Chapter 115 What Good Luck
Although he was surprised, Yuanxiang did not show any surprise on his face, nor did he look around. He just replied "yes" in a low voice, then quietly left the crowd and went downstairs.
"Don't let the guests leave this building easily within an hour." Yuan Xiang sternly instructed his subordinates who were guarding downstairs, "If anyone insists on leaving, secretly send someone to follow and watch them, and don't let them talk nonsense."
This is the intention of General Chang, and also the instruction of the Grand Commander.
Before the situation becomes clear, all sounds in Dengtai Tower must be stopped within this door, and not a single word can be leaked out.
After explaining this matter, Yuan Xiang named a few trusted men to follow him, and the group of people quickly disappeared in the noisy summer night.
Not long after Yuanxiang left, a young man with a white face and no beard came to Dengtai Tower.
The servants guarding the first floor had a rough idea of what had happened upstairs. When they were about to apologize and stop the person, they saw the other party taking out an invitation.
"I came here at the order of my household attendant..."
Sigongtai Yu Changshi?
When the servant heard this and saw the invitation, he bowed respectfully and invited the person upstairs.
The visitor was Yu Zeng's confidant, so he was certainly not a stupid person. As soon as he entered the second floor, he noticed that the atmosphere was different. He saw many people gathered in the center of the second floor for some reason. Before he could investigate, he found Chang Kuo first.
"General Chang, my servant has told me..."
Chang Kuo was so worried that he didn't care about him. He waved his hand to interrupt him and sent him away: "If you have anything to say, tell Qiao Yang!"
The young eunuch had no choice but to find Qiao Yang.
Qiao Yang stood at the innermost part of the crowd, or rather, right next to the desk where Chang Suining was painting.
Seeing the familiar eunuch, he temporarily stepped back and asked in a low voice: "What's the matter?"
"My housekeeper ordered me to come and tell you that the sage has sent Ms. Ming out of the palace to come here privately to appreciate the poems and essays..."
Qiao Jijiu understood immediately and nodded, "I understand. Just tell him to rest assured."
Some writers who think they are the only ones sober while everyone else is drunk always like to use poetry meetings to make some inappropriate splashes, or act crazy and speak wildly when drunk - after they act crazy, they leave the mess for the host to clean up afterwards.
As the chief academic officer of the Imperial College, he was well aware of this, and Sui Ning had reminded him of this as early as when the apprenticeship banquet was transformed into a poetry gathering.
Therefore, he instructed those diligent students to stand guard in various places early in the morning and keep an eye out for any crazy talk. If they heard any crazy talk, they should remind and dissuade them. If anyone insisted on causing trouble, they would not be sent away.
As for the poems that were recorded and copied down, there were also people responsible for checking them to ensure that nothing suggestive would be circulated.
Seeing that he was confident and had a plan in place, the eunuch who came to deliver Yu Zeng's message was relieved and asked, "Madam Chang, are you... painting?"
But the situation and atmosphere don't seem to be simple.
"This is not painting." Qiao Jijiu's tone was sighing and helpless: "I am being forced to 'prove' my so-called innocence."
The eunuch was startled when he heard this.
Before he could ask any more questions, Qiao Jijiu had already walked back.
Yao Yi, who was standing behind the young girl who had just started painting at the desk, asked Qiao Jijiu in a low voice: "Jijiu, how is Madam Chang's painting?"
Qiao Jijiu shook his head.
Yao Yi frowned slightly: "It's hard to say?"
Or is it really not good enough? Qiao Jijiu sighed, "I don't know."
Yao Yi: “?”
Did the teacher not even have the most basic understanding of the students? Qiao Jijiu sighed again: "It's not even a few days since we started teaching... It's just the beginning, nothing more than reading history, reciting poems, fishing..."
Yao Yi: “…”
Got it.
Especially when I heard the last one, I completely understood it.
Therefore, Qiao Jijiu, as a teacher, felt the same as him at this moment -
Yao Yi looked at the girl's back worriedly.
Not sure what she could draw.
But he has a lesson to share...
Those who are good at fighting are usually a little lacking in literary virtues... Of course there are people who are both civil and martial, but the fact that they are singled out and a word is coined to praise them just shows how rare they are.
Yao Yi took another look at the half-rolled red bean picture in the man's arms.
I didn't expect to astound everyone. After all, these four people were not ordinary people. If I wanted to astound these people, I had to be at least a Minister of Wei.
So, I just hope she is telling the truth...
Right now, I'm afraid only the truth can break this situation.
