Chongfei Manual [I]

Chapter 28

For a six year old girl, Wei Luo's writing could be considered beautiful enough.

But Zhao Jie was a person who always strove for perfection. Anything within his hands had to be perfect. He felt that Wei Luo's writing was too impatient and unsteady, thus he took the brush and wrote two characters beside hers. Lowering his head, he asked, "Did you see clearly how to write like this?"

Wei Luo stared at the two grand and steady-looking characters on top of the paper. Blinking, she stretched out a white and tender small finger and asked in a childish tone, "Why did big brother write my name?"

She didn't know many characters, but she could recognize her own name. The two characters Zhao Jie had written happened to be her name. These characters had many and varied strokes, that were complex and difficult to distinguish. If she hadn't learned them from the scholar in Longshou village in her previous life, she truly wouldn't have been able to recognize them.

Zhao Jie's thin lips raised in a smile. "Can you read them?"

She nodded earnestly and spoke convincingly, "Daddy taught me. Daddy said I should know my name."

Wei Kun was a successful candidate of the Imperial civil service exam and was currently holding office in the Imperial academy. It wasn't unusual that he would occasionally teach his daughter to write a little. Thus, Zhao Jie didn't suspect anything. He wrote down two characters, placed the goat hair brush on top of the white coral pen-holder, pressed the paper with a yellow stone paperweight carved into the shape of a strange beast, then asked curiously, "What do these two characters say?"

Zhao Jie.

Wei Luo couldn't understand his intention. Why did he write his own name? He wouldn't start seeking fault with her if she was able to read it, would he? Pondering over for a moment, she shook her head and said, "Ah Luo can't read them."

If she couldn't read them, then why did she take so long to answer?

Zhao Jie took a moment to carefully look over her tiny face's expression, but as he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, he put away his ridiculous thoughts. Straightening up, he spoke to the two little girls, "Imperial mother said that the osmanthus flowers have recently started blooming in the rear garden. Liuli and Ah Luo can go play over there, then bring back several blossoms. Mother said she wanted to personally make an osmanthus egg soup for the two of you."

Although Empress Chen was a noble empress, she wasn't like the other Imperial consorts who never got their hands dirty. When she followed Emperor Chong Zhen in battle in Wurong, there wasn't much she hadn't done. Hunting, skinning, making a fire... She wasn't a canary raised inside a cage, she had her own way of living. Since she was young, she most liked eating her mother's personally made osmanthus egg soup. To this day, it remained in her memories. She wanted to let Liuli also taste this flavor. Because it was made by mother, it was much more delicious than the precious dishes prepared by the palace kitchen.

Furthermore, it wasn't suitable for Zhao Liuli's condition to always stay inside. It was best to often go out and take a walk, soaking in the sun and appreciating the flowers. The imperial physician had said that a good mood was beneficial for a fast recovery. Therefore Empress Chen came up with such a method, making Zhao Jie lead them to the rear garden for a stroll.

Zhao Jie had time today, so he didn't decline.

Zhao Liuli was overjoyed when she heard that. She jumped down from the small purple bench lined in gold with scenery engravings and numerous cherry blossom patterns, and spoke as she pulled Wei Luo's hand, "Ah Luo, will you eat some osmanthus egg soup? The egg soup my Imperial mother makes is the best!"