Transmigrating to the Ming Dynasty’s Imperial Examination

Chapter 31

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At the Chongyang Poetry Conference, of course, I will do chrysanthemum poetry.

Holding the inkstone from the four essays, he finally picked out a short poem related to chrysanthemums.

The original novel is about a poor scholar who recited a sad little poem due to self-harm when he was studying in a mountain temple. Suddenly a beautiful woman appeared in the monastery in the evening, and she shared a few spring breezes with him, and gave him gold and silver to send him to take the exam in Beijing.

Later, the scholar won the top prize and went back to look for the woman. The woman said that she was a demon fox who practiced in the mountains. Because she admired his poetic talent, she asked him to propose a pillow seat. The fox demon said that he was a beast and was not worthy of marrying him, so he helped him marry the daughter of the prime minister, and then retired.

Regardless of the plot, at least the poems written by the male protagonist are related to Chongyang, so it is not abrupt to get them at the poetry meeting.

Cui Xie pondered the sparse fence of the ancient temple, the barren grass and the cold dew in the poem. The poet folded the half-open white chrysanthemum with his own hands, recalling the artistic conception of his hometown in front of the chrysanthemum, imitating the style of modern meticulous and heavy-color comic strips, and drew a page-sized picture of a beautiful woman.

As for the image of the beauty, he secretly opened the file on the mobile hard disk behind the door of the room-China Geography-Hong Kong-Ancient Hong Kong-Extinct Creatures, and found a small movie about the heroine of the fox, and drew it seriously. heroine figure.

His paintings are not particularly realistic, but the proportions of the characters are correct and the lines are concise and smooth. Even taking into account the convenience of printing, only the simplest lines are used to outline the outline, and the people drawn are still bright with bright eyes and well-defined facial features, with the expressions of the characters in the movie, and the vividness is ready to show.

Halfway through holding the inkstone, he almost grabbed the painting to take a closer look. He forcibly endured it for half an hour. After he finished painting the color and inscription on the poem, he rushed up and squinted for a long time.

The beautiful woman in the painting is leaning against a dilapidated bamboo fence, her right sleeve showing her pink fingertips, leaning on a thin white chrysanthemum. A few unattended wild chrysanthemums were tied by the fence, and a piece of grass stretched out from the ground to the distance, and the dark red brick wall of the ancient temple was exposed in the corner of the picture. And the beauty has Zhu Zhu on her cheeks, powder on her forehead, and a small bun on her head. She wears a green shirt and a white skirt, with a gold-plated armor, and a goose-yellow silk sash around her waist, which outlines her slender shoulders and waist. A thin chrysanthemum curling Tingting.

But nowadays, in embroidered portraits that are either painted or engraved, the ladies in the painting are all with thin eyebrows and eyes, and the facial features are light. Where have you seen such a beautiful and vivid picture of beauty

He couldn't help but look at Cui Xie, and asked in amazement, "How did you draw this painting, eldest brother? It looks like it was alive!" It looks like a real person, isn't it drawn according to those embroidered portraits

Cui Xie was not surprised by his reaction, and he was not worried that people in the Ming Dynasty were used to the style of painting with narrow eyebrows and narrow eyes, and would not like this kind of portrait with a proportion close to the real person. During the Wanli period, Zeng Jing absorbed the characteristics of Western oil painting in his communication with missionaries. The portraits he painted were as exquisite as living people, which not only became popular in the contemporary world, but also created a painting school that spread to the Qing Dynasty.

Moreover, this painting uses completely traditional fine brushwork techniques, only the face and hands are drawn in a more realistic proportion, there is nothing suspicious except that they are beautiful.

He was already prepared for the question of holding the inkstone, and he calmly hooked his finger at him and said in a long voice: "I actually drew it according to people, according to what I am most familiar with and can see every day... "

"I see!" Peng Yan exclaimed: "Did the eldest brother draw according to himself, right? I said why you draw so smoothly, you look at this face in the mirror every day, don't you know it well! But it's not as good as You look good, you…”

As he spoke, he realized that Cui Xie rolled his eyes slightly upward, looking at him helplessly.

"I guessed wrong? Could it be one of our sisters?" He carefully recalled the appearance of the Cui family's maids and foster mothers, and even Miss Auntie. But Cui Xie didn't wait for him to think about it any longer. He stretched out his hand and squeezed his face, and laughed: "Isn't it you who I look at every day? Look in the mirror and look at these big eyes, this little face. Son, and the arc of the hairline on your forehead, isn't it all like you?"

