The second is the painting test, the previous scriptures, has eliminated many people, therefore, there are not many people who take the exam today, only a few hundred.

Among these 100 people, if seven or eight outstanding ones are selected, they will have the qualifications to join the palace examination, so the candidates who can pass the Jingyi examination and enter the painting examination are all full of ambition and gather in front of the Taixue Gate to prepare for the examination.

Shen Ao was late, and there was humanity from afar: "He is Shen Ao who is the first in the Jingyi test." ”

When this sentence came out, countless people paid attention to it, some envious, some jealous, some disdainful, all varied, each with its own appearance.

Shen Ao had a smile on his face, he had a good night's sleep yesterday, and he woke up today, feeling refreshed, seeing that many people had been waiting for a long time, he was glad that he was not too late.

Facing a boy shaking a paper fan with a few companions, this son sword eyebrows and starry eyes, gorgeous clothes, between his demeanor, there seems to be a sense of luxury, looking at Shen Ao's eyes, both a little eager to try, but also quite disdainful, walked in front of Shen Ao, looked Shen Ao up and down with his eyes, and smiled slightly: "Dare to ask, but Shen Ao Shen Gongzi?" ”

As soon as the person's fame was great, everyone was found, Shen Ao felt bitter in his heart, and said with a smile on his face: "Dare to ask Brother Taigao's surname?" ”

Gongzi said arrogantly: "In Xia Zhao Boqi, the cheap name is not enough to worry about. Although he was polite, there was a faint condescending momentum in his expression.

Zhao Boqiao? Shen Ao hurriedly said: "Long admiration, long admiration." This sentence of long-admiration is by no means polite, this person, he has really heard of it, not only has he heard it, but as early as ten years ago, he already knew the name of this person; The three members of the Zhao family, who are good at landscape painting, who has not heard of the name of this father and son?

Zhao Boqi is the second son of the famous painter Zhao Lingsui in the Song Dynasty, and also the younger brother of the famous painter Zhao Boju.

Cowman, Shen Ao is the first time to observe celebrities nearby, but the image of this Zhao Boqiao in his mind should be a bad old man with a gray beard, but standing in front of him, it is a noble son with clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, this contrast is a little big, he couldn't help but think in his heart: "Zhao Boqiao's painting style is calm and delicate, this person in front of him ...... It's not like ah, they all say that the painting is like the person, and this gap is too unexpected. ”

When Zhao Boqi heard his words of long-admiring, he thought that Shen Ao was deliberately joking, snorted coldly, and said, "Hypocrisy." ”

Shen Ao is not easy to mess with, even Zhao Boqiao after his painting style has matured, he also has the strength to fight, not to mention that Zhao Boqiang is still a big child at the moment...... Well, it seems that he is about the same age as him now, ashamed, ashamed.

Shen Ao said with a straight face: "Brother Zhao, what is this, it is hypocritical to say a word of long-term admiration, so should I say a nobody, so that Brother Zhao is elated?" ”

Speaking of bickering, where is Zhao Boqiao his opponent, Zhao Boqiao was speechless for a while, and said with a cold face: "It is said that Brother Shen is also going to participate in the painting test?" ”

Shen Ao's jaw: "That's right. ”

Zhao Boqiao said: "Brother Shen is the first in the Jingyi exam, that's great, but this painting test is going to be ranked first, Brother Shen is only afraid that he will be ranked after Boqiao." ”

Shen Ao has seen a shameless one, I have never seen such a shameless one, you are so good to learn from this son, look at how reserved this son is, before he took the exam, he clamored to be ranked first, and his thickness of face is really unprecedented.

Shen Ao smiled: "Oh? Is it? "It's very indifferent, it seems that he is not interested in Zhao Boqiao's boasting, this guy is clearly here to provoke, to put it mildly, the young man is too impulsive, and he can't see that others are better than himself.

