Power Up, Artist Yang!

The two sat at the steps, eating the roasted duck bit by bit. Yujia was always more of a wings person while Zhizhong liked drumsticks more. The two would decide how to split the rest of the duck later on, but with the current division going on at the moment, it was a perfect split of the duck. 

As Yujia ate, she nodded with appreciation. "This tastes pretty good," she noted.

Zhizhong grinned brightly. "You like it? I put a lot of effort into roasting it."

"You cooked this yourself?" she immediately exclaimed.

With marvel, Yujia turned the duck in her hand. She didn't expect Zhizhong to have good cooking skills as well. The duck that she was eating right now wasn't any worse than the roasted duck her master enjoyed eating. The skin was crispy on the outside, and the meat was juicy on the inside. It was seasoned with quite a bit of salt, but not to the point where it was unbearably salty, only flavorful and savory. The melted fat coated the meat, adding even more of its unique flavor to the duck.

Zhizhong only grinned and nodded. 

Meanwhile, in his head, he was going through a terrifying flashback. It had taken seventeen practice ducks, each picked from the ducks raised by the imperial kitchen to personally fit the imperial family's standards, with just the perfect ratio of muscle and fat. It had also taken a lot of guidance from one of the chefs in order to teach him, who just seemed incapable of cooking a decent duck. 

Each one always turned out wrong for some reason— not enough crispy, not enough browned, not enough salt, too much salt, completely burnt…

He messed up in one way or another until he mastered how to roast a duck perfectly. 

So, just like that, seventeen perfectly fine ducks had gone to waste in order for him to just learn...

The other gifts he gave may have been far more valuable, but the roasted duck was what he put his heart and soul into. Though eating it right now, and seeing the blissful expression on Yujia's face, everything seemed worth it to him.

Yujia took another bite of duck, swallowing it before complimenting, "Wow, you really are talented."

In his mind, Zhizhong— or better put, Yushang— shed a little tear of happiness. The validation of all his hard work was really worth it!

On the outside, however, he couldn't stop grinning. 

Once Yujia was done with her two wings, she looked in the room. The servants had long evacuated the area in such a silent manner that she barely even noticed. They left all the trays of gifts in her room. 

She stared at them, then said, "You're too rich for your own good."

"Hm?" Zhizhong gnawed on one of the bones, giving her a sideways glance. 

Was he too rich? 

No, not in particular, especially when the whole word was destined to be his one day. 

But Yujia didn't know that, so she just continued, "If this is your apology gift, I wonder how many treasures your family has."

"Uh— a lot," he answered vaguely, tossing the finished bone to the side and scratching the back of his neck. "This isn't too much to me, really, but I put a lot of thought into all the items. If you're concerned about the financial well being of the Bo Family, then you really shouldn't. You should've seen what I gave as dowry to my wife," he followed up with a laugh. 

"Oh really?" Yujia raised her eyebrows. "How much was that? Did you gift an entire kingdom to her?" 

Zhizhong shrugged, perfectly serious with his reply. "I could've. But no, it was five hundred bolts of silk, two hundred thousand acres of land, a hundred or so sets of jewelry, and some other things I can't remember well…"

"…"

Yujia was rendered a little speechless. She let the hand that was holding another piece of duck drop.

"You have to be kidding," she stated, shaking her head. 

Five hundred bolts of silk? She had seen the price of one bolt of silk. It was expensive enough. Five hundred bolts, on the other hand…

That was worth a fortune just by itself. 

Then, there was all that land and other parts of the dowry. Adding up all the math together, it just didn't make sense for the Bo Family to be able to afford this dowry. How rich could a merchant family be?

"Oh, yeah!" Zhizhong's voice suddenly jumped louder in volume. He rigorously agreed, "Definitely! I was joking. Haha, you fell for it."

Yujia eyed him, slowly raising a piece of meat to her mouth. "Right…"

He was being awfully suspicious right now.

Zhizhong then sat straighter, his eye catching on some of the painting supplies Yujia had left out in the yard during one of the times that she practiced in the morning. He instantly changed the topic, saying, "You've been practicing painting lately? Of what?"

Seeing that he was unwilling to carry on the conversation they had before, Yujia allowed him to change the topic. She didn't really want to make things awkward. It was always something she hated most whenever conversations turned uncomfortable. 

"Oh, I was just painting a plum tree…" she explained, their conversation going in the direction of the homework her master had given her. 

Yet only a few minutes of chatting passed when all of a sudden, Yujia, who was talking about one of the struggles she reached when painting plum, had her words cut by a sudden declaration. 

"Junior Sister, Master said he was looking for you—" 

Along with those words, Ye Yunhe, her senior brother, strolled into the yard, holding a half-scrolled painting in his hand and his other free hand straightening the papers. He was seemingly concentrated on getting the paper scroll to roll in the proper way, his gaze completely fixed on that as he walked in the yard. 

Yujia immediately stood up, staring at Zhizhong, staring at the gifts in the room behind her, then staring at Yunhe. 

Ye Yunhe! 

She wasn't expecting him to come find her right now! 

Though they were good disciples learning under the same master, and Yujia considered him as someone she grew close to, a flurry of concerns flew through Yujia's thoughts of what he would think at the sight of an unfamiliar Zhizhong and a huge pile of valuables behind her. 

What if he took things the wrong way?

With the fact that she didn't have a response, Yunhe stopped strolling in the middle and looked up, his eyes registering the sight in front of him. 

His eyes fixed onto Bo Zhizhong first, who was still eating a piece of duck, not a worry in the world. Yunhe stared at Zhizhong for a solid minute before sliding his eyes up to Yujia, who was standing stiffly. 

He then asked, "Junior Sister… this— who's that?"