Translator – Xiao He Lian
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Chapter 14
Lu Yan went out with Governor Zheng today. He first made records of missing people and then went to the Criminal Department. It was already noon when he returned to the Yamen.
As soon as he entered the door, he saw Magistrate Sun slap the ivory brush with landscape patterns on the table with a bang.
“What’s wrong?” Governor Zheng asked.
When Magistrate Sun saw it was Governor Zheng, he quickly stood up and saluted, frowning, “I just went to the Song family because I wanted to draw a portrait of the kidnapper through her description. But the Song family resolutely refused to allow me to see anyone, saying that their daughter had been stimulated, and that they would only allow her to meet a female painter. So, this subordinate had no choice but to look for female painters. But my lord, the number of female painters in the capital is really limited, and most of them paint landscapes. When it comes to painting portraits… just take a look.” After that, he handed some pictures on the table to Governor Zheng with a distressed expression.
After Governor Zheng saw it, he couldn’t help but chuckle. He really didn’t know whether the artist was painting a kidnapper or an ape.
He handed it to Lu Yan, sat down, and continued: “What did the Young lady Song say? Did the painter ask clearly?”
Sun Shaoyin nodded, “On that day, Song Ling’er originally went to the West Market to buy incense powder, but the Baixiang Pavilion in the West Market was closed, so she went to another shop called Xiu Xing store a little further away. She heard that there was a famous incense powder shop there. “
When talking about Baixiang Pavilion, Lu Yan on the side couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows.
“Keep talking.” Governor Zheng said again.
“Song Ling’er was kidnapped from Xiu Xing store. As soon as she realized something was wrong, someone had knocked her out. The female painter helped to look at her head. There were still traces of being hit by a bottle on her head. According to her statement, when she woke up, she had been sent to a strange man’s bed. Her eyes were covered by a veil the whole time, and she didn’t see the person clearly. Fortunately, the veil slipped off when she tried to get up and she had gotten a glimpse of the person. According to Song Ling’er, the man had grown a beard, had a high nose bridge, a frightening appearance, and his eyes were bulging.”
After listening to Sun Xu’s words, Lu Yan looked down at the portrait in his hand, raised his hand to touch the bridge of his nose and couldn’t help but think to himself: They really did manage to paint the lush beard and frightening appearance.
Governor Zheng asked again: “Is this it? What about your stature and posture?”
Sun Shaoyin shook his head, “This subordinate also felt that there was too little to go with, so I went to the Song family again, but this time the Song family didn’t even let the painters in. I asked them for more details, but they only said that he has two eyes, one nose and one mouth, and the rest is unknown.”
Lu Yan shook the portrait in his hand and said, “What does the daughter of the Song family say about this portrait?”
Magistrate Sun’s face turned red from anger and he gritted his teeth and said, “SHe said “It’s exactly the same.” But who can look like an ape-man?!”
Governor Zheng stood up after taking the case and shouted angrily, “Nonsense! Since she is a member of the Song family and lives in Chang’an City, she should cooperate with the Yamen in handling this case. How can we allow them…”
Magistrate Sun said: “My Lord, please calm down. It is true that it is not the two elders of the Song family who are arrogant, but rather that when this happened, the Liu family withdrew their marriage contract with the Song family’s daughter. In these past two days, she has already sought death twice…”
Throughout history, when a woman was raped, if she did not die, she would end up as a living corpse.
After being silent for a long time, Governor Zheng sighed again and said: “Send someone to investigate the Xiu Xing store. Since she was kidnapped from there, there must be some clues there.” He paused and then said to Lu Yan: “I remember Lord Lu is an excellent painter. Although Song Ling’er didn’t say much, we can’t leave any clues unturned. Therefore, Lord Lu can try drawing a few more paintings based on what he just said and send them to the Song family’s daughter and let her pick one.”
It’s true that high level officials pressure the lower level officials to death. Now that Governor Zheng has spoken, Lu Yan can only do this time-consuming and laborious task.
When duty was over in the evening, Sun Xu walked up to Lu Yan and said, “Master Lu, you know many noble ladies, is there anyone who can draw portraits?”
Lu Yan thought for a moment, then thought of the plum blossoms, orchids, bamboos and chrysanthemums painted by Meng Suxi, and said, “There aren’t any.” When he was about to leave, Sun Xu hurriedly said, “Lord Lu, I’ll go with you.”
Lu Yan turned around and asked in confusion: “Come on the same road?”
Sun Xu smiled and patted Lu Yan on the shoulder, “I saw your carriage in the red light district last night.”
Lu Yan’s body stiffened and he couldn’t defend himself. After all, he was the one who asked someone to park the carriage there.
He sighed and said, “I still have a portrait to paint today, I’m afraid he won’t be able to go with Lord Sun.”
Sun Xu patted his head and said, “It’s my fault. I forgot that Lord Lu has something important to do.”
***
Lu Yan was exhausted, and after much hesitation, he finally returned to Chengyuan.
After dinner, Lu Yan raised his head and asked Shen Zhen, “Can you grind ink?”
Shen Zhen nodded.
