Chapter Three Drawing Pictures

  After lunch, Xu Mingjin leaned against the couch and closed his eyes to rest, while Chun Xing stood guard beside him with caution.

  After inquiring about Chun Xiang and investigating the entire mansion, Xu Mingjin found that her mother and daughter had a decent life during the Sheng Xi dynasty. Their food, clothing, and expenses were at a medium level. Every day, they could spend their days leisurely watching flowers bloom and wither, and live a peaceful life for several years without worrying about famine or poverty. At least they wouldn't go hungry. However, all of this was based on her father, who still had some conscience, sending silver every month. If he forgot or didn't want to send silver anymore, they would be left out in the cold.

  This realization made Xu Mingjin tense up. But unexpectedly, as if to verify her conjecture, the silver for this month had not been sent yet.

  Madam Fan still smiled with a carefree and serene expression. As if nothing else could disturb her except for the affairs of her sister and brother.

  "Jin'er, Xuan'er, come and try this apricot kernel cake." Madame Fan kept putting all sorts of dishes in front of them. Her mouth was curved upwards, her eyebrows were arched, and she looked extremely happy. Xu Mingjin ate the food she had given him while secretly glancing at her with the corner of his eye, thinking to himself that it seemed like this wouldn't be difficult for her after all. It seemed like Mother had saved up a lot of silver. Xu Mingjin felt relieved and started playing with Mingxuan. She originally liked playing with children, so it didn't look out of place to others. Xu Mingxuan was at the age where he loved to play. They played hide-and-seek in the upper house for half an hour but still weren't satisfied. Excitedly pulling on Xu Mingjin's hand, he shouted that he wanted his sister to go play in his courtyard. Madame Fan hadn't seen them get along so well in a long time, and of course she wouldn't refuse. After instructing the maid to accompany them, she let them go.

  "Sister, this is your first time coming to my courtyard, isn't it!" Xu Mingxuan exclaimed excitedly, her eyes shining like stars. Her face flushed slightly with excitement. In her heart, Xu Mingjin couldn't help but think that her past self was a very lonely person. She had no friends and never went out. Instead, she was close to that wicked father of hers. Xu Mingjin couldn't understand it. She vaguely felt that her past self must have wanted something from that wicked father, or maybe her goal was just to be recognized by the Xu family, even if it meant being a concubine's daughter in the Shangshu household, which would still be a higher status than marrying into a commoner's family in this small county town after coming of age. But this went against her principles.

  Xu Mingjin sighed, can it be said that the higher her hopes were, the more miserable she fell? Because of such a small matter, her fragrance was destroyed. It's also too costly. So, she secretly told herself: "To think about health, stay away from house fighting." She didn't want to recognize that flirtatious father at all. Even less did she want to return to the Xu family. But she just didn't know what her mother thought. Although her mother had been staying in this distant city of Liu, it's not certain that she wouldn't want to return to her father's side? If her father came to pick her up, her mother would definitely leave, right? What would she do at that time?

  Looking at Xu Mingxuan jumping around in front of her, she felt that talking about the future was still a bit premature. Mingxuan's study had a wider and brighter view than hers. After entering, she saw a large pear-wood desk by the window with a set of four treasures on it, and the ink on the seal was not yet dry. Behind the desk, there was a row of bookshelves against the wall, but only a few scattered books inside. There was only one chair in front of the desk, nothing else. Not even a single toy for kids. Xu Mingjin sighed at the scarcity of toys for children in this era and randomly flipped through a few books on the shelf, seeing that they were "Thousand Character Classic" and " Hundred Family Surnames", she stopped. She thought to herself that she needed to find some books to read.

  She had learned that the Mr. her mother had invited for Mingxuan was an old scholar, who had never passed the imperial examination in his life, but this man had read books all his life and was too pedantic and rigid, with a mouthful of clichés. Such a lovely and smart brother, if he were to be taught like that old scholar, Xu Mingjin imagined the scene in her heart and quickly shook her head. No way, she would be depressed to death. Must stop it.

  "Xuan'er, what kind of books do you usually read?" Xu Mingjin asked softly.

  "Three Character Classic, and Hundred Family Surnames. Now reading Youthful Learning of Qiong Lin."

  It's okay, it's just the enlightenment stage, teaching is harmless. Xu Mingjin thought about what methods could improve his memory, but to no avail. Seeing him being complacent, he said: "Oh, then recite a passage for sister to hear, can you?" Ming Xuan saw Xu Mingjin looking at himself expectantly and nodded involuntarily.

