Chapter 18 Pupa (6)

June 13 at 19:50 in the evening It was a dark and windy night. Shang Xiaodie came to the famous library of S University.Since this is the place where Zhong Gao Xuan and Chun Yu met, many girls ran to the deepest bookshelf, waiting for the imaginary Gao Xuan to appear.I haven't been to the library for a long time. This old Soviet-style building is as strong as a World War II fortress.In the huge reading room, there were only a few cramming people, biting the bullet to read some materials. The ancient Chinese test in the afternoon was completely incomprehensible, only poetry filling and dictation were not forgotten.It's probably time to turn on the red light. If you fail the exam tomorrow, you really dare not go home.Xiaodie took a thick stack of reference books, and felt dizzy after reading only a few pages.She took off her glasses and could see better.

After watching it drowsily for ten minutes, my mind was still thinking about the red women's shoes on the green skull. She turned to a journal of the Chinese Department, with a table of contents on the white cover, one of which was called—— Bai Shuang——the article of "Ghost Beauty", wouldn't it have the same name and surname?It was published in May last year, which happened to be when Bai Shuang had an accident.At the beginning of the article, it was impressively written "The author Bai Shuang, a master's student majoring in ancient Chinese in our school, tutor so-and-so".

Bai Shuang wrote at the beginning—— "Butterfly Secret Book", according to legend, was first written in the Warring States Period, and became an early cheat book for Taoist practice in the Eastern Han Dynasty.Finally, in the "Jingkang Change", the palace accompanying Song Huizong was burned by the golden men.From the date of its birth, this ancient book has been full of legends, and has become an unsolved mystery for the speculation and imagination of future generations.The author has been fascinated by the legend of "The Secret Book of Butterflies" since childhood.Since entering S University to study, the author has been fortunate to read a lot of books, and determined to find the trace of "Butterfly Secret Book" from the vast historical materials.After studying in recent years, the author consulted hundreds of out-of-print ancient books, and went to Hubei, Henan, Anhui, Yunnan and other provinces and regions for on-the-spot investigations, and was finally able to decipher the mystery of "Butterfly Secret Book" and interpret its thousand-year code.The results of the research in this article are only the opinion of the author, and I am asking for corrections from teachers and classmates.

Bai Shuang elaborated on the oldest source of "The Secret Book of Butterflies". "Liezi", "Yuejueshu" and other ancient books of the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties all mentioned this book.In the early Taoist classics, there is also a record of "Butterfly Secret".Anyone who has read it will remember Zhang Lu who separatized Hanzhong and finally surrendered to Cao Cao.This person is not an ordinary warlord, but a ruler who combines politics and religion. He once secretly enshrined the "Butterfly Secret Book".Because this book has magical power, it can bring the dead back to life, and it can kill people thousands of miles away invisible.When Cao Cao's army approached Hanzhong, it was the "Butterfly Secret Book" that reminded Zhang Lu and prompted him to surrender.This is what Bai Shuang saw from an out-of-print ancient book of the Song Dynasty. The author is a descendant of Hanzhong believers, and the book contains witchcraft spells from the Three Kingdoms era.

"Butterfly Secret Book" was most popular during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, when Taoist metaphysics was flourishing, and literati were both obsessed with stone powder and read secret books.It is said that Ruan Ji, Ji Kang and the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest loved this book very much. Lu Yun of "Lu Shilong in the Clouds" also regarded this book as a treasure, and he was able to recite the whole text verbatim in a literati gathering.After the chaos in the north, the scholar-bureaucrats fled south one after another, but some people still kept this book.Tao Yuanming wrote an article on "The Secret Book of Butterflies", but unfortunately it has long been lost.

