When I was seven years old, my father personally cut off my left hand.
He said that in our line of work, we must have the capital to save our lives. I was too young to understand the meaning of this sentence.
Father said that the trade is a craftsman. There are painters, carpenters, bricklayers and craftsmen
in the world. Craftsman’s craft is a rare craft. People who are not skilled to the extreme and skilled in cooking dare not mention the name of their own craftsmen. I’ve seen the magic of
this craft with my own eyes.
Father’s hands seem to have a kind of magic. He once removed an old farmer’s arm with one hand, and the fracture was as smooth as jade, without a trace of blood. The reason for using the word is that the action is really light and smooth, like playing with a puppet. He ran his fingers across his arm, and the wound pierced by the farm tool spread out like ink and disappeared. Father’s backhand touched lightly, and the arm was taken back, like nature itself.
He once slimmed down a big man who was full of fat, and when his father hit him with his own hands, the drooping fat slipped down like soft mud.
He can give you a double eyelid by gently sliding his fingernails. He can correct your colicky stomach by tapping it lightly. I once asked my father what a craftsman was.
Father only said two words.
“Cultivate people.” When
I was twelve years old, my father brought me a thick book and asked me in a deep voice, “
Should I be a craftsman?”
My answer was, “When.”
Okay, this was left by the grandfather. Read well. Every day
after that, I would read this ancient book carefully. The book records all the mysterious
techniques, and I am often fascinated by them, and I don’t want to eat or drink. I’ve been
reading that ancient book for months and I feel like I know it by heart. My father called me over again and
asked me one by one.
“How many chapters does that book have?”
“Chapter 11.”
“What does Chapter 6 say?”
“From the Bones.”
“Do it for me.”
I lowered my head, ran my index finger across one of the knuckles of my middle finger, and a phalanx appeared on my hand.
It’s a little weird, even scary. But there was no pain, no discomfort, and the phalanges were pulled out intact, as clean as a piece of jade. With a slight movement of my middle finger, the phalanx returned to the body.
My father nodded. He crouched down, looked me straight in the eye and said, “a craftsman can repair people or kill people.”. Craftsmen with bad intentions have taken people’s organs and lives since ancient times. When you leave your home, take my umbrella with you, so that you may recognize the other craftsmen. With
that, he asked me to close my eyes and run my thumbs across my eyes. When I
opened my eyes, I found that my eyesight was sharper and I could even count the hairs on my hands clearly.
I can’t see my father.
Mother is a very gentle person, contrary to her father’s harshness. I’ve been living with her since I was 12.
She never said anything about craftsmen. She was a dutiful wife and a dutiful mother.
But I am restless. At the age of
twelve, I learned to be independent and do housework, but I didn’t learn how to be stable. I was restless at home and full of curiosity, always asking my mother all kinds of questions. The mother answered very little, only repeating the four-character family rule: “The heart is good, and the people are good.”
I was so idle that I had to hone my mysterious techniques. By chance, on a whim, I came up with some techniques that required both hands, and then my heart cooled down and I remembered that I only had my right hand. All
I have is regret, not resentment.
Since then, it has been a dull four years. On the morning of my sixteenth birthday, I found my mother standing in the doorway with a long black tube in her arms, her face covered with tears.
Her eyes were red and swollen with sobs, and she asked me, “Do you want to know why I followed your father?”.
I shook my head. Although her mother did not have a rich family background, she was a real beauty with picturesque eyebrows and eyes. It is not easy to get the beautiful temperament without makeup. Father, on the other hand, is plain in appearance, and his excellence lies in his unique craftsmanship.
She said, “When he was carrying this long tube, he only had two copper coins on him, but he also wanted to buy a steamed bun for me, who was starving.”. He gave up everything to save me from there. Your father has been fixing people all his life, but he can’t fix himself. I know you are more skillful than others, but what you need to learn most is the goodness of your father.
I nodded, not knowing what to answer. I have no idea what my parents have been through and where “there” is. Holding me in her arms,
she began to cry again, saying, “You are a child of the Cheng family, destined to travel far and wide.”. You are sixteen years old, and I give you this long tube. There is an umbrella handle, a letter and a piece of paper inside. I don’t know the use of this object, but I know the old saying. In case of danger, open the umbrella. To the realm, read the letter. See an old friend, hold it. That’s all I can give you.
I don’t know what my mother is crying, but I want to cry with her. The impulse to leave home and the blood in my heart froze in an instant. I didn’t feel anything. I didn’t want to think about anything. I just wanted to stand with her.
I walked out of the door stupidly, and my mother bowed deeply. It was the first time I had ever seen her so heartbroken. She turned her head away and said,
“Son, I miss you very much, but don’t come back.”
My parents named me good. My name is Cheng Shan, and maybe I hope everything can be good.
But the day after I went out, I met a mountain thief on the mountain road. It was the only way to the imperial city, but I didn’t expect that the bandits were rampant recently. Remembering what my mother had said, “In case of danger, open the umbrella,” I pulled out the long umbrella from the long black tube. The big inky umbrella was covered with complicated inscriptions, which dazzled me.
I jumped out of the carriage, and the bandits looked at my umbrella and were all stunned. There were a few young men with great courage and insight who wanted to rush forward. Whenever they wanted to get close to my black umbrella, their limbs were stiff and they could not move. When they got closer, they twitched all over and were in great pain. “Don’t move!” The leader of
the bandits exclaimed.
It’s the Cheng family’s black umbrella. Don’t you want to live? Any closer, and it will turn into a lump of mud
to feed the pigs and dogs!
I saw that the bandits’ faces were really miserable, so I couldn’t bear to close the umbrella
. Even so, a few of the weaker ones faltered. I had no choice but to put the black
umbrella into the long tube, and those people recovered as before.
The chief came down and looked at me with a smile on his face, which made me feel uncomfortable.
“Young master of the Cheng family, it is said that there is a big rebellion in the imperial city. What are you doing there?” I
said, “I heard that the emperor is looking for talented people from all over the world, and he has hired a lot of money.”. I’ll go there and
make a living.
“Young master, where does the Cheng family need to make a living?” The chief said that he
looked sullen when he saw me, so he went up the hill sensibly.
It’s just that the man looked at my left sleeve carefully before he left. He
must have found out that I didn’t have a left hand, and I didn’t take it too seriously. But
I gradually found that with only one hand, there are many techniques that are quite inconvenient to
use. If the mountain thief wants to do something about it, it could be a problem.
When the bandits were all gone, the coachman suddenly fell down from his horse and began to laugh.
She is a girl with a petite figure and a beautiful face. In fact, since my father lightly crossed my eyes, my eyesight has been so sharp that I can no longer
consider it with common sense. I saw her face through her veil early, but I didn’t
say it.
“Little kid, I didn’t think I was a girl.”
I smiled and nodded and said, “No.”
“If you don’t do it, I’ll be able to put down all those dozens of people.” Smiling and nodding,
I said, “With Nvxia’s protection, I’m sure I can rest assured.”
I just want to see when she can cut to the point and satisfy her curiosity
.
“Boy, your umbrella is very interesting. Can you show it to me?”
Her name is Mingcai, and she claims to be the best painter in martial arts and the best swordsman in painting.
She disguised herself just to be able to go up the mountain to conquer the bandits. It’s hard for me to imagine that
such a girl full of Jianghu dreams would be willing to be a court painter. But
that’s the way it is, as if I, who used to hate etiquette and law, wanted to enter a place like
the royal family that followed the rules. The reputation of the
Cheng family is not small, but most of them are folk legends, which are far from the truth
. So when she heard I was a member of the Cheng family, she thought I had some exaggerated power. But
when I talked about the craftsmanship, she was still surprised. After
I spun her left arm twice like an axle, she almost fainted.
I said, “What is this? If I wanted to, I could put my arm on you.”. It’s just that, for one thing, I only have one hand, which is very inconvenient, and for another, my father explicitly forbade me to do this.
She is very interested in my left hand, because people say that the Cheng family has God-given hands, but I have only one here. I can’t answer
this question. At the age of
sixteen, I am not deeply involved in the world, and my experience is still shallow. Being accompanied by peers like Mingcai is one of the few things that can relieve anxiety.
It’s just that Mingcai’s questions from time to time often make me laugh and cry.
“Cheng Shan, can you make me beautiful?” Mingcai asked me excitedly.
I replied, “Yes, yes.”. But you’re beautiful. Moreover, techniques that give people a better look are the greatest test of a craftsman’s experience. A young boy like me, of course, would not dare to do this kind of meticulous work, and..
Besides, I only have one hand.
“Well, I’m not going to be hard on a kid like you.” Mingcai waved his hand, and his face was full of deliberate magnanimity.
