The young master, with his head bowed down, seemed to be in a bad mood.
Of course Wen Tian was in a bad mood. He finally got to punch someone, but the other person ended up unhurt. Instead, it was he himself who was in terrible pain. When his poor mood surged up, it took a while to subside. The pain reminded him of a lot of unhappy things, and he became even more sullen.
He didn’t want to talk or deal with anyone, he just wanted some quiet.
After staring at the young master’s head for a while, Chu Xiangtian thought he had made him cry again. Chu Xiangtian was a little chagrined and as stared at the little hair whorld for a while, he suddenly remembered something. After fumbling around for a while, he took out a small red wooden ball.
The small wooden ball was made of mahogany, about the size of a baby’s fist, but the workmanship was exquisite. There were rabbits carved on the top, bottom, front and back, left and right sides. Each rabbit was shown with different movements–one was looking up with its ears erect, another was half-standing body while rolling a ball–and each one was carved vividly as though it were alive.
The little rabbit with erect ears looked a bit like Wen Tian. Chu Xiangtian took one look at it and decided without hesitation.
“I’m going to do a trick for you. Do you want to see it?”
With one leg was bent and the other straightened, Chu Xiangtian played with the small red wooden ball. The wooden ball was polished very smooth and had a warm luster.
Wen Tian raised his face and looked at him, baffled. He spoke in a somewhat raspy voice, “What kind of trick?”
“Take it and take a look.” Putting the small wooden ball into Wen Tian’s hand, Chu Xiangtian raised his chin and let him see for himself.
The small wooden ball rolled around in his hand. It was delicate and lovely, but nothing special. Wen Tian looked puzzled.
Chu Xiangtian curled his lips, took the small wooden ball back from Wen Tian’s hand and waved it in front of his eyes. “Look carefully, don’t blink.”
Wen Tian blinked disobediently.
Placing the small wooden ball in the palm of his hand, Chu Xiangtian used his other hand to tap the surface of the wooden ball a few times. The round and smooth wooden ball instantly scattered into a pile of wood pieces.
Wen Tian’s eyes widened slightly.
“Keep watching.” Chu Xiangtian smiled, stacked the wood pieces randomly on the hem of his clothes, and then flipped it using both of his hands. In just a moment, the dismantled small wooden ball returned to its original state.
Curious, Wen Tian leaned forward slightly and took the small wooden ball over to play with. There were no gaps on the smooth surface, and the poses of the engraved little rabbits were different from before.
The rabbit who had been rolling the ball now put the ball on his head, and the rabbit with upright ears now had one ear hanging down.
“How did this happen?” He imitated Chu Xiangtian and tapped it with his hand, but there was no change.
“Want to learn?” Chu Xiangtian moved slightly closer to him.
Wen Tian nodded, his attention drawn by the small wooden ball.
“This is a modified Luban ball1.” Chu Xiangtian sat behind him, his chest pressed against his back, then stretched out his hand and tapped on one part of the wooden ball. “Knock it here precisely.”
Wen Tian tapped with his fingers, but there was no response. He turned back to look at Chu Xiangtian in confusion.
Chu Xiangtian, who happened to be looking down at him, met his line of sight. The two were so close that they could almost feel the warmth of each other’s breaths.
Wen Tan’s ears suddenly turned red. He turned away uncomfortably, lowered his head and said, “I can’t knock it right.”
“I’ll teach you…” Chu Xiangtian narrowed his eyes, held his finger, and tapped it against the same spot. A small piece of wood fell out and landed on Wen Tian’s clothes.
Wen Tan reached out to pick it up, smoothly broke away from Chu Xiangtian’s hold, and moved to the side.
Why are you so close?!
The small wooden ball was missing a piece of wood, resulting in an opening. Wen Tian studied the wooden ball carefully and found that the inside was full of tightly spliced mortises and tenons, each piece interlocking with the other very cleverly.
