Dao Fruit

"Excuse me, where does Mr. Qiu live?"

After noon, a man came to the alley outside the Qiu family's courtyard.

"Are you looking for Mr. Qiu?"

The neighbors were unexpectedly enthusiastic.

"Mr. Qiu is a great talent here, everyone knows him. Come with me, I'll take you there."

Compared with two years ago, the attitude of the neighbors has changed a lot. This is also because Qiu Yan's popularity is getting better and better. He is often talked about and praised. Even the people around the Qiu family feel that they have benefited from it and their status has risen. So they no longer despise him, but feel proud of him and praise him whenever they meet someone.

"From your appearance, you are not an ordinary person. I wonder what you want to talk to Mr. Qiu about? To be honest, the Dao test is coming soon, and Mr. Qiu has to study hard these days..." The neighbor who led the way noticed that the person asking for directions was well-dressed and had a temperament, so he couldn't help but ask.

"It's the prefect, who asked me to come and comfort Mr. Qiu."

The man who asked for directions had a mustache and a shrewd look in his eyes. He was using Mr. Sun in Zhang Zhen's house. He had been in Qingchang County for a few days. Because of Ma Yang and the imperial edict, he didn't take any action. However, he noticed Qiu Yan's reputation and knew that Qiu Yan wanted to keep his reputation. So when Ma Yang left, he wanted to visit him. He took advantage of the situation and raised the prefect's banner to help him.

"The prefect... the prefect!"

What he said was incredible. In Qingchang County, the county magistrate was already a high official. As for the prefect, in the minds of ordinary people, he was an even more high-ranking figure that ordinary people could not get in touch with at all.

The neighbor who led the way was startled, bent his back slightly, and asked cautiously: "I wonder if you and the prefect..."

Mr. Sun smiled slightly: "My surname is Sun, and I am the criminal secretary of the prefectural government."

"So it's the criminal lawyer, I'm sorry, sorry." The guide was about to salute, but was stopped by Mr. Sun.

"No need to be polite, leading the way is important."

The two walked all the way to the outside of the Qiu family yard. Mr. Sun went forward and knocked on the door. Soon the door opened and Liu Yue came out. When he saw Mr. Sun, he felt familiar at first, then he was startled and saluted quickly. After all, he had worked in the Pan Mansion and had seen this criminal lawyer before.

Mr. Sun still smiled and said, "No need to be polite. I came here to say hello to Qiu Yan on behalf of the prefect. Is he inside?"

"Sir, you came at an unfortunate time," Liu Yue looked embarrassed, "My cousin just packed his things and said he wanted to find a secluded place to review before the exam. He didn't leave any message, just said he would be back in a few days and asked me to look after the yard."

"That's really unfortunate," Mr. Sun shook his head, and then changed the subject, "By the way, I heard that Mr. Qiu is quite accomplished in calligraphy. I wonder if I can go in and take a look?"

"Calligraphy?" Liu The more he thought about it, the more he said, "My cousin does practice calligraphy every day, but he said that his calligraphy is not good enough to be framed, so he didn't keep any of it."

"Not a single one?" Hearing this, Mr. Sun, who had always been calm, finally changed color, "Did Zhang Zhen take them all?"

"How about, sir, come in and sit for a while? I'll go look for them?" Liu Yue tried to greet him, and Mr. Sun pondered for a moment and nodded. Originally, it was inconvenient for him to go in because the owner was not there, but he was thinking about Qiu Yan's calligraphy and it was difficult to refuse.

At the door, the neighbor who led the way took a breath of cold air when he saw Mr. Sun really enter the yard.

"Wow, this Qiu Sheng is really amazing. Not only the county magistrate, but even the prefectural magistrate thinks so highly of him..."

The county magistrate's favor for Qiu Yan has long been known to everyone, but now it seems that even the prefectural magistrate looks at Qiu Yan differently, which is undoubtedly more exciting.

Not long after, the news spread among the neighbors.

Half an hour later, Mr. Sun left the Qiu family yard with a look of regret. He found some handwriting in the study, but they were all books copied by Qiu Yan. It seemed that they were all used for study and research. He couldn't take them away without saying anything, right? He had to put them down reluctantly and went back in a bad mood.

When he returned to Zhang Zhen's house, Mr. Sun learned where Qiu Yan went. He actually entered Ma Yang's yard.

"You mean, someone is guarding outside the house and not allowing outsiders to enter? It's the order of the old prime minister?"

"Yes," Zhang Zhen nodded, "No matter how good the words are, they can't get in. The two guards are both famous martial arts instructors in the city. There are many apprentices. Some of them are powerful, but somehow they became guards. Don't think of using force. With the message from the old prime minister Ma, how many people dare to enter at will? As for Qiu Yan, it is said that he is so focused on reviewing that even the two guards can't go in and disturb him."

"This is bad." Mr. Sun looked unhappy.

Zhang Zhen hurriedly comforted him, "It's not a big deal, Uncle Sun, you have to go back, but I can stay. I will bring you and the prefect's greetings to Qiu Yan in a few days."

Mr. Sun glanced at him and nodded, "That's good. By the way, I heard that you have collected all of Qiu Yan's calligraphy. Let me open my eyes. What do you think?"

As soon as he said this, a flash of inspiration flashed through Zhang Zhen's mind, and he had an epiphany, and his face suddenly looked bad.

"You were embarrassed just now, I'm afraid it's not all because of the prefect's instructions..."

………………

At the same time, in the Ma family courtyard.

Qiu Yan sat quietly in the study, looking through several paintings on the table.

Ma Yang was not only a court elder, but also a great scholar in the literary world. He was very accomplished in both calligraphy and painting. In his early years, there were many anecdotes about calligraphy and painting circulating in the market.

Qiu Yan didn't know much about painting. If he wanted to learn painting skills, he had to have a wealthy family. Not to mention the pen, ink and paper, the paintings for copying were indispensable. Otherwise, how many people could learn without a teacher?

In two years, Qiu Yan had integrated the memories and knowledge of his previous life, and learned a lot from Ma Yang, but they were all practical knowledge. Painting skills were naturally not among them, and Ma Yang had no intention of giving him any advice in this regard.

Now Ma Yang left and temporarily handed the study to Qiu Yan for care. As a result, the latter saw three paintings on the table as soon as he entered the study.

The signatures of these three paintings were all Ma Yang's aliases.

At just one glance, Qiu Yan felt the extraordinaryness of these three paintings, and vaguely captured the faint atmosphere and artistic conception from them.

The contents of the three paintings are different.

The first painting is a mountain stream, with misty clouds, exuding an otherworldly atmosphere.

The second one is a painting of the court. Although the throne is not seen, one can still feel the majesty of the people in the wide robes and sleeves in the painting. They are all people who hold power and control the country.

The last one is a painting of a busy city, with tourists and merchants, bustling and vivid, as if the people in the painting may jump out at any time.

Qiu Yan felt the wishes of the people in this third painting!

"Three paintings, three artistic conceptions, reflecting three completely different breaths and thoughts. I won't say much about the old prime minister's painting skills. The charm of the painting alone is extraordinary. If a Taoist practitioner were to paint, I don't know how much effort it would take to achieve the same realm. Especially this third picture, it gives me the feeling that..."

He thought to himself, reached into his arms and took out the travel notes.

"...It's somewhat similar to the picture on the last page of this book "New World Observations."

He flipped the travel notes to the last page, and then Qiu Yan's heart jumped, and then the whole study room shook!

Then, all the auras and thoughts on the three pictures left by Ma Yang were pulled and gathered towards the pictures in the travel notes!