Chapter 88 Cultivating Calligraphy

  Back in Chrysanthemum City, Li Xie took a comfortable hot bath and slept soundly on his golden bed.

  It's always best to be at one's own home!

  The next day, Li Xie ordered someone to prepare brushes, paper and ink in his study, and called Lily over to grind the ink for him.

  In the study were Li Xie and Lily, just the two of them.

  Fandi Xier, Kano, Zainnade, and Meow Meow often followed Li Xie. Two of the beasts ran to the garden pond to drink wine brought back by Li Xie.

  As for the two of them, they were found by Jack and taken to the military camp to help out.

  Jack built a simple barracks on a flat area against the valley west of Chrysanthemum City, as the main garrison of the evil army in Chrysanthemum City.

  Nowadays, almost all the affairs of the army are handled by Jack alone, and there is no one around to help. As soon as he has some free time, Vandy and Kano are occupied. Kano is in charge of daily training in the military camp, while Vandy teaches soldiers how to fight with aura.

  It has to be said that the 500 million gold coins Li Xie gave to Jack a few days ago have all been spent recklessly, leaving Li Xie sighing for a long time, lamenting that he wasn't spending money like flowing water, but was actually a flood!

  If this time the beast wasn't obtained for free, Li Xie would probably enter a state of having no money to spend in just a few days. Compared to building cities, the enormous financial expenditure, Li Xie's meager 1 billion net worth was really not enough.

  This made Li Xie suspect that the large cities of the Tudor dynasty could collect more than 10 billion in taxes per year, and wondered if a small city like Chrysanthemum City could have a tax revenue of one billion, otherwise, this time would be a big loss.

  Of course, without money, Li Xie thought about how to swindle. It was impossible to extort the city's civilians, and developing the city's commerce wasn't something that could be done overnight. Li Xie could only focus on himself.

  His own calligraphy treasure!

  Sándor Kocsis' one hundred billion gold coins, Li Xie can remember them tightly.

  He picked up the new brush, dipped it in the ink ground by Lily, and Li Xie's five fingers tightly grasped the pen holder, trembling as he wrote his own name on the paper - Li Xie.

  The strokes are not many, and it can be written with a few brushstrokes. However, when Li Ye put down the last stroke, he felt a sense of relief.

  The first time writing with a brush pen is really not an easy task, especially when you want to convey the flavor of calligraphy from the very beginning.

  Looking at his own name, Li Xie tapped on the paper and showed off to Lili beside him: "How's that?"

  Lily blinked her big eyes and exclaimed: "The master's painting of a pig is really lifelike!"

  ………

  Miguo pig... Li Xie suddenly felt a bit of collapse!

  Girl, can't you see these are Li Xie's two characters?

  This... doesn't look like a pig at all! And these are words, not pictures!!

  Li Ye's resentment!

  He was so annoyed that he threw down his pen: "Go and order them downstairs to bring Xiao An here."

  Nowadays, all the major and minor affairs of Chrysanthemum City are handled by Xiao An. Except for the city master's seal, Xiao An is indeed the true master of Chrysanthemum City. Li Xie had Xiao An come over to ask her to secretly find a calligrapher to teach him calligraphy.

  For 10 billion, at least write characters that can be seen by people.

  Xiao An stayed in the city master's mansion without going out, and soon came to the study room. He walked to Li Xie's desk and sat down: "Brother Xie, what can I do for you? I was just about to find you."

  "Oh? What do you want from me?"

  "Some appointments of officials require your seal, and some documents require your signature."

  "Ah." Li Xie directly handed the seal to Xiao An: "Later you can stamp it yourself, and use a seal for your signature. This seal will be kept with you, when needed, just stamp it, then ask someone to make another seal with my name. Take it, alright? I know what you want to say, you two siblings are like family to me, trustworthy."

  Xiao An had no choice but to put away the seal, and in these days of contact, she also knew that Li Xie was not involved in major or minor matters, and everything was thrown at others to do. Not only did he delegate power widely, but he also didn't suspect the person handling things at all.

  In Xiao An's view, Li Xie is not someone who doesn't manage anything, but rather someone who manages everything, just letting others handle things. This kind of decentralization and trust in people is precisely where Li Xie excels at handling people.

  Of course, Xiao An couldn't have imagined that Li Xie didn't understand these things and someone went to do them. He was happy and didn't even have time to ask questions. Anyway, as long as the matter can be handled properly without any mistakes, and mainly make money, it's all good!

  "Xie Ge, what did you call me here for?" Xiao An said after finishing the serious matter, her tone a bit more relaxed. She glanced at the words on the table and smiled: "It turns out Xie Ge also knows how to paint, and with his excellent poetry and calligraphy skills, his painting techniques must be extraordinary. This simple drawing of a pig is incredibly lifelike."

  Uh...

  Little girl, this...this is really not a match for Pig!

  Li Xie's mouth twitched a few times, and he smiled reluctantly: "This pig is just casually painting, it can't be put in a grand hall. Xiao An, go ask those native nobles if there are any calligraphers in our Chrysanthemum City, and bring them here."

  "There's no need to look for that person anymore." Xiao An said: "Xiao An also likes calligraphy, and mentioned this when chatting with Lord Vandesa. However, the people in Chrysanthemum City who understand calligraphy have already been killed by Yige."

  "Did I kill?" Li Xie thought for a moment, he had only killed some nobles since coming to Chrysanthemum City. Thinking about it, he understood that calligraphy wasn't something commoners could learn, as paper, ink and brushes weren't cheap things. Probably only nobles would practice calligraphy. "You said you like calligraphy, can you do calligraphy?"

