Chapter Forty-Six: Avoidance

  He didn't finish speaking, and Zhou Ming smiled and said: "Alright, alright, I've said a few words to you, and now you're complaining." After finishing speaking, he let the shell child open those boxes and take a look. Smiling, he said: "What kind of thing is this? It doesn't seem extraordinary at all, not as interesting as that dressing mirror, it's worth your while to come over and ask for it like this."

  Shen Qianshan was delighted and opened several boxes to take a look. There were cylindrical short plates, long and thin glass tubes, and shiny metal clips that looked like the bamboo clips used for holding dim sum, only much smaller.

  He had just finished reading it, and was about to take his leave, when Zhou Ming laughed and scolded him, saying: "What's the hurry? Don't you even look at what time it is? If you go back now, your aunt will say that I'm stingy, and won't even give you a lunch. It just so happens that your several imperial brothers are also coming over today, and you can all keep me company for lunch."

  The aunt Zhou Ming mentioned was the grandmother of Shen Qianshan, the Empress Dowager, and the brothers were several princes. Therefore, Shen Qianshan hastily agreed to let Baigui help him carefully pack up these boxes, and accompanied the emperor for a few more words before waiting for those princes to come down from the imperial study.

  After leaving the imperial palace in the afternoon, Shen Qianshan originally wanted to go directly to the earl's mansion, but after thinking about it, he didn't have a good reason, and going over like this seemed inappropriate, so he had no choice but to return to his own mansion first and think of a way to get there.

  This matter had been hidden in his heart, but he couldn't find an opportunity to do it. On the third day, he went to the palace to play and happened to see a tribute of fine horses from abroad. He was suddenly inspired and declared that he wanted to tame the tallest one. Who knew that this horse was actually a famous sweat-blood horse, brought over for breeding or as a reward for a meritorious general? This horse was extremely proud and only recognized its tamer as its master. Shen Qianshan was only eight years old, although he had some skills, but after all, he was just a child. He was thrown off by the horse several times, scraping his elbows and knees raw.

  The eunuchs and palace maids were all in a flurry, crying out for their fathers and mothers, but Shen Qianshan's eyes had turned red with excitement. He had never been so worked up before! How could his mighty prestige be defeated by a single horse? Thus he became even more determined, and finally managed to tame the sweat-drenched horse, but not without ending up covered in wounds himself.

  When the empress received the news and came over, she only saw Shen Qianshan riding on the sweat-blooded precious horse with a gloomy face. Looking at her nephew's small yet straight figure, the empress felt a mix of emotions in her heart: anger towards this young man for not taking care of his body, pride and admiration for his determination to never give up at such a young age, and appreciation for his tactics. Despite this, she still had him summoned to the Kun Ning Palace for a severe scolding before finally letting up, while also dispatching someone to invite the imperial physician.

  Who would have thought that not mentioning the imperial physician was fine, but as soon as the imperial physician was mentioned, Shen Qianshan suddenly became stubborn and refused to wait for the imperial physician to arrive. He ran out of the palace gate in a flash, leaving the empress bewildered and wondering what had gotten into him today. It didn't seem like he had suddenly gone crazy either.

  Here, Shen Qianshan and a trail of smoke arrived at the palace gate. He had a young servant rush back to carefully retrieve the set of glassware, then the two of them went together to the Earl's residence. The doorman recognized him and was startled to see the Third Prince of Ruiqin Palace looking so disheveled. When he heard that they were there to see the Old Master, he hastily rushed inside to report it. Not daring to be slow, he invited Shen Qianshan in.

  It was just past noon when Ning Fengbi had just arrived at Xinglin Garden from the clan school, and she heard that Shen Qianshan had come, with injuries on her body. She furrowed her brow and said to Ning Derong: "Third Grandfather, my aunt and cousin will probably arrive in these two days, so I won't be coming here to make medicine for Third Grandfather for the next two days. I should accompany my aunt well, shouldn't I? My mother has been thinking about it for many days."

  This is human nature, how could Ning De Rong not agree? So he let Ning Xian Bi go back. Before long, Shen Qian Shan brought two young servants in, first looked around, but didn't see anyone else, and couldn't help feeling a little disappointed, asking Ning De Rong: "Where's the sixth lady?"

  Ning De Rong saw his dusty and disheveled appearance, also startled, and invited him to sit down while rolling up his sleeves to examine the scratches, saying casually: "Peony's aunt and cousin are coming, she can't come over for these two days."

  "Older male cousin?"

  Shen Qianshan furrowed his brow, unsure what the uncomfortable feeling in his heart was, as if... Ning Fengbi would from now on only play with her cousin and wouldn't even glance at him again. This guess made his heart feel a bit sore.

  But then again, what does it have to do with her not playing along with me? He's just a cousin, and at most, he's like one of Ning's brothers. How often can I even see her anyway? What does she have to do with me?

  Just as he was thinking, Ning De Rong curiously said: "What's inside these big boxes? Third Master, you've come, why bring things with you? This makes an old man like me uneasy." After speaking, he opened the box and took a look.

  Shen Qianshan's face turned red because of the old man's words, and after a long while, he stammered: "This... this is a set of glassware for making medicine, it's... those Western foreigners use it, I saw that it was crystal clear, so I thought it would be great to give it to Sixth Miss as a toy, or... or maybe Master thinks it's good for making medicine, then... then you can use it."

  He didn't dare tell me that he was injured in the palace, but instead came to you for bandaging, all just to give this thing to Sixth Miss.

  At first, I didn't know, but in recent days, when several sisters and some girls sat together chatting and laughing, they occasionally talked about private matters, that is, giving each other things between boys and girls. It's said that it's not good, once the adults find out, they will be punished. Although he is still young now, Ning Fengbi is even younger, and there is no need to suspect this yet, but for some reason, in Shen Qianshan's young heart, he felt a slight sense of guilt.

  Ning De Rong looked at this set of strange glass utensils, and no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't figure out how to use them to make medicine. Is it for pounding medicine or grinding medicine? Wouldn't they shatter with just a light tap? After thinking about it, he shook his head in the end and chuckled to himself: Forget it, it's novel-looking, and it's Third Master's kind intention, I'll just give it to Yu Ru to play with later.

  Ning Fengbi returned to the White Peony Courtyard, only to see Yu Shi enthusiastically discussing something with Lan Niang. Upon seeing her enter, Yu Shi smiled and said: "Oh, today is a rare day indeed! Our Peony has returned so early? Could it be that you have exceptionally sharp ears and heard that your older brother and aunt will arrive in two days' time, so you rushed back? I didn't think you had such filial piety."