Chapter 40 hell change

A character like Grand Duke Juechuan not only did not exist in the past, but I am afraid that in future generations, he will be unique.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 Juchuan Mansion first. The grandeur and luxury are beyond what people like us can imagine.There are a lot of discussions outside, comparing the Grand Duke's personality with Qin Shihuang and Sui Yangdi, it 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 returned home from a plum blossom banquet in Da Nei, 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; Knives - there are very few anecdotes like this.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. 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 mansion, 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 nicknamed him 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 cute appearance, he was given this name. 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, Lianghide's daughter sent a letter tied with plum branches to the master (ancient Japanese nobles tied a flower branch on the letter when delivering letters.), walked through the corridor, and saw the little monkey Yoshihide fleeing from the corridor door. , probably my leg was injured, so I couldn't climb up the colonnade, so I ran limping.Behind it, the little boy caught up with a stick and shouted: "Little thief who stole oranges, let's see where you are going to escape." Seeing Liangxiu's daughter, she hesitated for a moment. 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!"

The little boy was chasing 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 pleaded again, and smiled softly: "It's called Liangxiu, and it's my father's name. How can a daughter ignore my father's disaster?" Finally, he said so, forcing the young master to give up. "Hehe, please forgive me, then let it go." After barely speaking, he threw away the stick and went back to the porch door. 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 ribbon.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 princess's side, and every time the princess traveled by car, she could not do 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, he seemed to have met a devil, and his face changed. .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. His temper is stingy, greedy, disregarding face, lazy, and mercenary—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 would yell loudly: "It would be strange if the gods and Buddhas painted by my Liangxiu would bring disasters to me!" Therefore, even his disciples were afraid that he would be implicated 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 only goes so far.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, Jingang 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 an extremely deep love for only one person. 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 as a child. "Please release my daughter!" He asked honestly and bluntly.Not to mention other mansions, the people who serve Grand Duke Jue Chuan, no matter how much you love him as Lao Tzu, 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 might as well live 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. 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 with zigzag black 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 crowns and belts, ladies with heavy makeup, monks with Buddhist beads, civil servants and warriors with high-toothed clogs, 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, pierced by a spear in the chest and hanging upside down like a bat, is probably the newly appointed Guosi (local administrator.).In addition, some were beaten with steel whips, some were crushed under heavy stones, some were hung on the dust 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. 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 car curtain blown by the hellish wind, there is a maid in the shape of a funeral concubine, covered in silk, with her long hair loose in the flames, her snow-white neck 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. Aye, that's it, just to paint this scene, a terrible 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. 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 Liangxiu became famous in the art of painting because he had made a wish to the God of Fortune (fox fairy). Several gloomy 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. 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, One by one 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've been having nightmares lately." These words were normal, the disciple was still adjusting the paint, and replied slowly: "Is that so?" But Yoshihide showed a quiet look, which was unusual for him, and solemnly entrusted him, "Please sit by my head when I take a nap." It was a dream, but he didn't think it was strange, so he replied casually: "Okay." 