The peasant boy of crossing

The new year has begun, no matter how lively and festive it is during the Chinese New Year, some things that should happen will still happen.For example, this is going to be a rough year after all.

His Majesty's health is getting worse and worse. This news, which should have been covered up closely, has become a well-known secret for some reason.

There are several forces surging in the court. Apart from being loyal to His Majesty, some support the restoration of the "Supreme Emperor", some support the "Deposed Prince" to ascend the throne, some stand behind the Queen and the five-year-old Crown Prince, and some The vassal kings from all over the country are also ready to move, wanting to come to Beijing to get a share of the pie.

Years ago, although he didn't go to court very much today, he would still show up every ten days and a half months.After the beginning of spring, His Majesty the Emperor has not gone to court for a full month.

This made the officials have to have some bad associations.

The chief assistant of the cabinet, Wei Zheng, was the elder who was sent outside the city gate by His Majesty the Emperor himself, and was finally recalled.

After the "Taishanghuang" was captured, he actively supported His Majesty the Emperor who was King Jing at the time, and suggested that His Majesty issue an order to serve the King. Finally, Gyeonggi was effectively protected and the northern barbarians were repelled.Therefore, it is deeply trusted by His Majesty the Emperor.

Different from the fairy-like appearance in Jingning, the current Wei Shoufu frowned slightly, his eyes were sunken, his hair was gray, and he looked haggard.

If it is said that before, people just had bad associations, but after seeing Wei Shoufu, such associations quickly turned into confirmation.

In fact, Wei Shoufu's face had already been powdered, not only that, he also applied a little rouge to make his face look rosier.He now represents the cabinet, and his external image is particularly important, and he must be meticulous.

It's just that this rosiness made people misunderstand, thinking that Wei Shoufu was sick from overwork, and he still fulfilled his duties when he had a high fever.So I became more worried.

Wei Shoufu hadn't slept for several nights, he no longer had the muscular physique of his youth, and insomnia had a great impact on his body.

Back then, he actively supported King Jing because he thought that the "Taishanghuang" was captured and the royal family was humiliated, so he should kill himself immediately to protect the royal family's face, but he never thought that the "Taishanghuang" would come back.

When I came back, I came back, and proposed to imprison the "Taishanghuang". That's it.

Who would have thought that after a few years of success, His Majesty suddenly became seriously ill, and the Crown Prince did not have time to grow up.

To make matters worse, he got inside information last night that His Majesty the Emperor was poisoned, and it was most likely the Empress Dowager who did it.Originally, Wei Shoufu finally fell asleep last night, but was so shocked by the sudden news that he couldn't sleep at all.

"The evening festival will be lost." Wei Shoufu thought desperately, he had always been confident and confident, but now he predicted his miserable end.

No wonder Wei Shoufu's face was full of depression this morning.

The empress dowager is the mother of the "overlord" and the adoptive mother of the emperor.

His Majesty's biological mother was just an unknown concubine who died very early.His Majesty the Emperor was raised under the Empress Dowager's lap since he was a child, and it was precisely because of this that the "Taishanghuang" was captured, and King Jing was the first to be helped to the throne.

Back then when King Fujing came to power, the Empress Dowager also contributed. How could she have imagined that she would poison her as soon as she turned her face?

Speaking of which, His Majesty is also very filial to her today, and has done his best.

But now that there is such a thing, the restoration of the "Supreme Emperor" is just around the corner. With the queen's ability and the prince's young age, how can he beat the queen mother?

Even so, since His Majesty the Emperor has not passed away, the forces of all parties still have a chance to die.

Accompanied by the turmoil in the court was the drought after the beginning of spring. The North China Plain has not had a drop of rain for several months.No rain means drought, which means no harvest.

Contrary to the drought in the north, the rainy season in the south is a full month earlier than usual. The winter wheat has not yet been harvested, and the early rice has not yet matured, and it looks like they are about to rot in the fields.

Li Xinyi's life in Chuzhou is quite peaceful, except that it is always raining and the paintings are not easy to sell, and she has to pay special attention to preservation to prevent the scrolls from becoming stained due to humidity.

The price of food began to rise at a speed visible to the naked eye. Because Li Xinyi still has savings, her life has not been affected for the time being, but painting flowers is not a long-term solution.

Especially after Zhao Yuanwei was transferred back to Beijing, the new magistrate was no longer so strict on the control of calligraphy and painting. Some people sold their own paintings on the market, which was much cheaper than the price of Moquan Pavilion. In the end, the government did not come forward to seize them .

Because Li Xinyi has a good personal relationship with Liu Guanshi, and there is a contract in black and white, she can only continue to sell the paintings in Moquan Pavilion.But he is not uninspired, he has been trying to draw new things these days.

The impact of natural disasters and man-made disasters on people's lives varies from person to person.

For example, paintings are not easy to sell, but story books and prints are selling well.With less business and labor and free time, people have higher requirements for the spiritual world.

