four year itch

Life in Xu's family is not pain in the traditional sense. He has no worries about food and clothing, and does not need to work or think. As long as he does not violate the rules of this world, no one will care about him.He was like a transparent person who strayed into another world, all the strange faces came and went, Ye Jia didn't have time to remember their names, and they didn't notice Ye Jia's existence.When he woke up, his life was already completely occupied by Xu Ruibai.

"Are you a star?"

The voice from behind startled Ye Jia, and he turned around.

The little girl in front of her was about five or six years old, she hadn't reached the age of differentiation, she couldn't distinguish the smell of pheromone, her face was flushed, and she smelled like milk.The chestnut hair is slightly curly, tied loosely with a powder-blue ribbon, and the long eyelashes cover a pair of big eyes, which look like transparent glass beads in the sun, as delicate as a porcelain doll.

"Xingxing?" Ye Jia shook his head, "My name is Ye Jia."

The little girl stared at him in silence for a few seconds, shook her head, and said firmly, "You are a star!"

There is no point arguing with children.

Ye Jia knelt down, pinched her face lightly and smiled: "What's your name?"

The little girl didn't answer, but took his hand.

"I'll take you somewhere."

This manor is like a labyrinth, Ye Jia has lived here for several days but has never gone all the way.They walked through one corridor after another, and the people up and down were busy in an orderly manner, but when they saw them, they would stop what they were doing and bow slightly as a signal.The little girl holding his hand didn't respond, nor did she stop.

When they stopped in the last room, both of them were already short of breath, the girl pushed the door forcefully, but her strength was too weak, and the door didn't move at all, she was frustrated She pursed her lips, and cast a look of help at Ye Jia.

Ye Jia smiled and took a step forward to help her.

The door creaked exaggeratedly, heavy and decayed, as if to whisper "Welcome" to them.

Walking into the room, the first thing you see is the paintings all over the wall. They are all framed with exquisite picture frames, and then hung on the wall one by one in order.The ground was covered with paper, brushes, paints, and some oddly shaped tools that Ye Jia couldn't name.The sunlight penetrated the cool air in the early morning, and was divided into broken shapes, and the dust swirled in the golden spots. It looked like no one had cleaned it for a long time.

So messy, dilapidated, and out of place with this luxurious cage.

The paintings on the wall are probably from different ages, the quality can be seen with the naked eye, and the degree of newness and oldness of the paper is also different.Ye Jia thought back to college, when he and Xu Ruibai were friends who could talk all night.

Xu Ruibai didn't say how he started to engage in this profession, nor how he got on this road, Ye Jia could only try his best to piece together a complete story from the fragmentary details.

He seemed to see Xu Ruibai, who was still a young man at the time, with a bit of sharp spirit, using a very calm but rather proud tone—to introduce to him——

"At first I studied Chinese painting."

"About... when I was ten years old? I officially started learning to draw."

"When I was 13, I was obsessed with comics."

Ye Jia asked in his heart, why, why is it a cartoon?

The young man seemed to have heard his inquiry, and raised his eyebrows: "What is the reason for liking? You can easily change everything depicted with a paintbrush, just like a god rewriting fate at will."

Ye Jia stroked the frame with her fingers, as if she had participated in Xu Ruibai's growth in the passage of time.

Xu Ruibai's talent is so strong that people ignore his efforts.

But everyone seems to have forgotten that talent is just a strong ability to feel, which can make a person grow faster, but at its root, growth still depends on the accumulation of one painting after another.Xu Ruibai has also been rushing to draft for several years, delivering and consuming, no different from other painters.

Creation is different from all professions. Other professions may not like it and you can continue in one piece, but creation is different. Its source must be love.

Otherwise, no one can engage in such a career with constant internal friction for such a long time.

After a moment of magnificence, it withered in a hurry, and after all, it was only a short-lived alias[1]. In the end, Xu Ruibai said to them with a blank face: no more painting.

Ye Jia suddenly understood that Xu Ruibai was no different from him.He was put in chains by Xu Ruibai, and Xu Ruibai's wings were broken by the Xu family.He was the black cat in that story, but unfortunately, the black cat in the story killed the boy, and the boy killed the man.But he and Xu Ruibai can never escape.

The story of the weak rebelling against the strong can only be seen in the chapters of history books, and people gave it an impassioned name-rebellion.

But the reality is that people have already been placed in appropriate positions.

The little girl knocked skillfully on the picture frame in the corner, and put her ears on it as if listening to the echo, and then Ye Jia heard a "click", and the door behind the two picture frames slowly opened.

The little girl jumped up contentedly, and like all children of this age, she had to use her body to show her inner joy.

"Come on!" She waved to him excitedly.

Ye Jia walked in after her.

It was a dim dark room, with several candlesticks hanging on the wall. The seats were made of black marble, and a few hollow rose petals made of brass were wrapped around them, which were shining faintly at the moment.

Different from the mess outside, this dark room was empty, with only a simple workbench. On the wall of the workbench, there was a black painting hanging in the center.Ye Jia thought it was because the lighting in the room was too dim, and he couldn't see the patterns in the painting clearly. When he got closer, he realized that it was indeed a completely black painting, but besides the blackness, the painter used various brushes and scrapers to paint the painting. Layers of textures are "carved" in the picture, and these vertical and horizontal lines slightly reveal different colors under the light and shadow.

The most exquisite thing is the beige canvas with blank corners. Because of the strong contrast with the black, after revealing the superimposed layers, it seems to be shining.Like the only twinkling star in the dark night sky.

