Chapter 10 hell change

hell change Akutagawa Ryunosuke one A person like Grand Duke Horikawa not only did not exist in the past, but may be unique in future generations.It is said that before he was born, his mother dreamed that the spirit of David appeared by her bedside.It can be seen that after birth, he must not be an ordinary person.Nothing in his life was without surprise.Let's take a look at the grandeur of the Horikawa Mansion first. The magnificence and luxury are beyond what people like us can imagine.There are many discussions outside, comparing the Dagong's character with Qin Shihuang and Sui Yangdi, that is just like the saying "a blind man touches an elephant". According to his own thinking, such a rich and powerful person is not in his heart.He also cares about trivial matters, and has a so-called "joy with the people" measure.

Therefore, he is not afraid at all when he encounters the Hyakki Yako of Nijo Omiya.It is even said that the ghost of the famous Minister Rong Zuo, who painted the scenery of Mutsu Shiogama, appeared in Higashisanjo Kawara-in every night, and disappeared as soon as the Grand Duke yelled.Because he has such great prestige, it is no wonder that men, women and children in the capital at that time, when they mentioned the Grand Duke, they would be in awe, as if they had seen a great god appear.Once, when the Grand Duke attended a plum blossom banquet in Da Nei and went back to the night, the ox pulling the cart lost his temper on the road and knocked over an old man passing by.But the old man clasped his hands together and murmured what a great honor it was to be hurt by the Grand Duke's bull.

Therefore, during the lifetime of the Grand Duke, there are quite a lot of anecdotes left to future generations.For example, at a palace banquet, if you are happy, you will reward someone with thirty white horses; you will call a beloved boy to stand on the top of the bridge pillar of the Nagara Bridge; Surgeon—— such pursuits are really rare.Among the many anecdotes, there is none more frightening than the story of the screen that has been handed down as a treasure in his house until now.Even the Grand Duke, who usually doesn't care about anything, was shocked only at that time. Needless to say, people like us were all scared out of their wits.For example, I have served the Grand Duke for twenty years, and I have never seen such a miserable scene.

However, to tell this story, we must first tell about the painter named Yoshihide who painted the screen. two Speaking of Yoshihide, even today, some people probably still remember it.At that time, everyone said that no one who holds a paintbrush is better than Yoshihide, and he is such a famous painter.When that happened, he had passed the fifties and was old.He looked like a little, skinny, bad-tempered old man.When he came to the Grand Duke's residence, he always wore a lilac-colored hunting jacket and a soft black hat, which described him as humble.He has a blood red mouth that is not like that of an old man, and it looks very ugly, like some kind of beast.Some people say it's because of licking the paintbrush, but I don't know if that's the case.Especially those poor-mouthed people who said Yoshihide looked like a monkey and gave him the nickname Saruhide.

There is also a story about this nickname.At that time, there was a fifteen-year-old only daughter of Yoshihide in the Grand Duke's mansion, who worked as a maid.She is not like Lao Tzu, she is a very beautiful girl, probably because she lost her mother in her early years, she is very sensible, smart, and very concerned about world affairs even though she is young.The Grand Duchess and all the ladies-in-waiting liked her. Once, Danbo Kingdom presented a mature monkey.The naughty little son was named Liangxiu. Because of his ridiculous appearance, he was named Liangxiu. No one in the house was unhappy to see him.For fun, when they saw it lying on the pine tree in the courtyard, or lying on the ground of the palace, they called it Liangxiu Liangxiu, teased it, and deliberately teased it.

One day, Yoshihide's daughter sent a letter with a plum branch to her master. Walking through the corridor, she saw a little monkey, Yoshihide, escaping from the corridor door. Running limply.Behind it, the little boy caught up with a stick and shouted, "You little thief who stole oranges, where do you run?" Seeing Liangxiu's daughter, she hesitated for a while, when the escaped monkey grabbed her and caught her. The skirt of her skirt whimpered—she couldn't bear it, she held the plum branch in one hand, and flicked the big purple-scented sleeve with the other, picked up the monkey, and bent over to the little prince, softly Said: "Leave it alone, it is a beast!"

①The ancient Japanese nobles tied a flower branch on the letter when they delivered the letter. The little boy was chasing after him vigorously, he immediately put on a hard face and stomped his feet: "No, it stole my orange!" "Bastard, you don't understand..." The daughter begged again, and smiled softly: "It's called Liangxiu, and it's my father's name. How can a daughter ignore my father's suffering?" Finally, the young master had no choice but to give up. "Ah, please forgive me, then let it go." After barely speaking, he threw away the stick and went back to the porch door.

three From then on, Liangxiu's daughter became intimate with the little monkey.The daughter tied the golden bell given to her by the princess around the monkey's neck with a red silk strap.Hou'er is attached to her, and no matter what happens, he always stays by her side and refuses to leave.Once my daughter was lying on the bed with a cold, and the little monkey stayed by her pillow, biting his paw with a sad face. The strange thing is that no one bullied the little monkey anymore, and finally even the young master reconciled with it. Not only did he often feed it chestnuts, but sometimes a warrior kicked him, and the young master became very angry.Later, the Grand Duke specially asked Liangxiu's daughter to come to him with the monkey in his arms. He may have heard about the little prince chasing the monkey, and he had a good impression of Liangxiu's daughter and the monkey.

"It can't be seen that she is still a filial daughter, she is worthy of praise!" The Grand Duke rewarded her with a red handkerchief on the spot, and the monkey saw his daughter holding the red handkerchief to thank him, so he also bowed respectfully to the Grand Duke, amused The Grand Duke is happy.Therefore, the Grand Duke especially dotes on Liangxiu's daughter because she likes her filial piety in caring for monkeys, not out of lust as the world says.Of course, gossip is not without it, and I will talk about it later.Let me first explain here that the Grand Duke has no ulterior motives for the painter's daughter.