I was wondering if the Cheng family could steal a beam and change a pillar by shaping another person into the body and appearance of an emperor. How about that? 6.
We spent several days on the road and two days in the inn of the Imperial City.
She is not afraid of me at all, not only not afraid, but also very calm, even presumptuous. He always challenged
me to open my umbrella, but I refused.
I said, draw a picture for me. If you draw well, I will open the umbrella for you.
She laughed for a good moment and couldn’t stop.
When Mingcai was painting, she asked me, “You Chengs can make men and women, old and young, fat
and thin, beautiful and ugly, but this portrait won’t look exactly like you.”
I said, “I like my face and my body, and I won’t change it.”. Besides, you’re not
painting me.
“Isn’t this your portrait?” Mingcai has some doubts.
Of course not. What do I want my own image for. I want your painting. I want to see
you.
Mingcai’s face turned red.
She was silent and quietly drew a picture for herself.
At that time, I did not understand that people can be made into paintings, but paintings can not be made into people.
“Like, it’s really too much like.” I looked at the painting and couldn’t help being amazed. I know that Mingcai’s modest words are untenable. As far as the painter is concerned, when he paints his portrait, he can look up and see it. If the person cooperates well, his expression and movements are not easier, of course it is easy. Mingcai just drew himself out of thin air in front of this piece of white paper. When Mingcai held the portrait, it was like holding a bronze mirror.
Maybe I have seen too little, but in my eyes, it is not too much to say that this kind of painter is unique. The fascination and intoxication
of Mingcai’s painting is something I have never seen before. I couldn’t help praising her again and again, and when she finally felt shy, she quickly avoided it.
I asked, “Mingcai, do you have any other paintings? Show them to me.”
She nodded and pulled out a dozen scrolls from the wooden box she was carrying. Flowers and birds, plants, men and women, old and young, chickens, dogs, cattle and sheep, all of them are vivid and delicate, but landscapes, buildings, rocks, clouds and clear skies are thin and pale, empty and tasteless, which is far from the former painting.
I looked at it carefully and couldn’t help asking, “Mingcai, why do you paint living things so beautifully, but other things so palely?”
Mingcai did not answer me, but smiled. When we left the
inn, the shopkeeper specifically told us: “Now the imperial city is very unstable, and I heard that there is a big villain, which makes people panic!” “The Cheng family!” When
he said this, Mingcai couldn’t help glancing at me.
“The Cheng family?” I asked in reply.
“Yes, it’s the Cheng family.” When the shopkeeper said this, he trembled, his voice was weak, and he waved me closer. He said in a low voice, “Now there is a big villain of the Cheng family who is looking for strong young men and beautiful girls in the city to make’human molds’.”
Ming Tsai couldn’t help but be curious and asked, “What is the human mold?”
Little girl, you don’t know that the Cheng family can beat a person to a pulp with one hand, and they can clearly distinguish between skin, flesh, and bones. The good hearts, livers, spleens, and lungs were all given to high officials and dignitaries, and the skins of beautiful girls were all kept for the concubines in the palace. You were born handsome, so you have to be even more careful! When
we walked out of the inn, I said in a deep voice, “If I find this wicked man, I will serve him with the ancient punishments of the Cheng family.”. Take his head off and keep him alive. Then take away his tongue, so that he will not be able to live or die. Seeing Mingcai’s pale face,
I smiled and said, “I just heard it from my father.”. This ancient punishment was used to deal with clansmen who violated family rules, but I don’t know how many years have passed since then. The Cheng family gradually stopped interfering in the affairs of the world, and the harsh punishments were abandoned.
We walked for a long time, and we were relatively speechless. She hesitated to speak, which made me feel uneasy. When we get to a quiet intersection, we will be separated. “Do you remember what I said?”
Said Mingcai with a forced smile? I’m afraid your technique is too magical. If you enter the palace, you will become a thorn in the flesh of the people in the palace. Even if they don’t get rid of you, they will use you.
“Are you afraid that I will do evil?”
“You are a blank sheet of paper. I’m afraid it will be dyed and someone will draw a demon on it.” Where
is Nvxia? Why do you look like a weak woman now? I had to avoid her conversation like this.
She turned her head away and turned back, and her look became as bright as it had been.
Boy, after this intersection, you won’t have this Nvxia to protect you. Take care of yourself, ha ha. As I turned to leave, she put her hand on my shoulder and said, “Don’t forget, the day I painted you, you promised to open your umbrella for me, and you want to go back on your word?”
I shook my head and said, “Where? How dare I go back on my promise to Nvxia Ming?”. It’s just that the umbrella is too tall to be unfolded in that room. When you stand a little farther away, I’ll open the umbrella.
When Mingcai was forty feet away from me, I shouted, “Don’t try to be brave. Would you like to stay away from me?”
“I’m not afraid of anything. What can I do with a broken umbrella?”
I was relieved to open the black umbrella, and the ancient patterns covered my vision. No answer.
When I closed the umbrella, Mingcai had run away. I know that she is a person who practices martial arts, and she is as light as a dragonfly on this path. But I still saw her at the end of the road, running and crying.
I was just wondering why she was crying.
When I was sixteen years old, I lacked some responsibility and responsibility, and my thoughts were very shallow. So I didn’t care too much about why my mother cried so sadly and why Mingcai left without saying goodbye. Even if you care about it for a while, it will soon be diluted by time. After parting ways
with Mingcai, I walked towards the inner city of the imperial city for a day. On the way, I suddenly realized that I almost cried out for a moment that this girl would not be interested in me.
I shook my head and decided to put these thoughts behind me. At that time, I was thinking of entering the palace, only thinking of finding the evil man of the Cheng family-if there is evil in the imperial city, there must be great evil in the palace. Just as there is evil in the world, there must be great evil among those in high positions.
The inner city was close at hand, and the little gate there was my entrance to the palace. From a distance I saw only a few armored guards. The
leading guard put his sword on the table and looked me up and down. Then he looked at the position of my left hand. He shook his head and said, “You look like a cripple. What can you order?” I bowed deeply and said, “Soldier, I’m not very good at martial arts. I’ve only dabbled in some heretical
ways.” With
that, they burst into laughter.
I had no choice but to gently point my right hand at the forehead of the leader and say, “I lost my sight.”
The man’s eye sockets were deeply sunken, and his empty eyes were like dry wellheads. And
the people were frightened and cried out, and some drew their swords and roared, and some fell to the ground, and some looked pale
. As soon as
my hand left, he returned to normal, but he could not stop panting, sweating profusely, and
his words were reversed, as if he had lost his soul.
I bowed again and said, “Soldiers, please do me a favor.”
The leader trembled and handed me a black iron waist card and said, “After you go in..”
Look for. Find Manager Wang. He will take care of you. He looked at me in a panic, but
his eyes were locked on the long tube behind me.
I thanked him and walked into the city. It was just the autumn wind passing through, and my body was unstable, as if I was going to melt
in the wind. A group of guards, only far away, no one dare to step forward.
A wicked man is feared with evil. When
I saw Manager Wang, I heard him reprimanding his maids.
“If you work like this again, you’ll be punished to live in a’waste house ‘!” When
the maid heard this, she was so frightened that she turned pale and knelt down to slap herself. When Manager Wang saw me coming, he picked up the maid with one hand and whispered such and such orders. Wiping away her tears,
the maid trotted up to me and saluted: “Your Excellency, please come with me. The’Alien Residence ‘is not far away.” Smiling and nodding,
I walked with the maid for a while. Seeing no one around, I asked in a low voice, “Sister, I wonder where that’abandoned residence ‘is.”
The maid looked at me with a frightened look on her face. She took a step back and said, “My Lord, there are not only useless people in the’Abandoned House ‘, but also demons.”
“I’m just asking about it. I don’t mean anything by it.”
The maid looked around for a moment and whispered to me, “I hear there are old men with one eye, four-legged witches, and strange children without mouths.”. A few days ago some of the sisters went inside to clean up, and they were so frightened that they fell into a coma for two or three days.
My face was calm, but there were waves in my heart. These so-called demons all sound like the handwriting of the Cheng family. Craftsmen can repair people, and nature can also harm people. It’s no different from my guess. The great evil that makes the people of the imperial city feel insecure should be in this palace.
“Does the elder sister know how to get to this’abandoned residence ‘?”
The maid looked embarrassed and said, “I dare not say.” “Then I won’t embarrass my sister,”
I said gently. Where in the world there is such a strange person, it is estimated that the appearance is strange and ugly, to misrepresent it. Her sister did not nod to her. “The maidservant hopes so, too.”
She sent me to a strange place and then left. When I saw her go, my index finger swept over my right eye, and one of my eyes fell into the palm of my hand, as warm as ancient jade. I closed my right eye and threw it gently into the sky.
