Chapter 40: The Beauty on the Wall

  Liu Xiu knew he was in a bad mood and didn't hold it against him, and then greeted Lu Zhi and others before sitting down at the lower seat of Lu Min. Liu Bei sat tightly beside him, then quietly listened to what Lu Zhi and the others had to say.

  It wasn't long before the servants brought up wine, and Mao Qin stood up to give a toast. He thanked Lu Zhi for coming to Peach Valley to teach, thanked Li Ding for his guidance, and finally welcomed the students who had come to study. Then everyone began to exchange polite toasts, each person standing up in turn. The first one to be toasted was naturally Lu Zhi. Although he wasn't feeling well, he had a large capacity for wine and never refused a drink. His face didn't show any signs of drunkenness, and he maintained his usual composed demeanor with a hint of reserve.

  After the most lively discussion, Li Ding finally got to the point. He first praised the strength of the Mao family and then turned his attention to the difficulties of preparing for war. He hoped that Western Mao could take the lead and work with other families to contribute ideas and resources for the safety of Zhuo County. Mao Qin spoke very thoroughly but did not give a definite answer, saying only that he needed to consult with the other three Maos before making a decision.

  Liu Xiu was not interested in these, he just quietly drank wine, coldly observing the movements of the people on the stage, especially their etiquette. He found that there were many rules for Han Dynasty banquets that he had never heard of before, and he did not dare to be careless, seizing the opportunity to learn carefully.

  The banquet, Li Ding took Yan Ruo and left, Liu Xiu and others also returned to the Jing She. After a few days, Lu Min came to find him, asking him to gather with Liu Bei, and accompany him to Zhuo County. Although Liu Xiu was somewhat puzzled, he didn't ask much, and after packing his luggage, they loaded up the ox cart again, and the three of them set off together towards the county seat of Zhuo County.

  Taoyuan is only a dozen miles away from Zhuoxian, and with the old cow's slow pace, they arrived in an hour. After entering the city, Lu Min took them straight to the pavilion where Governor Liu Yu was staying. The governor's responsibility was to patrol the various counties under his jurisdiction, without a fixed mansion, and every time he came to a county, he lived in the pavilion next to the county government, equivalent to a mobile office. After entering the pavilion, Lu Min asked Liu Xiu to arrange their accommodation first, and then went to see Governor Liu Yu himself.

  Liu Xiu and Liu Bei were busy for a while, just finishing cleaning the room, when they heard a knock at the door. The two went out to take a look, and couldn't help but feel some surprise, as it was Liu Xiu's father, Liu Yuanqi, who had arrived.

  Liu Yuanqi was still wearing that new set of clothes with creases, only with a rare hint of smile on his face. As soon as he entered the door, his eyes scanned Liu Xiu's face and then fell on Liu Bei's face, staring at Liu Bei's eyebrows for a while before furrowing his brow, stretching out his hand to gently touch the scar left after the wound healed: "Was this done by your elder brother?"

  Liu Bei hastily bowed and saluted: "Elder brother, it's nothing serious, just a minor injury. Besides, elder brother didn't do it on purpose, it was an accident."

  "Hmph, you don't need to cover up for him." Liu Yuanji withdrew his hand and ignored Liu Xiu's invitation to sit down. He turned around and glanced at the surroundings before saying, "Mr. Lu is discussing something with Governor Shi and won't be looking for you all for a while. I heard that you've been studying well these days, so I'll take you out for a drink as a reward."

  Liu Bei was overjoyed, and even Liu Xiu was somewhat surprised. He had thought that his father would scold him, but instead he wanted to take them out for a meal. This was of course good news. In the several months since they arrived in this world, although they had eaten meat a few times at Peach Valley, either the quantity was too small or there were too many people around, and they never got to eat their fill. Now that his father was treating them, they could finally eat to their heart's content.

  The two men closed the door and followed Liu Yuanqi out of the post house, turned two streets, came to the market, entered a city gate about one and a half people high, smelled the fragrance and arrived at the wine shop, entered a wine building that looked quite upscale. A waiter saw Liu Yuanqi walking in front of him with a rustic look, didn't dare to neglect, immediately welcomed them and led them to the elegant seat on the second floor facing the street.

  As soon as Liu Bei entered, his eyes lit up and he gave Liu Xiu a signal with his eyes. Liu Xiu followed his gaze and saw that on the white-painted wall inside the house, there was a painting of a woman standing with her sleeves raised, walking slowly with her eyebrows furrowed, looking elegant and refined, with a slender waist and a hint of beauty.