Ye Jia touched the rough scratches, every stroke, every knife seemed to feel the enthusiasm and excitement of painting, what kind of hope did he have to draw each trace?

Along the edge of the canvas is a series of numbers carved in thin cursive script.

2016-1-25.

In 2016, the year he met Xu Ruibai.

"Xing Xing, look at this." The little girl was obviously not interested in these paintings, she picked up the stone on the workbench, and wanted to hand it to Ye Jia as if offering a treasure.

Ye Jia came back to his senses, smiled and picked up the stone handed over by the little girl, "What is this?"

The stone is not an ordinary stone either, with a rough surface attached and different colors reflected from the corners.

"This is Opal!" The little girl anxiously introduced the knowledge points she was familiar with.

"Opal?"

The little girl nodded: "Uncle said that opal is a stone from the universe, because all the colors of gemstones can be seen on opal, and you will never find two identical opals in the world!"

"So amazing?" Ye Jia picked up the opal and turned it gently under the light. Sure enough, he could see different colors from every angle, like the Milky Way that has not been fully explored, or it seems that even sonar can't fully explore it. seabed.

"But my uncle said, this is still a rough stone, you have to polish it bit by bit, maybe you can only see a little bit after grinding the whole piece." The little girl tiptoed and poked the opal in Ye Jia's hand , explained patiently.

"What are you doing?" The voice passed through the wooden door, pierced the light, and broke the silent appreciation time.

"Uncle!" The little girl turned her head in surprise and rushed into the man's arms.

Xu Ruibai was caught off guard by the bump, but his expression was innocent, he hugged the little girl with one arm, and made a serious look on purpose, "Xu Xiaoke, you are getting fat."

The girl called Xu Xiaoke pouted, "Uncle, it's very ungentlemanly to discuss a girl's weight."

Xu Ruibai was scolded, and slightly nodded to express his apology: "Sorry, I was rude."

Xiao Ke rubbed his face affectionately with him, then Xu Ruibai patted her on the back, put her down, and walked towards Ye Jia.

In his arms is a bouquet of warm roses, even under the light of this dark room, the color is not diminished, but Ye Jia still smells the smell of decadence, it may be that the flowers are blooming all over, and all of them are ruined[2] The sadness of spring, or he also clearly felt that he was withering a little bit like this rose, and a little resonant sadness sprouted.

—How to kill a rose?

— to take it off.

He offered him the dying rose and said, "The freshly picked roses are about to pass, and the last bouquet is for you."

Ye Jia didn't move, she lowered her head and clenched the stone in her hand.

Xu Ruibai didn't mean to embarrass him, turned around and looked at the painting, his tone was unprecedentedly gentle: "Do you know what this painting is called?"

Ye Jia shook his head, Xu Xu impatiently raised his hand behind him.

"Star!"

"Stardrop."

Two voices sounded at the same time, but they said different names.

star drop.Falling stars.

Ye Jia stared at the painting for a long time, then suddenly picked up the opal in his hand, and drew a heavy white mark on the wall outside the canvas. There was a smile on his face that he hadn't seen for a long time, and his eyelashes trembled. , carefully filled with fragile joy, like a mischievous child.

"It's a shooting star!" Xu Xu exclaimed, "You can make a wish."

A falling star, isn't it just a shooting star?

meteor.

Good wishes.

Is it true that for every wish granted, a star dies?

"Why only paint in a frame?"

Xu Ruibai heard Ye Jia's voice.

It's like a light bulb that has been out for a long time, crackling, and then flickering faintly.

-

Ye Jia didn't want to have dinner with the members of Xu's family, but Xu Xu dragged him and refused to let him go. He acted like a "star" one by one, Ye Jia couldn't help being led to the restaurant by her, and he didn't even have time to let go of the opal. Returning to the original position, I had to stuff it in my pocket in a hurry.Xu Ruibai smiled and followed behind them without saying a word, acquiescing to such behavior, but fortunately handed the undelivered bouquet of flowers to the servant in a good mood, and told him to put them in his room.

Unfortunately, fickleness is the cruelest innocence of a child. As soon as Xu Yi saw Xu Yi, he let go of Ye Jia's hand, and ran into Xu Yi's arms like a whirlwind, "Mom!"

Xu Yi didn't open her arms to her like Xu Ruibai did, but took her hand and gestured to the people at the table with her eyes.

Xu restrained his expression in a sensible manner, lowered his smart eyes, and saluted the elders at the table. Except for the old man in the main seat who was in the dusk, he never raised his eyes, and everyone else greeted Xu politely. .

It's just that Xu Xu is still too young, no matter how much she imitates the appearance of an adult, she still hasn't practiced the ability to retract freely. Ye Jia clearly saw the little girl's depression.

He wanted to hug her in the past, but he didn't even have the qualifications to hug her.

Xu Ruibai stepped forward and hugged the little girl, as if he didn't see everyone's faces, he said softly: "How about sitting next to uncle?"

The little girl regained her vitality, stared straight at Ye Jia, and asked, "What about the stars?"

Xu Ruibai hugged the little girl and turned around, asking silently with his eyes.

"Ye Jia, sit down too." Bai Zhuyu "kindly" broke the silence between them.

The old man who kept his head down all the time suddenly raised his face and asked in a deep voice, "Your name is Ye Jia?"

Ye Jia nodded, the old man looked at him deeply for a few seconds, and then returned to that lifeless look.

[1] Yu Qiuyu's "Cultural Bitter Journey": The grandeur fades in a blink of an eye, and the noise is an alias for short life

[2] "Peony Pavilion": [Zao Luo Pao] It turns out that the flowers are blooming everywhere, and they are all ruined like this.