But Liangxiu's daughter had earned a lot of face and withdrew from the Grand Duke.Because she was originally a dexterous girl, she did not arouse the jealousy of other maids.On the contrary, from then on, together with the monkey, they always stayed by the side of the princess, and every time the princess took a car to go out for a tour.Not without her companion. Divide the conversation into two parts, let's put aside the daughter's matter now, and talk about father Yoshihide.Since then, although Yoshihide Hou has won everyone's favor, his own Yoshihide is still hated by everyone, and they still call him Saruhide.Not only in the mansion, but even the abbot in Yokogawa, when he talked about Yoshihide, his expression changed as if he had met a devil. .In short, no matter where he is, his reputation is not good.Those who don't speak ill of him are only among a few painters, or those who have only seen his paintings but not him.

The fact is that Yoshihide is not only ugly, but also has an annoying bad temper, so that bad reputation is only brought on by himself, and he can't blame others. Four His temper is stingy, greedy, disregarding face, lazy, and profit-seeking—the most powerful ones are domineering and arrogant, and he hangs the signboard of the number one painter in this dynasty on his nose.If it is only on the painting road, it can be said, but he is so proud that he ignores all habits and routines in the world.According to one of his disciples for many years, once a well-known witch from Higaki was invited to the mansion, and she descended from a god and proclaimed her divine will.But he didn't listen, he picked up the pen and ink, and carefully drew the scary face of the witch.Probably in his eyes, the possession of God is just a trick to deceive children. Because he is such a person, when he draws the auspicious god, he draws the face of a despicable clown, and when he draws the king of Ming, he draws the face of a rascal, deliberately doing that kind of weird behavior.When people scolded him face to face, he yelled loudly: "If the gods and Buddhas painted by my Yoshihide will bring disasters to me, that would be strange!" Therefore, even his disciples were afraid of being implicated by him in the future, and many people I broke up with him halfway. ——Anyway, in a word, it means bohemian, thinking that I am the best in the world. Therefore, no matter how brilliant Yoshihide's painting technique is, it is only as far as it goes.In particular, his paintings, even the use of brushes and coloring, are completely different from other painters. Among the many painters who are not right with him, many people say that he is crooked.According to them, there are all kinds of strange comments on the paintings of Chuancheng, Jinfeng and other famous ancient painters, such as the plum blossoms painted on the board door, which emit a burst of fragrance every moonlit night, painted on the screen The maid of honor will make the sound of playing the flute.However, there are other eerie and strange comments on Yoshihide's paintings. For example, he painted "Five Interests of Life and Death" on the gate of Longgai Temple. Someone walked by the door late at night and could hear the voices of gods sighing and crying.Not only that, but you can even smell the stench of rotting corpses in the picture.He also said that the Grand Duke asked him to paint the portraits of those maids, and the people who were painted died of madness within three years.According to those who commented badly, this is evidence that Yoshihide has fallen into evil ways. As mentioned above, he was so unreasonable, but he was proud of it.Once, the Grand Duke said to him during a chat: "You just like ugly things." He opened his red mouth that didn't look like an old man, and replied proudly: "That's right. The current group of painters are not at all ugly. Do you know the beauty in ugliness!" Even though he is the number one painter in this dynasty, he dared to speak out in front of the Grand Duke.No wonder his disciples secretly nicknamed him "Zhi Luo Yongshou" to mock his arrogance.You may know that the so-called "Zhiluo Yongshou" is the name of a tengu from Sindan in ancient times. However, even this Yoshihide—such a defiant Yoshihide had only one person with an extremely deep love for him. Fives It turned out that Yoshihide was madly in love with the only daughter's little maid.As mentioned earlier, his daughter is a gentle and filial daughter, but his love for her is no less than her love for him.The temple asks him for alms, he has always been generous, but he does not spare money for his daughter, the clothes on his body, the jewelry on his head, and he is so considerate and generous that it is unbelievable. Liangxiu only loves his daughter, but he never dreamed of finding a good son-in-law for his daughter.If someone said a bad word about his daughter, it would not be difficult for him to hire a few street hooligans to beat her up secretly.Therefore, when the Grand Duke promoted his daughter to be a maidservant, the old man was very dissatisfied and complained to the Grand Duke on