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, not like talking, the voice was very unpleasant. At the beginning, I only made a sound, and gradually turned into intermittent speech, as if I fell into the water, and said: "What, tell me to come... Where are you coming from... Where are you coming from? To hell, 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 the 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 and saw the sunshine outside, he couldn't help breathing 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." Hearing the master's order, the disciple hurriedly took off his own clothes and became 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 that the master was going to kill me because of his mental illness." It turned out that Liangxiu had already caught fire when he saw his disciple hesitate, and he took out a pair of iron chains from somewhere, and held them in his hand. He swayed, and suddenly threw himself on the disciple's back, twisted his arms, tied him up with an iron cable, tightened the head of the iron cable, and tightened the bound iron cable deeply into the disciple's muscles. With a clang, his whole body Pushed to the floor. 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 flickering light, which flowed to the tip of the disciple's nose. When I saw it, I was frightened: "Snake!...Snake!" The disciple screamed, and the blood in his body seemed to freeze suddenly. 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, dropped the paintbrush quickly, bent down, grabbed the snake's tail, and lifted it upside down.The upside-down snake raised its head and curled up its body, but it still couldn't reach his hand. "This bastard made me fail." 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 round eyes like amber, like a cat. 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.People say that he is blessed by the great god of fortune, one of the reasons is 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 seemed not to hear, sticking out his tongue to lick his red lips, and pointed at the bird with his chin: "Look, she looks 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.Yoshihide took 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, and it is also called an owl. It was given to me by a pommel horse hunter a few days ago, but there are not many such honest ones." 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. 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, and fled to the corner of the room, squatting down in front of the door wall.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. In the meantime, there is nothing else to talk about.If I had to say it, it would be that for some unknown reason, the stubborn old man suddenly became emotionally vulnerable 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 was painting "Five Interests of Life and Death". what. But while Yoshihide was devoting himself to painting the screen like a madman, on the other hand, his daughter, for some reason, gradually became melancholy.Even those of us servants can see that she is holding back tears and sorrow.The fair-skinned and shy girl, who was originally sad, now had drooping 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 out the tip of their noses, and howling like crazy.I was three parts surprised and seven parts angry, afraid that it would tear my new pants.At first I planned to kick the monkey away and walked forward, but then I remembered how the monkey had been tortured by the young master, and it seemed that something might have happened, so I walked about three or four zhang in the direction where 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. 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 Hou'er still grabbed the sleeve of my blue silk shirt tightly, and refused to leave.At this time, my legs wobbled a few times, and I retreated towards the door.Suddenly, he stumbled and slammed his back against the door.There was no way to escape, 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, looking at this beautiful woman in the moonlight, and at the same time heard the footsteps of another person, who was running to the distance in a hurry, wondering 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 closed 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 on its neck jingling, kowtowing to me repeatedly. 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 bonnet, his face was darker than usual, and he knelt respectfully in front of the Grand Duke's seat, and said in a loud voice: "Since I was ordered by the Grand Duke to make the screen, I have been concentrating on writing day and night. I have made some achievements, and I can roughly complete it." "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 is generally completed, there is one point that cannot 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 fall into 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." "Have you seen the ghosts and pawns of hell painted over there?" The Grand Duke continued to ask without listening to Yoshihide. "I've seen people bound by iron chains, and sketched people being chased by strange birds. It can't be said that I haven't seen criminal souls, and those ghost soldiers..." Liangxiu showed an ugly wry smile, and said: " I often see those ghost soldiers in my dreams. The bull-headed and horse-faced, three-headed and six-armed ghost king, silent clapping hands, silent mouth opening, torment me in my dreams almost every day... I want to draw but can’t. It’s not this one.” The Grand Duke was surprised when he heard this, and stared at Yoshihide fiercely for a while, then