Meng Zhizhou looked at the portrait his daughter made for him, and he couldn't believe his eyes.

I saw that the painting showed me with a long chin, crooked mouth and slanted eyes, a flat nose and thick eyebrows, a beard like a random grass growing wantonly, and several black moles between the beards, which were very eye-catching, and the whole person was extremely ugly.

"You're painting me?" Meng Zhizhou looked dazed, and couldn't help but reach out and touch his chin, nose, and face.

"Who else could it be, if it's not you!" The daughter put down the brush and looked at her father's face with a serious face.

The maid who had been accompanying her, seeing the old man's expression, although she covered her mouth with her hand, she still laughed out loud.

The daughter turned her head, and a sharp look shot at her, and the maid immediately put her hand down, but the flesh on her little face kept shaking because of the smile.

When Meng Zhizhou saw the expressions of the two of them, and then realized that his daughter was doing something wrong, his face suddenly turned cold, he threw the portrait on the table, and said angrily: "Nonsense! ”

The daughter observed the words and looks, and instantly knew that her father was really angry, so she immediately went over and hugged his arm and said coquettishly: "Dad, my daughter is just joking with you, don't be angry, my daughter will never make a joke about her father in the future, and my father will forgive my daughter once, okay?" ”

Meng Zhizhou said angrily: "Dad is an official of the imperial court, how can you be so blasphemous!" Look at what you're drawing, is it Dad? ”

The daughter shook her head again and again and said, "No, Dad is much better looking than in the painting." ”

"That is, compared with this portrait, the lord is one in the sky and the other is underground." The maid was on the side to help.

"What heaven and earth, is this cursing me?" Meng Zhizhou turned his face to look at the maid.

As soon as the maid saw the old man's face, she knew that she had said the wrong thing, knelt down with a "poof", shook her head again and again, and said, "No, no, the maid doesn't mean that!" ”

"Dad, what are you doing, you scared Qing'er!" As soon as the daughter pulled his father's sleeve, she immediately spoke up.

"No dinner at night!" After Meng Zhizhou finished speaking, he withdrew his eyes.

"Yes, sir, the servant is wrong!" The maid cried.

"Get up." Meng Zhizhou's attention fell on the portrait on the table again, shook his head and sighed: "Daughter, Dad gave you a chance, and you painted like this, which disappointed Dad very much." ”

After that, he was about to walk out the door.

"Qing'er, bring me the "Beauty Under the Moon" I painted." The daughter let go of her father's arm and turned to the maid.

The maid lifted her sleeve to wipe away her tears, and walked briskly back to the inner room.

Hearing his daughter's words, Meng Zhizhou's feet that he had just lifted were put down again, and he wanted to see what kind of beauty his daughter could draw.

After a few moments, the maid took out a picture rolled up together from the inner room.

The daughter took it, unfolded it on the table, and said with a smile: "Dad, how is it, can you see it?" ”

Looking at the picture of the beauty on the table, Meng Zhizhou lost his mind for a while, and when he heard his daughter's question, he looked away and replied lightly: "It's okay." ”

The daughter exclaimed, "Dad, is this called okay?" Daughter, this is a picture of a beauty, do you know who the painting is? My daughter painted Chang'e Fairy! ”

Meng Zhizhou coughed dryly and said, "Fairy Chang'e is Fairy Chang'e, but your painting is really average." ”

"Dad said it's average. Qing'er, put it away, let's go back to the house and continue to paint beauties. The daughter felt that his father would not appreciate it, so she did not want him to look at it anymore, so she took the painting and walked towards the inner room.

"Wait, you really drew this beautiful picture?" Meng Zhizhou stopped her and asked.

The daughter stopped and asked with a smile: "Dad, who else can paint in this backyard besides my daughter?" ”

"Okay, Dad will give you another chance, you draw another portrait, if you draw a portrait, Dad will believe you!" Meng Zhizhou said with a smile.

"Okay, who to draw? Dad, do you still draw you? When it came to painting, my daughter was suddenly eager to try again, and she was inexplicably excited.

Meng Zhizhou said with a smile: "What does my father do, but my father can't see himself." Put on a veil and come with Daddy, and find someone to paint for you. ”

"Where are you going?" The daughter asked expectantly.

"Front."

The daughter was very excited when she heard this, and quickly began to pack up the pen and ink and rice paper for painting.

And Meng Zhizhou quietly put the painting his daughter had just given him into his sleeve when they were packing up their painting tools.

After everything was cleaned up, the three of them walked towards the front office.

Yang Congyi lived in a clean house, and he couldn't sleep, because it was too hot.

Taking advantage of this time, he told him about the affairs of Nanjianzhou that Meng Zhizhou told him, as well as what he had seen, heard, thought and thought, and wrote them all several times, and finally found that even if the bandits were caught, it would still be difficult to break through the chaos in Nanjianzhou, because the chaos had existed for several years, it was not a local chaos, and the root cause might be in Lin'an.

As soon as it was sold, it was 30,000 taels of local products, and over the years it has guarded several silver mines, and it is estimated that there is not a small amount of silver sent out, where can it be sent? It is conceivable that it is either Fuzhou or Lin'an.

"Lord Yang, Lord Zhizhou, please take a trip."

While I was thinking about it, someone from outside the house called, knowing that the painter must have arrived, so I put away the package, got up and walked out of the house.

