"Xia Yubing, have you heard of this name?" Lin Xiner asked.
This was probably the first time she specifically said this name, the woman her father loved deeply, the second wife of the Lin family.
The Lin family had always kept the memorial tablets of their mother and daughter, and Lin Bo would offer her incense on every first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, so Lin Xiner was very familiar with these three words, but she had never said them personally.
She didn't want to mention it because of her mother. It was because of that woman's death that her father had hated her mother for nearly twenty years. Her father didn't care. In fact, she and her mother almost died that year. If she died,
It was their mother and daughter, and her father would definitely not miss her so much.
Xia Yubing was originally the second wife of the Lin family, but the old palace maid who lived deep in the palace recognized her. So, had she ever stayed in the palace?
"Xia Yubing, isn't it your second mother?" Ximen Jingxuan naturally knew this person.
"Yes, that's her." Lin Xiner nodded, "Some people think that I look a bit like her. I've never seen her portrait, so I don't know where the similarities are."
Because of Xia Yubing's death, Lin Bo was so sad that he couldn't bear to see the portrait, so he burned all her portraits in one thought, so Lin Xiner only knew her name but never met her.
"Really?" Ximen Jingxuan separated some distance from Lin Xiner, stared at her face, and looked at her carefully, "I have seen her portrait, and it seems that you have nothing in common with her, not at all.
It’s two people.”
"Have you seen it? In the palace?" Lin Xiner asked in surprise.
She did not expect that Ximen Jingxuan had seen the portraits of people she had never seen and the Lin family's portraits that no longer existed. Apart from Lin Bo's hands, where else had her portrait existed?
"No, it was twenty-one or two years ago. I was four or five years old at that time. At that time, an official of the Xia family embezzled disaster relief silver and was executed by my father. The Xia family members were implicated and were exiled to a remote prison.
, I don’t know what happened, but the prime minister at that time, your grandfather, came to the palace and begged your father to forgive Xia Yubing and marry your father as his concubine. Because of your grandfather’s plea, Xia Yubing was left. After getting your father’s approval,
Your grandfather just went to take Xia Yubing out of the prison camp."
"At that time, I was young and curious, so I followed secretly and found that your grandfather did not recognize Xia Yubing. He always carried Xia Yubing's portrait in his hand. I compared it with the prisoner brought out from the prison camp. After confirming that it was correct, I took the person away. That portrait
Later, your grandfather threw it away. I picked it up and looked at it. Because he was the only person in the Xia family who stayed in the capital, and he was specially rescued by the prime minister, I was deeply impressed. It was a pity that Xia Yubing was wearing a prison uniform at the time and was unkempt.
I couldn't see her clearly from a distance. Later, she married into the Lin family until something happened, and I never saw her again." Ximen Jingxuan recalled, "Originally, she was not someone I cared about. If you didn't ask, I
I won’t even think about it.”
"I heard from the servants of the Lin family that my mother was kind to the second lady. In this way, my mother's efforts were indispensable for Xia Yubing to marry into the Lin family. Without my grandfather, my father would not have been able to do anything at that time. Xia Yubing would have been with the Xia family a long time ago.
We were exiled together." Lin Xiner said.
Fortunately, her mother was so generous, but her father always hated Xia Yubing for her death and didn't care about what she had done.
"Can you imitate the portrait from that year from memory?" Lin Xiner asked.
Ximen Jingxuan can draw the scene when they met, so his painting skills must be very good.
Ximen Jingxuan squinted his eyes and thought for a moment, "I should be able to imitate with ** points."
"Here, help me draw it and let me see what she looks like." Lin Xiner pulled Ximen Jingxuan to stand up and walked to the table.
The sun was setting and the light in the room was very dark.
Lin Xiner lit the candlestick on the table and laid out the paper for Ximen Jingxuan.
Ximen Jingxuan looked at Lin Xiner's childlike curiosity, smiled, walked around the table, chose a position where his figure could not be reflected on the window, took out the brush from the pen holder, rubbed it in the inkstone, and polished it.
With a lot of ink, I searched for my childhood memories and started to paint.
The outline of a woman is gradually outlined on the white paper.
Lin Xiner tilted her head and looked at the person gradually appearing on the paper.
Ximen Jingxuan's painting skills are very good, and every line he draws is very skillful. After a while, the general appearance is sketched out.
Lin Xiner picked up the candlestick and looked closely at the portrait, letting herself see carefully.
Although the lines are very simple and unmodified, Lin Xiner can see that the person in the painting seems to be familiar to her...
"This is probably what it looks like." Ximen Jingxuan put away his pen and looked at his masterpiece with satisfaction. Although it was twenty years ago, the appearance of the painting was not far from the one in his memory.
Xin'er wanted to see the portrait, so he drew it as close as possible to let her see a more similar person and satisfy her curiosity.
"Look, you are very similar to her. Those who say they are similar are probably trying to please your father." Ximen Jingxuan threw the brush into the pen holder and said with a smile.
"Yes, it's not like that." Lin Xiner put down the candlestick, picked up the portrait with both hands, and stared at it closely, "Is this the portrait in your memory?"
"I dare not say that it is exactly the same. After all, I was still young at that time and twenty years have passed, but the difference is not far, and there seems to be some difference." Ximen Jingxuan said.
"**Portrait..." Lin Xiner stared at the portrait without blinking.
Don't say **, even if it's 4 or 5 points, she can still recognize the person in this portrait.
Although she had just seen Xia Yubing's appearance, for her, this face had already penetrated deeply into her heart and made her worried.
"What's wrong?" Ximen Jingxuan noticed something strange about Lin Xiner.
"It's nothing." Lin Xin'er shook her head, but her eyes never left the portrait. She smiled softly and said, "How could such a person be said to be like her? I'm really biased. If it wasn't for the sake of pleasing her,
My dad, I’m afraid it’s just to offend my dad.”
That's what she said, but Lin Xin'er knew that the old palace maid named Zhao Rong had nothing to do with pleasing or irritating her, and Liu Suixiang's fear towards her at that time had nothing to do with pleasing or irritating her.
"Whether it's to please or offend, I don't even know where my father is at this moment." Lin Xiner gently placed the portrait on the table.
As if his fingers touched lightly, the candlestick on the table tilted, and a drop of wax fell on the drawing paper.
"Be careful!" Ximen Jingxuan quickly knocked the ignited drawing paper down to the ground.
A fire quickly ignited.
Ximen Jingxuan stamped his feet several times, the flames went out, and the portrait was burned to ashes.
"It's burned, Jingxuan, do you blame me?" Lin Xiner asked.
"What are you talking about? It's just an insignificant portrait." Ximen Jingxuan walked up to Lin Xiner and held her in his arms.
The mention of the missing Lin Bo must have touched her mind, and then contacting her master who was also missing made her feel confused and sad.