Ji Ling didn’t take her eldest sister seriously at all.

She was only about twelve or thirteen years old — childish, domineering, and arrogant. Normally, at that age, she wouldn’t be attending classes together with her older brothers, but just to see Jiang Suliu, she went straight to plead with Emperor Ganfeng. Even her own father couldn’t say no to her.

Ji Yingqiu folded her fan, her long, narrow eyes darkening. “Say it again: apologize to Young Master Shen.”

Ji Ling: “I won’t. Why should I?”

Shen Xuefeng was about to speak when Jiang Suliu bent down to pick up the umbrella lying on the ground and handed it back to him, adding, “Princess, today’s incident was your fault. You should apologize.”

Ji Ling, already furious, exploded like a firecracker at these words and glared fiercely at Shen Xuefeng. “Apologize? No one in this world has ever made this princess apologize before.”

Shen Xuefeng: …

He glanced at the eldest princess’s expression, then at the Minister of the Interior’s face. Clearly, the situation was no longer something he could control.

“Fine, since you don’t want to apologize,” Ji Yingqiu shot a glance at the palace maids behind Ji Ling, “what are you all standing there for? Take Young Master Shen to the academy, and Princess Ten, you stay here. You won’t attend class today. Come with me to Xingqing Palace to apologize to Mother Empress, and then another day, go to the Shen residence to apologize properly.”

The palace maids dared not disobey and immediately approached Shen Xuefeng, ready to escort him inside Chongwen Hall.

“Whose servant are you all? Did this princess say he could go?” Ji Ling directly grabbed Shen Xuefeng’s sleeve. “I have something to say to you alone. You can’t go in.”

Shen Xuefeng shook off her hand. Being well-mannered, he couldn’t ignore a girl’s wishes, so he said, “How about we wait until the princess learns to apologize before we talk?”

Ji Ling rushed forward to block him. “Shen Xuefeng, you’re not allowed to leave!”

The youth and girl were caught in a tangle when suddenly a soft sedan chair arrived at the gate of Chongwen Hall. After a moment, several eunuchs came forward to escort Ji Changran down.

He first noticed the scattered students curiously looking toward one direction. His gaze shifted to Shen Xuefeng and Ji Ling, and he frowned.

“Ling’er, what are you doing?”

Ji Changran saw Shen Xuefeng’s moon-white sleeve was all wrinkled from being grabbed and was displeased. “Let him go.”

Although the young princess was not close with the eldest princess, she was very close to her eldest brother. Hearing this, she released Shen Xuefeng’s sleeve.

Ji Changran casually raised his folding fan and pointed at one palace maid. “What exactly is going on? You explain.”

The palace maid, under the pressure of the gazes from Jiang Suliu, Ji Yingqiu, and Ji Ling, trembled but told the truth.

Ji Changran was silent for a moment. He had always spoiled this tenth sister of his. Though he knew Shen Xuefeng had been wronged, he couldn’t openly draw a clear line with Ji Ling. After thinking for a while, he said, “Ling’er can be a bit willful and naughty; she hasn’t grown up yet. I hope Young Master Shen can forgive her.”

From inside, the distant wooden clapper sound of the bamboo garden echoed— the signal before class started.

Shen Xuefeng hadn’t clearly heard what Ji Changran said. He only wanted to go to the academy to find Ji Wu, frowning as he said, “I’m going to class first.” Then he disappeared from sight.

Ji Ling wanted to chase after him but was stopped by Ji Changran’s firm grip on her arm. “Ling’er, no more nonsense.”

“Brother~” Ji Ling threw herself into Ji Changran’s arms. She both loved and feared this brother but knew he would always indulge her, so she said unhappily, “Just now, Eldest Sister… and Brother Suliu, they both spoke up for Shen Xuefeng.”

Only her eldest brother was on her side.

“How can you be so willful?” Ji Changran sighed. “If you don’t want to apologize to Young Master Shen, fine, but you should at least apologize to Eldest Sister and the Minister of the Interior.”

Before Ji Ling could answer, Ji Yingqiu snorted and rested her small fan on her chin. “How could we possibly demand the princess to apologize? It seems she listens best to you. That only makes me, her older sister, appear to be making things difficult for her.”

Having said this, she turned around with a cold expression. “Lord Jiang, we’d better not disturb their sibling affection any further.”

Jiang Suliu had been a bystander the entire time. Hearing this, he nodded, apparently not wanting to get tangled in the matter anymore. He gave Ji Changran a slight nod and left.

Ji Ling still didn’t understand what love was, but she had an intense possessiveness toward Jiang Suliu. Seeing the tacit understanding between Ji Yingqiu and Jiang Suliu, she grew even more annoyed.

Why could everyone have such a good relationship with Brother Suliu?

