The courtyard of the new house was much larger than the one back in Panlong City, measuring at least sixty or seventy square meters. Beneath the eaves stood a large water vat, easily spacious enough to hold a grown adult.
In such freezing weather, Master Sun naturally was not inside the water; she was standing beside the vat, drawing water.
He Lingchuan stepped forward and dutifully took up the bucket, carrying it into the house.
In the master's sitting room, a pit fire burned merrily, wrapping anyone who entered in cozy warmth.
Over the fire pit rested a large basin, big enough to bathe a child. Soaking inside were several dozen bamboo strips.
Sun Fuling pointed at the basin. "Pour it in."
He Lingchuan lifted the bucket and poured the water inside, then fished out a bamboo strip to test it. It was thin, yet remarkably pliable and tough.
He sucked in a sharp breath. "Are the students that unruly? Do you really need this many disciplinary switches?"
A bamboo ruler striking the palm—a frozen memory from childhood.
Sun Fuling grabbed a clean bamboo strip and gave his back a light tap. "They're all meant for you!"
He Lingchuan straightened his spine and patted his chest. "Not to boast, but you could snap every last one of these strips across me and not leave a mark. You'll need something far nastier."
With his current physical resilience, a bamboo strip striking him would only tickle rather than hurt.
"Itching for a beating, are you? Are you really begging for it that badly?" Master Sun chided with a laugh, giving him another swat that landed squarely on his backside. She put a bit of force into it this time, but with his thick hide, he still felt nothing. "If all students were like you, the academy might as well shut its doors!"
"What are these actually for?"
"For making kites." Master Sun picked up a strip that had soaked for a while and wiped it dry. "A breeze will pick up in two or three days, just in time to take the students outside the city to fly kites. It's best if the Xiluo and Changhou children can play together."
He Lingchuan noticed several stacks of white paper on the table. "Such child's play—how dare they trouble our Erudite Sun with it?"
"The academy is short-handed. The craftsman who makes the kites fell ill these past few days, so the tasks had to be assigned out—ten kites per master." She split a bamboo strip cleanly in two with a small knife, her movements deft and crisp, as though peeling asparagus rather than slicing through stiff bamboo. "Sigh. I used to think being a teacher meant only having to teach. Who knew there would be an endless stream of chores, most having nothing to do with lessons at all?"
She pouted slightly, looking a bit disgruntled.
It seemed anyone hated hassles outside their proper duties.
This was the first time He Lingchuan had ever heard her complain to him, shedding that otherworldly, detached demeanor she used to carry.
"Teaching is hard enough on its own," He Lingchuan said, playing along. "Those students of yours are all like wild monkeys."
He had visited Yuheng Academy; during recess, the place was as raucous as Monkey Mountain, buzzing loudly enough to make his head ache.
"Mm-hmm, pretty much like you." Taking advantage of the bamboo strip softened by hot water, Sun Fuling quickly bent it into a diamond-shaped frame and tied it securely—the classic kite design.
Complain as she might, her hands did not slow in the slightest.
"Master Sun is quite skilled at this." What kind of woman could not cook, yet possessed astonishing knife work and knew how to construct kites?
"I used to make them often with my father when I was little. The kites we made won competitions—they flew the highest and farthest." Sun Fuling glanced at him. "Do you know how?"
He Lingchuan grabbed a small knife as well and helped shave down the bamboo strips. "A piece of cake. I can even make giant dragon kites!"
Sun Fuling let out a scoffing laugh. She said nothing, but her meaning was crystal clear.
"Don't believe me?" He Lingchuan glared at her playfully. "Want me to make one to show you?"
"Make a few small kites first and let me see," Sun Fuling said, pointing to the bamboo strips. "Not a single one is finished yet."
"Fine, fine." This kind of work was no challenge for He Lingchuan. In his childhood back in the countryside, making scarecrows, paper kites, and woven grasshoppers had always included him; the trick was being nimble and quick.
He swiftly crafted a falcon shape, a swallow shape, and even fashioned a bat and a cobra.
Sun Fuling was convinced now. In an amateur's hands, bamboo strips could never be bent into proper shapes like these, let alone crafted so quickly and well.
"Don't make them too elaborate—they'll be harder for me to paint." She took the finished bamboo frames, applied glue, stretched damp paper taut over them, and carefully trimmed the edges.
Once the paper dried thoroughly, she would still need to paint designs on it, and some would need long tails attached before they became complete kites.
"Why bother painting?" He Lingchuan pointed to the side. "Pass that red paper over here!"
Sun Fuling gave him a look and handed the red paper to him. This kind of gold-flecked red paper was typically used for formal calling cards; it was expensive and crisp.
He Lingchuan dipped a brush in ink, brimming with grand bravado, and wrote in a single flowing breath across the red paper:
"The Three Books must be read day after day; your homework shall never dwindle away."
"The greatest truths are simple! Just paste this onto the back of a kite! I guarantee any kid who gets it will cry tears of emotion."
The "Three Books" were the required texts designated by Shumin Academy for students under twelve—all massive tomes, weighing four jin when stacked together.
Master Sun did not know whether to laugh or get angry. The hand holding the brush dipped in pigment actually trembled. "You... you..."
She too believed that any child who received it would most likely cry.
He Lingchuan admired his calligraphy with smug satisfaction; it was not half bad. "Educating through entertainment—isn't that wonderful?"
Sun Fuling bit her lip to stifle a laugh. Leaning in, she added a line of small characters onto the paper:
"Presented with compliments by Yuheng Commander He Lingchuan."
She certainly was not going to take the blame for this.
She was leaning close. Seeing her pretty face so near and catching a subtle fragrance drifting from her, He Lingchuan felt an irresistible itch in his heart.
By the time he realized what he was doing, he had already planted a kiss on the beauty's cheek.
Sun Fuling froze. She turned to look at him, her bright eyes misty.
He Lingchuan's mouth felt dry. "Master Sun, I..."
Just as he was about to pour his heart out, a bamboo strip on the table suddenly snapped upward and whipped Sun Fuling across the cheek with a sharp clack.
It turned out the bamboo frame he had bound was not secure enough, and a strip had slipped loose.
But wasn't this far, far too coincidental? The bamboo strip had moved so fast it left an afterimage. With both their minds focused on each other, neither of them had blocked it.
That sharp slap had been so loud it nearly shattered He Lingchuan's heart.
Sun Fuling was startled—she literally leaped to her feet, clutching her face with one hand, eyes wide with pure shock.
"Does it hurt?" He Lingchuan rushed to fawn over her. "Let me see, let me see!"
Sun Fuling lowered her hand, revealing a stark red welt on her tender cheek.
Th-this...
He was done for. Completely done for!
"I have medicine!" Steeling himself, he pulled a salve from his robes, scooped a bit out, and carefully smoothed it over the mark. Since he spent his days out in the field, he always carried burn and pain-relieving salves on hand.
The young woman's skin was delicate and fine, and with the salve applied, it felt smooth as congealed fat.
It was just that the red welt was an absolute eyesore.
She said nothing, her cheek puffing slightly—whether from anger or swelling, he could not tell—though the mist in her eyes was gone.
Ah, so this was what Master Sun looked like when she was angry. He had finally witnessed it.
Seeing Sun Fuling's expression turn from clear skies to overcast, and terrified it might progress to a torrential storm, He Lingchuan hastily cast aside all stray thoughts. "I'm so sorry, truly sorry! How about this: you won't have to lift a finger for the rest. I'll take care of all ten kites myself, and you just supervise from the side. What do you say?"
Chapter 728