Chapter 6

But Shi Changyuan did not seem to truly treat him as a shadow guard. Every now and then, he called 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, apparently composing something. Mushroom was curious, so he inched closer, trying to sneak a look.

"Treason."

"What?" Lin Ling craned his neck to watch Shi Changyuan write, not reacting at first. 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 actually pale and beautiful. His bearing was imposing, but he did not possess the naturally fierce look of an easily angered man.

Even by Mushroom's standards of beauty, he looked very good.

Lin Ling slowly looked away and gathered his thoughts, carefully considering what Shi Changyuan had just said—then another question arose: what did treason mean?

Shi Changyuan seemed to see Lin Ling's confusion and considerately explained what "treason" meant as well. He spoke slowly and evenly, yet everyone in the room was frightened out of their wits, dropping to their knees all over again.

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

Lin Ling tilted his head. Somehow, 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 up.

"Get up, all of you." Holding Mushroom by the collar, Shi Changyuan said unhurriedly, "I was only explaining a word to this little illiterate. There is no need to panic."

Lin Ling looked at Shi Changyuan and understood. So treason meant someone wanted to steal their leader's position!

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

Still, this human sovereign looked like he was quite capable in a fight.

Seeing Lin Ling's drifting, vacant gaze, Shi Changyuan 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 that, Shi Changyuan seemed to smile. Looking into Lin Ling's eyes, he replied, "Not particularly."

Lin Ling blinked, tilting his ear toward him with an eager willingness to learn, but Shi Changyuan did not seem inclined to continue that topic.

The moment their conversation stopped, the Imperial Study instantly returned to its quietly oppressive silence, leaving only the sound of Shi Changyuan turning through memorials.

Under that pressure, the shadow guards concealed themselves again and resumed their duties. The palace servants also seemed to return to their familiar state, minding every word and even the weight of every breath.

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

Just as Mushroom swayed and prepared to leave, Shi Changyuan suddenly asked, "Where are you going?"

Lin Ling did not quite understand, but he 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 nearby palace servants and eunuchs lowered their heads even further.

Lin Ling watched as Shi Changyuan took another sheet of rice paper and began writing on it again. The strokes went this way and that, and they looked quite 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 lines" with its other end and said, "Lin Ling."

"What?"

Mushroom leaned over for another look and asked in confusion.

"Your name."

Mushroom stared at the two characters on the paper for a long moment before reacting. "...My name?"

Shi Changyuan lowered his eyes and watched the head leaning in from the side. Lin Ling's expression was curious, but also hesitant and uncertain, as though afraid he was being tricked. Again and again, he tried to memorize the shapes on the paper.

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

That was what Mushroom had said before.

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

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

Lin Ling hurriedly nodded, instantly throwing his previous concern about "illiterate mushrooms excluding literate mushrooms" to the back of his mind.

"Yes!"

Lin Ling blinked and thought for a while. Then he suddenly moved close to Shi Changyuan in a mysterious manner and beckoned for him to lower his head, as though he wanted to whisper something 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. Lin Ling leaned close to his ear and softly asked, "Then what is your name?"

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

Still, he had not expected that this was what Lin Ling wanted to ask.

"Right, you still haven't told me your name."

Mushroom remembered clearly. He even remembered 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 closer, and lowered his voice even further.

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

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

Shi Changyuan did not answer Lin Ling immediately. He turned his head and fixed his gaze on Lin Ling's eyes. After a moment, he seriously asked in return—