Chapter 60 Chapter 60 Walking with the People in the Painting Qingming Festival is a major festival, ...

When Zhao Yuan just passed the imperial examination, people from all over the village came to Dai Lancao to offer their congratulations. Most of them were praising her for her good fortune, saying that her husband passed the imperial examination at such a young age and that his career would surely be smooth sailing.

She said nothing, just listened quietly, occasionally revealing a gentle smile.

That day, Zhao Yuan brought back a hanging painting with great interest.

The painting shows a peach forest in full bloom, with pink and white petals spreading out layer by layer like clouds and rosy clouds. In the center of the forest is a very beautiful woman, holding a branch of peach blossom in her hand, gazing out of the painting with smiling eyes.

Zhao Yuan's eyes were filled with enthusiasm, and he sighed, "Beauty is like a flower in the clouds," and he said that the bookstore owner said, "As long as you call the beauty's name softly every day for a hundred days, and then pour Baicao wine on the painting, the beauty will walk out of the painting."

It’s just that Mr. Zhao was very impatient. After admiring the painting for a few days, he threw it aside. After all, compared to the cold paintings, the lady from Pingkangfang is more gentle and considerate.

Besides, who knows whether what the owner of Shu Si Si said is true or not? It’s just another trick to trick people into buying paintings.

He stayed in Pingkangfang every day, and Dai Lancao was the only one left at home. She cleaned the house and took care of the flowers and plants, and occasionally did some needlework to supplement the family income.

The house they lived in was not big. Dai Lancao occasionally washed clothes in the small yard surrounded by a fence, or sewed in the main room. When she felt lonely, only the painting hanging on the wall kept her company, and she would talk to the painting.

She would make candied date rice dumplings for the Dragon Boat Festival and cold food porridge for the Cold Food Festival. She would take a portion and put it in front of the painting, talking to Zhenzhen in the painting, talking about the peach blossoms in spring and the lanterns on the Lantern Festival, imagining what kind of joy it would be to go on an outing, and then imagining what an exciting and spectacular activity playing polo would be.

The days passed by uneventfully. Occasionally, Dai Lancao would feel that Zhenzhen in the painting was smiling at her, but that should be an illusion caused by the candlelight at night. Sometimes, Zhao Yuan rarely came home and would order her in a harsh tone to go to the kitchen and cook a bowl of vegetable dumplings. Then he started mumbling as usual.

He said she was not pretty enough and that her family background was ordinary, as her parents were just ordinary farmers. He was already a Jinshi, and that she would be of no help to him in his official career. He completely forgot that he had nothing when she married him.

When he drinks too much, he will beat people.

She sat on the ground and was beaten, looking at the painting blankly. The person in the painting looked at her with pity.

Like the Bodhisattvas who show compassion to the world that we see at Buddhist ceremonies.

The day she gave birth was a rainy summer day. Dazzling lightning streaked across the sky and deafening thunder roared, as if the sky was torn apart and the rain was heavy. The rain flowed down the eaves, forming curtains of water, and puddles soon formed on the ground.

Zhao Yuan was still not at home. She took the copper coins she earned from sewing work and went to Pingkangfang again.

She lay on the bed in excruciating pain, unable to get up to find a midwife. Finally, she had to raise one arm and ask for help from the beauty in the painting.

The owner of the bookstore said that if you talk to the painting every day and call her name, after a hundred days, the beauty in the painting will naturally come down.

The scene in front of her eyes became increasingly blurry. Before Dai Lancao fainted from the pain, she felt someone holding her hand.

Zhao Yuan had a son, a healthy son. He was very happy because it was something that could carry on the family line. What made him even happier was that a beauty suddenly appeared in his house, with towering hair and a beautiful face, who was much prettier than the old woman at home.

It's just that there's an empty space in the painting of a beauty hanging in the hall.

Dai Lancao was also very happy. Finally, someone was willing to talk to her. Someone helped her organize the threads when she was embroidering, and helped her carry water when she was tending to flowers and plants.

She felt that this kind of life was very good, and even if Zhao Yuan never came back, she could still live happily and happily.

