Chapter 891: Painting

Li Guanhai took two steps closer to her and whispered, "Aoxue, Shen Yuyu took the initiative to admit defeat. It must be his father's secret instruction. Qingyi Tower will never give up. There will be big moves today and tomorrow. You should be careful."

"Yes, I know." Xiahou Aoxue nodded and whispered, "You should be careful. Their target is Xuanmen. Now you have won the opportunity to enter Xuanmen for enlightenment. Qingyi Tower must take action. The enemy is in the open and I am in the dark. We must not be careless."

The couple was talking when suddenly a eunuch shouted from the back of the palace: "Your Majesty is here."

Everyone in the palace looked in the direction of the voice.

I saw a man wearing a black top, a crimson knee-length apron, a jade belt and leather boots, a dragon pattern embroidered with gold thread on the cuffs and collar, and a hair-binding crown with a jewel on his head coming from the back of the palace.

Behind him were a dozen eunuchs and palace maids. The two closest to him were not concubines in the harem.

One was You Jing, the commander of the imperial army.

The other man was a little strange, with a white face and no beard, and a handsome appearance. Judging from his appearance, he should be a eunuch, and a first-rank general eunuch.

This man wore a Qilin robe, with crane patterns painted on his sleeves and a phoenix painted on his collar. He always kept his eyes down and his eyebrows lowered. His eyes, as deep as a deep pool, seemed to have no emotional fluctuations.

At this time, the voices of the ministers shouting long live the emperor rang out in the hall.

Li Guanhai's eyes were slightly fixed, and he didn't shout along, always staring at the elegant general eunuch.

The other party seemed to have some feelings, slightly turned his head to look at him, nodded and smiled.

Li Guanhai's heart was shocked, and his expression was extremely solemn.

Xiahou Aoxue also saw the clues and reminded him in a voice transmission: "That eunuch is not simple."

Li Guanhai nodded: "Yes, I guessed it right. There are so many masters in the palace. There must be more than one or two top masters hiding in secret. Fortunately, I didn't act rashly at that time."

Xiahou Aoxue pursed her lips and smiled lightly: "It's really strange. I didn't expect that the young master of Yunwei Division, who was fearless and dared to collude with the demons, would be afraid one day."

Li Guanhai knew that she was deliberately teasing him, but he didn't care. He moved closer to her and secretly reached out to grab her slender waist.

Xiahou Aoxue was shocked in her heart, but her face remained calm. She quickly reached out to hold down his rebellious pig's hoof, frowned and scolded: "Don't make trouble!"

Li Guanhai pulled back his hand that was pinched red by her and said: "I'm not afraid. This is called stability for my father. My wife, you have to learn a little."

Xiahou Aoxue ignored him at all.

The emperor came to his seat with a smile on his face and sat down. He stretched out his hands and pressed, "Everyone, please take your seats quickly. Today's banquet is just for celebration. Don't be restrained. Relax a little."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Everyone sat down, but how many of them could really relax?

Li Guanhai returned to sit next to Yu Yinian. Looking at the table full of delicious food, he was about to start eating. The Confucian Mountain Master next to him suddenly said, "Be more disciplined. Don't leave a bad impression on Your Majesty."

Li Guanhai nodded. He naturally didn't care whether the emperor had a good or bad impression of him.

Everyone toasted and exchanged cups. The tension of seeing the emperor's face also subsided a lot, and the atmosphere gradually became lively.

At this time, His Majesty put down the wine glass.

Ta——

A light sound made the hall, which was originally full of conversations, suddenly quiet down, and everyone turned to look at the emperor.

The emperor smiled and said slowly: "A banquet cannot be without music. It happens that the two heads of the music family are here, and all the proud disciples are here. Why don't you show your skills and play a few songs to liven up the banquet? What do you think?"

The Minister of Rites was the first to jump out and praise it, and all kinds of words to flatter the emperor emerged one after another.

The speeches of other officials were roughly the same.

Everyone is not stupid, and naturally understands that the reason why the emperor said this is not because "a banquet cannot be without music".

If you really want to listen to music and watch dance, the palace maids in the Imperial Music Bureau who have received professional training and are dedicated to dancing and playing music for occasions such as the emperor's birthday are all clever and graceful.

It is obvious that His Majesty is not interested in wine, and the ministers will certainly follow his words.

So the competition began, and the disciples of the two music families came on stage one after another, playing the flute or the piano, both men and women, each with their own merits.

All the people sitting in the hall were in the clouds. Even if they didn't know how to play the piano or the flute, they knew some music theory.

They closed their eyes slightly, raised their cups and listened. When they heard something wonderful, their mouths curled up and they couldn't help but say "good".

The emperor knew a little about music theory, but he was not proficient in it, so he asked the Grand Music Master, who was known for his piano and flute skills, to comment on each point and correct the shortcomings.

Li Guanhai was eager to try, but unfortunately he could neither play the piano nor the flute. The only thing he could show off was his good calligraphy and his good painting skills.

The dispute over music ended quickly, and the emperor found a random excuse to ask his painter's disciples to paint and embroider portraits.

The so-called embroidered portraits, in layman's terms, are paintings of people.

Immediately, several eunuchs moved tables and stools, set up three tables in the hall, and prepared paper and pens.

The emperor took a sip of wine and asked with a smile: "Okay, which student is willing to show his talent?"

Several young men and women stood up immediately, first introduced their families and names, then walked to the table and started painting.

Every time a painting was finished, it was handed over to the president of the Hanlin Academy for evaluation.

But there were also two paintings that were highly praised by him, and he did not hesitate to praise them.

The two young men and women who painted were naturally overjoyed and very happy.

Thinking that they finally showed up in front of His Majesty, and most importantly, they left a good impression on the president of the academy, so they would not be afraid of not having a job in the future.

Yu Yinian, who was drinking wine comfortably, saw Li Guanhai put down his glass and stood up. He was startled and pulled his sleeve and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Go up to join in the fun." Li Guanhai replied with a smile.

He added in his heart, "I can't let them pretend to be all of them, right?"

Yu Yinian loosened his sleeve and nodded, "Go."

Li Guanhai's appearance immediately attracted most of the attention in the hall.

After winning the Qi Jue Men competition, he has become a celebrity in the entire capital. He is also the focus of this palace. People's eyes are always on him.

It is not uncommon for Confucian students to paint. Everyone is very curious about his level.

No one has much hope. Zhao Zi has a high level of cultivation. He must have spent all his time and energy on cultivation. How can he have time to improve his painting skills?

So everyone just watched the fun.

Ji Xiang, who was sitting next to Bai Mu, showed interest in his eyes, wanting to see what kind of paintings this lustful man could make.

Li Guanhai came to the table and stood still, holding a brush in his hand, painting for a while and stopping for a while.

He looked into the distance from time to time, frowned and thought, and the brush traced dots on the paper, outlined with plain ink, and the tip of the brush flowed like clouds and water.

Several times, because of his enjoyment, he couldn't stop the brush, and he used too much force, and a few drops of ink on the tip of the pen spilled and splashed on the ground.

Immediately, a eunuch bent over and trotted up to wipe it.

In a trance, everyone felt that the person standing in front of the table was not a young man, but a vicissitudes of life, unrestrained, but actually frustrated and unsuccessful wanderer, revealing a bold and free-spirited meaning.

After outlining the last stroke, the pen shaft flexibly rotated twice at the fingertips, and with a flick of the thumb, the brush fell on the pen mountain while spinning.