CH 67

Zhuang Wei's hand was shaking.

He knew he had acted impulsively and thought even if Fang Yun retaliated, it wouldn't have any unpredictable consequences. So he came to trouble Fang Yun, to give the Liu family some relief and make his wife and the Liu family happy.

But who could have thought that a Grand Academician would let a Child Scholar modify his poetry!

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

That was Li Wenying's poetry, a literary man who almost slayed a dragon, an official who dared to directly kill an Imperial Scholar, and a madman who called the Left Chancellor an old dog.

Zhuang Wei knew that even if this poem was smeared like this, Li Wenying would just laugh it off. After all, it was a misunderstanding. Li Wenying wouldn't bother to deal with a Presented Scholar like him. But Li Wenying's old students wouldn't just let it go, and neither would all the officials in the Academy. The literati of the entire Jiangzhou wouldn't just let it go.

Those people would find ways to make things difficult for him. Once they caught him, they would not hesitate to use the most severe punishment. If he was not careful, he would be banned from participating in the imperial examination. Zhuang Wei didn't have the ability to request the Holy Selection.

The people who were following Zhuang Wei left silently. This was not abandoning an old friend, but being shrewd.

One of the students who admired Li Wenying couldn't help but curse, "The shame of a scholar, the stinky bug of the Academy! A Presented Scholar destroyed a Child Scholar's work, and disgraced all scholars! He brought it upon himself!" After speaking, he left with a dark face.

After experiencing surprise and ridicule, many people looked at Zhuang Wei with a bit of pity. They all knew he was finished.

Fang Yun continued to eat as if nothing had happened.

Lu Yu smirked and said, "Don't you have anything to say?"

"The joy of being full and satisfied with food and drink is better than throwing stones at a man who has fallen into a well." Fang Yun smiled and continued to eat.

The students nodded one after another. This was the attitude that scholars should have.

Many people only admired Fang Yun's talent and didn't know much about his character. Especially those aristocratic families, when they heard that Yan Yuewen Palace was shattered and Liu Zicheng had kneeled to apologize, they thought Fang Yun was too ruthless. But now, their attitude towards Fang Yun had greatly changed.

"No wonder he can write 'Inscription of a Dilapidated Building,' the building is admirable, and the person is even more admirable."

"I won't look down on poor scholars anymore. I'm not as broad-minded as he is."

"We finally have someone in Jiangzhou who might be one of the Four Great Talents. We can't ruin his literary reputation ourselves. If anyone tarnishes Fang Yun's name, we must support him."

"That's for sure." Everyone nodded in agreement.

Zhuang Wei was ashamed and embarrassed to hear these discussions. Instead of striking Fang Yun, he had made Fang Yun famous in the Academy.

He couldn't stay here anymore and left in a hurry.

The others also left one after another.

After the meal, Fang Yun and his companions went back to the Ink Fragrance House to study.

The first and second classes in the afternoon were still taught by Mr. Wang, while the last two classes were different from usual. They were painting classes. Fang Yun was a little surprised when he heard the name of the class for the first time, but then he realized that it couldn't be called "Chinese painting" here, so there was no such thing as Chinese painting.

Ancient Chinese painting often used vermilion and blue, so it was called danqing.

Every ten days, the Academy had four afternoons on the first, third, fifth, and seventh days of each ten-day period. They taught danqing, guqin, calligraphy, and Go, respectively.

The better the calligraphy, the stronger the power of war poetry. This was an essential skill for all scholars.

Danqing, guqin, and Go could be learned or not, because the three of them were not only more difficult, but also required a lot of effort to cultivate.

Ordinary guqin and Go had no power at all, only becoming treasures of literature could they possess great power.Painting does not require Treasures of Literature, but it needs the blood of monsters to bear the power of talent. It often takes more than ten years to reach the basic level of "poetic and pictorial charm," and it has a certain attack power, making it difficult to succeed. Currently, only meticulous painting can be used for combat, and freehand painting cannot stimulate the power of talent.

However, the power of qin, chess, and painting is far inferior to that of war poetry, with only one-third of the power of war poetry for the same amount of talent consumption.

Although the power of qin and chess is not strong, the advantage is that it can continuously launch attacks.

Paintings can be preserved for a certain period of time, but the only way to preserve war poetry is through "sacred books." Except for the Semi-Saints, anyone who wants to obtain "sacred books" can only do so through Book Mountain. Only one or two books are produced every hundred years, and their rarity is even greater than that of the Treasures of Literature of the Great Scholars.

Fang Yun has decided to focus on practicing calligraphy. It is not worth spending time on qin, chess, and painting. However, to master the basic usage of qin, chess, and painting, one must be able to use Treasures of Literature for qin, chess, and painting. At present, painting is not suitable for deep learning.

Before, Fang Yun had read some books. Calligraphy in the Holy Origin Continent was the first to be valued, while qin, chess, and painting had not been valued. It was not until the past two hundred years that they gradually developed. Even a few decades ago, war poetry was only considered a minor art, and qin, chess, and painting were even more subsidiary. Even if some talented scholars tried to study qin, chess, and painting, the development was still slow.

"For example, in painting, although the development is acceptable, only a few people, such as the Grand Academician Gu Kaizhi, have a reputation in painting. The famous painters of later generations, such as Wu Daozi, have not yet been born. Some of the widely known techniques, such as the Eighteen Sketches, cross-hatching, and various dotting and dyeing methods, have only appeared in a small part."