But Zhao Yuan came back and insisted on taking Zhenzhen as his concubine. How could he let go of this beautiful woman with bright eyes, swaying pearl hairpins, and elegance and composure in her steps?

She knew that her husband was a man of low character and not a good match for her, so she wanted to let Zhenzhen go quietly. Zhenzhen stopped her and said, "Sister, although killing people is against Tang law, what if we lock this despicable man in the painting forever..."

The voice was as gentle as ever, as if it was poisoned.

The peach blossom wine with poison added had to be simmered over low heat. Dai Lancao wanted to go into the fire room alone, but the kind-hearted and nosy Madam Duan came over to help enthusiastically and sprinkled a little peach blossom wine on her skin.

Fortunately, the amount was not large, and I didn't drink it, but just splashed it on my skin, so it should only cause hallucinations for a short while. Moreover, this peach blossom wine will not have any effect on other people.

Because the medicine is the tears of Dai Lancao, and these tears were brought to her by Zhao Yuan, not Duan Zhiwei.

A cup of peach blossom wine was brought to Zhao Yuan. Looking at Zhenzhen who was charmingly trying to persuade him to drink, Zhao Yuan took the glass and drank it all without any suspicion.

The wine tastes sweet and refreshing when it enters the throat, but with a hint of bitterness. Just as he was about to drink again, he suddenly felt a black screen in front of his eyes, lost consciousness and fell to the ground.

Zhenzhen stopped smiling, raised her toes and kicked him with a cold face, but when she found that he really didn't move, she left with peace of mind. The painting with only the peach blossom forest was still hanging on the wall.

After an unknown amount of time, Zhao Yuan slowly woke up and found himself in a beautiful peach blossom forest.

It must be April in this peach forest. The peach blossoms are in full bloom and the fallen petals are scattered all over the ground like rain. In the distance, there is a gurgling stream, singing birds and fragrant flowers, it seems like a fairyland on earth.

What surprised him even more was that there were many beautiful ladies in the forest, some were dignified and graceful, playing the piano and reciting poems, some were like Hu Ji, with blonde hair and blue eyes, dancing the Hu Xuan, but all of them had peerless looks and sweet smiles. Even the most famous Yuchun Tower in Pingkangfang could not compare to this one.

Although Zhao Yuan had doubts in his heart, he thought he had accidentally entered the Peach Blossom Spring. But soon ecstasy replaced this doubt.

He spent the whole day playing and having fun with these women, drinking and having fun, living a happy life, as if he had forgotten all the troubles in the world. However, after one day and then two days like this, he suddenly felt a little confused. Although these ladies were very gentle and considerate to him, they never mentioned anything about the outside world, and no one had ever tried to leave this peach blossom forest.

Zhao Yuan then realized something was wrong and suddenly woke up from his dream. It was dark all around, and he thought there was no light in the room, so he called Lancao impatiently and asked her to come in and light the light and bring in a bowl of fragrant tea.

But no one responded.

Zhao Yuan stood up and walked around, and the sky suddenly became bright.

He found himself still lying alone under the peach tree, with no one around him. He got up in a hurry and looked around, but the peach blossoms were still there, but the beauty was nowhere to be seen. He was terrified and tried to walk out of the peach forest, but found that no matter how he walked, he would return to the same place. At this moment, he suddenly remembered the cup of clear but bitter peach blossom wine, and the strange smile on Zhenzhen's face after she persuaded him to drink the wine.

He fell to the ground and looked up at the azure sky, only to find that the white clouds in the sky were as still as a painting, and even the flying birds were frozen in mid-air. He reached out his hand with trembling hands to touch the peach tree beside him; the trunk was as thin as paper and the petals had no fragrance at all.

Only then did he realize that he had been tricked by the two women and locked in a painting. He became the person in the painting and was trapped in this illusory peach blossom forest forever.

In the distance, there seemed to be a burst of light laughter. He looked up and seemed to see the faces of Dai Lancao and Zhenzhen. The clouds of sorrow and sadness on Dai Lancao's face were gone. She looked at him indifferently, just like the Emperor Wu who was sitting proudly on the dragon throne.

