Chapter 560 A Painting Drawn by Pushan Nun
Shao Wanru suddenly stopped and turned around with some difficulty. He had always liked finding fault with her, not to mention that she was in the wrong indeed at the moment.
She secretly groaned in her heart. She had intended to sneak away before being noticed, but now she failed to escape.
“Your Highness, you’ve woken up? I intended to leave just now for afraid of disturbing you!” Shao Wanru stood still after bowing to Chu Liuchen in the distance and said.
Chu Liuchen stretched out his hand and crooked his finger at her.
Shao Wanru had no choice but to go over. When she walked up to Chu Liuchen, he reached out to take her hand before she spoke. She staggered and sat on the couch.
“I’m going back to the imperial palace to report my visit to Imperial Grandmother. If she sees the scars on my face, how should I explain it?”
Chu Liuchen said leisurely, leaned back and let go of Shao Wanru’s hand, looking elegant and indifferent.
Sitting closer to him, she saw clearly there were obviously several neat scratches on his face making his face as delicate as jade look like a damaged piece of jade. Even Shao Wanru felt that she had held the comb too firmly in a daze last night. If the Empress Dowager saw the scratches, she would be very distressed.
“Your… Your Highness, the lights were off last night. I… I didn’t see it clearly, so I accidentally scratched your face with the comb. But at that time, I tried to help you…”
Shao Wanru swallowed her saliva and cautiously defended herself.
“Do you mean that it was my fault?” Chu Liuchen said lightly and narrowed his long eyes slightly, exuding a kind of intimidating temperament.
“No, it’s my fault!” Shao Wanru lowered her head and said, thinking that she had better not s.h.i.+ft responsibility, in case that this moody prince should think of another way to pick on her.
“Since you hurt me accidentally, you must make it up to me, right?” Chu Liuchen said with a snort.
“What do you want, Your Highness?” Shao Wanru asked bluntly, thinking that she had better accept the punishment.
“You talk big. Can you offer me anything I want?”
Shao Wanru froze hurriedly shook her head, pointed to the stuff around her and said, “I have lived on the mountain for more than two years, and everything I have is in this room. What’s more, most of them belong to the Yuhui Nunnery. If you ask for something I don’t have here, I can’t offer it!”
“Can I ask for anything in this room?” Chu Liuchen looked sideways at her with interest and asked. As the coldness on his face faded away, he showed a smile.
Shao Wanru looked around. This room was hers, and some of her kinds of stuff were in this room. Except for the tables and chairs provided by the Yuhui Nunnery, the stuff inside belonged to her indeed. Since she did not live here often, there was nothing precious in this room. Shao Wanru did not believe that Chu Liuchen would take a fancy to the stuff in this room.
Thinking that Prince Chen was not a fool, she asked, “Your Highness, what do you mean?”
Shao Wanru thought that she had better ask about it, in case of aggravating this moody prince by talking too big.
“I think the kinds of stuff in your room are quite good, so I want to have them all. Are you okay with it?” Chu Liuchen said casually and looked up at Shao Wanru.
He wanted to have all kinds of stuff in this room? Shao Wanru froze and glanced at her room with her watery eyes, wondering why these ordinary kinds of stuff in this room attracted his attention.
She suddenly blushed when glancing at a cabinet, where there were some clothes she had not disposed of. Since she lived in the Yuhui Nunnery, she was usually dressed in some black clothes. She had brought a few clothes up the mountain, but had little chance to wear them later. Every time Rui’an Great Elder Princess came up the mountain, she brought her some new clothes. But she didn’t wear them and put them in the cabinet.
There were not only outer clothes but also some underwear in the cabinet.
“Don’t worry, I don’t want your clothes. Remember, everything in this room belongs to me from now on!” Chu Liuchen raised his eyebrows, said with a smile and glanced at the cabinet, not surprised that she suddenly blushed.
“I’m going down the mountain soon with this Pushan Nun. I heard that this Pushan Nun was a Miss from an aristocratic family, who has practiced Buddhism for so many years since she encountered hards.h.i.+ps in her childhood.” Chu Liuchen stopped smiling, changed the topic and reached out to fetch a scroll from the table beside the couch.
“This is a painting of Guanyin painted by Pushan Nun. Keep it and have a look at it. If you find anything strange, tell me about it. It’s one thing you can do to make it up to me!”
Shao Wanru reached out to take it and slowly opened it. A vivid painting of thousand-hand Guanyin was shown in front of her, but it was a male Guanyin instead of the prevailing female Guanyin.
Shao Wanru, who had lived in the Yuhui Nunnery for a long time and read plenty of Buddhist scriptures, knew that the ill.u.s.trations in some ancient Buddhist scriptures showed a male Guanyin. However, at present, no matter in nunneries or in Buddhist halls, Guanyin was shaped into a female figure.
Therefore, Guanyin was usually portrayed as a female figure at present. She had never found a male Guanyin in a painting out of the Buddhist scriptures.
It was painted by Pushan Nun meticulously, with an appropriate shade and flowing colors. Although the Guanyin was male, it had a benignant look and left a favorable impression on people at first glance.
“Your Highness, do you think there is something wrong with this painting?” Shao Wanru frowned slightly and asked. Except that a male Guanyin was a little conspicuous, she could not see anything wrong in this painting.
