About a month later, the Academy of Painting suddenly received an order from the Queen, ordering a group of officials and students of the Academy to send portraits of the characters to the Rouyi Hall to the Queen. It was almost dusk, and the people who waited for the edict and the painting school did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly selected the most satisfactory paintings and prepared to send them to the queen's bedroom.

There was nothing to do in Japan, and the rest of the chamberlains had returned to their residences to rest, but I stayed on duty, and the decree came abruptly, so after serving in the academy for more than a year, I received the task of sending the painting scroll into the harem for the first time.

This is also the first time in the years since I entered the palace that I have had the opportunity to enter the inner palace where the emperor's concubines live from the outer imperial city. Hanlin Painting Institute is located in the southwest end of the imperial city outside the right door, in the queen of the palace into the inner servant under the leadership, I hold the scroll, from here on, through the right door, the right Changqing gate, the right Jiasu gate, the right Yintai gate, in turn through the door of the province, the Privy Council, the door of the province, the National History Institute, and then through the Huangyi Gate, through the vertical arch into the inner palace, around the vertical arch hall and the Funing Palace, before arriving at the Rouyi Hall where the queen lives.

At that time, it was twilight, and the queen was not in the palace. According to the maid of the Rouyi Palace, the queen went to the Funing Palace to see the official's house, and she didn't know when she would return. I invited the attendants to send the scroll into the palace, and because I wanted to return to the queen in person, I didn't dare to leave without permission, so I stood outside the palace and waited.

One wait is two hours. At last the queen returned, I knelt down and saluted, and when I saw me, she paused slightly, and the maid introduced her, and she remembered, nodded, and soon after entering the palace, ordered someone to pass me in.

Queen Cao is wearing a real red sleeved middle palace regular clothes and sitting in the hall, the cuffs and the color collar slightly reveal a layer of yellow and red yarn in the single edge, the sagging lines of the red Luo long skirt are smooth and soft, without a trace of excess folds, and the gauze shawl with yellow lines on a white background is silently dragged to the ground, making her posture more and more demure and peaceful.

After saluting her again, I took advantage of the moment I straightened up and my eyes swept over her face. This transgression stems from my curiosity about the true face of **, and at the same time I carefully keep the time to a point where it is too short to be noticeable.

Her complexion is jade, her eyebrows are distant, her temperament is elegant, her eyelashes are half hanging at the moment, she is thoughtful, and there is a melancholy between her eyebrows.

The ministers in the palace hung up the scrolls of the photo scrolls, and the queen got up calmly and slowly moved to look at them one by one. After a long time, after looking at all the picture scrolls, she didn't say a word about it, but turned around and asked me: "Recently, the best photos of the art academy are among them?" ”

I call it yes. She looked at it again, as if she suddenly remembered, and she asked again: "Is there a painting student Cui Bai here?" ”

I replied no, and she smiled, "I don't think so." It is said that he was clumsy in his painting skills, did not want to make progress, and was arrogant, and did not even take the officials of the academy seriously...... But this is a little strange, how did such a good-for-nothing person get admitted to the Hanlin Painting Academy? ”

I hesitated slightly, but I still told her the truth: "Since the opening of the painting academy in the Chinese Dynasty, people have admired the painting style of Huang Zhen and Huang Juhuan father and son. Cui Bai's foundation is excellent, if you talk about the double hook work, it will be difficult to defeat him, so he was admitted to the art academy more smoothly. But he has a loose temperament, he doesn't seem to appreciate the wealth of the Huang family, but he has a lot of praise for Xu Xiyeyi, and he usually loves to sketch. After entering the painting academy, the flowers and bamboos may not always be filled with double hooks, but also often learn from Xu Xi's ink method or Xu Chongsi's boneless method. However, when comparing art, this style of painting could not be recognized by the officials of the academy, and Cui Gongzi's works were often ignored and extremely difficult to be praised. ”

The queen bowed her head and said, "He knows that the style of painting is not popular, but he still insists on painting like this?" ”

I replied, "Yes." What he believes is not easily influenced and changed. ”

The queen smiled lightly: "It's also a bad person." But it was not easy for him to be admitted to the art academy, so arrogant, wasn't he afraid of being expelled? ”

I knew that someone must have attacked Cui Bai in front of the queen, and hesitated to mention Cui Bai's mentality to her, and the queen's gentle tone made me very fond of her, and she kept looking at me with a pleasant face, waiting for my answer, which gave me the courage to answer bluntly: "It was Cui Gongzi's father's last wish to be admitted to the academy, so he obeyed the order, but it was against his ambition to study Huang's style of painting in the academy...... His temperament was also incompatible with the style of the academy, and being expelled from the academy was not something he feared. ”

The queen groaned, paused, and ordered: "Two days later, send some Cui Bai's paintings here." ”

I immediately took the order, and she looked at me again and asked, "How old are you, and have you ever studied painting?" ”

I replied, "The minister is thirteen this year." I haven't learned to draw, and I've only scribbled a few times under the guidance of Cui Gongzi. ”

"You...... What is it called? She continued.

"Liang Huaiji." I replied that I would not add any explanation for the name this time.