the spot.So there are rumors outside: the Grand Duke took a fancy to his daughter's beauty, no matter whether her father was willing or not, he insisted on taking over the house, most of which came from here. This rumor is not true, but it is true that Yoshihide who dotes on his daughter has been begging the Grand Duke to release his daughter.Once the Grand Duke asked a beloved boy to be a model, and ordered Liangxiu to draw a portrait of Manjushri when he was young. The painting was very realistic, and the Grand Duke was very satisfied, so he expressed his kindness to him and said, "Just tell me what reward you want! " "Please release my daughter!" He asked honestly and bluntly.Not to mention other mansions, those who serve Grand Duke Horikawa, no matter how much you love him as an old man, actually ask to be released, this is a rule that does not exist in any country.The magnanimous Grand Duke's expression became ugly upon hearing this request, he was silent for a while, looked down at Yoshihide's face, and immediately shouted: "This is not allowed!" He stood up and went in.This kind of thing happened four or five times, and in retrospect, every time, the Grand Duke's eyes on Yoshihide became colder and colder each time.At the same time, the daughter may also bite her sleeve and cry in a low voice every time she comes down from the hall because she is worried about her father's fate.As a result, rumors that the Grand Duke fell in love with Liangxiu's daughter also increased.Some of them said that the reason for the painting of the screen was that the daughter refused to obey the Grand Duke. Of course, such things would never happen. From our point of view, the Grand Duke's refusal to release Liangxiu's daughter was out of love for her, thinking that she would be better off living comfortably in the mansion if she went with that weird old man.It was originally out of kindness to this woman. The lustful statement is nothing but a far-fetched rumor without a trace. All in all, just because of his daughter, the Grand Duke became unhappy with Yoshihide.At this moment, the Grand Duke suddenly ordered Liang Xiu to draw a large screen. six Speaking of the screen, the terrifying scene on the screen immediately appeared in front of my eyes. Similarly, Yoshihide's paintings are completely different from those of other painters.In one corner of the screen, there are small paintings of the Ten Temples of Hades and their subordinates. From now on, the whole picture will be like the big red lotus and the little red lotus, a raging sea of ​​flames that would melt even the mountains of knives and sword trees.Except for the yellow and blue on the clothes of the arresting underworld, everywhere is the color of the flames.On the empty ceiling, black smoke of V-shaped ink dots and golden sparks fluttered. This technique is astonishing enough, coupled with the burning soul in the middle who is struggling in pain, that terrible image cannot be seen in ordinary hell pictures.Among the sinful souls painted by Yoshihide, there are people of various identities, ranging from high officials to beggars and sluts.There are palace people with elongated crowns, ladies in rich clothes, monks with Buddhist beads, civil servants and warriors with high teeth, girls in long and thin palace robes, onmyojis with offerings-there are countless.It is these characters, engulfed in the smoke of the fire, tortured by the bull-headed horse-faced ghost soldiers, like the autumn wind sweeping the fallen leaves, fleeing in all directions, desperate.A woman, her hair hanging from a steel fork, her hands and feet huddled like a spider, was probably a witch.A man, with his chest pierced by a spear and hanging upside down like a bat, is probably the newly appointed Minister of the Kingdom.In addition, some were beaten with steel whips, some were crushed under heavy stones, some were hung from the sharp beaks of strange birds, and some were caught in the big mouth of poisonous dragons—according to different crimes, they suffered various kinds of crimes. torment. ①The local chief executive. The most shocking thing is that an ox cart fell from mid-air, and half of it fell onto the sharp knife mountain like a beast's tooth (there are already many corpses on this knife mountain, and five bodies have pierced the knife point).In the curtain of the car blown by the hellish wind, there is a maid in the shape of a concubine covered in silk, her long hair is loose in the flames, her snow-white neck is distorted, showing an expression of extreme pain.From the image of the court lady to the burning bullock cart, everything makes people experience the suffering of the flame hell.It can be said that the terrifying atmosphere of the whole picture is almost concentrated on this character.It is painted so superbly that when you look at it, you seem to hear a shrill scream in your ears. Hey, that's it, just to paint this scene, a horrific tragedy happened.Without this tragedy, how could Yoshihide paint this living suffering of hell.He suffered the most tragic fate for painting this screen, and even lost his life in