A serious injury takes a hundred days to recover, and an injury to a vital area can only heal slowly. As he nursed it, summer vacation came to an end.

The day before school started, Ji Shenyu went to find Ding Yanshou to ask for a leave of absence from his teacher. It took him half an hour to get from his bedroom to the study in the Front Courtyard, his steps smaller than those of an old lady with bound feet. Although it didn't hurt as much anymore, getting out of bed and walking was still a struggle.

The study was a mess, with jade, books, ink brushes, and pigments all scattered about without any order. Ding Yanshou sat behind the desk, with only the top of his head visible. The rest of him was blocked by a piece of jade.

“Master?” Ji Shenyu called out. “Are you busy?”

Ding Yanshou said, “No matter how busy I am, I have time to hear what my disciple has to say. Besides, I'm not that busy.”

Ji Shenyu temporarily forgot his pain, his face lit up with happiness, and he spent another good while walking to Ding Yanshou's side. Only then did he get a clear look at the piece of material. It was dark green jade, a neat square, with the mountains and pines only a third complete.

He asked, “Master, are you making a table screen?”

Ding Yanshou nodded. “How have you been feeling these past two days? Why don't you work on this with me, to save you from boredom.”

Ji Shenyu immediately rolled up his sleeves, wiped his hands clean, and selected a brush, quietly studying the design sketch. Just as he was about to start drawing, he remembered his purpose and said, “Master, I came to ask you to request a leave of absence for me from my teacher.”

Ding Yanshou put down his brush and picked up the phone. “I'll just say you injured a vital part. How about a week off first?”

Ji Shenyu said anxiously, “No! Who would injure ‘that’ place for no reason? What if the teacher gets the wrong idea...”

Ding Yanshou looked at him. “My master's master taught me from a young age that one must not lie.”

The sentence left Ji Shenyu baffled. By the time he came to his senses, Ding Yanshou was already dialing. He quickly snatched the phone and hung up, stammering, “I'll just ask someone else. There are so many people in the Ding Family, and it seems you're the only one who doesn't lie.”

Ding Yanshou was left speechless. He continued to draw in silence, like a sulking old child. Ji Shenyu stood beside him, drawing distant mountains and idle clouds, drawing the pine needles on high branches, a dense and intricate patch. Ding Yanshou looked up and couldn't help but speak, “Well drawn. You've learned ten-tenths of what Fangxu knows.”

Ji Shenyu said modestly, “Senior Brother can draw even more finely. I'm not as good as him in that regard.”

Ding Yanshou snorted. “Don't mention him. This line of work has high artistic demands. I had him start learning early, and even sent him abroad for further studies. Who knew that besides wasting money, he'd feign compliance while secretly enrolling in another major.”

Only then did Ji Shenyu learn that Ding Hanbai had studied abroad. He asked, “What did Senior Brother study?”

“What's it called... Business Administration!” Ding Yanshou was so angry he tapped the brush washer with the end of his brush. “As if our three-room Jade Pavilion is worthy of a Business Administration degree. He must think he's opening a jade department store!”

At the Cultural Relics Bureau, Ding Hanbai was sneezing repeatedly, guessing someone was cursing him behind his back. He paid it no mind, took the Rose Seal from its brocade box, dipped it in red ink paste, and pressed it onto a white sheet of paper, forming the Shoujin style characters for “Seal of Ding Hanbai.”

And so, he was full of energy that day. With a flurry of activity, he completed the draft of the cultural relics review report—stamp; wrote the permit application for the import and export of a certain batch of cultural relics—stamp; refined the meeting draft for a cultural heritage declaration—stamp; and a signed letter suggesting the office canteen use fewer quail eggs in its braised pork—stamp.

He stamped several documents in a row with the vermilion red seal, admiring his work each time. After delivering them to the director's office, he felt a sense of relief and waited gleefully for the approval signature. After waiting a whole day, Ding Hanbai silently cursed Zhang Yin's inefficiency, figuring it would probably be another few days before they were processed.

Five minutes before the end of the workday, Zhang Yin finally showed his face. “Ding Hanbai, get in here.”

As a student, Ding Hanbai was often called into the teacher's office. He didn't expect work to be the same. He went in, closed the door, and asked, “Director Zhang, you wanted to see me?”

On the desk were those several documents. Zhang Yin said, “What is this seal you've used? Do you think you're the director of the Cultural Relics Bureau? Take these back, reprint them, and sign them properly.”

Ding Hanbai didn't give up. “So, do you think the seal looks good?”

Zhang Yin was bewildered. “Isn't it just the Shoujin style? Don't tell me Emperor Huizong of Song came back to life to write it for you? You're keeping me from going home.”

This little matter didn't affect Ding Hanbai's good mood. He grabbed his bag and headed home, swaying slowly on his bicycle. It was almost September. Summer was giving way to autumn, and after enduring a few more days of the autumn tiger, it would finally cool down.

When he got home, he went to take a shower first. Passing by the room next door, he saw the door was open, but there was no one inside.