My vision suddenly rose with my eyes. The world is wide, and everything is in full view. The palaces, vegetation, and pedestrians of the inner city were all within my amazing range of vision.
So, the location of this abandoned residence was immediately touched by me.
I caught the falling eyeball with one hand, which was smooth and transparent, and I almost missed it. Fortunately, there was no one around, otherwise he would have been frightened to death by this strange scene. Speaking
of this technique of throwing eyeballs to see the vastness, it is the product of my once hot brain. In actual use, the requirements for conditions are more stringent. On the one hand, the eyesight should be sharp enough, otherwise, even if the eyeballs are high in the sky, they may not be able to see clearly. Second, occasionally can not catch the eyeball, although the craftsman’s eyeball will not be broken, but maybe it will not be found.
Finally, I stood in front of the door of the alien house for a long time, with my eyes closed. There is a rule in the
alien house: you are not allowed to meet other aliens. Every day when he went out of his room, he had to wear the bamboo hat and veil of the palace. With my eyesight, I can read other people’s faces, but I’m still not allowed to talk or pass things.
After staying for three days, the doubts in my heart were especially serious. Although it was used to entertain talented people from all walks of life, they were not allowed to meet each other, nor did they order the so-called affairs. They were idle day and night, which was more like a prison than a reception. After a few anxious days, one night, I slipped out of the strange house and followed the route I had memorized to see the “demon” in the maid’s mouth.
If what the maid says is true, it may be true. And the biggest demon is man. Wearing a bamboo hat, a veil and a black umbrella,
I walked through the night. The cold moon shone alone, silent, silent as a grave, only the sound of footsteps echoed. When I approached the abandoned residence, I saw a shadow in front of me.
A living thing. They are like sheep and horses, with four feet on the ground and slow steps. But I had never seen a sheep or a horse like that, so I had to look closer. But I didn’t think it was a person.
It was an old man, his arms had been replaced by twisted legs, and his mouth had become smooth and empty. The body can only crawl on the ground, the neck is too stiff to look up, and naturally can not see the moon.
He finally noticed that someone was approaching, but he could not make a sound. He could only hum in panic in his nasal cavity. His muddy eyes showed horror, and his body could not stop trembling. With a shiver in my heart,
I turned the black umbrella to the ground and said, “Don’t be afraid, old man.”. I mean no harm.
The old man obviously found it hard to trust people, but he could not stop retreating. I crouched down, bowed my head deeply, and said, “It’s the fault of the Cheng family that the craftsmen are not good.”
I put my right hand on the back of the old man’s neck and stroked his nose.
I said, “Now you can raise your head and speak.”
The old man was surprised and happy, with tears in his eyes. He trembled with excitement and wanted to look up at the sky. It’s just that my new words for him are very crude, and he hasn’t spoken for a long time, so he can only whine, “Thank you..”
After only one sentence, the old man began to cough with a bent body.
I patted the old man on the back, ran my right hand down his spine, and said, “You don’t have to be in a hurry to speak.”. Although I have opened my mouth for you, most of your throat has been damaged, and your constitution is weak, so it is not convenient for you to speak. I’ll just ask you a few questions. “Yes,” I’ll nod. “No,” I’ll shake my head.
I just touched the bones of the old man and found that not only his limbs and mouth had been tampered with, but also many organs, veins, bones and muscles of the whole body had been confused. He must be in a lot of pain. Life is worse than death. Such means of torturing people should not only be craftsmen, but also be cruel and skilled enough. To
such an extent, I have been powerless, random use of skills, can only increase the pain. Even if the father is here, he may not be able to repair the old man. Although a craftsman can repair people, he cannot repair all people.
I asked, “Was it the people in the palace who made you like this?”
He nodded.
“Have you seen his face?”
He shook his head.
“Have you been like this for five years?” I looked at him with a pained expression, which seemed to recall the nightmare of the past. I couldn’t bear to ask him again, so I said, “Did the old man come out to see the moon?”
He nodded.
I lifted the black umbrella and asked, “What else do you wish for? Tell me.”
The old man finally smiled, but with two lines of tears, he stammered out two words: “Give..” Die.
I had guessed his vision, so I stood beside the old man and opened the big umbrella. In the moonlight, the inscription looked particularly beautiful. Under the black umbrella, the old man suddenly turned into a pool of meat mud. After a moment, it scattered into blood, and eventually became a steaming red mist, like cinnabar floating up, attached to the lines of the umbrella. There is no pleasure in
life, but pleasure in death.
I turned my head and closed the umbrella hurriedly, and the maid who had been peeking for a long time could not help exclaiming.
This is the maid who showed me the way. I asked her, “Sister, how long have you been watching it?”
“The maidservant knows her mistake. The maidservant has made mistakes. Please forgive me.” She knelt down to kowtow to me. I quickly helped her up and said, “Sister, I think you don’t go to bed and come here to wander, because you are more or less worried about this abandoned house.”. I just want to ask you, who was that old man?
“The maidservant doesn’t know.” Then she began to sob, out of breath.
“I will not harm you.” As I spoke, I put one hand on her shoulder and gently exerted my strength, only to feel that her shoulder bone was different and her right arm was weak. She hurriedly broke away from my hands and kowtowed to me again.
Her eyes drifted over my umbrella, probably fearing my black umbrella. I turned my umbrella around and asked, “Sister, is there anything wrong with you?”
She shook her head, trembling with increasing fear.
I frowned slightly and said, That’s all. I’m not demanding, and it’s not hard for you. I’ll just ask you your name. Can you tell me?
She nodded and finally stood up and said, “The little girl has a mean name, Wen Liang.”
Wen Liang doesn’t say, but I can guess three points. She hid, she felt guilty, she hesitated to speak, and she must know something about the many strange things in the palace. It’s just that she’s really afraid, and she has something to hide. I’m sure she won’t go around telling what she saw. So I didn’t ask her again, and we were separated.
Wen Liang made some noise, and I was afraid of causing trouble, so I went back to my residence.
Since then, there have been six or seven more guards in front of my door. But I still believe that this matter has nothing to do with Wen Liang, otherwise I would not have ended up like this. If the people in the court hear that I have a black umbrella that kills people without leaving traces, even if I am not a wicked person, I will not live long. I couldn’t find any oversight
this time, and I was locked up like a house arrest for more than half a month.
At night, when I lie in bed, my thoughts are turbulent and turbulent, which makes me uneasy to sleep and eat. I sat up to open the window and saw a crouching figure outside the window.
Through the gap between the windows, I roughly guessed the visitor.
I said, how did you get here? With these words, let her in.
Mingcai was covered with blood and had a deep knife wound on his shoulder. She jumped down from the stage, patted the dust on her body, and said, “a dainty looking maid told me you were here.”
I sighed and shook my head. “I asked the guards at the door. How did you get in and avoid them?”
She answered carelessly, “I said I was a royal painter, and I wanted to come in and have a look.”. They won’t listen. I had no choice but to jump onto the roof, but I didn’t realize that there were three men with knives on the roof, so I put them down.
She said it lightly, but I was worried after all. I tapped her collarbone, right shoulder, and right elbow with my right hand and said, “Cut and stab in two places.”. One bone was damaged, two tendons were damaged, and the right arm was almost broken. No matter how serious it is, I can’t fix you. Even now, it will take an hour to fix you.
Mingcai could not stand still, so she had to lean against the wall. She pulled out several rows of scrolls from her waist and said, “I’m fine. I came to bring you some paintings.”
I only glanced twice. There were sedan chairs, chairs and vases. They are all common objects in the palace.
But when I look closely, I feel different. “Wait, Mingcai, did you draw all this?”
“Of course.” Her voice was a little shriveled.
“Since when do you draw dead things so well?”
She did not answer, and then I realized that Mingcai’s face was pale, her lips were blue, and she fell in the
corner.
It was getting late and the sun was yellow.
She was hurt worse than I thought, even the pain reached the bones and muscles, and there was a slight congestion in the organs. It took
me a good three hours to fix her. Finally, I was so tired that I fell
asleep at the head of the bed.
I dreamed of bright colors, and what I saw was a snow-white, white willow leaves
flying in front of me. I heard Mingcai singing a cappella beside me, singing a tune
I had never heard before. The singing voice is like weeping, but it is somewhat free and easy. Her voice was simple and sincere, and
she sang word by word: “
I have my own wisdom, I have my own confusion, and I can distinguish between things and me.”.
A hundred kinds of Yang, a hundred kinds of Yin, into the harmony of heaven and earth.
No good, no evil, only cause and effect.