Holding the inkstone asked him to look at the mirror for a long time, but after all, he still felt that what he said was wrong, holding the mirror and looking at him, he said simply and stubbornly: "I still feel like you. When you hooked your finger to let me go, That smile is the same as the beauty in the picture, that kind of... a look that doesn't mean anything at first glance."

"... I hurt you in vain." How could this child speak, could he be malicious

Cui Xie put away the dried drawing paper and went to the backyard to give it to a craftsman to study how to print it.

As soon as the painting was opened, everyone was amazed. The craftsmen spread the painting on the table and looked closely at the scroll. Like holding the inkstone, they couldn't help but ask, "How did you paint such a painting? It's like no one else. Different!"

Cui Xie said with a smile: "Isn't it just to draw people. I saw Tian'er come in and out with a holding inkstone, and when I saw his face, it seemed like it was imprinted in my heart, so I followed it when I painted. She's so delicate, she looks like a beauty when she changes her clothes and hairstyle."

Li Jinbao said frankly: "Brother holding inkstone is not like this. He looks quite honest, but he is not so attractive."

Choi Xie didn't want to ignore him either.

A few craftsmen studied it for a while, then took a transparent white oil paper to lay it on the painting to outline, and divided several layers for engraving. Cui Xie took into account the difficulty of printing when coloring. The color of the clothes is only painted once, and shadows are rarely used. Most of the color blocks only need to be printed once. Only the face and hairline are a little more troublesome. Fingertips rubbed lightly.

But he gave them the skill a few days ago.

The craftsmen have been practicing for so many days, and they have already become proficient. Not only does it look better than the characters printed on the ordinary embroidered image plate, even in the pictures of ladies on the market, there has never been such a lifelike character!

It’s a pity that such a picture is printed as an embroidered portrait. If it were printed as a drawing paper, some people would buy it for a penny!

When the print came out, Cui Xie was still in the school and could not come back to make up his mind, so a few craftsmen approached the shopkeeper Ji to discuss it.

Shopkeeper Ji left his son to look at the store, and when he came back, he saw the embroidered images and the images they had tried to print on a few light-colored papers.

The cost of engraving books is high and the speed is slow. It is not as fast as printing paper to get money back. Judging by his eyesight who has been doing business for many years, if this picture is printed on a paper, the price of one or two silver boxes is ordered; The young masters of those big families are also willing to buy them!

He was also responsible for the serious crime of renting the backyard of the bookstore privately, and Cui Xie didn't completely forgive him, only talking about the book at the end of the year. Therefore, the sincerity and fear in his heart, the idea of desperately making money is firmer than anyone else, looking at the expectant faces of the craftsmen, he patted his hand on the table, and gritted his teeth: "You wait, the owner is back, I will tell you about this. !"

When Cui Xie came home in the evening, he saw the bright face of the shopkeeper Ji, and a stack of light yellow and light cyan paper of different sizes with pictures of beautiful women. The large paper is printed horizontally, which is thinner and longer than A4 paper. Some are printed with beauty pictures on the left side of the paper, some are on the right side, and some are in the middle; the small paper is smaller than A5 paper, and after printing the picture, it looks like Postcard; and a normal embroidered image on white mulberry paper.

While he was scrutinizing the draft, the shopkeeper Ji stood beside him with his hands rubbed together. It wasn't until he put down the manuscript that the old eyes shone brightly, and he asked with a strong smile, "What do you think about this drawing paper? The little old man has settled the account. If we print a set of drawing paper like this, No need to print more—"

He shook his finger: "For a set of four, it's not a problem to sell one or two silver! If there are a few more, it can be doubled. There are no such beautiful ladies out there who sell pictures of ladies. If you use good paper to print Come out, those elegant scholars and sons of officials, I am afraid that they will all buy them for collections and gifts, and one person can sell several sets!"

Cui Xie nodded slowly, went to the study to find a pen, and wrote a newly learned "Kid Min Yu" on each of several pieces of paper. There was no place for writing on the small note, so he wrote it on the beauty without pity, and said with disgust: "Hold the pen. It is not easy to make a small note, so just print a large note, and the character is better on the left. Don't use ink for the outline, use ocher watermark, and make the inscription lighter, and I will engrave a square mark below—"

He thought about it, the poem belonged to someone else, and he didn't print it himself, so he simply used the name of the study, which could be regarded as a security seal: "To engrave the seal of the Zhirong study of the size of one party, it is enough to use small seal characters."

The shopkeeper Ji responded in a loud voice, and asked him expectantly, "When will the owner draw some more beauties?"

