Placid Chang'an

suburban bamboo forest

In the cold winter and the twelfth lunar month, everything is in decline, and it is rare that this bamboo forest is still green.A slanted path leads inwards to a bluestone path, which winds and turns to lead to a secluded place.In the hinterland of the bamboo forest, someone has built a courtyard with a fence. In the courtyard, there are two sparsely ridged vegetable fields, covered by fresh snow, only a little bit of greenery is exposed.In the middle of the yard, a bamboo building was built with Xiangfei bamboo, with smoke cage and light gauze, which is graceful and not like a square thing in the world.

There is a plaque in the middle of the courtyard gate, which is called Xiaoxiangju.

Early in the morning, a man with the appearance of a servant was sweeping the yard, gathered the withered and yellow bamboo leaves in the corner as dry firewood, and pulled out a few small cabbages from the snow. As soon as he turned his head, he couldn't help Frowning: "Master, why did you come out?"

The young man smiled warmly against the sunlight, "It's a good day, let's go for a walk."

The boy stomped his feet angrily, threw the cabbage into the vegetable field, and hurried back to the house to find a big cloak to put on for others, complaining: "The wind and cold are not gone yet, so I don't know how to add more clothes."

The young man really lowered his head and coughed a few times. Seeing that the boy was about to make trouble again, he suppressed his cough and waved his hands. He changed the subject and asked, "What day is it today?"

The boy didn't say any words of accusation, but in the end he sighed and said softly: "Twelfth lunar month 23, it's a young year."

It's been another year... The young man straightened up, looked at the sunlight that was divided into fragments by the bamboo leaves for a while, and after an unknown amount of time, he asked again, "Is everything ready?"

The servant nodded silently, got up and went back to the room, after a while he brought out a basket, covered it with a piece of blue and white cloth, and vaguely saw the yellow and white corners inside.

Another hand stove was stuffed into the young man's hand, "Young master, hold it, the road is cold, don't blow it through."

The young man nodded, and the two of them went out of the courtyard door together. The young man covered the courtyard door halfway. In the wilderness, no thieves would covet such a place. Even if they met those who were hungry, there was nothing valuable in the room.

It's just that before the two of them took a few steps, a lot of people came to meet them on the bluestone path.

The one at the head, wearing a black gown, slowly loomed from the dark green Xiangfei bamboo. His body was as long as jade, his waist was like bamboo, and there was a bit of sharp bamboo leaves between his brows.

Seeing the person coming, the young man was overjoyed at first, and called out: "Brother Su?"

Immediately afterwards, he was already surprised again: "This is?"

Su Cen stood still in front of the person, and nodded slightly: "I didn't introduce clearly that day, Dali Temple is holding Su Cen, and we meet again."

Li Yunxi's expression of surprise disappeared, and he cupped his hands calmly: "Caomin has seen Mr. Su."

Su Cen stared at the bamboo basket in Danqing's hand for a while, then asked, "You guys are going out."

Danqing quietly hid the bamboo basket behind his back, Li Yunxi smiled faintly, "It's not a big deal, what's the business of Mr. Su's visit?"

Su Cen averted his gaze, and raised his hand at the yamen servant behind him. Immediately, people surrounded the small courtyard, and several people rushed into the courtyard to search around.

Su Cen said: "Dali Temple handles the case, I hope you can forgive me."

Li Yunxi behaved fairly calmly, but lowered his head and coughed lightly from time to time.When the yamen servants searched the small courtyard, they came back one by one and reported: "My lord, I didn't find it."

Su Cen raised his chin and tapped the bamboo basket Danqing hid behind him: "Can you take a look at that?"

Li Yunxi was stunned, then turned sideways: "Danqing."

Danqing reluctantly handed over the bamboo basket, and the two yamen servants took it over and checked it from the inside to the outside with the blue and white cloth, and shook his head at Su Cen.

Su Cen laughed immediately, and said: "Brother Li, won't you invite me in?"

Li Yunxi nodded lightly: "My lord, please."

Once back in the bamboo building, Danqing first lit a brazier for the two of them, and then boiled water to make tea. There were people staring at him back and forth, and he felt awkward doing anything.

After sitting down, Su Cen looked around the bamboo building. The master and servant should live upstairs, and the downstairs floor is used as a studio. Drawing paper and brushes can be seen everywhere. , There are also half-painted ones that have just been written.The strange thing is that there doesn't seem to be any room for entertaining guests in this bamboo building. The place where Su Cen sits is a bamboo couch with several paintings spread on it at first. block place.

Li Yunxi smiled embarrassingly: "The humble house is so shabby, Master Su laughed at it."

Su Cen didn't take this seriously, and smiled back: "I'm the one who bothers you, Brother Li, don't take offense."

Li Yunxi shook his head and offered a cup of tea: "I only have bamboo leaf tea here, and I don't know if adults are used to drinking it."

As soon as Su Cen took over, a yamen servant immediately reminded him, "My lord, be careful that there are..."

Cao Wei's death caused these people to have lingering fears, but Su Cen didn't care much.Give Li Yunxi ten more guts, and he would not poison the court officials here, and just now the courtyard has been searched for no white phosphorus, no one will come out at this time without calling themselves.

