Paintings of Terror

"But there is still a final confirmation," Mu Yiran said, "I will not talk about it until it is completely confirmed, so as not to distract your thinking—if you have such a thing as thinking."

Ke Xun: "Although you satirized me again, I'm still not angry. Does the last confirmation you mentioned depend on the death state of the next person to die?"

"Yes. Although it is cruel, there is no other way." Mu Yiran remained expressionless.

"The next one might be me." Wei Dong sighed sadly.

"Don't talk nonsense, Tongyan Wuji." Ke Xun kicked him, and turned to Mu Yiran, "But I don't think we can wait like this, we have to do something."

"Look for the seal!" Wei Dong cheered up.

"You can't search around like chickens without a head." Ke Xun looked at Mu Yiran, "Brother Xiao Mu, give me a direction."

"Call me Mu Yiran." Mu Yiran glanced at him coldly, "To find the seal, you need to combine the content of the painting."

Ke Xun: "Last night you said that this painting was about funerals in the countryside. We searched the mourning hall this morning and found nothing that seems to be a signature or a seal."

Mu Yiran: "This shows that the mourning hall is not the subject that this painting wants to highlight."

Ke Xun: "Besides the mourning hall, the more suspicious place is the cemetery just now."

Mu Yiran: "I've seen it, and there's nothing suspicious about it."

Ke Xun: "Could it be in that old man's house?"

Mu Yiran: "It's not very likely, after all, if there are repeated situations where no one died the night before, everyone will often gather in that room, and the chances of the seal being discovered will be very high, which is almost equivalent to putting the answer The paper is under your test paper."

Ke Xun: "This kind of good thing has never happened to me, PASS. It's not a mourning hall, a cemetery, or an old man's house. Where else could it be? The surrounding area is wilderness, and there is nothing that stands out. .”

Mu Yiran: "The prominent places on the picture may not necessarily be the places with profound meaning in the painting."

Ke Xun raised his hand and pointed forward: "Could it be those three locust trees?"

Outside the courtyard of the Li family, in the direction of the north, there are three old locust trees planted.

Mu Yiran's eyes flickered slightly: "In some areas, according to the customs, pagoda trees are yin trees, known as ghosts in trees, and should not be planted near Yangzhai. In fact, the ancients loved pagoda trees more, such as the word 'Huai Ding' , refers to the position of the three princes, 'Huaichen' refers to the emperor's palace, and in some places, the locust tree is a symbol of auspiciousness."

Ke Xun scratched his head: "So this family planted three pagoda trees for promotion and wealth? It makes sense."

Wei Dong: "Let me interject, I think, there is a misunderstanding in the thinking of the two of you. Although the world in this painting is also a world, it is a 'painting' first, and then a 'world'. Even if it is painted It is a scene in the real world, and you also need to know that a work of art requires artistic processing, unless the painting is a hyper-realistic painting, otherwise, in order to pursue artistic effects, some artistic modifications will inevitably be made to the picture.”

Seeing that Mu Yiran looked at Weidong with strange eyes, Ke Xun explained: "Dongzi is an artist, so he has something to do with art."

"So in your opinion, which parts are embellishments added for artistic effect?" Mu Yiran asked Weidong.

"Trees." Wei Dong pointed to the three old pagoda trees, "As you said just now, some places think pagoda trees are unlucky, while others think pagoda trees are auspicious. This is the reality, but if it is used in In terms of painting, I think the artist does not need to consider the different customs of each region, he only needs to match the details according to the content of the painting.

"Look at these three locust trees, why aren't they planted elsewhere, but next to the Li family's house where there is a mourning hall? If the locust tree here means promotion and wealth, wouldn't it be against the law to plant it next to Li's house?

"If you look at this tree again, even if it is really auspicious in this place, it will not be highlighted in the whole painting, otherwise it will conflict with the theme of funerals. If it is necessary to draw it for realism , painting one is enough, why should we paint three?

"Obviously, the purpose of painting three trees is to highlight, exaggerate, and even to metaphor something.

"Continue to look at the shapes of these three trees. They are grotesquely shaped like normal trees? Of course, it is not impossible for wild trees to grow into such an ugly shape, but why didn't the painter draw them according to the normal state of the tree? , Why do you want to paint it in an abnormal way?

"Obviously ×2, this painting is for artistic rendering or metaphor. Since it is artistic rendering, it is impossible to render its auspicious meaning, so it can only be another meaning of it."

"...Yin wood, the ghost in the wood." Ke Xun said.

Mu Yiran looked up at the three old locust trees thoughtfully.

"No matter what the meaning is, I have to search anyway." Ke Xun said, striding towards the three locust trees.

When I got closer, I realized that the three pagoda trees were taller and more terrifying than when I saw them from a distance. The bark should have been grayish brown, but I don’t know why it was dusted all the year round, or it was smoked by the kitchen of Li’s house. But it was the color of jet-gray, and the blackness weighed heavily on the top of the head.