Thousands of saints, thousands of demons, let others say. What is
this song? What is the word? In the end, all I could think about was the last sentence, “a thousand saints, a thousand demons, let
others say.”. Intoxicated, but already woke up. When
I woke up, Mingcai was sitting on the edge of the bed. In fact, I really want to ask why she
cried after the day of separation, but also want to ask the tune in the dream. But I didn’t ask
.
She began by asking, “How are you holding up?”
I said, “Of course I can. It’s the last thing.”. I’ll tell you something big, and I hope
you won’t blame me.
She said, “Tell me about it, and I’ll listen to it first.” Pointing to the cabinet,
I said, “The guards have been wounded, the palace is on strict alert, and I have been searched
here.”. I took you apart to hide you in the closet.
“Tear it down?”
It is to break it into several pieces, put it into a pile, and then pile it up. Even if I don’t tell you, you
may not know, but I still don’t think I should hide it from you, besides..
She was stunned and could not speak for a long time.
Mingcai touched her all over, then pointed at me, and I quickly motioned her to keep her voice down.
“You touched me all over!”
I didn’t expect her to focus on this point, and I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “This is the second thing, but
I just think it’s against the law of heaven to divide people.”. And it’s not through the clothes. “I think it’s kind of funny.”
“This is not a funny thing, Mingcai.” I shook my head and said, “My father once said that there were ancestors among the craftsmen who, in order to take refuge, tore apart their own flesh and bones and hid them.”. Although he was eventually restored by someone else, he couldn’t stand the state he was in after being dismantled. He was in a trance all day long and died of depression.
She obviously didn’t listen to what I said.
I picked up the scroll and asked, “Let’s move on to something important.”. What is the origin of these paintings?
“I did paint them. I painted some of the things in the palace after I became a court painter.”
“But you don’t know how to draw dead things.”
She jumped out of bed and said with a smile, “So those are living things.”
I can’t help but be horrified.
“You mean these were once people?” I asked.
“It’s people, and they’re still alive.”
“That’s not very likely. If you cut out an object, use the craftsmanship of a craftsman to cut it up and soften it, and then inject it into it, or if you shed the skin of a person and put it into an object, and let the blood vessels and meridians
grow together with foreign objects, both of these are very difficult, and even if you can do it, the person won’t live for a long time.”
“Then look at this one.” Mingcai pulled out a wrinkled piece of rice paper from his sleeve, on which a human figure was scrawled. It’s my old man who turned into an umbrella at night. “Have you seen this old man?”
I asked.
She said, We met once in the night. The time is too short to draw a rough picture. I took the paper and asked a maid about it, and she said that the old man was going to be a’chair, ‘but that he was too weak to be a’chair,’ and that he had become a so-called’useless person. ‘
I was speechless for a long time. What kind of person wants to make a person into a mold, make a chair, make it fall apart, and make life worse than death? Do you want to go against nature and human relations like this? How many people have I seen in this palace, and how many have I not known? The evil I touch may only be the river, and the evil I don’t see may be the vast ocean. There was a fire burning in
my heart, and it was so hot that I felt uncomfortable.
I pondered for a moment and asked, “Is the maid you’ve been talking about called Wen Liang?”
Mingcai shook his head and said, I don’t know. After I became a painter, it was the maid who brought me paper and ink. I asked her if she had ever seen a slightly delicate man with a long back. She said you were here and so on. I gave her another look at the old man’s portrait, and she told me it was an abandoned human chair.
Now I have a general idea that the maid Mingcai has seen must be gentle and good. But Wen Liang refused to tell me everything she knew, but she was willing to tell Ming Cai everything. To say trust Mingcai, she and Mingcai are only once, meet by chance, it is hard to say what affection. If she had other demands on Mingcai, such as always wanting to draw a picture, it might
make sense. Because when Mingcai paints living things, it’s terribly exquisite.
Thinking of this, I glanced at the scrolls scattered on the bed and asked, “Mingcai
, you can only paint living things. What’s the reason?”
“If I ask why your umbrella is so wonderful, do you have a reason?” Is this
about her unusual pen? I haven’t straightened out the truth, but I saw her looking at me a
little frustrated, with some loneliness hidden in her eyes, but with a smile on her face,
as if she was joking with me. Only then did
I realize that Mingcai had risked her life to see me and had stayed with me for another day, but I had not even given her a
word of concern.
Tonight, I’m going to the abandoned house again.
At least make it thorough and clear until I feel at ease. When
I put forward this resolution, Ming Cai admired me very much, saying that I looked fragile
, but I didn’t expect that I still had the world in mind. And
I said, How can my heart hold the world.
I don’t kid myself. I get it. This world belongs to the Ying family. I’m just a piece of rubble
, a piece of mud, a chess piece. I tried my best to stir the bottom of the pool, but at best it was only
stagnant water. There are so many evils in the world that I can’t touch them. But in this palace,
all kinds of laissez-faire, one day they will get into trouble and burn me and Mingcai to ashes. Ugly time is the time when the guards change. There is only one person on the roof. After we meet, if you let my blood touch the bodyguard’s skin, you can make his Qi and blood go backwards for several breaths, and his meridians swell and ache and he can’t move, and you and I will escape. I told her so.
Mingcai is a person who is easy to be persuaded, at least I still think so. I told her some anecdotes about her childhood, and if I hadn’t covered her mouth, she would have laughed and called all the guards in the hall.
I was relieved again and remembered that I hadn’t chatted so comfortably for a long time. I forgot what I was busy with and what I was begging for. What does it mean to be born a man and become a craftsman. Thousands of good and evil, and how much relationship. I don’t want to think about it. What
I think is that if I can be idle for half an hour like this, I will be idle for half an hour. Even if the next breath, to see the blood light, move the sword.
She also told me what she had seen when she first came to Jianghu, saying how many mountains she had ridden and how many houses she had painted. She said that she had been robbed of silver by a bandit, and she did not forget to paint a portrait of her. She said that she had been hungry for three days and three nights, and when she saw the delicious food in the inn, she could hardly hold the chopsticks.
She said, the family is a craftsman, and there are ancestral pithy formulas and so on.
Where is it? There is only the four-character family rule of’good heart, good people ‘that is recited every day. There are also ancient precepts that are mysterious and mysterious, so that I can go to any realm and meet any old friends. I replied.
“I can even make up a dozen or so old sayings about this kind of spiritless thing. It’s just an old saying about the Tao following nature, the cycle of heaven and earth, and the good and evil of the human heart.”
Indeed, what Ming Cai said is also reasonable. I didn’t retort. I just followed her and said, “Nvxia Ming, what you said is also reasonable.”. It’s a pity you’re not an ancient man, so what you say can only be’modern teachings. ‘How many idle people are willing to listen? Before I had finished speaking, I heard the sound of footsteps on the roof, which was the handover of the guards. When the
ugly time comes, the dark clouds cover the moon. This is no longer idle.
I motioned to Mingcai with my eyes, and she understood. I stretched out my right hand and dropped a few drops of dark red blood for Mingcai to catch with the cowhide. Mingcai jumped out of the window, vigorous, only to hear three light steps from the roof, and returned to silence.
“Come on up!” She leaned down and waved to me excitedly.
I was not good at martial arts, and I was slow to move. I was lukewarm when I climbed up and down on the roof. I was not as handy as Mingcai at all. It took me some time to leave the alien residence.
I said, “I just asked you to take the guard’s knife.”. If anything happens this time, the first thing you do is to cut off my black umbrella and then pierce my right hand.
Mingcai secretly glanced at the long tube I was carrying and said, “Cheng Shan, your black umbrella is indeed a treasure, but your black umbrella is not the only treasure in the world.”
I asked with a smile, “I’ve heard Nvxia Ming say that. I think I’ve seen something even more rare. Why don’t you take it out and have a look?” But she ran away and said, “Come on, it will be dawn soon.”. I’ll show you
some day.
Wear? Is it a piece of clothing or boots? I thought there was something subtle about her brush that
made her good at painting living things. Is there another reason? I repeatedly recalled the clothes
worn by Mingcai, which were neither too gorgeous nor extraordinary, so they should
be clothes I had never seen before.
I didn’t ask any more questions and ran with her to the door of the abandoned house. I pulled Mingcai sideways to the side of the door
.
I whispered in her ear. There were people coming out. A lot of people. The wind blows
in late autumn.
Then the two of us heard the disorderly sound of words inside, the noise and confusion of order
.
“Ninety-seven others are still alive,” he said, “and they are brought to the apse.” What are
you doing here? This is no place for a woman like you to come. Go back to your bedroom and
sleep!
“Don’t move that flesh and blood, you guys. Just pile it all up over there.” The sound of
words lasted only a moment, and there was another rustling sound.
Then I heard a rustling sound, like a thousand trees climbing over the ground. The two of
us remained motionless and hid for a while. Until the dead.
