Song Yongzhen, however, was highly interested and insisted on dragging her to Song Yinghuai's study.
So, for the whole afternoon,
Caiyu sat aside watching Song Yongzhen writing with great concentration.
He wrote running script first, then cursive script, followed by regular script and official script.
He practiced calligraphy in the styles of Yan, Ou, Liu, and Zhao, as well as various others from home and abroad.
He was so absorbed that he forgot about food and sleep, working day and night.
Song Boming, on the other hand, ate up all the meals prepared for Caiyu and became full and bloated.
Caiyu was drowsy and starving.
She was on the verge of tears.
She cursed this ignorant little brat in her heart over and over again for more than a dozen times.
Near evening, Song Yongzhen finally got tired of writing.
He threw the brush aside and stood up.
Caiyu roused herself from drowsiness and said, "This servant bids farewell to Your Highness!"
Song Yongzhen stretched and looked at her aggrievedly, "Miss Caiyu is so eager for me to leave?"
Indeed.
Caiyu looked at the setting sun outside the window and the colorful clouds in the sky, thinking:
She was really eager to send His Highness the Prince of Qi far away!
If he didn't leave soon, the banks would close after sunset.
This fool was really holding things up!
Caiyu forced a smile and said, "No, how dare this servant?"
She didn't know why His Highness the Prince wasn't going back to his mansion today.
Caiyu had never been so eager for Song Yinghuai to come back and throw this stupid younger brother out by the neck.
Song Yongzhen was simple-minded. When Caiyu said no, he immediately became happy again.
He leaned forward and said mysteriously, "I knew you liked calligraphy... But you've been in the mansion for a whole day. Aren't you tired?"
Caiyu had been wishing for him to leave quickly. Now, hearing what he said, she immediately perked up, "Does Your Highness the Prince of Qi have any place in mind?"
Hurry up and go out!
She wanted to go out!
Seeing that she finally showed the most excited look in half a day, Song Yongzhen also became happy, "I know a good place! I know there's a theater in the capital. The operas there are different from those elsewhere. You'll definitely like it..."
Song Boming finally threw away the Ding Sheng Cake in his hand and interrupted Song Yongzhen in surprise, "Twelve! The theater you're talking about can't be the Baiyun Tower in the south of the city, right?!"
"Yeah, it is!" Song Yongzhen nodded, "It's the one I took Brother Nine to last time. The operas there are really wonderful."
Song Boming almost choked on the Ding Sheng Cake in his mouth. He looked nervous and tried to stop him, "No, that place isn't suitable. It..."
He really didn't know how to put it.
But the stupid Song Yongzhen didn't understand what his elder brother meant at all. He said carelessly, "What's not suitable? I saw that there were only women coming and going in that theater. Watching operas is a favorite pastime of girls, isn't it?"
Watching operas was indeed a favorite pastime of girls.
But not in the Baiyun Tower.
However, Caiyu was new to the capital and knew nothing about the Baiyun Tower.
She just wanted to take the opportunity to go out quickly.
So, even though Song Boming was winking at her desperately, Caiyu ignored him and happily went out with Song Yongzhen.
Song Boming sighed.
Brother Four would probably beat Twelve up when he came back.
He had no choice but to tell Ji Ming and then chased after them.
His Highness the Prince of Qi was very wealthy. He cleared all the private rooms on the second floor, summoned the theater manager, curled his lips, and said clearly:
"Please ask someone to come up and sing..."
He paused and laughed stupidly, "The Song of Bi Yu."
At this moment, Caiyu felt as if thunder was rolling down on her head.
She had been trained in Yangzhou for three years, so she immediately noticed something was wrong with the people in the Baiyun Tower as soon as she entered.
The "girls" Song Yongzhen was talking about were indeed "girls".
But they were not the kind of girls she thought.
The girls sitting here watching the opera were all nestled in the arms of men.
Some were feeding the men dried fruits with their mouths, while others were pouring wine and flirting.
The lewd and happy laughter echoed in the air.
Song Boming covered his forehead and didn't dare to look at Caiyu's expression. He just murmured an apology in a low voice:
"Miss Caiyu... My younger brother Twelve got his head kicked by a donkey when he was a kid. He's not very smart. Please don't misunderstand. He doesn't think of you as one of those girls downstairs."
Caiyu was just a servant girl. How could she act coquettishly in front of these two highnesses? She was only daring enough to be unrestrained in front of Song Yinghuai.
