The beast was enraged by the old woman's words, and its body stood upright, "hissing" and spitting out fiery red snake letters, and its triangular head drooped slightly, aiming at the old man on the ground.

With a gust of wind, the body of the young beast stabbed downward, but it was avoided by the old woman, who ran forward on crutches, not only not panicked, but also extremely flexible. The crowd gave her a way, and she ran along the way, with a brisk pace, like a ...... A little girl who is not yet an adult.

Of course, the Nian Beast would not let her go, its swarthy body followed behind, its tail swept left and right, startling the villagers on both sides to retreat.

She ran back and forth for a while, and was about to be overtaken by the beast, but the old woman suddenly stood still, turned around and looked behind. She was smiling, her eyes full of joy, and she said, "Old loach, today is your death." ”

The beast was furious, and screamed and pounced on her, but when it moved half an inch away, it felt the ground below tremble a few times, and then the ground cracked a gap more than three feet long, like a smiling mouth. Before he could think about it, the stones on both sides of the gap shattered, and the Nian Beast heard a "click" sound, and then felt that his body was light, and suddenly fell down.

It is a deep pit, which has been dug a long time ago, and it has been filled in again, and it is waiting for the rabbit, waiting for it here, waiting for its life.

The beast fell into the deep pit covered with bamboo tubes, and was panicking when he suddenly heard a "burn" from above, and countless torches fell from the sky, burning the bamboo tubes covered with oil with a "bang" sound, like a thunderbolt from the sky, and carried through the clouds.

The pit turned into a sea of fire, and only the tail of the Nian Beast could be vaguely seen swaying in the firelight, and finally, it fell and melted into the bright red firelight.

"The old woman killed the beast in this way, and although we don't know her name, the longest moonless winter night is called 'Nian', and on this day, people set off firecrackers to commemorate the old man who defeated the beast. Later generations will make a portrait of her appearance to bless the coming year's health, which is the mother-in-law you saw. ”

When the old painter finished speaking, Jiang Bin pondered, and replied in a whisper, "However, the legend I heard is different......

"There is an extra gray-bearded fairy in the story you heard, and it was that fairy who came to the rescue and drove away the Nian Beast, right?" The old painter laughed, "But I still prefer the legends we have there, where do you get so many immortals, if there are gods to rescue you in trouble, then life is too easy." In my opinion, this legend must not be true, but the truth is true, that is, it is easy for all to do and manpower to win the sky. ”

He was certainly reasonable, but Jiang Bin was thinking about something else, "That old woman, must be a good person?" ”

The old painter talked for a long time, and he was already thirsty, so he replied casually while looking for water, "This is the stupid thing that the child said, and they have all been painted as adults for worship, can they still be wicked?" ”

Jiang Bin thought for a while, and finally felt relieved, and couldn't help but turn his worries into joy, and said with a smile, "Yes, it seems that it was just a dream that I was thinking about and thinking." ”

A big stone in his heart fell, so he put all his mind into painting, this is the first time he painted a picture of a lady, a great test of kung fu, but Jiang Bin did a good job: the brush is fine, the color is elegant, the brush and ink are clean, and the shape is vivid and expressive. The lady in his painting has a slender figure, high bun, jade rings on her ears, dressed in a long gown, holding a scroll in her left hand, and her right elbow propped up on the table, with a graceful posture, and a cat with a white body and no miscellaneous hair at her feet.

It's just that this painting takes a lot of effort, especially to paint all the houses and various decorations, so only more than half of it was made, and the sky was already dark, and by the time it was all finished, Jiang Bin was already exhausted, so he simply fell asleep in the painting courtyard.

He didn't go home until the next morning, and as soon as Fang stepped into the house, he saw Jiang Shan standing in the courtyard, and he didn't have an extra piece of clothing on his body, just standing in a daze. Jiang Bin was suspicious, and hurriedly walked over, but when Jiang Shan heard the footsteps, he turned around first and stared at him for a long time before he grinned at the corner of his mouth and let out a bitter smile.

"Daddy......"

"Last night, Father-in-law Zhang sent his men to our house to pick up paintings."

Jiang Bin was stunned, "I have already sent the New Year's paintings to them, why did I come to my home to pick them up again?" ”

Jiang Shan looked at him, his eyes blinked a few times, "That person said that as soon as Gonggong Zhang saw your painting, he liked it, so he sent someone to ask if there was more, and he took it all with him." As he spoke, he turned his mouth in the direction of the inner room, "I left twenty taels of silver, enough for us to use for a year." ”

Jiang Bin was overjoyed, "Great...... "Great" After saying these three words, he was suddenly shocked in his heart, "I ...... My paintings? It's your dad's painting that is right for ......"

"It's all this time, you still want to hide it from me," Jiang Shan no longer looked at his son's eyes, because he was afraid, afraid that the loss in his eyes would be revealed and seen by Jiang Bin. Showing his weakness in front of his son, even the most sloppy father in the world may not be happy, "I went to your room to look for it, and found those paintings under the bed, it turned out that in the stack of New Year's paintings, only one was repainted by you, and the rest were mine, but that person only fell in love with the ...... you made."

"No, I ......" Jiang Bin's face was flushed with anxiety, and he wanted to explain, but was interrupted by Jiang Shan.

"It's good, you have such talent, it's good, it's just, you shouldn't hide it from me, Bin'er, um." In the end, he didn't seem to know how to end, so he just smiled, bit his lip and went into the room.

Jiang Bin wanted to call him, but he didn't know what to say for a while, he just stood in place, hating himself for not being a little bit simpler at the time, throwing away all those paintings, and now people came to pick up the paintings, and picked up his own one, leaving all those in Jiangshan, isn't this equivalent to slapping him in the face.

The one of your own.

Jiang Bin's heart suddenly moved: Isn't his own picture the mother-in-law of the New Year's painting? He was afraid that the painting was strange, so he kept it alone.

There was a crow's cry behind him, hoarse and crisp, which scared Jiang Bin so much that he shivered, and cold sweat came down in an instant. It's going to be fine, he meditated in his heart, it's just a New Year's painting, and now, he already knows the origin of the old woman, so he doesn't have to scare himself.

Although he thought so, he always felt unhappy in his heart, as if there was a dark cloud under the hood, which made him breathless.