Dali Temple Prison.

The rain poured down like a floodgate, and the cell was filled with a cold and damp smell. Thousands of wisps of cold drilled into the cracks of people's bones one by one, and people shivered with cold.

The cell was filled with the sour smell of the prisoners, the smell of blood washed by the water, and the stench of feces that had not yet dissipated.

Bai Ziche followed behind Deng Mian, his gaze constantly sweeping over every cell he passed by.

Deng Mian was also a little nervous when he dealt with the fourth prince for the first time - the people who have always been involved in royal affairs have no good end, Chu Zhixia doesn't know if it is overflowing kindness or boldness, Bai Ziche dares to come to her, she actually dares to accept it!

Suddenly, Bai Ziche rushed to a cell and whispered to the huddled figure inside, "Teacher, teacher!" ”

Deng Mian struggled to identify the black shadow in the corner as a person, and it was a gray-haired old man. Deng Mian naively thought that he had not been punished, after all, he was an old man—until the old man dragged his weak lower body with difficulty to the iron bar.

"Your Highness, why did you come here?" The edict of the painting academy breathed faintly, "This is not the place you should be. ”

Bai Ziche took off the big coat on his body and draped it on the body of the edict of the painting academy to block the cold for him. Bai Ziche held the old man's bloodstained ten fingers with trembling hands, and once held his hand to teach him to write and draw, "How dare they...... How dare they! ”

Deng Mian gasped and couldn't help but take a step back - there were bamboo sticks nailed to every finger of the edict of the academy!

"Your Highness, you shouldn't have painted that picture to anger the regent." The old man didn't seem to feel the pain in his fingers, "What will you do alone in the future?" ”

A string of tears rolled down from Bai Ziche's eyes and smashed on the bloodstained fingertips, "You won't die, as long as you confess, I stole the painting." I went to confess my sin to my father, and I bowed to the law - no matter how bad it was, I was also a prince, and they could still kill me for a painting? ”

For some reason, Deng Mian saw a desperate determination from this weak and weeping Highness.

"You're confused!" The old man didn't know where the strength came from, and gently slapped Bai Ziche on the cheek, "Your Highness, you have neither the support of your mother's family, nor the support of courtiers, nor the favor of the Holy Grace." If Your Majesty demotes you to a concubine, and the regent wants you to die, you will have to die! ”

"So what!" Bai Ziche roared and choked up, "Didn't he want my life, just give it to him." My life is worthless. ”

Chu Shixia said that he was looking for a painting, but who knows where the painting is? The regent has countless eagle dogs, and can hide paintings in any corner of the imperial capital. Maybe the real painting has been burned a long time ago, and there is no proof of death!

The old man stared at Bai Ziche fixedly, big tears rolled down his face, and he cried so embarrassedly.

He had never seen Bai Ziche crying

Whether it was the queen's cold treatment, the emperor's neglect or his brother's bullying, Bai Ziche always endured it silently, making people mistakenly think that he was a weak person.

But Bai Ziche still shed tears for this old painter, and the whole person was shaky.

He was afraid, afraid of losing this old man who only cared about his life or death.

"Your Highness...... Don't be afraid, Acher. ”

——

Ten years ago, the well-known folk "Divine Hand" was ordered to enter the palace and paint a picture for the emperor. And whether it is fine brushwork or freehand, after all, he can't draw one percent of the appearance of the person in the emperor's heart. The painter was delayed in the palace and depressed.

One day, he was ordered to go to the queen's palace to teach the princes to paint.

The rain that day was so heavy that it almost broke the umbrella bones.

The queen knocked on the wooden fish behind the bamboo curtain and recited Buddhist scriptures in a low voice. The eldest prince who has not yet entered the East Palace, the gloomy and dull second prince, and the lively and active third prince are holding a brush and scribbling on the paper. Although the painter is helpless, there is no other way.

He said that he was the teacher of the princes, but he knew that he was just playing with the children.

The painter dealt with the children, and when he was bored, he saw a little child, smaller than the third prince, white and delicate like a girl.

The child read the Buddhist scriptures slowly, he couldn't recognize so many words, so he could only read them with the eunuch in small paragraphs. The third prince suddenly had a seizure, forcibly grabbed the child, drew two big black circles under his eyes with an ink pen, and wiped his beard.

The child didn't cry or make trouble, but was quietly tossed by the three princes.

The eldest prince scolded the third prince a few words before he rescued the child.

The painter couldn't help but ask the palace maid who was waiting, "Whose child is this?" ”

The palace maid said contemptuously, "Naturally, it is the Fourth Highness." ”

The fourth highness Bai Ziche, a palace maid who has never left a name. The palace maid's life was thin and blessed, and she died violently shortly after receiving the title, and Bai Ziche was raised by the queen.

The painter remembered Bai Ziche's quiet eyes.

Another day, pouring rain.

The painter passed by the gate of Changxin Palace and saw the child huddled together and curled up under the eaves like a kitten. The painter was ridiculed for not being worthy of his name, full of melancholy, thinking that it would be better to hang up the crown and leave.

The drenched child under the eaves suddenly looked up and called him weakly, "I've seen the teacher." ”

The painter was taken aback and covered him with an umbrella, "Why is it raining here and serving the people?" ”

Bai Ziche shook his head and said, "I don't know where they went. The third brother said that he hated me when he saw me, and he didn't allow me to enter the door, and he didn't allow the palace maid to open the door. ”

In the previous dynasty, there were regent and Zhuang Shoufu to fight against the court, and the harem concubine Rong was the only one to be favored, and the queen was dedicated to worshipping the Buddha.

