Chapter 6

But Shi Changyuan did not seem to truly treat him as a shadow guard. From time to time, he would call him down from the rafters to chat.

"I only asked him what exactly he meant by certain people harboring ill intentions."

Lin Ling stood beside the desk, watching Shi Changyuan grind ink and write with his brush, seemingly composing something. Curious, Mushroom shuffled closer, trying to peek.

"Rebellion."

"What?" Lin Ling craned his neck to watch Shi Changyuan write. For a moment, he did not react. When he looked up, he met Shi Changyuan's eyes and only then realized that Shi Changyuan had been answering his question.

Shi Changyuan's eyes were pale and beautiful. His bearing was imposing, but he did not possess the naturally fierce look of an irascible person.

Even by Mushroom's standards of beauty, he was very good-looking.

Lin Ling slowly looked away and gathered his thoughts, carefully considering Shi Changyuan's words just now—then another question arose: what did rebellion mean?

Shi Changyuan seemed to see Lin Ling's confusion and, very considerately, explained what "rebellion" was. He spoke slowly and calmly, yet everyone in the room was terrified, dropping to their knees in unison.

Even the shadow guards revealed themselves, kneeling on one knee with clasped fists and bowed heads as they neatly declared their loyalty.

Lin Ling tilted his head. For some reason, everyone's chants made his blood surge, and he copied the senior shadow guards. But before his bent knee could touch the ground, Shi Changyuan grabbed the back of his collar and hauled him upright.

"Rise." Holding Mushroom in one hand, Shi Changyuan said leisurely, "I was merely explaining a word to this little illiterate. There is no need to panic."

Looking at Shi Changyuan, Lin Ling understood. So rebellion was when someone wanted to seize their leader's position!

Mushroom secretly thought that it was fortunate mushroom colonies did not fight among themselves. Otherwise, a small mushroom like him would never be able to beat other mushrooms.

Still, this human sovereign looked like he was quite good at fighting.

Shi Changyuan looked at Lin Ling's wandering, vacant gaze and asked, "What are you thinking about?"

"I was thinking that you should be very good at fighting." Without even thinking, Lin Ling blurted out his thoughts.

At those words, Shi Changyuan seemed to smile. Looking into Lin Ling's eyes, he replied, "Not particularly."

Lin Ling blinked and tilted his ear, humbly waiting to hear more, but Shi Changyuan did not seem inclined to continue the topic.

The moment their conversation stopped, the Imperial Study instantly returned to its quietness, carrying a faint sense of oppression. Only the sound of Shi Changyuan turning through memorials remained.

Under that pressure, the shadow guards concealed themselves again, dutiful as ever. The palace servants also seemed to return to their familiar state, minding every word and every breath.

Standing to one side, Lin Ling was entirely unaffected by the atmosphere. He looked left and right, pondering whether he should return to the rafters or continue standing here.

Just as Mushroom swayed his head and prepared to leave, Shi Changyuan suddenly spoke. "Where are you going?"

Lin Ling did not quite understand, but he still answered honestly, "Back to the rafters."

"Come here."

"Oh." Having received an order, Lin Ling swayed back to Shi Changyuan's side.

Hearing such an utterly improper exchange, the palace servants and eunuchs beside them lowered their heads even further.

Lin Ling watched as Shi Changyuan took another sheet of xuan paper and began writing on it again. Horizontal strokes, vertical strokes—they looked rather nice.

"Can you understand it?" Shi Changyuan turned his head and asked.

Lin Ling honestly shook his head.

The corners of Shi Changyuan's lips lifted slightly. Holding the brush, he lightly tapped the pattern of "horizontal and vertical strokes" with its other end and said, "Lin Ling."

"What?"

Mushroom leaned over to look again, then asked in confusion.

"Your name."

Mushroom stared at the two characters on the paper, as though it took him a while to react. "...My name?"

Shi Changyuan lowered his gaze, looking at the head leaning in from the side. It was full of curiosity, but also hesitant uncertainty, as though afraid he was being deceived. Again and again, he tried to memorize the shapes on the paper.

Shi Changyuan lifted his brush again and wrote the characters for "forest" and "clear water." The amusement in his voice deepened. "Lin as in forest, Ling as in clear water."

That was what Mushroom had said before.

Mushroom seemed to recognize the two characters for "forest," and his eyes immediately lit up.

Perhaps teasing an illiterate mushroom was simply too amusing, for Shi Changyuan deliberately asked, "Do you want to learn?"

Lin Ling nodded at once, instantly throwing his previous worry about "illiterate mushrooms ostracizing literate mushrooms" out of his mind.

"Yes!"

Lin Ling blinked, thought for a while, then suddenly moved close to Shi Changyuan in a mysterious manner. He beckoned for Shi Changyuan to lower his head a little, seemingly intending to whisper in his ear.

Shi Changyuan raised a brow.

He had never encountered such a situation before. After thinking for a moment, he still lowered his head slightly and leaned closer.

It was a very intimate gesture. Leaning against his ear, Lin Ling softly asked, "Then what is your name?"

Shi Changyuan instinctively turned his head away a little, somewhat unnaturally.

He had simply not expected that this was what Lin Ling wanted to ask.

"That's right, you still haven't told me your name."

Mushroom remembered very clearly. He even remembered very clearly that "a human sovereign's name probably could not be casually told to others." So he glanced at the other palace servants in the Imperial Study, moved even closer, and lowered his voice further.

Warm breath brushed against Shi Changyuan's ear and neck, making him look exactly like a spirit creature from a storybook deliberately seducing a scholar. Yet this little spirit creature wore an innocent expression.

"If you can't say it, could you write it for me?"

Chapter 6

Shi Changyuan did not immediately answer Lin Ling. He turned his head and stared fixedly into Lin Ling's eyes. A moment later, his expression serious, he asked in return—