"This tree is too tall, it must be more than 20 meters by visual inspection?" Wei Dong looked up, "How can I find it?"

Mu Yiran also raised his head, looking around, as if he was thinking of a solution, but Ke Xun rolled up his sleeves, walked to the side of the tree without saying a word, jumped up, grabbed the trunk with both hands, and screamed like a monkey in a blink of an eye. It's already half way up the tree.

"Let's get to know the high-achieving students in the tree climbing project of the Department of Physical Education." Wei Dong gave Mu Yiran and Anli his own child.

Mu Yiran glanced at him indifferently, walked to the bottom of the tree, suddenly stretched out his arms, and with a light and dexterous movement, he even climbed up the tree in an instant.

"..." Wei Dong was dumbfounded, and looked up at Ke Xun who was about to climb to the top: Brother, I can only help you here.

Ke Xun was not surprised that Mu Yiran could also climb trees, he knew that this was a practitioner just because of the two times he pressed himself against him last night.

"You won't enjoy happiness just by looking at it." Ke Xun sat straddling the branch of a tree, waiting for Mu Yi to climb up suddenly, "Why do you do it yourself when you are ordered by your younger brother?"

Mu Yiran supported the tree trunk and stood up, looking down at him: "Who would entrust his life in the hands of a younger brother?"

"...You are handsome and you are justified." Ke Xun also stood up, "Then I will work hard and strive to be promoted from a younger brother to a confidant."

Mu Yiran didn't bother to pay attention to him, and started to search among the branches.

Ke Xun lowered his head and shouted at the tree: "Dongzi, look for it below, don't miss the bark, cracks and roots."

"Don't worry, you," Wei Dong's voice came from below, "Our artists are best at dealing with details, and we guarantee that not a single pixel will be missed."

A locust tree has hundreds of branches, at least. Ke Xun followed Mu Yiran to search for the roots. After a few hours, his eyes were dim.

"This is too perverted," Ke Xun gasped while leaning on the tree trunk, "If the seal or signature is the size of a needle nose, where will I find it?"

"There won't be that kind of situation," Mu Yiran also stopped to rest, "I've said it before, there is no need for us to set tasks that we cannot complete in the world in the painting, otherwise there is no point, just kill us directly. "

"Then how to find it now, there must be a key point." Ke Xun looked around, "This tree is really ugly, look at that tree with galls, it looks like that..."

"Ghost face?" Mu Yi said abruptly.

Ke Xun touched his hairy arm.

Mu Yiran said: "In ancient times, it was said that the locust tree is very yin, and after a long time, it will form a grimace on the tree, and as the tree grows older, the more grimaces on the tree, and the more grimaces, The darker the tree, the heavier it is."

Hearing this, Ke Xun looked around again, and suddenly got goosebumps all over his body again - the trunks and branches of the three trees were indeed full of grimaces!

If you look closely at the shapes of these grimaces, they are very much like the faces of real people, with complete facial features and lifelike expressions. There are adults, children, old people, doubtful faces, crying faces, frightened faces, and reasons. Painful and distorted, full of malice and smirks...

The texture of the bark outlines these ghost faces more strangely and ferociously, and suddenly a gust of bitter wind rushes through the tops, and the mouths formed by the large and small tree holes on these thousands of ghost faces burst into tears that seem to be crying and laughing. The voice, ups and downs, far and near.

Ke Xun's scalp tingled when he heard it, and hesitantly asked Mu Yiran, "You said...that signature or seal, it wouldn't...just be in the mouths of these ghost faces..."

"It's not impossible." Mu Yiran remained expressionless.

"I'll go... What if I reach in and get bitten off by this mouth?" Ke Xun asked.

"I know an attending physician in a good hospital, and I can introduce you to it." Mu Yiran replied lightly.

"..." Ke Xun sighed, "Even if there is no problem with the grimace, the faces on these three trees would add up to a few hundred, so how long will it take to dig out one by one?"

Mu Yiran lowered his eyes: "Call the others to look for it together."

"Is it possible?" Ke Xun asked, "Would someone find it without making a sound, and then leave quietly?"

"If someone finds the seal somewhere else, he might go away on his own," Mu Yiran said, "but if he disappears here in full view, other people will naturally know where the seal is." Location."

"Sure, let's call the others later." Ke Xun shook his tired arm from climbing trees, and raised his eyes inadvertently, "Have you noticed that the sky seems darker than before? It's noon, It’s almost evening already.”

"It's going to rain." Mu Yiran also looked at the dark cloud-covered sky in the distance, and suddenly his voice tightened, "That coffin made of pure cypress wood!"

Ke Xun was stunned for a moment, and then realized: "Pure cypress wood will be struck by lightning!"

Seeing Mu Yiran's face darken, Ke Xun asked him tentatively: "What will happen if the coffin is struck by lightning?"

Mu Yiran gave him a gloomy look: "Cheat the corpse."