On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month in the 22nd year of Chenghua, Li Chun, the father of Li Dongyang, passed away. The whole city was ready to welcome the New Year. The grief of the Li family was not contained in this joyful atmosphere, only a small ripple was stirred up, and it was soon drowned out by the sound of firecrackers and the cigarettes that were sacrificing everywhere.
On the last day of the 20th year of Chenghua, Li Dongyang and Ding You's memorial was approved, and he officially resigned. He took his younger brother Dongming and a group of nephews to cook the funeral at home. Cui Xie, a disciple, also helped the Li family, leading people to build a shed, and asked the silk and satin shop to bring the white linen from the camp earlier, and the female relatives of the Li family sewed mourning clothes.
Although his ancestors were from Chaling, they had lived in Beijing for a long time, and the funeral ceremony was done according to the customs of Beijing. On the one hand, the dutiful son knelt down to greet the guests, on the other hand, he invited monks and Taoist priests to recite the scriptures, played drums and music, entertained the guests, and ordered the family to go to Dongyue Temple, Buddhist temples, and Taoist temples to give alms…
The Li family was so busy that they didn't sleep for a few days, and Li Dongyang and his son both seemed to be seriously ill, their faces were pale and their eyelids were red and swollen. Only Mrs. Ma and her fourth master, Li Dongming, were born with a better physique and could survive.
Except for the two days when Cui Xie went home to worship his ancestors and pay New Year's greetings, he often went to Li's house for the rest of the time, and asked a famous doctor to prescribe tonic for the family to eat. The physique of this family is really bad. Before, they only watched Junior and Brother Zhao Xian for fitness, and later, even Teacher Li had to watch. He couldn't let him drink all day, or stay in the house all day to read and write.
Mr. Li's body was rapidly weakened, not only because of exhaustion, but also because of sadness.
Cui Xie forced him back to the house when he was crying so hard that he almost fainted. He filled a bowl of Huang Jing porridge from the stove under the porch, stared at him and drank it, saying forcefully, "Teacher can't be like this anymore. It's hard. Shigong is worried about his children and grandchildren for a while in Japan. If the husband abuses himself like this, how can Shigong's heroic spirit be at ease, and who will they rely on in the future?!"
Li Dongyang sighed: "Xian Weng passed away suddenly, why wasn't he worried about me? Taking Ruan's infantry out of the way, he also vomited several liters of blood when he was mourning. How can ordinary people like me avoid the sorrow of Li'e..."
He didn't think he was overwhelmed, but the grief of losing his mother, brother, wife, and nephew all along came back into his heart because of the loss of his father at this moment, and he needed some time to recover.
Cui Xie sat silently by the bed with him. At this time, any words are powerless and can only add to the annoyance. Only time and busyness can make the grief fade away. Cui Xie understands this kind of pain better than Teacher Li, because he is probably the only person in the world who has personally experienced death, and after crossing the road, he buried an unknown dead person alone and secretly. .
Sitting next to Li Dongyang, he silently recalled the life and death he had experienced in this life amid the sound of mantras by the monks in the courtyard, the sound of firecrackers welcoming the new year outside the door, and the sound of each other's New Year greetings.
The relatives and friends of the Li family came to pay their respects like water, and Xie Ying also changed into plain clothes and entered the door with a low-key fragrance. Li Dongyang thanked him very solemnly, thanked him for letting his father watch him return home, thanked him for taking care of the three of them in prison, and thanked him for taking care of his own student.
Xie Ying bowed and replied, "This is what Xie Ying should do, and you don't need to thank me sir."
Li Dongyang smiled bitterly and said, "How can there be so many things in the world that are taken for granted. Li knows Xie Zhenfu's painstaking efforts, but he can't pretend not to see him."
He wanted to leave Xie Ying to have a drink before leaving, but Xie Ying was afraid that the identity of the governor would frighten the Xie family and the guests and refused to stay, so Li Dongyang asked Cui Xie to see off the guests for him.
They whispered about the situation of the Li family these days like others, and they all wore low-key plain clothes, nothing special. Going straight to the door, Xie Ying untied the horse's rein from the tie-horse stone, led the horse to look back at Cui Xie, and said, "You also have to take care of yourself and persuade Mr. Li. The old gentleman can be considered happy at his age. You teach him to take good care of his useful body for the country, and the court will use him more in the future..."
Cui Xie took hold of his reins quite naturally, and replied, "I think so too. Life and death are destiny. We can live as long as we can, and we will have no regrets in the end."
