Chapter 28 V2 : Books (2/2)
Sang Wan did not expect Shi Fengju to have knowledge about this book. In an instant, her eyes glistened; leaning her head to a side, she spoke, “Even though it was made up, it is still mysteriously interesting! ‘Shengzhou was located northeast of the Eastern Sea, fabled to be connected to Penglai at a length of eighty-five million meters. That place was also said to be one million two hundred fifty thousand meters in length! Two hundred and thirty miles away from it, there’s the Eastern An, home to many immortals. There, the sky is always calm and the grass never dies. The temperature is never hot nor cold and is home to many other different animals. Also, there are the many different types of immortal grass growing on the many mountain formations formed there. Surrounding the continent, the water tastes sweet just like fruit syrup.’ Just listen to that, it sure is interesting! If only there were such interesting continents beneath the heavens, how wonderful would that be?”
Shi Fengju could not help but chuckle after hearing so. “Not bad! Its strangeness truly makes it interesting! Like those ‘wine springs’, ‘beautiful gold grass’, and others like ‘immortal grass, that grows on jade fields, named the Yangshen Zhi. Dispersed by spores under its leaves, a stalk is all that’s needed to resurrect the dead and can also cause the living to never die.’ That is all just too fictitious! Only the foolish ones would believe in the book after reading it!”
Hearing so, Sang Wan could not help but angrily glared at Shi Fengju humorously. She pouted at him and spoke in annoyance, “Just who is foolish? I’ve only read the book casually and spoke what was in my head. Mind you, there are those who do not believe in it and keep every word to heart but would still speak of it thoughtlessly!”
Underneath the soft light, the young lady in front of him looked angry, yet not angry; both shy and annoyed; and her gaze was bright and clear. Under such lighting, it revealed an exceptional beauty and indulgence. At that moment, Shi Fengju was in a daze and his heart was somewhat affected a little.
Sang Wan immediately felt a sense of embarrassment and regret after those words left her mouth. Their relationship was not at a point of familiarity where she could act so freely, so how could she have spoken to him in such a way ——
A moment of silence filled the chamber and a heavy sense of awkwardness sank.
“Ke,” Shi Fengju’s hand was clenched and he softly coughed into it. Awkwardly, he smiled, “Actually, my memory is quite good! Oh yes, I’ve the 《Great Tang Records on the Western Regions》, 《A Brief Account of Island Barbarians》, 《Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang》, 《The Eastern Capital: A Dream of Splendor》, and many others – they’re fiction books that are interesting. If you’d like to have a read, I’ll have someone retrieve it for you tomorrow.”
Sang Wan’s bashfulness diminished a little and she lifted her gaze onto him. “I’ve already read those. Do you have something else?”
Shi Fengju became a little more surprised. “《Superfluous Things》? 《Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital》?” But seeing Sang Wan remaining silent, he clapped his hands and laughed, “Your Sang family truly is——”
Sang Wan’s eyes slightly darkened as she seemed to have recalled something and her mood became somewhat low. Forcing a smile, she spoke, “At home, my big brother and sister-in-law cares a lot for me, especially my big brother. Never would he allow me to do any work like any other girls from other families. The books that my father left for us were many; other than the authoritative books of Confucianism and the teaching of Confucius and Mencius, I’ve already read a variety of the other books from burying my head deep into the pile of books.”
Sang Wan’s tone was touched with a slight amount of self-ridicule. What use was there for reading so many books? Recalling her past life, all it brought was chaos to her life!
Shi Fengju felt a little uncomfortable all of a sudden. He had seen how protective Sang Hong was to his younger sister. He carefully brought her up in the small household, all to carry out the plan of having her marry into the Shi family. Being the young mistress of the Shi household, it would be natural that she should not be someone who was once a village girl working in the farmland. Otherwise, she would be looked down upon by others when she married in.
“Still, my memory isn’t as great as Lord’s; as time passed, I may have already forgotten them. Given a chance to read them again isn’t bad! 《Old News Under the Heavens》, 《Tales of the Old Capital》, 《Superfluous Things》 and many other of the old records, looking at them again won’t get me bored!” Sang Wan quickly recovered the sense of sadness and laughed as she gazed at Shi Fengju brightly.
“That’s easy. I’ve them in my study room. Just request the name of the book to a servant and it’ll be brought over! Also, there’re a number of notebooks relating to poetry. If you’re not busy tomorrow, you can go there personally and pick a few for yourself!” Shi Fengju raised.
Sang Wan smiled and nodded. After mentioning a few more books, she and Shi Fengju spoke for a little more longer. On the topic of poetry, her interest and familiarity in it were lower as compared to old records. Fortunately, Shi Fengju liked to read magazines relating to geographical phenomenons. As such, the two spoke with enough interactions and the atmosphere become lively.
But deep down, Shi Fengju could not help but laugh. His dislike for poetry was due to a reason. Even though his reason might seem a little funny, it was deeply linked to Sang Wan.
In the past, Wang Shi was afraid that Sang Wan, her soon-to-be daughter-in-law, might be too knowledgeable and might step above her son’s head in time to come after their marriage. As such, she instructed a head servant to purchase a list of poetry books back. She ordered her son to study them from day and night all so that he would not lose to his future wife.
Because Shi Fengju’s heart only had Gu Fangzi, his view of Sang Wan only had resentment. The more Wang Shi did so, the more he refused to listen. As for those books that Zhuan Huan brought to him, only God knows where they were placed to grow mold! He did not even have the interest to flip a page from those books!
Unexpectedly, his wife was just as disinterested in those types of books as he was. It seems his mother had placed her focus on the wrong route.
While secretly thinking about his past, Shi Fengju felt a thought somewhere within him. If only, if he did not have Fangzi, no, if the relationship did not form in the first place, then would he——
A chill erupted in his heart and he quickly killed the thought off. How could he have such a thought? His cousin had already sacrificed so much for him, suffered so many grievances all just for him… how could he forget those?
Just when the conversation was getting a little livelier, Shi Fengju’s expression suddenly changed slightly. Sang Wan could not help but wonder. Words from her mouth stopped flowing out as she looked to observe.
Shi Fengju smiled awkwardly. Just as he tried to come up with another topic for them both to talk about, Zhide, fortunately, came bursting into the chamber with a bowl of noddles. The aroma from the bowl of steaming hot noddles rushed into his nose and his eyes could not help but brighten up.
“Lord, please have your noodles first! It’s already quite late, I’ll go have a wash first before going to bed!” Observing the situation, Sang Wan smiled and got up.
“Go first then!” Shi Fengju’s appetite returned and he once again managed to seize control of his mental state.
Sang Wan pursed her lips and smiled before calling for Liu Ya to follow her.