Collecting flower letter paper was indeed an elegant pursuit, but unlike antiques, it didn’t hold much value. The Ji family’s connections were mostly business associates who could easily procure gold, silver, and jewels for Ji Cheng, but finding flower letter paper was a bit more challenging for them.

When Su Yun heard from Shen Qin that Ji Cheng also enjoyed collecting flower letter paper, she became interested and mentioned that she too loved flower letter paper when she was in the south. She even brought out her collection of flower letter paper, which included works by famous southern artists.

Ji Cheng couldn’t help but admire these noble young ladies who dabbled in all sorts of refined pursuits. Although she had been working hard to catch up and improve herself over the past three years, learning painting, calligraphy, poetry, and lyrics, she wasn’t born a young lady from a noble family and lacked the environment of being immersed in such things from childhood.

For a moment, Ji Cheng found herself in a predicament over the flower letter paper. Someone else might have regretted speaking up, but not Ji Cheng. She knew that complaining was pointless; what mattered was solving the problem.

After some thought, Ji Cheng realized that she might have to turn to Madam Yu for help. Madam Yu loved painting and might have a collection of flower letter paper. Fortunately, Madam Yu had also come to Leyou Plain with Lord Lin, which was truly fortunate for Ji Cheng.

“Why have you suddenly taken an interest in collecting flower letter paper?” Madam Yu asked Ji Cheng. She was concerned that Ji Cheng might be biting off more than she could chew. Moreover, in Yu Zhenyuan’s view, flower letter paper was just a small plaything, a pastime with scraps, not comparable to real painting.

Ji Cheng explained her desire not to waste paper.

Madam Yu smiled, “Are you short on money to spend?”

Everyone loved money, but everyone also strived to appear not greedy for it. The Three Harmonies Hermit’s paintings were worth thousands of gold, but Madam Yu would never sell her paintings for the sake of her face, as if she were painting for money. She usually only gifts her paintings to friends.

After Lord Lin’s retirement, although they had some land and property, they were merely well-off landowners. Madam Yu had a wide circle of friends and enjoyed traveling to scenic spots, with exquisite tastes in food, clothing, housing, and transportation, all of which required money.

For Ji Cheng to be accepted as Madam Yu’s disciple, readers might think she just had incredible luck, but in reality, she had paid a considerable tuition fee. This solved Madam Yu’s financial constraints without making her appear greedy.

That’s why Madam Yu teased Ji Cheng. If she could afford such a large tuition fee, why worry about a few sheets of paper?

Ji Cheng smiled sheepishly, “It’s good to save where we can. Besides, making flower letter paper while practicing painting allows me to see my progress. I also think great things can be achieved in small spaces, and I’d like to see the layouts of famous artists’ letter papers.”

Yu Zhenyuan nodded, “I do have a collection of flower letter papers, including some works from friends in our correspondence. I don’t mind lending them to you for study, but remember not to confine yourself to such small spaces.”

Ji Cheng nodded eagerly.

Madam Yu could lend Ji Cheng blank flower letter papers for appreciation, but for the letters, she only selected a few that were particularly elegant and not confidential for Ji Cheng to see, though these couldn’t be taken away.

Ji Cheng examined these letters very carefully. For example, she particularly liked the layout and colors of a “Vine and Bee” letter paper. “Teacher, this letter paper has a solid yet delicate brushwork, and its originality must be the work of a master, right?”

Since the letter had several pages, and Madam Yu had only shown Ji Cheng selected parts, she couldn’t tell who the letter and the letter paper were from.

“Good eye. This is a self-written and self-designed flower letter paper by the Old Man of the White Stone,” Madam Yu said.

The Old Man of the White Stone was also an extraordinary painting master, but he had passed away, and his works have become rare. Ji Cheng hadn’t expected that the Old Man of the White Stone had corresponded with Madam Yu during his lifetime.

“Teacher, may I copy this flower letter paper?” Ji Cheng asked.

Madam Yu was naturally willing to share. It took Ji Cheng two days to copy this small letter paper. When Yu Zhenyuan saw it, she couldn’t help but say, “Your copy could almost pass for the real thing.”

Ji Cheng smiled, “I’m just copying it for fun. Of course, I can’t keep the Teacher’s letter paper, so I can only copy it to study later.”

Yu Zhenyuan nodded, “Copying indeed can help practice painting skills, but it can also make one complacent. If you imitate everything, you’ll lose your style and end up inferior.”

“Disciple will remember,” Ji Cheng nodded.

Yu Zhenyuan didn’t say more. She and Ji Cheng both knew that Ji Cheng had some talent for painting, but her heart wasn’t fully invested in it, so it was impossible to expect any great achievements from her.

Ji Cheng only hoped that in the future, she wouldn’t embarrass Yu Zhenyuan.

When Ji Cheng left, Madam Yu gave her many of the flower letter papers from her collection. She had long since stopped caring about these little things, and since Ji Cheng needed them, she was happy to do her this favor.

After seeing Ji Cheng’s “collection,” Shen Qin and Su Yun no longer looked down on her. Although she was a merchant’s daughter, her inner cultivation was no less than theirs. From then on, Shen Qin’s interactions with Ji Cheng no longer had that intentional or unintentional air of superiority.