The fate of this child is like a duckweed in a storm, life and death are out of his own hands.

Our fates are in our hands.

The little painter dared to have the same illness as a prince.

The painter felt pity and knew that he had found himself in a big trouble, and he would never be able to get out of this palace in his life.

He sighed and held the child in his arms, "Your Highness, the minister will teach you to draw." ”

Bai Ziche hugged his neck tightly and nodded vigorously, as if he was afraid that if he nodded slowly, the painter would regret it.

——

To find a painting in the huge imperial capital, unless the painting itself will shine, it is tantamount to looking for a needle in a haystack.

What's more, it is highly likely that the painting was stolen by someone sent by the regent.

Chu Zhixia only had to gamble, betting that the regent was dizzy and did not burn the painting, but put it somewhere, or - the person who stole the painting was greedy for money, and secretly ordered this priceless "Guanyin Dashi Picture".

Jade Fang.

The night was dark.

The men at the banquet were all drunk, and the sound of crackling raindrops outside the window mixed with the sound of silk and bamboo in the room prompted several people to write several poems with wine as ink.

Jiang Qiao was pinched by the man next to him, and toasted the man without changing his face, and the man held her hand and rubbed it after drinking, his eyes were squinting.

"Sir, but you believe in Buddhism?" Jiang Qiao glanced at the Buddha beads in the man's hand and asked with a smile.

"Wine and meat pass through the intestines, and the Buddha stays in his heart." The man felt more and more that Jiang Qiao's ice muscles and jade bones were touching, and he was about to lean up and kiss her cheek, but Jiang Qiao gently avoided her.

"Sir is erudite, has you ever seen the true Buddha?" Jiang Qiao said with a smile.

"The shrines are all clay sculptures and golden bodies, where is the real Buddha." The man laughed at it, only thinking that Jiang Qiao was flirting with him.

"Sir hasn't seen it, I can see it." Jiang Qiao lazily propped up his chin, and his fingertips were so beautiful that people's hearts were hot, "Have you heard of Zhao Fu's "Guanyin Dashi Tu"? I had the pleasure of taking a look at it yesterday, and the Guanyin Bodhisattva seemed to come back to life. ”

The man seemed to have been poured a basin of cold water on his head, and the whole person came to his senses, and the charm and ambiguity were swept away, revealing two fierce looks, "Where did you see it?" ”

Jiang Qiao pretended to be frightened, stroked his heart, and said hesitantly: "Yesterday, I passed by a private room and saw two guests inside, one with a box of gold ingots, and the other with the picture of Guanyin...... What's wrong, sir? ”

The man stopped talking and hurriedly got up and left.

The accompanying guests left, and Jiang Qiao swept away the other singers and dancers who were alert, and did not mean to rob the guests, but got up and left the water pavilion.

She turned around a few corridors and bumped into Chu Zhixia in men's clothes.

Chu Zhixia was dressed as a young chivalrous man, with a hat on his head, holding the drinking stream snow in his arms, and raised the eaves of the hat slightly at her, and the right to say hello, "The words have been brought?" ”

"Brought." Jiang Qiao nodded, and didn't ask who that person was and what Chu Zhixia was going to do, the less she knew, the safer it would be for her.

That man was a staff member of the regent's palace, liked Buddhism, and also studied Danqing calligraphy and painting. When Chu Zhixia went to Dali Temple to interrogate, he happened to see him, and asked Deng Mian to find out the truth after a little inquiry.

If the regent were to arrange for someone to deal with the matter, he would be the best person to do it.

Fortunately, Chu Zhixia won the bet.

"Thank you, Miss Jiang, this place is no longer safe, I will arrange someone to redeem your life." Chu Zhixia turned around and wanted to leave, but heard Jiang Qiao's indifferent voice.

"Miss Xie Chu is kind, but I can't get out of this place." Jiang Qiao didn't explain too much, just bowed to Chu Zhixia's back and turned to leave.

Chu Shixia was stunned, and when she looked at it again, Jiang Qiao's back had disappeared between the merry-seeking men and the flowery women, as if a handful of snow was drowned by ten zhang of red dust.

——

The man ran in the alley with an umbrella, and his entourage and guards were left far behind him. In the end, he threw his umbrella in a rage and pounded the locked courtyard door vigorously.

"Guan Laosi, open the door!" The man was so aggressive that he wanted to kick open the courtyard door and devour the life inside.

As soon as the courtyard door opened a crack, the man couldn't wait to break in, grabbed the collar of the shabby painter, and roared, "You dare to resell that painting and fool the regent, you don't want to live?!" ”

Guan Laosi was so frightened that when he secretly hid the painting, in addition to coveting the position of the edict of the painting academy, he also had a greedy heart for money. But he hasn't had time to contact the buyer yet, how does the regent know that he hasn't burned the painting yet, could it be that the eye of the sky can't be successful?!

"Adults are angry, adults are angry!" Guan Laosi desperately begged for mercy, "The painting is in the house, I'm going to burn it." ”

"Don't go yet!" The man's anger did not subside, "Stealing the palace collection is a capital crime!" If you take a slow step, you will be allowed to go to Dali Temple for that old thing to be tortured! ”

Without waiting for Guan Laosi to rush into the house, the figure of the young man quietly stood in the torrential rain at the head of the wall, as if the stone statue that had been washed by a waterfall for a hundred years and remained unchanged.

"Who?!"

"There are assassins, protect your lordship!"

Shen Zhou's thumb was slightly raised, and he pushed out a three-inch sword blade, which was as clear as snow, reflecting his face with only a pair of eyes exposed.