Kaifeng.

The winter rain continues.

Spring rain is like a grace edict, summer rain is like a letter of pardon, autumn rain is like a singular song, winter rain is only left with unbearable and unspeakable sorrow.

The rain in winter always gives people a feeling of miserable and desolateness.

The winter rain drizzled from the morning and still stopped in the afternoon. The biting cold spread, making the world bleak.

Outside Kaifeng City, on a muddy path, a man wearing a moon-white robe and holding an oil-paper umbrella was walking alone among the woods.

This place is located in the west of Kaifeng City, only a few miles from the northwest of the Shuitu Gate, the outer city of Kaifeng Prefecture, and you can see the tall city walls from afar. Because the Jinshui River can be navigated most of the year, it is very convenient to enter the city from here, just raft in.

However, there are not many residents here. There are large open woods and jungle on both sides of the Jinshui River, full of wild fun. Among the woods, there are also garden mansions scattered, all of which are the villas of the powerful people in Kaifeng Prefecture.

The man in white with an umbrella walked out of the forest path, and a osmanthus tree standing quietly in the winter rain appeared in front of him. The leaves were watered by the winter rain, and the whole forest was full of green vitality, even if the winter rain gradually turned into winter snow.

When you pass through this osmanthus forest, you will see a small building. The building is built against a gentle slope, surrounded by trees, and is very elegant. There is also a fence wall outside the building that only reaches people's shoulders, blocking the idle people, but not completely covering the scenery outside the wall.

The man in white did not stop and walked straight towards the small building.

Under the dripping eaves of the small building, he put away the paper umbrella and showed his appearance. It turned out that it was Brother Gao Qiu who had not seen for many days in Wu Haogu. With his good skills in Cuju and a good way of dealing with people, he is now a celebrity in front of Duan Zhao Ji. But for some reason today, his cheek, which always smiled slightly helplessly.

He looked up at the lead-gray sky, sighed, then swung the rain on the umbrella hard, pushed open the door of the small building and walked in. The building was very quiet, with only a strong man in green holding a sword facing the door, sitting on a rose chair, his face hidden in the shadows, and could not be seen clearly.

Gao Qiu said, "It's me, Gao Qiu."

"I understand." The man in green only answered three words and stopped talking.

At this time, the stairs suddenly sounded softly. Someone went downstairs. Before they arrived, they were as fragrant as the skirts swayed and the rings were jingling. A bright and charming woman came down from the stairs. She had a jade-colored swirl jacket and a water-red skirt. She held a round fan in her hand. She was enchanting, as if she was coming from the fairy in the sky.

"Ah, it's Mrs. Chun." Gao Qiu quickly changed into a smile and bowed.

The woman he called Chun Niangzi was named ** Lan, and her surname was Gao Qiu. She was around 25 or 26 this year, and she was the most charming age. She was originally a maid next to Empress Dowager Xiang. She was not only beautiful but also proficient in literature and writing. She was deeply loved by Empress Dowager Xiang. Later, she was given to Zhao Ji by Empress Dowager Xiang.

"Ah, it's Brother Gao, the king is talking about you." Chunlan smiled and turned around gently, "Let's come with me."

It turned out that the great master of Duan Zhao Ji was in this small building located outside Kaifeng City, near the Jinshui River.

Gao Qiu followed Chunlan to the second floor. The second floor of the small building was arranged very elegantly. The walls were decorated with Xiangfei bamboo transported from Jiangnan, and there were also several papers of calligraphy and paintings. One of them was the ancient painting of Wu Hao, "Photo of Pan Qiaolian".

There was also a smell of intoxicating incense and tea fragrance floating in the room. A tall body turned his back to the stairs. There was a triangle easel in front of him, with a drawing board on the shelf, and a raw rice paper was pasted on the board. The paper had been printed with carbon strips, and it was exactly Pan Qiaolian.

The footsteps of Gao Qiu and Chunlan still shocked the person who was doing the painting. The man did not look back and just asked lightly: "Is it Gao Qiu?"

