"But it still needs one last confirmation," Mu Yiran said. "Before the complete confirmation, I won't say it for the time being, so as not to distract you from your thinking—if you have such a thing as thinking."
Ke Xun: "Although you mocked me again, I'm still not angry. The last confirmation you said depends on the death status of the next person to die?"
"Yes. Although it is cruel, there is no other way." Mu Yiran was expressionless.
"The next one might be me." Wei Dong sighed.
"Don't talk nonsense, Tong Yan Wuji." Ke Xun kicked him and turned to Mu Yiran, "But I don't think we can wait like this, we have to do something."
"Look for the seal!" Wei Dong cheered up.
"You can't look around like a headless fly," Ke Xun looked at Mu Yiran, "Brother Xiaomu, please give me a direction."
"Call me Mu Yiran." Mu Yiran glanced at him coldly, "To find the seal, you need to combine the content of the painting."
Ke Xun: "Last night, you said that this painting is a scene of white affairs in the countryside. We have searched the mourning hall this morning, and we have not found anything that looks like a signature or seal."
Mu Yiran: "This shows that the mourning hall is not the subject that this painting wants to highlight."
Ke Xun: "Apart from the mourning hall, the more suspicious place is the cemetery just now."
Mu Yiran: "I have seen it, and there is nothing suspicious."
Ke Xun: "Will it be in that old man's house?"
Mu Yiran: "It's unlikely, after all, if it happens repeatedly that there are no dead people the night before, everyone will often gather in that room, and the probability of the seal being discovered will be very high, which is almost equivalent to answering the question. The paper is right under your test paper."
Ke Xun: "This kind of good thing has never happened to me, PASS. It's not a mourning hall, it's not a cemetery, it's not an old man's house, where else could it be? ."
Mu Yiran: "The places that stand out on the picture are not necessarily the places with far-reaching meaning."
Ke Xun raised his hand and pointed to the front: "Could it be those three locust trees?"
Outside the yard of Li's house, in the direction of the north, there are three old locust trees.
Mu Yiran's eyes flickered slightly: "According to the customs in some areas, the locust tree is a shady tree, called a ghost in the wood, and it is not suitable to be planted near the Yangzhai. In fact, the ancients loved the locust tree more, such as the word 'Huai Ding'. , refers to the position of the three princes, 'Huaichen', refers to the emperor's palace, and in some places, the locust tree is a symbol of auspiciousness."
Ke Xun scratched his head: "So this family planted three locust trees for promotion and fortune? It makes sense."
Wei Dong: "Let me interject, I think, there is a misunderstanding in your thinking. Although the world in this painting is also a world, it is first a 'painting' and then a 'world'. Even if it is painted It is a scene in the real world, you should also know that a work of art requires artistic processing, unless the painting is a hyper-realistic painting, otherwise, in order to pursue artistic effects, some artistic modifications must be made to the picture.”
Seeing that Mu Yiran looked at Wei Dong in a strange way, Ke Xun explained, "Dongzi is an artist, and he has something to do with art."
"So in your opinion, what are the decorations added for artistic effect?" Mu Yiran asked Weidong.
"Trees." Wei Dong pointed at the three old locust trees, "As you said just now, some places think locust trees are unlucky, while others think locust trees are auspicious. This is the real situation, but if it is used in When it comes to painting, I don't think the artist has to consider the different customs of each region, he just needs to match the details according to the content of the painting.
"Look at these three locust trees, why aren't they planted elsewhere, but next to the Li family's house where there is a mourning hall? If the locust tree here means promotion and fortune, wouldn't it be contrary to planting next to the Li's house
"Look at this tree again, even if it is really auspicious in this place, it will not be highlighted in the whole painting, otherwise it will conflict with the theme of Bai Shi, if it must be painted for the sake of realism , it is enough to draw one, why draw three
"Obviously, painting three trees is to highlight, to render, and even to metaphor.
"You continue to look at the shape of these three trees, with their claws and claws, strange shapes, like normal trees? Of course, it is not impossible for a wild tree to grow into such an ugly appearance, but why didn't the artist draw according to the normal state of the tree? , do you want to draw it in an abnormal way
"Obviously ×2, this kind of painting is for artistic rendering or metaphor. Since it is artistic rendering, it is impossible to render its auspicious meaning, so it can only be another meaning of it."
"...Yin wood, the ghost in the wood." Ke Xun said.
Mu Yiran was thoughtful and looked up at the three old locust trees.
"No matter what the meaning is, you have to look it up anyway." Ke Xun said, striding towards the three locust trees.
When I got closer, I realized that these three locust trees were taller and terrifying than when they were standing from a distance. They should have been gray-brown bark. But it was a dark gray color, and the darkness was pressing down on the top of his head.