Li Xinyi also began to try to draw "comics".

Comic comics, also known as continuous pictures, refer to the use of continuous pictures to narrate stories and shape characters.

Usually such paintings are engraved on wooden boards, which are very convenient to print and naturally sell well.

Li Xinyi bought a few copies. Compared with the comics of later generations, the stories of these comics are rigid and the characters are not detailed, but compared to the full-text books, they are suitable for all ages.

Li Xinyi became active.

He started writing scripts.

Because he was afraid of involving copyright, he dared not directly use "Story of the Three Kingdoms" and "Story of Learning from Sanzang", so he decided to use "Cui Yingying's Story of the West Chamber" as a blueprint to draw a popular story about gifted scholars and beautiful ladies.

"Zhang Sheng saved the temple and met the daughter of the prime minister—the rebel general surrounded the temple and forced Cui Yingying to marry—Cui's mother promised marriage, Zhang Sheng asked for foreign aid—Cui's mother refused the marriage, Zhang Sheng fell in love with each other—the matchmaker tied the knot, and the two met— Cui's mother agrees to get married, Zhang Sheng goes to Beijing to take the exam—Zhang Sheng wins the first prize, Zheng Heng makes up a lie—Cui's mother refuses the marriage, Cui Yingying wants to marry Zheng Heng—Zhang Sheng comes, and they get married."

After writing the script, you need to write the script, and then draw the storyboard, confirm the scene and the character image.

Li Xinyi tried to compress the plot as much as possible, but it is still very difficult to draw it by hand.

As a last resort, Li Xinyi gave up the comic painting method of later generations and imitated the existing "comic strips". One picture has one plot, and nine pictures are the whole story.As for whether the plot is coherent, Li Xinyi said that you can use your imagination.

Anyway, there is Liu Guanshi from Moquan Pavilion. Whether these pictures are used as illustrations in the storybook or published separately in a collection, they can be sold. The key is how much they sell.

"It's not easy to make money." Li Xinyi said with emotion.

The magistrate of Jingning has finally been promoted. This was originally arranged by Mr. Wei. Although he is now lamenting that "it is hard to protect the late festival", Wenzhi County is only running rampant in Jingning with his momentum, and this "running" It is careful and prudent, and it is not difficult to move from Jingning to other state capitals.

After Zhao Yuanwei left Chuzhou, even if the new magistrate continued to use the old subordinate officials, he had to install a few of his own people, and Wenzhi County was mixed in. Now he should be called Wen Tongzhi, in charge of engineering construction and warehouse repairs.

Li Xinyi didn't know what emotion she should be in. Thinking of the current situation is so bad, she was worried about Li's mother who stayed in Wutong Village.After discussing with the manager of Moquan Pavilion, he promised to send a certain number of paintings to Moquan Pavilion every year until the contract ends.

Immediately afterwards, he packed up his things and prepared to return home with unfinished chili sauce and dried eggplants, as well as painting utensils, clothes and bedding.

This time he finally rented a mule cart. He didn't dare to walk too fast for fear of exhausting the mule. He only held an umbrella and walked back slowly. After walking for two days, he finally returned to Jingning before the curfew.

Li's mother obviously knew that Li Xinyi was coming back a long time ago, she was overjoyed, and spent half a day cooking a large table of dishes, and even called Grandpa Wu's family to clean up for Li Xinyi.

Li Xinyi didn't expect that after leaving home for less than half a year, not only was she deprived of Li's mother's favor by the raccoon cat and the big yellow dog, but now she would be downgraded to a "guest" and "washed away".

"Shouldn't you leave after you come back this time?" Grandpa Wu asked.

Li Xinyi was biting a river crab leg, which was caught by Wu Shen from the stream beach. It was fried crispy by Li's mother, and it tasted very good.

Li Xinyi put down the crab legs and replied: "I'm not leaving, A Niang is at home alone, so I can't rest assured. Besides, rice and grain in Chuzhou are very expensive, and paintings are not easy to sell."

Grandfather Wu sighed and said, "It's raining non-stop, and the crops are all rotting in the ground. The people still have to bear their crimes. It's better if you come back earlier."

Wu Shen interjected, "What I'm afraid of is that during the rainy season, the river will burst its embankment and the fields and houses will be flooded, so the people will flee from famine."

Li Xinyi was surprised and said: "It can't be so serious. I heard that there is a drought in the north, and there hasn't been a single drop of rain since the beginning of spring."

Grandpa Wu knew a lot, and replied: "The more drought in the north, the more waterlogged we will be in the south. Just wait, after the drought is over, there will be a plague of insects. By then, I don't know how many people will starve to death."

Grandma Wu said piously: "I hope God will be more benevolent and give us people a way to survive."

Li's mother is very open: "People are born to suffer, and after suffering the sins that should be suffered, they can also go to bliss early after death."

Because the topic was too heavy, they were silent for a while, then they talked about other topics and started talking.