Chapter Ninety-Three: The Expensive Pencil

The simple, easy-to-learn rage-comic style, with its embarrassingly dramatic and absurdly silly dialogue, roused great interest in Violet, who had been dying of boredom.

"Young Master!" Violet’s voice was sweet enough to stick.

Mo Dun instantly broke out in gooseflesh. "Say what you came to say. If you start causing trouble again, I’ll throw you out of the house."

Violet was not the least bit afraid of his feeble threat. In a coaxing voice, she said, "Young Master, I want to learn to draw too!"

At last she revealed her true purpose, twisting Mo Dun’s arm as she pleaded.

"Are you sure you have the talent for it?" Mo Dun knew full well what kind of girl she was. Of all things in the world, she hated studying most.

"Young Master, I promise I’ll learn it well!" Violet said firmly. "Just teach me, please!"

She kneaded his shoulders for a while, then pounded his back for a while, pulling out every serving trick she normally never bothered to use.

"All right, all right! If you want to learn, then learn!"

Mo Dun was worn down by her clinging and had no choice but to agree. Most important of all, if he did not give in soon, his shoulder would be kneaded apart by her.

"Hooray! The Young Master is the best!" Violet cried, jumping with delight.

Mo Dun was already calculating inwardly. If Violet spent her time learning to draw and had no time left to make those culinary abominations, then he would finally have a proper reason to replace the cook. No matter how he looked at it, he would not lose out.

As for whether Violet could actually learn, that was no longer Mo Dun’s concern. She could amuse herself however she liked.

Art was expensive.

Even in later generations, art students paid far more in tuition than ordinary students, let alone in this artistic wasteland of an age. Though Violet had never heard that saying, she was once again proving its truth.

The kohl that had journeyed the Silk Road and been imported from Persia at great expense was being squandered by Violet as if it cost nothing.

One careless stroke, and it snapped.

This one was not very visible.

This one was too brittle.

The kohl that Fang Jun had spent a fortune to buy was quickly wasted by this prodigal girl.

Fortunately, though art demands a high degree of talent, it can also be achieved through endless practice, especially with something as easy to learn as rage-comic drawing. At last, after much of the kohl had been used up, Violet was finally starting to get the hang of it.

"Young Master, what do you think? How did I do?" Violet came rushing over with her masterpiece, looking at Mo Dun expectantly.

"Uh. Not bad!"

Looking at the little chick-pecking-grains drawing on the Xuan paper, Mo Dun praised her. Being able to draw that much meant the sacrifice of all that kohl had not been in vain. He gave Violet a brief explanation of the essence of rage-comic drawing, then sent the enthusiastic girl off on her way.

Old Fu watched Violet leave with affectionate indulgence, then came in carrying a one-foot-long rectangular box.

"Young Master, the thing you wanted has been delivered from the village!" Old Fu said, handing the box to Mo Dun.

"Really?"

Mo Dun was overjoyed. He hurriedly took it and opened it. Inside were ten neatly arranged wooden rods about the length of chopsticks. Each rod had been evenly cut into a hexagonal shape, with a dark core in the center.

Anyone from later generations would have recognized it at a glance as the most ordinary pencil.

Mo Dun picked one up and found its workmanship extremely crude, so crude that it could almost be called rough. The bare wood had not even been coated with varnish, let alone fitted with the eraser so common in later times. Mo Dun had needed them in a hurry, so Old Zhang had rushed the job and delivered them as soon as they were done.

Even so, Mo Dun was thoroughly satisfied. After arriving in the Tang Dynasty, he had used a quill to solve the problem of writing.

But a quill had one fatal flaw: every few words, one had to dip it back into ink. Mo Dun, accustomed to the effortless convenience of later fountain pens, found this extremely inconvenient. Now that he had a pencil, at last he no longer had to suffer that torment.

He took up a small knife and shaved away the wood casing. The wood was soft paulownia, and in just a few quick strokes he had pared the outer layer into a cone, revealing the specially made kohl graphite core within. He sharpened it to a point, and the pencil was finally complete.

He casually wrote a few characters on the Xuan paper, and that familiar sensation returned once more. The kohl-based core, though not as dark as a drawing brush, was more than sufficient for writing.

"Iron An! Take five pencils to Violet at once, and bring back all the kohl at the same time!" Mo Dun instructed.

"Yes, Young Master!" Iron An rumbled.

He picked up five pencils from the box and went off to find Violet.

"Old Zhang sent word that there was too little of the kohl. It was only enough to make ten pencils, and it was expensive besides. He is actively researching the graphite you mentioned, Young Master, and has already made some initial progress. Still, until then, we may have to keep making pencils with kohl, which may delay your use of them," Old Fu said.

"Then let us use kohl for the time being. I think the materials needed to make pencils are already sufficient now," Mo Dun said with a wry smile, looking at Iron An as he returned from outside carrying a large bundle.

"Young Master, the kohl you wanted!" Iron An said, placing the bundle on the table and opening it. A heap of broken and shortened sticks of kohl covered half the tabletop, while the troublemaking Violet clearly did not dare show her face. No one knew which corner she had hidden in while secretly practicing with her new pencil.

Looking at Violet’s handiwork, Mo Dun could only laugh and sigh. "Good thing Uncle Zhang managed to make the pencils in time. If he had been a few days later, our Mo household would have gone bankrupt!"

"The Young Master is truly kind to Violet," Old Fu said with emotion.

He rarely ordered her about, let her enjoy complete freedom in ordinary times, and even allowed her to use precious kohl however she pleased. What young master treated his own maid like this?

Mo Dun only smiled at the remark. Violet had been the first person he saw upon arriving in the Tang Dynasty, not to mention the way she had once depended on his former self for survival. Naturally, she was different in his eyes.

The next few days passed in idle comfort, eating and loafing about all day long, with the occasional lesson for his proud little maid.

The business of the Mo Village had already been put on the right track. The curved-plow, along with chicks, ducklings, and goslings from the Mo Village, had taken over the entire Guanzhong market and were spreading outward at a terrifying rate. Orders for supplies came in one after another, leaving Mo Dun with nothing to worry about.

After the last incident at the Bureau of Instruction, Qin Huai Jade and the other two had not shown their faces again. Rumor had it that they had been confined to their homes. Mo Dun gloatingly enjoyed their misfortune for a while, then stopped caring about those fellows altogether.

In the Mo residence, Mo Dun held the highest status. Ever since Li Yi had seen his talent, he had let Mo Dun do as he pleased. Even when Mo Dun got drunk this time, Li Yi came to check that he was fine, then left.

These comfortable days were so pleasant that Mo Dun almost forgot he had long since been targeted by a terrifying great demon king. When Pang De’s smiling face appeared before him, Mo Dun immediately recalled Li Chengqian’s reminder from several days earlier.

The greatest substitute father under heaven, Emperor Two, wanted to see Mo Dun.