Chapter 18: The Origin of the Play Painting, Zhang Xuan's Poisoning...
The woman in the painting is named Sang Yue. She was originally the daughter of a merchant, but due to a change in her family, she wandered from place to place and ended up performing in Mingxi Pavilion. By chance, she obtained a painting, and she looked remarkably like the woman in the painting. In her shock, she entered the painting.
The world in the painting was originally just a vast expanse of white, like a lonely traveler walking in the snow.
It was a serendipitous encounter, but Sang Yue had endured many years of hardship and witnessed countless dramas of joy and sorrow, love and hate in the brothel. In the quiet of the night, when no one was around, Sang Yue would always enter the painting and softly recite what she had seen and heard each day.
Gradually, the world in the painting began to change under her influence.
By the time the painting transformed into the black and red stage of today, Sang Yue had become somewhat mad.
Just then, Shen Dongsheng, the son of the governor, who was known throughout Danzhou as the young master who refused to settle down and pursue a career, and who devoted himself to studying the art of esoteric arts, approached her.
Shen Dongsheng told Sang Yue that as long as there is a suitable medium, the power in the painting can reshape the physical body of the dead. Once the spirits have a physical body, they will return and be reborn.
Does Sang Yue have anyone she wants to resurrect?
Of course, she had experienced love and resentment all these years, even falling into prostitution. She had also experienced the pain of unrequited love and had regrets and hatred for one person. Coincidentally, that person died a year before Shen Dongsheng appeared.
Shen Dongsheng was a practitioner of the unorthodox path and often practiced evil arts. He taught Sang Yue that if there was no suitable body, she should use the principles of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements to piece together the limbs of several people, little by little, and soon a suitable "substitute" could be created.
Therefore, with Shen Dongsheng's guidance and protection, Sang Yue became increasingly quick and aggressive in her actions. She would kill people in Mingxi Pavilion during the day and carry the painting to commit murders at night, killing five people in a row.
Their original plan was to wait until the Ghost Festival on the fifteenth of July to use the power of the painting to reshape their physical bodies and summon the spirits of the dead.
Unfortunately, this morning, she fought with Qin Tianshu and entered an illusion. It's pitiful and lamentable that she has seen countless loves and hates in the painting, and even her own can be shattered in an instant.
However, she was really unlucky. When she returned to Mingxi Pavilion, she was seen by Qin Tianshu again. Later, a really powerful swordsman came. Sang Yue had no choice but to let him and the chicken in his arms enter the painting, while she took the painting and fled to Shen Dongsheng's Sishi Courtyard.
And so it went, and that's how it happened.
It's pitiful and lamentable that the painting's origin is unknown, yet the woman in it bears such a striking resemblance to Sang Yue, who has inexplicably endured so much suffering in real life... If it's fate, it seems strange; but if it's man-made, then it's terrifying indeed.
Qingyu: "Why would Shen Dongsheng be so kind as to help Sang Yue? What body piecing together a substitute... I think the person Sang Yue wants to resurrect is just an experiment."
Wen Chuan sighed silently, "If it doesn't work, then the murderer in these past few days is Sang Yue... If it does work, then Sang Yue's body is exactly the body of the woman in this painting..."
Sang Yue is looking for a substitute, but judging from the appearance of the person in the painting, Sang Yue is the real substitute, the substitute that Shen Dongsheng wants.
Qin Tianshu: "I've seen this play. Shen Dongsheng just wants to use her... In the end, she's just an ordinary person who has been assimilated by the power in this painting, suffering in evil and going mad in good."
Zhang Xuan paused for a moment, then pieced together the clues and roughly understood their meaning. In the end, it was Shen Dongsheng who orchestrated all of this, wanting to revive the woman in the painting... and Sang Yue was just a target for the experiment.
"Speaking of which, who exactly is the woman in this painting...? Why did Shen Dongsheng want to resurrect her? And Sang Yue, who does she want to resurrect?"
Qin Tianshu smiled, never mentioning the scene involving Sang Yue, but instead sighed and replied to Zhang Xuan's words, "Sang Yue's life has really been difficult, but..."
The scholar paused, then looked at the distant stage and sighed, "Perhaps she has already forgotten the past, but her obsession remains. She lives in this painting every day with all the dramas, experiencing love and hate simultaneously, joy in the morning and sorrow in the evening."
