Preface:

"This painting has been with me for ten years, and ten years of time have taken away my ten years of encounters. But in my ten years of wandering, it has given me company and a reason to live. I don't hate it, I even fell in love with the person in the painting, she has a special beauty, beauty in the eyes, beauty in my trance for a moment. The man said quietly.

"Well, I don't have to do anything. Gu looked at him and looked at him quietly for a while.

He smiled and didn't speak.

Body:

In Kyoto, you'll see a lot of bustling places to play. Like the intertwined vines, it is endless. Restaurants, inns, pawnshops, grocery stores, you name it. In the crowd, you will see the noise of people talking about business and chattering about everyday household words. The sun is high in the sky, as if symbolizing the prosperity of the Qing Empire. It's just that on the surface of this seemingly prosperous city, there is the bitterness hidden at the bottom. Many people can't even eat food, not even a sip of thin porridge.

On the riverbank at the edge of the bustling town, there is a dilapidated thatched house, and a young man who looks like a scholar holds a pen and a plate of inkstones. The thin body swayed from side to side and walked forward. As usual, he went to the desk in front of him, picked up his pen, and dipped it in ink. Lay out the yellow burlap paper prepared on the table and start drawing.

He was a master of painting, and he studied under Murong Shuiyue, who was one of the few famous painters in the Qing Dynasty. He painted for three years under the guidance of a famous teacher, and because of his talent and hard work, his paintings amazed Murong Shuiyue. At the moment when the three-year period expired, Murong Shuiyue said to him: "Fang Qi (man's character), your painting skills are already above me, I have nothing to teach you, you can finish." On the day of my departure, I would like to say a few words to you. For the painter, in the heart. If the heart is not pure, the painting will be destroyed. Only when the heart is like water, not impatient or impatient, can we get close to the origin of nature in the world. This is a little bit of what I've learned from painting for decades. It's just that since I became famous, I haven't made any work that satisfies me. Perhaps, I already have a defiled heart. And you are different, we have been apprenticed for three years, and it is also fate. I only hope that you will not forget the root of painting, so that you can get close to the purest truth. ”

He really did not live up to the disappointment of his teacher, but he wandered away for many years, and regarded the improvement of painting skills as more important than life, which made him increasingly sophisticated in painting and made him impoverished. The world called him a "painting idiot". For a period of time, his fame reached the ears of the emperor, and the emperor ordered someone to recruit him as a court painter. He was specially responsible for painting the portraits of the emperors of the Qing Empire, but he did not hesitate to refuse, and said: "I am a generation of idle clouds and wild cranes, like this mud, like this water, like this tree, like all living beings in this world, I am just a grain of dust, and I have no wealth to ascend to the hall of elegance." You go back to tell the emperor, but Gong Sheng (man's name) can't accept it. Someone came to tell the emperor what he had said, and the emperor was furious. shouted: "Let this person be a disciple of idle clouds and wild cranes for the rest of his life!" and ordered that no government, province, state, county, or yamen should hire this person. Those who violate the order will be severely punished.

If so, he ended up today, hungry and worried about his livelihood every day. It seems that the heavens are also playing tricks on him, and every time he paints, whether it is a person or a landscape, it will slowly disappear on the paper at the moment of completion, and the dim coarse cloth paper will become the same as before painting. However, because of his skillful painting, he still occasionally attracted the attention of the children of the nobility who loved painting, and they saw the process of his painting, and the time when he finished painting. When his paintings are finished, even those who don't know how to paint will stop and look at them in amazement. Those who know how to draw think that he is a celestial. So some of the sons of the rich would give him a few taels of silver. That way, he'll be better for a few days.

money, which will be spent quickly. He used that money to buy liquor, and the rest was used for gambling. Whenever he came into contact with these two things, he would always slap himself twice, and say, "Is this the foundation of your painter?!" and then laughed, and said, "The master also wants to eat, and he must be happy!" In this way, in the sound of gambling and sleep, he lived a realistic ugly bastard.

