st a spectator! With Miss Han on stage, I believe it will be精彩的 indeed," said Third Miss with a smile."Susu, who is this" The miss looked at Miss Han, preempting South宮's question. There seemed to be...Chapter 289 Minor Regular Script 2
"Xiaoyao, continue writing. Whatever you need, just tell Auntie!" After a while, Fang Hong said this before leaving.
"Ah, why is it her" Xiaoyao knew that someone would be arranged to serve him but did not understand why it was this particular Auntie; she didn’t seem like the type to attend to others.
“Because she wants to stay with you. She’s so proactive herself, we youngsters should know our place!” Fang Hong said while smiling and joking a little.
"Fang Hong, what are you trying to say Don’t think that just because you’re the matriarch Auntie you can control me!" Fang Ling was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on; she jumped up in anger and shouted.
“Yes, yes. I’ll stop talking! You guys leave, don’t disturb Auntie—no, it’s better not to disturb Xiaoyao while he writes.” As Fang Hong spoke, he already started leaving. This left Fang Ling stomping her feet helplessly as she stood by Xiaoyao and watched.
What could she do Fang Hong was the head of the household, and more importantly, his strength far surpassed hers; even a single finger from him would be enough to kill her!
"Look what you’re looking at—hurry up and write!"
The Auntie clearly vented her anger on Xiaoyao. Xiaoyao shook his head helplessly, continuing to write.
“Don’t think I’m staying for your sake—I want to see the stuff as soon as possible—don’t be delusional!” Fang Ling originally felt that there was no need to explain this but didn’t want to be misunderstood in this situation.
"I know, even if it’s delusional, it isn't about you!" Xiaoyao said while nodding his head and continuing with the writing.
“What did you just say!!” Fang Ling’s voice rose several octaves.
“Nothing much; I was just talking to myself. About the manual.” Xiaoyao denied it乾脆地不承認……Fang Ling fell silent, this was too obvious, he was dodging me again! Humph!
Fang Ling fumed for a bit then looked at Xiaoyao as he wrote the scriptures; she discovered that his writing speed was incredibly fast, even faster than twice the normal person’s pace. What made her admire him more was how neat and beautiful his handwriting remained despite such rapid speeds—quite the opposite of being messy and ugly, in fact! Even calligraphy masters couldn’t write so beautifully at these speeds!
Fang Ling thought that just Xiaoyao’s script would make these scriptures incredibly valuable, let alone their content!
He even had this one skill; it was truly amazing. Even more amazing was the fact that his font was in minor regular script, and he wrote neatly at a speed even faster than cursive—this, she wouldn’t have believed if she hadn’t seen it herself.
A day later, Fang Ling thought her previous overreaction was unnecessary; what did she think before It was nothing but a small matter!
At that point in time, piles of newly bound books were placed in front of Fang Ling. These books had all been completed by Xiaoyao alone—both the writing and binding. Of course, it wasn’t the sheer number of new books that made her feel this way; she was surprised at the efficiency but could understand why.
What left her speechless was how Xiaoyao even added illustrations to these martial arts scriptures—quite normal in martial arts scriptures, yet what amazed her was his ability to create such vivid and lifelike drawings. How could minor regular script compare
The more she looked at them, the clearer it became; one felt an epiphany when looking at them—the difference between these illustrations and ordinary ones was too great!
Why was this so
She asked Xiaoyao about this. The answer he gave was that those who had written martial arts manuals in the past didn’t have a good cultural foundation.
A familiar phrase but it explained things well; most often, one would add their own illustrations to these scriptures, and not everyone who practiced martial arts could draw or had a strong cultural background. So, in terms of illustration and annotation quality, they fell short.
They did want to find people with good drawing skills and solid cultural foundations but this was about secret manuals—why would anyone want others to see them
In reality, scholars weren’t interested; even if forced to do it while only having a basic understanding of martial arts, they might make things more confusing. So, it had the opposite effect.
Scholars proficient in both literature and martial arts did exist but were rare enough that few could write detailed secret manuals themselves—hence why there weren’t many high-quality martial arts manuals out there.
The main reason was these manuals needed to be mysterious and hard to understand; how else would their importance shine
Day by day, the number of martial arts scriptures in Xiaoyao’s hands increased. Some were already possessed by the Fang family but lacked certain parts, so they didn’t stop Xiaoyao from writing them.
The reason they didn’t have Xiaoyao only fill in what was missing was their small selfishness; they wanted books written by Xiaoyao—those characters were worth collecting!
Fang Hong also affirmed this. He wanted to collect anything written by Free-and-Easy, even discarded drafts containing mistakes. For this reason, he specially instructed Fang Ling to be careful.