Although Tang Taizong Li Shimin believed in Taoism, he believed that "The Secret Book of Butterflies" was a book of evil witches and ordered the whole country to burn the book.Many precious "Butterfly Secret Books" were reduced to ashes, and only a few orphans were buried deep in the ground at the risk of death.It is said that when Li Bai traveled all over the world when he was young, he once read this book in a secret place.It may also be that this book gave a lot of inspiration to the young Li Bai and created a generation of poets in later generations. During the Northern Song Dynasty, "The Secret Book of Butterflies" became even more precious.In the end, the only solitary copy remained, which was collected by the romantic emperor Song Huizong at a high price.The emperor, an artist who is proficient in calligraphy and painting, is deeply infatuated with this book, but he doesn't want to ruin his country and family. "The Secret Book of Butterflies" also lost its soul in the fire for nine days. So far, it has finally become an eternal mystery, which can also be regarded as a great loss of Chinese culture.

The protagonist of "Butterfly Secret Book" is a butterfly with a unique nickname - "ghost beauty".This kind of butterfly is extremely weird, with a beautiful woman on one side of its wings and dry bones on the other.Dongyi, Baiyue, Sanmiao and other ethnic groups once regarded this butterfly as a god, and many mysterious legends are also related to it.But in the eyes of the pre-Qin Huaxia people, the "ghost beauty" is a great omen, just like seeing an owl in the middle of the night, if you see a "ghost beauty", it also heralds death. Before many battles in the Spring and Autumn Period, the generals of the defeated side would see it Or dream of a "ghost beauty", and this general will also die on the battlefield. For example, when Wu and Yue fought for hegemony, Xi Shi was sacrificed to the king of Wu. Gou Jian easily destroyed the mighty state of Wu.In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period, a hundred schools of thought contended that some scholars wanted to capture the "ghost beauty" for their own use, but they lost their lives in vain.

Bai Shuang also consulted a large amount of foreign language materials, and asked someone to translate some ancient Greek and Latin, and found that there was also a "ghost beauty" in ancient Greek mythology. According to legend, she was the incarnation of the beauty Helen in the Trojan War.Even the famous legend of Oedipus killing his father is related to it.After the Middle Ages, Christianity spread widely, and "ghost beauty" was considered heresy and banned. Historians believe that the so-called "ghost beauty" is just a fantasy of the ancients, which entrusts human beings' longing for beauty and fear of death.But in 1929, a Belarusian doctor discovered the "ghost beauty" butterfly in China, and was recognized by the international academic community, confirming that "ghost beauty" was a new species.It can be seen that the ancient legends are not unfounded, but the environment changed later, most of the "ghost beauties" have become extinct, and only a few survived in some secret mountainous areas.

As for the original author of "The Secret Book of Butterflies", Bai Shuang also did in-depth and meticulous research, and the result was surprising. The instigator turned out to be Zhuang Zhou! "Butterfly Secret Book" is the last work of Zhuang Zhou's life.On a summer morning, he witnessed the "ghost beauty" butterfly.He was deeply infatuated with "ghost beauty", and even regarded it as his beloved woman.He frantically collected information and legends about this kind of butterfly, and exhausted his painstaking efforts to complete the world-famous book "The Secret Spectrum of Butterfly", until he died at the age of forty-five...

Shang Xiaodie was dumbfounded seeing this, Bai Shuang was not only astonishingly courageous, but also able to draw such an earth-shattering conclusion from incomplete materials with logical reasoning. At nine o'clock, the library will close.Hastily put the materials back on the bookshelf, and ran away from the gloomy library. The moon is hidden in the dark clouds, and the wind is whistling tonight. Is it the howling of "ghost creek"? Girls' bedroom. Tian Qiaoer has already fallen asleep, Song You and Man Li are both endorsing.Xiaodie, who just came back from the library, opened the textbook and felt her head was big, as if the words had turned into butterflies and flew out.

