Chapter 18: Daily Life in the Upper Study

Chapter 18: Daily Life in the Upper Study

Chen Shuoan was totally confused.

He sat there in a daze, perched in Yuan Rang's lap.

The guy's face looked pretty grim, and the air around them felt heavy.

What could a fourteen-year-old boy possibly be troubled by?

Based on his own experience, Chen Shuoan had a lightbulb moment—the guy must not have eaten enough.

He rubbed his fluffy head back against him, asking with concern, "How was Your Highness's breakfast today?"

Yuan Rang's cheek got all ticklish from the nuzzling, throwing him off, but he steadied himself and answered politely, "It was fine."

Seriously, are you a word hoarder or what?

Chen Shuoan couldn't be bothered to argue, so he just kept going, "Did you eat your fill?"

Yuan Rang was always easygoing with him, chuckling as he asked, "Why do you ask?"

Seeing him like that, Chen Shuoan figured it wasn't about being full, so he just shut up and focused on playing with Chen Gangpao in his arms.

Yuan Rang quietly rested his head on Chen Shuoan's shoulder, taking in his smell, and said, "I don't like Qin Zhonglian."

Chen Shuoan felt a warm breath tickle his ear; Yuan Rang seemed to have said something, but he couldn't quite catch it.

"What did Your Highness just say? You want a full chicken dinner?" Chen Shuoan deliberated.

Honestly, his selective hearing was getting worse by the day.

Yuan Rang smiled helplessly and played along, humming in agreement.

————

Chen Shuoan had been acting all weird ever since he got back from Divine Hidden Mountain.

Zheng Yuanzhi and the other three got together to brainstorm, trying to figure out how to save their buddy Chen Shuoan, who was as tight as brothers.

"What's up with him? Possessed or something?"

"No idea, it's been days."

"Yeah, he keeps mumbling about finding a chicken and an egg. I gotta thank my lucky stars I'm not a chicken when I walk by him," Li Wei said numbly, clearly having suffered from it.

Zheng Yuanzhi made a wild guess, throwing out a supernatural theory with total confidence, "Could he be possessed by a fox spirit from the mountains? Dude's always thinking about eating chicken."

Qin Zhonglian thought it was total nonsense and said with a sneer, "Can you come up with something that makes sense? Stop acting like you don't have a brain."

Zhang Chenggong, though, sided with Zheng Yuanzhi: "I think Brother Yuanzhi's got a point. No matter how off Shuo'an's been before, he's never been this nuts."

With that, he grabbed his brush and started scribbling all over the paper.

Qin Zhonglian watched with a furrowed brow.

Once Master Zhang finished his so-called masterpiece, Zheng Yuanzhi stared at the paper, confused. "What's that supposed to be? A giant meat bun?"

Zhang Chenggong held up the drawing with both hands, blew on it gently, then shot Zheng Yuanzhi a look of disgust, saying, "You uncultured swine, it's a fat hen."

Zheng Yuanzhi was about to blow a fuse, rolling up his sleeves and lunging forward, cursing, "I'll beat you until you're a hen today."

Li Wei had been enjoying the show and quickly got up to pull Zheng Yuanzhi back, saying, "Harmony brings wealth, harmony brings wealth."

Zhang Chenggong wasn't just confident in his drawing skills; he also had big hopes for his own brainpower.

He started laying out his master plan to the group: "If Shuo'an's really possessed by a fox spirit, we'll use this chicken as bait. The fox spirit'll definitely be lured out and slip up. Then we'll get a master to do a ritual, and Shuo'an'll come back safe and sound."

Zheng Yuanzhi: "..."

Li Wei: "..."

Qin Zhonglian: "..."

He'd come up with an idea, but it was usually a bad one.

Zhang Chenggong got all worked up as he talked, standing up and dragging his stool across the floor with a cringe-worthy screech.

Just like his IQ, it was enough to make your skin crawl.