Su Cen raised his hand, took a sip without any suspicion, and said with a smile, "This bamboo leaf tea is different from the ones sold in the market. It's pure and mild in the afternoon, and has a little more fragrance of orchids."

"It's Danqing who has enclosed a plot of land in the backyard. Bamboo trees and orchids are hybrids. The flowers scent tea, and the tea absorbs the smell of flowers. They stir-fry and drink it by themselves. It's rare that adults don't dislike it." Li Yunxi knew that Su Cen came in. For his cup of tea, he asked straight to the point: "I don't know what your lord is talking about here?"

Su Cen also didn't like to go around in circles with people, so she said directly, "It's for a few paintings."

Su Cen paused slightly: "I found the word 'Yu Gui' on the painting."

If he hadn't met Li Yunxi by chance in Xishi back then, and Li Yunxi told him personally that the word "Yugui" was left on the painting he made, I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to think of it here even if he found the words on the painting. Mysterious and mysterious, there is a definite number in the dark.

Li Yunxi was taken aback, and asked, "I wonder which painting my lord is talking about?"

"Three "Peaches of Peach Blossoms"," Su Cen said bluntly, "but you painted them?"

Li Yunxi was also unambiguous, and nodded: "I drew it."

Su Cen didn't expect this man to be so frank, and frowned: "Think about it, these three paintings involve three lives."

"It is true that I painted the painting," Li Yunxi shook his head lightly, "but the painting itself will not kill people. I painted the painting with a clear conscience and nothing to hide."

The painting itself does not kill people. This is true. The three of Xu Youhuai all died of their own greed, and they still carried 32 lives on their bodies.It's just that he wants to give an explanation to the dead, to the panic-stricken people in the world, and to the 32 members of the Shen family.

Su Cen asked, "Why did you draw these three paintings?"

Speaking of this, Li Yunxi stopped and thought for a while, and then slowly said: "About two years ago, an old man approached me and asked me to draw these three paintings for him. He only has one square of ink all over his body. He came to exchange with me, and I saw that the old man was really pitiful and seemed to be dying, so I agreed to him."

"Then how did you know their Shen family's painting method?"

Li Yunxi said: "Since the previous dynasty, some people have used large and small axes in landscape paintings to express the texture of mountains and rivers. Shen Xingzhong's old master's works let me trace, and it took me half a year to complete the painting, so I have some understanding of the Shen family's painting methods."

"You can learn other people's paintings just by looking at them?" Su Cen was startled at first, then thought of the "Shuhesha Bird Picture" that could be faked, and sighed in his heart. Just eat this bowl of rice.

Su Cen no longer bothered about the painting, but instead asked, "Can I see the square ink that the old man exchanged with you?"

Li Yunxi nodded, and ordered Danqing to take out a square box from the inside, and saw a square of ink ingots inside, Su Cen picked it up and weighed it, the texture was hard, smooth and delicate, with a light purple light, it was indeed a good piece of ink.The front of the ink body is painted with golden seal characters "Songhe Yannian", and a picture of pines and cranes is engraved on the back.

Su Cen looked at the four characters on Mo's body for a long time, and then twisted them with his hands, only to see a gray stain on the gold-painted characters that could not be wiped off.

"It was already like this when the old man gave it to me," Li Yunxi said, "Without this ashes, this square of ink would be worth a hundred taels, but it's a pity that this blemish was left when it was made, and this ink would not be worth much." It's worth it."

"It's not a blemish." Su Cen took the ink and sniffed it under his nose, "it's a burn mark."

The ink is mainly made of pine smoke, and it is not afraid of fire, but the gold painting on the surface will melt under high temperature, and it will smudge to the place where there was no place before, forming this piece of ashes.

So this Fang Mo was really brought out from the fire scene, and the old man who asked Li Yunxi to paint is eight out of ten the surviving housekeeper of the Shen family.

Su Cen got up and said to Li Yunxi, "Can Fang Mo lend me a few days?"

Li Yunxi smiled faintly: "My lord, please go ahead."

Su Cen was about to leave, but suddenly stopped, turned around and asked, "I saw you just took some paper money and incense sticks, but who are you going to pay homage to?"

Li Yunxi was taken aback for a moment, and said: "Xiao Nian is here, it's just worshiping the Kitchen God."

Su Cen, however, still stared at the person unmoved, until Li Yunxi saw some palpitations, touched his face uncomfortably, and asked, "Is there anything else, sir?"

Su Cen looked at it for a while before closing his gaze, and smiled: "It's nothing, Brother Li, don't forget the painting we agreed upon."

Li Yunxi was stunned for a moment, and when he came back to his senses, Su Cen had already led a group of people out of the bamboo building.

Li Yunxi let out a long breath, and sat slumped on the bamboo couch, only then did he realize that a layer of cold sweat broke out from his perennially cold fingertips at some point.

Danqing immediately stepped forward and asked, "Your Excellency, are you alright?"

Li Yunxi raised his hand to indicate that he was fine, and after a long time, he sighed softly: "This man is so amazing."