  "In the beginning of chaos, heaven and earth were established. The light and clear gas rose to form the sky, while the heavy and turbid gas condensed to form the earth... The Yellow Emperor drew maps, dividing cities and towns; Yu of Xia controlled the waters, establishing mountains and rivers. The landscape of the universe has not changed, but the names used in ancient and modern times are different..." Xu Mingjin looked back at him with expectation.

  Xu Mingjin said: "Not bad."

  Ming Xuan couldn't believe his eyes, he had worked so hard to memorize it for so long, and all his sister said was that it wasn't bad, without a word of praise or even an extra expression. Wasn't the teacher always praising him?

  Xu Mingjin saw the gloomy expression on Ming Xuan's face and burst out laughing. After finishing, he carefully said to him: "It's really good that you can carry it well, but don't be proud of yourself, you should understand the principle that a proud army will surely lose."

  Ming Xuan nodded as if he understood but didn't really understand.

  The next day, Xu Mingjin was bored in the house and saw a few maids moving stools to sit in the courtyard, sunbathing while embroidering pouches. The warm sunshine made it a great day. Xu Mingjin found it interesting and went over to watch. The maids put down their embroidery frames, bowed, and said in unison, "Greetings, Miss." Xu Mingjin waved her hand, and they sat back down to continue embroidering. Xu Mingjin leaned over next to a maid named Autumn Cloud and saw that she was embroidering an orchid on the frame, with only a few leaves left to finish. The pose was elegant and lifelike. She couldn't help but praise it. Then she looked at Spring Beauty's work and saw that she had embroidered a plum blossom with iron branches and silver leaves, which was slightly inferior to Autumn Cloud's work.

  Xu Mingjin watched the two senior maids, then went to see the second-class maids Hong Luo and Man Zi. Seeing that they were not as good as Bi Chun's, she stretched her head to look at Qiu Yun's. The embroidered orchid was really beautiful. She satisfied her eyes, but still wasn't enough. So she ordered: "Qiu Yun, bring out the finished products you embroidered before." Qiu Yun responded respectfully and soon brought a slightly larger embroidery basket. When Xu Mingjin looked carefully, she saw that inside were densely packed many small bags, handkerchiefs and other things, all of which were exquisite. At first glance, they seemed to be of exceptional quality. Xu Mingjin fondled them lovingly, playing with them for a while. The several maids who saw Xu Mingjin's expression had different reactions.

  Xu Mingjin thought that these embroidered pouches were exquisite, all hand-stitched with great skill, but the patterns couldn't compare to the pictures on her phone from her past life. Seeing these embroideries made her want to paint. In her past life, she hadn't studied art, but her sister had, and through osmosis, she had slowly learned to paint over the years. She could say that when she first picked up a brush, it was to learn painting, not writing. Even now, she still has some foundation in sketching. She wanted to recreate the pictures from her phone onto fabric, making them into masterpieces. The result would be something to look forward to. And it's definitely not something that can be found in this era.

  She thought of this and handed the embroidered handkerchief back to Autumn Cloud, saying: "You did a good job, I'll reward you with one guan of money this month." After finishing speaking, she hastily said to Spring Beauty: "Follow me." Since waking up and seeing her for the first time, she had trusted this senior maid based on intuition.

  Qiu Yun was rewarded with money, but she didn't show any joy on her face. She just lowered her head and continued to embroider her flowers.

  Hong Luo gazed at the figures of Xu Mingjin and Chun Xiang flashing into the door. Only then did she glare at Autumn Cloud with a jealous gaze. But on her face, she put on an expression of admiration and said: "Autumn Cloud sister, Miss really likes you the most." Autumn Cloud didn't respond, but her facial expression changed slightly. Hong Luo looked at her with satisfaction, and then her expression suddenly changed. She said indignantly: "Chun Xiang is really something! Yesterday, Miss rewarded a plate of lotus seed paste cakes, Chun Xiang gave one piece to each person, but deliberately left me out. Autumn Cloud sister, you tell me, can't Chun Xiang put me in my place just because Miss trusts her?" Hong Luo said indignantly: "Today she may not put me in her eyes, tomorrow she will also not put Autumn Cloud sister in her eyes!"

