Painter

Chapter 173 22: Ghost Garden
The girl asked as she walked down the stone steps of Cheng Terrace.

The stone bowl on the Cheng Terrace is said to condense the moonlight into dew every Gengshen day, and it is now full of snow and incense ash.

The maid was carrying the book of scriptures.Every time the little lady spent incense money to invite the scriptures, she threw them away and never read them.But the maidservant's mother, who is in charge of the general's mansion, is good at reciting Buddha's name.Every time the maid got a book, she took it to her mother.She thought in her heart that this book of scriptures would make Auntie happy for another ten days and a half months, so she followed behind the little lady, put some thought into it, and replied, "I heard that there is a gentleman who lives in it."

"When?"

"It seems like half a month ago. Speaking of which, there are still many bricks and tiles left in the garden, which belong to our mansion."

"Is it a supernatural power?"

As they spoke, the two came to the side of the carriage, the groom put down the pedals on the side of the shaft, and the girl patted the white horse's mane and stepped into the carriage.

"I don't know about that, I only heard that it was from Qingling in Lizhou."

"Lizhou? That's far away." The girl got into the carriage and brushed off the snowflakes on her sleeves, only a few flakes fell, and the remaining snow was forced to melt by the warmth of the carriage.

"Little lady, don't freeze." The maid entered the carriage, put a purple silk kimono on the girl, and then turned to the groom and said, "Let's go!"

The groom puts away the pedals, shakes the reins and drives the horses, and the brilliance of cloud seals and wind symbols on the wall of the wheel hub and cart looms.

The oil wall car left Daxiangguo Temple, and there was almost no vibration in the car.

The rumors about the owner of the abandoned garden passed through the girl's ears without leaving any trace.She grew up in Yujing City, and she has heard countless rumors.

The oil wall car passed the silk and satin village in the east of the temple, drove up the Yunqiao, passed the Binxiang Pavilion on the Feilou, and turned south.

The girl lifted the curtain and looked west.

To the west of Xiangguo Temple is a courtyard, among which is Shaozhu Courtyard.The monks said that the word "Shaozhu" means that all the beauties are empty, but the people in the market said that there used to be a monk in the courtyard who used to eat roasted pork, so the courtyard was originally called the Roasted Pig Yard because it sounded indecent. It was changed later, first to Shaozhu, and then to Shaozhu.

In the Royal Soup Restaurant to the west of the Roasted Pig Yard, there is Longyou Soup.Longyou Tangjian said that the real dragon emperor bathed in this pool, which is called Longyou.But the people in the market said that one day the sage took a bath in that pool, it was very warm, and he fell asleep inadvertently, half dreaming and half awake, suddenly felt the water flowing in the pool, and opened his eyes, good guy, there was a big white dragon lying in the water, so this The soup pool is called Longyou soup.Even an ancient well in Yinxian Lane to the west of the soup restaurant is also called Suolongjing by the people, saying that an old dragon has been suppressed in that well.

This kind of weird legend was born in the conversations of the people in the tea house of the restaurant in Yujing City. There are many stories every day. There are many versions of the same story.

The girl looked west again, and the west gate of Yujing City was in the distance. Below the gate, beside the Lingguang Bridge and at the entrance of Zichen Lane, were the residences of two giant families, the Tang family of Mengzhu and the Chen family of Guling.

Before the Dayong Dynasty, the world was chaotic. In just 400 years, nine dynasties changed. , but Tang and Chen's family affairs."Although these two prominent families are not as powerful as before, they are still flourishing.In the garden of the Tang Garden, there is a Xin Garden, and the "Xin Garden Elegant Collection" in Dayong's "Three Elegant Collections" came from here.

"Who did Prince Consort Tang invite this time?" she asked.

"Most of them are the juniors who will enter the Qianyuan Academy recently, Yuan Hun from Lingchang, Zhao Jingyuan from Zhuanyu, Xie Ningzhi from Junzhu..."