Wen Chuan looked around and saw that as Qin Tianshu opened his fan, the huge stage in the painting began to gradually disappear, and even the dark night began to brighten.
"Let's go outside."
Qin Tianshu nodded, fanning himself, and took one last look at the unconscious Sang Yue. As the wind rose, a tear welled up in the eyes of the woman lying unconscious on the ground, and her body vanished with the wind.
She also has a pair of bright eyes just like the woman in the painting.
Reality has brought you much suffering, so I will let you, along with this stage, quietly dissipate into this painting.
"Snap—" The scholar closed his fan, and a flash of white light appeared.
Four people and a chicken emerge from the painting.
The night was still, and the bright moon hung high in the sky.
In the study of Sishiyuan, Shen Dongsheng was still unconscious on the ground, the painting scroll still hanging in its original place. A breeze blew by, and everything seemed like a dream.
It was already past midnight.
Wen Chuan looked at Qing Yu, who had been silent since earlier, and asked softly, "What's wrong?"
Qingyu remained silent, only managing a forced smile and a shake of her head. Before she could speak, Zhang Xuan suddenly knelt down beside her—
"puff--"
Wen Chuan caught him in time. Zhang Xuan spat out a mouthful of blood, his lips quickly turned purple, and his face turned deathly pale.
Everyone was startled. Qingyu called out to Zhang Xuan a few times, but Zhang Xuan's eyelids twitched, and he looked like he was in great pain.
Qin Tianshu frowned, leaned closer to check Zhang Xuan's pulse, and his expression suddenly turned strange. "Did you eat something?"
What did you eat?
The group paused for a moment, realizing that only Qingyu's pastries seemed to be available...
Provoked by these words, Zhang Xuan's already pale face turned even more ashen. Wen Chuan was still supporting him as he struggled to stand up straight, trembling as he looked at Qing Yu, his eyes filled with disbelief, his purple lips moving erratically—
"You...you poisoned me..."
Qingyu: "?"
Good lad, you know how to talk.
She laughed angrily, "Do you believe I'll strangle you right now—"
"you……"
Zhang Xuan frowned, and before he could catch his breath, he fainted.
Qingyu: "..."
Wen Chuan and Qin Tianshu reluctantly helped him to lie down on a chair.
To be honest, the scene was starting to get increasingly strange.
In the middle of the night, a group of people were in the study. Shen Dongsheng was lying on the floor, his white clothes covered in blood and ash. Zhang Xuan was lying on a chair, his face and mouth were blue and purple. A small, yellowish-brown chick was nestled on Zhang Xuan. (Wen Chuan gave the vegetables to Qin Tianshu, Qin Tianshu took the vegetables and gave them to Qing Yu, who then threw them onto the unconscious Zhang Xuan.)
The white-clad youth and the blue-clad scholar exchanged bewildered glances, while the red-clad girl remained expressionless.
Qingyu glanced at Zhang Xuan, who was on the verge of death, and took a deep breath. "Stop me! I really want to strangle him right now."
She's eloquent and can also get dizzy; how could she possibly let him down?
"Alright," they knew, of course, that it couldn't be Qingyu's pastries. Wen Chuan suppressed a laugh to comfort her, then looked at Qin Tianshu.
"What exactly did you just reveal?"
The scholar spread his hands helplessly, "He's been poisoned, probably in the painting, no, to be precise, in the play."
Zhang Xuan was rescued within the squares of the painting, indicating that he failed to break free from his assigned role. It's just unclear how he managed to sabotage the play; the play is over, but he's still stuck on the square "stage."
The case is solved; it wasn't her. Qingyu smiled.
Qin Tianshu sighed, "You should have said so earlier. You fanned away the stage in the painting with a single fan, and now this poison is hard to cure."
"Gurgle—"
Cai Cai bounced around on Zhang Xuan, slapping her paws on the boy's legs as if trying to get a sense of presence.
Qin Tianshu chuckled at the chicken's antics. "But it shouldn't die anytime soon. If all else fails, we can put Zhang Xuan inside the painting and wait for us to find a way to detoxify him."
Wen Chuan frowned. He recalled the Zhang Xuan he had seen on the square stage. Perhaps something was wrong with him back then, but he could hold on in the painting and couldn't hold on the moment he returned to reality.
"Ugh—" Qingyu glanced at the sky and the messy scene in the study and felt exhausted. "Let's not talk about that anymore. What do we do now?"
Wen Chuan: "Get Zhang Xuan to the guest room first. As for this person..."