"Oh, I remember you." Queen Bo Lu smiled: "Your original name is Liang Yuanheng?" Today's name was changed by Pingfu. ”

Pingfu is the word of Mr. Zhang Maoze of the East Gate of Goudang. The queen called me a little surprised, and then I felt a trace of inexplicable joy. I regard Mr. Zhang as a master and a father, and although we have not had many opportunities to meet over the years, I have always cherished endless feelings of gratitude and love for him. The Queen's repetition of the name change reminded me of the kindness she had given me, so I knelt down solemnly and thanked her for saving her life.

She kindly asked me to calm down, and also rewarded me with some rat whisker chestnut tail pen and Xin'an incense ink. I was almost flattered, because what she rewarded me was not the usual silk cotton for her servants, but the finest brush and ink that could be used for calligraphy and painting.

She re-examined the batch of photo scrolls, pointed out a few and asked me about the author, and ordered someone to write them down one by one and let me take the rest of the paintings back. I obeyed the order and retreated, and under the guidance of the inner attendant, I went out of the Rouyi Palace, and the inner attendant pointed me to the way back to my residence, and then closed the door and returned.

Both he and I overestimated my ability to recognize the way, and I kept thinking about the right thing, and I walked absent-mindedly for a long time before I suddenly realized that the place I was in was completely unfamiliar, and I had been lost in this ninefold palace at midnight.

I stopped and looked around blankly, there was no sound around, no human figure was seen, but a pool of clear water in front of me shimmered lightly under the moon, and the shadows of the willow trees on the bank were fluttering, fluttering like silk hair in the wind, and I could see that my heart was gradually cool. I vaguely thought that this should be the back garden in the northwest of the imperial city, so I looked up at the sky, followed the direction of the stars, found the southbound door, and hurried towards it.

Just walked to the south porch, suddenly felt a shadow from the door inside, flashed, I was shocked, looked back, but saw that the figure is petite and delicate, like a small girl, in the cold night breeze towards the back garden Yaojin pond running, wearing only a plain white single and the same color long skirt, long hair draped straight waist, and the moonlight, there is a blue luster.

She ran with a long skirt, and when her skirt fluttered, it could be seen that she was running with her feet without shoes and socks. This detail made me realize that she was a human and not a ghost, and the initial fear faded, and I quietly turned back and hid in the woods by the pool to see what she wanted.

She knelt down by a large rock by the poolside and bowed to the moon three times and nine times. From my point of view, I could see her side, but I saw that she was seven or eight years old, with a beautiful face and delicate features.

After kneeling and worshipping, she looked up to the sky, frowned and cried, and the tears on her face were as clear as morning dew: "Daddy is sick, Hui Rou has no plan to relieve Daddy's pain a little, but beg God to have mercy, so that Hui Rou can replace her father, suffer from Daddy's disease, and bear all the pain of Daddy." I hope that the gods will allow me to ask, and if my father is as healthy as ever, Hui Rou will not hesitate to give up her life......"

She wept and complained, repeatedly appealing to heaven to express her determination to replace her father, and I watched silently, and gradually felt compassion. It reminded me of some of the old days.

My father, who had always been weak, became seriously ill and coughed all day and night, and I could always hear his cough coming from next door every night when I went to bed. At that time, he was young and ignorant, and he always found the noise very annoying, and every time he was so noisy that he couldn't sleep peacefully, he vaguely thought that it would be nice if he could calm down one day.

There was a night when I finally didn't hear him cough again. I slept peacefully that night. When I woke up the next day, I saw my mother's pale and dull face, she stared at me and told me calmly, "Xiao Yuan, your father is gone." ”

It turns out that the sky is falling and that's it, everything has changed.

Since then, I have often felt great regret for my disregard for my father's illness at that time, and if I could turn back time, I would be like the little girl in front of me, stomping to the sky and praying sincerely that I could replace my father.

I want to get God. There were leaves falling on my head because of the wind, and when they touched my face, I was slightly startled, my hands trembled, and a scroll of painting rolled to the ground.

Hearing the noise, the little girl looked back vigilantly. I picked up the scroll and appeared under her gaze, staring at her, speechless for a moment.

I don't know who she is. The concubines in the palace have the tradition of adopting a good family as an adopted daughter, and they will also let the inner servants find a tooth person to buy a cold door ** into the palace as a private body, not to mention the palace maid who has been cultivated since childhood in Shangshu introspection, there are not many little girls like her in the palace, except for hearing that her name is Huirou, I don't know her identity, I just feel that I can't talk to her, although I really want to tell her, I sincerely wish her father a speedy recovery.

"Who are you?" She asked.

I was about to answer, but I saw someone coming in with a lantern outside the south gate of the back garden. When Hui Rou saw it, she immediately turned around and ran towards the other door, thinking that she didn't want anyone to find her.

Her run startled the man. It was a young woman who looked like an insider, and then chased after her with a lantern, and called out loudly: "Who? Hold it! ”

The shadow under the tree obscured me, so she didn't notice it. I watched as the figures of the two disappeared at the east end of the back garden, and then followed the direction of the stars to regain their way back to their residence.