Zhenzhen smiled charmingly and coldly, as if mocking his stupidity and fickleness.

Zhao Yuan slumped on the ground, looking at the sky full of peach blossoms, his heart filled with despair and regret. He begged for mercy from the two women, knelt down and begged for forgiveness, but was only met with ridicule.

Finally, he fell to the ground with tears on his face, thinking that he could never escape the cage in the painting and could only live out the rest of his life alone in this illusory beauty.

The next morning, the light was dim and it had rained all night. The hot spring villa was shrouded in a thin layer of spring mist, and the villa's maid carried a pot of boiling water to the Zhao family's room.

Seeing the principal wife and the beautiful concubine who were competing for favor the day before yesterday actually chatting and laughing while drawing their eyebrows in front of the bronze mirror, the little maid felt quite puzzled. However, it was not appropriate to pry into the privacy of the guests, so she just said, "The water is coming."

The little maid put down the water, looked up at the painting on the wall, and exclaimed: "This painting is so lifelike."

Dai Lancao and Zhenzhen smiled at each other: "Of course, this is my husband's masterpiece...

The blank space in the peach forest is suddenly filled by a man sitting under a peach tree, but he is looking outside the painting with hesitation. His hair is not filled with ink, but seems to be embroidered with black ink silk thread, one strand at a time, just like a real person.

If you look at it for too long, you will feel that the painting is breathing. The little maid couldn't explain why, but she found it quite strange, so she quickly bowed, turned around and ran away.

Duan Zhiwei slept uneasily last night. She kept dreaming of a peach blossom forest that looked like a pink rosy cloud. She yawned while sitting on the ox cart, and then opened the curtain to look outside at Yuan Shenji who was riding steadily forward on his horse.

.

Duan Zhiwei yelled, "I was scared to be alone in the peach forest. I looked for you everywhere but couldn't find you. This is all your fault."

Yuan Shenji found the two dark circles under her eyes quite funny and consoled her, "It's all my fault. When we get back to Chang'an, let's go to the Yunlai Restaurant in the East Market and prepare a table of good food and wine to apologize to Madam Duan, okay?"

Duan Zhiwei nodded happily, but was slapped by Aunt Duan with a round fan.

The people in the car were laughing and talking, and soon they arrived at the gate of Chang'an City. They had to go through a checkpoint to enter the city. Yuan Shenji rode his horse to the front first. There was a long line of cars waiting to enter Chang'an City.

After sitting in the car for a long time, Aunt Duan felt that her waist was not feeling well and she kept shouting that she wanted to get off the car to take a breath. Duan Zhiwei had to jump out of the car to help her.

When he turned around, he found that Mrs. Lancao and Zhenzhen, whom he met yesterday, also got out of the carriage at the back. Duan Zhiwei thought about going over to say hello.

The two of them were discussing something in a low voice with their backs to her.

"Let's find a pair of scissors and tear it into pieces later, so as to avoid unnecessary trouble." Zhenzhen said

Dai Lancao hesitated: "After all, we have been married for many years, I can't bear it..."

Zhenzhen continued to persuade: "The painting is indeed lifelike, even the little maid in the villa can see it. If it is seen by someone with ulterior motives..." She heard footsteps and stopped talking.

Duan Zhiwei didn't know what they were talking about, so she just took over the conversation: "Good morning, ladies." She changed the subject and said shamelessly: "I opened a small restaurant in Xuanyangfang. If you need cold food porridge, mugwort rice balls, etc. during the Cold Food Festival and Qingming Festival, just come to me. We are all acquaintances, and I will definitely give you a discount."

Just as Dai Lancao was about to speak, Zhenzhen interrupted, "I've made a note of this. I will definitely go during the Cold Food Festival and Qingming Festival... What Madam Duan said makes a lot of sense..."

In her hand, she seemed to be holding a scroll wrapped with a red ribbon. Zhenzhen smiled and said, "Qingming is a big festival. It is the most suitable time to burn something for the deceased..."