Dong...
Dong...
The distant city bell resounded through Yun'an, and the palace gates opened one after another.
The Empress of the Great Wei Dynasty usually held court once every five days. There was no early court meeting today, so the scene of civil and military officials entering the palace gates could not be seen. Only a few courtiers waiting for summons were waiting in the Qifeng Pavilion on the side of the Taiji Hall.
Outside the Imperial Study Room behind the Taiji Hall, eunuchs and palace maids stood quietly and solemnly. In the magnificent and spacious study room, there were only a few sticks of incense burning.
The Empress of the Great Wei Dynasty, dressed in a red home dress, leaned against the imperial concubine's couch. A stack of memorials was placed on the small table beside her. She held a golden pen and carefully reviewed them.
Behind the desk not far away, Dongfang Liren, dressed in a python robe, sat upright on the chair and read a book carefully.
The cover of the book was very simple and formal, and the content inside was also relatively implicit, but it was accompanied by many illustrations explaining the postures...
There was a hint of strangeness between Dongfang Liren's eyebrows. When she came across the pages with pictures, she quickly flipped past them.
Shasha...
The Imperial Study Room was completely silent, only the slight rustling sound of the pages being turned could be heard.
The Empress approved a few memorials and noticed that the frequency of Dongfang Liren turning the pages of the book was abnormal. She gently asked:
"Liren, what are you reading?"
Tears of the Chivalrous Woman...
After hearing Ye Jingtang's words, Dongfang Liren became interested in this famous miscellaneous book in the martial arts world and specially found it to take a look, to see if it was all about love.
As a result, after reading it all night, it was indeed about the love between men and women, but the illustrations were a bit too detailed. Even the sexual matters were depicted vividly. The strange and various ways of making love almost shattered her三观.
However, this miscellaneous book was interesting and realistic, so she sat here in the early morning and skimmed through it.
Seeing that her elder sister was suspicious, Dongfang Liren calmly closed the book:
"It's just some trivial matters sorted out by my subordinates. There's nothing important."
The Empress, who had risen to her current position, was not so easily deceived. Having grown up with her younger sister since childhood, just by observing the slight strangeness in Dongfang Liren's behavior, she knew that the book was by no means as simple as trivial matters.
But facing her own younger sister, the Empress was still very tolerant. She changed the subject and asked:
"Are you still angry with me?"
When Dongfang Liren saw that her elder sister had brought the matter out in the open, her face showed displeasure:
"Do you still know? I've only known Ye Jingtang for a few days. I just admired his talent and wanted to reuse him. But look what happened. You tricked me and him into the Canyang Pool without listening to any explanation, causing me to... Is this something an elder sister should do?"
The Empress supported her side face with her hand and looked at her playfully:
"Just wanting to reuse him?"
Dongfang Liren said seriously: "Ye Jingtang protected me. I do admire him and remember his kindness. But just because of this, he can't be my consort. What about the guards of the Black Yamen? For my lifelong major event, I'm still considering whether to have further contact with Ye Jingtang. But you directly added fuel to the fire and rushed things, bringing the matter to this point..."
The Empress slightly raised her hand to stop her younger sister's words: "Alright, just consider it as your elder sister making decisions on her own and interfering in your private affairs. You can think about this matter slowly, and I won't interfere. Ye Jingtang has an excellent bone structure and is a great talent in martial arts. Whether you like him or not, don't push him away, lest you raise a tiger to your own peril and another troublesome figure like the Heavenly Pacifying Sect Leader emerges."
Dongfang Liren was slightly surprised: "Does Ye Jingtang have the potential to be comparable to Xue Baijin?"
The Empress blinked her eyes: "It seems I was indeed too hasty. You really don't know much about Ye Jingtang."
"Do you know him well then?"
"Just from the punch he threw at you in the Jingfu Palace that day, I could already tell roughly. There was no technique at all, just pure talent."
Dongfang Liren thought back for a moment and her face became serious:
"Is that so?"
The Empress put down the memorials, picked up the teacup and took a sip. Her eyes showed helplessness:
"Forget it. It's really tiring to talk about this with you. You might as well continue reading your book."
"..."
Dongfang Liren felt her elder sister's attitude of "an unteachable block of wood". Her clothes bulged with anger and she really wanted to retort, but she didn't dare. In the end, she simply put away the book and left with a flick of her sleeves.
"Where are you going?"
"To pay my respects to the Empress Dowager."
-----
In the Empress Dowager's Palace on the northwest side of the Imperial City.
The summer cicadas chirped continuously. The idle palace maids mostly took a rest in the corridors. The Empress Dowager, who had the habit of going to bed late and getting up late all year round, was still in her bedroom at this time.
Going to bed late was because she lived in seclusion in the deep palace, feeling helpless and tossing and turning unable to fall asleep. And getting up late wasn't because she hadn't slept enough and was lingering in bed.