frowned and asked: "Then what are you going to draw?" "I'm going to draw a betel nut cart (a kind of ox cart with mats as a canopy, used exclusively by nobles) in the middle of the screen, falling from the sky." Yoshihide said, looking up at the Grand Duke's face.Usually when he talked about painting, he always seemed to go crazy, but this time his eyes were even more frightening. "In the car was a luxurious funeral concubine, her hair was disheveled in the raging fire, she showed an expression of extreme pain, her face was smoked with black smoke, her brows were tightly frowned, she looked at the hood of the car above her head, and grabbed The car curtain is closed, as if to resist the sparks falling from the rainstorm. There are ten or twenty raptors around the car, with big sharp beaks, surrounding the car... But, I can’t draw the concubine in this car.” "Then... what are you going to do?" The Grand Duke seemed to be a little interested, and urged Yoshihide to ask.Yoshihide also seemed to be on fire, trembling his red lips, and repeated it again as if talking in sleep. "I can't draw this scene." Then, he gritted his teeth again: "I request a car made of betel nuts to be burned in front of my eyes, if possible..." The Grand Duke's face darkened, and he suddenly laughed, and then he said while holding back his laughter: "Ah, just do as you like, there's nothing wrong with it." At that time, I was serving the Grand Duke, and I felt that there was a murderous look in the Grand Duke's words, foaming at the mouth, faint throbbing of the temples, seemed to have infected Yoshihide's madness, not like usual.After he finished speaking, it was like an explosion again, and there was a rattling sound in his voice, and he laughed. "A car made of betel nuts was set on fire, and there was a luxurious woman in the car, wearing the clothes of a funeral concubine, surrounded by flames and black smoke, and the woman in the car was about to be burned to death...You can imagine such a scene , really deserves to be the number one painter in this dynasty, it's amazing, it's amazing!" Hearing the Grand Duke's words, Yoshihide suddenly turned pale, his lips trembled as if he was panting, his body softened, and he hurriedly put his hands on the ground. "Thank you for your kindness." He whispered in a low voice that could only be heard, and saluted deeply.Maybe it was because of the scene he imagined, the Grand Duke said it, and it appeared in front of his eyes.Standing aside, I felt that Yoshihide was a pitiful person for the first time in my life. One night a few days later, according to the promise, the Grand Duke summoned Liangxiu and asked him to watch the scene of burning betel nut carts.But it wasn't in Juechuan Mansion, the location was a place called Huaxuezhuang, a mountain villa on the outskirts of the capital, where the grand duke and his sister used to live.In this villa, a fire scene was set up. This Huaxue Villa is no longer habitable, and the vast garden looks desolate, probably this kind of unoccupied place was specially chosen.There are also some gossip about the deceased grand duke and sister. It is said that whenever there is no moon in the dark night, ghosts often appear here, wearing crimson skirts, and moving on the corridor without walking on the ground.It is quiet here even during the day, and the sound of running water has a sinister air. Occasionally, like a shooting star, a few egrets will pass by, like strange birds, creepy, no wonder there are such rumors. It just so happened that there was no moon at that night, and the sky was pitch black. Under the oil lamps of the main hall, the Grand Duke was on the steps under the eaves, wearing a large robe embroidered with light yellow purple flowers and bordered with white satin, sitting high on a couch, surrounded by Five or six attendants waited respectfully.One of these attendants is said to have eaten human flesh during the Mutsu War a few years ago, and he can pull off antlers with both hands.He wears a bellyband around his waist, hangs a big knife on his body, and stands majestically under the eaves—the lights flicker in the night wind, flickering, like a dream, full of a terrifying atmosphere. There was a betel-nut cart in the yard, and the high roof of the cart pressed the deep darkness.The cart was not steered, the shafts were on the side, and the brass hinges shone like stars.Although it was spring, it was still bitterly cold.The blue curtains with fringed edges on the car were tightly covered, and I didn't know what was inside.A group of servants around the car held pine lamps in their hands and held them up carefully, taking care not to let the pine smoke blow down to the eaves. Facing the steps, Yoshihide knelt on the ground a little farther away, still wearing the lilac-colored hunting jacket and the crumpled black bonnet, under the high pressure of the starry sky, he looked particularly thin.Behind him, squatting a man in a black hat and hunting jacket, who may be one of his disciples.The two of them crawled in the dark, and when I looked from the eaves where I was standing, I couldn't even tell the color of their clothes. It was nearly midnight, and in the darkness of the surrounding forests and springs, there was no sound. Everyone