Sick Man Turns Out to be a General

0In order to quickly make a few light rattan chairs, the next morning, in the prime of his life, Da Ji went to the village and asked for the best carpenter, a man called Mu Yanzhi who was about fifty years old.    

    

"Master Mu, take a look at these two blueprints first." Nian Hua invited Mu Yanzhi to sit down and then poured tea for him before taking a look at the two blueprints that Shen Jingli had drawn.    

    

One was a round rattan chair, the other was a rattan chair.    

    

Mu Yanzhi had never seen a chair like this before, and he couldn't help but stare at it. This kind of chair was both simple and easy, and was also very light and light, so it was placed in the courtyard. It was both unique and elegant, and if it was made a little more exquisite, then it could be brought along when one went out for sightseeing, especially when one was fishing, it was much better than sitting on those short, hard stools.    

    

As for the other rocking chair, it was the most suitable for the elderly. Especially in the summer, under the shade of a large tree, to lie down on such a chair. It was simply as happy as a god.    

    

"Master Mu, can you make these two chairs?" asked Nian Hua as he saw him staring at the blueprints.    

    

"Yes." Mu Yanzhi raised his voice in reply, startling Nian Hua.    

    

His voice was loud to begin with, but he had purposely raised it. It was as powerful as a gong or a drum, and he was so old that his ears almost rang.    

    

He rubbed his ears and took a few steps back. Seeing this, Mu Yanzhi scratched his head in embarrassment, a silly smile appearing on his honest face.    

    

"It's good that you can do it. I've already sent people to the Jinling City to purchase the materials that you need. Once the materials are back, you can start working on it. Nian Hua felt that his ears were still buzzing. After saying these words, he was in a hurry to enter the house.    

    

"Little bro, wait a moment." Mu Yanzhi called out to him. "Who drew these two diagrams?"    

    

Mu Yanzhi had been a carpenter for over 30 years, and he had created many pieces of furniture. He would occasionally design some new styles, but this was the first time he had seen one like this, so he wanted to meet the person who painted the pictures.    

    

"It was drawn by our lady." "My wife is a great painter of lacquer. Even the empress dowager and emperor like his sculptures."    

    

"A lacquer carving?" Mu Yanzhi was extremely surprised.    

    

The process of carving needed to be painted over and over again, to be dried, and then to use a knife as a brush to carve out the images of the mountains and rivers, flowers, people, and so on. The process was extremely complicated, going through over a dozen processes, thus, in order to complete a piece of work, it would take at least half a year, or even several years.    

    

Painting carvings were a work of the court, and the creator's office would sometimes present expensive painting carvings as well. Apart from the production of official painting carvings, there were very few other people's painting carvings … No, it should be said that even the official production of lacquer carvings was extremely rare, because the Great Yan Dynasty did not have any particularly good master of lacquer carvings.    

    

Usually, a famous painter would pass down his legacy from generation to generation. Could it be that this Zi An's wife was born in a family with a lacquer carving background?    

    

Mu Yan began to guess. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this was possible, that he wasn't from a famous clan or clan, so how could the Old Lady Mu allow him to enter the doors of the Marquis' Mansion?    

    

Shen Jingli did not know what Mu Yan had guessed, if not he would have laughed out loud. What a beautiful misunderstanding.    

    

"That's right, it's a lacquer sculpture." He had his hands on his hips, and his legs were spread apart. He looked a bit like the Sister-in-Law that Lu Xun had written, "My wife hasn't been feeling well lately. If you have any questions, please come over when he has free time."    

    

As if he knew what Mu Yanzhi was thinking, Nian Hua quickly interrupted him. "Also, if you can't do it by yourself, you can bring a few disciples to work with you. We'll make a meal here."    

    

The two guards, Da Ji and Da Lee, and the carriage driver quickly returned with the materials. Mu Yanzhi went back to call for the two disciples as well and started working without stopping.    

    

"..."    

    

Qing Sheng was reading the Enlightenment Book that Shen Jingli bought for him, thinking about what he should bring to the children in the afternoon. Shen Jingli was drawing a picture of a child fishing, raising his head to look at Qing Sheng who was deep in thought, then looked out the window and called Jin Yu in.    

    

"Madam, what are your orders?" Jin Yu was washing her clothes, and upon hearing Shen Jingli's voice, she hurriedly wiped her hands and ran in.    

    

"Tell the carpenters outside to prepare a four-foot-long, three-foot-wide wooden plank, and twenty one-and-a-foot long and one-foot-wide wooden planks." Shen Jingli said.    

    

"What are you trying to do?" Jin Yu asked, puzzled.    

    

"That's none of your business. Remember, get them to polish it more carefully and put on a layer of white paint."    

    

Jin Yu nodded her head, then went out to pass the message, while Shen Jingli continued to draw his picture of a child fishing fish.    

    

After hearing Jin Yu's words, Mu Yan and her disciples were a little confused, but this was an arrangement from the main house. They could only be serious and do it.    

    

"Sister-in-law, what do you want Uncle Yan to do with so many wooden planks?" Qing Sheng read the Book of Enlightenment for two hours straight. After he felt a little dizzy, he put the book down and peeked outside the window, allowing his tired eyes to rest.    

    

"Make a board for you to write on."    