In the silent hall, the palace maid Hongyu leaned in the connecting room and flipped through a miscellaneous book in boredom.
In the bedroom, all the items were neatly arranged. There was also a painting drawn by the Empress Dowager on the wall - a person carrying a fat chicken, seemingly a peddler selling chickens with a price tag in a market...
The Empress Dowager, dressed in a thin gauze nightgown, sat cross-legged on the magnificent phoenix bed. Her head was upright, her body was straight, her mouth was slightly closed, her tongue touched the roof of her mouth, her eyes were half-closed with lowered eyelids, and her hands naturally rested on her legs.
This sitting meditation posture was much more standard than the one Ye Jingtang had blindly pondered. As a result, the originally beautiful and charming Empress Dowager actually exuded a trace of an otherworldly aura.
The Empress Dowager was born into the Qin family, a prestigious military family in Jiangzhou. She also practiced martial arts in her childhood. Her mother doted on her and specially took her to Lu Taiqing, one of the "Two Saints", to learn skills.
These Taoist health-preserving methods were learned during that time, and it was also during those days that she met her close female friend, the True Person Xuanji.
Unfortunately, in the end, Lu Taiqing said that she "had too much worldly desire" and didn't let her become a nun. Not long after leaving Yuxu Mountain, she was selected by the court and became the Empress of the Great Wei Dynasty.
Then, on the way to the capital, the late Emperor passed away. In order to win over the noble families in Jiangzhou to consolidate the imperial power, the Crown Prince still honored her as the Empress Dowager even though she had never met the late Emperor.
Not long after, the Qin family had the merit of supporting the new emperor when the Empress forced the previous emperor to abdicate. So after the Empress came to power, she still honored the Empress Dowager as her mother. It could be said that the emperors came and went, but the empress dowager remained a constant presence.
This experience was too tragic. With the mentality of "the sooner I die, the sooner I'm free", the Empress Dowager had long forgotten these things related to preserving health and prolonging life.
However, a few years ago, when she was bored and asked the palace maids to set up a swing under the ginkgo tree in the back garden, Hongyu suddenly found a rusty iron box buried under the floor tiles.
She thought it was something a concubine from a previous dynasty had buried as a token of her lovesickness. When she opened it, she found a piece of golden paper inside.
She had seen the "Jade Bone Qilin Picture" in the palace and immediately recognized it as the "Golden Phoenix Rising from the Flames Picture" in the "Roaring Dragon Picture". As for who had buried it under the ginkgo tree, she had no idea.
It was said that if one practiced the "Picture of Rising from the Flames" to its highest level, they could "heal their own wounds and regenerate severed limbs". As long as they weren't killed in one blow, they simply couldn't be killed.
Among those who walked in the martial arts world, few didn't have hidden injuries on their bodies. In the hearts of many people with physical disabilities, a complete body was even more important than immortality. The significance of this picture was thus imaginable.
After obtaining this item, the Empress Dowager was naturally delighted. She went to the ginkgo tree every day to pray, thanking the ginkgo tree for bringing a turning point to her not-so-happy life.
But her good luck seemed to end there.
Since obtaining the "Picture of Rising from the Flames", she hadn't encountered any smooth sailing in her life.
She had been practicing this picture for many years. She felt that she had mastered it, but she couldn't figure out what use this seemingly powerful secret technique had.
This picture was said to be able to heal wounds and regenerate severed limbs, but the prerequisite was that one had to be injured!
She had been pampered since childhood, and after entering the palace, she was surrounded by attendants. Even when she was sleeping, the palace maids were afraid that the bed would be too hard and hurt her. How could she possibly get injured?
In order to verify the authenticity of the secret technique, she once secretly scratched her arm with a small knife.
As a result, the wound healed really quickly, but it also hurt really badly. Moreover, Hongyu thought she was trying to commit suicide, and the Empress and the Prince Jing all came to show their concern.
After thinking it over, the only function of this "Roaring Dragon Picture" might be to leave her a healthy body after her death...
And she was likely to live out her days in the deep palace without any illness or disaster until the limit of her lifespan. She might even live longer than Fengguan City, who was 120 years old...
"Sigh..."
Thinking of the long but predictable lonely years, the Empress Dowager opened her eyes and let out a long sigh.
She turned her head to look at the chicken-selling peddler in the painting on the wall, and her mind couldn't help but recall the cold and handsome young master who had accidentally entered the palace pavilion a few days ago.
She was seen with this painting the day before yesterday. I wonder if he misunderstood something...
Although it was just a small matter that an ordinary person would forget as soon as they turned around, the Empress Dowager's life was so boring that such a small unexpected incident was enough for her to remember it in her heart for a long, long time.