The door is still open, but the night is too deep, and the surrounding scenery seems to be covered in ink.
It was an empty compound, and the houses had been demolished.
It’s too dark. I can see the scenery inside, but you can’t really see it. I stopped Mingcai who wanted to go forward and said. Why did
you stop me? I’m more like protecting you. Look, is there anything in here?
I said, only stone bricks can be seen.
That’s not right. There are footprints all over the stone bricks, and there are traces of dragging objects. The people and things here have been removed, just now. I furrowed my brows and tried to see as far as I could see, looking at every missed detail.
Mingcai was very uneasy, and her every emotion was so full that it could not be contained and overflowed. She quickly stepped forward and said, “There is something under this brick. You have to come and see it.”
I put my right hand on the ground and brushed along the cracks in the stone bricks. When he reached Mingcai’s side, he was too surprised to speak. There is flesh and blood under
the floor tiles, and there are meridians under the flesh and blood. There are big things under the ground here, and there are hundreds of bones and muscles on them. As I felt it, I measured the underground things in my mind.
It’s impossible. It’s impossible. This underground is flesh and blood and soil grow together, human organs mixed together like roots deeply buried, bones and muscles like branches and leaves hidden in the soil.
Mingcai walked to the center of the courtyard and stood in front of the mound. She could not move, as if she were too frightened to speak.
Cheng Shan! This mound.. Before she had finished speaking, she heard another trembling sound. Something is restless in the ground and wants to break through the earth.
I finally woke up, but the pace has been unable to keep up with the burning mood.
It’s the hand! There are arms under the ground! The voice did not fall, the stone bricks were pried one by one, making a dull sound. Countless arms linked to each other and crossed out of the ground. They grow wantonly and catch me and Mingcai from under every stone brick. She and I were pulled ten steps away in an instant, and the hands reached my legs, waist and shoulders.
A brute force was pulling me back, and then I was grabbed by more hands, like being imprisoned in countless cangues, and then pulled to pieces.
My right hand became a palm, and I cut off the arms on my body in turn, and the arms I cut off were broken and retracted like wax.
“Mingcai!”! Don’t use brute force to earn it. This hand has the blood of a craftsman in it, and those hands are all techniques for transforming bones and removing blood! I ran over to save Mingcai, only to find that her right arm had been locked by dozens of hands, and she was still struggling to support herself with the strength of her waist and abdomen.
Like ten thousand snakes.
If it is too late, I am afraid that Mingcai will be turned into an empty skin. So I cut it from top to bottom, and the palm cut through the stump arms, the long hair behind her, her right arm, and finally left the ankle of her right foot, and she was cut into several pieces by me. Cut the Gordian knot
like a knife. Mingcai finally came out, and I carried her on my back. She was so light on my shoulder that I couldn’t feel the weight. I ran wildly and felt a chill in my heart as I reached into her body. How many people’s flesh and blood
are used to cast the thousands of evil hands? How many people’s blood did it take to achieve that skill? I can’t think of any.
Here, how many lives have been buried, how many bones have been buried, how many flesh and blood have been rotted, and how many lives have been lost. I can’t imagine. All
I can think about is how badly Mingcai was hurt.
She’s probably lost 30% of her bones, 40% of her blood. I gave her some of my blood, only to hear her say on my back, “Cheng Shan, have you ever heard of Yun Gui Ci?” I was
stunned. I didn’t know how to answer her. I just shook my head and said, “No.” “Someday,” she said, as
her voice faded, “I will sing to you and make you sing.”
Her bones are already crisp, and her blood is unstable. The place that had been grabbed by the evil hand was as soft as a clay doll. I feel like she’s melting like wax.
I said, “Listen, I’ll fix you.”. I am the only descendant of the Cheng family, the best craftsman in the world. I can fix anyone well.
I said, I am Cheng Shan with a black umbrella. They are afraid of me when they hear it. Only you are not afraid of me, so you have nothing to be afraid of. I ran until I could no longer lift my feet or catch my breath. In a corner, put Mingcai safely on the ground.
This may be the back of the hall, or the back of the bedroom. I didn’t care where it was. Mingcai shivered in my arms and curled up like a baby. Read
the letter, I think. I kept the letter, and for a long time I was curious about what was in it. But no matter what kind of words, they are not worth the difference between life and death. To the realm, to what realm? Mingcai may not survive tonight, and I may die one day. Who else will read the letter? Who will read it?
At that time, it is just a piece of waste paper.
I rummaged through the tube and did find an envelope. After opening, a hair and a piece of letter paper fell out. The letter paper was slightly yellow, as delicate as suet, with dense dark red handwriting on it.
My hands were shaking, and I was afraid that I couldn’t even recognize the word, and my heart suddenly jumped out. At the same time, I felt Mingcai’s breath weakening, and I pressed one hand between her two blades.
Sure enough, both essence and blood were deficient, and her pulse had already declined.
I suddenly felt a pain in my chest, and I had to be angry. As a craftsman, he is born to cultivate people. How can he let people die in front of him?
I almost bit the root of my teeth to bleed, and I made up my mind to press five fingers on her back and stick them to the position of the heart. For a moment, I felt the meridians of her whole body connect with me. If
she can’t bleed any more, let me bleed for her. As long as I, Cheng Shan, still have a breath, there is no reason for Mingcai to die. As
I fiddled with the letter paper with my broken arm, I moved the bright blood with the rhythm of my heart, until the east was slightly bright.
At dawn, the inner city is filled with the sound of the drums and the morning light. The officials came to the palace, and the king went to court. There was a lot of noise
around, and the footsteps of maids, eunuchs, and officials overlapped, as if the fierce beast of the imperial city was rubbing its sleepy eyes and yawning. We’re getting closer. They should see us soon. It
may be the present emperor Ying Ruyi, it may be the eunuch Bingbi of Si Lijian, or it may just be Xiao Shaojian and the maid, or the woman called Wen Liang. But for me, it doesn’t make much difference.
At that time, I sat like a dead wood, with tears on my face. After I finished
reading the letter, I was somewhat relieved. My hatred, anger and malice are all buried deep. I didn’t think about it in the bottom of my heart. I just thought about the future plan. I wrapped myself up with a smiling face, delicately wrapping up my prickly, sinister thoughts.
However, it is not clear where to plan and what the future will be. To save me, to save Mingcai, how to go, all up in the air. When it comes time for me to make a choice, I just want to bet and offer all the chips I have.
I looked up and saw two ordinary maids coming towards me with surprised faces. I haven’t seen them, or I’ve seen them, and I’ve completely forgotten them.
Because I have supported the hearts of two people for a whole night, and now I am at the end of my strength. I could barely stand still, let alone move. I leaned against the wall for a long time before I mumbled a sentence: “Two sisters, can you help me show the way?”
The two of them looked at me, smiled, and said, “You have a head full of silver and still call us sister. It would be better for us to call you uncle.”
I tried to smile and said, “Well, those are small things.”. It’s just that the younger one wants to know how to see Manager Wang. One
of them saw that I was unstable and wanted to help me. She said, “Look at your dress and your waist tag. You must be from another place.”. You can’t see Manager Wang now. He should be walking with the emperor. According to the rules, a strange man is not allowed to enter the palace. If you are seen by others, you will suffer.
I shook my head and said, “Thank you for your trouble.”. All you have to do is show me the way, and I’ll decide whether to go or not.
Another maid tugged at her skirt. She hesitated for a moment, then pointed in one direction and said, “I don’t know anything about you, but I see that you have something urgent, so I’ll tell you.”. Go that way to the intersection, then turn right, and you’ll see the sign.
Her eyes rested on Mingcai behind me and she said, “I’ve seen this girl before.”
I picked up Mingcai and said, “She has a waist card and is a painter in the palace.”. Do you know a sister named Wen Liang?
The two men nodded, and the maid in front of them said, “Yes.”. Although she is a rough worker, she is very knowledgeable and eloquent, and she is very famous among us.
I said, “Then please ask your two sisters to take this girl to Wen Liang for me.”. She has just got a serious illness, and her blood is weak, so she needs someone to take care of her. Sister Wen will probably take care of her.
The maid looked at the pale bright color and took it without hesitation. As soon as she got it, she frowned slightly and said, “Why is this girl so light?”? Even I can carry it, like a mass of catkins.
I said, “The girl was born with a delicate body and a serious disease, so it is natural that she is light.”
They met and whispered for a while. I didn’t listen to it. It was probably something about my unknown origin and suspicious whereabouts. But after all, the two of them were relieved and said, “I think you look very bad and you are staggering. You should also have some stubborn illness.”. If you have trouble walking, you don’t have to force it. Just go with me and rest first.