  "I know a little."

  "That's perfect! Haha, I was just thinking of having someone teach me calligraphy, and it being a family member is even better, no need to worry about others knowing I don't know how to write."

  Xiao An was taken aback, her beautiful eyes shining with an expression of disbelief: "Yue Ge, you don't understand calligraphy?"

  "Ah!" Li Xie didn't dare to acknowledge it, pointing at the paper on the table: "This isn't Pig Match, actually I wrote it, my name."

  …………

  Xiao An's forehead was covered in a cold sweat, this character is also too pig-like!

  Even with these two words as evidence, Xiao An still didn't believe that Li Xie was bad at calligraphy: "Brother Xie rarely jokes with Xiao An, your poetry is earth-shaking and heaven-moving, how could you even write characters like this."

  Li Xie sighed: "A man must focus on his strengths, work hard and study diligently to achieve perfection. Only then can he make waves in the vast ocean of art! I'm good at reciting poetry and couplets, but I don't write enough, so my handwriting is not good either. Come, you come over, from now on you'll be responsible for teaching me calligraphy."

  Xiao An walked up to Li Xie and said, "When it comes to teaching calligraphy, I see that you are very focused and serious: 'Brother Xie, when practicing calligraphy, one must first practice holding the brush.'"

  "I will take up the pen."

  "It's not like that, you should lightly tap with five fingers, little finger and ring finger supporting the pen, thumb, index finger and middle finger stabilizing the pen, wrist exerting force, like this. To manipulate the pen, one must first hold the pen properly, if the pen is not held well, how can one manipulate it?"

  Li Xie nodded repeatedly: "That's right, that's right. One must hold the pen properly before writing. I will remember Teacher An's words."

  "Uh-huh. Stand up, sitting is not good for exerting force." Xiao An had Li Xie stand up, she stood behind Li Xie and grasped his hands from behind: "Hold the pen steadily, relax, I'll go through it once first, you feel it out."

  Li Xie relaxed his whole body, letting Xiao An hold his hand and move it on the paper. A refreshing and elegant fragrance wafted up to his nose. Li Xie took a deep breath: "It's the scent of camellia, Xiao An must have used camellia in her bath."

  The continent of the gods has no perfume, so women usually use fresh flowers to bathe and have a fragrance on their bodies. As for what kind of flower to use, it depends on personal preference. Generally, men know what kind of flower is used, but they can't say it out loud, this is a woman's secret.

  Xiao An's face turned slightly red as she said with a serious tone, "Be more serious and feel my strength!"

  "Oh." Li Xie hastily shifted his attention to his hands, but soon, his attention was drawn to something else.

  Xiao An was standing behind Li Xie, with his back against Li Xie's back, holding Li Xie's hand, and in this posture, Li Xie's back naturally stuck to Xiao An's chest.

  And most importantly, the mainland of gods has no Western toilet! For men, this damn hard and rough thing has not yet desecrated the sacred land of the mainland of gods!

  Although it's already early winter, even if Xiao An wore two or three layers of clothes, it didn't reduce the softness on her chest at all!

  As Xiao An exerted force on Li Xie's hand, contracting and relaxing in turn, Li Xie also felt the tightening and loosening of his back, which was bulging and flattening at times.

  He couldn't help but feel exhilarated, the corner of his mouth on the right side rising high, and he involuntarily exclaimed: "If it's like this every day, even the gods would be envious!"

  Li Xie's words were indeed heartfelt and spontaneous. Tell me, which man wouldn't wish to be hugged by a beauty like this every day?

  It fell into Xia An's ears, but it was completely different!

  Xiao An didn't realize that her vital parts were stuck to Li Xie, she was fully focused on teaching Li Xie how to hold his pen. And what Li Xie said sounded more like he liked being with Xiao An and hoped it could be every day.

  This is practically a confession!

  Xiao An's body suddenly trembled, and the strength in his hands also stopped. His face slowly turned red, and his heart was filled with a mix of emotions. For a moment, he didn't know how to respond to Li Xie's sudden "confession". Directly refusing seemed too hurtful to the other person. But not refusing seemed like it wasn't at that level of emotion yet.

  "What's wrong? Why stop?" Li Xie felt that the sensation on his back had weakened a bit, and he was reluctant to part with it!

  Xiao An's face turned red as she stood to one side, took a deep breath and said in a low voice: "Yue Ge, that... we just... let's not talk about this for now... it's not that Yue Ge is a bad person, it's just that... Xiao An isn't ready yet..."

  "What's going on? What are you preparing?" Li Xie was confused.

  "You know it! And you're still bullying Xiao An!" Xiao An said with a hint of annoyance.

  "What do I know...?" Li Xie thought, is this little girl suddenly taking the wrong medicine? But suddenly thought of himself just for a better experience of double peaks becoming soft and lying down, quietly leaning back a bit, could it be that she discovered it?

  I'm going! How embarrassing!

  Li Xie's old face turned red, and he smiled awkwardly: "This... actually, I wasn't intentional just now. This can't be blamed on me, after all, you know, people have feelings, especially men. I guarantee it won't happen again next time!"

  "I understand." Xiao An lowered her head: "It's just that I'm not ready yet, Ge. Sorry."

  This... is obviously us taking advantage of her, and she still owes us? Ha! What a great girl! Also, what's with saying she wasn't prepared? Could it be... that she also realized she was wearing too many clothes? Is that right? Is there such a beautiful girl?

  Li Xie looked at Xiao An, somewhat stunned.

  Just then, Zayn dashed into the study in big strides: "Something's happened! The barracks!"