blueteamnovel Chapter 429: Nervous? Perhaps.
Chapter 429: Nervous? Perhaps.
Just before entering the workshop, Fang Yuan suddenly stopped."Aunt Lin Xi. Aunt Yueyao."
The two women turned toward him.
"What is it?" Lin Xi asked.
Fang Yuan lowered his voice.
"When we’re inside, don’t call me Clan Head."
The two women blinked at his words, but Fang Yuan continued on.
"I don’t want to put too much pressure on the artisan."
After all, he was here to observe the man naturally.
If Lu Cheng learned the Clan Head had personally visited him, the poor man might become so nervous that he wouldn’t even be able to speak properly.
The two women exchanged a glance and then their expressions became slightly strange.
Fang Yuan noticed it immediately.
"...What?"
The confusion in his voice was genuine but the two women looked away.
"No, no."
Aunt Yueyao coughed lightly.
"It’s nothing."
Then she smiled.
"In that case, we’ll call you Young Master Shu."
Fang Yuan frowned as he noticed something felt off, very off.
Still, as long as they listened, it was fine.
With that settled, the group entered the workshop.
The door opened and Fang Yuan stepped inside.
But not a single more step was taken before he stopped.
Directly opposite the entrance stood a statue.
A life-sized statue.... a life-sized statue of himself.
It wasn’t even being vaguely similar, it was him.
"..."
Fang Yuan looked at the statue and then at the two women.
"What is this?"
His voice was unusually flat.
Aunt Lin Xi immediately coughed.
"Ahem."
Then another cough.
"Ahem."
Unfortunately, that was the extent of her explanation.
Meanwhile, Aunt Yueyao proved significantly less helpful.
Her eyes suddenly widened.
She clasped one hand against her cheeks while carrying Tianyi with the other.
"Kyaa~! So handsome!"
Aunt Yueyao pointed excitedly toward the statue.
"Young Master Shu, isn’t this man handsome?"
"..."
"You should feel honored to be able to gaze upon such perfection!"
"..."
"Look at that jawline!"
"..."
"Look at those eyes!"
"..."
"Look at that heroic posture!"
Fang Yuan turned toward her and just before he could formulate a response, a booming laugh sounded from deeper inside the workshop.
"Hahaha!"
Heavy footsteps approached.
A short man with a long beard emerged from behind a workbench.
His clothes were stained with sawdust.
Wood shavings clung to his sleeves.
"It’s exactly as Miss Yueyao says!"
He spread his arms dramatically.
"You should be grateful to stand in the presence of—"
The man stopped and his words abruptly died out.
His eyes slowly moved from the statue and to Fang Yuan.
———
"So you’re saying that Zhaoyue ordered every shop in the Eastern District to have one?"
The guest room fell into an awkward silence.
Fang Yuan sat on one side.
Aunt Lin Xi and Aunt Yueyao sat nearby, each carrying a child.
Opposite them sat Lu Cheng.
The artisan’s back was perfectly straight.
In fact, he looked less like a guest receiving visitors and more like a criminal awaiting judgment.
"Mhm." Aunt Yueyao nodded. "That’s right."
Fang Yuan’s mouth twitched.
"Why didn’t anyone stop her?"
The room became silent.
Both aunt Lin Xi and aunt Yueyao turned towards him wearing the same expression.
The expression one would use when someone asked whether water was wet.
It was such an obvious answer that neither knew how to respond.
Fang Yuan stared back.
"...What?"
Aunt Lin Xi finally spoke.
"Who exactly was supposed to stop her?"
"..."
Fang Yuan opened his mouth, then closed it.
That was a very fair question.
Unfortunately.
It was also the kind of answer he didn’t want to hear.
Meanwhile, Lu Cheng sat opposite them, completely unable to follow the conversation.
His fingers trembled, his legs trembled even his beard seemed to be trembling.
The Clan Head was sitting directly in front of him.
The Clan Head.
The man whose statue had been erected throughout the district.
The man who, according to rumors, could kill experts capable of destroying cities.
And ever since arriving...
The only thing he had talked about was the statue.
And more specifically he appeared very unhappy about it.
Lu Cheng’s heart sank.
Am I going to die?
Surely not, right?
This can’t be how I die.
I only carved what I was told to carve.
If the Clan Head hates the statue, shouldn’t he go argue with the Matriarch?
What does that have to do with me?
His thoughts spiraled wildly.
Then he heard them mention the Matriarch again.
Immediately, hope returned to his eyes.
That’s right.
The Matriarch.
Everything was the Matriarch’s order.
If I hadn’t obeyed back then, I’d probably be dead too.
Yes.
This isn’t my fault.
The more he thought about it, the more reasonable it sounded.
Naturally, he did not dare say any of these thoughts aloud.
Not even if someone put a sword to his neck.
As the room descended into silence again, Aunt Yueyao suddenly looked toward him.
The gentle smile on her face instantly made Lu Cheng sit even straighter.
"Sir Lu Cheng."
"Y-Yes!"
His response came out much louder than intended.
Aunt Yueyao pretended not to notice.
"The Clan Head is actually here because of your wooden horse."
"Huh?"
Lu Cheng blinked.
Wooden horse?
What wooden horse?
Aunt Yueyao looked down at the child in her arms.
"Tianyi."
The little boy raised his head.
"Mm?"
"Can mother borrow the horse for a moment?"
Tianyi glanced at the wooden horse in his hands.
Then at Yueyao.
Without the slightest hesitation, he held it out.
"Here."
His voice was obedient and straightforward.
Aunt Yueyao accepted it with a gentle smile.
"Good child."
She lightly patted his head before handing the wooden horse over to Lu Cheng.
The moment Lu Cheng saw that, his heart nearly leapt into his throat.
"The Clan Head likes it?"
His eyes brightened immediately.
"If clan head likes it, I can make more!"
"No, not just one or two!"
"I’ll make ten!"
"Twenty!"
"A hundred if necessary!"
The nervous artisan sat up straighter than ever.
"I’ll put my entire heart into crafting them!"
"Wooden horses, wooden oxen, wooden tigers, wooden birds!"
"As long as clan head wishes it, I can make them all!"
At this moment, Lu Cheng felt as though he had finally found a way to survive this unexpected visit.