In the eighteenth year of Xiande, in March, I was already twenty-two years old, and when I first won the championship, many people came to the door to talk about the matchmaker, but I politely refused, using the reason that I was still young and wanted to study more so that I could serve the imperial court. Because anyone with a discerning eye can see that I, a young champion, have no hope of soaring at all, completely immersed in the sea of books, and even a little obsessed, such a person does not meet the requirements of those big families, so I have obtained a rare purity.

On this day, I came to the Hanlin Academy to prepare for the work as usual, but I saw a large number of people gathered around the main hall, I couldn't help but be surprised, you know, although I am also known as the Hanlin Bachelor, but there are still superior and inferior in the Hanlin Academy, because I am the champion, so I crossed the lowest Shu Jishi, review, and directly became the editor of the seven products, and there is also a compilation on top of this, and there are multiple levels of waiting, waiting, reading, waiting, studying, and mastering, but I saw that in that group of people, there was Xie Xian, the master of the academy. There is a second-class jinshi and a jujishi in the same department as me, which surprises me, you know, many people who are above the bachelor's degree are often accompanied by the lord of the country, how can they gather together. I walked over, but I saw that Master Yin and Master Tian were arguing about something, and on the table between them, there was an ancient painting, and next to it was a chapter of red notes, on which were written the seven words "Qingshan Jushi Linjiang Tu", it turned out that they were discussing the authenticity of this painting. Only then did I realize that since the lord of the country issued an edict to set up the Chongwen Palace, many people have sent their treasured books, calligraphy and paintings, hoping to be included, but the real masterpieces are still not easy to find.

Master Yin said gracefully: "This painting must be a pseudo-painting, the early works of Qingshan monks are green landscapes, the style is gorgeous, in the later period, because of the Buddhist Taoism, so most of the works are ink landscapes, the style of painting has become tranquil and beautiful, although this painting is an ink landscape, but you look at the sharp edges of the brush, the clouds and mist in the painting seem to be rushing in the face, the river is rushing, as if I have heard of it, so I say this is not the work of Qingshan monks." ”

Bachelor Tian did not show weakness and said: "Although you are reasonable, but you see, the paper of this painting is a selection of curtain paper, although it is well preserved, it can still be seen that it should be a painting of the Qingshan Jushi period two hundred years ago, you see that this painting has the five seals of the Qingshan Jushi, and there is absolutely no problem from the inscription." ”

The others supported both sides and quarreled endlessly, and I became interested, looked carefully for a long time, searched from memory for a long time, and finally made a decision. At this time, they also saw me coming, because I have been familiar with the appreciation of calligraphy and painting for a long time, and I am a newcomer, so the two bachelors came to me in unison, and the master coughed and said, "Suiyun, what do you think?" ”

I walked to the front of this painting, took a closer look, and said: "First of all, from the perspective of the style, the upper paragraph of this painting is 'Ke Ziyuan Brother Ya Play', the next paragraph is 'Jiashen in the second year of Yuanyou's seventh month nine respect system', the following is the famous seal 'Lan's Ningquan', the four corners of the painting have the seal of Qingshan Jushi, the upper left corner is the 'Ningquan Painting Seal' Zhu Wenfang seal, the lower left corner is the 'Linyuan Tang Chapter' of the Baiwen square seal, the upper right corner is the 'Kuizhang Pavilion Attendant Speaking Blue' of the Baiwen square seal, the lower right corner is the Zhu Wenfang seal of 'Qingshan Jushi', These four kinds of seals have basically appeared in the paintings of Qingshan monks, and the identification of seals, Tian Daren is one of the best, and he must not be mistaken. From the point of view of research, Qingshan Jushi was originally a famous scholar of the Great Jin Dynasty, ranked in the fourth grade of Kuizhang Pavilion to lecture on bachelors, and later the Western Jin Dynasty Nandu, Qingshan Jushi sad state affairs, secluded in Shuzhong Linyuan Hall, it is said that the lay people were poor at that time can not be self-sufficient, fortunately the rich businessman Ke Ming in Shu helped, only to spend those years of war and chaos, you see that the lower right corner of the painting has Ke's two seals, it can be seen that this painting is given to Ke Ming by Qingshan Jushi. ”