  Qiu Yun glared at her, finally getting angry, and scolded: "Is a piece of lotus cake worth making such a fuss? Didn't you drink the porridge that Miss gave you two days ago? Who among us fought with you to drink it?" Hong Luo hastily said: "That was given to me by Miss." Qiu Yun calmly said: "The lotus cake was also given to Chun Xing by Miss." Upon hearing this, Hong Luo finally shut her mouth.

  A moment of silence.

  Xu Mingjin shouted in the house; "Autumn cloud, come and pour me a cup of tea." Autumn cloud responded and went.

  "What thing, Miss most trusted is Chun Xing, and it's not her, what qualifications does she have to teach me!" Hong Luo looked at the back of Qiu Yun, gritting her teeth.

  "Hey, Red Luo sister, please don't say that!" Manzi, who was also a second-class maid, timidly advised; "Autumn Cloud sister is one rank higher than us, she should be teaching us." Red Luo glanced at her and said; "What benefits did Autumn Cloud give you?" Manzi replied in surprise; "What benefits? None." Red Luo said viciously; "None is the best." On the other hand, she turned her head to listen carefully, but couldn't hear anything. Only then did she reluctantly withdraw her gaze from staring at the house.

  In the house, Xu Mingjin was in the north room study, carefully examining the brush in her hand. Although this was the finest brush that Chun Xiang had found after a long search in the mansion. Autumn Cloud stood beside her, observing her expression and knowing she was not satisfied, tentatively asked: "Miss, when I draw embroidery patterns, I use sharpened black charcoal from the kitchen, would it work?" Xu Mingjin was overjoyed and hastily said: "Quickly go get it." On the side, she couldn't help but sigh that pencils were a product of modern society, unexpectedly ancient people knew how to use them so early. It wasn't until Xu Mingjin saw Chun Xiang's puzzled gaze beside her that she realized probably only she and Autumn Cloud knew how to use it. This little maid Autumn Cloud was not to be underestimated.

  Just then, Autumn Cloud brought something over. Xu Mingjin took a look and saw that it was a slender, pointed charcoal stick with a piece of cloth wrapped around the top for easy handling. He nodded in satisfaction.

  It's been a long time since I've drawn anything. Xuming Jin took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and searched in his mind for a long time before opening them again. He began to draw on the white paper spread out on the desk. For a while, the only sound in the room was the scratching of the pen. Chun Xiang and Qiu Yun stood by, watching with curiosity at first, but soon their faces were filled with surprise, admiration, and adoration. They didn't dare make a sound to disturb Xuming Jin.

  It is unknown how long ago Xu Mingjin put down his pen in satisfaction.

  What was presented before Chun Xiang and Qiu Yun was a painting of lotus flowers that they had never seen before.

  Chun Xing had never seen this style of painting before, it was completely different from the usual ones. Although the color was monotonous, it vividly depicted every detail of the lotus flower. She felt strange in her heart, but wisely kept her mouth shut and didn't ask. Qiu Yun also remained silent.

  "Miss, can this be embroidered?" Autumn Cloud asked doubtfully after seeing the picture. "It can, it must be possible." Xu Mingjin guaranteed with confidence; "The embroidery will look a thousand times better than this." After all, she had only used charcoal to sketch it out in pencil. And there was no color. Xu Mingjin actually missed one step, which was to inscribe the title. But asking her to write the title with a brush would be like destroying the painting. She wouldn't know how to write with a brush. Suddenly, she realized that she should practice writing with a brush. As for the title of this painting, she thought about it and decided to ask her mother to do it instead. Her mother was originally from a noble family, so her handwriting should be good.

  Xu Mingjin said, "Wait a bit and I'll make some changes." She was in the habit of reviewing her paintings after they were complete and making revisions. Some master had once said that good paintings aren't created, but rather revised into existence. Xu Mingjin stretched his arm, and only then did he notice the ache in the back of his neck. He called over two young servants to massage it for him, closing his eyes to savor the sensation - this was a rare pleasure in modern times.

  Xu Mingjin felt hungry and was about to ask Chun Xiang to go to the kitchen to bring some food. Just then, Man Zi walked in with a tray of dishes. Xu Mingjin immediately smelled a strong aroma of rice and dishes.

  Digression

  Only now do I feel the hardship of typing, my waist and back ache, sleeping at night doesn't even allow me to rest properly, but I'm excited, don't know why I just can't sleep, didn't fall asleep until after 2 am. My home doesn't have a sofa, I'm sitting on a stool typing away, exhausted! Alright, won't say more, going to continue typing...