Traveling through Tianlong: Starting from the Zhenlong chess game

Chapter 604: Authentic Paintings and Calligraphy by Famous Artists of Past Dynasties

Although Zhao Mu did not "conquer" Queen Wang this time, he was not anxious. There was still a long time to come, and he would have plenty of time to "exchange feelings" with her in the future.

Besides, if you eat too much fine grains on a daily basis, it’s good to eat some coarse grains occasionally.

All the women in the family were extremely obedient to him. Having an outlier like Queen Wang around was a nice change of pace in life.

The reason why Queen Wang has no feelings for Zhao Mu now is because she can't let go of her unborn child, who was taken away by Zhao Mu's order.

Although it was right not to let the child suffer, this had always been a knot in Queen Wang's heart, a knot that made it impossible for her to forgive Zhao Mu.

The pair of tiger-head shoes she placed next to her pillow were embroidered by her own hands for her children in the harem.

But so many things happened in less than a few months.

She hadn't yet recovered from the joy of becoming the queen, but reality had plunged her into the abyss.

In just a few months, she went from being the queen and mother of a country to a prisoner living in seclusion in a deep courtyard.

She was filled with joy to welcome the birth of her little prince, but after Zhao Mu entered the city, he took the baby away from her womb.

But now her husband, her emperor, was suffering in the prison, and she, as the queen and wife, could not even keep his last face and dignity.

In order to protect her family, she gave her innocent body to the man who had taken her husband's throne and wanted to kill him.

With all these knots accumulated in Queen Wang's heart, no matter how powerful Zhao Mu's martial arts were, it would be difficult for Queen Wang to completely fall into the irresistible lust like Wang Yuyan and others.

After all, Wang Yuyan and A-Bi don’t have any “deep hatred” with Zhao Mu.

But now it has happened. Zhao Mu has left with satisfaction, and everything is over. Queen Wang's blushing face was calm, without sadness or anger, only numbness. Her hands were tightly grasping the pair of tiger-head shoes. She didn't know how long she had to endure it.

After Zhao Mu left, she started laughing. She laughed at her husband for always comparing himself to Li Houzhu. And now she was following in the footsteps of Xiao Zhou Hou.

She also remembered Lady Huarui’s poem “On the Fall of a Country”: “The king raised the flag of surrender on the city wall, how could I know from deep in the palace? One hundred and fourteen thousand people took off their armor, and not one of them was a man!” She also deeply felt the helplessness and despair expressed by Lady Huarui in this poem.

Her Wang family has been a famous family since the pre-Tang Dynasty. Even the royal family members are treated with courtesy. But now the Wang family has to rely on a woman like her to sell her body in exchange for safety. How can she not feel sad?

But then Queen Wang let it go, thinking that this might be retribution.

In the past, Emperor Taizong of Song Dynasty had sex with Empress Xiao Zhou and Lady Huarui, and even seized the throne from Emperor Taizu by the sound of a candle and an axe. Now that she has fallen to this end, perhaps it is her destiny.

But she also felt dissatisfied. As the queen of Song Dynasty, why did Zhao Mu give up the throne? Why did she have to endure such suffering instead of Queen Meng in the palace?
She couldn't figure it out, but she didn't want to think about it anymore. She was very tired and had no strength at all. She just wanted to have a good sleep.

After Zhao Mu was satisfied with Queen Wang, he felt much better. He had gotten rid of all the loneliness he had felt since the Eastern Expedition. Now that he was satisfied, he should do some serious work.

Zhao Mu casually called a maid and asked her to take him to Zhao Ji's study.

By now, the guards must have finished checking the front and middle yards. It's time for Zhao Mu to see what other good things there are in the backyard besides these beautiful ladies.

Zhao Mu came to Zhao Ji's study, which was decorated very elegantly.

It's totally different from a vulgar person like me.

If Zhao Ji had to die not because of his position, Zhao Mu would really like to be his drinking buddy, at least to improve his own taste.

But Zhao Mu searched for a long time and did not find the gold and silver treasures he was looking for. Even Zhao Ji did not have any gold or silver or other vulgar things. However, this does not mean that Zhao Ji was very honest.

On the contrary, Zhao Ji has collected a lot of wealth and good things over the years.

However, what Zhao Ji collected were not rare treasures, but rather rare books that suited his taste, or antiques, calligraphy and paintings.

Zhao Mu opened Zhao Ji's cabinet, which contained many rare calligraphy and paintings.

Zhao Mu took a quick look and found that his calligraphy and paintings were quite complete in variety.

From Cao Buxing of the Three Kingdoms to Huang Jucai of the early Song Dynasty, as long as they are authentic works of calligraphers and painters with a little fame, he has them all.

Zhao Mu also found several paintings and calligraphy hidden in the innermost part, which were placed in special boxes. Among them were Wang Xizhi's "Yuan Huan Tie" and Wang Xianzhi's "Ya Tou Wan Tie".

Some of the boxes also contain calligraphy and paintings by Wang Wei, Yan Zhenqing and Wu Daozi.

Judging from the mounting and wrapping of the silk and nanmu boxes, Zhao Ji cherished these calligraphy and paintings very much.

This reminded Zhao Mu of an incident recorded in history books.

That was when the Jin people attacked Bianjing and looted the city. Zhao Ji was not sad that his wife and daughter were raped by the Jin people, nor was he sad that the precious treasures in the capital of the century were looted.

But when he heard that the Jin people had discarded and burned all the calligraphy and paintings in his collection, this cruel and incompetent monarch burst into tears.

Zhao Mu looked at these things and couldn't help shaking his head.

Although these things are priceless treasures.

But in the eyes of a vulgar man like him, this pile of "rotten paper" is not as real as gold, silver and treasures.

The key point is that Zhao Mu has no way to "cash in" these things quickly, which makes him shake his head repeatedly.

Finally, Zhao Mu thought about it and chose a few pieces to take back to Lingzhou City to give to his mother. After all, she and Zhao Ji both liked these "rotten papers". According to his mother's preferences, Zhao Mu left the calligraphy of Yan Liu and the paintings of Wu Daozi and others for Zhao Ji.

However, Zhao Mu really could not appreciate the works of the Two Wangs in calligraphy.

Even in Zhao Mu's eyes, the writing of these two people was crooked like crabs crawling, and was not as neat as his own regular script.

Zhao Mu saw these authentic works with his own eyes, and he even felt that Wang Xizhi and his son were so famous because of the fame of "Wang and Ma shared the world" in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Anyway, he really couldn't appreciate it.

To Zhao Mu, these calligraphy and paintings were just like chicken ribs, which were useless if they were not eaten.

In the end, Zhao Mu still planned to give these things to those who could "appreciate" them.

He planned to take the original works of the two Wangs back to Lingzhou and give them to Wang Yuyan. After all, Wang Yuyan always claimed that she was a descendant of the "Langya Wang family". These calligraphy works were also left by her ancestors. It would be a good idea to take them back and give them to her.

As for the others, Zhao Mu also selected a few and planned to give them to his "cousin-law" Liu Ying, whom he had not seen for a long time. The only people around him who could appreciate these calligraphy and paintings were his mother Zhao Ji, cousin-in-law Liu Ying, and Wang Yuyan.

As for the rest, Zhao Mu had no use for it, so he asked someone to sort it out and seal the box. He planned to give it to Zhezong as a tribute, and let Zhezong use it to reward his court officials.

(End of this chapter)