"Ouch!"
Shao Chen groaned when a cold cloth pressed roughly on his swollen cheek. Seeing that, Chen Liqin pressed the cloth harder.
"Ouch! Thief Emperor, it hurts!" Shao Chen tried to pull Chen Liqin's hand away but failed. Chen Liqin even adding his strength until Shao Chen could not hold his tears from flowing out.
Seeing the tears, instead of feeling guilty, Chen Liqin was even more satisfied with his action. He kept rubbing the cloth up and down with his full strength. As the result, not only the cheek did not lose the redness, the swelling was even worse.
"Stop! It hurts! Ouch!" Shao Chen's tears grew heavier. As he could not pull Chen Liqin's hand away, he started to beat Chen Liqin's hand.
Chen Liqin only felt itchy from the hit. "I will stop if you confess your wrong!"
The pain was too strong that Shao Chen needed 20 minutes to digest the words. "Co—confess?" he asked, baffled.
Knowing that it won't be effective to communicate like this, Chen Liqin finally pulled the cloth away. "You confess that you are the one that had started that rumor! If you don't …." Chen Liqin raised the cold cloth in front of Shao Chen's eyes, threatened, "I will pressed this to your cheek again!"
Chen Liqin was expecting to see a frightened face as a response but not only Shao Chen did not see the cloth, he was also busy rubbing his cheek. The pouted mouth would groan when he accidentally touched the part where the skin was peeled.
"Hey! You hear me?!" Chen Liqin shouted but the pain really broke Shao Chen's brain. He could not catch anything surrounding him and when the pain almost subsided, the cold cloth pressed hard on his cheek again.
"Ouch!"
This event was repeated for several times until Chen Liqin felt exhausted. He could not get the answer he wanted from Shao Chen. Instead he got back his calmness and began to think logically.
'This girl is too dumb. Even if she really spreads the rumor, it is more likely that she had slipped up rather than for a hidden agenda.' At last, Chen Liqin could only accept that it was impossible for Shao Chen.
Shao Chen who was still tearing up could only sat in daze. His brain had completely stopped working. The pain was too strong thus he felt numb.
Guilt sprouted inside Chen Liqin. He fished out a handkerchief then wiped Shao Chen's tears. Even until he finished wiping, Shao Chen still sat still like a sculpture.
When Shao Chen finally got back to his sense, the swelling on his cheek had subsided. Chen Liqin was putting the wooden basin filled with cold water and the damp cloth aside. He went up to get some scrolls from the shelf.
Meanwhile, Shao Chen's brain was recovering faster after the pain had gone. Finally, he could understand what had happened to him.
"WHY DID YOU SLAP ME?!" he exclaimed angrily.
Chen Liqin rolled his eyes, sighed. 'Her brain is really a waste!' But, actually he did not surprise of this too late response. He even started to feel amused by it and almost burst in laugh. The anger and stress vanished without any trace.
He went back to Shao Chen with several scrolls on his hand. He then took one scroll to tap lightly on Shao Chen's head
"Why are you hitting me again?" Shao Chen protested.
"Because I want to!" Chen Liqin lifted his face arrogantly. Wide smile bloomed while sticking out his tongue.
Shao Chen pursed his lips. The tea he had prepared before was spilled and he was hurt like this. He could not stop feeling annoyed. But, it was instantly vanished when three small things shining brightly in front of his eyes. They were three gold coins from Chen Liqin!
Liked a predator caught its prey, Shao Chen jumped then seized the coins from Chen Liqin's hand. The emperor complained as Shao Chen was also gripping and pulled his hand forcefully when trying to get the coins.
'Why she became so fierce when it comes to money?' Chen Liqin shook his head in wonder but strangely, he did not feel annoyed.
He even could still smile brightly and exclaimed excitedly. "I have give you the money. Focus on work now!"
At first, he planned to teach Shao Chen at night but he had to explain the rumor to Ming Yu so he decided to change the schedule. Executed the plan to fix Shao Chen's brain now then he would went to meet Ming Yu when night fall.
