practice fundamentals

In Dingxian Temple, Daoist Baidi was relatively speechless with a man dressed in shabby clothes and with a bitter face.

Both of them sat cross-legged on the cushions in the tea room, and there was still a tea set on the tea table in the middle.Master Baidi made tea leisurely, but did not speak.

But the man couldn't bear the silence anymore, looked anxiously at the old Taoist priest opposite and said, "What Xiaosheng told you just now is absolutely true, please help me from the Taoist priest."

Daoist Baidi held the teapot with one hand, and poured a cup of tea for the man while wrapping his wide white sleeves with the other.The movements are smooth and flowing, which is pleasing to the eye.

"It's not that I don't believe you, but Pindao doesn't have time to do this."

The man tapped the table three times lightly with slightly bent fingers to express his gratitude, and then his face became even more ugly, his originally pretty face suddenly turned into a bitter face.

Master Baidi withdrew his hand, stroked the goatee on his chin, and began to play tricks: "But..."

The man became even more anxious when he saw his mysterious appearance, and asked urgently, "But what?"

Master Baidi spoke out slowly under urging: "I still have two apprentices, they are quite free."

The man's bitter face was filled with joy when he heard this, and he dispelled a little sadness, but soon his face fell down again, and he said miserably: "But I heard that your two apprentices haven't finished their studies yet. , what can they help me..." At this point he sighed, his eyebrows frowned, and he murmured in a low voice: "Do I want to go back to accompany my 'little lady'..."

The little lady in the man's mouth is the source of his troubles, and it is precisely because of this 'little lady' that he came to see Master Baidi.

This matter has to start two months ago...

The man is a scholar who studies hard in a cold window. He spends his whole day with poetry and books, and his life is very poor.

Xiucai was introverted and withdrawn since he was a child, so he didn't have a good relationship with his family. He had already moved out of the house and rented a small house to live.He usually makes a living by ghostwriting and selling calligraphy and paintings.

The business of the scholar who is frowning all day long is not very good, and his performance is considered poor among his peers.Therefore, he is often ridiculed by a businessman who specializes in selling calligraphy and paintings on the opposite street.

What's even more exasperating is that the businessman also moved from the opposite street to the street where Xiucai is located to sell things. The reason is that the stalls on the opposite street are too expensive and they should change to a cheaper place.

Therefore, the booths of scholars and businessmen are extremely close, no more than [-] meters away.

"Oh, if this goes on, I won't even have enough money to eat, and I can't afford to pay the rent. What should I do..." Xiucai complained as she sat on the stool in her booth.

There are several calligraphy and paintings created by himself on his stall, each of which has cost him a lot of hard work, but even so, they still cannot be sold.

Xiucai also thought about the reason, and had to admit that his talent was indeed not very good, and his level of calligraphy and painting was average, which was far behind those famous artists.

This is also the reason why he has been falling out of the rankings - his talent is average.

Whenever Xiucai thought of this, his eyes would turn red, which directly led to his becoming more pessimistic in recent years.

After the scholar lamented his miserable life, he turned his head to look at the merchant's stall, which was full of calligraphy and paintings, which looked very lively.He looked down at his few stalls again, and his eyes were a little red again.

The businessman was following a guest to introduce the painting in his hand. He looked excited and eloquent, and introduced in a loud voice: "Look carefully at this picture of a lady. The plum blossoms are so vivid that you can smell the fragrance even through the painting paper." Yes; look at the woman's exquisite clothing and hair accessories in the picture, every detail is extremely delicate; and the round fan in her hand is so beautiful!"

The guest raised his hand to wipe off the spittle on his face, and said angrily, "Speak as you speak, why are you still spitting!"

"I'm sorry, my lord, I'm like this when I get excited." The businessman smiled like a dog.

"I'm too lazy to argue with you. I won't talk about your saliva. Is there something wrong with your eyes?" The young man in the merchant's mouth pointed at the picture of a lady and said with disgust, "Why don't you talk about the face of the person in the picture? It's so ugly that it can't be more ugly. It's okay to have dark skin, but there are also pockmarks, and these mouse-like eyes have half a cent to do with beautiful women? It's an eyesore."

"My lord, look at her figure, it's very good! It doesn't matter if there are slight blemishes on her face." The businessman argued.

"What's the meaning of that pile of messy things under the plum tree? What did the painter think? It's fine to draw a good painting, but it's fine to draw an ugly maid, and draw some messy things under the plum tree."

"My lord, there is actually an allusion to this..." The businessman began to sell again with spittle.

Even so, the painting was not sold.

The scholar was attracted by the quarrel between the businessman and the guests, he left the stool, stood up and walked closer to the businessman's stall.Then I saw the painting that caused controversy.

The portrait of a lady is indeed as weird as the guest said. Although the ugly face will be noticed at a glance, one can still see the superb painting skills of the painter.

The scholar looked carefully under the plum blossom tree again, and there were indeed some "messy things".

Gold ingots, jade jewellery, shuttlecocks, candied haws, etc... The more the scholar looked at it, the more he couldn't understand it. What the hell is candied haws?Why are there still socks?

The businessman sent the angry young master away with regret, and he completely gave up the idea of ​​selling this painting. How could anyone want such a weird painting?He rolled up the picture and decided to take it back and pack it up.

The businessman noticed the scholar who was watching him, and asked strangely, "Why are you looking at me?"

"You, where did you get this painting?" Xiucai asked hesitantly.

"Why, are you interested?" The businessman rolled his eyes and said jokingly, "If you buy it, I'll tell you."

Xiucai didn't know what was wrong with him. He was very curious about the origin of this painting and the story about it. He stammered and said, "But I don't have any money...can I exchange two paintings..." After finishing speaking, he His cheeks were flushed, as if he felt very ashamed after saying the word "no money", and it was true.

