The flower girl called the guests to choose their own flower branches, and saw that the guests were still obsessed with the female Taoist temple, so she said: "Have you seen the old pomegranate tree outside the south gate?" There was no at the earliest. It is said that after the princess was born, the jade body was weak, there was a master to point out, the princess was short of wood in the five elements, so it was called to plant a pomegranate tree in the south position of the square gate where she lived, which could resolve the disadvantage and keep the peace for a long time. The saint loved his daughter and asked for the permission of the old saint, and transplanted the pomegranate wood, which is the only scene today. ”

"By the way, Xiao Langjun, you are new to the city, remember my reminder, if you pass by, don't go around. Have you ever heard of the little grandfather in the palace now? It is said that this pomegranate is planted for the well-being of Princess Shouchang, and the wood also has a spirit, even if it falls into flowers and leaves, it cannot be disposed of at will, let alone trampled on. Therefore, people were sent to guard day and night in shifts, and those who dared to trample on or damage were severely punished. ”

"Xiao Langjun, what do you think of these two branches?"

The flower seller picked up a pair of flowers for the customer, raised her head, and saw that the person had gone.

Suyu walked into the hairpin star view, passed through the archway, bell and drum tower, came to the Ling Palace, passed by the Ling Palace, saw the Sanqing Pavilion, stepped on the green bricks on the ground, stopped in the center of the long and wide courtyard in front of the pavilion, and looked around.

Intuition told her that the left and right sides of this courtyard used to be the flower hall and the west building, but now looking at it, the roof is still the same, but the hall has become the Yuanjun Hall and the Zhenwu Palace.

She stood for a long time, hesitated, and continued walking, and a hibiscus garden appeared in front of her. After a moment's pause, I subconsciously walked through the Hibiscus Garden and headed to the right-hand side.

A silent corridor stretched out beneath her feet, uninhabited. She walked slowly along the corridor, and at the end, another wall appeared.

The door of the wall is locked, but through the hollow flower window hidden by the miscellaneous trees on the wall, you can still see a few scenes inside the wall. There was a small bridge there, and under the bridge was a flat field.

Many years have passed, and many traces of the old days are gone, but there is clearly a pond that has been filled in under the bridge.

There is no one around, the wind passes, and the flowers are full of trees. In the corner of the deep eaves of nowhere, there was also a faint sound of Jin Zhen occupying the wind at this time, which broke from time to time, and came out over the wall, doubling the silence.

She withdrew her gaze from within the flower wall and looked up, looking at the stone inscription above the locked door.

"Oi Spring Garden".

The slanting sun quietly shines on this stone plaque that has been eroded by moss for a long time. She looked at it for a long time, her eyes seemed to sting, and a faint mist slowly spread under her eyes.

"How did you get here?"

Suddenly there was a clap behind him.

Su Yu turned his head and saw a woman hurrying up.

"Let's go! This is a forbidden place! The woman shouted and expelled her.

Behind this door is the inner house of the former Dingwang Mansion, where the bedrooms of Princess Yin and the lord of the hairpin are located. When the saint gave this subterranean mansion as a female Taoist temple, he circled this place as a forbidden place, and there were eunuchs who sprinkled it as usual, so that the saint could come here at any time to remember the dead.

Suyu walked out along the way he came. Her steps were hurried at first, then slowed down, and slower and slower, until at last she returned to the gate of the temple, her legs were so heavy that she could not even step out of the threshold in front of her.

She already remembered.

The fog that had haunted her for years dissipated when she walked a moment earlier to the closed door.

She remembered it completely.

On that night many years ago, she had a fever again when she was frail since she was a child, and A-Niang guarded her and never left.

Just a few days ago, Zhao Zhongfang, the long-sleeved eunuch of the palace who was good at dancing, heard a great horror news from the palace that had been suppressed and had not yet dispersed. The saint already has a plan to go out of Beijing to avoid trouble, but he has not yet made a final decision.

For many days, A-Niang has been sleepless day and night, worried. The only consolation was that news had been received that the person sent by Aya to answer was on the way and was about to arrive.

That night, in the middle of the night, someone suddenly came to the palace, saying that the queen mother sent her mother and daughter to enter the palace immediately and summoned them urgently.

Zhao Zhongfang had secretly learned that the Queen Mother was suspected of having quietly moved out of the palace a few days ago, and why was she suddenly summoned tonight. Could it be that the information I got earlier was wrong?