I turned to leave, waved my hand and said, “Thank you for your kindness.”. I take one road at a time, and there’s not much reason to turn back.
The two of them had gone away, and I was still thinking about the unusual maid just now: when she took Mingcai from my hand, my right hand touched one of her middle fingers. The three phalanges of her middle finger should be hollow. If someone grabbed her hand and squeezed it violently, her hand would turn into bone residue and meat mud.
The maid should not know, but I do not want to reveal. Because it is easy to remove the bone, but difficult to enter the bone. And with my current physical condition, I can’t fix her. If you tell her so rashly, I’m afraid it will only make her frightened and anxious.
In fact, since last night, half of my young blood has been cold since I left home.
I tried my best to repair myself with my right hand, thinking about how to see Manager Wang and what I could say when I saw him. I also want those who owe debts, who owe thousands of blood debts, to be able to repay them together.
So I still have to live.
Not only to live, but also to try to live for the things in the letter.
I thought, now that I can see Manager Wang, how can I not see the palm seal eunuch, and how can I not see Shoufu? Since I only have these chips and I don’t have much to lose, I want to be a gambler. Why don’t I play a bigger one?
Finally, I think, it is better to see the present emperor directly.
Ying Ruyi, I only saw it in the portrait when I was a child. The only thing that impressed me about him was the line in his poem, “When the landscape becomes an embroidered brocade, the world should be as you wish.”. It is said that for several years, even Spring Festival couplets are these two sentences.
At that time, he was too far away from me, as to whether he was embedded in the sky or buried in the loess, it had nothing to do with me. It doesn’t make any sense to me whether Ying Ruyi is cruel or wise. I don’t care about his world, and he certainly doesn’t care about whether there is a commoner like me. If I say that I want to see him one day, it seems unreasonable, irregular and unrealistic. I never thought that one day I would stand in front of him with a black umbrella.
But I will still go, because I still have half of my blood, and the warmth is still there. There are too many things that
prevent me from seeing Ying Ruyi. Discovered by the guards, discovered by other less
gentle maids, and even should Ruyi have left, and so on.
I opened the umbrella to 20% and thought of all the worst situations. But I didn’t meet
them. What
I met was just a little eunuch standing in the doorway of the back garden.
I said, you go and tell anyone inside that someone from the Cheng family is coming, holding
a black umbrella and carrying a long tube.
The little eunuch was very obedient. He ran into the yard. I saw that he promised so readily
and earnestly, as if he had waited for me for a long time.
After a while, the little eunuch waved his hand and said, “Your Excellency, please come in.”. The emperor is
waiting for you inside.
I didn’t react for a moment, and my brain was still a little confused. It was too smooth,
too smooth to be real, like a floating phantom.
I walked a dozen steps and saw a beautifully dressed man sitting behind a tree of osmanthus.
I asked, “Are you Ying Ruyi?” Someone
behind me patted me and said, “He’s just a shell. I should be satisfied.”
I looked back and saw a man with a very kind face, not as cold as the picture scroll.
He sat down, looked at me with interest, and motioned for me to sit down. He said, “When you see the Son of Heaven, you do not kneel down, do not salute, and are not modest. Do you really not understand etiquette and law?”
“Did you wait for me to come to you just to hear the words of the grass people knocking on the door to see the emperor?” As I said this, my eyes swept over his left hand.
Ying Ruyi laughed after hearing this, then patted me on the shoulder and said a few good words. He was in his forties, but he still laughed like a teenager.
Ying Ruyi said, When you entered the city gate that day, the guards noticed your black tube. I think you have been in this palace for a long time, and one day you will come to me.
“Shall I say that the emperor knows things like a God?”
He shook his head and said, “I’m too lazy to listen to these words.”. I have heard that you are gifted and intelligent. At the age of sixteen, you can make the guards lose their sight with one hand. It is already rare. I want you to work beside me.
I raised my head and gazed for a moment at the sweet-scented osmanthus in late autumn. Then I said, “Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven.”. Why should I have to go to so much trouble to do a job for just a grass citizen?
He said, “You are young and vigorous. There are some things you don’t want to do, and you don’t understand.”. It’s time for you to experience something.
I want to ask him if he knows about the many evils in the palace. I also want to ask, that year, that day, what he did. I want to know everything. I want to ask everything. But I know it’s a bad day. Ying Ruyi knows me like the palm of his hand, but I know
nothing about him. Besides, he has the whole world. I only have one life, an umbrella.
The grass people know. I will do my best.
Ying Ruyi said, “If you have any request, just ask.”. All the people in the palace will not treat you badly.
I slowly raised my eyelids. There was no emotion in my eyes. I was as indifferent as a dead man. I said slowly, “Give me a bed and let me have a good sleep.”. Thank you, Your Majesty.
Ying Ruyi explained that he would go to his study at the end of the day. I readily agreed. After leaving the back garden, I did not really go to the new residence arranged for me by Ying Ruyi to sleep soundly, but went to find Wen Liang with a long tube on my back. After
I met Ying Ruyi, I felt like Jin had become a powerful minister in the court. Three palace maids, treat each other with courtesy. Six courtyard guards, all avoid. As soon as I said that I wanted to see a maid named Wen Liang, all of them were smiling and came up to introduce the way. I was so upset by the hugging that it took me some time to see Wen Liang.
Wen Liang gazed at me and left an empty seat at the tea table.
Perhaps because I was dazzled, she looked younger than she used to be, and she was not as timid as she had seen me. She saluted me and said, “Your Excellency, have you seen the emperor?”
I nodded and said, “Yes.”. The emperor is gentle and elegant, and is worthy of being a virtuous king of the country. I want to ask if my sister has ever seen a painter named Mingcai.
She asked again, “The painter was entrusted to me by your excellency. I must pay more attention to him.”.
But if this palace is a quagmire, no one can get out. I may not be able to keep the girl, but I pity her for giving birth to a good skin.
My heart suddenly shrank and I felt a dull pain.
I said, “Can’t even my sister save Mingcai?”? Senior, I pressed your shoulder that day, your shoulder bone has just been repaired, your arm is new flesh, and the meridians run very slowly, so you should be a very experienced craftsman. I’m afraid I’m far behind you as a craftsman.
She said, “Where?”. You are talented and hard-working from an early age, and I am not as good as you in this technique. If I’m good at something, it’s just a wide range of techniques. This girl can be saved, but in the eyes of a craftsman, as wood is in the eyes of a carpenter, it is an object and a utensil. All living creatures and living things are meaningless words. There are always people in the palace who want to covet this girl’s flesh.
I was stunned and speechless for a while. I felt my chest was pressed by something and I couldn’t breathe.
A chill. Holding the teacup in
my hand, my right hand trembled. I turned my head and asked, “Senior, you know everything about the evil things in the palace.”. Are you sure you don’t want to interfere?
She said four words first.
“Young and vigorous.” “Cheng Shan,”
he added, “what kind of evil have you seen? I have seen a craftsman lower a man’s head to his shoulder, so that the eyes of another may be consumed by his own stomach; I have seen a craftsman insert a man’s mouthpiece
into a bracelet, so that the man may not die; I have seen a craftsman remove a man’s skin and bones, and weigh him on a scale like a pig or an ox. I have lived too long to be a man, a woman, an old man, a child. You can see all the great evils in the world. Can you go one by one?
I said, okay, okay.
I said, “When the elder becomes a saint or a demon, I will not speak.”. The elder generation wants to be a maid, and wants to be a prime minister, and is happy to be a prime minister. I just want to ask you a few questions, and I hope you can answer them truthfully.
She promised, with some frustration on her face.
I asked, “Excuse me, what is’casting man ‘?”
She stretched out her right arm and said, “This right arm is not mine. Can you see that?”
I nodded.
She said, “a person can be cast by using a part of the body of a craftsman, mixing the flesh and blood of another person, and using a special technique.”. The cast man is like a real man. If there are many people who use craftsmen, they will be more like craftsmen, and even have the same mind. If the part made by a man is small, it is not quite the same, and the man who is cast will not live long. But if the cast is at the end of its life, it will be a mist, and it will go away.
I suddenly woke up, and I didn’t know if I was smiling. I wanted to laugh, but I couldn’t, so I had to put my face in a ferocious way, like the Raksha in the portrait.
“Senior, the maid who came to take Mingcai away this morning, is she the one you cast?” She said, Yes. On that day, I saved a woman who lived in an abandoned house, but she had been tossed
out of shape, and her body was twisted like a basket. I was so angry that I beat
the body to pieces, and then I made the maid you saw out of one of my hair.
I feel like I’m freezing.
I suddenly felt that I knew why Wen Liang wanted to save that woman and who that woman
was. But I hated myself for knowing that it was like being pierced in the chest by a poisonous blade.