He sat behind his desk while opening several scrolls then organized them on his desk. "Come here!" he ordered to Shao Chen.
Shao Chen did not hear him as he was still focusing on counting the coins he had. Chen Liqin had to tapped his head once for getting Shao Chen's focus back. "Come here!" he repeated again while gesturing for Shao Chen to sit beside him. After several seconds of loading, Shao Chen at last sat on the cushion beside the emperor.
"Look here!" Chen Liqin said as he pointed at a line of two characters which was written from top to bottom at the left end of the scroll. He then pointed at different scroll which also had the same two characters written on the same area.
Shao Chen looked at them obediently.
"You can see that all of the scroll on this desk have these two characters written on them, right?"
Shao Chen screened the scrolls one by one. Chen Liqin waited patiently.
After five minutes had passed, Shao Chen said, "Yes."
"Remember, you read this as 'regarding'."
Chen Liqin waited for Shao Chen to mumble as usual to remember the words, but that crazy girl only stared in silent.
"I said, remember it!" Chen Liqin repeated.
"O—oh …." Shao Chen started to mumble 'regarding' repeatedly.
"Don't only remember how to read it, you have to remember the characters too! Observed it properly!"
Yesterday, after pondering for so long, finally Chen Liqin came to this plan. He would teach Shao Chen how to read and several important knowledge so that at least, Shao Chen had possessed some common sense. Besides, by teaching this to Shao Chen, this crazy girl could helped Chen Liqin in a more efficient way.
After five minutes passed, Shao Chen still kept mumbling.
"Are you done?" Chen Liqin was getting impatient.
Shao Chen did not answer and still mumbling. The emperor could only snort then resume his work. Only after he finished checking on two scrolls, Shao Chen stopped.
"Done?"
This time, Shao Chen nodded. However, he was not okay. Even though he only had to remember two character, but his brows had frown deeply and his brain was on the verge of overheating.
Ignoring that misery face, Chen Liqin continued. "Then, look at the character below! There are several types of regarding that are usually used."
Chen Liqin pointed several characters from different scroll one by one while explaining, "This one is daily report, this is permission request, then that one is budget request …."
Shao Chen took three hours full to remember all of it.
"Good job! For now on, you will sort the documents in accordance to the regarding type that you had remembered before. So, you see this. " Chen Liqin pointed on one scroll that had daily report written on it. "You have to put this together with another scrolls that are also had daily report written on it. Do you understand?"
Shao Chen had headache but he still could catch the meaning of Chen Liqin's word so he nodded sluggishly.
"Okay then, every night, I will give you a list of words. You have to remember the spelling and the written character!" The words would consist of some important characters that were usually used on the reports and government stuff.
Shao Chen frowned deeply. "I have to … remember all of them?"
"Yes. Don't slack! I will test you the next morning!"
Shao Chen's brain was full of smoke. The headache became very strong and he felt nauseous but he still nodded as he had gotten the coins so he would keep his promise. He was afraid that if he protested, the coins he had gained would be taken away again.
Chen Liqin smiled, very satisfied at this progress. He began to enjoy this job a bit.
Meanwhile, Shao Chen could not stop worrying. How could he remember all of the word on the list?! When he was tested, he would be doomed! He could only imagine the dark future he would had from now on.
Chen Liqin suddenly stood up after tidying up the scrolls on the desk then ordered Shao Chen to stand up too.
"Where are we going?"
"There are still some things you had to learn!" Chen Liqin announced in a big smile. He went out of the office, leaving Shao Chen who was dumbfounded.
"WHAT?!" Shao Chen cried after he managed to get the meaning of Chen Liqin's words.
'He is so cruel!!' Shao Chen's brain could not work anymore but he could not disobey. At last he only could following Chen Liqin with a grumpy face. 'I hate you! I will get revenge on you!! I WILL!!'