the end.The hell in this painting can also be said to be the hell that Yoshihide, the greatest painter of the dynasty himself, will fall into one day. In my haste to talk about this precious screen, I reversed the order of the talk.Next, let’s talk about Yoshihide’s order to paint. seven But it was said that Yoshihide hadn't been to the mansion for five or six months since he was ordered, and was devoted to painting the screen. His daughter, who was usually so worried, picked up the paintbrush and didn't even want to see her face.How strange, according to the disciple just now, as soon as he started to paint, he seemed to be fascinated by a fox fairy.No, in fact, some people said at that time that Yoshihide became famous in the painting industry because he had made a wish to the God of Fortune, and the evidence was that whenever he was painting, he only had to look around secretly, and he could see several gloomy and dark cats. Foxes surrounded him.So as soon as he picked up the brush, he forgot everything in the world except painting well, and hid day and night in a dark room where there was no sunlight—especially this time when he was painting the screen, the fanaticism seemed even more intense. sharp. ① fox fairy. It is said that he lit many lampstands in the room with bush mats hanging on all sides, prepared secret paints, called his disciples in, and asked them to wear various clothes such as frock coats and hunting suits, and make various gestures, ——Sketching from life—not only that, this kind of sketching from life is common even if you don’t draw screens.For example, when he painted the "Five Interests of Life and Death" in Longgai Temple, he did not paint the living people in front of him, but sat quietly in front of the dead bodies on the street, carefully observing the half-rotted hands and faces, and sketched them meticulously.But this time, he has created some strange tricks, which people can't think of.I don't have time to go into details now, just listen to the most important point, and you can imagine the whole situation. One of Liangxiu's disciples (this person has been mentioned above), was mixing paint one day, when suddenly the master came to him and said, "I want to take a nap, but I have been having nightmares lately." Still mixing the paint, he responded slowly, "Is that so?" But Liangxiu showed a quiet look, which was unusual for him, and entrusted him with seriousness. "When I take a nap, please sit next to my head." The disciple couldn't think of why the master was afraid of dreaming this time, but he didn't think it was strange, so he replied casually, "Okay." But the master still said worriedly: "Then you come to the back room immediately. When you see other disciples in the future, don't let them enter my bedroom." He hesitated and ordered.The room there is also his studio, the door is closed day and night, the lamp is dimly lit, and the screen with the base map made of only charcoal is erected around it.As soon as he entered the back room, he lay down and used his arm as a pillow, as if he was already very sleepy, and fell asleep at once.Less than half a moment later, the disciple sitting next to his pillow suddenly heard him making a vague call, it didn't sound like talking, and the voice was ugly. Eight At the beginning, I only uttered a sound, and gradually turned into intermittent speech, as if falling into the water, gurgling: "What, tell me to come... Where are you coming... Where are you coming from? Come to hell, come to flame hell... ...Who? Are you...Who are you?...Who am I?" The disciple unknowingly stopped his hand adjusting the paint and looked at the terrifying face of the master.His face was wrinkled and pale, and there were big beads of sweat.Dry lips, toothless mouth wide open.There is something in the mouth that seems to be pulled by a thread to move, isn't that the tongue?The intermittent sound came from this tongue. "Who am I... Huh, is it you? I think it's probably you. What, are you here to pick me up? Come, come to hell. In hell...my daughter is waiting in hell I." At this time, the disciple seemed to see a hazy strange figure squirming down from the screen, and felt a strange terror.Of course, he immediately shook Yoshihide's body vigorously with his hands.The master was still talking in his sleep and did not wake up soon.The disciple had no choice but to splash the water from the brush wash on his face. "She's waiting, get in this car... get in this car and come to hell..." At this point, it turned into a strange voice that suppressed her throat. After getting a needle, he jumped up in a panic, as if he still had the strange image in his dream, with his terrifying round eyes and mouth wide open, looking into the air, and it took him a while to wake up. "It's fine now, you go out!" Then it seemed that nothing happened, and told the disciple to go out.The disciple was used to being yelled at by him, and he didn't dare to disobey, so he hurried out of the master's room, saw the sunshine outside, couldn't help but breathed out, as if he had also had a nightmare. This time is fine.After another