I opened a tea shop in Bianjing

Chapter 41 Painting
Three or four maidservants lifted the table, moved the bench, and laid out the brushes, ink, paper and inkstones one by one on the large table, and then carefully spread Zhao Ji's painting on it.

Mo Yunxiao and Mrs. Wei came to the table.Mo Yunxiao rolled up her sleeves, put her hands on the table, and stared at the painting intently, while Mrs. Wei was grinding it for her.Zeng Bu and Mo's family stood at one side of everyone's dining table, looking at them nervously.

"It's broken, it's broken..." Zhang Yun'er stamped her feet and walked around, complaining: "It's hard to get out, this... isn't it self-inflicted?"

"Mom! Be safe and don't be impatient!" Mo Yunxiang persuaded her a little anxiously.

Mrs. Wei polished the ink well, looked sideways at Mo Yunxiao and said, "He Lu, draw well."

"En." Mo Yunxiao nodded, picked up a pen and dipped in ink, and said, "Thank you, Yuru." Madam Wei also nodded, and walked away with a smile.

Mo Yunxiao held the paintbrush in his hand, and started to paint.

Mo Yunxi suddenly whispered to Li Xian'er: "Mother, this painting looks familiar to me."

"Don't talk nonsense!" Li Xian'e glared at her and said, "This is an official calligraphy, where will you meet me?"

Mrs. Wei also said to Zeng Bu: "I have known He Lu for many years, but I didn't know she had this talent."

Zeng Bu nodded approvingly, and praised: "This woman is hiding her secrets, it's not simple."

But looking at Mo Yunxiao, sometimes galloping with the pen, and sometimes contemplating the pen, with a serious and devoted look.

Zeng Bu looked at her and kept admiring: "This woman is really stunning, no wonder the officials intend to accept her as a concubine."

"What?" Mrs. Wei was taken aback, and said, "The official wants Helu to be his concubine?"

Zeng Bu nodded and said, "The officials have expressed this intention, but it may be a joke."

Madam Wei glanced at the corner of her mouth and said: "The gate of the palace is as deep as the sea, if it is so, it will be difficult to see He Lu in the future. I will not allow her to do that."

Mo Yunxi suddenly called out in a low voice: "Ah! I remembered. I think the brushwork of this painting is very similar to the folding fan that Mr. Zhao Pang Zhao gave me. Mother! Let me show it to you."

However, Li Xian'er was very impatient, and reprimanded: "Don't talk nonsense! What calligraphy and painting do you know, just chew your tongue here!"

Mo Yunxi was reprimanded by his mother, so naturally he didn't dare to say any more.

After a while, Mo Yunxiao put away the paintbrush, admiring the painting jointly completed by himself and Song Huizong Zhao Ji quite contentedly, and said: "It's a pity that this brush is not a paintbrush, so it's not very easy to use. But it's not harmful. "

Everyone rushed to the table to watch.I saw a ferocious and strong tiger lying beside the scholar in the picture.This tiger's hair stands on end, its beard is like a halberd, its eyes are like a bell, and its sharp teeth are like knives. It looks lifelike, as if it is alive.

"Ah!" The timid Mo Yunxi was startled, and couldn't help taking two steps back.

Mrs. Wei said with a smile: "Miss Yunxi, this is a fake tiger, don't panic."

"Oh." Mo Yunxi was shocked for a while, took a peek, and said: "Brother's painting skills are so superb, the painting is too similar."

"Hmph! It's rare to see something strange!" Mo Yunxiang couldn't help but sarcastically.

Look again, it turns out that the crouching tiger is not the only wonderful stroke in this painting. The rising mist can be seen in the turbulent waterfall, and the dragon scale can be faintly seen behind the water curtain.And on both sides of the waterfall, there seems to be a dragon's head and a dragon's tail in the mist, which is also lifelike.

Mo Yunxiao said: "The tiger is crouching next to the scholar, and the dragon is hidden in the waterfall. This is also the crouching tiger and the hidden dragon. This is the image of the emperor. Mr. Zeng dedicated this painting to the officials, and the officials will definitely be happy."

Zeng Bu couldn't help clapping his hands in praise, and exclaimed: "It's wonderful. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is indeed more innovative than strange rocks, flowers and plants, and also has a more imperial look. Ah! Miss Mo is really shocking, and she is not under the official family. ah!"

"Sir, that's too much." Mo Yunxiao smiled slightly and bowed to pay tribute.

Mrs. Wei was even more pleasantly surprised, and rushed up to hold Mo Yunxiao's hand, and said, "Helu! I always rely on my talents, and I am not inferior to Qin Shaoyou. But I don't know that my close friend is not only a chivalrous woman, but also a talented woman. He Lu! How have you managed to hide it from me all these years!"

Mo Yunxiao smiled faintly, and said, "How could it be possible. I just thought my painting skills were rough and I was ashamed to see others. Today, I only dared to try because I was grateful for the kindness of Mr. Zeng and Yuru."