She climbed to the top bunk and turned on the computer, and logged into the "Butterfly Cemetery" website for the fourth time.Following the previous steps, she successfully entered the home page, skipped over the map and street signs, and entered the dark corridor.Open the final gate, where the computer crashed last time, but this time it entered smoothly. The song sounded again in the earphones—she was startled slightly, and she could almost read the lyrics silently... With the ups and downs of Youyou's singing, a picture gradually appeared on the screen. It was a black and white photo with clear light and shadow. I don't know which year it came from. In the photo was a European and American woman with light hair, pale face, deep eyes, big and bright, With a straight nose, the corners of the mouth are slightly raised gently, and there seems to be a small dimple. She is truly a peerless Western beauty, a beauty that is hard to find in Hollywood today. That's right, it's her! Shang Xiaodie's eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets - the Western woman on the screen is exactly the photo on the last tombstone of the "Butterfly Cemetery". She will never remember this face wrongly, the face inlaid on the tombstone, the face she saw at the bottom of the dark water, the face hidden behind the fog of time. "Who are you?" Fluttershy is almost pressed against the screen, maybe some ghost in the air will hear it. She clicked on the photo again, and the web page turned into a paragraph of text, and the charming singing continued. The text is arranged like an epitaph, and it reads in bold letters— did you hear the songDid you catch the lyrics?Do you know what this song is called? Butterfly Cemetery - the song is called. And the voice you hear now is sung by that Western woman just now—her name is Elena. Yes, it is this song - the lyrics on the screen, accompanied by the singing voice from the earphones, as if the beautiful woman seventy years ago was sitting tenderly beside Shang Xiaodie, singing this song in a low voice. head. Just when she was almost intoxicated by the singing, the music in the earphones suddenly stopped, leaving only a cold female voice—— "Shang Xiaodie...Shang Xiaodie...Shang Xiaodie...Shang Xiaodie..." Who is calling her? It's clearly the sound coming from the webpage, could it be that the singing voice is alive?Did he even know her name? She is coming-- Wearing a gorgeous colorful robe, with arms outstretched and large sleeves hanging down.The long flaxen hair was combed neatly behind his head, and his snow-like face was studded with a pair of translucent eyeballs.Her bright skirt and sleeves are as dazzling as the wings of a butterfly. This is no longer a girls' dormitory, but a dark and empty stage.A beam of strong light shone on her and Xiaodie, their eyes were relatively silent.The soft and soothing singing, like the scream of a butterfly, passed through the huge and empty stage and lifted the roof of the theater!The sharp sunlight shoots down from the top of the head, sprinkled on the dress of colorful butterflies.It was only then that she discovered that on her left sleeve, there was a beautiful face embroidered, while on the right sleeve was a terrifying skull.The sun was shining directly on the clothes, burning a raging flame, and the whole person was burned to ashes... Shang Xiaodie suddenly trembled and returned to the upper bunk in the bedroom.She quickly exited the "Butterfly Cemetery" website, unplugged her earphones and lay down on the bed. But that calling continues. June 14 at 8:20 am Fluttershy woke up. On Wednesday morning, she was alone in the dorm.God!There is another exam at nine o'clock! Too bad - she dressed as quickly as possible, rushed out of the dormitory to wash up in a hurry, ate a cake and ran to the examination room. Fortunately, I was not late, but I felt dizzy as soon as I got the paper.After not answering a few questions, my eyes couldn't see clearly again, and I almost fell down on the desk with my head.I can only take off my glasses, but I see the last essay question - talk about your understanding of "Zhuang Zhou's dream of a butterfly". dream butterfly?In an instant, her heart skipped a beat, and she remembered the article she read in the library last night, and it immediately appeared in front of her eyes—a strange butterfly flew across the beautiful mountains and rivers, and the philosopher who was puzzled by countless propositions walked out of the hut and saw a pair of The beauty and the wings of the skeleton—this is a legendary encounter, the most wonderful moment in the history of human thought. So, without thinking, she took up a pen and wrote—— The famous "Zhuang Zhou's dream of a butterfly" comes from "Zhuang Zi Qi Wu Pian".Zhuang Zhou turned into a butterfly, from a complicated life to a simple happy life, this