A Journey Through the Worlds of Film and Television

After a long time, the teacher came to the classroom of the calligraphy and painting academy. Lu Cheng followed the teacher and came to a classroom of the calligraphy and painting academy. He saw a man in his 30s with a refined appearance and a short beard sitting in the lecturer's seat in the classroom. The teacher immediately went up the mountain to pay his respects: "Your Majesty, Lu Cheng, Lu Shouxin has arrived."

"Student Lu Cheng, I pay my respects to your Majesty."

"No need to be polite, you are Lu Cheng? As expected, you are handsome and extraordinary."

In ancient times, the imperial examination and the appointment and removal of officials also depended on appearance. There is a famous article in the "New Book of Tang·Election System": There are four methods for selecting people. One is body, which means a magnificent body; the second is speech, which means dialectical speech; the third is writing, which means beautiful regular script; the fourth is judgment, which means excellent literary and logical skills.

In layman's terms, when selecting talents, we should not only look at a person's calligraphy, talent, and eloquence, but also look at your body and appearance.

Students who take the imperial examinations have to go through the "body, speech, writing, and judgment" stage, which is to see whether a person's body and appearance are handsome, whether his speech is fluent, etc.

According to historical records, during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song, there was a scholar named Wang Jiong who was not well-read, but had a "face as white as cold jade, a spirit as condensed as autumn water, and a very beautiful appearance". Emperor Shenzong of Song knew that he had no talent, but he still appointed him as an official despite the opposition of his ministers.

This shows how important a good appearance is.

On the contrary, if one has a rat-like face or pockmarks on his face, even if he is talented and knowledgeable, he may not be able to become an official in the end.

There is no doubt that Lu Cheng's good looks left a good first impression on Emperor Huizong of Song.

"Recently, I heard that a student named Lu Cheng painted a picture in Yuxiang Tower with a novel and unique painting style. I wonder if this Lu Cheng is you?"

"Go back, it should be the student."

"Then can you paint a picture on the spot? Just paint a portrait for me."

"Student obeys your order."

Painting for the emperor is not a simple matter. It cannot be blindly realistic. It must add a little artistic processing. It must show the extraordinary temperament and also show one's own painting skills.

Therefore, Lu Cheng was well prepared. He immediately went back to get the brush and paper, carefully observed Song Huizong, imprinted his appearance and demeanor in his mind, thought for a while, and then began to paint on the paper.

This time, Lu Cheng spent more time than painting for Li Shishi, but still completed a meticulous sketch in more than half an hour.

Song Huizong saw Lu Cheng lowering his head to paint, and stopped looking at him. He walked behind Lu Cheng and watched how Lu Cheng painted. Lu Cheng quickly and accurately painted his appearance on the paper, which gave Song Huizong a very special feeling.

After waiting for Lu Cheng to finish painting, Song Huizong nodded repeatedly: "Shou Xin's painting skills are indeed unique and ingenious. Tell me, how did you come up with this painting method?"

"Reporting to the emperor, I have liked calligraphy and painting since I was a child. One time, I picked up a half-burned wooden stick in front of the stove. Seeing that the charcoal in front of it was burned finely and evenly, I thought that I might be able to use it as a pen to draw on paper, so I tried it.

At first, I only drew some simple sketches of flowers, birds, insects and fish. Later, I found that the tip of the charcoal pencil was delicate and hard. Compared with the brush, it is more conducive to depicting detailed contours and shadows, and can use the shadows to depict a three-dimensional sense.

Later, I tried to use charcoal pencils to continuously draw eggs on paper. After drawing countless pairs of eggs, I mastered how to use charcoal pencils and began to draw figures."

Speaking, Lu Cheng casually drew an egg and a cube on the paper, which made Song Huizong exclaim: "It's really amazing. Shouxin has both wonderful ideas and perseverance. No wonder he can create such a unique painting method. It's really mysterious. Can you be my teacher and teach me this painting method?"

"I don't dare to be your teacher. I am willing to pass on this painting method to you. I also want to learn landscape, flower and bird painting from you."

"Well, not bad, not bad, it's rare that you have such a heart. Zhang Jiaoshi, you are also proficient in calligraphy and painting. What do you think of Shouxin's portrait painting?"

"To your majesty, this painting has both spirit and form, and it is extremely real. Although it does not depict all of your charm, it also depicts 30% of it, which is very rare. Moreover, this is a brand new painting method. Shouxin can be said to have pioneered it, which is really precious."

"In this case, should Shouxin be promoted to a senior student?"

"That's right."

Song Huizong nodded, took off another gold medal and handed it to Lu Cheng: "Keep your word, take this gold medal, I may summon you to the palace at any time to teach me this new way of painting."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

After that, Song Huizong asked some questions about sketching and charcoal making methods before leaving.

After Song Huizong left, the teachers of the academy immediately promoted Lu Cheng to an upper-class student, skipping from an outer-class student to an inner-class student.

In other words, Lu Cheng was now directly qualified to be appointed as an official.

Normal students would take at least three to five years to be promoted from an outer-class student to an inner-class student, but Lu Cheng only took less than two months.

After all, the emperor has the final say in this world, and no rules can beat the emperor's golden words.

Just like the current Gao Qiu, the Grand Commandant, who was just a scoundrel who played football on the street. He was noticed by Emperor Huizong of Song because he played football well and became a high-ranking official in the court.

Today, Lu Cheng is following a similar path to the Grand Commandant Gao who played football.

Although he has not yet become an official, he has many privileges after receiving the emperor's gold medal.

For example, the teachers in the Imperial Academy would greet Lu Cheng enthusiastically when they saw him. Many students began to curry favor with Lu Cheng after knowing that Lu Cheng had the emperor's gold medal.

Of course, Lu Cheng also maintained his usual low profile and humility. He did not become arrogant because of the gold medal. He was as polite to the teachers as always, and he often communicated and studied with the students.

Of course, it is impossible for others to keep a normal mind like Lu Cheng.

How many of these students and teachers dare to offend someone who can often talk to the emperor?

Some teachers who Lu Cheng had given gifts to before also took the initiative to buy some gifts and give them back to Lu Cheng.

In the morning, I was a farmer, and in the evening, I was in the emperor's palace.

Of course, Lu Cheng's mentality has always been calm, and he only respects the emperor superficially.

The next morning, not long after Lu Cheng arrived at the academy, he received a summons from the palace. He followed the eunuch through the pavilions and courtyards, crossed the palace walls, and entered the Song Dynasty Palace.

The Bianjing Palace of the Northern Song Dynasty was a rectangle that was short from east to west and long from north to south. After crossing the tall and majestic Xuande Building, bypassing the Purple Palace where the emperor attended court, and coming to the back garden, I saw Song Huizong painting in a pavilion in the back garden.

"Are you here to keep your promise? See how my garden is built? Every stone here is a rare stone collected from all over the world..."

Lu Cheng looked at the various stones in the yard, and didn't know how much money was spent and how many people were exhausted.

Of course, in front of the emperor, Lu Cheng had to praise him a little: "I have heard that your Majesty's Genyue Courtyard has countless rare stones and treasures from all over the world. Seeing them today, they are indeed extraordinary and magnificent..."