Everyone obviously didn't expect the author of this painting to have committed suicide. Another painter in the room, Yu Ji, asked, "This Yubei Kingdom should be very young, right?"
"Mr. Yu, as a painter in the same city, doesn't know Yubei Kingdom?" Su Benxin asked rhetorically.
Yu Ji said: "I only came back from abroad last year. I have heard about Yubei Kingdom in this city for a long time, but I have never been able to get acquainted. He only heard about him not long ago, which is a pity."
Su Benxin sighed softly: "It is said that his depression is getting worse and worse, that's why... I don't know much about it. Our small town is very small, and many paintings by local painters will be put on consignment in art museums."
"Because of the painter's death, the painting on his deathbed is not for sale?" Chi Lei speculated aside.
Su Benxin nodded and stopped talking.
Zhao Yanbao looked at the clock on the wall of the dining room: "At half past eight, what time does the night in the painting start?"
This sentence is obviously asking the old members present, Qin Ci replied: "As usual, it is usually after eleven o'clock."
"After all, we don't go to bed in the same place. If there is danger at night, how can we notify others?" Zhao Yanbao thought very practically.
"Our dormitory is equipped with a telephone, how about you?" Qin Ci asked.
Zhao Yanbao nodded: "We also have a phone there, and I have copied down all the phone numbers."
Wei Dong: "I don't know if the old broken phone in our house can be used."
Lion: "Technical, it can be used."
Luo Wei got up and went to the front desk, as if to borrow a pen and paper. When he came back, he turned on more lights, and the dining table suddenly became much brighter.
"Write down the phone numbers of every bedroom and make a simple address book." Luo Wei sent the note paper in his hand to everyone present.
This proposal is very good. Everyone started to fill in the phone number on each piece of paper. In fact, each work unit has a fixed phone number, but the extension number of the room is different.
"There seems to be no cell phone in this world." The one who spoke was Zhichun, a curly-haired young man who had been silent, the intern who followed Qin Ci in silence.
"Actually, I really like to read mystery novels before the mobile phone era. It's better to go a little further back. Even fingerprints and DNA can't be verified." Dropped lemonade.
After seeing the phone number written by Luo Wei, who was in the same room, Wei Dong knocked on his head: "I remember that the phone in our house seems to be a very old dial-up phone. Knowing when to turn is a head."
"Fang Xin," Lion said, "At a certain level, there will be a stumbling block there."
"Niyi international friends know better than me."
"Phones know no borders." Lion shrugged.
"I'm talking about Kan'er, and Ni still knows about Kan'er..."
Everyone here has written down their phone numbers, and everyone left a simple address book with a string of phone numbers in their hands.
Su Benxin whispered to Xiao Qinxian: "...So, you live in a room alone?"
"I'm the only girl in our place." Xiao Qinxian was too lazy to look at the "colleagues" in the hospital dormitory, and always felt that these guys were deliberately opposing him.
"Can the two of us be companions?" Although Su Benxin was asking Xiao Qinxian, he still turned his attention to several old members.
Qin Ci first shook his head: "The division of workplaces is a clear classification. If the workplace is cluttered, I am afraid it will be regarded as disturbing the rules."
"Okay." Su Benxin said no more.
Xiao Qinxian sneered: "Locking the door and closing the door at night is the most important thing, let's ask ourselves for more happiness."
Chi Lei said from the side: "Our detective office also has a room for each person, because the three bedrooms have already been allocated, and we don't dare to break the rules."
"I don't think it's scary to live alone. The most important thing is to find out the rules of this world." This time it was Zhao Yanbao who spoke, and she looked in the direction of Mu Yiran and Ke Xun: "Chu Zhiyong said that our mission is to Looking for the crimson beast in this world, as far as tonight is concerned, we haven't started work yet, whether this is considered a failure to complete the task and whether it will be punished tonight."
"Every world has different rules. We have even experienced a world where the rules change every night before," Ke Xun said this time, "It's off work time, and Old Chu didn't mention overtime. I don't think we'll ever be punished for not finding the beast, at least not tonight."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
But the old members feel that this matter is more difficult, and sometimes, "unknown task" is more terrifying than "impossible task".
"It's not yet nine o'clock, everyone can use one hour to speak freely," Qin Ci folded the phone paper in his hand, "If this world is not easy to start with, we can start with that painting first."
"This is an idea," Zhao Yanbao nodded, "We all looked at the painting carefully in the art gallery just now, and even discussed it on the side. Now we might as well share our thoughts on the painting, it might be helpful. "
Zhao Yanbao looked at Su Benxin as he spoke, and seemed to be most looking forward to the remarks of the art gallery owner.