The maid said seven or eight names.

The girl is thoughtful.

"Back then, Prince Consort of the Tang Dynasty invited famous scholars to gather in Xinyuan. Li Chengzhou painted "The Picture of Xinyuan Collection", and Yang Yuanzhang made "Pictures of Xinyuan Collection", and Xinyuan Collection became one of the three major collections. He is famous for his paintings. Among the people Tang Consort invited this time, none of them seem to be good at painting."

"Little lady has succeeded in learning painting from Mr. Xu, and when the time comes, she will also draw a picture of Yaji, which will shock everyone." The maid smiled, feeling a little proud in her heart.

"I'm still a long way off."

The carriage crossed the bridge, the wind and snow and the city wall were blocked by the flying tower, the girl lowered the curtains, her eyelashes were stained with snowflakes.

"Now that Master Jiuxiang has sealed his pen, Mr. Xu and General Jinwuwei are the only master painters left in the world. The young lady is Mr. Xu's disciple, so you don't have to be so modest."

"Even Mr. Xu often said that one mountain is higher than the other." The girl smiled, paused for a while, and said with emotion: "Mr. Xia came back from Liuzhao this year, and he had the idea to seal his pen."

"Why?" The maidservant opened her eyes wide.

"Mr.'s talent for painting is rare in a hundred years. He should be a leading figure in the painting circle. Unfortunately, he was born in the same dynasty as the painting sage. Mister has been traveling for several years, but he has not been able to make further progress. It seems a bit disheartened." .”

The girl's sigh was buried in the sound of horseshoes and wheels.

……

The oil wall car enters the mansion through the wide and trafficable side entrance, and passes through the numerous pavilions like arrow towers.

Ever since Feng Chenwei went west, the figures in scarlet clothes and golden armor in Yujing City have decreased a lot.

The girl pulled off the purple silk kimono. After dinner, the sky was getting dark and the snow had stopped.The military banner tiles of the Fengchen General's Mansion are still dense, but they seem a little empty and extremely quiet.There were a few croaking sounds outside the wall, and when I turned my head, there were many cloud bridges and flying buildings in the dark, and the setting sun was swallowed by the heavy buildings, leaving half of the sky full of blood.

She suddenly remembered the news she heard outside Xiangguo Temple, and remembered the abandoned garden.When she was young, she often went to that abandoned garden to play, and she vaguely remembered some things.She called the maidservant and went to Shengxiang Building with a lantern.

Shengxiang Building is on the west side of the General's Mansion, higher than many flying buildings in Guangzhaifang. She climbed to the top of the building, opened the west window, and looked down.

The one-and-a-half-acre small garden was shrouded in twilight, and there were several new houses.

Seeing this abandoned garden, she remembered climbing the wall to enter it when she was a child.Hearing the story of my father's war, I went to the abandoned garden, built buildings and cities with bricks and tiles, caught insects and ants, and formed troops.He also heard that a divine sword was born in a certain sword mound, and the sword energy soared to the sky, so he buried the wooden sword he cut in the garden, and waited for it to break through the ground, but he had long forgotten where it was buried.She once saw that the chess pieces in the abandoned pavilion were shiny, and she couldn't buckle them off after several days of digging with her fingers.Once, she was reprimanded by her father and ran away in anger. Dozens of Fengchen guards searched around several squares, and finally invited her down from the old locust tree in the abandoned garden.

She had forgotten about the abandoned garden, but the abandoned garden changed its appearance and brought back memories.

The weeds in the garden are gone, and the ground is full of ashes.

Under the wooden shed, the head of the black donkey poked into the trough.

The white cat chased the crow and ran from the east kitchen to the main house.

As the night was getting darker, a woman in red walked into the East Kitchen, and another weak man with a pale face came out holding a bucket.

The garden was filled with night mist, and there were other figures, appearing and disappearing from time to time.

(End of this chapter)