Choke up.
I was almost speechless and could only mumble, “Senior, did you write
that letter?”
She nodded.
Senior. Is the woman you saved my mother?
She nodded.
“Is my father the old man whom I used to spend the day with a black umbrella?”
She nodded again.
I stood up and knelt down to thank Wen Liang.
“Senior, thank you for raising me.”
Tears flow. Wen Liang touched my hair and said, “Cheng Shan, don’t cry.”. You will be the best
craftsman in the world, and you will live well.
Then she told me a long story. I had read the
story once in the letter, but I didn’t know it at that time. It was Wen
Liang who told me the story.
My mother was a maid in the palace, and my father was a stranger.
He is a craftsman with great skill.
He has a close friend for many years, called Wen Liang. Wen Liang devotes himself to the method of casting a person, and prepares to cast a person with his
life’s efforts and right arm. But Wen Liang has no chance. He can’t
find the right foundation. He wants to use this skill on the most suitable person.
He waited a long time, and then he got his chance. A new prince was to be born in the bedroom of the
Ying family, and the late emperor should laugh at himself and wait for the birth of his son and the future
king. The
bad news hit Ying Zixiao. Prince Ying Ruyi died young.
Wen Liang said, I can save the prince.
The late emperor said, “Well, if you succeed, I will give you glory.”.
Wen Liang cut off his right arm and cast a new Ying Ruyi.
The new prince was born in his twenties. The late emperor was so frightened that he cried out, “Freak!” And then get sick.
Two years later, Ying Ruyi ascended the throne.
Ying Ruyi said, the world should be as you wish, I ask ten thousand people to live forever.
A man is to a craftsman as wood is to a carpenter. He has the arm of a craftsman, and he can do what a craftsman does. He wants to make people melt into all things and make all people immortal. To become a chair, a table, a porcelain bottle, a monster, a demon, life is worse than death.
Wen Liang did not get glory, he lived in regret and boredom. He has nothing left without casting people’s infatuation. He never thought that if he failed to cast a man, he would become a demon. He found a maid who had been toyed to death by Ying Ruyi and killed her. Took the maid’s skin, and he became her.
Wen Liang wants to live like this.
My parents just gave birth to me.
My mother was tortured. In order to save my mother, my father, like me, was connected by blood. He had a white head overnight and tattooed his eyebrows.
Time is surging away on my father.
My father had always opposed the idea of casting a gentle and good man, but at this time he said, “We can’t protect ourselves yet, but a good son can’t live without his parents.”. You take my hands and make a man. Then use the maid you killed and your hair to cast a woman. Go.
These two are my parents. Wen Liang took my father’s hands and found a man in the abandoned residence to cast the “father” in
my memory. Then I took some of my own bones and hair and cast them into the
“mother” that I remember.
Ying Ruyi only has the ability of a craftsman in his right hand. He asked my father to offer his left hand to be a complete
craftsman. But my father had no left hand to offer. He had only two stump arms, and his hand was only
a phantom pain.
Ying Ruyi said, “Well, if you don’t have hands, why should you be a person? It’s better to be a chair.”.
And if you don’t, one day you will have children, and the children will have hands.
Wen Liang said that if he wanted Cheng Shan’s left hand, Ying Ruyi would give up.
So I became a craftsman with one hand.
Wen Liang calculated that a man cast with both hands would live for eleven or twelve years at most. The woman was cast with bone and hair
for only twenty years. So I had to leave home before I was sixteen.
Then I came to the Imperial City.
Then I came to the palace.
Then I used the black umbrella to kill the old man who had lost his human form. That was my father. He
had been made into a chair for seven years.
Then Wen Liang rescued the useless Curie, my mother who was going to be made into a basket, and beat her
into flesh and blood and cast her into a maid. This maid, with only this hair, can only be cast into
hollow bones and hollow flesh. Live up to three months.
Finally, I came to Wenliang, who was already a young maid, and listened to the story. I said, thank you.
I said, thank the world for being so kind to me. Wan Xie Ying Ruyi.
I said, the emperor Wan Fu Jin An. The emperor lives with heaven and earth.
I understand that the initiator of everything is gentle, but I can’t hate her. In a sense
, she is my parents. She raised and nurtured me, and passed on to me everything except that she did not tell me the twelfth chapter of the ancient book
, Casting Man. I don’t even covet the black umbrella of the Cheng family.
She helped me.
I said, “Gentle, I understand.”. Can you help me again. I will give you everything
.
He said, “Can you also give me a right hand for a craftsman if I lack one?”? After
you give it to me, you’ll be an ordinary person, and you won’t even be qualified to open a black umbrella.
She turned away from her head and said, “I don’t know how many experienced craftsmen there are in the world, but there is only one Cheng Shan
who holds a black umbrella.”
I said, Yes. After you help me, I’ll give you. I don’t have hands. It doesn’t
matter. It doesn’t matter if you’re an ordinary person.
Gentle and kind, neither sad nor happy. She closed the lid of the teapot and poured the tea on the ground.
She said, “OK, I’ll help you.”
I laughed this time, and it was rare for me to laugh happily. I said, “Well, let me have a look at Mingcai
.”. Tomorrow, at the end of the hour, we will set out. I walked through the cloister, through several rooms, and saw Mingcai with a pale face.
Mingcai was very excited to see me. She jumped up and gave me fists and feet, trying her best to fight
vigorously. I took hold of her arm with one hand.
I said, “Look, if I were you before, how could I hold on to you?”
She curled her lips and said, “Oh, I let you.”
I said, “Well, don’t try to be brave.”. Are you all right now?
She said, It’s all right. Sister Wen Liang is a great benefactor, and she is much more powerful than you.
I smiled and nodded and said, “I think so too.”. Wen Liang is indeed a good man, and he is much better
than me.
I looked at the scattered drawing paper around me, but I couldn’t make a picture. I just scribbled a few
strokes on the paper, which was like a child’s angry graffiti.
I said, “Why don’t you draw?” “No,”
she said. “These things are too ugly. I don’t want to paint them.”
I said, “All right, whatever you want.”. If you want to paint, then paint, and take more rest and look after yourself
.
She pretended to be angry and said, “When did you have to tell Nvxia Ming?”
I said, “It is a small mistake. I have made a mistake, and I repent.”
She looked at my funny gesture and wanted to laugh out loud, but before she could laugh, she began to cough, so that she could not stand steadily, like willow leaves in the wind.
I quickly helped her to lie on the bed. She said, “You don’t have to worry about me.”. Why do you look so old? Am I dazzled?
I said, “No, I am old in appearance.”
She said, No, I can see that. Your body ages faster than your heart. Has something happened?
I could feel her cold sweat, and her chest and lungs should be as painful as a knife when she spoke loudly like this. She is very reluctant. My heart ached, and I quickly said, “I’ll see you tomorrow, and I’ll do something.”
I looked at the painting on the ground and felt like I should say something. The brain is like a paste without a clue, but the mouth is clumsy, the sharp words are blunt.
I said, Mingcai, I.. I like your paintings. “Wait for my painting tomorrow,”
she said, squeezing all her strength. When I
came out, Wen Liang was standing at the door waiting for me. He should have been listening to us all the time. She only said one sentence. Go
to sleep. Have a good sleep. When you get up tomorrow, you will have everything.
That night I fell asleep and dreamed that Mingcai, dressed in white, came to see me. Singing a clear tune, singing “a thousand kinds of demons, a thousand kinds of Buddhas, let others say.”. I listened to the song and was slowly drowned by the snow.
This day, I arrived at Ying Ruyi’s study on time. The
study was filled with large and small porcelain, ornaments, and even facial makeup.
Ying Ruyi was very happy. He laughed heartily and said, “Come, Cheng Shan, I’ll show you these artifacts in my
collection.”. Everyone is a treasure.
“Oh?”? The emperor has the whole world in his possession, and even there are treasures that are rare to the emperor. Then I
really must see them.
He said, “Where?”. If you work for me, you will not be treated unfairly in the future. I’ll give you any of these treasures
you want.
I chuckled and said, “Your Majesty is joking. This is all the collection that the emperor has tried his best to get.
How dare I ask for it?”
Ying Ruyi patted me on the shoulder and said, “It’s not difficult.”. It is this heart that is difficult. “Cheng Shan,”
he asked, “you see, to be a craftsman, just to cultivate people, is it not overqualified
?”
I asked, “What is your majesty’s opinion?” Pointing to the pile of China,
he said, “It’s not a good idea.”. You see, there are graceful
young girls, bent old men, rickshaw pullers, bartenders, and even bandits in there, all of whom have been beaten up by me and piled up in it. Isn’t it eternal? This is the great craftsman of man
, the foundation of a craftsman.