    

Shen Jingli picked it up and looked at it, nodding his head in satisfaction. Then, he laid it flat on the table, pressed it down with paperweight and waited for it to dry before putting it away.    

    

"You want me to write?" Qing Sheng still could not understand its intentions.    

    

"That's right …" Shen Jingli thought, he did not know how to explain, so he just waved his hand, "When it's used, you'll know what's going on."    

    

Qing Sheng thought about it, and decided to not pursue any further. He walked around the house, and since he had nothing better to do, he took out the needlework he had previously done, and continued to walk around.    

    

In the afternoon, when he was telling a story, there were only a few children who came to his house, which was less than half of what they had before.    

    

The moment Mu Qi saw Mu Xi, he immediately pulled him to complain, "Mu Xi, you don't know how hateful my mother is. He said that he knew your Mama was restless, and that it caused your father to not become a High Scholar.    

    

Mu Qi huffed and puffed as he spoke, he did not notice that Mu Xi's face had instantly turned white, and his breathing became a little hurried. He shook off Mu Qi's hand and took a step back.    

    

"Then why are you still here?" He did not like others saying that he, Mama, was a good person and was very helpful to the villagers, but why did someone in the village still say that he was a jinx behind his back, saying that he caused his father to fail the High Scholar examination?    

    

"I know your Mama isn't that kind of person. My mother is confused and believes the nonsense of others." Mu Qi shook his head. He did not like his mother's personality, he was stingy and sarcastic, as if everyone owed her money, "I want to follow your Mama and read, read and listen to stories. I don't want to be an ignorant duo."    

    

Mu Qi once again reached out his hand to hold Mu Xi's hand, and did not feel Mu Xi's disrespect in the slightest, "Mu Xi, don't blame my mother. Although she's a little petty, she's not a bad at all."    

    

Mu Xi nodded, then sat down beside him again, "Did you sneak over here?"    

    

"What do you mean sneakily running away or not? It's noon, the sun is so bright, and there's not much farm work to do, can't I come out and play for a while? " Mu Qi laughed, "I already said it to my father, as long as I finish all the work I should be doing normally, during the rest of the time, I can do whatever I want to do."    

    

"Your mother isn't scolding you." Mu Xi was a little curious.    

    

"If she has the ability, she should scold my dad. Why did she scold me?"    

    

There were many people in the village who were afraid of her, but she was very afraid of Mu Qi's father. This was because Mu Qi's father was very tall and sturdy, he was also a veteran in the battlefield. I heard that's mother was able to chop firewood empty-handed, so no matter how spicy she was, Mu Qi was only a woman.    

    

Seeing that Mu Xi was smiling, Mu Qi also laughed along, "That person called my mother, bullies the weak and fears the strong."    

    

Because there were only six children, Qing Sheng told them to go to the west wing in the backyard to listen to the lecture.    

    

"Today, we're going to tell the story of the Cowherd's Wife …" Qing Sheng sat on the soft cushion, and then placed the chair on top of the pillow as he recounted the story vividly.    

    

Qing Sheng had learned how to sing songs before and when he told stories to the children, not only did his tone change very naturally, he would also sing for a bit every now and then, adding to his interest.    

0

    

After he finished telling the story, Qing Sheng picked one of them to repeat the story before he started to teach them how to read.    

    

"Because there aren't many people here today, I'll give each of them a picture book that can read." These few days, Qing Sheng had been practicing calligraphy with Shen Jingli. After learning that Shen Jingli had given them a book to read and write, he had copied out a few of them.    

    

Hearing that there was a picture book, the children were all very happy. They carefully held the picture book in their hands, their eyes shining with excitement.    

    

"The pictures in this book are all simple words. The numbers don't match the pictures, only some animals and plants." Qing Sheng laughed, "Then let's turn to the first page and learn one word first."    

    

All the children cherished the picture book they had just obtained, and were extremely careful as they flipped through the pages.    

    

As he did not have the money to buy ink and paper, Qing Sheng made his men give each of the six children a basin of sand.    

    

When he first started to learn, he was afraid that they wouldn't be able to absorb it. Qing Sheng only taught them the three words one, two, three.    

    

Mu Qi carried his picture book like a treasure and jogged out the door with Mu Xi, "Mu Xi, your Mama is really a good person. Not only did you teach us to read, you even gave us your picture book."    

    

"My Mama has always been a good person." Mu Xi arrogantly snorted, he then grabbed Mu Qi's hand and planned to go gather some pig grass to feed to the big pig at home.    

    

Outside the door, they met a few couples who hadn't come to listen to the story today.    

    

"Mu Qi, what did you learn today?" one of the twins asked.    

    

"We've learned a lot." Mu Qi proudly raised his head, and took out his precious picture book to wave around in front of their eyes. "This is the illiterate picture book that Aunt Qing Sheng gave me, it's nice, right?"    

    

Seeing the other party's envious look, Mu Qi was extremely pleased. He dragged Mu Xi and said, "Mu Xi, let's go hunt the wild boar grass together."    

    

The few girls looked at the tome in his arms with envy. They also really wanted to have one.    

    

"No, I also want to learn how to read from Aunt Qing Sheng, I'll go and tell my mother right now." One of them stomped his foot, turned around and ran home.    

    

"I also want to learn, I will go and convince my Mama."    

    

When the others saw that the two of them had run away, they all ran back to their own homes.