Yao Yi looked at Chang Suining worriedly.
He naturally knew that a woman's reputation was very important, but he knew even more clearly that for her, there was something far more important than a woman's reputation tonight -
That is, she must not lose her credibility in front of the scholars and leave a bad impression on them that she was exposed for lying and making excuses.
She might not realize how crucial this point is.
Since she said that the picture of red beans was not painted by her, then it must not have been painted by her.
otherwise……
This apprenticeship banquet would become a broken bridge, blocking her and leaving her with no possibility of moving forward.
This way he wouldn't have to make any more choices and all he had to do was keep her safe.
Thinking of this possibility, Yao Yi felt mixed emotions. Although he couldn't say which of the two choices was right or wrong at the moment, it would be a pity if he lost his choice so early.
Although the crowd of onlookers were curious, they still knew their limits and did not get too close to the girl who was painting so as not to disturb her.
At this time, only Yao Xia and a few other girls who were in charge of writing were around Chang Suining.
But even if you are not close, you can still see that the girl who is painting first sketches a simple outline on the rice paper that is spread across the entire desk.
Those outlines should also fill the entire piece of rice paper.
Seeing this, everyone had some guesses in their minds.
With such a large composition, is it to paint a landscape in ink and wash? Is it to deliberately avoid the ink painting of a girl with red beans that has too much of a boudoir atmosphere?
Mrs. Xie stood in front of a group of women, quietly looking at the girl who seemed to be seriously sketching the long outlines.
Wanting to be closer to the majestic landscape, choosing ink and avoiding color ink, what else can this be but a guilty conscience? It would be too naive to think that you can get away with it just by doing this.
"Sister Chang, do you need anything else?" Seeing Chang Suining temporarily stop writing and look at the desk, Yao Xia asked in a low voice.
"Colored ink." Chang Suining said.
Chang Sui, who was standing by, said, "Cai Mo... I'll go get it!"
Mrs. Xie frowned slightly because she felt that her guess was different.
There was a burst of unexpected discussion all around.
"I still want to do color ink painting..."
"It is not easy to apply color and ink to such a huge landscape..."
When people painted landscapes at that time, especially large-scale landscapes, they mostly used ink and wash.
Firstly, this is the mainstream of landscape painting nowadays. Secondly, colored ink is rare and precious, and it is not something that ordinary poor scholars can afford on a daily basis, let alone spend money on huge paintings.
When the art of painting first began, there were only the colors of ink and water.
After that, there were more common plant colors such as blue and green.
As for the real spread of colored ink, it has only been in the past few decades.
Although it is no longer rare, and there are many outstanding color ink paintings, people at that time were really good at ink painting, especially when painting landscapes.
Ink-and-wash landscapes are easier to create natural artistic conception, but if it is a colored landscape, the color matching is particularly important. If one's color skills or natural aesthetics are insufficient, it will not only fail to add color, but will also make it look redundant and chaotic, which is truly superfluous.
Just looking at the picture of the girl with red beans, the use of colors is not very clever, but it just looks bright. To be fair, the painting skills are not too surprising, and you can tell at a glance that it is a work of a girl.
But now, this girl who is in the vortex of "self-affirmation" has chosen a huge color ink landscape painting. If she wants to really paint such a picture well, both the experience and talent of color ink painting are indispensable.
Regardless of how much ability he has, he has shown his courage in front of everyone! Being courageous is not a bad thing, but if the ability cannot support the courage, then he will inevitably end up being laughed at for not knowing his own limitations.
Listening to the discussions around her, Wei Miaoqing became inexplicably nervous. Then she looked at Chang Suining who was being stared at by countless eyes, and she felt worried for him - if it were her turn to draw, with so many people staring at her, she would probably not be able to draw even a bird dropping!
Thinking that Chang Suining's drawings would be awful, she felt embarrassed for others! But the embarrassment was only mild...
This painting is about Chang Suining's reputation and innocence.
Thinking about this, Wei Miaoqing couldn't help but ask, "Brother, don't you want to go and take a look?"
"What can I do? There are so many eyes watching, and I can't paint for her." Wei Shuyi's face was relaxed: "Too many people will surround her, she will feel uncomfortable."
He felt that Madam Chang's calmness did not seem to be fake.
Therefore, in his eyes, there will be no second outcome.
Dengtai Tower was not a shabby place, and Chang Sui'an quickly found a full range of colored inks for his sister.
Chang Kuo urged the servant beside him: "What are you standing there for? Why don't you bring a chair over?"