He thought of many of these past events, and there was a hidden pain. He knew that as a painter, it was shameful to exchange the paintings he painted for the food and clothing of his belly. But what else can he do? What can he do to keep himself alive? What can he not do! There is no choice!

He picked up his pen and began to paint. As soon as he started painting, many people came to watch, and today he painted a landscape figure painting. I saw that between the mountains, a thick fog rose in the mountains, and an old man could be vaguely seen riding a donkey on the wooden bridge bank. The painting was completed in less than ten minutes, and the onlookers were amazed. "How can ordinary people be able to draw such a realistic picture on such rough yellow paper? What kind of talent and what kind of hard work is this to have such an achievement? As soon as the admiration ended, the lament began: "It's a pity, it's a pity! It's just that this painting is about to disappear." Gong Sheng was sad for a while, in fact, he did it every time. The fate of these paintings is the same as his fate, there is no future, there is no reason to survive, no matter how beautiful the painting is, it will be a flash in the pan after all.

"Sure enough, it lives up to its name. I finally met the rumored artist today. A voice from the crowd came out.

When everyone looked over, they saw a white-haired young man with a wooden box on his back, his right eye was covered by long white hair and could not be seen clearly, he was tall and thin, and he was not dressed like a small person in the market.

Gong Sheng looked at him, and was about to ask him what his surname was and who he was.

The young man replied first: "My name is 'Gu', a native of Jinzhou." Engaged in the profession of spiritual master, during the trip I heard that there was a gentleman in Kyoto who was good at painting, so I came to visit. It's a pleasure to see it, and it's really a blessing to see it today. After saying that, the young man bowed respectfully.

Someone in the crowd began to say, "What is a spirit master?" and no one answered. But they are all talking.

"I'm glad that someone has come all the way to see me. I'm so lucky. If you don't dislike it, please come to the humble house to take a break, and we will talk. ”

Gu was extremely happy, and said, "The younger generation has this intention. ”

When Gu came to the house, he couldn't help but feel a little shabby. The house was empty, and there was sunlight outside the house in a few places on the roof, and if you looked closely, there were a few crevices. Yellow paper was everywhere in the house, adding a few clutters to the empty room.

He went to the westernmost part of the room and gently picked up the mossy table. Carefully wiped it twice with the sleeve of his hand. Pick up a pair of notched wine cups from the inner room.

He invited Gu to sit down, and said ashamedly: "The cold house only has these things, I hope you don't dislike it." As the saying goes: 'Tea instead of wine', now I only have water, so let's replace tea with water. ”

After hearing this, Gu picked up the notched wine cup containing water, saluted and drank the clear water.

There were tears in his eyes, and he arched his hand and drank the water from his cup.

"Sir, why do you always disappear after you finish painting, and you haven't investigated it?" Gu said sincerely.

He shook his head and smiled: "Maybe it's because I offended the current emperor and angered the heavens, so punish me." ”

"Personnel matters, how can ghosts and gods be judged!" Gu amplified his voice a little.

"You...... Could it be that you are here on purpose?" asked Gong Sheng.

"Exactly. Gu said firmly.

"Why?" he asked.

"There's no clear reason, I just feel that people like you shouldn't live like this. Gu replied.

"I'm ......," he stopped, and a few tears fell.

"I heard that Mr. is the proud protégé of the current Chinese painter Murong Shuiyue, but a year ago, Mr. Shuiyue passed away. ”

Gong Sheng raised his head violently, looked at Gu in surprise, and his mouth was half open. The muscles of the face gradually distort.

Tears, silently scattered, like his embarrassed appearance.

"I ...... As a disciple, I didn't know. I...... Not even as good as livestock. ”

"The reason why I came here was entrusted by Mr. Shuiyue, who asked me to bring eight characters to Mr. 'Painting is born from the heart, and the heart is like stopping water'. ”

After Gu finished speaking, Gong Sheng put his hand on the ground, buried his face in it and sobbed.

