Chapter 147: The Sketch

Ever since Li Rui had endured that "profound conversation" with his two royal relatives in the palace, he had not stopped pondering their words upon his return. Yet, for the time being, he could not figure out how to broach the subject of Zhang Xiaolan to them.

He lacked both the confidence and the imagination to foresee how his imperial brother, Li Zhen, would react upon learning the truth. Would he offer a dismissive and understanding smile, or would the memories of the past come flooding back?

Would Li Zhen, much like himself, view Zhang Xiaolan as Lanlan, given how startlingly similar their faces truly were, differing only in subtle nuances of temperament?

The mere thought filled him with timidity and dread, tempting him to conceal Zhang Xiaolan away from the world forever. Yet, if she were never to become a princess consort and never to enter the palace, she would never have the chance to meet them.

At the same time, that felt profoundly unfair to Zhang Xiaolan. More than anything, he feared that if she ever found out, she might misunderstand and harbor doubts about the sincerity of his love for her.

"Brother Li, look at this! This is a sketch I drew of you."

Zhang Xiaolan ran over to him in high spirits, snapping Li Rui out of his deep contemplation. His eyes immediately fell upon the portrait in her hands.

Before he could take it to examine the details, however, he noticed the smudges of charcoal dust across her face, making her look as though she had just emerged from a coal mine.

"How did you manage to get your face covered in soot?" With the gentle indulgence of an adult tending to a child, Li Rui picked up a handkerchief and began wiping the grime from her cheeks.

Zhang Xiaolan, on the other hand, paid little heed to the state of her appearance. Over the past few days, she had been experimenting with burning willow twigs into charcoal to make makeshift pencils for her art, frequently leaving herself a complete mess.

"Really? Is it very dirty? I can't even see it myself."

She made a few casual attempts to wipe her face with her own hands, but since her fingers were already stained with charcoal, she only succeeded in smearing the dirt further.

"Now it's even filthier. Just look at your hands."

Li Rui caught her wandering hands and lifted them up before her eyes to show her. Only then did Zhang Xiaolan let out an exclamation of dismay, suddenly realizing how many people must have seen her looking like this along the way.

"Oh dear! I must have smudged it while sketching you earlier. I was in such a rush to come find you that I completely forgot to wash my hands after finishing the drawing."

This time, Zhang Xiaolan willingly stayed still and quiet, leaving Li Rui to tend to her face. Of course, part of her docility stemmed from her eager desire to have him look at her masterpiece and shower her with praise, making her seem very much like a child seeking approval.

"Look! Does it look like you?"

Eager to share her work with him, Zhang Xiaolan eagerly shook the paper in her hand. Today was the very day she had intended to show it to him.

After several days of practice, she felt this particular sketch had turned out quite well, especially after winning Xiao Lian's enthusiastic praise. She had rushed over immediately, completely unaware that her face had become soiled along the way.

"It does. Lanlan, you draw wonderfully. I have never seen this style of painting before."

Li Rui had originally intended merely to glance at it perfunctorily, but the moment his eyes met the paper, he was utterly captivated. It was an exceptionally realistic portrait.

Traditional ink wash paintings generally emphasized the fusion of the artist's soul with the subject, creating an ethereal artistic conception to capture both form and spirit, complete with a living resonance. They valued spiritual likeness over physical accuracy, and poetic atmosphere over specific scenes. Yet, Zhang Xiaolan's artistic style was entirely different, placing its emphasis on realism and the contrast of light and shadow.

"Hehe! I owe it all to Xiao Lian's suggestion. Otherwise, I would never have thought to burn willow branches into charcoal sticks for drawing. This is the drawing method I told you about before—it's called sketching."

She was entirely right. Had it not been for Xiao Lian's accidental prompt, she might still have been driving Ling Xiao and herself crazy with frustration. After all, sticking to what she knew best made the process much easier to handle.

Still, it had taken days of practice and multiple portraits of Ling Xiao, Xiao Lian, and Haizi—practically drafting everyone she knew to serve as models—before she finally felt confident enough to officially draw Li Rui today.