Xie Ying also had a lot of feelings in this environment of mourning from all sides, and sighed, "There are so many things in life, so much worry and less joy", and his eyes slid from Cui Xie's hand to his face, and his eyes were only a little brighter. He said with emotion, "He Zhong, you have grown up... No, you are already a sensible adult. I shouldn't always treat you like a child."
Cui Xie smiled lightly, shook his head and said, "The first day I knew you, I was not a child. One day in the future, when the two of us can stay together undisturbed, I will tell you what happened in the past, and I will tell you what happened in the future. I'll tell you everything..."
Xie Ying said in a low voice, "I also have a lot of things that I want to talk to you about in the future." If possible, I would like to be able to talk about more 'future' things together.
The two held hands to say goodbye, and each went back to busy with the things in front of them, and also paved the way for the expected 'in the future'. Time flies by in this busyness, some people have abandoned the joys and sorrows of the world, and some people have just ushered in the starting point of a lifetime of honor.
The first seven days of the Li family had passed, and before they had time to withdraw from their grief, the Zhang family received good news from heaven: because Zhang's daughter was selected as the crown prince, her father Zhang Luan also granted grace and honor. Lord of the Temple. The wedding will be held in the first month of the month, and the whole family will be rewarded.
Cui Xie hurriedly went to the Zhang family again to congratulate her, and on behalf of her younger sister, she sent Miss Zhang a lot of make-up and flower dew specially made by Jinrongtang.
Two more days later, on the eighth day of the first lunar month, the second volume of the "Jin Yiwei" comic strip finally hit the market. This time, it was in time for the New Year's Day when all the officials and people had to rest. There were more people queuing to buy books than last time. Most of the streets were lined up to grab books. The crowds were so turbulent that they could not be separated by wooden fences.
Shuntian Prefecture, fearing that there would be problems during the festival, forced Ju Anzhai to find a way to divert the crowd, so that customers could not be crowded outside the store. The shopkeeper Ji had to discuss with Cui Xie to consign these books in the "Qingcha" shop. A banner with the words "Ju Anzhai" was hung outside the tea shop, and the portraits of Feng Yun and Yao Niang were placed on the left and right as signboards, so that readers could spread out. Go to more places to buy books.
The tea shop sells the newly released "Jin Yiwei" comic strip, and the resident commentators in the store also tell the stories of Jin Yiwei on the market. Watching and listening, drinking hot tea is also a rare enjoyment.
Ordinary guests have to line up to buy, but Jinyiwei people don't need it, they can book in advance. An Qianhu has ordered a new book since the ninth day of last month. People outside were scrambling and queuing to buy books. When he wanted to see his women's clothes, he had already read it many times at home.
nice.
Still he looks good, he looks better than Wang Yaoniang!
Although Cui Xie drew this picture directly according to Wang Zuxian's Nie Xiaoqian, only omitting the hair that fell down, it is not half similar to his previous picture, but An Qianhu himself studied the two pictures back and forth, and he just studied it. How to draw eyebrows and eyes in the previous one can be drawn into the latter one.
There was even a terrifying urge to follow the picture in his heart.
Fortunately, he controlled himself and didn't go to the wife's makeup box to try it out. He only sharpened a thin graphite pen and scribbled a few strokes on the embroidered portrait on the last page of the first volume.
At the beginning, the painting was not good, but the advantage of the graphite pen is that it can be erased. He erased as he sketched, and scratched the embroidered paper on the last page of several comic strips, and still felt that there was some difference. He suddenly remembered that there was a kind of "instruction manual" in the eyeliner and eyeshadow powder that Mrs. bought, which could teach people to draw a good-looking makeup with a stroke of brush. Rongtang's makeup powder, rouge, etc., have a manual. Go, don't let your mother know!"
The servant quickly bought it with the money he gave, and then left An Qianhu alone in the room to study, and when he went out, he said to the good girl, "Father bought our mother a full set of Jinrongtang's new rouge, specially designed for her. If you want to bring the exquisite goods with the 'instruction manual', and tell me to hide it from my mother, I must give it to my mother myself!"
The little girl asked: "Sure enough? Good boy, what did you buy and when did you go? Why didn't you ask me earlier? I'll tell your mother which one to use! That's all, you frizzy boys..."
She said that the little servant was irritable, turned around and told Mrs. An that Mr. An had bought her a good makeup powder, and she must be thrushing her eyebrows during the festival.