When Zhao Boqiao saw him like this, he thought that Shen Ao would be like thunder, but who knew that he was indifferent, and he was suddenly disappointed, and said, "Brother Shen, what does this mean?" Why don't you take it seriously? ”

For this kind of competitive boy, Shen Ao smiled: "Then congratulations to Zhao Gongzi for ranking first in the painting test, haha, there is still something to do, so I won't accompany you." He turned to leave.

"Wait." Zhao Boqiao stopped Shen Ao, and at the same time looked at Shen Ao with a look of concern, and said: "Brother Shen's painting skills, I haven't seen them before, and they must be excellent, Brother Shen dares to bet with me?" ”

"Bet? What to bet on? Shen Ao smiled slightly.

Zhao Boqiao said: "If anyone loses, he will worship the winner as a teacher, and if he meets on the street, he needs to perform the disciple ceremony, how about it?" His face was flushed, his blood was rising, his Adam's apple was surging, and his eyes were eager; This little boy's stomach is full of competitive thoughts, and he estimates in his heart that if he wins Shen Ao, it must be a proud thing for the dignified No. 1 talent in Bianjing to give him a teacher's gift.

Shen Ao smiled lazily: "I don't care, you have to compare, I will accompany you to the end." Shen Ao still smiled, and then walked away.

The sound sounded, the candidates entered one after another, Shen Ao was still in the original examination booth, and the test questions were sent down, but it was a small poem. It was written with a fly's head: "The new makeup should be under the Zhu Building, and the spring is deeply locked." Go to the atrium and count the flowers, and the dragonfly flies up to the jade scratching its head. ”

This is a Tang poem, it is the handwriting of the poet Liu Yuxi, Shen Ao took a cursory look, this is a poem about palace grievances, but this palace grievance poem is very different from other similar poems. The psalm begins with a well-groomed, well-groomed, fat-faced young maid, who writes about her series of actions that reveal anticipation, and finally turns into a state of disappointment.

The whole poem renders a sad word, the heroine's behavior is so elegant and decent, so leisurely and comfortable, as if she is immersed in this garden full of spring and contented; But this is not the case.

The poet writes about the beauty of people, makeup, buildings, courtyards, flowers, dragonflies, and jewelry, but the fate is not good, and he is not favored by the king, so the "seven beauties" in front of him are also empty, so the heroine in the poem will be sad.

The characteristic of this poem is that it uses a strong contrast to say that this palace woman is superior in her own temperament and material treatment, but she fell out of favor with the king, so she only ended up with a sad end of being a flower and a dragonfly, which is sad to read.

The poem is quiet and calm on the whole, but in fact it hides the great sorrow of the lyrical heroine, this kind of sadness of wanting to cry without tears and pretending to laugh is the most difficult to write, but Liu Yuxi wrote it so fascinating and shocking. It's hard to read it.

Understanding the meaning of the poem, Shen Ao understood, this time the painting test is only afraid to paint with poetry, and the candidates are required to use a brush to paint the beauties, pavilions, flowers and birds in the poem, which is still secondary, and the most important thing is to render the sorrow in the poem in the painting.

The difficulty of this test question is that a person who has no court life has to draw a court painting, obviously there is no sorrow, but he has to draw a sadness. Shen Ao held his breath, stared at his brows, and suddenly became extremely solemn, lifting the pen, but he was not in a hurry to ink, but kept looking for feelings.

If it is said that painting landscape attic, Gu Kaizhi is the best, that Luo Shen Fu picture does not know how many grievances and lingering, Gu Kaizhi's painting style lies in the intention of the pen first, the painting is intended, the handwriting is thorough, tight and continuous; Its brushwork is like spring silkworm spinning, light and smooth, strong and sharp, called "iron line drawing"; The modeling layout is complete, the thinking is subtle, and the spirit is unpredictable.