Su Benxin pursed his lips slightly, and took the initiative to speak: "If you put aside the content of the picture, what do you think about the four characters of the scarlet beast?"
Everyone didn't speak, and didn't understand the special connotations of these four words.
Wei Dong was the first to start the association: "If I want to say these four words, the first thing I think of is the red horse."
Lion said, "I think it's a red lion."
Chi Chun: "I'm thinking of the big red rhinoceros hippopotamus or something."
other people:"… "
"Japanese writer Yukio Mishima has a famous novel "The Hunger and Thirst for Love", I wonder if anyone has read it." Su Benxin asked.
There are very few people who have read this book. Some people only said that they have heard of it, and the only person who said they have read it is Chi Lei.
Chi Lei: "Does this book have anything to do with that painting?"
Su Benxin's skin still looks white and flawless under the bright light. "It is said that "The Hunger for Love" had another name before it was published, but because the editorial department was not satisfied with that name, it was changed to "The Hunger for Love" "."
"Oh? What was it called before?"
"The Scarlet Beast."
Everyone suddenly realized that because the name of the painting was too similar, it was impossible to tell whether it was accidental or inevitable.
"What's in the book?" someone asked.
Chi Lei didn't know how to summarize a book: "Probably, a woman's lifelong love experience."
"Or rather, terrifying love." This time it was Xiao Qinxian who spoke.
"Have you all read this book?" Lion asked.
Xiao Qinxian: "I'm just curious about what a woman in Yukio Mishima's writings would look like. I've only read this one of his books."
Ke Xun whispered to Mu Yiran beside him: "I remember that this Japanese writer is a..."
"Yes." Mu Yi nodded.
I haven't finished yet... Well, this Japanese writer seems to be GAY.
"How do you talk about Wei Ai?" This time it was Qin Ci who asked the question. It seemed that he had never read this writer's work. "The more detailed the content, the better, maybe it will help us."
The three women who had read the book—Su Benxin, Chi Lei, and Xiao Qinxian looked at each other and reached an agreement. Su Benxin would tell everyone—
"The heroine in the book is called Yuezi. Because she desperately longed for love, she killed the two men she loved with her own hands." Su Benxin's voice became clear as the lights gradually dimmed.
The restaurant is about to close, and everyone cherishes the last bit of light and feels like a temporary group to warm up.
"Etsuko truly loves her husband, Ryosuke, but because of Ryosuke's fascination, she falls into jealousy after marriage, which is very painful. Later, her husband suffered from severe typhoid fever and was lying in bed on a respirator. Taking care of him, that kind of care can even be said to be happy and greedy, because Etsuko feels that only at this time can she truly have a husband. In the original words, "Etsuko thoroughly enjoys it, how greedy and boring." with this miserable happiness that befalls her unexpectedly again'.
"But the doctor's words broke Etsuko's happiness - 'The patient may be saved'. Her husband regained health and vitality again, which was not what Etsuko wanted, so she pulled out her husband's respirator and saw him suffer. die."
"Why?" Wei Dong couldn't help but ask, "Since you love him and are willing to take care of him, why did you kill him at the last minute?"
Su Benxin's eyes were a little hazy, and his expression was a little strange: "These things are very mysterious, and I can only use the words of Yuezi in the book to explain: 'If I get that kind of unreliable happiness, I would rather get a short-lived happiness. At this time, I I think it's easier to see my husband actually die than to hope for his unreliable birth. . . . However, the husband's body is still alive, trying to betray me . . . The jealous memories come back.'"
Everyone chewed these words and seemed to understand, but they didn't seem to understand.
"This woman is terrible." Wei Dong took a sip of cold lemonade, feeling his teeth cold and sour.
"How did she kill the second man?" someone asked.
"The second man is Saburo, a servant in the countryside. This time, the relationship is more hidden, and it can even be said to be Etsuko's wishful thinking, but she is very serious about it. There are a lot of words in the book to describe this relationship. A kind of energetic greed from the heart to the body." Su Benxin's voice is like the radio host of the night talk column, which is very empathetic, "This kind of charm excavation about ordinary men is probably only like Mishima Yukio. Only an author with a special talent can describe it properly.”
Just when someone wanted to ask a question, Su Benxin suddenly said: "I remember very clearly a passage about Etsuko's obsession with Saburo, the book said this - she felt that his back was like an unfathomable sea, she Looking forward to jumping into it. Although there is a desire similar to that of a person who commits suicide by throwing himself into the sea, what a person who commits suicide by throwing himself in is not necessarily death."
Hearing this, Ke Xun couldn't help but move his fingers on his lap. This description is indeed quite seductive.
Ke Xun couldn't help but glanced at Mu Yiran, but found that the other party was looking at Luo Wei who was sitting in the dark with casual eyes.