While she was lost in her thoughts, footsteps suddenly sounded outside the bedroom. A figure strode in, with heavy footsteps and looking rather angry.
The Empress Dowager raised her eyes and saw that it was Liren, dressed in a python robe. She originally wanted to pretend to be asleep leaning on the phoenix bed, but she immediately realized something was wrong. She quickly got up in a hurry, ran barefoot to the wall, and tried to take down the painting.
"Empress Dowager, what are you..."
Dongfang Liren entered the bedroom and saw the Empress Dowager in a nightgown, barefoot and disheveled, standing on tiptoe to take down the painting on the wall.
But because the painting was hung a bit high, she couldn't reach the hanging rope, and she froze by the wall.
"Uh..."
The Empress Dowager had an embarrassed expression and didn't dare to turn her head.
Tatata...
Dongfang Liren walked slowly to her side, raised her hand, and helped the Empress Dowager take down the painting. She held it in her hand and took a brief look... The grievances she had suffered from her elder sister just now disappeared by half in an instant!
Huh, what on earth is this painting...
It's about on a par with my elder sister...
The Empress Dowager's beautiful face was filled with embarrassment. She didn't dare to look at Dongfang Liren's expression and said softly:
"Well, I was just painting casually when I had nothing to do..."
"I can tell."
"Ah? You can tell? Well..."
Dongfang Liren really didn't want to dampen the Empress Dowager's enthusiasm for painting. She scanned the painting and her eyes were full of praise:
"Although it's a casual work done in leisure time, it has the style of a master. The artistic conception of 'the hard life of ordinary people in the marketplace' really comes to life on the paper..."
?
The Empress Dowager was taken aback. She raised her eyes to glance at her masterpiece, then looked at Dongfang Liren, who was full of praise. Her eyes first showed relief, and then gradually turned into a look of grievance and resentment:
"Liren, this painting is imitated from the one in your study, the very handsome young master with a big bird..."
??
Dongfang Liren's praising expression froze. She carefully examined the painting again...
Is there any connection?
Apart from a person and a bird, does the composition, artistic conception, or painting skills have anything in common?
If Ye Jingtang looked like this, then when he peeked at her taking a bath the day before yesterday, he probably wouldn't have been able to walk out of the Canyang Pool standing...
However, seeing the Empress Dowager pursing her lips and looking on the verge of depression, Dongfang Liren reacted quickly and nodded slightly:
"I can tell. Hmm... When I painted that painting, Ye Jingtang had just entered the capital. He only had two taels of silver in his pocket and even had problems with his meals. Hmm... My original intention was to paint 'the difficulties of ordinary people making a living when they first enter the capital'. But unfortunately, my painting style was too lofty and distant from the common people, not grounded enough, and I didn't manage to convey it. The Empress Dowager's painting is just right. It's wonderful."
"..."
The Empress Dowager wasn't stupid and had self-awareness. She could tell that Liren was flattering her.
But even so, there must be a little bit of truth in the flattery, right?
The Empress Dowager was overjoyed and leaned forward to examine it carefully:
"Really? Can you tell who it is?"
Dongfang Liren really wanted to praise it a few more times, but she couldn't think of anything more to say. So she smiled and said:
"Appreciating a painting requires a certain level of taste. Everyone has their own opinion. I can recognize it at a glance."
The Empress Dowager was half-believing: "Hmm... If the person in the painting saw this painting, do you think he could recognize himself?"
I don't think so...
Dongfang Liren really didn't want to make the Empress Dowager, who had suffered from the loneliness of the deep palace for many years, unhappy. After thinking for a moment, she said:
"He's just a martial artist. How could he understand the artistic conception in the Empress Dowager's painting? But if he looks carefully, he should be able to recognize himself."
Ah...
The Empress Dowager pondered for a moment and then smiled:
"I still think your painting is beautiful. I've always wanted to learn, but I haven't grasped the essence. Why don't you call that guard here and let him stand outside so that I can practice my painting skills?"
Dongfang Liren rarely saw the Empress Dowager showing interest in the four arts of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, so she didn't refuse:
"Ye Jingtang has some family matters and needs to leave the capital for a while. When he comes back, I'll ask him to come over and let the Empress Dowager paint for a few days."
The Empress Dowager was very happy to be flattered. She wasn't in a hurry either. Maybe she was afraid of embarrassing herself at that time, so she took Dongfang Liren's arm and walked towards the garden:
"Alright. I'm really interested in painting recently. You stand there first and let me paint a few pictures of beautiful women. You can also help me appreciate and give some pointers..."
Pictures of beautiful women...
Dongfang Liren wasn't sure if she could tell whether the people in the Empress Dowager's paintings were male or female.
But experiencing the superiority of being a strong person here was better than feeling frustrated in front of her elder sister or Ye Jingtang, so she didn't refuse...