Ying Ruyi, you are just a puppet and a toy made by a craftsman, and you can only live
for more than 20 years, but you can still be greedy for eternity.
I forced a cheerful expression and said, “What the emperor said is very true.”. It seems that what I had been looking for in the way of human
craftsmen has become narrower and smaller. Then
he pointed to the mask over there and said, “Don’t belittle yourself like that.”. Look again, all the things hanging on the
wall are human faces. Isn’t this facial makeup very vivid?
I nodded and said, “It’s really very vivid. It’s really unique.”
I fixed my eyes on it and glanced at the bright face on the wall.
I pointed to Mingcai’s face and said, “Your Majesty, this face..”
Ying Ruyi’s expression stagnated and he said, “Brother, do you want this?”? This is the collection I just
picked up this morning, and it’s still fresh. But if you like it, I have no reason
to be stingy. In this way
, Mingcai was made into facial makeup. She was to be skinned alive, boned,
the skin of her face scraped off, and hung on the wall. I will never have a chance to see Mingcai’s paintings again.
I don’t dare to think about it. When I think about it, I feel cruel.
I don’t have the strength to hurt.
My parents, my bright color, my left hand. I asked with whom. I
remembered that day when I left home and went to the imperial city. With the blood all over my body and the long tube on my back, I felt that I was the best craftsman in the world, that I could walk alone in the world, and that I was unique in the world.
Craftsmen can cultivate people, but not the mind. You can cultivate thousands of people, but you can’t cultivate all the people in the world. Phantom of
floating life.
The blood is cold, and only this cavity is still hot.
I pulled out the umbrella in the tube and held it in front of me.
I asked, “Ying Ruyi, do you know good and evil?”
Ying Ruyi looked indifferent when he saw my black umbrella. He said, “Cheng Shan, I told you before that you don’t know etiquette.”. You see, in front of the son of heaven, will rashly move the sword. You’re not young, so how can you still believe in good and evil?
I burst out laughing and opened the umbrella. The black inscriptions on the umbrella bloomed in the study, and all the objects around me trembled. The people in the furniture, tables and chairs were all destroyed by me to make meat mud. A thousand mists of blood rose from all around me and clung to my umbrella. The room was like a burst of blood lotus, a strong smell of blood and then dissipated.
When an umbrella is opened, countless animals are killed.
Ying Ruyi sighed, “My poor collection has been ruined by your umbrella.”. Can you call it good if you kill so many people in this study?
I said, “Who says I am good?”? Who says I’m evil? Mediocre people believe in good and evil. Good deeds are rewarded with good deeds? Evil men are rewarded with evil? It’s all false. I only talk about cause and effect. How many people did you kill?
Man is your ability. But you killed my parents, killed my Mingcai, and took my left hand. You planted the cause, and today is the result.
I heard the footsteps of the guards outside, like the waves.
Ying Ruyi said, “I know you’re coming, and I won’t be unprepared.”. You’re Cheng Shan, not an ordinary person.
“Your Majesty is joking. I’m just an ordinary person.” “What a pity, what a pity, what a pity,” said
Ying Ruyi. To this day, I have to come in person, and I will teach you the etiquette of being a minister.
I said, “No, if you want to hear the law, I’ll tell you.”
I raised my voice loudly, echoing in the three palaces and six courtyards for a long time: “I am the only heir of the Cheng family, the best craftsman in the world, Cheng Shan!”! Now I hold the black umbrella and ask for a meeting with you. I will ask you for my parents’ debt, my Mingcai debt, and thousands of blood debts. I hope you will pay them all!
I know that Ying Ruyi has a craftsman’s hands, and the black umbrella can’t hurt him. But I opened my umbrella just to guard the guards coming around and not let them get close.
It won’t last long. There’s the sound of ten thousand arrows breaking through the air outside.
I was soon beaten by arrows and fell in a pool of blood, and my eyes were stained with blood. “Cheng Shan, the black umbrella cannot save you. Only I can save you,”
Ying Ruyi said. I shook my head and said, “Ying Ruyi, you can’t save me, because you can’t save yourself.” Then
I stretched out another hand from the cuff of my right hand, crossed Ying Ruyi’s neck like a snake, and pinched his face fiercely.
I saw the fear in Ying Ruyi’s eyes flowing like a flood, and the next moment his whole head collapsed like a deflated skin.
This is the hand that Wen Liang lent me. This is the ultimate feast I specially prepared for Ying Ruyi.
I smiled and said, “Now you’re immortal.”
The hand poured madly into Ying Ruyi’s empty head like soft mud, and my cuff rushed out of the flesh like a mess to Ying Ruyi’s body. His head was full again, and his original appearance was restored.
I said, “Let you embed your head in such a small place, and you are wronged.”. Take this right hand as you please. The one who talked to me
at this moment was Wen Liang who took Ying Ruyi’s skin.
Wen Liang waved his right hand and said, “No, I have my right arm back. What’s the use of your right hand?”
I said, “Well, senior, may you be kind to the world.” Wen Liang smiled but did not answer. After a while, he said, “May the world be kind to me.”
He opened the door and walked out, shouting, “The rebel Cheng Shan has been executed on the spot!”
By the time I fixed myself again, I had silver hair. When
I left the palace, Wen Liang said that he could let me enjoy the glory. I can’t. I’m
tired.
I don’t want anything.
No family, no self. There are only bright and colorful paintings. I keep them.
There is also a piece of inky jade, like one side of Tai Chi. This is an ancient jade handed down from the family.
Other than that, nothing. I
carried the colorful picture scroll on my back and walked on the mountain road I passed in those years. I met the same
gang of bandits again, and they were the same leader. He came down from the mountain and said, “Master Cheng,
what happened to your hair?”
I smiled and said, “It’s all right. It’s right to be snowed.” “Young master,”
he said, “we didn’t mean to rob you. It’s just that there’s an
order above, and they say, I don’t care if I’m a mountain thief. But if you have a young man with a long tube on his back, you
must be careful.
I nodded and said, “It’s okay. I don’t care.” When he spoke, the picture behind me trembled wildly.
I said, “I’ll go first. I’ll see you later.”
The ringleader thanked me and said, “Lord Cheng is magnanimous, and the younger one appreciates it.”
I smiled and said nothing.
I walked a long way until I reached the deserted woods.
Pulling open the trembling scroll, it was empty.
My ears are the songs in my dreams, and the bright colors are singing in my ears. When I looked back, there seemed
to be frost and snow flying in the woods.
Mingcai stood behind me, wearing a white cloak and holding a paintbrush.
I’m not surprised. I always dream about her. I always think we’ll meet one day.
She went on to sing, “a thousand saints, a thousand demons, let others say.”.
She chuckled and asked me, “Does it sound good?”?
I nodded and said, “That sounds nice.”
I promised her to say something nice later. “Here,”
she said, “I’ll show you.”
I said, “Are you really a painter?” Her steps were light and agile, as if she were dancing with the wind.
She said, “I told you, you have a family heirloom, and so do I.”
I said, Yes. Nvxia Ming never deceived me.
She said, “Did you follow all the old precepts?” With a wry smile,
I replied, “The umbrella has already opened.”. The letter was switched by Wen Liang, and he did not know
what was written inside. This is the only piece of jade left, and I haven’t had time to use it yet.
She is like a mass of light, which is as vague as fog in front of me and can not be seen clearly. She took out a piece of white
jade, which could fit perfectly with mine.
She said, “This is my saying: ‘When you are in danger, clothe yourself.'”. To the realm, write.
See an old friend, hold. I can only draw living things on weekdays, because my pen can only draw
souls. You are old, but your soul is young.
I said, Leave me alone. You’re just a group of souls now. What will you do in the future?
She said, “I will stay with you. The white cloak handed down from my family can protect my soul and prevent the
invasion of evil spirits.”. I am waiting for you to make me a skin some day.
I shook my head and said, “How can this be done? It is against the law of heaven to cast a man.”
She said, “I paint the soul, cultivate the soul, and I am a soul craftsman.”. You cast and repair people, and you are a
craftsman. Neither you nor I have been punished by Heaven, so how can we say that it is against the law of Heaven? With tears of laughter,
I pointed at her and said, “Look, you’re talking nonsense again.”. There is no such thing as a
soul maker in the world. Maybe the “Cloud Ghost Ci” you are talking about is the soul Ci, right? Then do I have to recite a set of Ren Ci?
She floated over to kiss my forehead and brushed my white hair with her hands.
She said, “Believe it or not.”. Anyway, I have a thousand holy demons, and I will only talk to you.
Cheng Shan went to the capital in the 17th year of Guangce, but it was the last peaceful year of Dahong.