She was burning badly, and she was scared, and A-Niang was worried that she would be cold again on the road, although the palace envoy repeatedly emphasized that the queen mother and daughter must go together, A-Niang, who had always been in awe of the queen mother, still insisted on disobeying, and she was bound to leave her, and told Zhao Zhongfang to accompany her, kissed her forehead, and then left in a hurry.

The kiss with a cool jade touch that fell on her hot forehead and the back that left in a hurry were the last impressions that A-Niang left on Suyu.

After she walked out of the mansion, she didn't come back. It was Guo Zong, the royal army who originally accompanied her into the palace.

In a daze, she vaguely heard Guo Zong and Zhao Zhongfang say a few words on the other side of the screen in front of the bed, Zhao Zhongfang seemed to be so shocked that when he ran inside, he was tripped by his own foot and fell. Then she was hastily lifted out of the bed, changed into her clothes, and stuffed into a carriage.

She didn't know where they were taking her, and she didn't know why A-Niang didn't come back. She asked the old nurse who was with her mother, but she only shook her head and hugged her tightly in her arms, looking terrified. She felt as if she was being taken on the run.

Someone was chasing them from behind.

Could it be that the rebels have already arrived?

Those people were getting closer and closer, Guo Zong's entourage blocked the way, and told Zhao Zhongfang to drive to continue to escape, in a hurry, the carriage that was moving forward quickly also overturned, the old nurse broke her neck on the spot and died, she was also thrown out, and when the rolling carriage was about to press her, Zhao Zhongfang rushed up desperately and firmly protected her under him, but one of his own legs was pressed by the body.

At that time, Guo Zong, who had been cut off for them, should have been dead, and the pursuers were approaching again with a fire staff, so close that she could clearly see people's faces.

She recognized the leader among them.

She didn't want to leave her Zhao companion, crying to pull him out of the car, how could she pull him. Zhao Zhongfang pushed her away fiercely and yelled at her, telling her to run by herself.

It was pitch black, she couldn't see her fingers, and the surroundings seemed to be wilderness, and she stumbled forward alone, not knowing the direction, and suddenly fell hard, her head hit the ground, and the person kept rolling down, and then fell unconscious. I don't know how long it took, but when she woke up, she found herself lying in a deep ditch, crawling out, and the world had changed.

She couldn't remember anything, and the only thought that still existed was that her mother had left home and gone to a place, and she had not returned, and she wanted to look for her.

She did not find her mother, and there, under a wall of the most magnificent mural in the world, which was about to be consumed by fire, she met her grandfather in this life.

Since then, the little girl who was originally called Li Yan'er has become Ye Xuyu.

Chapter 19

Before walking to the threshold of the Taoist temple, Su Yu felt that his strength had been exhausted, and he stopped for a moment before finally reluctantly lifting his feet and stepping out of this gate.

As soon as she came out, her ear drum suddenly rushed into the boiling sound, and slammed her heart violently, as if her chest was about to burst, and she felt difficult to breathe, and held on, and only walked a few steps, and a carriage came quickly diagonally, and she could not avoid it, and was almost hit, and the coachman turned his head and scolded her for being blind, and drove past her with a roar.

She hurriedly retreated until she came to a halt at the base of the Taoist temple.

It should be because she hasn't eaten for a day, she is dizzy and tinnitus, her back is dripping with cold sweat, her eyes are full of gold stars, and she is shaky. She held on to the wall so as not to fall down on the spot, and after supporting herself, she slowly sat down on the ground, and then, weakly, lowered her head and closed her eyes.

In this way, she leaned against the wall on the ground, until the discomfort in her body subsided, and her heartbeat slowly calmed down, and then the sound of voices flooded back into her ears, and she heard someone talking about herself.

“…… What's wrong with this man? Is it sick? ”

"Is it heat stroke?"

"It doesn't look like it, it's not a hot day......

She slowly opened her eyes and raised her head.

There were several passers-by standing around who had stopped, looking at themselves. Seeing that her face was still pale, someone kindly reminded her that there was a good hall in the hairpin star view, so she could rest her feet and let her go in to beg for saliva to drink.

Su Yu wiped the cold sweat on his forehead and wet his feet, smiled reluctantly, got up, continued to move forward along the high wall of the Taoist temple, walked to a square door, and saw the passers-by on the street outside the square in a hurry, only to realize that the rumbling sound of the street drum sounded in his ears again.

Another night has fallen.

She stood beside the gate for a long time, until the last drum sounded, and the door slowly closed in front of her.

