718 718 Wife's writing is really beautiful.
After returning to the Xiao Family, Su Qingyue ground the ink in the master bedroom and quickly wrote on the rice paper with her brush. After finishing one sheet, she spread the paper on the table, one sheet after another. When the ink on the paper dried, she stacked them together.
Xiao Qinghe was weaving a bamboo basket in the yard. Looking through the open window, he saw his wife with her long hair cascading over her chest. Her penmanship was swift and elegant, her eyes focused intently on the tip of the brush.
Such dedication and concentration were utterly captivating.
He couldn't help but become entranced.
It was only when a gust of wind blew that he snapped out of it and continued weaving the basket in his hand. Yet he would often lift his gaze to peek at her, unable to pull away from her arresting presence.
Xiao Yishan and Xiao Yuchuan returned from work, and as soon as they entered the courtyard, they saw their wife, through the open window, writing diligently inside the room.
Her long lashes and focused expression were like a deep pool, impossible for the two men to take their eyes off of.
A cool breeze blew into the room, lifting a sheet of rice paper from the table and onto the floor.
Su Qingyue bent down to pick it up, finally noticing the two men staring at her from the courtyard. She smiled slightly, "Second brother, third brother, you've finished work?"
Both men nodded in response.
Seeing that it was already evening, she stretched her arms and flexed her stiff muscles. Unknowingly, she had been writing for the entire afternoon.
"Wife, what are you writing? You look so serious." Xiao Yuchuan walked into the room, picked up a stack of the finished rice papers from the table, and looked at them sheet by sheet.
"What beautiful calligraphy!" Xiao Yuchuan was amazed, looking at each sheet, he noticed how each character was equally exquisite. Unfortunately, as a beginner in writing, he could only comprehend as much as his wife taught him. He couldn't describe the perfection of her writing with the most beautiful words.
Xiao Yishan and Xiao Qinghe entered the room and also saw their wife's calligraphy. Even though they were just beginners, they knew that they had never seen such beautiful penmanship from their wife before!
"Wife, your writing is truly beautiful..." Xiao Yuchuan's eyes gleamed with admiration.
She smiled, "You've just learned to read, how can you tell if it's good or not?"
"You're mistaken." Xiao Yuchuan said, "As an individual, your wife's calligraphy is neat, graceful, and powerful. Even though I didn't know how to read before, I've seen many characters while selling goods in town and various villages. I feel that no one's writing is as beautiful as yours. You have no competition."
After some thought, he added, "When the three of us brothers got married, Mr. Jiang Shurong from Long Qing Academy in town, who is also a Scholar, wrote the horizontal tablet for the academy. I saw it in passing and thought the vertical letters on the tablet were beautiful. I heard from a vendor nearby that the characters on the tablet were written by Jiang Shurong, the Scholar. At the time, I thought Jiang Shurong was really talented. Now that I think about it, his writing was good, but your writing is even better."
"You're too kind." She didn't feel anything even after being praised higher than a Scholar.
"Wife, what are you writing?" He still knew too few characters.
She replied, "It's the 'Thousand Character Classic,' a book with one thousand characters and their explanations. The bookstore in town sells it for six hundred cents a copy. I figured I would write it myself, then bind it into books to save on the cost. Even when comparing the price of pen and ink to the book, it is much cheaper this way."
"Wife, you've worked so hard." Xiao Yuchuan's eyes brimmed with sympathy as he looked at her.