But Song Yongzhen interrupted dissatisfiedly, "Brother Nine, you must be remembering wrong. I didn't get my head kicked by a donkey when I was a kid. It was a horse that kicked my head!"
Song Boming said, "...Fine. You might as well just be stupid to death!"
At this time, the actress on the stage had started singing:
"When Bi Yu was at the age of first love, the young man was completely infatuated with her. Touched by his passion without shame, she turned around and let him hug her..."
The lyrics made people blush.
Caiyu covered her face and coughed. She used the excuse of going to the toilet and took the opportunity to go downstairs.
Song Yongzhen chased after her and shouted loudly, "Miss Caiyu, go slowly. Listen to one more segment. The best part is coming up!"
Hearing this, Caiyu ran even faster. She seemed to be stepping on flying wheels as she rushed downstairs. At the corner, she bumped into a solid chest!
She immediately felt dizzy and almost burst into tears. She lost her balance and was about to fall backward.
Seeing that she was about to fall, Caiyu's throat trembled and a shrill scream was about to escape.
The person in front of her was quick-witted. He reached out and hooked her waist, pulling her into his arms and covering her scream.
Then, a teasing and surprised voice sounded, "Shu... Sister Caiyu! What are you doing here?"
Caiyu was pushed forward forcefully and stood up straight. When she looked closely, she found that the person she had bumped into was Sheng Jiangli.
Sheng Jiangli was smiling brightly and stared intently at her blushing face from panting:
"So you like listening to lewd songs?"
Caiyu's face blushed even more. She glared at him angrily and said, "Who likes listening to this kind of thing! It's all because of that stupid kid, the Prince of Qi..."
The voice of the Prince of Qi was already coming from behind, calling her name.
Caiyu sighed and grabbed Sheng Jiangli's hand, "Let's hide from that stupid kid for a while."
Sheng Jiangli had a smile on his lips and let her pull him around to find a hiding place.
The Baiyun Tower was quite big. Before Caiyu could get out, she saw Song Yongzhen looking around at the door.
Helplessly, she had no choice but to pull Sheng Jiangli into a dark corner.
Sheng Jiangli leaned against the wall and looked down at the woman with her back to him, bending over and peeping outside like a sneaky thief.
Memories of hiding from Lan Jinxiang while playing hide-and-seek with Lan Jinshu when they were kids came flooding back.
The lewd singing on the stage lingered in his ears, making his heart spin like a whirlpool and he couldn't think properly.
Something broke through the dam and he suddenly hugged Caiyu from behind!
The force was so great that it almost broke Caiyu's waist in two!
"Sister Shu'er! I..."
I miss you so much.
He was shocked by Qingqing's matter today and was extremely anxious. He urgently needed an outlet to pour out his feelings.
But Caiyu was startled and struggled violently, interrupting his "I miss you".
"Brother A Li! Let go!"
Sheng Jiangli ignored her. His arms around her were as strong as iron walls, "I won't let go! I'll never let go even if I die!"
The scorching breath lingered around her ears, and Caiyu became even more panicked.
She pulled at Sheng Jiangli's hand and struggled violently. She used her elbow to hit the person behind her in the stomach, "If you don't let go, I'll get angry!"
Sheng Jiangli was hit by her elbow and let out a muffled groan. His breathing suddenly became heavy, and for no reason, a sense of melancholy welled up in him.
He didn't believe that Lan Jinshu was so fierce when she was in Song Yinghuai's arms.
His heart suddenly felt sour. The hand on her waist gradually loosened, and he felt a little disappointed, "I'm sorry. I lost my composure."
Caiyu gasped heavily and vaguely realized that Sheng Jiangli was a bit strange. He seemed a bit disappointed today.
Although she didn't know the reason, after all, they had grown up together. When Sheng Jiangli was disappointed, she also felt dull and uncomfortable in her heart.
"Brother A Li, I was too impatient," Caiyu didn't know how to comfort him, "I was just eager to do something and wanted to get rid of the Prince of Qi."
She knew about Sheng Jiangli's feelings for her and also knew that she should keep a distance from him.
But every time she tried to keep a distance and saw Sheng Jiangli forcing a smile to amuse her,
She couldn't help but feel heartache.
So she carefully measured the distance between them and kept pulling back and forth.
She just hoped that one day, Sheng Jiangli would see that there was an insurmountable gap between them no matter what.