I woke up as the Villainous Empress

154 Brush or Stick?

Yang Ning sucked in her breath nervously as she watched Zheng Liang picking up the paper on which she was writing earlier.

‘Damn it. You’re doomed Fang Li.’ She screamed in her head. Inwardly, she was going crazy and was running like a mad woman in circles in her imagination but in reality, she was doing her best to keep her cool and smiling nervously.

‘Why do things never go according to her plans?’ She cried while smiling bitterly. She was waiting for him to come the whole day but he had to arrive when she was pouring her heart out on the paper.

What a Good timing!

While Yang Ning was having a mental breakdown and was forcing herself to smile, Zheng Liang glanced at her before turning around the paper to see what she was scribbling earlier.

He grew curious to see her nervous smile and the way she was stopping him from reading the contents that she wrote on the paper.

What did she write on the paper that she was being so mysterious about? He wondered.

However, when he flipped the paper, he was stunned and looked up at her again to confirm if she was writing this earlier with so much dedication that she didn’t even realize that he came back.

He was expecting something suspicious to be written on it.

.....

But unlike his imagination, there were random and strange scribbles, rough and clumsy sketches all over the paper, making it look messy and the pale white paper was covered in black ink dots.

It was as if the person who wrote it was still a beginner and practicing how to write using a brush and ink.

“This was what you were writing so diligently earlier?” Zheng Liang asked while looking at the strange, random scribbles in a daze, wondering if there was any meaning behind these drawings.

However, from whichever angle she looks at it, there were only meaningless, random strokes on the paper and nothing else.

Yang Ning sighed in relief to see that he could not understand any of the contents of the paper. She was glad that she chose to make rough scribbles to make notes of the events that happened until now rather than writing in words.

At points, she even used English words so that even if this paper goes into someone else’s hands, her secret would not be revealed. Especially in front of Zheng Liang.

Because if he had found out about her secret, she was worried that he might start to doubt her loyalty once again and things would go out of hand.

However, looking at his questionable expressions, she was slightly embarrassed about it. She cleared her throat and said, ” I was waiting for you the whole day but you never came, just like the other days. I was bored, so I randomly started scribbling on the paper to spend my time.” She explained and indirectly complained to him about how he made her wait for him the whole day.

The least he could do was to send her a message to not wait for him and do something else and he will be late. She would have done something else to pass her time but she stayed in her room the whole time and was eagerly waiting for him to arrive.

“Oh!” Zheng Liang exclaimed in surprise as he wasn’t expecting her to wait for him the whole day. He had told her that he would make some time for her but it took him a long time to wrap up the afternoon court session and he couldn’t escape from work soon enough.

No doubt that she would be bored alone in the palace. There aren’t many things for her to do to spend her time, so it was normal for her to get tired of waiting for him.

Because of him, she couldn’t go anywhere either.

“I apologize for making you wait. From now on, I will try to keep my promises and will not make you wait. Also, I will try to come to the chamber more frequently, so that you will not be bored.” He said.

Yang Ning pursed her lips and felt embarrassed when he promised her to come to the chamber more frequently in the future. She didn’t intend to complain to him about him not returning to the chambers at night for the last few days because she is also aware how busy he is these days.

However, for some reason, his words made her delighted. Because in this lonesome palace, there are only a few people with whom she can talk and share her feelings.

Out of those few people, Zheng Liang has become that kind of person to her because he has seen her in her worst moments and she feels connected to him. Maybe because she has read the novel and knows his personality as a person and he was her favorite character in the novel, she feels that there is some connection between them.

Moreover, after they started speaking to each other casually, she feels closer to him than before. It wouldn’t be too bad if he comes to the chamber regularly. She might be able to help him regarding some things using her knowledge about this world.

Although her knowledge about this time period is limited, it is better than knowing nothing.

___

They were about to leave to go to the Main Palace to visit His Majesty when Zheng Liang noticed something on the table. He turned to Yang Ning and asked in confusion, ” Were you using this wooden stick to write and not the brush?” He asked while picking up the wooden stick that she was using to write earlier.

There are wooden brushes that were crafted using high-quality wood and material. Yet she was using a low-quality sharpened wooden stick to dip it in the ink and use it to write.

How strange!

“Ah, This!” Yang Ning realized that he was talking about the wooden stick that she crafted herself to write on the paper.

She scratched her nape awkwardly and said, “I was feeling bored so I tried making a wooden stick to write on the paper. It’s quite shabby, isn’t it? Haha.” She was embarrassed that he noticed this.

“However, it is much more stable than a brush and I prefer it over the brush anytime. I cannot control my hands when using a brush.” She said embarrassedly.

No matter how much she tries, she still cannot get adjusted to writing using brushes and not pens.

In the past, she was only good at shooting arrows from the bow, otherwise, she cannot do anything that requires hand skills.

Painting, pottery, those things were out of her league. That’s why she never wasted her time doing those things and simply focused on her goal to become the best female archer in the world.

She has Yang Ning’s memories but despite those memories, there are a few things that she needed to use her skills to get accustomed to them. Writing with brushes was one of those few things.

That’s why she made this wooden stick to write and after dipping it in the ink, it works almost perfectly just like the other version of pens in her world.

“Oh! Is that so?” Zheng Liang nodded while he examined the sharpened wooden stick that she crafted herself.

No doubt the scribbles on the paper were so rough and clumsy. It was because she was using this wooden stick to write on the paper.

Unlike the brush, the wooden stick cannot hold so much ink to write and needed to be dipped in the ink of almost every word written on the paper, which caused the paper to be covered in black dots and look messy and stained.

He was eager to tell her the truth however, he decided to not say it to her face and keep his insight to himself only.

She looks so happy and satisfied with her wooden stick. How can he break her heart by giving her a reasonable explanation?

“That’s great. You did a great job in making this. I think we’re getting late. We should leave now otherwise, we won’t be able to meet His Majesty today.” He said to change the topic and leave hurriedly, otherwise, he won’t be able to control himself from giving her a lecture about the use of brushes instead of a wooden stick.