Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 662 - 596: Farewell_2

"I’m back." Li Ang propped his umbrella, pushed open the door, and walked into the courtyard. He saw Chai Chai sitting in the living room in a daze, her chin resting on her hands as she stared blankly into space. A kettle was on the table. He asked in surprise, "Huh? Weren’t you supposed to go to the reading club with Le Ling today?"

"I suddenly remembered while I was out that I’d left the water boiling at home, so I came back early."

Chai Chai forced a thin smile onto her face. "Young master, I..."

"Mr. Li, your meal has been delivered."

A restaurant worker carrying an umbrella and a meal box interrupted their conversation as he arrived at the main entrance of the mansion.

"Oh, thank you."

Li Ang got up, went to the door, took the meal box, and glanced at it briefly.

Stir-fried bamboo shoots with meat, vinegar celery, and matsutake rib soup...

"Huh? Why is there only one bowl of rice? Didn’t I ask for two bowls?"

"Ah? Perhaps the chef forgot to include it. I’ll go fetch it now."

"No need. It’s tiring to run back and forth. Just remember to bring it tomorrow."

Chai Chai watched the two of them talking at the door, her hands unwittingly clenching tight.

DRIP. DRIP.

Water droplets fell from between her fingers.

「March 10th, Chang’an City, Golden City Mansion.」

Li Ang, holding his umbrella, pushed open the door and walked into the courtyard, eyeing the mansion with confusion. Leaves were scattered on the living room floor, a thin layer of dust had settled on the table, and several pieces of Clothes—already soaked by rain—were left hanging on the rack in the backyard.

"You’re back, young master?" Chai Chai descended slowly from the second floor, her face heavily made up. She squeezed out a smile. "I was practicing makeup techniques from a book today and forgot to do the housework."

"...Which book did you learn to put on makeup from?" Li Ang’s eye twitched. He then used Telekinesis to retrieve the Clothes left out in the rain and cleared the fallen leaves and dust from the room.

At the dinner table, Chai Chai fiddled with her half-filled bowl of rice and suddenly asked, "Young master, has Brother Song said anything to you lately?"

"Huh? Why do you ask all of a sudden?"

Li Ang paused for a moment but answered, "Same as usual. The incident with the Dream Eater affected him greatly. Today I heard from Yang Yu that he still looks pale. Aren’t you in the same grade as Brother Song? Didn’t you see him during the day?"

"Maybe I just didn’t notice."

Chai Chai lowered her head and continued to push around the grains of rice in her bowl. "By the way, young master, after we eat, I’ll take your measurements to make you some Clothes."

"Huh?"

Busied with tasks and having to write textbooks for the Imperial Medical Bureau, Li Ang shook his head. "Making Clothes is so troublesome. Isn’t it better to just buy them?"

Chai Chai said coquettishly, "Oh, just listen to me! I need material for my novel about ’a maid making Clothes for her young master.’" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

She’s getting way too good at using that excuse, Li Ang thought, narrowing his eyes. Nevertheless, he still used Telekinesis to fetch the measuring tape.

「March 11th, Chang’an City, Golden City Mansion.」

Li Ang propped his umbrella, pushed open the door, and stepped into the courtyard. He saw Chai Chai tinkering with a bulky, bizarre device set upon a tripod, its exterior made of wood and cloth.

"COUGH! COUGH!" Li Ang cleared his throat. Chai Chai, who had been intently studying the camera, turned her head and smiled, "You’re back, young master?"

"Why have you taken out my camera?"

"I found it while cleaning the room today, along with the instruction manual."

Chai Chai looked innocent as she asked, "Young master, can this thing really capture and record images?"

"It can, but it’s complicated and dangerous. Don’t mess with it, kid."

Li Ang flicked Chai Chai’s forehead as punishment for meddling with his things.

The Dream Realm created by the Dream Eater helped Li Ang recover more and more memories. During his free time these days, he had tinkered with a general "Guide to the Development of Scientific Technology," which recorded many inventions he believed could benefit Yu Country’s citizens in the future.

These included things like the telegraph, telephone, fertilizer, automobile, and camera. He decided that every few years, he would release some inventions. To avoid rushing things and potentially spoiling his work, he deliberately recorded different technological approaches to the same invention.

