An Lingrong's Rebirth: The Lock of Qingqiu

In Bitong Academy, the aroma of books was strong. I saw Huanbi lightly holding the paintbrush with her fingers, secretly, with a nervous and cautious look on her face. As big as a piece of paper, she chose several times before choosing to start from the left. He began to write two-thirds of the way through the painting, and his swaying, unsmooth lines sketched out a rather familiar face.

Based on the distant look of Hua Bisheng, he looked like a man with a slightly distorted face. An Lingrong poked his head behind her, looked at her again and again in silence, and shook his head.

Hui Guiren and Xia Ruchun were sipping fragrant tea together, Wan Guiren was picking up books on the bookshelf to read, while Huanbi, who was not paying attention, crumpled the portrait into a ball and stuffed it into a discarded paper basket nearby.

The waste paper basket was filled with the waste paper that An Lingrong used for practicing calligraphy and painting yesterday, so Huanbi took out the trash with baskets of waste.

Suddenly a gust of wind ruffled Huanbi's dress. She gradually lost her sight in the wind and sand and couldn't see the direction clearly. The waste paper in the wastepaper basket danced in the wind.

Some of the rolls blew in front of Cao Guiren, who was exercising nearby. Cao Guiren and Princess Wen Yi played with the paper as a hydrangea.

No one expected that the portrait of a man painted by Huanbi flew to Kang Changzai who was next to Libi.

After dinner, An Lingrong went into the Qinzheng Palace to serve the emperor's writing as usual. She made fragrant tea and lit incense as usual, but the emperor remained silent and looked a little serious.

An Lingrong noticed that the emperor's expression was different, and she asked with concern: "Your Majesty, are you feeling unwell today?"

A thin layer of frost appeared in the emperor's indifferent eyes. He tapped the closed memorial on the desk and said in a majestic voice: "An Guiren, come and see what this is? It was picked up by Kang Changzai. The thing is said to have flown out of Bitong Academy."

An Lingrong's eyes were full of suspicion. Following the emperor's gaze, he saw that behind the pile of memorials half an arm high was a stack of crumpled and discarded papers spread out.

Isn't that the portrait Huanbi painted in Bitong Academy during the day? Some of them are scrapped papers from my own calligraphy practice.

The one on top is the portrait of a man drawn by Liao Liao painted by Huanbi. If you look carefully, you can see that he looks a bit like Prince Guo.

The emperor's face darkened, was he jealous? An Lingrong was suddenly shocked. He flew out of Bitong Academy, so how did the emperor know that it was Huanbi who painted it?

Does the emperor think it was her who painted it?

An Lingrong quickly picked up the portrait and explained: "Your Majesty, this was not painted by a concubine. Why did the things in Bitong Academy fly away unexpectedly and into Kang Changzai's hands? If the concubine had nothing to do, When he was doing painting or writing, most of the unused manuscripts were kept, and even if they were thrown away, they would be thrown into the special trash can. Could it be that Kang Changzai went to the trash can to find out what his concubine had written, and took it out on purpose? Are you here to copy it? This painting really wasn’t painted by my concubine, so I’m asking the emperor to make the decision for my concubine.”

The emperor did not raise his head. He turned over the book again and said, "Are you really not An Guiren who painted this?"

An Lingrong quickly knelt down and said, "It really wasn't a concubine who painted it."

According to the emperor's suspicious and sensitive temperament, how could these two words get rid of him?

As expected, it was unclear whether the emperor was testing or was really angry. He raised his head with a cold light in his eyes: "Mr. An Gui, do you like Prince Guo? Su Peisheng, go and call Prince Guo over to me!"

An Lingrong was startled. After the initial panic, his mind turned quickly and he thought of countermeasures.

Eunuch Su followed the emperor's instructions and went to Xuanguo County Prince.

An Lingrong knelt on the ground, his whole body was cold, but he clenched his teeth secretly. Kang Changzai was really trying to find every opportunity.

She saw Kang Changzai, Cao Guiren, and Libi picking up discarded drawing papers at Bitong Academy, so she asked Qin Sanyue and Baojuan to go down and get the remaining papers.

Now we don’t even dare to take out the garbage at will.

An Lingrong said softly: "Your Majesty, please ask Rong Yunqin to bring the remaining manuscripts from Bitong Academy in March."

Soon, Eunuch Su asked Qin Sanyue, who was guarding outside the Qinzheng Hall, to go back to Bitong Academy and bring some manuscripts of the scriptures to the emperor for reading.

Prince Guo, who pushed the door open and entered, was probably infected by the serious atmosphere. Prince Guo said with a smile on his face: "Brother Emperor, Brother Xuanchen is here at this time. Do you have anything important to tell me?"

The emperor twitched the corners of his lips and said, "Seventeenth brother, come and sit next to me. Sir, please get up and serve tea."

An Lingrong trembled slightly and served Prince Guo a cup of fragrant tea. Prince Guo didn't know anything about it and smiled politely at her. The emperor's face turned livid again.

The emperor conveniently gave the portrait painted by Huanbi on his desk to King Guo and asked him to take a closer look.

Prince Guo responded: "Your Majesty, this is a portrait painted by a clever person. If you look closely, there are still four or five points like the Emperor!"

The emperor originally wanted to raise an army to question Prince Guo, but he was choked back by his words.

The emperor pointed at the eyebrows in the portrait and said: "Seventeenth Brother, my eyebrows are thicker, I feel a bit like Seventeenth Brother."

King Guojun said with a smile: "I am the younger brother of the emperor. I seldom show my face. There are very few people who see me. How could anyone paint my brother's portrait?"

The emperor had doubts in his eyes. While he was chatting and laughing with King Guo, he asked Eunuch Su to bring paper and pen to An Lingrong, and said, "An Gui, come here, you can draw a double portrait for me and my seventeenth brother. I want to see it." See how similar they are?"

An Lingrong held the pen while trembling slightly. She was a little nervous, but she had to draw. Especially when she looked up at the outlines of the emperor and Prince Guo, she felt very embarrassed.

At this time, Qin Sanyue happened to bring the remaining manuscripts from Bitong Academy. The emperor put them on the desk and read them one by one.

After flipping through the pages, the emperor's anger, which turned blue, subsided a little. An Lingrong's handwriting was naturally different from Huanbi's.

An Lingrong soon painted the portraits of the emperor and Prince Guo. The emperor who was originally solemn was painted with a warm smile by her, while Prince Guo was painted with a frown and a bit of embarrassment on his face.

The painting is average, not excellent, but it is much better than Huanbi's painting.

The emperor looked at the portrait, then at Prince Guo, looked at An Lingrong and said softly: "An Gui's painting is really good. It can be seen that some of you have practiced diligently. I remember that when you first entered the palace, you could even write No, I can still draw now."

Prince Guo breathed a sigh of relief and said jokingly: "Brother, is my brother cleared of suspicion now?"

There was no trace of discomfort on the emperor's face and he said, "Well, go ahead! You'd better recuperate and stay away from my concubines."

King Guojun said: "Yes, I will obey my orders."

The emperor added: "Seventeenth brother is not young anymore. I will look for someone for you. If you find someone suitable, get married as soon as possible!"

Prince Guo shook his head and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty. I think it's good for me to be able to come and go freely without anyone controlling me."