She fell out after crying at the wrong grave

After being coated with cinnabar for the last time, this fake picture of the emperor hunting finally showed some signs of being realistic.

Yunli stood aside, holding a brush soaked in hot water, and watched Ah'ao paint the eyes of the characters. The characters became so vivid that they seemed to come out of the paper.

Are people who can paint really so amazing?
She then walked forward and looked at it carefully for a long time. The drop of ink that seemed to have been accidentally splashed at the signature was also deliberately drawn by Ah-Yi.

Ah-yi took the overnight strong tea from under the window and walked back to the desk while checking the color of the tea. A large flat stone was placed in the courtyard in advance. She spread the silk paper on the stone and began to brush the paper with the tea with a brush.

Why splash tea on such a good painting?
"New Madam, what...what are you doing?"

Ah'ao has become accustomed to hearing this awkward name.

"This is the old-fashioned way of making it look old." Ah's wide sleeves had been rolled up long ago. Her white arms and the chapped back of her hand holding the brush looked very inconsistent.

In order to keep her hands dry and clean and not contaminate the paper and silk, Ah-yi washed her hands frequently recently. In autumn, Kezhou was cold and rainless, and a few blows from the wind could easily cause chapped skin, with some obvious red marks and peeling.

But now she was concentrating on painting and had no time to care about these things.

“Use overnight strong tea to smear the paper surface, and repeat it over and over again, and the tea color will remain on the paper. When the paper turns yellow and gray, you can continue to work on it.” He didn’t stop talking, and his hands didn’t stop working.

I did too much fine work on the brush today, and now my hands are shaking a little when I hold the brush. I shook it several times, but it hasn't recovered yet.

Ah's eyebrows tightened in annoyance.

"Your hands are already so unsteady, so don't try to be brave." The voice arrived before the person arrived.

Both heads looked up at the same time, and saw the tall and handsome prince walking towards them with his sleeves rolled up.

Yunli glanced at Hengzhi, then turned back to look at A'ao, and felt that the air suddenly became as spring-like as March.

"What if the brush breaks?" But your tone was so normal and natural, without any hint of blame?

Yunli, a good boy with good eyesight, reacted quickly. He tried not to smile, saluted quickly and rushed out, then turned around and closed the door steadily.

A’ao: What just flew past?
"Hey, she..." She raised the brush head and pointed in the air at the direction where Yunli left. Before Ah'ao finished speaking, the brush loosened from her hand and lightly fell into Hengzhi's hand.

"Let me do it."

"Can you do it?" Ah-yi questioned.

"I'm not good at it." Hengzhi dipped the brush into the tea again and licked the edge of the utensil very carefully, which made Ah-yi very happy. "Please give me some advice."

Free labor, don’t miss it.

Ah-yi dragged two chairs over, placed one behind Heng-chi, and snuggled comfortably on the other. "Don't shake your hands, don't look back, and make sure the tea color is even. It's actually very easy."

The key to this process is to repeat it over and over again. It is not difficult.

Ah'ao was directing from the side, and seeing Hengzhi's nonchalant approach, she felt a little strange about the way he calmed down.

She suddenly felt that her understanding of this man was not entirely accurate. She had previously thought that he was arrogant and pretentious, but later she realized that he was just bluffing.

In fact, on the day of the funeral, Hengzhi had no intention of intimidating her. But he just fought and killed, and put a knife on Ah's shoulder, which frightened her into submission and easily got on his pirate ship...

No, a thief horse.

But looking back carefully, Hengzhi had indeed gone through every period of wandering steadily.

After the death of the old Marquis of Zhao, he dealt with the disloyal followers with ease and satisfaction. If he said that he had not paid attention to it in advance, no one would believe it even if he wrote it into a storybook.

Although Ah's partner was also involved in the deception of Xue Ping, there were many merchants traveling back and forth at the border and the passes were heavily guarded.

He easily let Xue Ping go to Qiujidao to enjoy himself, which made him feel relieved, and he obediently accepted all of Xue Ping's suggestions.

This is a sophisticated and mysterious technique.

"I heard that you came back that day in a disheveled state?" But A'ao was more concerned about this.

She wanted to wait for him to come back and ask him about the current market conditions of the merchants in the East and West markets. But when he didn't come back until late at night, Ah-Yan simply closed the door and went to sleep.

Later, Yunli whispered to her that the night the prince came back, he seemed to move in an orderly manner, but in fact, even people paid attention to his shadow as soon as he entered the house.

The inside of the collar was painted rouge, and the jade pendant and purse with a magnolia pattern hanging on the belt were all taken away.

Ah'ao was amazed repeatedly and felt a little regretful.

I really want to see which singer is so lively and bold. She really likes this.

She said, "You probably didn't know how well you slept, but the prince took half the night to take a bath and didn't go back to his room until dawn. His clothes were all burned from inside to outside."

At that time, A'an and Yunli were standing side by side, both laughing wildly, their shoulders shaking.

Hengzhi glanced at her distractedly.

Ah'ao became even more excited. "Later, I heard Aunt Zhao mutter a few words. She said that those merchants were really clueless. They found someone from nowhere and tore your collar. The strong incense they used stained your clothes for a long time and didn't dissipate. Did they let you burn them directly?"

The tone of his voice definitely showed that he was just looking for fun and not minding any trouble.

"Hmm." The prince had a bad look on his face. He was too lazy to even open his mouth and just hummed from his throat.

Ah-yi clapped her hands together to block the noise, and laughed so hard that she was bent over. If she hadn't been sitting on a chair, she would have fallen over. "You have come to this day!"

Seeing Hengzhi embarrassed herself, it was as if all the embarrassment she had suffered when they first met had come back to haunt her, and she felt happy for no reason.