The place where she is located is one of the most prosperous fang cities in Chang'an City, with noisy lights day and night.

On this night, Su Yu walked aimlessly through the bright lights, until he could no longer walk, returned to the hairpin star view, and sat in a corner of its back door for the night. There were no lights, no one would come, and in the darkness she spent the second night of her return with her eyes closed.

At dawn, the door of the nearby Chongren Fang opened. The guy at the Sitong Hotel yawned and opened the door, and saw a thin young man standing outside the door, although his clothes were wrinkled and his face was pale, but his eyebrows were good, and he thought it was a candidate who came to the store, and when he heard the other party speak, he said that he was looking for a person named Zhou He who lived here, pointed the way, and pouted.

"That poor sour painter! Pretend to be full with your belly! I already owe half a month's rent, and I asked him to move to Tongpu, but if he didn't go, if he hadn't begged, he would have been kicked out a long time ago! ”

There are many high rollers in Chang'an, and after the arrival of many poor scholars, they would rather take on debts and settle in decent hotels or houses, so as not to lose face and be looked down upon, which will then affect their travel. Chongrenfang is adjacent to the imperial palace, sandwiched between the East Market and the old Shangshu Provincial Election Academy, which has become a place to attract many scholars to gather, and it is difficult to find a place, and the price of the hotel is naturally expensive.

Zhou He should have lived here with this thought.

Su Yu found the house where he lived, knocked on the door, but there was no answer, and knocked again, after a few times, the door opened the crack in the door for a long time, and the people inside: "Why did you come early in the morning to ask for money again?" I said, I can make it up in a few days......" raised his eyes to see the person who came, was stunned for a moment, and then his face was slightly red.

It was Zhou He who opened the door, but at this moment he looked different from yesterday, his hair was messy, his eyes were black, and his expression was even more full of chagrin. Although the door was not wide open, the room was a mess, littered with drawings and dirty drippers stained with dry paint, and a pile of paper that looked like articles and poems were scattered in the corner.

Su Yu nodded at him and smiled, "I took the liberty of coming to disturb him early in the morning." If it's convenient, can you borrow the space to speak? I have something to ask Brother Zhou. ”

Zhou He quickly returned to normal, opened the door and invited Su Yu in, laughed self-deprecatingly, and pointed to the sketch: "To tell you the truth, I have been really shy lately, and I don't want to move to a low-class residence to live with a merchant porter, so I can only rely on selling paintings to raise money." You also know that no name or surname, no matter how good the painting is, no one appreciates it, so you can only catch knives for others and sell them to the painting shop. I spent half the night painting last night, and I finally finished it. I thought it was the hotel that came to ask for the room money again, but I didn't dare to answer, but I didn't expect the little brother to come, and I smiled. ”

Looking at the rain, the content of these paintings is mostly the beauty among the flowers, the color is beautiful, rich and colorful, it should be used in the place of the wine shop or the green building, although it is a work of catching a knife, the time is also in a hurry, and the details are inevitably the same, but the lines are fine, the expressions and postures of the characters are also different, or with affection, or light smile, sitting and lying are different, not with many years of painting work and can not be obtained.

Su Yu said with a smile: "My surname is Ye, and I am the second in the family, and Brother Zhou can call me Ye Er." It was me who rushed first and came to disturb early in the morning, Brother Zhou is not to blame, it is my luck. ”

Zhou He waved his hand: "Yesterday I thought that I would never have a chance to meet again if I said goodbye to you, but today you came, I couldn't ask for it." Just now you said to ask for advice, how dare I be, if there is something, you can just talk about it. ”

"I remember yesterday Brother Zhou said that you had made a tomb painting for the mausoleum of Empress Zhaode with Lingzun in the past, I want to know the details, can you tell me?"

Zhou He was stunned for a moment, probably because he didn't expect her to come early in the morning and was interested in this, but quickly responded: "Yes, it's true." Today's saint's year name is Qiande, and I remember that it was the fifth year of Qiande. As for the mausoleum, it should have been repaired in the second year of Qiande, which took several years, employed 100,000 people, and the craftsmen dug the mountain day and night, and only then began to take shape and begin to paint. Not counting the nameless painters who painted the corners and miscellaneous paintings, there were famous painters in the palace, counting one or twenty, and they were all sent over, all of whom were hundreds. I remember when there were the most people, the tomb was full of tripods, and the fire rods were bright day and night. ”

The rain froze.