is the sorrow of a butterfly.However, according to the ancient book "The Secret Spectrum of Butterflies", Zhuang Zhou didn't just dream of butterflies, but saw butterflies in reality - the most mysterious "ghost beauty" in ancient times.The moment Zhuang Zhou saw the "ghost beauty", he was shocked by the miracle between heaven and earth, and through it he realized the true meaning of the universe.This feeling cannot be described in words, as if trekking through the desert for decades, finally seeing the legendary oasis clear spring.He would rather turn himself into a butterfly and become this magical "ghost beauty", dancing among the mountains and rivers, forgetting the worries of the world, and understanding the beauty of all things.Therefore, Mr. Zhuang Zhou wrote "Butterfly Dream" in a few words, feeling: "I don't know if Zhou's dream is a butterfly and the butterfly's dream is Zhou and?"Perhaps, Zhuang Zhou should have been a "ghost beauty" instead of being born in this troubled world. After writing this long paragraph, Shang Xiaodie felt much more relaxed, as if her whole body was going to float, and flew out of the window to look for the mountain flowers in the field. Maybe she was too tired from dreaming recently, and she actually fell asleep in the classroom.It wasn't until the invigilator patted her on the shoulder that she realized that she was the only one left.She saw that the paper seemed to have been filled, so she handed in the paper without opening the skylight. As soon as she walked to the corridor outside, she saw Lu Shuangshuang approaching, and she immediately stepped forward to say hello: "Shuangshuang!" But I didn't expect Shuangshuang to pass her by without saying a word with a cold face.Xiaodie turned her head in embarrassment, this was the first time Shuangshuang ignored her, really angry with her?She remembered yesterday morning, when Shuangshuang saw her holding hands with Zhuang Qiushui, but—— Xiaodie didn't know how to explain it, and when she was feeling restless, the ringtone of the text message suddenly rang.She saw Zhuang Qiushui's intrusion—— Do you have time now?Please come to Building 19, I have something to tell you. June 14 at 10:40 am Shang Xiaodie came to Building 19 of S University, where many professors' offices are located.Zhuang Qiushui was waiting for her downstairs. When he saw her, he felt a little strange at first sight. He looked her up and down: "What happened yesterday, I'm sorry that I dragged you into the water." "Ah, I don't think about that anymore." She lowered her head and said humbly, "At least we are all safe now." He was still a little nervous, biting his lips with his teeth: "Yes, I hope we can all be safe and stay away from the legendary bad luck." "You came to me to talk about this?" "No, I have contacted Professor Ning of the Department of Biology. Meng Bingyu once asked the professor about the 'Butterfly Cemetery'. I made several phone calls, and Professor Ning finally agreed to meet me." As he spoke, he came to the office on the fourth floor. There was only the professor in the room. He was in his fifties, tall and thin, his hair was almost white, and he faced the visitor solemnly. Before Zhuang Qiushui opened his mouth to introduce, Professor Ning said: "I already know that a corpse was fished out of the small river. Today the forensic doctor has confirmed that the corpse is Meng Bingyu." Zhuang Qiushui also lowered his head as if he had done something wrong: "I'm sorry, it was the two of us who discovered her." "For a year, I hoped that she didn't die, but went to a remote place to hide and conduct secret research on a certain project - but I didn't expect that she was always by our side, slowly rotting at the bottom of the water... "Professor Ning smiled wryly, looked at Xiaodie and said, "Sit down first, little girl." "Professor, did Meng Bingyu come to consult the 'ghost beauty' a year ago?" Zhuang Qiushui asked again. "I valued Meng Bingyu very much, so I told her everything I knew—'Ghost Beauty' scientific name is 'Kashinfu Ghost Beauty Swallowtail', and Kashenfu is not a biologist, at best he is only an insect lover, his full name is Ivan Nikolaevich Kashenfu, who fled to China after the October Revolution in Soviet Russia, opened a White Russian hospital in Shanghai. According to his paper published in the authoritative American Journal of Biology, he said that during his trip to Yunnan in 1929 , In a mysterious valley full of flowers, several 'ghost beauty' butterflies were found. Kashenfu sent the 'ghost beauty' specimens to the United States, which caused a sensation all over the world. In 1935, he died mysteriously." "Professor, have you told Meng Bingyu anything else?" "Others—I also told her a past event, twenty-three years ago." "Please tell us too, because it concerns us—" Xiao Die wanted to say that she