Chapter 139: A Feeling That Something Is Different Again

"Hehe! This is Brother Li's kind gesture. The painting is beautiful and the inscription is well-written; there is no need to change it. I will treasure it dearly."

Zhang Xiaolan did not mind the melancholy tone of the inscription. Regardless, it was a sincere gesture from Li Rui, and she was quite satisfied with it on the whole.

"As long as you like it." Looking at the satisfied smile on her face, he truly did not know what else to say.

"You should eat quickly! I am going to head back now. Thank you, Brother Li, for the portrait; I really love it."

Zhang Xiaolan carefully rolled up the scroll and fastened the ribbon. She casually reminded Li Rui to finish his dessert as she prepared to return to her room to find a place to hang the painting.

"Lanlan... just leave the painting in the study. I will have someone make a box to store it properly."

Li Rui had intended to use this as an excuse to take it back, but he failed once again. Now, he could only let her be. Perhaps it was truly fate playing a cruel trick on him.

"No need, I’ll just hang it in my room."

As she spoke, Zhang Xiaolan had already reached the doorway. Without waiting for Li Rui to say anything more, she happily went on her way.

"Well, alright then!"

Li Rui whispered a response to the empty air. If you choose to believe that the person in the painting is yourself, then so be it—continue to believe it, if you must.

The next day, Xiao Lian came over to help clean the room and immediately spotted the portrait hanging on the wall. She asked Zhang Xiaolan with pleasant surprise, "Miss, did Master draw this for you?"

"Yes! Yesterday, when I brought dessert to Brother Li, I happened to catch him holding this painting. I brought it back to hang it here. What do you think? It looks just like me, doesn't it?"

Zhang Xiaolan appeared both proud and slightly shy, thinking that Li Rui actually had a romantic side after all. She had previously thought of him as a block of wood—so upright and principled that she feared he would be too dull—but her opinion had changed.

"It does look like you, but... there is something that feels different. The lady in the portrait looks very gentle and refined, but you..."

Xiao Lian, however, paid no mind to Zhang Xiaolan’s bashful display. She stared intently at the painting. At first glance, it was indeed Zhang Xiaolan, but after looking at it for a while, she felt something was off.

"What about me?" Hearing Xiao Lian’s words, Zhang Xiaolan realized she was implying that she wasn't gentle or refined like a lady of high status, and she asked back with a hint of defiance.

"Your eyes are much more lively, and this attire... it looks like something only people in the palace would wear, doesn't it?"

Xiao Lian rested her chin on her hand, observing carefully as she pointed out the crux of the matter. She even identified the issue with the formal rank of the clothing, which explained why Zhang Xiaolan had found the outfit so magnificent.

Perhaps only Xiao Lian, who spent every day with her, could notice such details so accurately.

"At first, I also thought the clothes were too grand, and they are definitely a style I’ve never worn. Brother Li must have wanted to paint me as beautiful as possible, so he added them in."

Although Zhang Xiaolan pondered Xiao Lian's observation for a moment, she didn't give it much deep thought, directly attributing these 'anomalies' to Li Rui wanting to depict her as the perfect version of herself in his heart.

In this ancient time, people preferred delicate, bashful beauties who never showed their teeth when they smiled and walked with grace. A girl like her, clever and mischievous, was hardly a 'proper lady'—she wouldn't be popular here and might even be considered 'unsellable.'

"Hehe! That’s also quite possible."

Listening to Zhang Xiaolan's explanation, it seemed reasonable enough to Xiao Lian. Why dwell on such things? As long as the Master and the Miss could be together, wasn't that enough?

"Come on, let’s go find Ling Xiao together."

With a plan already forming in her mind, Zhang Xiaolan immediately linked arms with Xiao Lian and urged her to go find Ling Xiao.