Zhou He said and sighed: "The so-called death is like life, and it is nothing more than that." Who has not been a hundred years old, and after a hundred years, it can be regarded as an extreme honor and sorrow to be able to sleep under such an underground palace. But the strange thing is that there was another saying back then, this mausoleum was actually just an empty tomb, just a mound of clothes......"

When he said this, he suddenly paused, he should have regretted mentioning this, coughed, changed the topic and smiled: "Second Brother Ye doesn't know if he has had breakfast?" If not, why don't we go to dinner together? ”

Su Yu didn't move: "Didn't you say that you know a lot about inside and outside the court?" Tell me everything you know, including this rumor. ”

Zhou He's eyes were slightly surprised, and he glanced at her, with a sad face: "Second Brother Ye, it's not that I broke my promise, but that some things involve royal secrets, how can people like me discuss it in vain." ”

"How much money do you want? I'll think about it. ”

Su Yu looked at his eyes that had not yet subsided due to the congestion that had not subsided due to staying up late last night to paint, and said.

Zhou He was silent for a moment, and suddenly asked, "Where did you learn painting?" Under whom? ”

He was quite talented in painting, and since he was a child, he was influenced by his father, who was a court painter, and with years of hard work, he was not general, and his eyesight was even better, and ordinary paintings were difficult for him to see. But yesterday, when I accidentally saw the painting of this young man who was much younger than me, I was quite shaken in my heart.

The content of his painting is the door god and god Tu Yu Lei, which is an extremely ordinary subject, which has long been indiscriminately painted, and there is nothing new to speak of, not to mention the painter, that is, the painter and the lowest folk painter, who can be painted with his eyes closed. But from the other party's pen down the paper, but quite different, the penmanship ups and downs, clear and vigorous, and flowing water, the two doors of the eyes of the eyes of a few strokes outlined, but if the radio contains light, the anger of the life, lifelike, if you want to jump out of the paper, so that the evil in the world is discouraged.

This style of painting and brushwork obviously come from leaf painting, but there is no rigidity, let alone blind imitation, and it is free to sway.

It is from the way of the sword that he comprehended the penmanship, which is a mastery of the pen and the pen of his own, and he has become a generation of grandmasters and is admired by tens of thousands of people.

Zhou He thinks very highly of himself in his heart, and in terms of painting skills, even if he is the Hanlin painting in the court today, or Yao Xu, another who is the most powerful now, he may not actually be able to look at it.

This young man's painting skills naturally cannot be compared with Ye Zhongli's authentic works, but in terms of the thorough comprehension of the essence of the gods, to be honest, even if he has studied Ye painting for many years, he is not as good as him.

At this moment, he was finally able to take the opportunity to ask questions, and Zhou He stared closely at the young man in front of him.

Su Yu said: "Ye Zu is regarded as a god by the world, but he himself regards himself as a painter everywhere, and he does not hide his selfishness. I heard that in the past, when he was still in Chang'an, even the most humble folk painter came to him to ask him for painting skills, and he would carefully guide and spread the painting skills. Before he left Chang'an after finishing the Jingluo long scroll, he wrote a painting scripture, and wrote down all his painting formulas, methods of studying colors and various experiences, so that all the painters who are interested in painting in the world can have a book to learn. The painting scriptures have been circulated to this day, benefiting countless painting students all over the world, these are well-known things, and Brother Zhou must know more than me. ”

"My teacher is just an unknown painter in the mountains, and he also traveled in the prosperous world in his early years, and later saw through the world, studied hard, and taught me."

Su Yu unfolded his right palm with a few calluses on his knuckles towards Zhou He.

"I don't have any talent, but fortunately I met a good teacher and knew that hard work can make up for my mistakes. If the painting I made can enter the eyes of Brother Zhou, it is my honor. ”

Zhou He looked at her for a long time and said, "Ye Er, if you get ahead in the future, don't forget to bring one or two." If you say yes, I'll tell you all I know. You also know that when it comes to the court and court, there are some things that cannot be said, and I am afraid that I will lose my head-"

"If I can, I will not forget."

"Good! I believe in you! ”

Zhou He slapped his palm lightly, turned his head and looked at the four walls, "It's inconvenient to talk here, you come with me!" ”

The two of them left the hotel. Zhou He went east out of the city, walked out of the Chunming Gate, and came to a wilderness outside the city, and there was no half of a figure around, so he stopped and asked, "What do you want to know?" ”

"You know everything."

Zhou He glanced at her puzzled, "Speaking of this, the words will be long......"