"This tree is too tall, it's more than 20 meters tall, right?" Wei Dong looked up, "How can I find it?"
Mu Yiran also raised his head, his eyes wandering, as if trying to think of a way, but he saw that Ke Xun didn't say a word, rolled up his sleeves, walked to the tree, jumped up, grabbed the trunk with both hands, and turned his eyes like a monkey. It's halfway up the tree.
"Let's get to know the top students of the tree climbing program in the sports department." Wei Dong gave Mu Yiran Amway his own family.
Mu Yiran glanced at him lightly, stepped under the tree, and suddenly stretched out his arms, his movements were light and dexterous, and he even climbed up the tree in an instant.
"..." Wei Dong was stunned and looked up at Ke Xun, who was about to climb to the top: Brother, I can only help you here.
Ke Xun was not surprised that Mu Yiran could also climb trees, so he knew that this was a trainer just after he pressed himself down last night.
"You won't be happy when you see it," Ke Xun sat astride a branch of the tree, waiting for Mu Yiran to climb up, "What do you do with your own hands when you have a little brother in charge."
Mu Yiran supported the tree trunk to stand up and looked at him condescendingly: "Who would put their life in the hands of a younger brother."
"...You're handsome, you're right." Ke Xun also stood up, "Then I'll work hard to get promoted from younger brother to confidant."
Mu Yi was too lazy to pay attention to him, and began to search among the branches.
Ke Xun lowered his head and shouted under the tree: "Dongzi, look for it below, don't let go of the bark, tree cracks and roots."
"Don't worry," Wei Dong's voice came from below, "Our artists are best at dealing with details, and we will make sure not to miss a single pixel."
A locust tree is said to have hundreds of thousands of branches, and Ke Xun followed Mu Yi to search for it. A few hours passed, and the eyes were dim.
"This is too perverted," Ke Xun panted while leaning against the tree trunk, "If the seal or signature is the size of a pin nose, how long does it take to find it?"
"There won't be that kind of situation," Mu Yiran also stopped to rest, "I've said it before, there's no need for us to set tasks that we can't complete in the world in the painting, otherwise it's meaningless, just kill us directly. "
"Then how to find it now, there must be a focus." Ke Xun looked around, "This tree looks really ugly, look at the galls, it looks like that..."
"Grimace?" Mu Yiran asked.
Ke Xun touched his hairy arm.
Mu Yiran said: "In ancient times, it is said that the locust tree has a lot of yin, and it will form a grimace on the tree after a long time. The yin of the tree is heavier."
Hearing this, Ke Xun looked around again, and he suddenly got goosebumps again—the bodies and branches of these three trees were indeed covered with dense grimace!
Looking closely at the shape of these grimace, they are actually like real faces, with complete facial features and realistic expressions, including adults, children, old people, doubts, howling, panic, and reasons. Painful and twisted, full of malicious and sneering...
The texture of the tree bark outlines these ghost faces even more eerie and ferocious, and suddenly a gust of wind rushes through the tops, and these thousands of ghost faces, formed by large and small tree holes, emanate both crying and laughing. The voice, ups and downs, suddenly far and near.
Ke Xun's scalp went numb, he hesitated to ask Mu Yiran: "You said... that signature or seal, no... it's in the mouths of these grimace..."
"It's not impossible." Mu Yiran was expressionless.
"I'm going... What if I reach out and get bitten off by this mouth?" Ke Xun asked.
"I know the attending physician of a good hospital, I can introduce it to you." Mu Yiran replied lightly.
"..." Ke Xun sighed, "Even if there's nothing wrong with this grimace, the faces on these three trees add up to a few hundred more. How long will it take to dig out one by one?"
Mu Yi lowered his eyes: "Call the others over to find them together."
"Is it alright?" Ke Xun asked, "Isn't someone looking for it without making a sound, and then leaving quietly?"
"If someone finds the seal elsewhere alone, he might just walk away," Mu Yiran said, "but if he disappears here, in full view of the public, other people will naturally know what the seal is on. Location."
"Okay, let's call the others in that moment," Ke Xun shook his tired arm from climbing trees and raised his eyes inadvertently, "Have you noticed that the sky seems to be darker than before? It's noon, The sky is already like evening."
"It's going to rain." Mu Yiran also looked at the dark cloudy sky in the distance, and suddenly his voice tightened, "That coffin of pure cypress!"
Ke Xun was stunned for a moment, and then reacted: "Pure cypress, it will be struck by thunder!"
Seeing Mu Yiran's face sinking, Ke Xun asked him tentatively, "What will happen if the coffin is struck by lightning?"
Mu Yiran gave him a gloomy look: "Cheating the corpse."