However, Fang Ling told him that Free-and-Easy had never made a mistake in writing a single character; it was practically impossible!
Although Fang Hong was surprised at how meticulously Free-and-Easy could write without making any mistakes, he felt more regretful because there would be no way for him to collect more of the latter’s handwriting.
The first time he saw Free-and-Easy's handwriting, he didn’t believe it was written by the person. Back then, he even suspected that these classics might have been secretly taken out by Free-and-Easy. But after seeing Free-and-Easy write each character one by one on-site, he believed it!
Afterward, he fell into a craze and would spend most of his time near Free-and-Easy to watch him write. Since he was an enthusiast for calligraphy with significant expertise, he had also competed in calligraphy against some experts, each having their own strengths.
Now, all he could do was deeply admire Free-and-Easy's handwriting—this was why he initially didn’t believe it. Such writing required a long time to cultivate; it couldn’t have been written by a young man like him.
But once again, Free-and-Easy shattered this impossible belief!
Might be because of this, when Free-and-Easy finished writing and left, Fang Hong was very reluctant. He was more unwilling than he would be if his own son left home. This longing gaze frightened Free-and-Easy so much that he didn’t dare to linger and hurriedly told Mao Ma to leave at the fastest speed.
Two months later, Free-and-Easy returned to Skywind Kingdom along another curved route from the Fang family’s residence. Along the way, he toured many new places, experiencing the cultural characteristics of different areas, encountering some events and people that enriched his experiences in the江湖 (Jianghu), earning a little bit of fame under an alias. However, no one knew this small fame was for him personally.
Before entering Skywind Kingdom, Free-and-Easy disguised himself as a merchant and engaged in trade several times along the way, simultaneously bringing a batch of goods to Cloudpeak City where these items were very popular and could earn some money. Mao Ma's strength was sufficient to carry all those goods.
Free-and-Easy wasn’t disguising himself to make money; he did it to avoid trouble because he had enemies in Skywind Kingdom!
This enemy wasn't the Ink Clan, as even though there might be conflicts with Free-and-Easy now, they wouldn't go as far as turning hostile. They would still treat him well on the surface due to Lone Star’s status.
Free-and-Easy's enemy in Skywind Kingdom was the kingdom’s fourth prince. Although he didn’t know what circumstances the fourth prince was currently in, given that he was a prince with some influence locally, it was better to be cautious.
Hence, he disguised himself as an inconspicuous merchant and entered Skywind Kingdom this way, believing no one would pay attention. In reality, unless entering the capital city, the fourth prince wouldn’t easily discover his presence in Cloudpeak City either.
Free-and-Easy’s knowledge of Cloudpeak City wouldn't be less than anyone else's since he grew up there. Even if discovered, it would be easy for him to escape because he knew every corner and could find an exit effortlessly.
However, when Free-and-Easy entered the border checkpoint of Skywind Kingdom, he noticed that things seemed different compared to before; something appeared to have happened in Skywind Kingdom!
"Name, origin, purpose!" The guard at the border asked sternly.
"Fang Mo, from Cloudpeak State. I'm returning from a business trip with goods to sell." Free-and-Easy replied, having started his merchant identity as Fang Mo (a combination of the Fang and Ink clans).
Free-and-Easy had considered using Ning but thought this surname was too unusual and would easily make people think of Tang Empire's royal family. Therefore, he chose the common surname, Fang.
He couldn’t use Le Xiaoyao because he feared that the fourth prince might discover it and cause unnecessary trouble!
In the past, one could pass through after a brief inquiry. Now, however, things were different; the guard continued asking, "What kind of goods"
"High-quality Wu Kingdom silk brocade, something that many in Cloudpeak City like and sell well." Free-and-Easy replied.
"All these are" The soldier asked again.
“Yes, they are all high-quality Wu Kingdom silk brocade. Only the colors and patterns differ.”
The guard still didn't let them pass, saying: "Check your goods thoroughly and make your mount lie down." Mao Ma’s body was relatively large, making it difficult to search.
In the past, one could usually pass after stating their identity and paying a small toll at the checkpoint. Now, they had to verify detailed identities and purposes, as well as inspect any goods carried in—quite different from usual.
This must be due to some event happening!
However, Free-and-Easy didn’t pay much attention; it was normal for a country to experience such events. He just needed them to let him pass.
Hence, he patted Mao Ma’s body, and the latter immediately lay down obediently. would influence everyone, but simply because she just wanted to be with Xiao Yaoyao. Among all these people, she liked Xiao Yaoyao the most, even more so than Princess Ke Xin.This feels strange. Does...