month, he called another disciple into the room, and while he was still biting his paintbrush under the dim oil lamp, he suddenly turned around and ordered his disciple, "Excuse me, take off all your clothes." Following the master's order, the disciple hurriedly took off his clothes and was naked.He frowned strangely, without an expression of pity, and said coldly: "I want to see the man entangled in iron chains, please, you have to pretend to be like that according to my instructions." It might as well be a strong man who is more suitable for holding a big knife, but he was surprised after listening to the master's instructions.Later he told people about it and said: "At that time, I thought Master was going to kill me because he was mentally ill." It turned out that Brother Liangxiu was hesitant and had already caught fire. Shaking, he suddenly threw himself on the disciple's back, twisted his arms, tied him up with an iron cable, pulled the end of the iron cable tightly, and tightened the bound iron rope deeply into the disciple's muscles. With a beep, his whole body Pushed to the floor. Nine At that time, the disciple rolled on the ground like a wine barrel, his hands and feet were bound together, and only his head could move.The blood circulation of the obese body was suppressed by the iron chain, and the skin on the head, face and whole body was flushed.Yoshihide, however, calmly glanced from this side and that side, looked at the barrel-like body, and drew several different sketches.It goes without saying that the disciples suffered at that time. If it hadn't been for an accident in the middle, I don't know how long it will take for this crime to be over.Fortunately (or unfortunately) after a while, there seemed to be a stream of black oil coming out from behind the jar in the corner of the room, meandering over.At the beginning, it just moved slowly, and gradually got up faster, emitting a flash of light, flowing all the way to the tip of the disciple's nose. When he saw it, he was frightened: "Snake!...snake!" The disciple screamed, and the blood all over his body seemed to be It suddenly froze, and it turned out that the snake's tongue had already licked his neck which was bound by the iron chain. This accident happened, even though Yoshihide was very stubborn, he couldn't help panicking, quickly dropped the paintbrush, bent down, and grabbed the snake's tail, example mentioned.The upside-down snake raised its head and curled up its body, but it still couldn't reach his hand. "This remark made me a failure." Yoshihide grumbled fiercely, put the snake into the jar in the corner of the room, and managed to untie the iron chain on his disciple.Nor did he say words of condolence to his disciples.In his opinion, letting his disciples be bitten by a snake would be worse than making a failure in a painting to make him more angry... Later, I heard that this snake was specially raised by him for sketching. After hearing this story, one can probably understand Yoshihide's strange phenomenon like going crazy and dreaming.But in the end, there was a little disciple who was only thirteen or fourteen years old, who encountered a danger because of the screen and almost died.This disciple was very fair, like a girl. One night, he was called into the master's room.Yoshihide was sitting by the lampstand, holding a piece of bloody raw meat in his hand, and was feeding a strange bird.This bird is the size of an ordinary cat, with two tufts of hair on its head, like a pair of ears, and two big amber-like round eyes, like a hunting dog. ten It turned out that Liangxiu didn't want others to intervene in what he was doing.Like the snake just mentioned and other things in his house, he never told his disciples.So sometimes a skull is placed on the table, sometimes there are silver bowls, lacquerware goblets, and often some unexpected things are used for painting.Usually no one knows where these things are hidden.Everyone said that he was blessed by the great god of fortune. One of the reasons was probably caused by this kind of thing. When the disciple saw the strange bird on the table, he guessed in his heart that it was probably also used for painting.He walked up to the master, and asked respectfully, "What is the master's order?" Liangxiu didn't seem to hear, sticking out his tongue to lick his red lips, and pointed at the bird with his forehead: "Look, you look very honest. " "What kind of bird is this, I have never seen it before!" The disciple looked carefully at this strange cat-like bird with long ears, and asked this question.Liangxiu said with a mocking tone as usual: "Never seen it before? No wonder, a child who grew up in the city. This bird is called an owl, also called an owl. It was given to me by a pommel horse hunter a few days ago. It's just so honest. Not many." As he spoke, he raised his hand to caress the back of the owl that had just finished eating meat.At this time, the bird suddenly screamed, flew up from the table, spread its claws, and rushed towards the disciple's face.At that time, if the disciple had not quickly raised his sleeve to