Chapter 26

 

He actually left just like that.

Xuyu was confused at first, not knowing what to do. But when she came to her senses, she knew what to do without much hesitation.

During this meeting, he seemed quite restrained from beginning to end, just like the impression he had left on her before, even at the last moment when she offended him.

But she could still feel that in the end he was actually somewhat irritated by her.

Since he was so insistent on her moving out, she decided to obey him. It was not a matter of principle, so there was no need to go against him. She couldn’t let this inn get into trouble because of her.

Fortunately, she didn’t have much stuff, so it didn’t take much effort to pack it up. She took her bag and went downstairs, and saw that there was still no one in the lobby. Only Aunt Gao came out again and sat behind the counter, while he stood alone in the lobby with his back to her.

Suddenly seeing her appear, Aunt Gao’s facial expression suddenly became colorful. She winked at her and looked as if she was about to come forward, but then she glanced at the figure in front of her and stopped.

Pei Xiaoyuan turned his head, glanced at her, and walked out.

As soon as he left, Aunt Gao felt as if she had been pardoned and hurried to Xuyu impatiently.

“I won’t live here anymore. I’m leaving tonight. Please settle the bill I owe—”

“I know! That person has already settled it!”

Aunt Gao turned her head and looked at the figure who was leaving, and asked in a low voice: “Does that person know you? Who is he? At first, I thought you had committed a crime and they were here to arrest you. I was so scared that I was thinking about how to send someone to the gate to pass on the news to you. Fortunately, you’re not a bad person, otherwise my place would have been closed!”

She wasn’t exaggerating. Omitting registration and allowing gambling might not seem like a big deal, but if one looked at it seriously, it was not entirely a small matter. Especially if the one being omitted was someone who committed a crime, the nature of the situation was completely different.

When the people in the hall saw the Jinwu Guards coming, they all dispersed without her having to chase them away, and hurried back to their rooms. She was taught a lesson by a soldier holding the scabbard, who was obviously very dissatisfied with her, and warned that if she do it again, she would be severely punished.

After realizing it was not a big matter and feeling relieved, her curiosity naturally came up and she started to inquire about it.

Xuyu looked at Pei Xiaoyuan. He had already walked out and stopped outside the inn, talking to a short-bearded man who should be his subordinate. He seemed to be giving instructions, and the other party nodded repeatedly. As he spoke, he turned his head and looked at her again, with an expression of impatience on his face.

He had already been deeply offended by her, and insisting on taking her with him was merely fulfilling his duty to her grandfather and Pei Ji. Fearing that making him wait any longer might provoke more displeasure, she hurriedly said, “Thank you for your care these past days. I’ll go first!”

She hurriedly bowed to Aunt Gao to express her gratitude, then turned around and quickly walked out of the inn.

“Deputy Commander Liu will escort you. I have other matters to attend to, so I won’t be accompanying you. You should take care of yourself from now on.”

As soon as she came out, he said this in a normal tone, and then looked at Liu Bo.

“Don’t worry, Chief, this subordinate will take good care of Young Master Ye!” Liu Bo said immediately.

He nodded, mounted his horse and rode away without even stopping for a moment, his figure disappearing into the night.

Liu Bo personally led a horse from the guards.

Lieutenant General Pei had just said that this man was an old acquaintance of his, and then he gave him some instructions.

In order to find the person, he expanded the search from the small area of ​​West Market to East Market, went to the West Mountain overnight, and then searched the whole city until tonight, and finally found the person. No one knew the whole process better than him.

Although Lieutenant General didn’t say anything else, if it wasn’t a close relative, how could he be so concerned, do everything personally, and spend so much energy on it.

For Deputy Commander Liu, the only puzzlement was why after meeting the person, there was not the scene of welcoming each other and holding hands as he had expected.

However, this was not what he should focus on.

“Young Master Ye, please get on your horse,” he said respectfully.

Xuyu placed her foot in the stirrup and mounted her horse, leaving behind the inn that had once sheltered her. Recalling the wretched state she had been in the night she arrived, she couldn’t help but turn her head for another glance. To her surprise, she saw Aunt Gao standing outside the inn, watching her as she departed.

She turned around on her horse and bowed to the woman from a distance to express her gratitude.

The streets were empty at night.