Among the major painters in ancient times, Gu Kaizhi and the Southern Dynasty Song Lu Tanwei and Liang Zhang Seng Xuan, who studied under him, were also known as the "Three Masters of the Six Dynasties". At that time, people had the reputation of "like the beauty of people, the flesh of the skin, the bones of the land, the care of the gods, the wonder of the way, and the most important".

It means that Gu Kaizhi's painting is the most expressive, and God is the essence of ancient paintings.

Shen Ao took a deep breath, his wrist finally moved, the pen was slightly connected with Gu Kaizhi, the handwriting was thorough, tight and lingering, first the layout, open the background color, and then began to paint Qionglou Yuyu, these scenes, in fact, are easy to paint, the scene is just a foreshadowing, is a foil, the real starting point is the eye, is the people, is the grievance, but forced smile, in countless Qionglou Yuyu, the beauty of precious flowers.

Dragon, snake and phoenix dance, with a pen like flying, in an instant, the scenery has been almost painted, Shen Ao took a deep breath, the brush in his hand was suffocated, staring at the palace landscape in this painting, and smiled bitterly for a while, fortunately, fortunately, he saw a lot of court paintings, and finally he was not stumped by court paintings. However, some people are miserable, they live in the market, but they want to draw court paintings, and in this era, it is difficult for a person to get a copy of the court painting, and this court is afraid that they will have to teach their own imagination.

Then I thought about it, this question is cheaper than Zhao Boqiang, Zhao Boqiao is the clan of the Great Song Dynasty, his father is in an important position, the title is not small, and it is not difficult to enter and exit the palace, with this immersive feeling, the advantage is not a little more than ordinary people.

He continued to paint, the brush gradually began to be cautious, the center of the whole painting, the emphasis is on the painting of people, as long as the person is alive, the whole painting will be alive, if the person is light and elegant, the whole painting will be free and easy, if the person is sad, the whole painting will naturally add a bit of depression.

When painting women, although Shen Ao used Gu Kaizhi's expressive techniques, he also absorbed the characteristics of Zhang Xuan's painting, Zhang Xuan was a painter of the Tang Dynasty, and he was good at painting people and ladies. He painted ladies and ladies, especially with vermilion to smudge the roots of the ears, painting babies with both childish appearance and lively look. Painting aristocratic amusement life scenes, not only with vivid and rhythmic combinations of characters, but also for the flowers, bamboo pavilions, embellishments are extremely ingenious, pay attention to the environment and color to the atmosphere of the picture and rendering.

In particular, one of Zhang Xuan's works "The Resentment of the Long Gate", which depicts a lady in the palace, is his pinnacle work.

One painting with two painting styles is indeed an unprecedented test for Shen Ao, so he holds his breath and raises the pen, each stroke is carefully outlined, and he never dares to slack off in the slightest.

Half an hour passed, and the lady was not finished, Shen Ao's forehead was already sweating, and the sweat was flowing on his cheeks and eyelashes, but he forgot to wipe it for a while, and his sweat-soaked hand held the pen and did not move.

Finally, he let out a long breath and finished outlining the last stroke, the painting seemed to drain all his energy, the brush in his hand weighed more and more, and hurriedly put it away, holding the bookcase with both hands, looking at the painting meticulously, and finally letting go of the heart that was raised.

The painting scene is Gu Kaizhi's expressive brush, and the painter uses Zhang Xuan's rich technique, the combination of the two, if the combination is good, it is naturally a hand-me-down, but once there is a mistake or omission, it is a ball of waste paper.

If there is a mistake in this painting, to redraw a new one will not only be too late, but also not enough energy to support it; So Shen Ao just put pen to paper, but he was quite interested in gambling, fortunately, he gambled right, the whole painting looks expressive, and it is definitely the best palace painting.

"I don't have to paint in two ways anymore, and I almost scared me out of my heart attack." Shen Ao was secretly happy in his heart, and he was afraid.

However, taking risks is indeed Shen Ao's style, whether in his previous life or in this life, his surname has not changed.