Aoba Office

"I took the painting into my grandmother's yard and unfolded it in front of my grandmother. The ghost in the painting really broke free from the painting paper, jumped out, and merged directly into my grandmother's body. My grandmother was crazy. After shouting for a while, other servants were attracted. Her most loyal old servant who had been with her all her life collapsed on the ground, unable to move. They were all killed by the ghost. At that time, the same scar appeared on my face. I looked at the painting again and saw that the female ghost was still on it, so I burned it and asked the monk to chant sutras for salvation... Of course my father would not bypass me. Zhuangzi in the countryside. Later, when my father took his younger brothers and sisters to work as officials in other places, I ran away from home and traveled around the world, making a living by painting for people. After many years, I returned to my hometown and found out about the ancestral home in my home. The land and land were all sold, and no one knew what was going on with my father and his family. However, word spread about my family’s house and it became a local haunted house.”

Ye Zheng shook his head sadly and closed his mouth.

"That female ghost..." The thin man became curious.

Ye Zhengyi said: "It's an old story. The female ghost was my grandfather's aunt. She followed my grandfather before my grandmother came in. After my grandmother came in, she abused her. I My grandfather begged an official from another place and left home without looking back. After the foreign minister died, my grandmother and my great-grandparents begged him several times before he returned home. However, she did not dare to mention it again when my grandfather was alive. After my grandfather passed away, she immediately took action. After many years, she finally found the tomb in the outer room and sent someone to remove her. She was beaten to death. You should have guessed that at that time, my mother went straight to the main courtyard where she was kidnapped and tortured. That kind of delirious ghost only knew resentment and revenge. After my mother died, she was supposed to be reincarnated. But I painted my mother... In the end, it was me who killed my stepmother."

Ye Zhengyi lowered his eyes, "My ability... is an ominous ability. After I left home, I stopped painting people and started painting landscapes and scenery. I thought it would be fine, but who knew it would still bring disaster to people. Later I thought about quitting painting, but at that time I had become famous, and no one knew about the disaster, so I couldn't be completely free. I then thought, I might as well change my mind. Painting beauties. There are always places of burial in mountains and rivers, but there are countless supernatural things. Painting beauties saves a lot of trouble. People who ask for paintings may not have seen the figures in the paintings. It’s up to me to decide what kind of eyebrows I want, which gives me freedom.”

"You didn't paint landscapes again?" I asked.

Ye Zhengyi laughed and said, "That's naturally impossible. I'm also curious. After knowing my own abilities, I will no longer give paintings to others. But I have nothing to do. When I travel around the mountains and rivers, I will give all my paintings to others. After seeing the paintings, I burned most of them myself, but a few of them were too terrible...the places where I painted them were too sinister, and I couldn't even bury them on the spot or throw them into the river. Among them... people heard after my death that my paintings were more famous than before. Some people collected them, and some went through great trouble to find my paintings and destroy them. "

"What about Liu Che?" I asked again.

Ye Zhengyi was silent for a moment, "I didn't lie to you. I didn't lie to you completely. I was indeed killed by Liu Che, held hostage by Liu Che, and forced to paint. I was caught by a high-ranking official at the time and forced Painting. They wanted to present the beauty to the prince. I didn’t know who came up with the idea, so they found me. I was already famous for painting beauties at that time, and they made up some nonsense. , saying that she was the most beautiful woman I had ever painted, which attracted a lot of people's attention. After I painted the painting, I was detained by them for a period of time. No matter how I said that I was willing to cooperate, they did not believe me. I thought I was about to be killed when I encountered a fire. This was probably God's will. The fire didn't burn me to death and allowed me to see my abilities. This time, I died in the sea of ​​fire.

"The person who set the fire was Liu Che. He was a relative of the emperor at that time. Relying on his status, he chased chickens and dogs everywhere, just like a devil in the world. He set the fire because he wanted to distract the guards and go see the beauty. , didn't know I was being held nearby. When I died, I didn't even notice it. He found me and dragged me out. I hid and heard the fire. They said they found my body. I was so confused that I didn't hear what those people said after that. They probably mentioned my identity, which made Liu Che aware of it. Xinqi, regardless of the beauty, dragged me back to his house, interrogated me, and then forced me to paint..."

Ye Zhengyi lowered his head, "I didn't know his identity at that time. I just had resentment and drew things in my memory... Liu Che naturally encountered ghosts. His home was haunted and there was no peace. He was very smart. , I immediately realized the problem. After he burned my paintings, I thought he would hate me and try his best to destroy me. Unexpectedly, he became interested and asked me to draw other things. Those ghosts asked me about the origins of the ghosts. I had a good time getting along with him. At that time, I didn't know what to do next, so I just ate and drank at his house and was thinking about my next destination.

"At that time, I had already painted the Road to Hell and also painted ghost missions. Naturally, I knew that after death, people should go to the underworld and wait for reincarnation. But I didn't want to just die like that. I made an excuse for myself and wanted to go and have a look. My family had been apart for many years. I asked Liu Che to help, and he agreed. I think I was afraid... I was afraid of seeing the female ghost, my grandmother, and my stepmother and mother after entering the underworld... They may still be waiting in the underworld. I don't want to meet them, but I want to know how they are doing.

"I didn't wait for Liu Che to find the news about my family. He brought back the news that the beauty had been taken away by the prince. Not many days later, news came that the prince was ill. The beauty was killed by the emperor's rod, and the beauty was sacrificed. Several guys were also imprisoned. The emperor still wanted to find me. Liu Che asked if I had done anything... I had seen the painting that day and there was nothing wrong with it. There was no ghost. ...I don’t know what went wrong. I thought that this matter had nothing to do with me, but Liu Che took me to see the prince, and when he came back, he asked me to paint again. There is a ghost howling in the painting.

"Neither of us knew what happened. I didn't want to meddle in this business, but Liu Che took it seriously. Looking for an opportunity, he took me to walk through the entire prince's residence and drew them all before he determined the problem. The source turned out to be on that piece of land. Huangquan Road... happened to pass through that piece of land. Judging from the scene in the painting, this Huangquan Road was newly rerouted. Liu Che took me along to find the place where the ghosts lived. point."