"Shuo'an, come check this out. Isn't this chicken pretty? Don't you think it looks delicious?" Zhang Chenggong sprinted over in a flash, practically sprawled across Chen Shuoan's desk with hopeful eyes.

"...Chicken?" Chen Shuoan stared at the drawing, unable to believe his eyes.

Then he let out a cold laugh and said, "Yeah, pretty."

Hearing that, Zhang Chenggong got even more sure of his theory.

Perfect, no resistance to a fake chicken—definitely a fox spirit!

Zhang Chenggong rubbed his hands together, ready to jump and take down the fox spirit that had hijacked his buddy's body, when Chen Shuoan kicked him flat on his ass.

Chen Shuoan, with three parts icy, three parts mocking, and four parts indifferent, said, "What I mean is, show me this ugly thing again and you'll regret it."

Zhang Chenggong slunk back to Zheng Yuanzhi and the others like a beaten hen.

"I told you to work on your brain, but you never listen," Li Wei said cheerfully, having gotten a good laugh out of it.

Qin Zhonglian couldn't hold it in either, laughing until tears ran down his face.

"Seriously, why's he need a chicken and an egg? To hatch some chicks?" Zheng Yuanzhi pondered.

"Would His Highness the Sixth Prince even allow it? One Chen Gangpao's already a handful; raising chickens seems like a stretch. Even if the Sixth Prince were Chen Shuoan's real dad, he wouldn't let his son trash his own courtyard, right?" Li Wei scoffed, then suddenly clamped his mouth shut as if remembering something, "Actually, the Sixth Prince might actually go for it."

"..."

The group fell silent.

Qin Zhonglian coughed awkwardly, remembering the cryptic look Yuan Rang had shot him that day, and felt a shiver run down his spine. He changed the subject, saying, "Chen Gangpao is getting more and more unruly. Every time he sees me, he pounces and bites. A dog the size of a booger, and at mealtime he barks louder than firecrackers on New Year's, as punctual as the palace water clock."

"I haven't really noticed. So by your logic, when Chen Gangpao grows up, he'll be a fierce dog?" Zheng Yuanzhi said with a grave face, never expecting Chen Shuoan to have raised him with such a temperament.

Qin Zhonglian said bitterly, "He only holds a grudge against me."

Li Wei found it amusing and defended the little dog, saying, "Chen Gangpao wags his tail at everyone and has a wonderful temper. He's just a bit lively—there's not a single intact patch of wall left in the courtyard where he's kept."

Zheng Yuanzhi: "..." You call that lively?

Zhang Chenggong burst out laughing at that: "Gangpao always looks a bit dim-witted. He's no fierce dog—more like a shoddy one."

The four exchanged teasing glances and said in unison, "Now that's Chen Shuoan's dog for you."

Chen Shuoan, the dog's owner, stayed gloomy.

The moment His Highness said he wanted a whole chicken feast, Chen Shuoan had made up his mind.

He would give His Highness the Sixth Prince the best whole chicken feast in all the Rong Dynasty.

Besides, he still owed His Highness two baked eggs, so he'd have to make it up to him.

Chen Shuoan absentmindedly listened to the tutor droning on about classical texts while secretly peeling tangerines under his desk.

A ray of sunlight streamed through the window into the study, landing perfectly on Chen Shuoan's face.

He leaned away, pressing his fingers into the peel, and the tangerine juice sprayed out, catching the light and forming a beautiful rainbow arc.

Chen Shuoan popped the whole tangerine into his mouth and played with the peel.

"What are you doing?" The tutor had long noticed his distraction and, unable to bear it any longer, came down from the podium, intent on catching this inattentive student.

Just as the tutor leaned down to see what he was playing with, a squirt of tangerine juice shot straight into the tutor's eye.

Chen Shuoan quietly chanted the Ksitigarbha Sutra to himself.

I'm not at a dead end—I can always die.