I took a breath and continued: "These seals all have a history, and I have read the "Shuzhong Chronicle" of Qingshan Jushi, in the ninth volume there is a record that 'to the autumn equinox, Ziyuan set up a banquet, the guests and hosts are happy, parting, Ke Shi held hands and asked for a clumsy work, feeling his sincerity, for the Linjiang map', and then I checked Ke's records, although Ke Shi has been annihilated, but I remember that in the last years of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Tao Kai's "Shu Zhi Shi Chong Chapter" mentioned that 'Shi Chong Shaowei, for Ke's service, Ke's treated him lightly, and then Shi Chong was rich in the world, colluding with the eunuchsYou see that in the lower left corner of this painting, there is also the seal of Shi Chong's 'Golden Valley Garden Secret', and Shi Chong later died and the clan was wiped out, and his collection was basically confiscated into the official, you see, there is 'Changling King Seal' in the middle of the left side, Changling King, the royal family in the late Eastern Jin Dynasty, favored by Emperor Yuan of Jin, it was Emperor Yuan who copied Shi Chong, so this painting may have a great surname in the hands of King Changling. It can be seen that the inheritance of this painting is very clear, so I think it is genuine. ”

Most people nodded again and again, but only Master Yin said unconvinced: "Even if you are right, how can you explain the painting style?" ”

I smiled and said: "This is my personal opinion, if there is a fallacy, please correct it, Qingshan Jushi in Nandu before the painting style is bright and intense, so I like to paint green landscapes, but in the year or two before Nandu, his painting style has gradually become tranquil, basically small green landscapes, with ink and wash hook light color base and green and other covering, occasionally there have been ink landscapes, in Shu for a few years, Qingshan monks almost no works handed down, until the Eastern Jin Dynasty after the pacification, began to monograph ink landscapes, But in the early days, I still like to use thick ink rendering, the brushwork is straight, from these points of view, I think the Shuzhong period must be the period of the layman's change of painting style, which is also in line with the rare circulation of works, after all, immature works, often may be burned by the master, I have seen the seventh volume of the "Shuzhong Chronicle" has seen the record of the Qingshan monk burning the paintings. ”

Hearing this, everyone has recognized my judgment, and their eyes have become respectful and eager, after all, there are not many people like me who are so well-read and memorized.

After this incident, I have more work, the most important thing is to go to the inner library to sort out the imperial book, it turned out that when preparing to build the Chongwen Palace, someone suggested that I was established in Southern Chu for 60 years, after the founding of the Emperor Zhao Sheng and the current lord Zhao Sheng, the record of the history is not perfect enough, I hope to take this opportunity to sort out the Emperor Wu's Zhu Pi and the imperial book into a book, for the royal children and nobles to study, although I think it is very boring, but the Hanlin Academy is very recognized, after the Lord of the country, the Lord of the country Longyan Dayue, But sorting out those imperial Zhu batches is a very troublesome thing, although I am a newcomer, but because of my extraordinary ability, so the head of the academy Xie Xian decided to be in charge of the most senior attendant bachelor Xia Wei, and I assisted Xia Wei, Xia Wei is actually over the age of six, and will soon retire from Zhishi, so I am the actual person in charge, and Xia Bachelor automatically asked for leave to go home to rest after running with me for a few days. The most troublesome part of this work was that I had to work in the library at the back of the Imperial Library, where all the documents were stored, and I could not consult them myself, so I had to be accompanied by the steward who managed the library, so I began my work less than a hundred feet away from the lord of the country, which is probably the interpretation of the close distance and the far horizon.

The eunuch in charge of the affairs is surnamed Wang, and his hair is already white, and sitting for six or seven hours a day is simply killing him, so I persuaded me cleverly and obediently on the first day: "Princess, why do we have to stay together for ten days and a half months, you are not polite, as long as you find a clever little father-in-law to help, you can come and see every other day." "The prince is also old, and he is idle, although the library is very close to the imperial study, but the father-in-law of the master of ceremonies are all young and powerful eunuchs, so the prince can't catch the side of the lord of the country at all, since he has no ability to compete for favor, he is old, who will be embarrassed with him for no reason, so he and Ben don't have to worry too much about someone accusing him of not fulfilling his responsibilities. So he sent a new disciple Xiao Shunzi, who had been in the company for less than a year, to help me, because this little Shunzi was smart and capable, and he had read books for several years, and he had hundreds of texts in his chest, which was already very rare for eunuchs, after all, not everyone had to receive special teachings like the eunuchs of the celebrant eunuchs.