"It's Xiaodi." Gao Qiu stood behind the man's back and said respectfully, "Xiaodi just returned from Pan's Mansion, and Pan Xiao'an and Pan Qiaolian have already returned from Daming Mansion."

Of course, Pan Xiao'an couldn't say that the girl and her boyfriend Wu Haogu were traveling. If so, what else would Pan Qiaolian choose to choose a prince and concubine? So the Pan family's external attitude was that Pan Qiaolian went to Daming Prefecture to visit relatives.

"The winter rain is bitter and cold, I'm afraid it's a beauty to be tired." The tall man stood up and turned around. It was Zhao Ji, the king of Duan of the Song Dynasty.

"I have never suffered," Gao Qiu said, "Xiao Di also saw her today, and she is both in good spirits... King, do you want to invite her to meet?"

"No," Zhao Ji shook his head and smiled, "No, this is not right... It's something outsiders know that they want to gossip."

Gao Qiu thought for a while and said, "King, as far as I know, this Pan Madam sometimes sits in the Pan family's gold, silver and silk shop in Jiesin Lane..."

"Well," Zhao Ji nodded, "Then just use a name to see her... I can't see a real person, and I can't copy it according to a painting, it's always impossible to do it!"

It turns out that these days, Zhao Ji has almost become obsessed with "Photo of Pan Qiaolian". He copied it every day, and there were always more than a dozen of them, but none of them were copied well.

"King, in fact, your paintings already have the charm of 90% of the martial arts and ancient times," Gao Qiu flattered, "It's still a good deal... If you meet a real person, you will definitely be able to draw them well."

Zhao Ji nodded, "It should be like this... Even if Wu Haogu is a genius, he is only about twenty years old. How much skill can he have?

By the way, where is he now? When will he be able to return to Kaifeng Prefecture?"

"He is now in Daming Mansion, and he can go back to Kaifeng Mansion in about seven or eight days."

"Seven or eighth day..." Zhao Ji thought for a moment, "You go and arrange it, and I will visit Mrs. Pan tomorrow!"

"Here!" Gao Qiu responded, stepped back out of the house, and then went downstairs to go out.

If King Duan wants to see Pan Qiaolian tomorrow, he will have to brave the rain and snow and enter Kaifeng Prefecture again to find the good life arrangements of the official Pan.

Seeing Gao Qiu leave, Zhao Ji turned around and walked to the front of his easel, staring at the portrait drawn with carbon strips on the rice paper, and looking at it repeatedly.

After watching for a long time, he said to Chunlan behind him: "Chunlan, look, who is better than Wu Hao's ancient paintings?"

Chunlan smiled and said, "Now Wu Hao is good at painting ancient times, but the king has made rapid progress. In a few days, he will be able to do his best. I congratulate the king and congratulate the king."

Zhao Ji turned around and said to Chunlan, "When Wu Haogu returns to Kaifeng Prefecture, I will use my name to go and compete with him. What do you think?"

It turns out that Zhao Ji is not Mi Youren. Although he is very talented, his vision is still not as good as that of the Mi family father and son. The Mi family father and son are the authors of "History of Painting" and "History of Calligraphy", and their attainments in fake copying are among the best in Chinese history. His vision of painting is naturally high, and he can see the difference between himself and Wu Haogu at a glance, so he obediently became a disciple and learned his skills.

But what kind of person is Duan Wang? He was a nobleman of the Tian family who had been held in his hands since childhood. Although he was obsessed with calligraphy and painting, his spirit was much higher than that of ordinary people, so he naturally would not easily admit defeat. Moreover, he was indeed talented and had no one taught him. He drew 70% or 80% of the "Photo of Pan Qiaolian" by copying alone. However, there were still 20% or 30% but he could not draw like it. After thinking about it, Zhao Ji felt that the problem was that he did not draw according to the real person.

So I thought about finding Pan Qiaolian himself to draw, and planned to go to Wu Haogu to try one or two after she got it right.

The beauty named **lan also made Zhao Ji happy at this time and giggled: "That person surnamed Wu is really lucky to lose to the king."

Zhao Ji laughed: "Maybe I lost?"
Chapter completed!