had entered the "Butterfly Cemetery", but she was afraid that the professor would feel frightened.It can be seen that the professor is very soft-hearted, especially unable to refuse a girl's request, which is probably why Meng Bingyu asked him for help. "Twenty-three years ago, I was still a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Entomology at the University of S. A colleague who was a few years younger than me was young and smart, and he wanted to solve the mystery of the 'ghost beauty'. His girlfriend is also in our institute. The three of us are very familiar with each other. Unexpectedly, one day, he really found the 'ghost beauty' and made a specimen. We compared the specimen he found with the information of 'Kashinf's ghost beauty swallowtail'. After careful comparison, it is confirmed that it is the 'ghost beauty'!" "How did you find out?" "He said he found it in a secret place - Butterfly Cemetery." Hearing these four words, Shang Xiaodie's eyelids jumped a few times. Zhuang Qiushui kept himself calm: "Professor, how did he find the Butterfly Cemetery?" "He didn't want to tell anyone, and he didn't tell the truth in front of the leaders. He made up a reason for accidentally discovering it. He said that there was a price for entering the 'Butterfly Cemetery', and he didn't want others to find it there. I was very angry at the time , think he is too selfish, one person monopolizes the research results, and wants to enjoy the secret resources forever. The discovery of "ghost beauty" at least proves that it has not become extinct. opportunity to study abroad.” "Oh, how lucky he is!" The professor let out a long sigh: "Everyone in the institute envies him and even envies him—except his girlfriend. Of course, she is the happiest, and she can get married if she has a house. However, the night before the wedding of the two, he unexpectedly He died in his own room—the skin all over his body was rotten, and his death was extremely tragic and unbearable. The cause of his death has not been investigated yet.” Zhuang Qiushui finally couldn't take it anymore, he seemed to see his rotten appearance, he turned his head to look at Shang Xiaodie and said, "Did you hear that? This is the end of going to the 'Butterfly Cemetery'!" Xiao Die was also frightened silly, is Zhuang Qiushui blaming her?Didn't he enter the "Butterfly Cemetery" just because of her?Zhuang Qiushui has every reason to hate her! Professor Ning continued: "There is something even more strange - the 'ghost beauty' specimen has been kept in the safe that he set up for the experiment. When we opened the safe later, we found that the specimen had been reduced to a pile of ashes." "Sounds like a spell!" "It was so unbelievable from the beginning to the end. When I saw him take out the 'Ghost Beauty' specimen, I had a vague feeling that something was covering his face. I told Meng Bingyu about this just to warn her and let her She dismissed the idea of ​​going to the Butterfly Cemetery." But Shang Xiaodie thought of another person: "He died on the eve of his wedding, so what about his fiancée?" "At that time, they all got their marriage certificates." The professor pointed to the glass plate of the desk, "There are their photos here." There is a black and white photo under the glass plate, which is a group photo of three young people.The person on the left is thin, tall, and a little older, and he can tell at a glance that he is Professor Ning back then.The handsome young man in the middle wore a hairstyle that was popular at the time.On the right is a young woman with a pair of big, bright eyes, beautiful eyes looking forward, graceful and graceful, resembling a movie star in the 1980s. Zhuang Qiushui stared blankly at the woman in the photo, and exclaimed in a low voice, "It's so beautiful!" And Xiaodie was completely dumbfounded, her lips trembled for a long time but she couldn't speak. "The one on the left is me, of course. The one in the middle is the protagonist of the story just now, my best friend when I was young. The one on the right is his girlfriend and also my colleague. Her name is Zhu Die, Zhu of Zhu, Die of Butterfly." "Zhu Die? Zhu Yingtai's butterfly? A nice name." Professor Ning nodded: "Later, Zhu Die left our institute, and there was no news of her anymore." Suddenly, Xiaodie pushed Zhuang Qiushui away and rushed out of the office. She ran all the way to the bottom of the building before being grabbed by Zhuang Qiushui's arm. He shouted loudly, "What are you going to do? Isn't it rude in front of the professor?" Shang Xiaodie was panting violently, with a cold and weird expression, which made Zhuang Qiushui feel a little bit of fear.He slowly let go of her hand, and found that there was an evil spirit in the girl's eyes. Finally, she replied in a daze: "Just now, the woman in the photo—is my mother."