It would have been fine if He Ketian hadn’t said anything, but once she did, Shi Fa Ke became angry.

“A poor scholar of unknown origins? Have you forgotten where those rumors came from?” As Shi Fa Ke spoke, she became absolutely furious, “How has Young Master Lu wronged you? He merely caught your embroidered ball and came to propose marriage. When your He family didn’t acknowledge him, he didn’t persist and continue to pester you. How did it become in your mouth that he coveted your He family’s wealth and came to force marriage?”

Speaking of this, He Ketian’s expression became somewhat unnatural.

That day she had caused quite a commotion at the Shi family, making it difficult for her to save face. Feeling very embarrassed and annoyed, she had invited her friend Shen Tongyun to look at jewelry at Jinman Tower. She was a regular customer at Jinman Tower, and it was through this that she had met their proprietress’s daughter Shen Tongyun, and through frequent visits they had become close friends.

At that time… she had complained about this matter to Shen Tongyun, and of course had somewhat… well, exaggerated. But who could have thought that Shen Tongyun was also someone who hated evil like an enemy, feeling that they couldn’t let that detestable Scholar Lu off so easily, so she turned around and had Jinman Tower’s head manager spread those words…

In the end… she hadn’t done it on purpose. Her brother had even given her a good talking-to because of this.

He Ketian felt very depressed, but because of her guilty conscience, she didn’t dare to directly meet Shi Fa Ke’s somewhat sharp gaze. After looking around, He Ketian suddenly froze, her gaze falling on a painting hanging on the wall.

Heavens! What was she seeing!

A painting by Master Linyuan!

He Ketian momentarily forgot about arguing with Shi Fa Ke. She quickly walked over, staring at the painting on the wall in fascination – those gracefully swaying willows, the fine and dense entangling rain threads, the lingering ripples in the pond, the young lady holding an umbrella by the shore… it was absolutely perfect!

He Ketian looked at it with complete enchantment, her cheeks flushing, wishing she could immediately claim this painting as her own.

“Ketian?” Shi Fa Ke saw her walk to the wall and stare at the Jiangnan Misty Rain painting that Young Master Lu had given her, remaining motionless for quite some time, so she frowned and called to her.

This call suddenly awakened He Ketian. She abruptly turned to look at Shi Fa Ke, her eyes shining brightly, “A’ke, how do you have a painting by Master Linyuan?”

Eh?

Shi Fa Ke was stunned, then laughed, “This was painted by Young Master Lu.”

He Ketian was dumbfounded. What? That poor scholar painted it?

How was that possible?!

She looked back at the Jiangnan Misty Rain painting hanging on the wall in disbelief. Impossible… Because she greatly admired Master Linyuan, she had carefully studied his brushwork and painting style, and had seen countless copied imitations. She was confident she could recognize authenticity at a glance, and the one before her… absolutely could not be fake.

Master Linyuan’s paintings had soul – that feeling couldn’t be imitated.

The painting before her carried Master Linyuan’s unique personal touch. Hanging there, it seemed to glow in her eyes… She dared stake her life on it – this painting was definitely Master Linyuan’s own work, absolutely not an imitation!

“One thousand three hundred taels.” He Ketian suddenly spoke.

“What?” This time, it was Shi Fa Ke’s turn to be stunned.

“You’ve seen Master Linyuan’s painting ‘Forest Sea’ in my home. My brother spent one thousand three hundred taels to buy it from the capital.” He Ketian looked at Shi Fa Ke, her eyes carrying a trace of disdain and dissatisfaction toward Lu Chi, and continued, “I don’t know where Scholar Lu got this authentic work by Master Linyuan, and he even dares to shamelessly claim he painted it himself. But we’re friends, so I won’t cheat you. I’m willing to buy it at the same price as ‘Forest Sea’.”

One thousand three hundred taels was definitely not a small sum for Shi Fa Ke.

This time, Shi Fa Ke truly laughed. She shook her head, thinking that Lu Chi’s painting had even fooled He Ketian, who had always prided herself on greatly admiring Master Linyuan.