He paused, then looked at Shen Dongsheng, who was lying unconscious on the ground. "Just let him stay unconscious here."
“Don’t go to the guest rooms,” Qingyu said. “Let’s find an inn.”
Wen Chuan glanced at her, then nodded, "Okay."
Qin Tianshu: "What, you've finally realized we're in the governor's mansion now?"
—You beat up someone's son on their turf and still have the nerve to stay at their house.
Qingyu chuckled, then stepped over the unconscious Shen Dongsheng on the ground, gently took the painting of the beauty from the wall, and read aloud as she rolled it up.
"What's so special about this? Zhang Xuan's father is more powerful than the governor. He's based in Danzhou, and when something happened in his house, it was his son who did it. If we really go into a proper discussion, the governor would be more than happy to have us living here."
Look at Zhang Xuan now, his face is whiter than a ghost, and his lips are so purple they're almost black. This trip to Danzhou has left the child more bruised than a corpse.
Qingyu: "Besides, we stayed here for the past two days."
Qin Tianshu clicked his tongue twice, thinking, "I didn't expect this little knife cultivator to have such a high status."
He paused, then said, "Why don't we just stay at the governor's mansion now? It's close by anyway."
Cai Cai: "Coo coo coo".
Qingyu scooped up the vegetables, while the girl, holding the chicken and the painting, said bluntly, "No, I don't want to live here."
There was no other reason; she just didn't want to.
Qin Tianshu: "..."
He then looked at Shen Dongsheng on the ground and said, "This man is the governor's son. Is it really okay to just leave him here like this?"
Wen Chuan: "It's been a chaotic night, but the governor hasn't made a move."
He and Qin Tianshu lifted the unconscious Zhang Xuan. Qin Tianshu, a scholar, used force, but Wen Chuan turned his head away, too lazy to pay attention to him.
Qingyu couldn't help either. Holding Cai Cai and the painting, the four of them and the chicken prepared to leave.
Before leaving, Qingyu glanced at Shen Dongsheng lying on the ground.
The young man had a handsome face, but he lay on the ground in a sorry state, his eyes closed, lifeless.
"What a pity," Qingyu thought.
The girl in red lowered her head, smiled helplessly, and stepped out of the room with her friend.
The group swaggered away from the Four Seasons Courtyard.
...
The following day, early morning, at the Governor's Mansion, Sishi Courtyard.
Shen Mushan quietly looked at Shen Dongsheng, who was unconscious on the bed.
It was a face that resembled his own, but unfortunately, his eyes were closed, his lips were cracked, his face was pale, and he looked extremely weak.
Shen Dongsheng lay on the ground all night and was not discovered until the morning when the servant of Sishi Courtyard woke up.
"My lord, the young master appears unharmed, but his internal organs are somewhat damaged. He also suffered from being exposed to the wind all night, leaving him severely depleted. He will probably need to rest and recuperate for a while."
The physician respectfully replied that Shen Dongsheng's health was not good to begin with, and if he did not rest properly after this injury, he probably wouldn't live for many more years.
He lowered his head, not daring to look up at the dignified man in the blue robe. He could only ponder in his heart that the governor and the young master were never father and son. For the time being, he could only pick out the appropriate nice words to say.
Shen Mushan: "Understood, go and get the medicine."
The physician breathed a sigh of relief and quickly withdrew.
Shen Mushan stood silently in front of the bed. The butler stepped forward and said a few words.
"Sir, should we go to the inn and bring Young Master Zhang back now?"
Shen Mushan listened calmly, feeling that the absurdity was somehow reasonable.
"Send someone to retrieve the painting."
He paused for a moment, then said, "Never mind, have them bring the painting to see me."
The butler should have left, but Shen Mushan stayed in the room and stood there for a while longer.
He looked down at Shen Dongsheng's thin face and suddenly smiled. He looked so much like himself when he was young, so much so that it disgusted him.
The man waved his robe and left the room without a trace of regret.
Something that couldn't even be preserved in a painting.
...
Sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating the lifeless young man on the bed.
Shen Dongsheng gently opened his eyes, his gaze completely unwavering.
Soon, it will be the fifteenth.
It's ridiculous that his father couldn't keep his son.
He couldn't keep the painting.
As he thought this, he gently closed his eyes.
But it doesn't matter, he's not as cold-blooded as his father, so he'll definitely get what he wants.
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