The owner has a few more homework assignments today, and he had no time to draw beauties for a while, so he waved his hand at him and said, "Don't be in a hurry. No matter how good the sketchbook is, the book has to be printed, and I told them to hurry up on the engraving plate. , before the Chongyang Poetry Conference, just print out dozens of drawings for me, and the rest will come later."

His painter also only dipped in the light of super-era painting methods, and the truth is not very good. If this pair of painting pads really sells well, there will be imitations and pirated copies soon, and some people may soon develop a color painting pad printing method, and then a new beauty will eliminate the old one.

It is still necessary to rely on the story to support the characters, so that true fans can pay for it for a long time.

===========================

On the Double Ninth Day in September, the academy had a holiday.

Brother Yue, Yue Su, Luo Jin, Wang Si, and several other senior brothers wore snow-white new straight jackets early, came to pick him up by carriage, and went to the Shen family courtyard in Yuegu Mountain to participate in the poetry meeting.

Cui Yuan also set up the car early, and put Chongyang cake, chrysanthemum wine, a box of colorful snacks, dried meat and water in the car. It was like a trip at home, and it was well prepared. Cui Xie took the bookcase containing the newly printed paper and put it in the car, and let Peng Yan go with him.

Brother Yue said, "The Shen family has a servant and a servant to entertain him. You old servant and boy can just leave him at home. You can go in our car."

Cui Xie declined with a smile: "There's no one in my family today, so it's not interesting to just keep them at home. If you really don't allow anyone to come in at the poetry meeting, let their father and son go to the mountains to play for a day."

Others can go to poetry and meet the world, but Zhao Yinglin is watched closely by his family, so he can only follow his father and ancestors to the temple to burn incense. When he stood at the door to say goodbye to his classmates, his resentful eyes fell on Cui Xie's face, almost burning a hole in his face.

Brother Yue and Wang didn't dare to look at him, and stole glances at Cui Xie. But Cui Xie looked back at him calmly, cupped his hands and said, "Brother Ying Lin, don't worry, I will copy the poems for you."

He turned around casually, climbed into his own car, and several senior brothers also got into the Yue family's cart. The coachman rode his horse out of the north gate of Qian'an City, ran over the grass and yellow flowers all the way, and headed towards the lonely hill in the northeast of the city.

The autumn scenery outside is also very literary and artistic. The young literary boy lifted the curtain with an inkstone in his hand, lying by the window and watching the scenery. People like Cui Xie who used to click on the website to see the beautiful scenery all over the world are not interested in the roadside deserted scenery at all, so they closed their eyes and recited Han Yu's "Ouyang Sheng's Lament".

Carrying it on its back, the carriage swayed suddenly, and a bright and cheerful laughter came from the window: "Isn't this the old servant of the Cui family? words!"

Peng Yan turned his head and called out, "Brother, our car was stopped by someone." He stretched out his head and looked out, frowned, and said, "I don't know that person very well, wearing a red pleated suit and riding a black satin horse. It looks like a horse, it's not very glamorous."

Cui Yuan's polite and somewhat nervous voice sounded outside, asking who that person was. Brother Yue and the others in the car in front of them brought some scholarly arrogance, and moved out of their identities as Tongsheng and the invitation of the Shen Family Poetry Society, and warned those people not to offend them lightly.

Cui Xie leaned over to the car window over there and stretched out his head to take a look. The man outside had already hit the horse and walked out of the car, smiled at him and said, "Brother Cui, I don't want to meet you here. I originally wanted to pick a pony for you, but I called my father a few days ago. The lesson is a bit harsh, and I have never been able to go out, and I have never been able to get a good horse worthy of yours. It is fate that we can meet here today—"

He glanced at his companions behind him and said with a smile, "My family has a farm nearby, and there are also a few horses that can run. Why don't you come and ride with us to hunt and have a fun day, wouldn't you? It's better than doing a poetry party with those sour scholars!"

Only then did Cui Xie recognize that the valiant young man in front of him was the official Wang Xiangzhen who wore a colorful face that day. Thinking of his colorful face that day, he couldn't help but want to laugh. He resisted it, got out of the car and gave him a salute, and said politely, "I have an appointment with the seniors, so it's not good to break the appointment midway. If you are interested, let's make an appointment in the future."

Wang Xiangzhen also turned over from the horse to greet him, and smiled cheerfully: "If that's the case, let them go first. But I will definitely go to your house in the future! I'm going to rush you to move for my brother these days, and my brother also I have to thank you personally—you wait, I'll find you in two days when I find a good horse!"