After studying for a long time, Wen Tian tried to dismantle it, and after struggling for a while, he finally got a few pieces of wood. He slowly got a handle on the feeling of the wood pieces. Wen Tian’s movements became faster and faster. After a quarter of an hour, all that was left of the delicate little wooden ball was a pile of dismantled wood pieces.
Wen Tian’s eyes shone brightly as she looked at Chu Xiangtian. “The demolition was successful.”
Chu Xiangtian touched his chin and praised without hesitation: “Very smart.” This was not a false statement. This improved Luban ball was more sophisticated and complex than the ordinary Luban ball. Chu Xiangtian could dismantle and put it together skillfully because he was in contact with all kinds of weapons all year round, so the small Luban ball posed no difficulty for him. But this was the first time Wen Tian played with it and, within a quarter of an hour, he was able to take it all apart. He was indeed smart and savvy.
After receiving the compliment, Wen Tian’s eyes squinted in pleasure. Happiness was written in the corners of his eyes and brows. He lowered his head and tried to put the dismantled parts back together again.
Putting it back together was much more difficult than disassembling it. It wasn’t until the colorful sunset covered the entire sky that Wen Tian managed to put together a small part of it.
“Don’t be in a hurry, work on it slowly.” Chu Xiangtian stretched out his hand to pat his head, while Wen Tian bit his lip in concentration and continued attacking the Luban ball.
Chu Xiangtian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He reached out to collect the remaining parts to stop Wen Tian from continuing his preoccupation.
The person whose interest was interrupted glared at him fiercely.
Chu Xiangtian spread his hands and said, “It’s time for dinner.”
Only then did the man engrossed with the small toy react. He pursed his lips slightly, stood up, patted his clothes, and prepared to go down.
Seeing his movements, Chu Xiangtian grabbed him and whispered in his ear not to move. He jumped off the roof, then opened his arms to let the young master on the roof to jump down.
Looking down, Wen Tian felt a little scared and shook his head in resistance. He looked around just as a servant was passing by, so he shouted, “Bring me a ladder.”
The servant who was called to a stop nimbly ran away. After a few moments, he brought a latter and set it up against the roof. Wen Tian leisurely climb down the ladder and stood in front of Chu Xiangtian in a good mood. He raised his head slightly and smiled at him. “Thank you for today.”
Chu Xiangtian, who originally wanted to be a hero to save the beauty: “…”
After the spring equinox, the flowers in the garden scrambled to bloom, and the shadow of winter completely dissipated. The town of Sifang became almost completely surrounded by blooming flowers. The peach blossom forest outside the town bloomed in large swaths, and the mountains and plains were blanketed with pink peach blossoms.
The people in the town were preparing for the upcoming Flower Festival2.
February 12th was the Hundred Flowers Birthday, also known as the Flower Festival. On this day, men and women, old and young, would go out to enjoy the flowers. Girls who have not left their maiden homes would also make “divine flower lanterns” and hang them on the peach blossom trees to pray for a happy marriage.
Wen Tian was not very interested in joining the festivities. He rested his cheeks in his hands in worry, thinking about the huge peach blossom forest outside the city. If trees said anything, he would be driven to death by the noise, not to mention that he had to stay home to keep an eye on Wen Boli.
Every year before and after the Flower Festival, Wen Boli would go to the temple to bathe and fast, staying there for half a month to a full month. In his new resurrected life, Wen Tian would have to be out of his mind to believe this nonsense. He thought that Wen Boli was probably going to a private meeting with his lover, so he had to stay at home and keep an eye on him.
However, Wen Shuyue was so rarely in high spirits after breaking off the engagement, so she asked him to choose the style of the flower lantern. Wen Tian sighed fretfully and could only resign himself to accompany his sister to make the lantern first.
===Author’s Notes===
Tiantian (squinting): Humph, you’re so sentimental!
Everyone who commented yesterday was a class representative, but I was different. I didn’t understand anything =w=
Send red envelopes to dirty babies.
Note: Luban Ball and Hua Zhao Festival have some changes according to needs, don’t take it too seriously =3=
===Translator’s Notes===
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