As for Su Yun, she viewed Ji Cheng with different intentions, after all, they both came to the Shen family with similar goals.

In the following days, Shen Qin asked Ji Cheng to paint many more flower letter papers, including the “Vine and Bee” paper. Great minds think alike, and Shen Qin also recognized the extraordinary quality of that letter paper.

Ji Cheng openly admitted that she had copied the Old Man of the White Stone’s letter paper. Shen Qin had never seen the original, so she couldn’t judge the quality of Ji Cheng’s fine brushwork, but just looking at the copy was already quite elegant.

Shen Qin, having acquired these new treasures, would take them out to look at every day. Although flower letter paper was meant for writing, she couldn’t bear to use even a bit of it for actual correspondence.

One day, before going to bed, Shen Qin wanted to look at her collection of flower letter paper and asked her maid Zi Yan to bring it. After Zi Yan brought it, she flipped through it briefly and suddenly cried out, “Oh no! Four sheets of my ‘Twelve Hours of Daily Lovesickness’ are missing!”

Zi Yan and Zi Ran were both startled, but fortunately, Zi Ran reacted quickly, “The Second Young Master came by today and spent some time in Miss’s study.”

“He must have taken them. I don’t know what woman he’s writing to with my letter paper, but it’s certainly not for anything good. It’s so infuriating!” Shen Qin got up, putting on her robe. “It’s all your fault. You can’t even keep an eye on things.”

In truth, Shen Qin was just venting her frustration verbally. She knew that Zi Yan and Zi Ran wouldn’t dare interfere with her second brother’s affairs.

If someone else had taken Shen Qin’s letter paper, it would have been a huge issue, and Shen Qin would have caused an uproar. But with Shen Che taking it, she had no recourse.

She could only wait for Shen Che to come to her. But her second brother was always elusive, appearing and disappearing unpredictably. Shen Qin had no choice but to ask the Old Madam, hoping she might miss her grandson and summon Shen Che to Jing Garden.

Shen Qin had been eagerly waiting for Shen Che to come, and when he finally did, she wasn’t about to let him off easily.

“Second Brother, why did you go through my flower letter paper collection again? Where did you take those few sheets last time? How can you just take my things without asking?” Shen Qin asked Shen Che angrily, hands on her hips.

Shen Che glanced at Shen Qin indifferently, “Don’t you often take my things without asking too?”

Shen Qin was immediately at a loss for words, “But those were my favorite letter papers! You just took them to write letters to those unclean women, didn’t you? I don’t care, you have to get them back for me.”

Shen Che frowned slightly, “Where did you learn to talk like that? What do you mean by ‘unclean’? Who’s been gossiping in front of you?”

Shen Qin immediately fell silent. After a moment, she pouted, “You did it yourself, and now you won’t let people talk about it?”

Shen Che raised an eyebrow, too lazy to argue with Shen Qin further, and turned to leave.

Shen Qin quickly said, “Those letter papers were all painted by Sister Cheng. If they fall into someone else’s hands, what will happen to Sister Cheng’s reputation?”

“Those ‘lovesickness’ papers were painted by Ji Cheng?” Shen Che frowned again.

Shen Qin heard a hint of regret in Shen Che’s voice, “Yes, they were all painted by Sister Cheng, called ‘Twelve Hours of Daily Lovesickness.'”

“Huh.” Shen Che chuckled lightly, with a hint of sarcasm. Miss Ji’s desperate desire to marry was truly transparent.

“Don’t worry about the letter paper. No one will gossip,” Shen Che said, continuing to flip through Shen Qin’s collection of letter papers. Then his eyes fell on the “Vine and Bee” paper.

“This is also painted by Sister Cheng.” Shen Qin snatched the collection from Shen Che’s hands.

“She couldn’t have painted this,” Shen Che said.

This comment was quite harsh. If Ji Cheng had heard it, her face would have turned red enough to fry an egg.

“Why couldn’t Sister Cheng have painted it?” Shen Qin argued with Shen Che.

Shen Che glanced at Shen Qin sideways, too lazy to explain. Shen Qin also knew that her brother had a sharp eye. If he said Ji Cheng couldn’t have painted it, then she definitely couldn’t have.

“This is a letter paper by the Old Man of the White Stone. Sister Cheng copied it,” Shen Qin said.

“The Old Man of the White Stone’s letter paper?” Shen Che was silent for a moment before saying, “It seems your Sister Cheng has become a disciple of the Three Harmonies Hermit.”

Shen Qin was shocked, “What? The Three Harmonies Hermit?” Shen Qin knew that Ji Cheng had a painting teacher but didn’t know it was the famous Three Harmonies Hermit.

Shen Che didn’t say more, only sighing inwardly for Madam Yu for taking on the wrong disciple. Ji Cheng’s heart couldn’t possibly be truly devoted to the art of painting. However, the Lin family had long since become all show and no substance, and Yu Zhenyuan taking Ji Cheng as a disciple could solve her financial constraints.

Hearing Shen Che’s words, Shen Qin immediately sensed that Shen Che seemed somewhat dissatisfied with Ji Cheng. “Brother, do you dislike Sister Cheng?”