But I was stunned when I saw Xiao Shunzi, because if I'm not mistaken, that kid is the kid I met when I first arrived in Jianye and sold himself to bury his father, how did he become a eunuch now, but it's probably something sad, I don't want to ask him, anyway, he didn't recognize me, I just treated him as a stranger, but this kid is really good, not only is it very effective to play the four treasures of the study, but I just need to say that I want to find that piece of folding or imperial book, he can find it as quickly as possible, so we cooperate happily, The workload originally scheduled for 20 days, at the current rate, it seems that 12 or 3 days can be about the same.

At noon on the third day, I was drinking a cup of tea after dinner, ready to rest and continue, when suddenly the prince broke in angrily under the service of two little eunuchs, and shouted: "Little Shunzi, little Shunzi, where are you little minion?" I looked at him suspiciously, what was going on.

When the prince saw me, he smiled and said, "Jiang Zhuangyuan, are you also there?" ”

Nonsense, I'm not here, I'm not allowed to go home for a nap. I thought to myself, and said in my mouth: "Father-in-law, what's the matter, what made you make such a big fire." ”

The prince said angrily: "Xiao Shunzi, this little rabbit cub has unclean hands and feet, and stole my beloved snuff bottle, which was rewarded by the emperor to the old slave." ”

Xiao Shunzi's eyes widened, and he knelt on the ground and said, "There is no such thing, the slave is not so bold as to dare to steal the things given by the emperor." He had been clean for more than a year, and at the age of fourteen or fifteen years old, it was time for him to develop, so his voice was high-pitched, and he was in a panic at this time, and it was even more harsh.

The little eunuch next to him said with a sharp voice: "You dare to speak strongly, don't you know when we don't know, you were originally a sinner who committed the crime of robbership, and the things of the king's steward were lost, so I thought that you must have done it, and my father-in-law went to your room to search, and sure enough, I found it." ”

Xiao Shunzi's face turned blue, and he kowtowed again and again: "It's not a slave, it's not a slave who did it, someone must have planted it." ”

The prince said angrily: "Do you mean that I planted your stolen goods, or Xiaofuzi planted your stolen goods." ”

Xiao Shunzi broke out in a cold sweat, suddenly turned around and threw himself beside me, and begged: "Lord Jiang, you are a learned person, please distinguish with your father-in-law, the slaves are serving by the side of the adults all these days, where do you have time to steal things." ”

I was watching this scene with great interest, although that little Fuzi was a good show, but I heard his breathing a little short, his heart was beating faster, and I had already seen that he was planting, but Xiao Shunzi's background was not good, and the background was not innocent, so I couldn't tell the difference. I didn't plan to get involved in the affairs of the harem, so I just glanced at him lightly and didn't make a sound. Xiao Shunzi was in a hurry. Seeing that I was silent, the prince said sharply: "You tied him up for me, sent him to the worship room, beat him to death for me, and I let him dare to steal, which is a great crime in the palace." ”

My heart trembled, no, I was going to kill him. Xiao Shunzi was so frightened that he hugged my legs and cried: "For the sake of Xiao Shunzi's thoughtful service, please ask the slave for a favor, the slave really didn't steal." ”

I suddenly remembered the sad appearance when he sold himself to bury his father, and I couldn't help but soften, anyway, it was not a big deal, and he was indeed wronged. With a roll of my eyes, I thought about it, and I said lightly: "Princess, I see that this slave is crying a lot, maybe he is really wronged?" ”

The prince hesitated a little, and said for a while: "The thing was found in his room." ”

I smiled and said, "This kid has been following me for the past few days, when did my father-in-law lose his things." ”

Wang Gonggong thought for a while and said, "I still used it last night, but it disappeared at noon today." ”

I deliberately frowned and said: "This is really difficult to distinguish, so let's do it, Xia Guan is quite refined in the Book of Changes, and he is the most able to break [***] blessings, and the Ming people are wronged, so I will take a lesson." ”

Because of the ups and downs in life, these eunuchs are the most faithful, and his eyes lit up and said: "The adults will do the calculations, okay, the old slave will go and get the calculations." ”

I shook my hand and said, "A small lesson, you don't need to count it." In this way, since it is a grievance, all those who are wronged must be upright, I have a way here, let Xiao Shunzi and this denounced Xiao Fuzi each eat a special gold pill made by me, and wait for me to pray to God, if there is no sin, that person will be fine, if there is sin, there will be abdominal pain. After speaking, I took out a jade bottle from my arms, poured out two golden pills, and handed them to the two little eunuchs.