cover his face, he would have been scratched by it.Just as the disciple yelled and raised his hand to drive away the bird, the owl yelled threateningly and rushed towards him again—the disciple forgot to be in front of the master, stood on the defensive for a while, sat down for a while and chased it away, in a narrow room was cornered.The strange bird was still staring at it, flying up and down, finding opportunities to pounce on him again and again, trying to peck his eyes.Every time the great wings flapped there was a terrible sound, like a rush of fallen leaves, like the spray of a waterfall.It seems that the smell of rotten fruit that the monkey hides in the tree hole is luring the strange bird. The situation is very alarming.Under the oil lamp, this disciple seemed to have fallen into a hazy moonlit night, and the master's house turned into a valley in the deep mountains with bewitching mist, and he was so frightened that he lost his soul. What scared him was not only the attack of owls, but also that Master Liangxiu, who calmly watched the commotion, slowly spread out the paper, picked up a pen, and sketched this girl-like boy who was killed by a strange bird. The terror of coercion.When the disciple saw the master's expression, he was even more frightened to death.Afterwards, he told others that at that time he thought in his heart that he would definitely be killed by his master this time. eleven There may not be all those who were killed by the master.Like this night, he just called his disciples in, specially let the owls attack, and then observed the appearance of his disciples fleeing for his life, and made his sketches.So when the disciple saw the master's appearance, he immediately covered his head with both hands, uttered a scream, fled to the corner of the house, and squatted down in front of the wall at the door.At this time, Yoshihide suddenly heard an exclamation and jumped up in a panic.The owl's big wings flapped more violently, and at the same time, there was a crack on the ground, which was the sound of breaking something.The disciple was so frightened that he lost his mind again. He raised his protective head, only to see that the room was completely dark, and he heard the master anxiously calling for the disciples outside. After a while, a disciple agreed outside the house and hurried over with a lamp.In the smoke and fire of the oil lamp, I saw that the lampstand in the house had fallen over, and the lamp oil spilled all over the floor.The owl had only one wing flapping in pain, and its body had fallen to the ground.Yoshihide stretched out half of his body on the other side of the table, and he was also in a daze, muttering words that others could not understand. ——It turned out that a black snake had wrapped the owl around, tightly strangled the owl's neck and the wing on the same side with its body.Probably when the disciple squatted down, he knocked over the jar there, and the snake in the jar swam out again. The owl went to catch the snake, and the snake entangled the owl, causing the big commotion.The two disciples looked at me and I looked at you, staring blankly at this strange scene, then silently paid attention to the master, and ran out of the house.As for what happened to the snake and the owl, no one knows. This kind of thing has happened several times since then.It also mentioned above that the painting of screens began in early autumn, and until the end of winter, Yoshihide's disciples were tortured by the master's weird behavior.But at the end of winter, Yoshihide seemed to encounter difficulties with the progress of the painting, his expression became more gloomy, and his words became more aggressive.When the painting on the screen reaches about 80% of the painting, it can't be painted anymore.No, looking at that scene, it seems that it may erase all the paintings. But what difficulties have arisen no one knows, and no one wants to know.The disciples have suffered several disasters in the past, and everyone lives in fear, staying as far away from the master as possible. twelve In the meantime, there is nothing else to talk about.If it must be said, then for some unknown reason, the stubborn old man suddenly became emotionally weak, and often shed tears alone.Especially one day, a disciple went to the yard on business and saw the master standing on the porch, looking at the sky that was approaching spring, with tears in his eyes.The disciple felt embarrassed when he saw it, and hurriedly retreated silently.He wondered in his heart that this proud painter could even sketch dead bodies on the side of the road when he painted "Five Interests of Life and Death". Is it weird? But on the one hand, Yoshihide devoted himself to painting the screen like a madman, on the other hand, his daughter.For some unknown reason, he gradually became depressed.Even those of us servants can see that she is holding back tears and sorrow.The shy girl who was originally sad had drooped eyelashes and dark circles around her eyes, showing a particularly sad expression.At first, everyone guessed that she missed her father or was