The lady of the An family was pleasantly surprised, and quickly dressed up, waiting for her husband to come over to give her new makeup powder. After waiting for a long time, the makeup will be spent, but there is no one to come. She couldn't help but think a little deeper: "Last month he bought several books of brocade and guards that painted him pretending to be a woman, and this time he bought rouge, is this really something you want to give to me, or really follow the book It's the same as in the painting, I have to pretend to be a female Jiao'e..."
Mrs. An couldn't sit still, for fear that her husband would have something as expensive as the one depicted in the book, she quickly brought the girl with her and walked quietly to An Qianhu's study. He pushed open the door and broke in.
fine! Her husband has no makeup on his face, nor is he wearing women's clothes!
Mrs. An let out a long sigh, and at the second glance, she saw her husband scribbling something on the paper with an eyeliner. She had already drawn a little devil with black eyebrows, red mouth and purple eyelids. There are also two comic strips piled up beside the painting, one is turning a page of colorful pictures of beautiful women, it is very soft, it is the beauty she has seen newly, the beauty of "An Qianhu" in the comic strip after changing her makeup!
The eyes of the two couples crossed in the air, and they were a little flustered. An Niangzi was frightened, and just wanted to ask him if he wanted to learn makeup by himself, An Qianhu smashed the paper and threw it out of the window, showing a look of surprise, and quickly said: "Yuanniang, are you here? Look at this for my husband. The makeup on the book is beautiful, I was just trying to learn how to draw one for you, but I haven't done it yet, why did you come here?"
He held a pen and sighed: "I watch you dressing every day, thinking that it is very easy to draw, but I didn't expect that I could not draw a pair of eye-catching eyebrows after practicing for a long time. It can be seen that Zhang Chang's name is also passed down to future generations. It's not easy, just blame my surname An, my parents didn't give me this talent."
Mrs. An sighed, took the pen and smiled and said, "It's easy to draw eyebrows well. If your husband wants to learn, I'll teach you."
Thankfully, An Qianhu Ying became fast, and finally recovered the misunderstanding between the husband and wife. After that, he honestly took Luo Dai and learned to thrush his wife's eyebrows, and he really painted some of the joys of the boudoir that he usually felt.
However, this kind of enjoyment did not last long. On the tenth day of the first lunar month, Concubine Wan suddenly passed away, and the emperor stopped the court for seven days for her, and even said ominous words such as "As soon as Zhen'er is gone, I will die soon."
The Chinese and foreign bureaus were shaken by the death of this person. The funeral ceremony specifications were compared with the queen everywhere, and the wives were ordered to cry. Jinyiwei stayed in the palace day and night, and the Zhang family was also worried that there would be twists and turns in the prince's marriage. Near the day when Nazai asked his name, the family was not very happy, but worried that his daughter would suffer a life because of Wan Guifei's death. .
Cui Xie knew and comforted him secretly: "Ling Ai is the destined queen, Brother Zhang doesn't have to think too much, just wait for the royal family to come and salute."
For such a big thing as the prince's marriage, the Ministry of Rites has long established regulations, and unless the emperor or the queen dies, it will never be changed. In history, Concubine Wan has never been a queen, or even a posthumous seal. Otherwise, why is it written in the history books that he remembers is just a "concubine"
Since she is a concubine, the prince may have to take two days of filial piety, but she will not delay the country's plans for her.
Zhang Luan was still worried, and the title of Minister of Honglu Temple on his head could not make him feel at ease. It was not until after the long Lantern Festival holiday that Bao Guogong Zhu Yong and the second Fu Liu Ji came to the house to accept the honorary ceremony, and he finally felt at ease, knowing that his daughter could safely marry into the palace.
And since Concubine Wan is dead, no one will bully and frame his daughter!
Zhang Luan burst into tears with joy, and answered with a trembling voice the names of his ancestors and the age of his daughter, and he completed the ceremony of acceptance, levy, due date, canonization, and personal welcome.
On the seventh day of the second lunar month, on Ding Chou day, the crown prince got married, and his position in the East Palace was more stable. After many years, the queen had to be ordered to congratulate a woman after she had been exempted from the pilgrimage for many years. On this day, the 23rd year of Chenghua's general examination will also kick off. The emperor ordered Hanlin bachelor Yin Zhi and Youchunfang Youyude Wu Kuan to be the examiners of the general examination to preside over a new general examination.
The life of the Ming court and Cui Xie took a new track from this day on.