For instance, for camera films, there were technologies ranging from the more primitive Fire cotton glue wet plate method, which used glass as a base, to the more advanced silver bromide process.

For camera papers, there was everything from Protein Paper, which required the use of egg whites, to Gelatin silver chloride photosensitive paper, which could be developed with a gas lamp.

He could propose a primitive technological avenue for an invention, inspiring other scholars to refine and perfect it.

In the warehouse of the Golden City Mansion, there lay a complete set of equipment for taking photos and developing prints.

"Come on, let me play with it for a bit."

Seeing Li Ang preparing to pack away the camera, Chai Chai quickly shook his arm. "I need material for my novel about ’a maid taking a photo of a young master’!"

Li Ang rolled his eyes. "Always the same excuse. Can’t you think of something new?" He messed up Chai Chai’s hair. "By the way, I met Brother Song today. I invited him to climb Xia Mountain tomorrow morning; maybe it’ll do him some good to get some advice."

"Mr. Li, your meal has been delivered."

The waiter’s voice sounded again from outside the mansion’s gate.

"Oh, thank you."

Late into the night, Li Ang lay in bed with his eyes shut, sensing his Ink Silk Clone miles away.

He was still concerned about the profound Dark River underneath the old well back home in Yizhou, continuously attempting to create the hull of a submarine to explore the Nine Nether.

The process was anything but smooth.

As the submarine descended deeper, submerged in the churning waters, Li Ang felt the connection to the Ink Silk Clone growing weaker. He was compelled to issue an order to abandon the hull and have the clone burrow back to the surface.

Tch, another failure.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, bothered by a headache. He heard a RUSTLE and turned his head. Chai Chai was standing at his bedside with a pillow in her arms; he didn’t know when she had arrived.

Li Ang shrank away. "What do you want?"

Chai Chai whispered softly, as though conspiring, "I need material for my novel about ’a maid sleeping with her young master’..."

Li Ang slapped his forehead. I give up, he thought, sighing silently. What is she writing, a novel or an encyclopedia? And what will Lu Yunan say when she remotely views this scene in a dream?

"You said yourself you’d support me!"

Chai Chai chuckled, lifted a corner of the blanket, and jumped in with a THUMP.

The single bed certainly wasn’t spacious for two. Especially after feeling the warmth from Chai Chai’s body through her nightgown, Li Ang coughed awkwardly and silently turned his back to her.

Why has this girl been getting so strange lately? he wondered, his thoughts wandering. It’s one thing for her not to do housework, but now she’s spouting nonsense too.

Chai Chai, oblivious to Li Ang’s inner thoughts, wrapped her arms around him, breathing softly like a kitten.

It was just like when she was a child, when she could only fall asleep during a thunderstorm by clinging to Li Ang.

"Young master?"

"Hmm?"

"When you have time, could you hire another maid for the house?"

"Huh? Why hire another maid? It’s strange having extra people around. Alright, let’s sleep now."

Li Ang patted Chai Chai’s hand, urging her to sleep.

On one hand, he was truly exhausted. On the other... Ahem, with such a warm and fragrant beauty so close, it’s best to sleep early to avoid making any mistakes.

"Young master?"

"Hmm?"

"I made a few pieces of Clothes for you; they’re in the closet. Also, for your hike up Xia Mountain with Brother Song tomorrow, I prepared lunch boxes for you two. They’ve been chilled with a Liliang Talisman in the fridge. Just heat them up before eating."

"Alright, good. It’s late, you should be sleeping. Go to sleep."

"Young master?"

There was no answer to her call; Li Ang had already fallen deeply asleep.

Chai Chai shifted her body ever so slowly, resting her hand on a pillow as she propped up her cheek, quietly gazing at the sleeping Li Ang’s profile, her eyes gentle.

Time seemed to pause in that moment, with nothing but the slender drizzle outside the window joining the two people in the room.

Much later, Chai Chai quietly slipped out of the covers. Holding a lamp, she made her way downstairs to the study. She retrieved paper and ink from a drawer and, after a long moment of thought, began to write.