A Journey Through the Worlds of Film and Television.

Chapter 430 Song Huizong

Lu Cheng followed his teacher all the way to a classroom in the Calligraphy and Painting Academy, where he saw a man in his 30s with an elegant appearance and a short beard sitting in the lecturer's seat.

The teacher immediately went up the mountain and saluted: "Sir, Lu Cheng and Lu Shouxin are here."

"Student Lu Cheng greets the emperor."

"No need to be polite, you are Lu Cheng? As expected, you are handsome and have an extraordinary appearance."

In ancient times, the imperial examinations and the appointment and removal of officials also depended on appearance. There is a famous record in the "New Book of Tang Dynasty: Election System": There are four methods for selecting people. The first is the body, which means a strong and handsome physique; the second is the speech, which means dialectical speech; the third is the handwriting, which means beautiful regular script; the fourth is the judgment, which means good literary and logical skills.

To put it simply, when selecting talents, we should not only look at a person's calligraphy, talent, and eloquence, but also your figure and appearance.

Students who take part in the imperial examinations have to go through the stage of "judging by body, speech and writing", which is to see whether a person's figure and appearance are handsome, whether his speech is fluent, etc.

According to historical records, during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty, there was a scholar named Wang Jiong. He did not have much knowledge, but he had a "face as white as cold jade, a mind as clear as autumn water, and a very beautiful appearance." Emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty knew that he had no talent, but still appointed him as an official despite opposition from his ministers.

This shows how important a good appearance is.

On the contrary, if one has a rat-like appearance or a face full of pockmarks, even if he is talented and knowledgeable, he may not be able to become an official in the end.

There is no doubt that Lu Cheng's good looks left a good first impression on Song Huizong.

"Recently, I heard rumors that a student named Lu Cheng painted a picture in Yuxiang Tower with a novel and unique painting style. I wonder if this Lu Cheng is you?"

"Returning to the official residence, it should be the student."

"Then can you paint a picture on the spot? Just paint a portrait for me."

"Students obey orders."

Painting for the emperor is not an easy task. One cannot simply be realistic. One needs to add some artistic processing to show the extraordinary temperament as well as one's own painting skills.

Therefore, Lu Cheng was well prepared. He immediately went back to get his paintbrush and paper, carefully observed Song Huizong, imprinted his appearance and expression in his mind, thought for a moment, and then began to paint on the paper.

This time, Lu Cheng spent a little more time than when he painted Li Shishi, but he still completed a detailed sketch in more than half an hour.

Song Huizong saw Lu Cheng lowering his head to paint and stopped looking at him. He walked behind Lu Cheng and watched how Lu Cheng painted. Lu Cheng quickly and accurately painted his appearance on the paper, which made Song Huizong feel very special.

After Lu Cheng finished painting, Song Huizong nodded repeatedly: "Shou Xin's painting skills are indeed unique and ingenious. Tell me, how did you come up with this painting method?"

"Reporting to the emperor, I have been fond of calligraphy and painting since I was young. One day, I found a half-burned wooden stick in front of the stove. Seeing that the charcoal in front of it was burned finely and evenly, I thought that I could use it as a pen to draw on paper, so I tried it.

At first, the students only drew simple sketches of flowers, birds, insects and fish. Later, they found that the tip of the charcoal pencil was delicate and hard, which was more conducive to depicting detailed contours and shadows than a brush, and could use the shadows to create a sense of three-dimensionality.

Later, the student tried to draw eggs on paper with charcoal pencils. After drawing countless pairs of eggs, the student mastered how to use charcoal pencils and then began to draw figures. "

As he spoke, Lu Cheng casually drew an egg and a cube on the paper, which made Song Huizong exclaim in amazement: "It's really amazing. Shouxin has both ingenious ideas and perseverance. No wonder he can create such a unique painting method. It's really mysterious. Can you be my teacher and teach me this painting method?"

"Students don't dare to be the official teacher. They are willing to pass on all this painting method to the official. They also want to learn landscape, flower and bird painting from the official."

"Well, not bad, not bad. It's rare that you have such a heart. Instructor Zhang, you are also proficient in calligraphy and painting. What do you think of Shouxin's portrait?"

"To the emperor, this painting has both spirit and form, and is extremely realistic. Although it does not depict the emperor's charm in its entirety, it has also portrayed 3% of it, which is already very rare. Moreover, this is a brand new painting method, and keeping your word can be regarded as setting a precedent, which is really precious."

"In this case, should Shouxin be promoted to an upper-class student?"

"That's how it should be."

Song Huizong nodded, took out another gold medal and handed it to Lu Cheng: "Keep this gold medal, I may summon you to the palace at any time to teach me this new painting method."

"Thank you, Guanjia."

Afterwards, Song Huizong asked some questions about sketching techniques and the making of charcoal pencils before leaving.

After Song Huizong left, the teachers of the academy immediately promoted Lu Cheng to a higher dormitory, skipping the inner dormitory from the outer dormitory and becoming an upper dormitory student, and a top-notch upper dormitory student at that.

In other words, Lu Cheng is now directly qualified to be appointed as an official.

It would take a normal student at least three to five years to be promoted from an outer-dormitory student to an inner-dormitory student, but Lu Cheng only took less than two months.

After all, the emperor has the final say in this world, and no rules can defeat the emperor's words.

Just like General Gao Qiu today, he was just a scoundrel playing football on the street. However, because he was good at playing football, he was noticed by Emperor Huizong of Song and became a high-ranking official in the court.

Lu Cheng's current path is somewhat similar to that of General Gao, the football player.

He received the gold medal bestowed by the emperor. Although he had not yet become an official, he already had many privileges.

For example, the teachers in Taixue Academy would greet Lu Cheng enthusiastically when they saw him. Many students, knowing that Lu Cheng had the emperor's gold medal, began to curry favor with him.

Of course, Lu Cheng remained as low-key and humble as ever. He did not become arrogant because of this gold medal. He was as polite to the teachers as ever and often communicated and studied with the students.

Of course, it is impossible for others to remain calm like Lu Cheng.

How many students and teachers would dare to offend someone who can often talk to the emperor?

Some teachers to whom Lu Cheng had given gifts before also took the initiative to buy some gifts and give them back to Lu Cheng.

In the morning he was Tian Shelang, and in the evening he ascended to the Hall of the Son of Heaven.

Of course, Lu Cheng's mentality has always been calm, and he only shows superficial respect to the Emperor.

The next morning, not long after Lu Cheng arrived at the academy, he received a summons from the palace. He followed the young eunuch through the pavilions and courtyards, crossed the palace walls, and entered the Song Dynasty Palace.

The Bianliang Imperial Palace of the Northern Song Dynasty was a rectangle that was short from east to west and long from north to south. Crossing the tall and majestic Xuande Tower and bypassing the Purple Palace where the emperor held court, we came to the back garden, where we saw Emperor Huizong of Song painting in a pavilion.

"Shou Xin is here? Take a look at how my garden is built. Every stone here is a rare and precious stone collected from all over the world..."

Lu Cheng looked at the various kinds of stones in the yard, and he didn't know how much money had been wasted and how many people had been exhausted to death.

Of course, in front of the emperor, Lu Cheng had to praise him a little: "I have heard that your Majesty's Genyue Courtyard has countless rare stones and treasures from all over the world. Today, I see that it is indeed extraordinary and magnificent..."