Chapter 10

Jiang Bin was shocked by him, his eyes rolled a few times, and then he lowered his voice and said, "My lord, this matter must not be told to others, if my father knows, he will lose face." ”

Zhao Zimai saw that he was panicked, and hurriedly comforted, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, it's just that you are talented, so why hide it?" ”

Jiang Bin grabbed his head and said with a wry smile, "This matter is a long story, but my lord, I hope you will help me hand over this stack of New Year's paintings to Grandpa Zhang, I don't dare to entrust others, my lord, I am a hundred assured." ”

Zhao Zimai was a little puzzled, "You don't wait for him here in person?" If things go well, they'll leave early tomorrow morning, and we'll leave after that. ”

"I'm going to the painting academy today, and I've already taken leave with the shopkeeper," Jiang Bin said and glanced at the sky outside, seeing that the morning light had dissipated, and a light red sun had jumped to the southeast, so he hurriedly walked outside, and said to Zhao Zimai, "My lord, I'm in a hurry, and the matter of the New Year's painting will bother you." ”

***

Jiangbin didn't have a very solid day this day, I don't know if it was because of the weird dream last night, or because he was too tired from painting overnight.

Seeing that he was not in good spirits and that his paintings were not as good as before, the painters of the academy all came over to ask him what was wrong, and Jiang Bin remembered his dream last night, so he asked one of the older painters, "Sir, you are well-informed, I have something to ask you." The year before last, my father and I went to Yangzhou, and we saw a New Year's painting in a shop, in which the person in the painting was an old woman, dressed like a little girl, wearing floral clothes, and wearing a double hanging bun on her head......"

Before he finished speaking, the old painter smiled, "This year's painting is not a rare thing, I was also common when I was a child, by the way, I am a native of Yangzhou, you come to ask me to ask the right person." ”

Jiang Bin dropped the paintbrush and raised his head with joy, "Sir, that old lady, who is the immortal?" ”

The old painter smiled, "Immortals, it's not true, but if it weren't for her old man, in a few days, you wouldn't be able to receive the New Year's money." ”

Jiang Bin frowned, "What does this mean?" ”

The old painter stroked his beard and smiled, "Without her, who can celebrate the New Year?" As he spoke, he stood up, and drew a long snake with his pen after a few random strokes on the canvas, "See this basilisk?" It is the year, the year of the beast. ”

In ancient times, there was a monster in the sea called 'Nian', which was extremely ugly, three feet long, with a mouth like a huge basin, and covered with inverted scales from head to toe, like a big snake.

Nian loves to eat people, it is said, especially love to eat people's heads, just like we bite chestnuts, crunchy, one bite at a time. Whenever there is no moon in the dark night, Nian will drill out of the sea to eat people, a meal is a family, adults and children, including livestock, everywhere they go, do not leave a living.

People are very afraid of this ferocious monster, so when there is no moon at night, every household closes the door and guards it carefully, for fear of becoming its belly, and even more, in order to avoid the intrusion of the "year", the family fled to other provinces, leaving the homeland, and did not dare to return.

But the vicious "Nian" still broke into people's homes to arrest people to eat, making the villagers panic, but there was nothing they could do.

There is an old woman in her seventies in the village, who has no children and has been widowed for many years. On this day, she saw that the villagers were worried about the New Year's affairs again, and talked about moving out of this place, so she stood up and said to everyone: "The reason why you can eat so many people in the New Year is because everyone is afraid of it." If we unite and prepare our weapons, when the year comes, we will work together and fight with all our might, and we will definitely be able to destroy the year. ”

Everyone arrived: "Where is it as easy as your old man thinks, we have been bullied by it for many years, if there is a way to deal with it, why not use it as soon as possible?" ”

The old woman smiled happily and said, "Yesterday I had a dream, in which an old fairy told me that this thing is most afraid of strange noises and fires, and I thought that it would be better for us to throw the bamboo into a pit full of hot oil, and when the year comes, we will light a fire to detonate them, and the others will sound the gongs and drums, and kill it while it is frightened, so as to prevent future troubles." ”

When everyone heard that a fairy had come to help, they all believed it, but the old woman continued, "The fairy said, the strange sound and the fire are secondary, and if you want to defeat this beast, there is the most important point. ”

Everyone was busy asking what it was, so the old woman said, "The heart is united, one arrow is easy to break, ten arrows are difficult to break, that monster is a fierce beast that has been rampant for thousands of years, and only with one heart can it be defeated." ”

Everyone agreed with it, so they immediately took action, made various preparations, and waited for the arrival of the new year.

It was a cold winter, there was no moon in the sky, and even the stars seemed to hide behind the dark clouds because they were afraid. Sure enough, in the second half of the night, Nian climbed up from the sea again, with the fishy wind of the sea, winding from a distance. It looked left and right, and was about to break into a family, but at this time, there was a sudden roar around it, and then the gongs and drums sounded, like thunder and thunder.

Nian saw that villagers with torches, sticks, and knives and guns were pouring from all sides, and they roared loudly and rushed towards him, and the flames of revenge burned in everyone's eyes, like a sea of fire. Although Nian was frightened, he was arrogant, not to mention that these people usually looked like they were not possessed by his soul when they saw him, how could he allow them to be arrogant in front of him. So, with a flick of its tail, it swam straight towards the crowd, opened its big mouth full of fangs, and bit down on the first one of the leaders.

Seeing that the person's head and body were separated in an instant, the villagers were stunned, and after exclaiming, their momentum suddenly weakened. What's more, he threw his torch and ran to the rear, but was bitten off by the angry year beast one by one.

The situation has changed drastically, on one side is the year beast that has stood up three feet long, and is angry and attacks left and right, and on the other side, there are villagers who have been completely frightened and stupid. Without protection, the lives of a village of people will be confessed here.

But in the midst of this crisis, an old woman squeezed out from behind the crowd, with no weapon in her hand, only a cane to walk on.

"Old earthworm, you have done a lot of evil, and you have already provoked the wrath of the heavenly court, and today, it is the time for you to die." The old woman's voice was old, but there was a power in it, and she looked directly at the basilisk without fear.