Qin Dynasty: Who offended my frail and sickly minister?

Zhou Wenqing has been quite the "entertainer" these past two days, with his two children vying to show off in front of him. When one serves tea, the other always offers a soft towel; when one says he has practiced his calligraphy five times, the other immediately chimes in that he has already memorized an entire article.

He watched the two children secretly competing with each other, and he felt amused.

That's good! Competition creates motivation. I'm just worried you won't get anything going!

After resting for more than a day, Zhou Wenqing, who was finally released, stretched outside the courtyard. When he turned around, he saw two "wolves," one big and one small, following behind him like little ducks, and his mood immediately improved.

He cleared his throat and said, "The weather's nice today, and I feel a bit more energetic. Since I have nothing else to do, how about we chat casually?"

This casual chat... could it be a test?

Fusu thought about it and hesitated for a moment.

You should know that as soon as he arrived, the rural private school was disbanded, and then the teacher fell ill and only recovered after two days.

These past two days, apart from practicing calligraphy with Ah Zhu and looking at the calligraphy books compiled by the teacher, he hasn't received any proper instruction from the teacher yet.

If that's the case, I'm afraid I'm not as familiar with Ah Zhu as he has been by my side for a long time, so I'm at a disadvantage!

Zhou Wenqing noticed his hesitation and nodded slightly with a smile, saying, "There's no need to be so formal. We're just chatting casually. Say whatever comes to mind, and don't make any conclusions."

His words only made things worse. Not only did Fusu not relax, but even Azhu, who hadn't thought much of it before, suddenly became alert.

You know you're young, you don't know as many characters as your brother Qiaosong, and you can't recite articles, so you won't be outdone, right?

This won't do, I absolutely cannot lose!

Two pairs of clear eyes met for a moment, and both saw a similar seriousness in each other's eyes.

Zhou Wenqing found it amusing. He asked Li Yi to help him place two small stools in front of his rocking chair, which had been covered with a thick blanket, and moved a low table closer, on which he piled some dried meat, dried fruit, and other snacks.

Just as they were setting things up, Li Si happened to stroll out of the room.

He was quite bored these past two days. There was a silk book with Zhou Wenqing’s fresh drawings in his study. He saw it, but he used to jokingly say that he was going to “find treasure”. Now that he actually had the “treasure”, he closed the study door and never went in without permission.

He despicable would take advantage of someone's illness to steal treasure!

Anyway, Brother Zicheng will take it out sooner or later.

Even Ying Zheng was in no hurry.

He was determined to obtain all of Zhou Aiqing's wondrous creations. Because of this, he was too impatient when Zhou Wenqing fell ill, which led to his downfall.

So besides visiting often, he was busy handling political affairs, and—posting notices.

Such a rare talent, we mustn't let him be ruined by accident!

Li Si couldn't help much and could only wait. He happened to see the scene in the courtyard and became interested. Without bothering Li Yi, he dragged the newly made rocking chair closer and looked at Zhou Wenqing with a smile.

"Brother Zicheng, would you mind if I took a look?"

Zhou Wenqing rolled his eyes at him. "If I were to say I mind, would Brother Gu An move the rocking chair away?"

"Oops!" Li Si pretended to let go, and the rocking chair landed next to another rocking chair. "This chair is really heavy, I can't move it, it seems I can only leave it here."

Zhou Wenqing's lips twitched slightly, then he suddenly made an exaggerated expression of surprise, pointing to the sky: "Brother Gu'an, look! What's that?"

"What?"

Li Si subconsciously looked in the direction he pointed, only to see a clear blue sky and nothing else.

Zhou Wenqing, however, remained serious and slowly said, "Isn't that precisely the reputation that Brother Gu'an just left behind?"

An unexpected update; see what the author says.