Mo Yunxiao made up the painting of Zhao Guan's house, which can be regarded as an end to Zeng Bu's concern.So everyone pushed the cups and changed the cups for a while, and broke up happily.

The evening wind blows the window.Mo Yunxiao was about to undress and rest when she heard a knock on the door.She hurriedly put on her clothes and asked, "Who's here?"

"It's me, big girl." Mo Yunxi's voice was a little hasty, but it was recognizable.

"Yunxi?" Mo Yunxiao was a little surprised, not knowing why she came looking for him late at night.So she lit the lamp again and opened the door to welcome Mo Yunxi in.Mo Yunxi frowned, looking preoccupied.

Mo Yunxiao asked her to sit down and asked, "It's late at night, why don't you rest?"

"Brother girl, please save me." Mo Yunxi suddenly grabbed Mo Yunxiao's hand, his eyes full of pleading.But what she said was endless, which made Mo Yunxiao even more surprised.

"What's wrong?" Mo Yunxiao asked, "What happened?"

Mo Yunxi was so anxious that he was about to cry, he choked up and said, "Big girl, do you still remember that Mr. Zhao Pang who came to our house to fight tea last time?"

"Well, I remember." Mo Yunxiao asked, "What happened to him?"

"I suspect that he is an official!" When Mo Yunxiao said this, he was really shocked.Mo Yunxiao screamed "Ah!" and stood up.

Mo Yunxi hurriedly pulled her to sit down, and said, "He gave me a folding fan last time. I think the paintings on this fan look pretty, so I kept it on my body all the time. Fortunately, they didn't search the house when they ransacked the house."

As she spoke, she took out the folding fan, handed it to Mo Yunxiao, and said, "Please take a look, girl. Is this drawing skill and the "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Picture" you made up today come from the same hand?"

Mo Yunxiao spread out the folding fan and looked carefully.I saw that the painting on this fan is tall and straight pine and bamboo and wild geese in the sky. The artistic conception is lofty and the brushwork is vigorous. It is indeed the same style as the "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

Mo Yunxiao put down the folding fan and murmured: "Zhao Pang! Zhao Pang! Ah! He really is an official!"

"Ah!" Mo Yunxi hurriedly asked, "How do you say that?"

Mo Yunxiao grabbed the palm of her younger brother's hand and wrote on it stroke by stroke with her fingers: "Look, isn't the word 'Pang' a 'Guang' plus a 'Dragon'? Pang is the dragon of vastness. And he took the character Renji. Today’s son is called Zhao Ji. If the word ‘Ji’ is taken apart, isn’t it just one person and one lucky? Then who else can he be if he is not an official!”

"Then..." Mo Yunxi panicked, with tears welling up in his eyes, and said, "Then, haven't I committed a serious crime of deceiving the emperor?"

Mo Yunxiao pondered for a while, pressed her hand, and said: "That's the case. But those who don't know are not guilty. He came to the tea fighting meeting and didn't reveal his identity. Also, the dignified emperor went to the people to tease Isn't it absurd for a girl who hasn't left the cabinet! If he blames it, we will reveal the cause and effect of this matter and see if he dares or not!"

Mo Yunxi was taken aback, and hurriedly said: "How can we coerce the officials?"

"Hmph! Isn't the official family human?" Mo Yunxi smiled contemptuously, and said, "Humans have weaknesses. Yunxi, go back and sleep peacefully, don't be afraid of him."

"Oh..." Mo Yunxi still said in a panic: "Since that's the case, you and I know about this matter, please don't let it out."

Mo Yunxiao nodded slightly and said, "That's natural. Don't worry."

"Definitely! Definitely!" Mo Yunxi got up from his seat, not forgetting to tell his brother. "You must help me keep this secret!" She walked out of the door, but looked back, but she tripped over the threshold, yelled "Ouch", and almost fell down.Mo Yunxiao hurried up to support her, and said a few words of comfort before watching her gradually leave.But even so, Mo Yunxi still looked back from time to time, not knowing whether it was out of gratitude or guilt, or worry about his "crime of deceiving the emperor".

It wasn't until she disappeared from Mo Yunxiao's sight that the little smile on her face gradually disappeared.Looking at the star-studded night sky and listening to the chirping of the little bird, she suddenly felt as if she had passed away.

"Didn't expect me to pass by the great painter Song Huizong?" She couldn't help laughing, laughing at the absurdity of her own fate and the impermanence of this era.

She retreated to her room and closed the door gently.She paced back and forth in the room, thinking in her mind: "What kind of person is the real Song Huizong? Is he a complete fool like what historians say? But whether he is a fool or not, he His "thin gold style" calligraphy and vigorously developed "painting" have had a profound impact on the fine arts of later generations in China, and it is not too much to say that it will last forever.

She remembered the day Qiu Feng ransacked the house, it seemed that he picked up the fan, and then said: "Arty and sarcastic!" Isn't this sentence just scolding the owner of the fan?Who is this master?It is today!