Lu Yan recalled the testimony of the daughter of the Song family. He had a beard, a high nose, a scary appearance, and building eyes. He couldn’t help but sneered. There were dozens of types of beards alone. If he were to draw them all, he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.
He stood up helplessly, and then patted Shen Zhen’s buttocks very naturally, “Come to my study in a moment and grind ink for me.”
As soon as he made such a gentle move, Shen Zhen’s face turned red.
His not-so-gentle but not-so-heavy patting seemed to carry an unspeakable ambiguity that made people’s hearts tremble.
After entering the study, Lu Yan spread out the paper and waited for a long time before seeing Shen Zhen come in with a cup of water on her red fingertips.
Lu Yan frowned and asked her, “What kind of water did you bring to take it so long?
Shen Zhen blinked and explained: “If you want to grind ink, you can use cold water, but rain is better. But there is no rain in winter, so I thought that although it was warm today and there was still some snow dripping on the eaves, so I brought some over.”
After hearing this, Lu Yan understood why her fingertips were red.
Yes, the daughter raised by the Yunyang Marquis Mansion will naturally know more than ordinary people.
Lu Yan nodded and handed the inkstone and ink to her.
Shen Zhen looked at the ink in her hand and murmured: “Is this famous Yu Mi ink?”
Lu Yan glanced sideways at her and said “hmm”. He didn’t expect her to know so much.
After Shen Zhen finished grinding the ink, Lu Yan took the brush, dipped it in ink and started painting.
Speaking of which, this person has two eyes, one nose, and one mouth. It’s true, but they all look like one person. With just the eyes, Lu Yan painted more than ten different paintings.
After an hour, he couldn’t help but frown, tilted his neck, and moved his shoulder blades.
Shen Zhen moved over, placed her two small white hands on his shoulders and gently massaged him. Although the strength was small, Lu Yan still felt it.
He closed his eyes, leaned back, took one of her fingers and pressed it against his temple.
Shen Zhen understood what he meant and her soft fingertips moved again. Although she was curious about who he was painting, thinking about how bitter and resentful he looked just now, she wisely didn’t ask anything.
Before long, there were twenty paintings. Seeing that it was almost Haishi1(the period of the day from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m), Lu Yan said to Shen Zhen, “You can leave, you don’t have to wait for me tonight.”
Shen Zhen’s hands were tired, let alone the person who drawed all the portraits. After seeing him shake his hands countless times, Shen Zhen tentatively said, “Why don’t I paint with you, My Lord? Maybe it will be faster?”
Lu Yan’s hand holding the brush paused and he raised his eyes to look at her, “Have you ever painted a portrait?”
Shen Zhen nodded, “I’ve painted a few times.”
“Who did you learn from?”
“Master Li, Li Mo. When Master was alive, he gave me advice several times.” Shen Zhen said.
As soon as he said this, Lu Yan was stunned.
If someone else said this, he may not believe it. This is because Li Mo has been regarded as the most outstanding person since the founding of the Jin Dynasty. His paintings are still framed in the imperial palace.
But Shen Zhen was different. Shen Zhen’s grandfather was a former Grand Tutor2(Emperor’s teacher). After calculation, he was exactly the same age as Li Mo.
No wonder, she was very proficient in the art of grinding ink.
Lu Yan pulled her in front of him and handed her the brush, “Can you draw, whatever I say?”
Shen Zhen nodded.
Lu Yan said casually: “Wide face, long eyebrows, round eyes, high nose, thick lips.”
Shen Zhen thought for a while, then slowly started painting. After a while, she sketched out a person.
After seeing it clearly, Lu Yan, who was standing behind her, couldn’t help but smile and shake his head. Undoubtedly, with just one stroke of her brush, he could see the difference, truly capturing its essence with meticulous attention to detail.
This is talent.
Since she can paint, there is no need to continue painting. He can make her disguise herself tomorrow and take her to the Song family.
Shen Zhen stopped painting and looked back at him, “My Lord, is this okay.”
Just now in the heat of the moment, Lu Yan hugged Shen Zhen into his arms. Now Shen Zhen turned around and her forehead was touching his chin.
The contact between skin to skin caused the temperature in the study to rise inexplicably.
Her eyes happened to meet his continuously sliding Adam’s apple.
“Did you take the medicine?” He said hoarsely.
The first thing Shen Zhen thought of was the contraceptive medicine that Mo Yue brought to her.
She knew beforehand that she was not allowed to conceive as an outside mistress. She bit her lower lip and shook her head, “Sir, I used musk in advance, but I didn’t drink the contraceptive medicine.” As she said that, she shook the sachet on her body towards Lu Yan.
Lu Yan looked down at her rosy little face and continued, “I’m talking about the medicine that Yang Zong sent this afternoon.” He remembered that, he did it a little more harshly yesterday.
As soon as these words came out, the hair on Shen Zhen’s temples stood up. Thinking back to how she plied medicine to that area this morning, her whole face became more and more alluring.
Her voice was like a mosquito, “I applied it.”
Lu Yan pinched her slender waist with both hands and lifted her up, making her sit on the table. Their eyes met. His tone was hoarse and he whispered, “Really?”