watched the scene holding their breath, and only heard the night wind blowing, bringing the smell of oily smoke.The Grand Duke sat silently for a while, watching this strange scene, and then moved his knees forward: "Yoshihide!" A sharp voice called out. I don't know what Yoshihide said, but I only heard murmurs in my ears. "Yoshihide, according to your request, I will show you the scene of setting fire to the car." As the Grand Duke said, he glanced around. At that time, everyone around the Grand Duke smiled knowingly at each other.Still, maybe that's just how I feel.Yoshihide tremblingly raised his head, looked at the steps, seemed to speak, but restrained himself. "Look carefully, this is the car I use every day, you know it... Now I am going to burn the car down, so that you can see the scenery of the flame hell with your own eyes." When the Grand Duke said this, he gave the people next to him a wink, and then said in a gloomy tone: "There is a criminal woman tied up in the car. Once the car is burned, her skin will be scorched and her flesh will be turned into ashes. She will suffer the final punishment." Suffering, one life to death. This is the best model for you to draw screens. You have to watch carefully to see her snow-skinned face, scorched in the fire, and her hair covered with black hair, turning into a torch and flying in the air .” The Grand Duke stopped talking for the third time. He didn't know what he was thinking. He just shook his shoulders and smiled silently: "It's rare to see such a scene in several lifetimes. Well, let's open the curtain and ask Liangxiu to look at the woman in the car." At this time, a servant, holding a pine torch high, walked to the side of the car, and stretched out his hand to lift the curtain.The sparkling pine light became redder and brighter, shining into the car impressively.In the narrow compartment, a woman was cruelly locked up with iron chains... Ah, no one could believe their eyes anymore.The dazzling palace robe embroidered with cherry blossoms, the lustrous black hair hanging down, and the golden hairpin inserted obliquely, emitting a beautiful golden light.Although the clothes have changed, isn't that petite figure, fair neck, and quiet and virtuous face the daughter of Liangxiu?I almost cried out. At this time, the samurai standing opposite me jumped up quickly, put one hand on the handle of the knife, and watched Yoshihide's movement.Yoshihide may have been in a coma after seeing this scene, but his squatting body suddenly jumped up, stretched out his arms, and ran towards the car.As mentioned above, we are far away from each other, so I still can't see the expression on his face clearly.In an instant, Yoshihide's face, which had suddenly faded, seemed to have a mysterious force that made him jump up suddenly, and appeared in front of my eyes in the deep darkness.At this time, only heard the command of the Grand Duke: "Light it up!" The betel-nut cart that locked the girl was already on fire amid the torches thrown away by the servants. The flames gradually surrounded the hood, the purple tassels on the hood door were blown up by the wind and fire, and thick smoke rose from under the hood, which appeared white even in the dark night.The car curtains, the armrests, and the copper hinges on the roof exploded, and sparks flew up like rain... The scene was very gruesome.What's even more frightening is that thousands of red tongues spewed out along the handrail of the car, and the flames rose violently, like a red sun falling on the ground, like a sudden burst of sky fire.I, who almost screamed just now, can only open my mouth wide and stare at this terrifying scene.But what about Yoshihide as a father...I still can't forget Yoshihide's face at that time.When he ran towards the car in a daze, he suddenly saw flames rising, he stopped immediately, his arms were still stretched forward, his eyes seemed to swallow the scene at once, and he watched closely the flames wrapped in the flames. In the car, the whole body is reflected in the red flames, even the stubble can be clearly seen, the round eyes, frightened mouth, and trembling face muscles vividly describe his life. The horror, sorrow, and panic in the heart, even the robber who is about to behead on the execution ground, even the heinous soul who is dragged to the palace of the king of hell, will not have such a frightening color.Even the mighty warrior turned pale at this moment, looking at the Grand Duke tremblingly. But the Grand Duke bit his lips tightly, smiled viciously from time to time, and stared at the scene without blinking.In the car—ah, at this time, I saw the situation of my daughter in the car. Even today, I really don’t have the courage to talk about it.She raised her pale face smothered by thick smoke, and covered her long hair burned by flames. She suddenly turned into a torch, and a beautiful palace robe embroidered with cherry blossoms—what a tragic sight!Especially when the night wind blows away the thick smoke, I can only see the black hair biting his mouth in the flames of colorful sparks, and the body struggling hard in the iron chain, vividly depicting the suffering of hell, from me to the strong warrior, I felt that the hairs all over my body stood up one by one. Another