What did this prove? It proved that Lu Chi’s painting skills were truly so skilled that they could pass off fake as genuine!

Shi Fa Ke felt quite proud by association.

Seeing Shi Fa Ke shake her head, He Ketian panicked, thinking Shi Fa Ke was unwilling to sell the painting. But she really, really loved this painting, because the artistic conception in this painting was more beautiful than ‘Forest Sea’… This feeling of determination made her grit her teeth and say, “One thousand five hundred taels.”

Shi Fa Ke still shook her head.

He Ketian became anxious, tugging at Shi Fa Ke’s sleeve and acting coquettishly, “Good A’ke, just let me have it. It’s because we’re good friends that I told you this is authentic. Otherwise, I could have easily fooled you. I really love this painting, please let me have it… One thousand five hundred taels is all my private savings. Otherwise… otherwise I’ll ask my brother to lend me some more money?”

As she spoke, her expression had become somewhat pitiful.

Shi Fa Ke looked at her wrinkled sleeve being tugged, feeling both amused and helpless, “It’s because we’re good friends that I’m not cheating you. This time you really misjudged – I personally watched Young Master Lu paint this.”

“Wh… what?” He Ketian was dumbfounded.

“Young Master Lu used to set up a stall selling paintings. This painting was one of them. At that time, the painting only had willow trees, but later the painting accidentally got stained with soup and was ruined. Young Master Lu wanted to throw it away, but I thought it was such a pity, so Young Master Lu repaired and modified the painting and gave it to me.” Shi Fa Ke paused, seeing that He Ketian still looked disbelieving, and somewhat helplessly added, “He modified it right in front of me – I saw it with my own eyes.”

He Ketian widened her eyes, “You saw it with your own eyes?”

Shi Fa Ke nodded.

He Ketian unconsciously walked to the painting again, wearing an expression of deep resentment. Impossible… She absolutely could not have misjudged. Regarding Master Linyuan’s paintings, she had absolute confidence that she wouldn’t be wrong. She carefully stared at the Jiangnan Misty Rain painting before her, trying to find some clues, but there were none – not a single flaw. She couldn’t even tell that this painting had been modified. Everything was so perfect…

As a friend, He Ketian knew Shi Fa Ke wouldn’t lie. But if Shi Fa Ke wasn’t lying, then… there was only one possibility. And this ‘possibility’ was too shocking, so much so that He Ketian instinctively wanted to avoid it. But if this ‘possibility’ was true, then… everything would suddenly become clear.

That ‘possibility’ was… Scholar Lu was Master Linyuan himself!

Heavens, Scholar Lu was the Master Linyuan she had been thinking about day and night!

He Ketian suddenly understood everything, her entire face lighting up.

But immediately she froze again. She remembered that she had previously rejected Master Linyuan’s marriage proposal! He Ketian bit her lip in regret, filled with remorse. If she had known that Scholar Lu was the Master Linyuan she had been thinking about, she should have agreed to that marriage proposal that day!

She remembered that day when Shi Fa Ke came to her home to propose marriage on Master Linyuan’s behalf, saying she wanted to introduce her to a “well-read, broad-minded, and very refined young gentleman” – she really hadn’t lied at all!

But what to do now… Not only had she rejected Master Linyuan’s proposal, she seemed to have offended him terribly…

Thinking of the words she had said to Master Linyuan that day at the Shi family, she couldn’t help but cover her face, feeling her cheeks burning… How could she have said such things to Master Linyuan! She really wanted to go back in time and strangle that version of herself!

However… that day when she threw the embroidered ball from the high platform, there were so many people below, yet why did it happen to hit Master Linyuan? This must be a heaven-sent match. Although there were various misunderstandings in between, since it was heaven-sent, they would definitely end up together in the end, right? Isn’t that how all the story books write it…

Oh my, she and Master Linyuan actually had such a connection… thinking about it made her feel a bit shy.

Shi Fa Ke sat on the bed, watching He Ketian standing in front of the painting with her face in her hands, dumbfounded. The expression on her face was truly ever-changing – sometimes full of bitter resentment, sometimes blushing with shyness, alternating between shame and annoyance… what was she thinking about?