The Moon Over Tang Dynasty

Chapter 26 The Lone Star of Heavenly Evil and the Flower and Moon on the Spring River

Liuli was even more surprised in her heart, but her face was blank, "Why, does he have a bad reputation?"

Shopkeeper Shi shook his head, "Isn't that just bad? Speaking of which, he is also a serious member of a famous family, and he has such a decent character, but unfortunately he is the number one evil star in Chang'an City!"

Liuli was dumbfounded. Shopkeeper Shi saw her expression and wanted to show off, so he told what he heard one by one: Pei Xingjian was born in the Luoyang branch of the Wenxi Pei family. His father was a famous official of the generation, and his elder brother He was a famous general who was invincible to thousands of people. He joined Wang Shichong in the chaotic times of the late Sui Dynasty. The Pei family and his son were deeply entrenched in Luoyang and had high prestige in the military. They were quite jealous and ostracized by Wang Shichong, so they conspired to support Prince Yang, but they were betrayed. Wang Shichong massacred the three Pei clans in anger, and Pei Xingjian was the only surviving posthumous son of the clan.

That's all. There were many orphans in the troubled times at the end of the Sui Dynasty, including Lord Jilai who came to the court. But Pei Xingjian's fate was very different. He lost his mother at the age of fifteen and married the daughter of Lu Shilang of the Ministry of War at the age of eighteen. Two years later, the eldest son died in infancy. Two years later, Mr. Lu died of dystocia, and the remaining children did not survive. The whole family, and even the whole clan, was killed by him. What is this if not a lone star of evil?

The more Liuli listened, the more shocked she became: she vaguely remembered the first half of the story, but she had never heard of the second half. But the problem was that the Pei family’s extermination was a tragedy in troubled times. How could it be blamed on a child who was not yet born at the time? As for women having dystocia and children dying, these are common occurrences in this era, so why are they the irrefutable evidence that he is the lone star of evil? Now that he is not a big shot, how could his reputation be so widely known?

These questions have been tumbling in Liuli's mind for a long time without any solution. In the end, she can only comfort herself - anyway, he will become famous all over the world in the future. It seems that he also has a son who will become the prime minister, so there is no need to worry about it in vain! Thinking of this, she immediately found a few calligraphy pieces left by Pei Xingjian last time, looked at them for half a day, picked out two, and asked Xiaotan to take them to the Xiangshu calligraphy and painting shop for simple framing - Pei Xingjian will make great contributions sooner or later, and his The words will probably be worth some money by then, right? Even if you don't sell it, it's good to keep it as a family heirloom. When I grow old, I can proudly tell my grandson, "Your grandma made clothes for Her Majesty the Queen, painted screens for His Majesty Emperor Gaozong, and asked General Pei to write..." Such a life seems not bad!

On the second day, her ambition took another big step forward. Mrs. Wu finally showed up and said with a smile as she entered the door: "Oh, I finally have a suitable screen! I've been doing this for the past few days. After a long search, I finally found a golden nanmu screen from my mother. It is really rare. It is more than five feet high. Not to mention the frame and base are all made of wood. The carving is also extremely fine. I put the dimensions It's all measured, come and take a look!" He took out a piece of paper from his sleeve.

Liuli glanced at it and saw that it was three feet nine inches tall and two feet three inches wide. It was an ordinary size with a screen. I heard Mrs. Wu ask: "If I want a painting, how many days will it take to get it?"

Liuli thought about it and thought it would be better to be more conservative, "Ten days is always enough."

Mrs. Wu smiled and said: "Isn't it just after the Buddha's birthday? There is still time. What are you going to draw and what words are you going to write?"

Liuli already had a draft in her mind: in this ink screen of poetry and painting, the painting is actually just a supporting role, the important thing is the poetry and the strokes of writing the poetry. And after much deliberation, she found that there was only one long poem that impressed her, "Spring River Flowers and Moonlight Night". In her previous life, she had copied an ink painting with the same title, and also copied the poem that accompanied the painting, stroke by stroke. She is not interested in poetry, but the artistic conception of the long poem paired with the picture left such a deep impression on her that she can still memorize more than a dozen sentences, which is enough even if it is less than half of the original poem. . Her current plan is to copy this painting and this poem.

Liuli smiled and briefly stated her thoughts, and Mrs. Wu nodded repeatedly, "Spring River Flower Moonlight Night, this is a good name, and the poem sounds better. There was also a hunting picture in the original screen. I heard it was painted by Yan Lide. It was so boring that I took it apart when I got home!”

Yan Lide? Mrs. Wu, the brother of Yan Liben, the first painter in the early Tang Dynasty, actually wanted to tear down his paintings and replace them with her own. Liuli felt a drop of cold sweat slipping down her forehead, and her pressure suddenly increased. Unexpectedly, Mrs. Wu looked at her and smiled again, "I forgot to mention that in the past few days, someone may come to ask you to draw a pattern. If you are in trouble, just tell the truth about Mrs. Liu of Wei State. "

Liuli suddenly broke out in cold sweat and looked at Mrs. Wu blankly. What did she mean?

Mrs. Wu asked curiously: "Why are you so startled? If there are many people who want to ask, Mrs. Liu will naturally make things difficult for you."

Liuli lowered her eyes and smiled bitterly: "This matter is nothing, why bother Madam with worrying about it? Liuli can just paint a screen for Madam like this, what does it matter whether she paints or not?" This Madam Wu didn't know how naive she was. She is still pretending to be naive. With Mrs. Liu's current power, she has a thousand ways to deal with herself. If she thinks that she is complaining everywhere and ruining her reputation, what kind of disaster may happen!

Mrs. Wu shook her head and said with a smile: "You are always so timid! The Liu family's tyranny is well known to everyone. How can you bury such a craftsmanship like yours? When my mother invited several ladies to visit her home yesterday, she specially asked them to After seeing the valerian shawls you made and mentioning you, everyone said they wanted you to make two for them too! My mother said that she wanted to let them all know what Liu had done."

Liuli stared down at her sleeve, as if there was a hole in it. She now understood that Mrs. Wu in front of her was really stupid. How could she tell herself this directly? Couldn't she see that her mother was stumbling upon Mrs. Liu? And she, Liuli, was the one with the heavy responsibility... That piece of watermelon rind could still disgust Mrs. Liu even if she couldn't hit her. These ladies are naturally happy to watch the fun, but has anyone ever thought about the fate of the watermelon rind?

She sighed in her heart, raised her head and said with a smile: "Mrs. Yang is really kind-hearted, Liuli thanks her so much. But I have to be very calm when I want to draw this picture on the screen. From tomorrow on, Liuli will be painting behind closed doors at home, but there is no As for Mrs. Wei, it will take some time before those ladies are free to receive her."

Mrs. Wu nodded and said: "That's true." She didn't quite understand her mother's thoughts. In her heart, the screen was naturally the first priority. Hearing Liuli say it so solemnly, it made her feel a little more... Share the joy.

Liuli followed her instructions and talked about the composition and style of the screen, and shamelessly boasted about how elegant and elegant the screen painting would be. As expected, Mrs. Wu had a dreamy look on her face when she left, and she never mentioned a word about Mrs. Liu again. Liuli looked at her back and shook her head silently. People like overage girls can be found in any time and space!

 (End of this chapter)