  It was originally a beautiful woman's picture.

  Liu Xiu glanced at it and a hint of a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. This kind of beauty painting might be fresh for Liu Bei, but for him, who had studied Tang Bohu's works for ten years, this beauty painting was only at an elementary level, not even touching the threshold. However, he also knew that although Han Dynasty paintings had already reached a certain standard and produced several great painters, it wasn't until the Jin and Tang Dynasties that figure painting truly matured. The first famous painter with surviving works was Gu Kaizhi of the Eastern Jin, whose "Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies" and "Nymph of the Luo River" were renowned at the time and considered the pioneering works of beauty paintings. This didn't mean that there were no figure paintings or beauty paintings in the Han Dynasty; in fact, there were many figure paintings during that period, which flourished as early as the Western Han. The famous silk painting from the Mawangdui tomb, which shocked the archaeological community nationwide, featured a portrait of the lady owner, but such portraits had not yet departed from the category of patterned designs and could not be considered figure paintings in the strict sense of later generations.

  The beautiful woman in front of me has basically eliminated the pattern of the mold, and the brushwork is also vivid. The expression of the characters' demeanor is natural, which is not bad for this era. Otherwise, I guess the shopkeeper wouldn't have painted it on the wall for people to admire. However, when encountering a master like Liu Xiu, it's really not impressive.

  "What a beautiful picture." Liu Bei praised, but then felt a bit embarrassed, afraid that Liu Yuanqi would think he was greedy for beauty and not making progress in his studies. He hastily asked Liu Xiu: "Big brother, what do you think?"

  Liu Xiu pursed his lips and smiled: "It's still passable, doesn't look bad."

  Liu Bei smiled secretly and took another look, but didn't dare to make a sound. Liu Yuanqi heard them discussing and turned his head to take a look, also praising: "Indeed not bad, in Zhuo County it's the first time I've seen such a good painting, don't know which artist created it."

  Liu Bei's heart widened when he saw Liu Yuanqi praising it, and he smiled at Liu Xiu, saying: "Elder brother, I know your calligraphy is good, but I didn't know you're also skilled in painting. You say this beautiful portrait of a beauty is just passable; could it be that you can paint even better?"

  Liu Xiu listened, slightly furrowed his brow, and thought to himself that this calligraphy matter would not be able to deceive Liu Yuanqi forever. Rather than talking about it later, he might as well let it out now. As he sat down, he said: "Painting and calligraphy are connected, both relying on brushwork and structure, ultimately looking at a sense of rhythm. Although I'm not proficient in painting, I feel that the rhythm of this painting is unnatural, just like a character that looks fine but has something awkward about it, which is why I said it doesn't count as ugly."

  Liu Bei laughed even more happily, he walked to the front of the beauty picture, looked up and down for a while, somewhat puzzled, rubbed his head: "How did I not see that it was awkward, this beauty... looks pretty good."

  "Look carefully, don't you think her demeanor is too humble? Although she's wearing beautiful clothes, she's lowering her head and slightly hunching her back. Her hands are in front of her body, but it looks more like a maid holding something, waiting for the master's summons." Liu Xiu said with a half-joking tone: "If she changed into a maid's clothes, that would be more to my liking."

  Liu Bei listened, first smiled, but when he looked at the beautiful woman's picture again, he felt that Liu Xiu was right. The woman's expression did have a humble feeling, really like what Liu Xiu said, a maid. He took two steps back, looked at it for a moment, and finally smiled and nodded: "Big brother, you're absolutely right, now I feel the same way too."

  "Pshaw!" Liu Yuanqi cursed and scolded with a smile: "Xuande, why are you also like your elder brother, talking nonsense? You're listening to his rubbish too?"

  "Ah, elder brother is not the same as before. This time in Peach Valley, he not only became Mr. Lu's book assistant but also defeated the great bandit Huo Yung and earned merit for the Mao family." Liu Bei said with a flattering expression, "If I hadn't been with him all along, I wouldn't dare believe this is still the original elder brother."

  Liu Yuanqi couldn't help but shake his head, pointing at Liu Bei with his finger: "Xuande, you've really disappointed me. I was hoping you could keep an eye on him and not let him get into trouble, yet now you're even speaking up for him?"

  Liu Bei smiled secretly and lowered his head without speaking. His demeanor was humble, but he had no intention of showing shame.