Liu Bo had been in the Jinwu Guard for many years and came from a family of military officers. After arriving in the north of the city, he knew all the patrolling guards he met, so he brought Xuyu to an inn under the Jinwu Guard in Yongxing Lane without any hindrance.

This place was not far from the Luwu Division where Lieutenant General reside and was also close to the Imperial Palace. Because it was a special residence for the Jinwu Guard, not many people usually stay here. When Pei Xiaoyuan first arrived in the capital, he also stayed here.

While Xuyu was waiting, she saw Liu Bo and the innkeeper whispering something to each other. Soon, the innkeeper came to greet her respectfully and led her to a secluded place behind the inn.

Her residence was on the second floor, isolated from the neighbors, with a corridor connected to a single staircase, and she could enter and exit directly from a small side door, which was very convenient. The furnishings in the house were appropriate and the layout was clean and beautiful. The kettle on the small stove used to simmer tea was also made of silver, polished to a bright shine, as if it could reflect people.

“I won’t disturb Young Master Ye’s rest. If you have no other instructions, I will leave first. If you have anything, just tell the innkeeper here, or come to the nearby government office to find me, it’s the same.”

Liu Bo said goodbye and left, and the innkeeper also bowed and retreat.

Xuyu stood alone on the corridor railing for a moment facing the dark night, then turned and walked inside.

That night she lay on the bed covered with soft bedding, no longer hearing the noise of mice running or the noise of people grinding their teeth in the next room, but she couldn’t sleep. She closed her eyes and thought carefully about the man’s face that night, who still pretended to be tolerant after being offended by her.

She confirmed again that although he quickly hid his emotions, he was indeed angered by her.

Given his background and experience, no matter how modest and reserved he seemed, he was actually a proud person. There was no doubt about that. At that moment, she thought he would walk away in anger.

If there weren’t so many unknown variables in this entry into the palace, she would never want to offend him so deeply.

But it was fine this way, she did nothing wrong. The further away from her, the better for him.

Lord Pei treated her well, and he was also a rare upright gentleman. This was the only way she could repay them.

She was going to go into that place, and no one could stop her.

When the next morning came, she had gotten rid of the random thoughts of the previous night. There were still only two things left: the daily painting school and the courtesan, whom she wanted to see but had no way to do so, and who was always on her mind.

A few days later, the painting school temporary set up beside the Selection Office concluded.

Song Bokang asked her to stay behind alone and had a private conversation with her, with no third-party present.

Song Bokang’s speech were vague, but Xuyu understood what he meant.

Many years ago, when the emperor first ascended the throne, for a reason that was well known but kept secret at the time, all the painters in the palace who had had relationships with Ye Zhongli in the early years were treated cruelly. For their paintings to be destroyed and they themselves were expelled from the capital, it was already considered a blessing. Some painters who had close contacts with Ye Zhongli’s beloved disciple Ding Baiya were killed because they could not tell his whereabouts.

Fang Shanjin, the painting director under Jixian Hall, had personally experienced this past event.

He learned Ye painting in his early years. Although he was not formally accepted as Ye Zhongli’s disciple, he served as his assistant for a long time. He was lucky that year. He was separated from the group on the way to escape, so he was unable to return to the capital. Later, when he heard the news on the way back, he was so shocked that he turned around and ran away on the spot, escaping the disaster.

A few years later, the emperor’s anger seemed to have subsided, and he no longer pursued the matter. The past slowly faded away, and some of the painters who had been expelled returned one after another. Fang Shanjin was one of the most famous among them, and he was also recalled and re-entered the palace.

Many years had passed, and the past events at the beginning of the Qiande period seem to have never happened, and no one remembers them anymore. Fang Shanjin also rose through the ranks due to his painting skills, and became a sixth-rank scholar, serving as a painting director in the Jixian Hall, and was considered one of the most skilled court painters under the department chief. However, the shadow of that year had never faded from his heart, and he never wanted to be in the limelight again. Last year, the chief of the painting department was killed because his paintings did not conform to the emperor’s wishes. Fang Shanjin was like a frightened bird, so scared that he fell seriously ill at the time. Since then, he had been worn out of everything and said that his body had not fully recovered yet.

Besides Fang Shanjin, nowadays there was another person with the highest status in the department, named Yao Xu. This person was also the world’s master, especially good at painting figures, flowers and birds. His painting style was famous for its gorgeous and delicate style, and he had many disciples.