troubled by love.During this period, there was a saying that the Grand Duke wanted to take her into the house, but she refused to obey.Since then, everyone seems to have forgotten about her, and no one talks about her anymore. At this time, one night, it was already late at night, and I was walking down the corridor alone, and the monkey named Yoshihide suddenly jumped out of nowhere and grabbed my clothes with all his strength.It was a warm moonlit night with the fragrance of plum blossoms. Under the moonlight, I saw monkeys showing their snow-white teeth, sticking up their noses tightly, and howling like crazy.I was three parts surprised and seven parts angry, afraid that it would tear my new pants.At the beginning, he kicked the monkey away and walked forward.Later, I remembered the monkey being tortured by the young master, and it seemed that something might have happened, so I walked about three or four feet in the direction it pulled me. Walking to a corner of the promenade, I can already see the place where the pool water glows in the night and the pine branches are slanting.At this time, in a nearby room, it seemed that someone was struggling, and there was a flustered and strange slight sound that blew into my ears.The surroundings are silent, the moonlight is bright and clear, the sky is cloudless, except for swimming fish and jumping in the water, no human voice can be heard.I noticed the noise there, so I couldn't help stopping, thinking, if a thief comes in, this time I have to show my skills.So he held back his breath and walked gently outside the house. Thirteen Seeing that I was moving slowly, the monkey might have been in a hurry. It kept turning around at my feet, then suddenly choked up its voice and screamed loudly, and jumped on my shoulder. Grab my body.But the monkey still grabbed the sleeve of my blue silk shirt tightly, and refused to leave—at this moment, my legs shook a few times, and I retreated to the door.Suddenly, he stumbled and slammed his back against the door.There was no way to avoid it, so I boldly opened the door and jumped into the room where the moonlight could not be seen. At this moment, what appeared in front of me—no, I just stepped in, and immediately rushed out of the room like a projectile. Girl, I was taken aback.The girl almost bumped into me, and ran out of the door. For some reason, she was still panting, while kneeling on the ground, raised her head, and looked at me in fear, her body still shaking. Needless to say, this girl was Yoshihide's daughter.The girl was completely different tonight, her eyes were shining, her face was flushed, and her clothes were disheveled. She was completely different from the usual little girl, and she looked extraordinarily beautiful.Could it be that this is really the fragile and pitiful Liangxiu's daughter? ——I leaned against the door, and while looking at this beautiful woman in the moonlight, I heard the footsteps of another person, and I was running to the distance in a hurry, trying to figure out who this person was. The girl bit her lips tightly, bowed her head silently, looking very frustrated. I bent down, put my mouth next to her ear and asked in a low voice, "Who is this person?" The girl shook her head and didn't answer anything.At the same time, tears had accumulated on her long eyelashes, and she clenched her mouth even tighter. I'm a fool, and I've always been unable to understand anything except the things that are obvious at a glance.I didn't know what to say to her, so I stood blankly for a while listening to her beating heart, and felt that it was not good to ask about this matter. I don't know how much time has passed, I closed the door behind me, looked back at the girl whose face had turned pale, and whispered to her as much as possible: "Go back to your room." I thought I shouldn't have seen you I felt very uneasy about what happened, and walked towards the original direction with a shameful mood.After walking less than ten steps, my trouser legs were quietly pulled from behind again. I was taken aback. When I looked back, guess who pulled me? It turned out to be that monkey, which knelt down at my feet like a human being, with the golden bell ringing around its neck, kowtowing to me repeatedly. fourteen About half a month has passed since that night.One day, Yoshihide came to the mansion suddenly and asked to see the Grand Duke.Although his status was low, the Grand Duke, who had always been especially favored and could not be easily visited by anyone, was summoned very quickly this day.Yoshihide was still wearing the lilac-colored hunting jacket and the crumpled black soft hat, his face was more gloomy than usual, he knelt respectfully in front of the Grand Duke's seat, and then sighed and said: "I obey the Grand Duke's strict order to make The screen has been working on the pen day and night, and it has achieved a little bit, and it can be completed." "That's fine, I'm happy." For some reason, in the Grand Duke's pretentious tone, there was a kind of echoing and lack of energy. "However, it's still not finished," Yoshihide lowered his eyelids unhappily, "Although it's basically finished, there's one thing that can't be drawn." "Where can't I draw?" "Yes, I have always painted. I can't paint things I haven't seen with my own eyes. Even if I paint them, I'm always dissatisfied. It's the same as not painting." The Grand Duke said sarcastically: "Then if you paint, you have to go to hell to see it?" "Yes, when I was caught in the fire the year before last, I saw with my own eyes the scene of sparks flying in the flames of hell. Later, I couldn't draw the flames of Tianzun because I saw the fire. You know this painting." “那里画的地狱的罪魂、鬼卒，难道你也见过么？”