The official took him and soon came to a relatively empty courtyard and walked into a transparent and bright room.

As soon as he entered the room, he saw Meng Zhizhou sitting on the side, and immediately stepped forward and said, "My lord, the painter has found it?" ”

Meng Zhizhou smiled: "Well, there is a painter." After saying that, he turned his head and glanced to the side.

"Then hurry up and draw it, a dozen of them will take a long time to paint." After Yang Congyi finished speaking, he followed Meng Zhizhou's eyes.

I saw a bookcase not far away, in front of which sat a woman in a green robe and a silk scarf masked, and next to the woman stood a maid who was also masked.

"Let's draw a portrait of Lord Yang first." Meng Zhizhou commanded.

The painter nodded slightly, but was speechless.

"Why do you want to paint a portrait of a lower official?" Yang Congyi was a little puzzled, the portrait was very time-consuming, and there were more than a dozen bandits, and they were painted one by one, and I didn't know when they would be painted.

Meng Zhizhou said: "The official doesn't know how the painter's painting is, let her try to draw one first, if not, don't waste time." ”

Since there was such an arrangement, Yang Congyi didn't want to say anything, so he approached the bookcase and sat down upright on a chair a zhang away.

The painter on the opposite side adjusted the pen and ink, and after looking at him carefully for a while, he picked up the pen and drew on the paper.

In the past, when he was in school, he paid for a sketch in the park, and he sat still for half an hour, or even an hour, but he had the experience of being painted, and he meditated from time to time, and it was not a problem to sit upright for several hours.

He was ready to sit for half an hour, but in less than half an hour, he saw that the painter opposite had already put away his pen, and the maid next to him immediately showed the paper on the bookcase to Meng Zhizhou.

Meng Zhizhou took the portrait and approached Yang Congyi, glanced at the portrait, and then looked at him, and after a short rest, he couldn't help but admire: "It's like, it's so similar." Secretary Yang, look at how much the painting looks like you, how expressive! ”

Yang Congyi took it and took a look, only to see himself on the paper, although there were only a few pens and a few thin lines in the painter's hands, but his eyebrows and expressions were all himself, and even he couldn't help but admire: "Amazing, Yang admires!" ”

Although the painter was veiled, when she heard the compliment, she immediately smiled, and the veil could not hide her joy.

Meng Zhizhou suddenly coughed dryly and said, "Since the painter is fine, let's start painting the bandits, Secretary Yang?" ”

Yang Congyi agreed, and then said: "Okay, let's draw the bandit leader first, I have a deep impression of him." The man had thick eyebrows and big eyes, a full beard, thick lips, dark skin, a large nose, and a scar about two inches long on his face......

"Stop! Do you know how to paint? How do I draw if you talk nonsense? The painter suddenly interrupted Yang Congyi, his tone was not good, and his eyes were not good.

Yang Congyi was thinking about it, and he was a little unhappy when his thoughts were interrupted, but he didn't say anything when he saw that the other party was a woman.

Meng Zhizhou coughed and said suddenly: "If you have something to say, if Lord Yang can paint, let you do something!" ”

The painter knew that he was at a loss, reached out and took back the pen he had put down, exhaled lightly, lifted the veil slightly, suppressed the anger in his heart, and then taught: "Lord Yang, you first tell me what kind of face he looks like, round or square, or other shapes." After that, let's talk about eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, beard, hair, get it? ”

Yang Congyi raised his hand and said, "I've been taught." ”

Then he re-described: "The man has a Chinese face, thick eyebrows and big eyes......"

"Stop!" The painter stopped again, stared at Yang Congyi and asked, "Fruit face?" What fruit? Peaches, oranges, or pears? "A pair of eyes seemed to be on fire.

"Yes, Secretary Yang, the official is also confused, what kind of fruit face, there are many types of fruits, big and small, round and flat, and long, you have to make it clear." Meng Zhizhou also stood on the painter's side with a blank face this time.

Yang Congyi was interrupted again, originally a little angry, but when he heard the painter's question, he suddenly smiled bitterly, so he had to smile awkwardly: "I'm sorry, I didn't make it clear, it's not the fruit, it's the national character of the country." ”

Meng Zhizhou sighed, and the painter stared, and Yang Congyi immediately coughed dryly and said, "I'll put it another way, it's a square face." ”

Seeing the painter pick up the paintbrush, Yang Congyi described: "The man has a square face, two thick and thick eyebrows, eyes as big as copper bells, a relatively large mouth, and thick lips ......"

"Wait, don't say it's big like a copper bell, how big a copper bell is, a big thumb, or a fist. The eyes say how many black eyeballs they can see. "The painter also lost his temper, so he had to stop teaching with his pen.

Yang Congyi knew that he was wrong, and he didn't have to refute it, so he continued: "The eyes are very big, the black eyes can be seen for about eight points, a big nose, a big mouth, the lips are half an inch thick, the upper lip has a thick beard, and the face is full of beards......"

"What kind of beard is it?" The painter stopped and asked again.

Yang Congyi stretched out his hand and gestured on his face, and said, "It's that these two sides are full of beards from ears to chin." ”

Then he continued: "The hair is thick, a little messy, tied back of the head. ”

After describing it, after a while, I heard the painter say, "Come and see, does it look like this?" ”