Wang Gonggong smiled and said: "Okay, let the old slave see the ability of the champion." You two won't eat it yet. ”

Xiao Shunzi swallowed Jin Dan without hesitation, Xiao Fuzi hesitated, brought Jin Dan to his mouth, and with a small movement, Jin Dan rolled into his sleeve. I am amazed by my skills. Then pretended to pray to God, and when there was less than a stick of incense, suddenly Xiao Shunzi's face turned pale, and he fell to his knees with an oops, holding his stomach with both hands, and he was in pain. And Xiaofuzi was fine. He said proudly: "Sure enough, you stole it, and the blessing of the champion is really effective." ”

The prince looked at me hesitantly, and was about to give an order, I smiled slightly and said: "Although I have some talents, but I don't have the ability to ask the gods to punish you, this kind of golden pill is specially made by me, specially used to dredge the stomach, yesterday I heard the prince say that he is old, and he often accumulates food, if this medicine is eaten by the old man with lotus seed soup, it happens to be powerful, if the young man who is in the prime of blood eats it directly, he will have abdominal pain like strangulation, Xiaofuzi, where is your medicine, hidden." Xiao Fuzi was so frightened that he retreated again and again, only to see the prince walk in front of him with an arrow step, gently pinching his wrist and lifting it, Xiao Fuzi immediately turned pale in pain, and the prince easily found the golden pill from Xiao Fuzi's sleeve. Then let go of his hand, and Xiaofuzi fell to the ground, frightened and unable to possess his body. Wang Gonggong said lightly: "Xiao Shunzi, don't go to my room yet, there is a bowl of cold lotus seed soup on the table." ”

Xiao Shunzi nodded, rushed out at once, and came back in less than a moment, his face was full of freshness, Wang Gonggong squinted his eyes with a smile, and said, "Thank you for thinking about the old slave." As he spoke, he almost snatched the medicine bottle from my hand. As he spoke, he said goodbye and went out, and after a while, two middle-aged eunuchs came over and took Xiaofuzi away. Xiao Shunzi knelt in front of me gratefully, and thanked me for his kindness: "Engong rescued him twice, and Xiao Shunzi was a cow and a horse, and he couldn't repay this great kindness." My eyes widened for a moment before I said, "Do you remember me?" Xiao Shunzi said suddenly: "In fact, the slave recognized the champion at a glance, and the adults gave generously at the beginning, and the memories of the little ones are still fresh." ”

I asked curiously, "Then why didn't you say you remembered me earlier?" ”

Xiao Shunzi hesitated for a long time before he said: "Slave, the slave sold himself to bury his father at the beginning. ”

My eyes widened even more. Xiao Shunzi said: "The slave was originally a scholarly family, but after the death of his father, my uncle secretly sold me to a troupe in order to seize the property, and the slave has been wandering around since then, because the slave can't stand the humiliation of the class master, so he escaped with a few brothers, and he has no way to make a living, so he begs everywhere to steal and cheat people." When I met the adult, the slave was partnering with an old beggar, he pretended to be his father, I was a filial son, and the adult was generous, but my two companions were greedy for profit and secretly followed the adult......"

At this point, he was even more embarrassed, and I immediately understood who had knocked me unconscious in the first place. But then I asked, confused, "You have so much silver, enough to live, what are you, how are you?" "I'm a little speechless.

Xiao Shunzi said with a smile: "Maybe the retribution has arrived, a few of us were coerced to be bandits, but we were caught by officers and soldiers, we robbed a clan, and we are all used to being thieves, so we were sentenced to death, we are still young, the master of the judgment said that if you are willing to enter the palace as a slave, you can be spared a death, my two brothers are hard, they are forced to go to the court, and the slave is timid, so he entered the palace." ”

I sighed: "You are not cowardly, you are courageous, although life is hard, but we have to work hard to survive, you can survive, but also the past as a joke, this is a warrior, most of the people who throw life and death lightly are not warriors, but evade responsibility." ”

Xiao Shunzi suddenly fell to his knees again and hugged my legs, so painful that I suspected that he wanted revenge, and then I felt a drop of water soaking through my official robe.

After that, this kid served me even more dedicatedly, and then I heard that Wang Gonggong was a martial arts master, Xiao Shunzi was learning martial arts with him, on a whim, plus I admired this kid's perseverance, so I smuggled a copy of the "Sunflower Treasure Book" in. Xiao Shunzi was silent when she saw it, but solemnly accepted it.

Half a month later, I left the palace with the Imperial Journal, and one of the biggest gains, I had a friend who often came to visit me late at night.

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