"If you want revenge, you can use a knife to kill people!" Mo Yunxiao suddenly had such a bold idea: "I want to use Song Huizong's knife to kill Qiu Feng!"

She was pacing and thinking about how to implement this plan. Suddenly, her eyes lit up, she immediately put on her coat, and went out...

Soon, it will be daylight.This day was supposed to be a rest day, that is, a "rest day" for the ministers, and they were not used to go to court.However, Zeng Bu still came to Xuande Gate in a sedan chair.

"I don't want soup and cakes today." When the sedan chair landed on the ground, Zeng Bu lifted the curtain of the sedan chair and said. "Yes, yes." The bearer responded, and said with a smile: "We came early today, and it will not be too late for the master to come out of the palace later."

Zeng laid down the sedan chair, bowed his hands to the guards in front of Xuande Gate, and said, "Old minister Zeng Bu, I have completed the official paintings, and I am here to ask to see you." After speaking, he bowed respectfully.

Of course the guards knew him, and after reporting quickly, they let Zeng Bu in.

Zeng Bu, led by Zhang Di from the prison class, came to the imperial study room, and saw Zhao Ji walking around in front of the plan, wearing a swallow suit and holding a book.So he took a step forward, bowed at the threshold before entering the inner room, and said: "Chen Zengbu has seen the official family."

Zhao Ji devoted himself to reading and reading, but Zeng Bu had already come by his side.So he put down the book in his hand, went up to help Zeng Bu up, and said, "Sir, why should you be so polite? I heard that you have completed my painting? Is it the creation of Mrs. Zun?"

Zeng Bu smiled and said, "It's better to ask the officials to see the painting first."

So he held the painting tube to Zhang Di, and Zhang Di walked over, and unfolded the vertical landscape painting together with another eunuch.

Zhao Ji took a closer look and couldn't help but shine brightly.The boy in the painting was originally dressed as a scholar, but beside a fierce tiger, he added a bit of domineering air, and seeing the looming dragon shape in the waterfall made people yearn even more.

"Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!" Zhao Ji kept beating his palm with a folding fan, saying, "It's really like an emperor like this! I believe that this painting is definitely not something that ordinary painters can do. Those who can do this painting, He must be a man with armor in his chest."

After he finished speaking, he turned around again and asked Zeng Bu full of surprise, "Sir, who made up this painting?"

Zeng Bu was a little panicked, leaned forward and said: "I dare not lie, the one who made this painting..." He glanced at Zhang Di, and then said: "It is Mo Yunxiao."

"Mo Yunxiao?" Zhao Ji and Zhang Di exclaimed at the same time, and couldn't help but glance at each other.

"Yes." Zeng Bu explained: "The official family also said that they should take good care of the Mo family. My wife brought them all here, and accidentally saw the official calligraphy."

Zhao Ji chuckled and asked, "Does she have any comments?"

Zeng Bu recalled briefly, recalling Mo Yunxiao's words, and said, "She said that the official's brushwork for this painting has the foundation of Huang Tingjian."

"Oh?" Zhao Ji's eyes lit up, he turned around in disbelief, and asked, "Did she really say that?"

"That's true." Zeng Bu chuckled and said, "I don't understand elegance, so I can't say such a thing."

Zhao Ji pondered for a while, then smiled again, and said while pacing, "It's wonderful! This matter is getting more and more interesting. Zhang Di, do you think so?"

Zhang Di stared blankly at the painting, and also marveled: "Interesting and interesting. I never thought that 'Female Yan Luo' would have such talent!"

Zhao Ji asked him with a smile: "In that case, how about I accept her into the palace?"

"This...is two different things!" Zhang Di straightened his face again and said, "How can the daughter of a cheap merchant and a criminal minister enter the palace?"

Zeng Bu said rightly, "What Zhang Neiguan said is true." In front of the young emperor and his servant Zhang Di, Zeng Bu deliberately avoided the word "old" in "husband".

"Although the Mo family was pardoned by the official's great grace, after all, they are wearing a sinful body, and they enter the palace rashly for fear of criticism from the government." Zeng Bu said: "Besides, folk women are vulgar and capricious, and don't know etiquette. Especially this Mo Yunxiao, She is twenty-eight years old, but she is still a "natural foot", and likes to ride horses into the downtown area. If such a woman enters the palace, I am afraid that the harem will be dissatisfied and cause unnecessary disputes between the harem. There will be no peaceful days in the future."

In the end, he was the privy envoy of the Song Dynasty, and his analysis of the problem was much more methodical and profound than that of Zhang Di.Zhao Ji couldn't refute for a while, so he sighed and said, "That's a pity."

Zeng Bu said, "However, I have a way to achieve both."

"Oh?" Zhao Ji's eyes lit up, and he asked quickly, "What method?"

"This woman cannot enter the palace for a while, but the officials can leave the palace in modest clothes." When Zeng Bu said this, Zhao Ji laughed and said, "Yes, yes! I can go out of the palace to see her."

"Ah?" Zhang Di was startled, he never expected Zeng Bu to do this.

(End of this chapter)