The businessman made a calculation in his heart. If the ugly girl picture cannot be sold, it means that there is no money to make.If you can buy two paintings by Xiucai, it means you have money.

In this way, Xiucai exchanged two of his paintings for a "Picture of Ladies".

At night, Xiucai spread out the paintings on the desk and studied them carefully by candlelight.

"It's not surprising that such a strange painting comes for free. Who would pay for it?" Xiucai said while stroking the sleeve of the person in the painting with his fingers.

The businessman said it was given to him by one of his relatives.This reason is unremarkable and does not help in finding out the origin of the painting.

Xiucai regretted that he had exchanged for such a useless thing, and sighed again, his brows had not been loosened since he got the painting.

Wrap the scroll and place it next to the table.He rubbed his temples with his hands, and slowly revealed his sad face.

After a few days, with nothing to do, Xiucai opened the scroll again, wanting to take a closer look at the painting method and improve his painting skills.

But as soon as Xiucai opened the picture scroll, he opened his mouth slightly in surprise, his eyes full of surprise.

Why...there are more things under the plum tree?

Xiucai raised his hand in disbelief and rubbed his eyes, moved his head closer to draw, and counted things as if confirming.

I remember when I first got the painting, there were eight items, and now I counted them, and I counted ten items!

If I remember correctly, the two extra items should be - a gorgeous purple gold crown and a blue men's long shirt with embroidered orchids.

A few drops of cold sweat slid down Xiucai's forehead, and he muttered: "No... there will be no ghosts, could it be that I remembered wrongly? No, I will not remember wrongly. It must be thrown away! Just throw it away. " After finishing speaking, he immediately put away the painting and hurried out.

The flustered scholar didn't notice that the bean eyes of the woman in the painting, which were described as mouse eyes, blinked.

Xiucai took the painting and walked for about three miles, thinking that he should be able to throw away this unlucky thing so far, so he threw the painting casually into the grass.

Feeling relieved, the scholar rarely raised a happy smile.

Back in the dilapidated courtyard, Xiucai poured himself a glass of water, intending to soothe his thirsty throat.

"Master, you are so cruel, why did you abandon the slave family?"

The scholar who was drinking water was suddenly frightened and coughed violently.

I saw the picture of a lady just thrown away floating in the air, and the "lady" in the picture was looking at the scholar with weeping eyes.

Xiucai fell off the chair, coughed and fled towards the door, crawling and crawling, his legs were limp, and he shouted in horror: "Ghost, there is a ghost!"

"My lord, don't run away. I haven't even tried on the clothes and crowns that I specially found for you. Please don't disappoint the little girl."

The lady's picture floated in front of the scholar who wanted to rush out, forcing the scholar back to his original position.

"You female ghost...what on earth do you want? Let me go..." Xiucai sat on the stool obediently, begging for mercy with tears in her eyes.

The woman in the portrait of a lady shakes the round fan in her hand, fanning herself.Very dissatisfied with Xiucai's address to her, her cheeks were a little puffed up: "Chun Ling, this is my name."

"Oh, Chun...Chun Ling..." The name didn't match the image at all, and Xiucai was smart enough not to express what was in his heart.

"Since my family is obsessed with you, how could I let you go so easily? Are you right, young master?" Chun Ling said with a smile, she couldn't help being happy when she saw the pitiful appearance of Xiucai wanting to cry after hearing her words .

"However, if the young master wears what the slave family prepared for you, the slave family may consider letting you go."

Xiucai's eyes widened, and he was aroused by the objects piercing through the painting.

The cyan gown and the purple gold crown slowly floated in front of Xiucai, and Xiucai had to reach out to catch them.

In desperation, he had to change his clothes.

After changing her clothes and her hair, the scholar perfectly embodies the feasibility of the saying that people rely on clothes.His whole temperament has been sublimated, the blue clothes made him look refined and refined, and the purple gold crown dispelled his gloom.

In the picture scroll, Chun Ling's small eyes were shining brightly, and her rigid body lines became flexible. She cupped her cheeks with excited hands, and said happily: "My family really likes you so much. From now on, you will be my family's It's my husband!!"

………………

Master Baidi refilled his cup of tea for the scholar, he sympathized with the poor scholar, he held back his smile and said, "So you were really forced by that female ghost to become her husband?"

The scholar shook his head and said fortunately: "No, that female ghost can only stay in the picture scroll and can't come out. She just likes to call me Xianggong." He hesitated for a moment and then said: "But although she can't come out, she can Something other than a living thing is brought into the painting. Well, she really annoys me a lot."

Master Baidi motioned for the sighing young man to continue.

"She especially likes to steal things. It's fine to steal into paintings, and she likes to steal them for me to use and force me to use them." Xiucai felt weak when she said this, which really insulted the integrity of scholars.

At this time, Tian Xun and Yi Xuanqing came back, put down their things and came to the tea room.

The two senior brothers stepped into the tea room and made the small room feel crowded, until they still sat around the tea table, the sense of coercion was better.

"This is my great apprentice, Yi Xuanqing." Master Baidi briefly introduced his cold-faced apprentice to Xiucai.

The scholar cupped his hands and said, "You're polite, Xiaosheng's surname is Miao Mingyu."

Yi Xuanqing gave Miao Yu a slight nod in return.

"This is my little apprentice, Tian Xun. He is usually naughty." Baidi said with a smile, with a little affection in his words.

"Tian Daochang is so outstanding at such a young age, Miao Yu admires it." Miao Yu also cupped his hands to Tian Xun, and praised Tian Xun by the way.

"Hypocrisy." Tian Xun spit out two words in a calm manner.