gust of wind blew through the treetops in the garden—no one expected it: there was a sudden noise in the dark sky, and a black object fell out of nowhere, like a big ball, and jumped into the burning car in a straight line from the roof .Amid the cracking sound of the vermilion lacquered car against the hand, he hugged the girl's shoulder from behind.In the smoke, there was a tearing scream, followed by a second, and a third—all of us in the audience screamed in unison.The one hugging the girl's shoulders in the flames of the four walls was the monkey nicknamed Yoshihide who was tied up in the Horikawa Mansion.No one knows that it has sneaked here.As long as he was with this girl who was usually the closest, he would not hesitate to jump into the fire. But everyone saw the monkey only for a split second.When a spark like a golden fruit flew into the sky again, the figures of the monkey and the girl were buried deep in the black smoke and could never be seen again.There was only one burning car in the courtyard, making a horrible roaring noise, burning there.No, it is no longer a burning car, it has become a pillar of fire, rushing straight to the stars.Only in this way can this appalling spectacle of fire be explained. The strangest thing is——Yoshihide standing numbly in front of the pillar of fire, Yoshihide who just fell into hell and suffering like hell, now has an indescribable brilliance on his wrinkled face, which seems to be A trance-like fayue (Buddhist language, meaning the inner joy gained from faith.) light, probably he has forgotten that he is in front of the Grand Duke's seat, with his arms tightly wrapped around his chest, standing proudly, as if In his eyes, he no longer sees the daughter who died in a tact, but only the beautiful raging fire, and the beautiful woman who was martyred in the fire, who is watching everything in front of him with infinite interest. The strange thing is that this man seems to be very happy to see his own daughter dying.Not only that, it seems that at this time, he is no longer an ordinary person, his appearance is extremely mighty, like the angry lion seen in the dream.He was so terrified that even the countless night birds that were frightened by the flames and flew around him did not dare to fly close to his head.Maybe those ignorant birds saw a circle of light on his head, like a majestic god. Birds are like this, not to mention us servants.Everyone held their breath, tremblingly, without blinking a glance, looking at Liangxiu who was full of joy in the Dharma, as if looking up at the Buddha with Open Eyes.In the sky was the roar of a ecstatic fire, and Yoshihide standing still had a majestic and joyful demeanor.But the Grand Duke sitting under the eaves seemed to be a different person, his face turned blue and then white, foam flowed from the corners of his mouth, his hands were clutching his knees covered with purple flower embroidered robes, his throat was like a thirsty beast, whistling. gasping for breath... That night, the matter of the grand duke burning the car in Huaxuezhuang was leaked out from someone later, and there were many discussions among outsiders.First of all, why did the Grand Duke burn Yoshihide's daughter to death?The most common theory is that the Grand Duke wanted the woman out of revenge against her.But I understand from the tone of the Grand Duke, it seems that the Grand Duke burned the car and killed people as a punishment for the bad temper of the screen painter. In addition, Na Liangxiu was so determined to paint this screen that he did not hesitate to let his daughter be burned alive in front of his eyes. This hard heart was also criticized by the world.Some people scolded him for only knowing painting, not even a little bit of father-daughter affection, and being a villain with a beastly heart.The abbot of Hengchuan was one of the people who made such comments. He often said: "No matter how good the art is, as a person, if you violate the five principles of human relations, you should fall into the hell of Avici." After another month, the screen painting was completed, and Liangxiu sent it to the mansion immediately, asking the Grand Duke to appreciate it.At this time, the abbot monk happened to be present, and when he saw the picture on the screen, he was really surprised that the wind and fire were blowing all over the sky and covering the earth.Then he put on a sad face, squinted at Yoshihide beside him, and suddenly slapped his knee: "Something serious has happened!" When the Grand Duke heard this, I still haven't forgotten the bitter look on his face. From now on, at least in Horikawa Mansion, no one will speak ill of Yoshihide anymore.No matter who has seen this screen, even those who hate Yoshihide the most, are affected by his strict spirit, and deeply feel the great suffering of the flame hell. However, by that time, Yoshihide was no longer a person of this world.The night after he finished painting the screen, he hanged himself in his own room.Having lost his only daughter, he may no longer be able to live with peace of mind.His body was buried on the ruins of his house, especially the small tombstone, which had been covered with moss after decades of wind and rain, and became a barren mound of unknown owner.