what he was doing.

Unexpectedly, he did not go out today.

Qing Shi Jiu’s eyes slightly brightened, got off the bed, and ran towards the window.

It was as if Ling Shan Jun had eyes behind his head: “Put your shoes on.”

Qing Shi Jiu had to go back to put on his shoes, and then bounced vivaciously to Ling Shan Jun’s side.

“What are you doing?”

There were two books spread out in front of Ling Shan Jun; one book was full of tiny characters and the other book was blank. He was holding a brush and writing in the blank book.

Qing Shi Jiu was illiterate and only felt that Ling Shan Jun was super awesome in every aspect. Even if he was blind, it was not difficult for him to write. Qing Shi Jiu had tried to write characters before. Compared to other people’s characters, his characters were muddled and super ugly. So, he was made to be a laughing stock for a very long time. Since then, he has never touched a brush and paper again.

Ling Shan Jun did not lift his head and just dipped his brush, it flowed like a dragon and smooth like a snake: “The books inside the chest are damp, I have to make copies. Wife, do you want to help me?”

Qing Shi Jiu stroked his nose, too embarrassed to mention it but said: “I… Can’t read.”

He was only good at heavy manual work like cooking food, washing clothes, and tilling the land; the four arts of zither, go, calligraphy, and painting was only something that large influential families could learn.

Qing Shi Jiu thought of this and his heart hammered: [How careless, Kong Ling himself is the noble son of Peacock Residence, how can he be illiterate.]

His heart became angry and panicky: [I have just lived several days of leisure, have I lost my brain already? It’s only been a few days and I unexpectedly became exposed.]

Qing Shi Jiu’s complexion was unsightly with his lips pursed, as he pondered on how to get around this.

“How about this.” As Ling Shan Jun opened his mouth, Qing Shi Jiu’s heart tightened, but heard him continued, “I know a lot of characters, I can teach you, wife. Wife, what do you think?”

Yi?

Qing Shi Jiu mindlessly blinked his eyes, this was not the same thought that he had in mind.

Ling Shan Jun actually had no doubts at all and added that he wanted to teach him how to read.

Qing Shi Jiu was fully smashed by the unexpected joy: “Okay… Okay.”

Ling Shan Jun followed through with his actions. He tore a few sheets of paper, wrote a few big characters, and gave the brush and paper to Qing Shi Jiu.

“First, let’s start with the most frequently used characters. Don’t be afraid of wasting paper. You’ll write one character ten times and read as you write. If you don’t remember, then keep on writing. Every day after supper, I will check.” As Ling Shan Jun held the brush, he wrote each stroke on the paper and soon the moist black ink became dry. His expression was serious, as he continued to say, “Wife, pay attention to the way I hold the brush.”

Qing Shi Jiu took a new brush and imitated at his side. Ling Shan Jun placed his brush down, reached out to hold Qing Shi Jiu’s hand, and with his fingertips groped along the brush handle to Qing Shi Jiu’s five fingers.

A warm, dry touch brushed past his knuckles that made Qing Shi Jiu trembled slightly. Ling Shan Jun seemed to notice this and a smile appeared on his face. He used his hand to gently separate Qing Shi Jiu’s fingers and adjusted the brush’s position: “It’s this way.”

……

Under the careful instructions of Ling Shan Jun, Qing Shi Jiu made great progress and learned a few new words every day.

Before going to bed, the two people would leaned against the bed to read a book. Qing Shi Jiu did not know a lot of words, so Ling Shan Jun would immediately touch the characters on the page and read it out loud for him to hear.

Qing Shi Jiu was used to the fact that Ling Shan Jun was no different from normal people. However, it was inevitable that he became curious and had to use his hand to touch the characters on the page, which made his fingers all black.

“What’s wrong?”

Qing Shi Jiu was extremely close to him and instinctively lowered his voice: “I thought this character was raised, so the shape of it could be felt.”

Ling Shan Jun laughed softly.

Qing Shi Jiu listened to him read and fell into sleepiness. Half of his face was buried in the soft pillow and in between each of his breath, it was completely filled with Ling Shan Jun’s grassy and woody scent.

In a daze, he suddenly said: “Fireflies …”

Ling Shan Jun was reading a travel book. The writer’s origin was unknown, but he had passed through the three realms and six paths, and compiled this book. At this moment, the book was talking about a scene in the human world.

In the travel book, the human world and the ghost path were separated by a field of reeds. After death, the human soul would pass through the reeds and turn into a firefly. The field of reeds would be dappled in tiny starry lights, just like a vast sky full of stars.

Ling Shan Jun stuck close to Qing Shi Jiu’s ear and asked: “Want to go see?”