“Eldest Sister,” Ji Changran called after the departing figure, sensing that he had angered the eldest princess this time. Feeling a sinking heart, he turned to Ji Ling and said, “It’s only because your brother shielded you this time that there’s no problem. Don’t be reckless again, understand?”

Ji Ling twisted the silk ribbon on her wrist and whispered, “Hmph, I’ll settle with Shen Xuefeng after class.”

Ji Changran groaned, “Shen Xuefeng isn’t someone you can mess with. Not to mention, he’s the son of Princess Yongtai; his sister and father are court officials. If you hurt him, do you know how many people you’ll anger?”

Ji Ling didn’t listen. Her mind was full of how Shen Xuefeng had rejected her at their first meeting, Jiang Suliu’s kindness toward him, and how their clothes had brushed against each other today.

There were two classes in the morning: calligraphy and classics/history.

At the desk, Shen Xuefeng rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought. The wolf hair brush moved swiftly and messily as he wrote.

Suddenly recalling something, he pushed the prepared rice paper toward Ji Wu and handed her the brush.

Ji Wu’s gaze fell on his hand, watching him leisurely.

“…” Shen Xuefeng then remembered that a few days ago, Ji Wu had upset him during the spring outing, so still feeling a bit angry, he withdrew the paper again.

Ji Wu said softly, “Xuefeng?”

“No problem,” he said gloomily.

Seeing that he had something on his mind but was ignoring her, Ji Wu’s gaze gradually grew cold.

After a while, Shen Xuefeng seemed to make a decision and pushed the paper back to her, finally saying, “Your Highness, write a few characters for me to see.”

He had been coming to the school for quite some time but had never seen Ji Wu’s handwriting before.

Ji Wu took the brush from his hand. “What do you want me to write, Xuefeng?”

“Just write your name.”

Ji Wu obediently dipped the brush in ink and began writing on the paper stroke by stroke.

From the moment she started writing the female radical, Shen Xuefeng’s brows knitted tightly. Ji Wu’s strokes were chaotic, and the characters twisted and crooked — hardly beautiful at all.

They say handwriting reflects a person’s character, but his writing was very different from his face.

When Ji Wu finished, she earnestly asked, “Is it really ugly?”

“…“ Shen Xuefeng said quietly, “Your Highness, aren’t you making things hard for me? I can’t imitate these characters; no wonder the Minister of Personnel caught me writing on your behalf.”

Ji Wu suddenly realized, “So Xuefeng is still persistently doing my homework for me.”

“Your Highness should still practice. It’s not too late to correct it now,” Shen Xuefeng said to motivate his competitive spirit. “The Grand Princess’s handwriting is often praised by the teacher and is well-liked.”

Hearing that, Ji Wu stopped writing. “You really like his handwriting?”

“Who doesn’t like beautiful handwriting? Of course, I do,” Shen Xuefeng replied matter-of-factly.

Ji Wu lowered her eyes, suppressing some emotion. When she looked at Shen Xuefeng again, only sadness remained in her eyes. “No one ever told me how important calligraphy was, nor taught me.”

Shen Xuefeng’s body stiffened. Thinking he had touched on a neglected part of her childhood, his heart clenched, and he immediately forgot the earlier awkwardness.

“It’s okay. Your Highness can still learn now. I can learn with you.”

He didn’t say, “I can teach you,” but “I will learn with you.” Then he took a brush from his small schoolbag and brought it closer. “It’s not hard to write well. We can start by learning to write your name.”

After all, he was a modern person who could learn it well. Ji Wu, the future emperor, shouldn’t have any trouble with this small matter.

Shen Xuefeng thought it would be easy, but when they actually wrote, he found Ji Wu easily overlooked some parts — the stroke order, posture, or pressure.

He patiently kept teaching Ji Wu how to write her name until class ended.

Finally, he moved closer and held Ji Wu’s hand: “Your Highness can learn like this. Maybe you’ll get it.” His eyes showed no impatience; his tone was gentle.

Ji Wu’s lips curved slightly.

Just as the brush tip lightly touched the paper, a young eunuch slipped into the main hall, bent over, and quickly approached Shen Xuefeng, interrupting the two who were close together.

“Mr. Shen, the Tenth Princess is calling for you.”

Plop — a drop of ink spread on the pure white paper. Shen Xuefeng immediately withdrew his hand from Ji Wu’s.

The soft touch vanished. Ji Wu pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth and grabbed Shen Xuefeng’s face as he was about to turn, narrowing her eyes unhappily: “What does she want?”

“Well… the princess didn’t say. She only said you must come. The princess is waiting for you in the bamboo garden.”

Shen Xuefeng sighed dejectedly. “Fine, I’ll go then.”

“You’re not going,” Ji Wu stood up from the desk. “The teacher assigned three calligraphy exercises today, six including mine. You’ll stay here and obediently do my homework.”

With that, she crossed her arms and left the main hall.

The eunuch hesitated for a long time but couldn’t stop Ji Wu and hurried after her.