The purpose of recruiting painting students this time was to enrich the court painters for the upcoming painting of Shenshu Palace. The most important thing was naturally the painting of the main hall murals. In name, Fang Shanjin was the chief examiner like Yao Xu, but in reality, he had never participated at all. Everything was led by Yao Xu. Obviously, this also showed that Fang Shanjin had no intention of participating in the upcoming painting of Shenshu Palace.

It was fine for him, but for his disciple, Song Bokang, this was undoubtedly a huge blow.

For any painter, it would be a great honor to be able to participate or even take the lead in painting the Shenshu Palace, not to mention the symbolic significance of reproducing the Yong’an Hall scroll.

When the painting was completed, promotion was secondary—the painter’s reputation would soar. Even if he wouldn’t dare to compare with Ye Zhongli of the past, having his name recorded in the annals of history was not an unrealistic ambition.

Song Bokang was unwilling to withdraw from the competition. He saw Xuyu’s paintings at Da’en Temple that day and was quite impressed. He decided to recruit her first, and then he repeatedly lobbied Fang Shanjin to persuade him to fight. Finally, Fang Shanjin reluctantly agreed to come forward. In this way, Xuyu got a place and was the last one to enter the painting academy.

According to the usual practice in the palace, the person selected by the examiner would become his disciple after entering the palace. Xuyu thus became Fang Shanjin’s disciple.

After getting the assistant, the thing that Song Bokang was most worried about did not happen for the time being.

Although Yao Xu was highly favored by the Empress Dowager and others in the palace, holding a dominant position in the department and wielding great influence, his ambition to become the chief painter of the main hall of Shenshu Palace did not go as planned. Yuan Zhi, the eunuch who was supervising the work on Shenshu Palace, likely aware of Fang Shanjin’s connection to Ye Zhongli, did not remove Fang Shanjin from the chief painter’s position as Yao Xu had hoped, despite his frequent claims of illness over the past two years.

Just yesterday, the department received an order from their superiors that Yao Xu and Fang Shanjin would temporarily serve as the chief painters of Shenshu Palace. They should make preparations and work together from now on to complete all the paintings in Shenshu Palace before the end of the year.

Among these, the most important thing was to reproduce the long scroll of “Celestial Being and The Capital” that was originally in Yong’an Hall in the main hall of Shenshu Palace, Chongtian Hall.

Song Bokang told Xuyu that after entering the palace, she didn’t need to paint any other pictures, let alone do the trivial things like plastering mud, applying whitewash, etc. for the foundation of the murals like other painters, as other people would be responsible for those things.

All she needed to do was to act as his assistant and focus on the scroll in the main hall of Chongtian Hall.

But before that, she needed to familiarize herself with the architecture of the Shenshu Palace, go to Hongwen Pavilion of the National Library to look up the pictorial records of Ye Zhongli’s old works, and after some time she would have to go out of the palace for a field survey to learn about the scenery within a radius of at least three hundred li of Chang’an.

Take all of the above into your heart, and only when you have a picture in your mind can you paint.

“Don’t worry, I’ll guide you through all of this. After entering the palace, observe more and speak less. Remember my instructions and make sure not to cause any trouble.”

Song Bokang was a man of strict temperament. From the impression she had gotten from close contacts with him these days, he was very methodical in his work. His paintings were also like his personality, with naturally profound skills. His brushwork was neat, but lacks artistic conception.

He probably knew his own weaknesses, and from the beginning he never thought of being the chief painter. Instead, he planned to cultivate Xuyu to serve as Fang Shanjin’s assistant together with him.

Although Xuyu’s purpose in entering the palace as a painter differed from those around her—not for fame, fortune, or leaving her name in history—she felt as if she were about to have a conversation with her grandfather through her brush, one that spanned twenty years. As a painter, participating in such a significant project, how could she dare to be perfunctory?

She agreed solemnly.

Song Bokang was very satisfied with her modest attitude, and was even more glad that he had unexpectedly accepted such a young but skilled assistant that day. After observing the painting skills of this young disciple for these few days, he gained a lot of confidence in the painting skills of this young disciple. In the future, with such an assistant, he would be able to achieve twice the result with half the effort and compete with Yao Xu.

“You will enter the palace tomorrow, which is different from your previous stay outside. You should rest early.”

Looking at the newly valued disciple, Song Bokang’s tone softened unconsciously.

The next day, Xuyu walked into the palace gate and officially entered the court as a painter.

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