“This painting was left to the First Miss of your mansion by Pushan Nun. The nun she sent to deliver the painting came across one of my servants a moment ago. My servant sent her away and brought the painting here. Take a look at it and see if there is anything wrong.” Chu Liuchen closed his pretty eyes again and said casually.
Shao Wanru felt her heart skipped a beat. Pushan Nun left it to Shao Yanru?
In fact, she had thought that Pushan Nun was actually not the quiet and inactive nun concentrating on practicing Buddhism she appeared to be. During the period she lived in the Yuhui Nunnery, she had only seen Pushan Nun a few times and heard from the nuns in the nunnery that Pushan Nun was the most hard-working nun in the entire nunnery.
Pushan Nun would never step out of her Zen room if she had no business to deal with. Even if she was invited by the abbess of the Yuhui Nunnery while chanting scriptures, she must finish her job before leaving. It could be said that no one and nothing could distract her from her practice. She was so firm in her practice that there was no one else as firm as her in the Yuhui Nunnery.
However, as such a devoted nun, Pushan Nun was so congenial to Shao Yanru that she was willing to sacrifice her time to teach Shao Yanru painting. Was it really because Shao Yanru was so good at covering up her true self that Pushan Nun was moved by her and would rather sacrifice her time and teach her carefully?
It was said that Pushan Nun came to Shao Yanru’s silence room to teach her every day at that time. Was there really no other reason behind it?
“Are you going to give this painting to Big Sister?” Shao Wanru asked after thinking for a while.
“I think so. It’s useless to keep it. If you want to have a look at it, you can give it to her later with the excuse that I forget it and deliver it later!” Chu Liuchen lifted the corners of his thin lips and said with a gentle smile.
“Your Highness, I’ll give it to her the next day and say that you send someone to bring it here at night. Qing’er receives it and delivers it the next day because it’s late!” Shao Wanru thought for a moment and asked tentatively.
“Okay, do as you say. If you really like it, you don’t have to give it to her!” Chu Liuchen slightly opened his eyes to look at Shao Wanru and said with ripples and faint gentleness in his eyes.
Feeling her heart involuntarily beat wildly, Shao Wanru turned her head away hurriedly and said, “It’s inappropriate to keep it. I just feel strange about it, so I want to have a look at it. If I find anything, I will definitely report it to you, Your Highness!”
She really felt strange about it. The painting was excellent and painted with great efforts. However, based on the state of the pigments and the wetness degree of the colors, she could tell that it was a newly painted portrait of Guanyin. Pushan Nun was going to enter the imperial palace on instructions from the Empress Dowager. She couldn’t refuse it even if she wanted to stay for her practice. But the painting was wired. Why did she paint such a painting in a hurry?
Did Shao Yanru ask her to paint it before?
Even if Shao Yanru asked her to draw a painting, she didn’t have to be in a rush. Since Pushan Nun was going to enter the imperial palace, Shao Yanru had numerous chances to enter the imperial palace and get the painting later. Moreover, someone as arrogant as Shao Yanru probably thought that the imperial palace would be under her control in the future and it was not a problem to get a painting from Pushan Nun.
Since Shao Yanru didn’t ask Pushan Nun to draw a painting, Pushan Nun did that on her own initiative. Why did she rush to send someone to give the painting to Shao Yanru before going down the mountain? Shao Wanru felt inexplicably strange about it.
“Your Highness, I’ll take it back and have a look at it!” Shao Wanru said, stood up and bowed deeply to Chu Liuchen with the painting in her hand. It was still early, so she had to go back and examine it.
“Go ahead!” Chu Liuchen waved his hand and said. He did not make things difficult for her this time.
Shao Wanru turned around and left, but she suddenly stopped at the door and turned her head hurriedly. Finding that Chu Liuchen was looking at her with his head supported by his hand, she grasped the painting in her hand uneasily.
“Your Highness, Shao Yanru has gone to meet Pushan Nun just now. If she meets Pushan Nun, she would know that the painting was in your hands!”
“It doesn’t matter. She won’t meet Pushan Nun, because I’ve sent someone to guard there!” Chu Liuchen said with an elegant and leisurely smile. Of course, he would look better without those red and swollen scratches on his face, which was pretty enough to arouse girls’ jealousy.
Shao Wanru nodded guiltily and turned to leave in a hurry, for fear that he would think of it again.
The two maids had been waiting outside the door. Looking at the paintings in Qing’er’s hands, Shao Wanru slightly froze.
“Miss, these are the paintings you left here before. I’m going to carry a few of them over there, where most of your paintings are placed. If I put them together over there, it will be more convenient to pack them up!” Qing’er stepped forward, bowed to Shao Wanru with the paintings in her arms and said.
Shao Wanru nodded and handed the painting in her hand to Qing’er. Qing’er held it together with other paintings in her arms.
Xiao Xuanzi sent them to the gate and reluctantly watched Shao Wanru and her maids leave. He earnestly wished that the Fifth Miss could spend more time chatting with his master.
At least his master would be in a good mood. As long as his master was in a good mood, he was definitely in a good mood too as a servant. He had plenty of things to worry about as a eunuch!