"Why move a chair?" Qiao Jijiu glanced at Chang Kuo, an amateur, and said, "You have to stand up to paint."
The painter has to stand so that he can see the outline and composition of the painting.
At this time, a servant came over quickly, bowed, and whispered, "Master, Miss Ming is here... but she came in casual clothes, saying that she didn't want to disturb the guests in the building."
Qiao Jijiu had just received the news, so he did not react much at this time. He just said, "Then there is no need to make it public. Just invite the person up."
"yes."
The servant boy quickly went downstairs to call for help.
A graceful woman wearing an autumn-scented dress and a gauze veil on her head went up to the second floor with her maid.
Someone upstairs took a second look, but was too busy to find out the woman's identity.
Behind the hanging veil, those eyes swept across the scene in the building.
No one was discussing poetry, and not even a few were drinking. People were standing or watching everywhere, but it was clear that most of their attention was focused on the enclosed area in the center of the building.
Ming Luo sat down, his eyes fixed on the disheveled man holding the painting for a moment, not understanding what was going on.
The maid beside her understood and quickly found out the details from the crowd.
The maid turned back and whispered to Ming Luo what had happened. Finally, she said, "…Mrs. Chang is currently painting to prove her innocence."
After hearing this, Ming Luo's eyebrows moved slightly behind the veil.
This Madam Chang acts too ostentatiously, so it is inevitable that she offends people...It is not surprising that she encountered such trouble today.
She subconsciously looked around at the people present.
Seeing that Mrs. Jie was also there, there was a hint of thought in her eyes.
The next moment, as her sight shifted slightly, she saw a familiar young man.
Ming Luo frowned slightly.
She was not someone who was kept out of touch with the news, so she naturally knew that Cui Jing had also come to the apprenticeship banquet, but what she had never expected was that he had not left yet.
He has never been one to like joining in the fun, and it is rare for him to allow himself to be in such a noisy environment for a long time.
But this is not the first time he has made an exception.
At this time, two students came over and blocked her view.
They had obviously received instructions from Qiao Jijiu. Although they knew Ming Luo's identity, they did not make it public. They only placed the poem in their arms on the small table in front of Ming Luo and whispered, "These are the poems written by the guests today. Please appreciate them, Madam."
Ming Luo nodded slightly: "Thank you for your help."
The two bowed and left.
She did not forget the purpose of her trip and focused her attention on reading the new poems.
After flipping through dozens of articles one after another, Ming Luo had an idea in his mind.
Too clean -
Both these poems and the act of presenting them to her.
But it is impossible to be so clean and beautiful.
Obviously, he tried to avoid any trouble.
This is not surprising. Qiao Yang is the chief academic officer of the Imperial College. Although he seems a little out of place on the surface, he was once a top scholar and served as a military advisor to the late crown prince. How could he be careless and reckless when it comes to sensitive matters?
Ming Luo closed the poetry book, a silent sneer flashing across his eyes.
The saint asked her to come here just to check for any omissions.
Since Qiao Jijiu did such a great job, she would be able to better report to the Saint, which was naturally not a bad thing.
Ming Luo looked towards where the crowd was gathered.
What made her want to sneer was that no matter how willful and mischievous some people were, there was always someone behind the scenes to take care of everything for them.
Whether this apprenticeship banquet turned into a poetry gathering, or his previous arrogant behavior, in the final analysis, he was just relying on others to support him.
But the really funny thing is that Yuan is just an orphan.
Just because he was picked up by the late Crown Prince, he received these benefits and favors that others could not get.
What good luck...
But no matter how much good luck you have, if you don't know how to cherish and make good use of it, it will be wasted.
For example, at this time——
She was very curious whether the other party's good luck could support him to break out of this dilemma that he was obviously prepared for.
Ming Luo sat and waited.
Until she heard some surprised and curious sounds above her head.
“Eh…”
"this……"
On the second floor, although everyone gathered in front, no one got too close to Chang Suining, so they couldn't really see what she was drawing.
In contrast, those who were on the third floor and looking down could see the image described by the girl clearly.
At this moment, those voices of surprise came from their mouths.
The reason why people are surprised is because they see something unexpected.
Qiao Jijiu and Yao Yi, who were standing behind Chang Suining, both noticed something different and took a few steps forward at the same time, looking intently at the drawing paper spread out neatly on the desk.
At first glance, Qiao Jijiu was suddenly stunned.
Good night everyone, I should be able to finish writing this plot tomorrow! (End of this chapter)
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