All things considered, the translation of the book progressed rather smoothly. Of course there were patterns; Hua Cheng had more trouble assembling into familiar characters than others, but overall it worked like a rather simple puzzle, giving him no trouble at all.
It was tedious work though, because sometimes, when Hua Cheng thought he had the whole sentence figured out, the sentences didn't actually make sense when he tried to read it. It was fortunate that Hua Cheng could easily guess an alternative character for the one he'd assembled incorrectly, so it didn't set him back too much. It was just annoying whenever it happened.
Hua Cheng kept working on his translation for a long time, before he eventually decided to take a break and sleep a bit before he continued. However, he noticed something bewildering when he put his brush down.
Apparently, he'd been gripping the brush so hard that his fingers had left indents on the wood.
Hua Cheng blinked, feeling a bit stumped, and stretched his fingers. They didn't feel stiff in the slightest. Which proved to him that he couldn't have possibly been gripping the brush with the amount of strength needed to achieve such a feat. In fact, he hadn't thought it was possible at all. People couldn't just put dents in pieces of wood with their fingertips.
Usually, Hua Cheng wouldn't think about the issue too much, and just assume the indents had been there before he'd even used it. But he knew for a fact that this wasn't the case. Still, he'd be glad to prove his memory wrong in this case, and so, just to make sure that he hadn't suddenly developed inexplicable finger strength, he balled his right hand into a fist and slammed it onto the table, like he often did when he got into a fight with his court.
The action broke the table this time unfortunately, and all Hua Cheng could do was scramble to save the books before they could come in contact with some ink that hadn't dried yet. Which he was successful in at least.
But now that Hua Cheng was sitting at a broken table, he couldn't help feeling dumbfounded; a feeling he wasn't too familiar with. However, before he could truly take in the meaning of what he'd just discovered, there were three quick but quiet knocks on his front door.
Thus, he quickly put the books down, a good distance away from the chaos, took a short moment to compose himself, and opened the door with a very neutral expression on his face. To his surprise, it was YanLi who was standing outside, though the troubled expression on her face had him on guard even more than he already had been.
"Would you have a moment to sit down with me for a talk?", she asked, obviously trying to hide her anxiousness.
"Sure", Hua Cheng said, and opened the door wider for her to step through.
Since the house was rather tiny, the chaos he had just created couldn't be hidden, and while he was sure that YanLi noticed it, she was gracious enough not to mention it.
"To be honest, when I talked to my husband about this he advised me against visiting you. But I just can't sit by and do nothing", she said while giving him a hesitant smile.
The words caused Hua Cheng to have a bad feeling about his presence in this city. So he sat down on a table, crossed his legs and leaned back on both of his hands while giving her a reassuring smirk; doing his best to personify the picture of ease.
"Is there something I should be particularly worried about?", he asked, making sure there wasn't a trace of worry in his voice.
"Maybe not worried, but certainly cautious", YanLi replied seriously. "I'm not intending to overstep my boundaries, but may I ask who your parents are?", she added, and seemed a bit nervous to voice the question.
YOU ARE READING
The King's Mate - Part 2: Yaoshi
Fanfiction--- Arc 2/3 --- Hua Cheng had just left Guishi behind and was on the journey back home to his palace in Banyue. He'd already been excited to finally see his gege and their two children again, after having been separated for a few weeks because of hi...