While Fang Yun was thinking about this, Mr. Xiao, who taught meticulous painting, walked in. He was not a lecturer, but a seventh-rank idle official of the State Academy who was very fond of painting and had little interest in calligraphy.

During the break, Fang Yun learned from Li Yuncong and others that Mr. Xiao had already reached the first realm of meticulous painting, "poetic and pictorial charm," and had been trying to break through the second realm, "lifelike," but had not been able to do so.

Mr. Xiao was a serious person. He walked behind the lectern, and Fang Yun and the other six stood up to greet him. He nodded to indicate that everyone should sit down.

"Are you Fang Yun?" Mr. Xiao's expression was stiff, but his tone was very kind.

"Yes," Fang Yun said.

"Have you ever studied painting before?"

"Never."

Mr. Xiao thought for a moment with an expressionless face and said, "I cannot delay other people's courses for you. I have a teaching plan here. You can take it and study it yourself. If you have any questions, you can ask me after school. I am usually in the library, and if I don't have a class, you can come and ask me anytime."

"Thank you, Mr. Xiao." Fang Yun gratefully walked up and took Mr. Xiao's teaching plan, then sat down to study on his own.

During Mr. Xiao's lecture, Fang Yun flipped through the teaching plan below. The teaching plan first explained the knowledge of pens, inks, papers, inkstones, and pigments needed for meticulous painting. As Fang Yun read, many words automatically appeared in his mind, and he could compare them with the book written by the master of meticulous painting, Yao Mingkui.

The teaching plan of Mr. Xiao involved many unique pigments and materials of the Holy Origin Continent, including monster fur or monster blood. When Fang Yun silently read, it would naturally form a book in the Book World.

After reading the basic knowledge and involving painting techniques, the problem arose. The teaching plan in the Book World was more accurate than Mr. Xiao's, so Fang Yun had no choice but to abandon Mr. Xiao's and read "Mr. Yao's" instead.Fang Yun gradually became fascinated, mainly focusing on the teaching cases in the mysterious book world, and rarely flipping through Mr. Wang's teaching cases.

Mr. Wang glanced at Fang Yun several times during the lecture and found that he hadn't turned the page for a long time. It seemed like he was just absent-mindedly going through the motions. He secretly sighed that this talented scholar had no interest in painting and was greatly disappointed.

A few students noticed the issue and secretly looked at Fang Yun, wanting to remind him, but he was looking down, unable to see their hints.

Time passed bit by bit, and Fang Yun's reading speed in the mysterious book world was extremely fast. He had finished the entire "Fine Brushwork Painting Teaching Case" before Mr. Wang finished his lecture. He could find explanations for some of the incomprehensible terms in other books, which gave Fang Yun a great understanding of fine brushwork painting and even sparked his interest.

"It's a pity that I can't be distracted now. I still have to practice my writing, read the classics of All the Saints, and at least become an Imperial Scholar before I can find time to learn painting."

Fang Yun's mind left the mysterious book world and began to flip through Mr. Wang's teaching cases.

This time he wasn't studying, but comparing it with the "Fine Brushwork Painting Teaching Case", flipping through it quickly and finding many loopholes and errors.

Fang Yun's rapid page-turning was noticed by Mr. Wang, who just frowned slightly without saying anything.

After the lecture, Mr. Wang said, "Fang Yun, since you've flipped through today's lesson, let me ask you, what's the problem with Lu Yu's peony painting?"

Fang Yun didn't know that Mr. Wang had misunderstood him for not studying and thought it was a normal examination. He turned his head to look at the painting on Lu Yu's desk and casually said, "Starting with the petals, the tip of the petals is too thick, while the root of the petals is too thin, violating the basic principle of light and shade."

Mr. Wang couldn't help but widen his eyes and quickly walked over, saying, "You actually saw his problem at a glance! Light and shade? It's not in my teaching case. Can you explain it?"

The five Accomplished Scholars beside him looked at Fang Yun, and Lu Yu said, "Fang Yun, you wouldn't know about painting too, would you? You just said you've never painted before. Could it be that you've gained new insights just by looking at the teacher's teaching case?"

Fang Yun saw that the looks in the eyes of these six people were not right and hurriedly said, "I was just saying it casually; don't misunderstand."

However, Mr. Wang sternly said, "What, now that you've become the Crown Prince's attendant as a Child Scholar, you look down on me, a small seventh-grade official who teaches painting?"

Fang Yun knew that Mr. Wang was taking it seriously. If it were Mr. Wang Xiansheng, he would have muddled through, but this Mr. Wang was too rigid and couldn't be ambiguous.

Fang Yun was secretly anxious. He had to say something, but it had to be reasonable. After a few moments of silence, he suddenly remembered that when he handed the "Fox's Poem" to Zhou Zhubu for filing, he had mentioned that he used to sit by the river and ponder, and Zhou Zhubu praised him for "enlightenment by the river."

"Although I've never learned how to paint, I used to think about how to write poetry by the river when I was young. When I got tired of thinking, I would pick up a tree branch and draw on the sand. At that time, I only knew how to scribble without understanding anything. It was only after reading the teacher's teaching case that I suddenly had some enlightenment."

"Did you really read my teaching case? Then explain what light and shade are." Mr. Wang's expression softened a lot.

Seeing that he couldn't avoid it, Fang Yun could only bring out the theory of "Yin and Yang, light and shade" in traditional painting and the "three major aspects" in sketching. Pointing at the painting, he said, "Light and shade have three aspects: the light side, the gray side, and the dark side. Together with the shadows, they can show the light's illumination and make the leaves more... realistic." Fang Yun almost said more three-dimensional.