Chapter 147 Unrestrained

Chapter 147: Unrestrained and Unconventional

Cheng Ge instinctively glanced at Ling Feng, then reached out a hand to point at the paper. "There's a horizontal stroke missing here."

Ling Feng looked at Cheng Ge, then raised his hand to add the missing horizontal stroke, but pressed too hard, and the ink smeared into a messy blob.

Cheng Ge: "..."

Ling Feng licked his lips, his expression exceptionally calm as he reached out a finger and pinched the tip of the brush a couple of times.

Finally, the split brush tip came together, and he crossed out that character, rewriting a correct one beside it.

Watching this series of operations, Cheng Ge felt his temples twitch a few times.

He chewed the beef jerky slowly, hesitated, then asked, "Hey, man, who taught you calligraphy?"

Upon hearing this, Ling Feng paused his brush and lifted his chin proudly: "I imitated the prince's handwriting."

Cheng Ge looked down at Cui Ji's wildly flowing letter in his hand, then glanced at the crooked, messy ink marks on Ling Feng's paper, and swallowed.

Ling Feng looked up at Cheng Ge and calmly replied, "What's wrong?"

"..." Cheng Ge silently stuffed the beef jerky into his mouth and chewed vigorously. "It does... have quite a bit of charm."

Ling Feng's eyes lit up: "You noticed too?"

"Yeah..." Cheng Ge swallowed the beef jerky with difficulty. "Your general's handwriting flows like a dragon dancing across the page, but yours... uh... is quite unrestrained."

Ling Feng nodded contentedly and dipped the brush in ink again. "The hardest part of imitating the prince's handwriting is nailing that carefree vibe.

When I first started, I practiced for three months before I finally started to get it."

Cheng Ge looked at the ink blob on the paper, crawling all over the place like a drunken crab, and simply couldn't connect it to Cui Ji's refined yet free-spirited script.

"Look at this downward stroke," Ling Feng said enthusiastically, pointing to his latest character. "I specifically studied the prince's flying-white technique!"

Cheng Ge took a closer look. That was obviously just frayed from a split brush.

Cheng Ge slowly sat up, reached for the teacup on the table, blew on it, and took a small sip.

Suddenly meeting Ling Feng's hopeful gaze, his face froze for a second.

Ling Feng seemed even younger than him, at that age where he needed encouragement.

"Uh... it shows real mastery," he said dryly. "By the way, can you check if we have any wolfberry left in the Benevolence Hall? Buy me ten jin (about 6 kg)."

Ling Feng didn't dwell on it. He simply turned and vaulted over the wall. Seeing Ling Feng leave, Cheng Ge immediately called Lü Rou to fetch the steward.

........

Cheng Ge asked the steward to write a letter for him, and along with ten jin (about 6 kg) of premium wolfberry, he sent it straight to the border.

In the early morning, after finishing his final midnight snack, Cheng Ge finally went to bed contentedly.

Lü Rou carefully tucked him in, then gently blew out the candle, leaving only a small night lamp glowing warmly in the corner.

Cheng Ge sank into the soft bedding, sighing with contentment.

The little white snake Star Frost lay coiled beside his pillow, its cool body pressing against his ear.

"Don't move," Cheng Ge tapped Star Frost on the head, and it obediently curled up into a small silver ring.

This snake was quite clingy, with a faint floral dew smell—not exactly a natural fragrance.

The whole thing was mostly his dog Dahuang's fault for taking such poor care of it.

Star Frost was originally covered in mud, and a quick rinse would have done, but before anyone could act, Dahuang had licked it all clean.

By the time they found out, Star Frost had been completely slobbered clean.

Dahuang ate almost everything except feces, so you can imagine how foul its breath was.

There was no choice; what was supposed to be a quick wash became a full grooming session.

A rustling sound came from the foot of the bed—Dahuang was circling and pawing at the covers.

This big yellow dog had been inseparable from Cheng Ge since he returned to the mansion and insisted on sleeping next to the bed.

"Dahuang, behave," Cheng Ge said lazily.

The big dog whimpered and finally lay down, resting its head on its paws.

Cheng Ge stretched his foot, grabbed Star Frost's tail and swung it.

"Big windmill spins round and round, the scenery here is truly fine..."

Star Frost's mind spun like a carousel, then stretched out straight, and Cheng Ge gently draped it over his chest.

"In the dead of night, since you can't sleep either, I'll do you the favor of telling a story."

As soon as Dahuang heard this, it lifted its head and rested it on the edge of the bed.

"I heard that there's a Mount Emei in Sichuan. Though not among the Five Sacred Mountains, it's still a famous mountain.

On this mountain, there is a small cave, and in the cave lives a white snake."

When Star Frost heard "white snake," its dizziness vanished, and it rubbed its head against Cheng Ge's chest.

"That white snake cultivated for several hundred years, absorbing heaven and earth's essence, gathering sunlight and moonlight, and eventually could transform into human form. Her name was Bai Suzhen.

It is said that in the Heavenly Palace, there was a deity called Erlang Zhenjun, who had a third eye on his forehead that could see through all evil in the three worlds.

Under his command was a fierce general named Xiaotian Dog, as large as a white elephant with teeth like blades, capable of subduing demons and exorcising evil."

Hearing this, Dahuang barked twice, showing faint excitement.

"One day, Xiaotian Dog secretly ate the immortal elixir refined by Lord Lao Zi, and was besieged by heavenly soldiers and generals all the way to the Heavenly River.

With no escape, he was forced to jump off the Immortal Execution Platform, nearly losing his dog soul."

Dahuang pawed the edge of the bed and whimpered softly.

"But fortunately, Xiaotian Dog was blessed with great fortune. He fell into a five-colored pond, where many golden lotuses grew.

Those golden lotuses wrapped him in petals and leaves, using white jade lotus root bones to reshape his physical body.

Thus, Xiaotian Dog transformed into human form and sneaked out of the five-colored pond.

However, he saw Bai Suzhen bathing in the pond, and lust got the better of him. He stole the clothes she had left by the pond..."