大公不听良秀的话，又继续问了。 “我瞧见过铁索捆着的人，也写生过被怪鸟追袭的人，这不能说我没见过罪魂，还有那些鬼卒……”良秀现出难看的苦笑，又说：“那些鬼卒嘛，我常常在梦中瞧见的。牛头马面、三头六臂的鬼王，不出声的拍手、不出声的张开的大口，几乎每天都在梦里折磨我——我想画而画不出的，倒不是这个。” 大公听了惊异起来，狠狠地注视着良秀有好一会，然后蹙紧眉头叱问道：“那你究竟要画什么啊？” fifteen “我准备在屏风正当中，画一辆槟榔毛车①正从空中掉下来” ①一种以蒲席作篷的牛车，为贵族专用。 良秀说着，抬头注视大公的脸色。平常他一谈到作画总像发疯一般，这回他的眼光更显得怕人。 “在车里乘一位华贵的嫔妃，正在烈火中披散着乱发，显出万分痛苦的神情，脸上熏着蒙蒙的黑烟，紧蹙的眉头，望着头顶上的车篷，一手抓住车帘，好像在抵御暴雨一般落下来的火星。车边有一二十只猛禽，张大尖喙，围着车子——可是，我画不出这车子里的嫔妃。” “那……你准备怎么样？” 大公好像听得有点兴趣了，催问了良秀。良秀也像上了火似地，哆嗦着红红的嘴唇，又像说梦话似的重复了一遍。 “我画不出这个场面。”然后，又咬一咬牙，“我请求一辆槟榔毛车，在我眼前用火来烧，要是可以的话……” 大公脸色一沉，突然哈哈大笑，然后一边忍住笑，一边说：“啊，就照你的办，没有什么可以不可以。” 那时我正在大公身边伺候，觉得大公的话里带一股杀气，口里吐着白沫，太阳穴索索跳动，似乎传染了良秀的疯狂，不像乎时的样子。他说完话，马上又像爆炸似的，嗓门里发出的格格的声音，笑起来了。 “一辆槟榔毛车，被火烧着，车上一位华贵的女人，穿着嫔妃的服装，四周包围着火焰和黑烟，快将烧死这车中的女子……你想象出这样一个场面，真不愧是本朝第一大画师，了不起啊，真了不起！” 良秀听着大公的话，忽然脸色苍白，像喘息似的哆嗦着嘴唇，身体一软，忙把双手撑在地上。 “感谢大人的鸿恩。”他用仅能听见的低声说着，深深地行了个礼。可能因为自己设想出来的场面，由大公一说，便出现在他眼前来。站在一旁的我，一辈子第一次觉得良秀是一个可怜的人。 sixteen 几天后的一个晚上，大公依照诺言，把良秀召来，让他观看火烧槟榔毛车的场面。可不是在堀川府，地点是挑了一个叫化雪庄的地方，那里是一座在京师郊外的山庄，从前是大公妹子住的。就在这山庄里，布置了火烧的场面。 这化雪山庄已不能住人，广大的庭园，显得一片荒凉，大概是特地选这种无人的场所的吧。关于已经去世的大公妹子，也有一些流言流语，据说每当没有月亮的黑夜，这里常有鬼魂出现，穿着鲜红裙子，足不履地地在廊上移动——这儿连白天也是静悄悄的，流水声都带一股阴气，偶然像流星似地，掠过几只鹭鸶鸟，同怪鸟一般，令人毛骨悚然，也难怪会有这样的流言。 恰巧在那晚也没有月亮，天空漆黑，在大殿的油灯光中，大公在檐下台阶上，身穿淡黄色绣紫花镇白缎边的大袍，高高坐在围椅上，前后左右，簇拥着五六个侍从，恭恭敬敬地侍候着。这些侍从中有一个据说几年前在陆奥战事中吃过人肉，双手能扳下鹿角。他腰围肚兜，身上挂一把大刀，威风凛凛地站在檐下——灯火在夜风中摇晃，忽明忽暗，犹如梦境，充满着恐怖的气氛。 院子里放着一辆槟榔毛车，高高的车篷顶上压着深深的黑暗。车子没有驾牛，车辕倒向一边，铜绞链像星星似的闪光。时候虽在春天，还冷得彻骨。车上有流苏边的蓝色帘子蒙得严严的，不知里面有什么。车子周围一群下人，人人手执松明，小心地高擎着，留意不使松烟吹到檐下去。 那良秀面对台阶，跪在稍远一点的地上，依然穿那件丁香色猎衣，戴那顶皱瘪的乌软帽，在星空的高压下，显得特别瘦小。在他身后，还蹲着一个乌帽猎衣的人，可能是他的一个弟子。两个匍匐在暗中，从我所站的檐中远远望去，连衣服的颜色也分辨不清了。 seventeen 时候已近午夜，在四围林泉的黑暗中，万籁无声，大家憋住气注视着这场面，只听见一阵阵夜风吹来，送来油烟的气味。大公无言地坐了一会，眼望着这奇异的景象，然后膝头向前移动了一下：“良秀！”一声厉声的叫唤。 良秀不知说了什么，在我耳里只听到喃喃的声响。 “良秀，现在依照你的请求，给你观看放火烧车的场面。” 大公说着，向四周扫了一眼，那时大公身边，每个人互相会心地一笑。不过，也许这只是我的感觉。良秀战战兢兢抬起头来，望着台阶，似乎要说话，却又克制了。 “好好看吧，这是我日常乘用的车子，你认识吧……现在我准备将车烧毁，使你亲眼观看火焰地狱的景象。” 大公说到这里，向旁边的人递过一个眼色，然后换成阴郁的口气说：“车子里捆着一个犯罪的女子，车子一烧，她就得皮焦肉烂，化成灰烬，受最后的苦难，一命归阴。这对你画屏风，是最好的样板啊。你得仔细观看，看她的雪肤花容，在火中焦烂，满头青丝，化成一蓬火炬，在空中飞扬。” 大公第三次停下嘴来，不知想着什么，只是摇晃着肩头，无声地笑着：“这种场面几辈子也难得见到的，好吧，把帘子打开，叫良秀看看车中的女子。” 这时便有一个下人，高举松明火炬，走到车旁，伸手撩开车帘。爆着火星的松明，显得更红亮了，赫然照进车内。在窄狭的车厢里，用铁索残酷地锁着一个女子……啊哟，谁都不相信自己的眼睛了。绣着樱花的灿烂夺目的宫炮，垂着光泽的黑发，斜插着黄金的簪子，发出美丽的金光。服装虽已改变，但那娇小的身材，白净的颈项，沉静贤淑的脸容，这不是良秀的闺女么？我差一点叫出声来。 这时站在我对面的武士，连忙跳起身子，一手按住刀把，盯住良秀的动静。良秀见了这景象可能已经昏迷了，只见他蹲着的身体突然跳起来，伸出两臂，向车子跑去。上面说过，相离得比较远，所以还看不清他脸部的表情。一刹那间，陡然失色的良秀的脸，似乎有一种冥冥之力使他突然跳起身来，在深深的暗色中出现在我的眼前。这时候，只听到大公一声号令：“点火！”那辆锁着闺女的槟榔毛车，已在下人们纷纷抛去的火炬中，熊熊燃烧起来了。 eighteen 火焰逐渐包围了车篷，篷门上紫色的流苏被风火吹起，篷下冒起在黑夜中也显出白色的浓烟。车帘子，靠手，和顶篷上的钢绞链，炸裂开来，火星像雨点似的飞腾……景象十分凄厉。更骇人的，是沿着车子靠手，吐出万道红舌、烈烈升腾的火焰，像落在地上的红太阳，像突然迸爆的天火。刚才差一点叫出声来的我，现在已只能木然地张开大口，注视这恐怖的场面。可是作为父亲的良秀呢…… 良秀那时的脸色，我至今还不能忘记。当他茫然向车子奔去，忽然望见火焰升起，马上停下脚来，两臂依然伸向前面，眼睛好像要把当前的景象一下子吞进去似的，紧紧注视着包卷在火烟中的车子，满身映在红红的火光中，连胡子碴也看得很清楚，睁圆的眼，吓歪的嘴，和索索发抖的脸上的肌肉，历历如画地写出了他心头的恐怖、悲哀、惊慌，即使在刑场上要砍头的强盗，即使是拉上阎王殿的十恶不赦的罪魂，也不会有这样吓人的颜色。甚至那个力大无穷的武士，这时候也骇然失色，战战栗栗地望着大公。 可是大公却紧紧咬着嘴唇，不时恶狠狠地笑着，眼睛一眨不眨地盯着这个场景。在车子里——啊啊；这时候我看到车中的闺女的情形，即使到了今天，也实在没有勇气讲下去了。她仰起被浓烟问住的苍白的脸，披着被火焰燃烧的长发，一下子变成了一支火炬，美丽的绣着樱花的宫袍——多惨厉的景象啊！特别是夜风吹散浓烟时，只见在火花缤纷的烈焰中，现出口咬黑发，在铁索中使劲挣扎的身子，活活地画出了地狱的苦难，从我到那位大力武士，都感到全身的毫毛一条条竖立了起来。 又一阵风吹过庭园的树梢，——谁也意想不到：漆黑的晴空中突然发出一声响，一个黑魆魆的物体平空而下，像一个大皮球似的，从房顶一条直线跳进火烧的车中。在朱漆的车靠手的迸裂声中，从后面抱住了闺女的肩头。烟雾里，发出一声裂帛的惨叫，接着又是第二声、第三声——所有我们这些观众，全都异口同声地一声尖叫。在四面火墙的烈焰中抱住闺女肩头的，正是被系在坝州府里的那只诨名良秀的猴儿。谁也不知道它已偷偷地找到这儿来了。只要跟这位平时最亲密的姑娘在一起，便不惜跳进大火里去。 nineteen 但大家看见这猴只不过一刹那的功夫。一阵像黄金果似的火星，又一次向空中飞腾的时候，猴儿和闺女的身影却已埋进黑烟深处，再也见不到了。庭院里只有一辆火烧着的车子，发出哄哄的骇人声响，在那里燃烧。不，它已经不是一辆燃烧的车，它已成了一支火柱，直向星空冲去。只有这样说时，才能说明这骇人的火景。 最奇怪的，——是在火柱前木然站着的良秀，刚才还同落入地狱般在受罪的良秀，现在在他皱瘪的脸上，却发出了一种不能形容的光辉，这好像是一种神情恍惚的法悦①的光。大概他已忘记身在大公的座前，两臂紧紧抱住胸口，昂然地站着，似乎在他眼中已不见婉转就死的闺女，而只有美丽的烈火，和火中殉难的美女，正感到无限的兴趣似地——观看着当前的一切。 " ①佛家语，意思是从信仰中得到的内心喜悦。 奇怪的是这人似乎还十分高兴见到自己亲闺女临死的惨痛。不但如此，似乎这时候，他已不是一个凡人，样子极其威猛，像梦中所见的怒狮。骇得连无数被火焰惊起在四周飞鸣的夜鸟，也不敢飞近他的头边。可能那些无知的鸟，看见他头上有一圈圆光，犹如庄严的神。 鸟犹如此，又何况我们这些下人哩。大家憋住呼吸，战战兢兢地，一眼不眨地，望着这个心中充满法悦的良秀，好像瞻仰开眼大佛一般。天空中，是一片销魂落魄的大火的怒吼，屹立不动的良秀，竟然是一种庄严而欢悦的气派。而坐在檐下的大公，却又像换了一个人似的，脸色一阵青一阵白，口角流出泡沫，两手抓紧盖着紫花绣袍的膝盖，嗓子里，像一匹口渴的野兽，呼呼地喘着粗气…… twenty 这一夜，大公在化雪庄火烧车子的事，后来不知从谁口里泄漏到外边，外人便有不少议论。首先，大公为什么要烧死良秀的闺女？最多的一种说法，是大公想这女子想不到手，出于对女子的报复。可是我从大公口气中了解，好像大公烧车杀人，是作为对屏风画师怪脾气的一种惩罚。 此外，那良秀死心眼儿为画这屏风，不惜让闺女在自己眼前活活烧死，这铁石心肠也遭到世间的物议。有人骂他只知道绘画，连一点点父女之情都没有，是个人面兽心的坏蛋。那位横川的方丈，就是发此种议论的一人，他常说：“不管艺道多高明，作为一个人，违反人伦五常，就该落入”阿鼻地狱。 " 后来又经过一月光景，屏风画成了，良秀马上送到府上，请大公鉴赏。这时候，恰巧那位方丈僧也在座，一看屏风上的图画，果然狂风烈火，漫天盖地，不觉大吃一惊。然后扮了一个苦脸，斜睨着身边的良秀，突然把膝盖一拍：“闹出大事来了！”大公听了这话时，脸上的一副苦相，我到现在还没有忘记。 以后，至少在堀川府里，再没有人说良秀的坏话了。无论谁，凡见到过这座屏风的，即使平时最嫌恶良秀的人，也受到他严格精神的影响，深深感受到火焰地狱的大苦难。 不过，到那时候，良秀已不是此世之人了。画好屏风的第二天晚上，他在自己屋子里悬梁自尽了。失掉了独生女，可能他已无法安心地活下去了。他的尸体埋在他那所屋子的遗址上，特别是那块小小的墓碑，经过数十年风吹雨淋，已经长满了苍苔，成为不知墓主的荒冢了。 (April 1918) Translated by Lou Shiyi