Imagine, even someone like Zhao Feiyan, who doesn't know much about painting, could see the profound and solitary artistic conception in this painting, let alone those who do know about painting.
When Chu Niansheng took her first traditional Chinese painting class, her teacher told her that if you want your painting to come alive, it must have its own unique artistic conception.
As a child painter, Chu Nian's paintings all have the artistic conception of being solitary, distant, cold, and lofty. The previous few paintings collected and exhibited by the Confucian Academy all have this artistic conception. Therefore, as soon as this painting of solitary chrysanthemum was taken out, some knowledgeable people recognized it as the work of Zuo An Shan Ren without even looking at its seal.
Bidding began quickly, and someone even bid over a thousand taels. Just as Zhao Feiyan was marveling at this, she heard someone on the second floor loudly proclaim, "Five thousand taels," with an air of certainty.
Zhao Feiyan whispered in Chu Nian's ear, "Sister, that voice sounds like it's coming from that private room on the second floor."
Chu Nian asked knowingly, "Which private room?"
Zhao Feiyan: "It's the elegant hall that the person we met at the city gate last time went into!"
Chu Nian chuckled and said, "You seem to pay a lot of attention to that person."
Zhao Feiyan blushed and said angrily, "Pah, I'm not talking to you anymore."
Unexpectedly, as soon as the bid of "five thousand taels" was announced, someone immediately followed up with a bid of "six thousand taels!" It was a woman, which made Chu Nian raise an eyebrow slightly.
The man continued bidding: "Seven thousand taels!"
The woman then shouted, "Eight thousand taels!"
...
Finally, the woman won the bid for the painting "Lone Chrysanthemum on a Cliff" for 12,000 taels of silver.
The prime minister and other high-ranking officials had also made bids, but they only made initial bids. Once the price reached two thousand taels, none of them made another one, which made Chu Nian take note.
With the abilities of these officials, tens of thousands of taels of silver would be no problem. Besides, didn't the Prime Minister go to beg Master Li for a piece of calligraphy and painting from Zuoan Shanren? How could he be reluctant to spend money?
They stopped bidding. Could it be that they all saw the man go upstairs? They didn't dare to raise the price because they were afraid of being suspected of embezzlement. After all, they couldn't possibly come up with that much money from their official salaries alone.
The reason why Madam Yang, a woman, dared to challenge and bid against this man was simply because she arrived after him and did not see that this gentleman had also come.
But if the man really was the emperor, he couldn't possibly not recognize his cousin and sister-in-law, yet he kept bidding higher and higher...
Chu Nian found it increasingly interesting as she pondered it, and a smile crept onto her lips. She had previously guessed that this small painting might fetch around seven or eight thousand taels of silver, but with these two challenging her, she had earned several thousand more!
"Sister, a small painting has already fetched a price of over ten thousand taels of silver. Aren't you very happy?" Zhao Feiyan noticed her smile and couldn't help but tease her with a smile.
Chu Nian didn't answer, but whispered, "The auction is over, let's go back!"
They came to see if the Yang family had taken the bait and successfully bid for the painting. Now that they had seen it, and the result was as Chu Nian had predicted, she had no interest in staying any longer. In any case, "Left Bank Mountain Man" had already handed everything over to Li Wenzhuang, and that guy would handle the rest.
Chu Nian received news in the evening that Madam Yang had won the bid for the "Lone Chrysanthemum on a Cliff" painting and then rode in a carriage to the palace.
Excellent, this is exactly the effect she wanted!
Yang Jie was the only nephew of Empress Dowager Dong, the current emperor's birth mother, and thus enjoyed her favor, making him untouchable in the capital. The Empress Dowager loved chrysanthemums and also admired paintings and poems about them. When Chu Nian painted this chrysanthemum painting, her intention was to have the Yang family present it to the Empress Dowager.
Although Yang Jie has not made a public appearance, it is the same as if his wife, Madam Li, has.
That night, the palace was in turmoil. The Empress Dowager suddenly had a headache while viewing a painting and summoned the imperial physicians. They discovered that the chrysanthemum painting presented by Lady Yang had been mixed with a special fragrance called "Wutong Snow." This fragrance usually had no effect on most people, but it could cause headaches and discomfort in some elderly people.
As a result, Lady Yang, who presented the painting, entered the palace a second time that very night, this time escorted by the Empress Dowager's personal guards. This terrified the usually domineering Lady Li. Lady Yang was handpicked by the Empress Dowager and had always been favored by her. It was unclear what she had done to offend the Empress Dowager, that the Empress Dowager would send people to arrest her in the middle of the night.
This matter also shocked Yang Jie. Fearing that Li Shi might have said something wrong, he eagerly followed the escort into the palace to pay his respects.
Upon arriving at the Empress Dowager's palace, they found that the Empress Dowager looked very unwell, and the Emperor was also there, his face so gloomy it was almost dripping with water.
Lady Yang was personally examined by the emperor.
Seeing her blank expression at the term "Wutong Snow," clearly unaware of its meaning, but after clearly explaining the origin of the painting, the Empress Dowager's expression softened considerably. She thought to herself, "Just as I expected, out of consideration for my deceased sister, I've been as good to this couple as I could possibly be. How could they possibly still be plotting against me?!"
However, it is true that the painting was presented by Lady Li, and it was the painting that caused her discomfort. So she asked the emperor to strip Lady Yang of her title as punishment, so as to prevent the officials from nagging the emperor about this matter.
"How could spices be mixed into such a beautiful painting?" The emperor felt that this matter was not simple and believed that the Yang couple should not be let off so easily.
He had disliked Yang Jie for a long time, but he couldn't get his mother to punish this scoundrel without finding out what serious wrong he had done!
Li's heart, which had just settled back into her stomach, jumped back into her throat. She quickly said, "Your Majesty, before this painting reached my hands, it passed through several hands. For example, the Confucian Academy sent it to the eldest son of the Confucian Academy. In addition, all of Zuo An Shan Ren's paintings originated from Cui Hong Lou..."
The emperor interrupted her, saying, "From what you're saying, someone knew all along that this painting would enter the palace?"
Yang Jie quickly said, "The Empress Dowager loves chrysanthemums, as well as paintings and poems about chrysanthemums. Almost everyone in the entire Eastern Chu Kingdom knows this. There's no guarantee that someone won't try to use this painting to harm the Empress Dowager."
The emperor pondered for a moment.
The Empress Dowager said, "If they really wanted to harm me, they wouldn't have only caused me headaches. However, I am truly curious as to why there are spices in that painting?"
Yang Jie: "When my wife brought the painting into the mansion, I examined it carefully and found no traces of tampering. Therefore, in my opinion, the spices in this painting were most likely added during the painting process or the paper manufacturing process."
The emperor then said to the eunuch serving beside him, "Take the painting back to the imperial physician for a careful examination to see if he can determine whether the snow on the paulownia tree is in the paint or in the paper."
"Yes," the eunuch replied, hurriedly taking the painting and leaving to find the imperial physician.
A short while later, the eunuch returned and reported, "Your Majesty, the imperial physician has examined the matter carefully again and confirmed that the Wutong Snow was likely mixed into the pigment."
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