The autumn weather was crisp and the sun was high. A breeze blew through the room, and the veils hanging on the pillars fluttered. Everything was stained with Ah-yi's unrestrained laughter. The princess was still a princess, but she was a worldly princess.

Just like that year... Never mind, Heng Zhi slowly raised the corners of his mouth and suppressed his thoughts. Now is not the time.

The laborer sat there for the whole day.

It was not until night that the method of roasting over fire was used, and only then was the step of creating the antique color completed.

"I don't think I saw Mrs. Zhou that day?" Hengzhi helped to take off the dried paper silk and pressed it flat under the stone slab.

"Oh." Ah-yi raised her head from the candlelight, "I found a nice inn for her to stay in. How can I trouble you?" After thinking for a while, she continued, "I discussed with her and planned to open a shop together. It would be difficult for her to do anything alone."

In order to have enough food, Ah-yi once disguised herself as a man and worked as a teacher in the village. However, her acting skills were poor and she was soon discovered. She was beaten and driven out of that area.

It is hard to imagine that the woman who came to deliver food and vegetables the day before and thanked you for teaching her son poetry and literature would turn around and stand in the front and speak harshly to you. As a teacher, Ah-yi felt that she had fulfilled her responsibilities.

She said, "What do you know as a woman? Don't teach my son bad things!"
The inherent prejudice in the world has never been kind to women. Even if they have no bad intentions.

"I understand this kind of difficulty." said A'an.

Heng Zhi did not ask further questions, but was very interested in the paper-making shop. "Have you thought about it?"

Speaking of this, Ah-yi was a little proud, "Of course. Mrs. Zhou used to help out at the paper-making shop at the village entrance, and her craftsmanship is quite good. Although I can't make paper flowers, I can barely write a funeral couplet. These are the most basic things."

The two men sat in front of the fire where the paintings were being roasted, and there seemed to be an atmosphere of further plotting for the coming day.

"What else is not basic? You have to explain it in detail so that I can know whether investing money is a loss or not." Hengzhi leaned against the back of the chair with his arms folded, like a rich man holding money.

"Actually, I want to do both weddings and funerals." Ah-yi picked up a piece of paper and drew a sketch. "Look, rent a wide and spacious shop and divide it into two halves, one for funerals and the other for weddings."

Under the simple outline of the bricks and tiles, there is a pillar in the middle. Ah-yi drew ingots of paper money on the left, a round lantern on the right, and also drew the ears of corn blowing in the wind.

Even without color, Hengzhi carefully conceived this blueprint in his mind.

On one side a white banner is hung and on the other side a red silk is draped.

I really dare to think about it.

"Aren't you afraid that you'll lose business on both sides if you set it up like this? The red silk is irritating to the mourners, and the white banners are unlucky to the wedding guests."

"I'm afraid." Ah'an said frankly, "But I'm greedy and financially strapped. I want to earn both, but don't want to pay an extra rent. I'm desperate to take a risk and give it a try."

The style of strong conflict between red and white is something no one has dared to try from ancient times to the present.

The only benefit of such an operation is probably that it is a common need in weddings and funerals.

Just like A'ao had thought before, if she can write funeral couplets, she can also write wedding couplets, and if she can make paper flowers, she can also cut window flowers.

Wedding whips and funeral whips are just firecrackers made with different colored paper.

These things used to be sold separately, but in the end they were all made by the same people. By linking them together, we can save the markup caused by the middlemen.

There are many ways to go, and what A'an mainly wants to do is to provide convenient service.

Merchants pay money and receive goods at the same time, and they pay more attention to the value of the actual goods, which makes their service inconsiderate.

"However, in order to prevent any impact on what you are doing, I will not go out to check the shops in the next two days. And the Emperor's Hunting Map is already in the final stages, so if you finish it quickly, you can submit it two months in advance."

Ah's writing is fast.

In the eyes of outsiders, especially those of Xue Ping or the cats and dogs sent by the capital city who were waiting in the dark corners, if Heng Zhi could not find the painting and did not rush to the capital city one day, it would be more suspicious and dangerous.

So it took less than three months, and under the premise of ensuring the quality, A'an worked day and night to catch up.

Hengzhi, needless to say, pretended to visit all kinds of painters and collectors during the day, and only came back at night to deal with reports from the three provinces, nine prefectures and the army.

His men were actually sent to search around the trading areas, and there was even a small team searching along the river banks and in the mountains.

The consequence was that the kitchen placed the river carp and mountain delicacies they sent on the table in various ways, making people's heads full of mushrooms and bamboo shoots.

What you do on the surface is very encouraging.

"After you hand in the painting, the emperor's uncle will definitely ask you to hold the wedding. Let's do the wedding ceremony first, and then I will prepare for the opening."

Ah'an thought about it for several days and decided that if she wanted to do her job smoothly, she had to dispel the suspicion of that half-baked uncle first.

Although Xue Ping had used the power of a tiger to bully Hengzhi, and had used threats and inducements to cheat him into giving him a marriage certificate, he was still dependent on others. If the new emperor had not repeatedly mentioned this matter, how could Xue Ping dare to act on his own?

She knew her uncle the Emperor very well.

Hengqi was holding a simple picture of Ah'ao, with ink printed on thin paper, and the shadow of the dancing flame could be seen behind it.

This was the first time he had experienced such a proper arrangement.

He couldn't help but recall the day in the carriage when the princess majestically blocked his way with one hand and told him not to get off.

In the past, Hengzhi was the one who made the decisions and command, and he was used to having the overall situation in his own hands. The "general" who suddenly broke into his territory made him willingly obey his orders.

The princess has great strategies and thinks things through in so many details that it is really impossible to compare with her.

(End of this chapter)