In later generations, people had two extreme views on the appearance of Empress Wanrong. Pen~Fun~Pavilion www.biquge.info Some people say that she looks like a fairy and has a peerless appearance, while others say that she looks strange and ugly, comparable to Sister Feng.

Why is there such a big controversy?

Because the surviving photos are very different, all the photos of her wearing Qing court formal clothes are all dull-eyed, stiff expressions, and the thick foundation on her face, it is really scary to death. But if you look at her life photos wearing regular clothes and dresses, and only a little powder, she is a delicate and graceful woman.

This is a surprise caused by the aesthetics of the times, not to mention the late Qing Dynasty, even the photos of many female stars in the Republic of China are very bad. In particular, the outdated hairstyle and lipstick are completely unacceptable to modern people who are used to seeing makeup and PS.

Wanrong, who is standing in front of Zhou Hexuan at this moment, is about 1.63 meters tall, and he is slightly better than Pu Yi in high heels. Her waist was very thin and thin, and her body looked a little thin. The soft goose egg face shape and the facial features are quite standard, although it can't make people feel amazing, but it also belongs to the type that is durable.

With Zhou Hexuan's modern vision, he can probably give Wanrong a score of 85.

A French butler led them in, Zhou Hexuan, Pu Yi, and Wanrong all entered the living room, while Li Xuanzhu and Pu Yi's entourage stayed in the side room to drink tea.

Several people had gathered in the living room, five foreign devils and three Asian faces.

After being introduced by the owner of the salon, Marryne, Zhou Hexuan finally figured out their identities. The five foreign devils are Catherine, the wife of the British consul, Mariana, the daughter of the person in charge of Meifeng Foreign Company in Tianjin, the deputy editor-in-chief of the Beijing-Tianjin Times, Li Nade, the young Italian painter Zhu Saibai, and the Russian noblewoman Nia Ivanova in exile in China.

Among the three Asian faces, one is Yoko Yamashita, the wife of the Japanese consul. The other two are very young, namely Lu Jingyan, the daughter of Lu Zongyu, the former temporary senator of the Beiyang government, and Xu Ziquan, the son of Kunqu opera celebrity Xu Lingyun. Lu Jingyan and Xu Ziquan have a marriage contract, and the two are sitting together quite affectionately at this moment.

After Pu Yi and Wanrong entered, they quickly sat down separately.

Pu Yi seemed to have a good relationship with Zhu Saibai, and sat directly next to Zhu Saibai. Wanrong was acquainted with Lu Jingyan, and two women in their early 20s soon began to whisper - three years later, the emperor and queen could not pay the rent, and were kicked out of Zhang Yuan, so they moved into the Lu family's Qianyuan (later renamed Jingyuan).

Zhou Hexuan didn't know anyone well, and after shaking hands with Marryne, he found a seat to stay by.

Soon, several foreign devils came in one after another, both men and women, among which Pan Peter, a reporter from "Zilinxi Daily", was still a handsome guy.

There is also a Chinese who is too young, only sixteen or seventeen years old. He was holding a few painting scrolls in his arms, and seemed to be a little restrained, and when he saw that Zhou Hexuan's place was relatively empty, he went straight to Zhou Hexuan and sat down.

"Hello, my name is Zhou Hexuan, and I write novels." Zhou Hexuan took the initiative to greet him.

The young man smiled shyly: "My name is Chen Shaomei, and I paint." ”

Although Zhou Hexuan can only sketch simply, he still knows something about well-known painters at home and abroad, and immediately remembered who Chen Shaomei is. At the age of 15, he joined the Chinese Painting Research Association, emerged in Beiping at the age of 16, became the backbone of the Hushe Painting Society at the age of 17, won the silver medal of the Belgian International Exposition at the age of 21, presided over the Tianjin branch of the Hushe at the age of 22, and became the leader of the Tianjin painting circle in Tianjin.

Genius of Chinese painting!

After all the guests arrived, Marien clapped her hands and said, "Today I want to introduce you to two new friends, one is the famous novelist Mr. Zhou Hexuan," Marien smiled and pointed at Zhou Hexuan, "Mr. Zhou's "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" is extremely popular in North China, he has spent ten years traveling around the world, and has unique insights into the social history and culture and art of Eastern and Western countries. ”

"Bang Bang!" There was a burst of applause.

Zhou Hexuan smiled and waved at everyone.

Marrien pointed to Chen Shaomei again and said: "This young man is Mr. Chen Shaomei, don't look at him as only 17 years old, but Mr. Chen has already started teaching in Beiping, and his painting art level is very high. ”

Chen Shaomei immediately got up and greeted everyone with fists.

The servant brought coffee and tea, Marion herself put a record into the gramophone, and the living room soon began to play with soothing music.

The French consul's wife obviously liked Chen Shaomei very much, and made up her mind to help him make a name for herself in the foreigner circle in Tianjin, so she immediately opened the painting brought by Chen Shaomei and said: "This is Mr. Chen's work this year, everyone come to appreciate it." ”

Because some of the guests did not understand Chinese, Marrien's words were said in English, and everyone gathered here.

It's a pity that foreign devils generally don't like Chinese painting, only the young Italian painter Zhu Saibai sighed and said happily: "I came to China this time to study Chinese painting art, and Mr. Chen's works amazed me." ”

Pu Yi also has some art appreciation ability, he nodded and said: "This painting is both rigid and soft, quite a northern style." ”

The discussion on the appreciation of Chen Shaomei's works basically ended here, because other foreigners couldn't interject at all. Marion looked a little frustrated, her failure to stir up a popular topic made the salon a little cold to start the day.

Peter Pan, a handsome reporter from Linxi Daily, was very discerning and took the initiative to shift the topic from Chinese painting to oil painting, and the scene gradually became lively.

Leonardo da Vinci, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne, Rembrandt...... One by one, famous Western artists popped up, and everyone talked about them, and all of them seemed to be incarnated as masters of art appreciation.

Zhou Hexuan is too lazy to get involved, he has no research on this, and when asked about it, he can only talk in generalities, why bother to offer ugliness.

Seeing that he had been silent, Marion took the initiative to ask, "Mr. Zhou, apart from the Futurist School, which school do you admire?" ”

"Cubism," Zhou Hexuan said without being shocked, "Picasso is the greatest painter of our time, and the 20th century will surely be Picasso's century." ”

Sure enough, as soon as these words came out, everyone looked at him in surprise.

Zhu Saibai frowned and said: "I admit that Picasso is indeed a genius, and his works created the Cubist school, but I don't think Picasso is as great as you say." ”

"Let's wait and see, I believe in my own vision." Zhou Hexuan smiled mysteriously.

Zhu Saibai pursed his lips and didn't want to speak anymore, because the two people's views were too different, and he didn't like those hellish cubisms.

The Russian noblewoman Niya Ivanova suddenly asked: "Mr. Zhou, you said that you have traveled around the world, so have you ever been to Russia?" ”

"Of course," Zhou Hexuan said with a smile, "I admire Tolstoy very much, and I have visited his former home. ”

Ivanova asked: "What do you think about the rebellion in Russia?" Now it seems that the majority of Chinese approve of the rebellion. ”

The rebellion of this noble lady naturally refers to the October Revolution.

"The root cause of the Russian revolution has to start with Peter the Great 200 years ago......" Zhou Hexuan began to play tricks again.