That Fair-Faced 'Sage' {Completed}

41. Shuǐ ChénLín Vs Zhao Mao

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"So, what have you learned about this place?" Shuǐ ChénLín asked, less than an hour later.

LanFen toyed with the ends of a slightly tattered gray ribbon, which held her entire hair up in a messy bun. She might have been young, but she certainly understood that she had been wasting her time all along!

"Ehehehe, mother wanted me to overcome my trauma by hunting snakes, so why send me to this place?" She muttered to herself, then looked up at him.

"Elder brother, you won't tell anyone I was looking for snakes here, right?" He had shown her not one or two, but six different herbs that were poisonous to snakes!

If any of the other children, or worse, Zhao Mao discovered she had been searching out snakes in a place like this, it would be one additional thing to make her an object of ridicule.

"Aren't you too young to know about these things? I only  learned about most of these herbs when I was ten. Your mistake is understandable."

But LanFen shook her head. "No no! Brother Mao and the others won't consider such things!" She sighed. "Once, Matron Xu threw me into a lake, and then boasted to everyone that Brother Mao had learned to swim when he was only four.

"What if Brother Mao also learned about these herbs when he was little?! Elder brother, you're not allowed to mention this to anyone!"

The first thing Shuǐ ChénLín felt was shock. 'Who would throw a child into a Lake?!'

But what followed his shock, was a rising annoyance. His father had been right. He had certainly seen and heard many things he did not like in the Zhao Manor!

But his father had told him to 'turn a blind eye...'.

He turned to Zhao LanFeng, and felt a sudden desire to reassure him. "Don't worry... I wasn't planning to tell anyone." He said as he lightly patted the boy's head, then used the opportunity to dust off a few stubborn grasses that had remained there from his earlier 'wrestle'.

'Isn't this boy too young to experience things like this?' Shuǐ ChénLín thought, remembering how Zhao mao had slapped him to the ground earlier, and he felt the annoyance rise again.

But he pushed it away, and instead reached down to straighten the boy's robes and belt.

"Tsk tsk tsk! You're a messy little fellow, aren't you?" He said, noting Zhao LanFeng's overall disheveled appearance.

By comparison, LanFen found Shuǐ ChénLín to be impressively neat. Not a single strand of hair out of place, and not even a wrinkle on his pristine, light blue robes.

If she was half as neat as him most days, her mother would be pleased!

But she couldn't resist scoffing, "Tch! Elder brother, you would be messy too, if you had been rolling around on the ground!"

The way Zhao LanFeng scrunched up his face in annoyance, filled Shuǐ ChénLín with the urge to laugh, but instead, he placed both hands behind his back, in an extremely dignified pose.

"A gentleman such as myself, would never do such a thing!" He stated with such dramatic indignation, that they both begun to laugh.

Satisfied that he had at least cheered up the little boy in some way, Shuǐ ChénLín fished out a small qiankun pouch.

It was the type usually carried around by children, embroidered with a brightly coloured duck, and enchanted to refuse certain items like most weapons and any dangerous talismans.

Shuǐ ChénLín held out a hand, and a single firefly appeared on it. "Look here." He said holding out his hand to her.

LanFen stared at the single fly in confusion, but then it flew off his hand and multiplied before her eyes.