Gu, looking at him quietly. After he calmed down, he continued: "I came to Kyoto two years ago. Staying at an old man's house, I never thought that the old man was Mr. Shuiyue. At that time, he was already faltering. In an exchange with him, he told me that he had a proud protégé, the famous 'Lianhe', and his skills were already above him. It's just that the protégé hasn't visited him again for ten years after he left. The old man especially missed his disciples. But I only hate myself for being old, so I ask me to look for it. As I was leaving, he told me that the disciple must have already made a name for himself elsewhere. He gave me a painting and said that if I could meet it one day, he would give it to him. ”

Gu said, taking out a painting from the wooden box. I saw a beautiful woman flying barefoot in the sky in the painting, she was wearing flying silk, ethereal like a dream, like water and tenderness. Especially the eyes in her beautiful facial features are the finishing touch of the whole painting. No matter which way you look, she's looking at you. The smile on the corner of her mouth gives the viewer a comfortable comfort. The painting is titled "Immortals in the Painting".

Gu handed over the painting, Gong Sheng raised his head and took the painting. Looking, watching, looking. One moment laughing, one moment agonizing, another moment contemplative.

"I have been painting for more than ten years, but this is the only one I am most proud of, and I have never surpassed it in my subsequent creations. He said with some sadness.

"I don't want to visit my teacher, it's just that I look like this, what kind of face do I have to visit my teacher. So he went incognito, changed his name to Gong Sheng, lingered in the market, and lived such a life. ”

"Sir, do you know the power in this painting?" Gu looked at him and said.

"Strength?" he asked rhetorically.

"Yes, power. Because your skills are so high, there is a kind of spirit 'Rhino Moon' in this painting of yours, which is a special and rare spirit species that likes to cling to the painting to survive, and the painting must be a peerless masterpiece. Because only lifelike paintings can attract them to cling. Listening to the old spiritual master, the reason why the paintings attached to the 'Rhino Moon' are all peerless masterpieces is because these paintings seem to have the most real force close to nature, and in layman's terms, these paintings inherit the most sincere and pure state of mind of the painter, relying on this state of mind, the painter instills faith into the painting with the help of brush and ink, resulting in the environment that Rhino Moon likes. ”

"There is such a thing. He sighed.

"A good painting is usually attached to the rhino moon after it is completed, and some of it will enter the painter's body with the help of the belief in the remaining state of mind at the time of painting, which will influence his paintings. Gu continued.

"How?" he asked.

"Because the memory of your painting has entered the memory of the rhino moon, and because your subsequent paintings have not surpassed the previous "Immortal in the Painting", the rhino moon rejects the paintings you made in you, which is the reason why the paintings disappear after you finish painting. ”

"However, it is easy to solve, as a spirit master, I know this kind of spirit very well, as long as I use up the wine, I can draw out the rhino moon in my husband's body, so that the paintings that my husband will make in the future will not disappear again. ”

"No! don't do it!" he said firmly.

"Rhino Moon, its name is Rhino Moon, it's really a good name. 'Rhino' is a precious thing, 'moon' is a symbol of purity, this is a symbol of 'precious and pure' things! Isn't that the belief in my state of mind?! Perhaps, it is the soul of the master, which lives in my body in the form of thoughts, and always reminds me of the foundation of being a painter - painting is born from the heart, and the heart is like stopping water. Yes, this painting was created by my heart. It's always been in my heart. ”

This painting has been with me for ten years, and ten years of time have taken away my ten years of experience. But in my ten years of wandering, it has given me company and a reason to live. I don't hate it, I even fell in love with the person in the painting, she has a special beauty, beauty in the eyes, beauty in my trance for a moment. The man said quietly. 

"Well, I don't have to do anything. Gu looked at him and looked at him quietly for a while. 

He smiled and didn't speak.

Gu stayed in that room for one night and then took his leave. Later, during his travels, Gu heard that a painter named Gong Sheng had created a huge painting that shook Kyoto, "The Continuation of the Immortal in the Painting".

When Gu heard this, he smiled. "Sir, you have surpassed your heart. ”