Ji Shenyu and Ding Yanshou had successfully completed the Green Jade Table Screen together, but his injury had started to hurt again. After returning to his room, he locked the door, wrung out a damp towel to wipe himself down, took off his shoes, and got into bed. He lifted his shirt, unbuttoned his pants, and pulled them down slightly, his movements feather-light.

When Ding Hanbai returned after his shower, he froze on the steps. Why was the door locked? He paced over to the window and used just his index finger to push it open a tiny crack, wanting to see if anyone was inside.

How ridiculous, really. Couldn't someone lock the door if they weren't inside?

But by the time he realized this, it was too late. Inside, the light and shadows were a jumble. The young man was lying on his side, his head bowed to reveal a neck as white as jade, his soft shirt bunched up at his waist. A splash of pale golden light fell upon him from somewhere. To let one's imagination wander to interesting places, it was as if his waist was bound by a Glittering Gold Rope, while the small, round mound that was revealed lay in the shadows.

He withdrew his index finger, and the crack gradually closed. Ding Hanbai stood outside the window, swallowed, and broke out in another layer of sweat.

He stood there just like that. As he stood, he began to wonder, what was there to be so proper about? Wasn't it perfectly justified to care for a patient? In fact, he was determined to get a clear look.

With a creak, the window was pulled wide open by Ding Hanbai. Ji Shenyu, leaning against the headboard, looked out, already fully dressed. Ding Hanbai vaulted into the room over the windowsill, closed the window, and walked around to the bedside to ask condescendingly, “What are you doing with the door locked?”

Ji Shenyu answered honestly, “Checking on the important place.”

Ding Hanbai simply sat down and sized him up. After so many days of bed rest, pained to the point of being unable to eat or sleep, he hadn't gained weight but had gotten thinner. As he looked, he raised a hand, grabbed Ji Shenyu's shoulder, and gave it a squeeze, confirming that there wasn't much meat on the parts he couldn't see either.

'Except for those two butt cheeks... they're still quite round.'

Ji Shenyu felt uncomfortable under Ding Hanbai's gaze. He sat up straight, the arm's-length distance between them shrinking to half an arm's length, close enough to see the tips of Ding Hanbai's still-damp hair. He asked, “Senior Brother, school starts tomorrow. Can you help me ask the teacher for a leave of absence?”

Ding Hanbai said, “You can already get out of bed and walk, but you can't go to school?”

Ji Shenyu explained, “I walk too slowly, and not for long. And what would I do if my classmates found out?”

Ding Hanbai nodded. “Let me take a look then.”

The door and window were shut tight, no breeze could get in, and Ji Shenyu's train of thought seemed to stagnate with the air. 'Take a look? Ding Hanbai must have a screw loose. What is there to look at? But Ding Hanbai's expression was serious, not like he was joking. Could he really mean to take a look?'

“If I don't understand the real situation, how many days should I ask off for? What am I supposed to make up to tell the teacher?”

“That makes sense...”

Ding Hanbai watched as Ji Shenyu reached out, tugged at his own shirt, and gestured for him to come closer. He moved forward an inch, trapping Ji Shenyu between himself and the headboard, and lowered his head, waiting to see.

Ji Shenyu lifted his shirt, first revealing a patch of his lower abdomen, then unbuttoned his pants and pulled them down, just a little. Ding Hanbai had claimed he wanted to look, but at this moment, he felt more perverted than a hooligan. He took a quick glance and then averted his eyes, pretending to be a gentleman.

Unexpectedly, Ji Shenyu asked, “...Is it big?”

Ding Hanbai was on the verge of a breakdown. “Big, my ass.”

Neither of them spoke. The room was quieter than a hospital morgue. Ji Shenyu lowered his head, picking at the gold ink on his fingertips. Ding Hanbai finally turned his face to look at him and asked what he had gotten on himself.

He replied, “I was carving the Green Jade Table Screen with Master, filling in the gold engraving.” After answering, he remembered. “Hurry up and call the teacher.”

Ding Hanbai picked up the phone from the bedside table. As soon as he started dialing, Ji Shenyu leaned in, afraid he would say the wrong thing. When the call connected, he said bluntly, “Hello, Teacher Du. I'm Ji Shenyu's older brother. He's come down with chickenpox these last couple of days, so I'm afraid he can't come to school tomorrow. I'd like to request a week's leave for him.”

After the call, Ji Shenyu was very satisfied. “Thank you, Senior Brother.”

Call done, thanks given, the room fell silent as a morgue again.

Ding Hanbai sat there stiffly for a long while. When he came to his senses, he was annoyed. 'What am I doing? Wasting time.' Without another word, he stood up and left. Leaving the bedroom wasn't enough; he went straight to the Front Courtyard to look at the Green Jade Table Screen.

Left alone in the room, Ji Shenyu lay down and started playing with the small bell.

The house was finally peaceful for a while—only for a week, actually. But early on the weekend, Ding Yanshou flew into a rage. It was nothing else, just that two more bottles of his prized Maotai were missing.

Everyone was present except for Ding Hanbai. The culprit didn't even need to be investigated.