Out of the city, the road is much easier to walk, a flat avenue leads directly to Lingshan, and you can reach it in half a day. But when he entered the mountain, he took a sharp turn and went straight down, the cliff was steep, on one side was a stone wall like a knife, and on the other side was a bottomless cliff, and there were often huge boulders blocking the way on the way, so the coachman did not dare to go too fast, for fear that one would accidentally rush to the bottom of the cliff.

Zhang Yaozhong didn't care about anything outside the car, and now, he sat in the warm carriage, full of joy, holding those New Year's pictures in his hand to appreciate carefully.

He didn't expect that on this last day, he found the baby. The first few New Year's paintings are okay, they are naturally good, but this one, this New Year's painting that he got back from the Jiang family yesterday, is quite as he wanted. Because he had heard the Queen Mother mention such a New Year's picture, which was basically exactly the same as the one in his hand: a kind old woman, dressed as a young girl, looked very pleasing.

He remembered that the Queen Mother said this at the time: Don't look at my age now, I need someone to support me if I take two steps, but I also had a young time, at that time, I was a naughty person, I went out to play when I was free, and my family couldn't control me at all. Then one year on Chinese New Year's Eve, I went out again and didn't come back until the New Year's Eve celebration. In order to punish me, and in order to lead me to live in peace for a few days, my father asked me to compare the New Year's painting and painting, he said, Xing'er, you and your brother Gui Rong paint together, whoever paints well, whoever has fruit to eat today, can also go with me to relatives, the one who does not paint well, can only stay at home, and is not allowed to go anywhere. At that time, my younger brother had been learning to draw with my husband for a few years, and the painter naturally didn't know how much higher than me, but guess what, I won this competition.

I remember that the picture was of an old woman, yes, about the same age as I am now, with a smile at the corners of her mouth and eyes, and long laugh lines, she looked like an old naughty boy, which was very lovely. She is also well-dressed, red and purple, embroidered with flowers, unlike the paintings that the emperor likes now, the earthy yellow background, gray clothes, I often say that I grew up in the market, I don't love these light-colored pictures, because I have been used to seeing these red and willow green things since I was a child, cheesy, but auspicious.

Having said that, Gui Rong confidently competed with me, after all, he could draw, but I was not even skilled in holding a pen, and he decided that I would never beat him, but in the end, I won him. Gui Rong was halfway through the painting, but he actually cried, pointed to the New Year painting, and said that the old woman in the painting had been staring at him, so staring that he didn't dare to paint anymore. On the contrary, what I saw was the smile of an old woman.

It's not the fixed smile on the New Year's painting, the corners of her mouth are moving, and the movement is very small, but I really see it. Because of this movement, the wrinkles that pulled her all moved, and a slight sudden, but they couldn't escape my eyes.

Do you think that the people in the painting will move? But it's true, I really saw it, that's why I have always remembered it, and I haven't forgotten it until now. I'm not afraid at all, since I was a child, my courage has been much greater than Gui Rong, not to mention, the old woman smiled so kindly, I know that if she is a fairy, she will come to help me.

Sure enough, I won Gui Rong, ate the fruit, and went out with my father to visit relatives. My father wondered how a child, who had never held a paintbrush, could make such a lifelike painting. But because of this incident, his old man looked at me differently from then on, and asked me to read and write with Gui Rong, I often thought that if there was no old fairy, maybe there would be no me now.

Zhang Yaozhong still remembered the Queen Mother's expression when she talked about this, with a little pride, and both eyes were full of light. So they waited for a long time to go up and pat her ass, saying that the gods must have known how honored you would be in the future, so they would naturally help you.

"With this New Year's painting, I'm afraid the old lady will have to reward me heavily this time." Zhang Yaozhong's delicate fingers caressed the cheeks of the person in the painting, but his fingers paused when they touched the drawing paper.

It's also strange, this New Year's picture seems to have a kind of magic, if you keep staring at her eyes, as if you can be sucked in by those smiling eyes, the spirit is long, fluttering, people seem to have no idea where they are.

Zhang Yaozhong laughed "heh", stretched out his hand and patted his cheek gently: I have seen a lot of beauties in the palace, why are you still thinking upside down at an old woman? Although, he rubbed his fingers on the painting again: how is this not like drawing paper, but like a human skin? It's not delicate, of course, it's not as good as those fifteen or sixteen-year-old girls in the palace, but it's not rough, and there is some elasticity, and it seems that there is still a little bit of temperature, like a living person.

Zhang Yaozhong "chuckled" in his heart, and suddenly remembered the words of the old queen mother: Gui Rong said that the old woman always stared at him with her eyes, which was strange and scary.

Once again, he moved his gaze to the eyes of the portrait: no, she was not glaring at herself, she was still smiling, laughing so gently and merrily, as if the happiness of the whole world had been concentrated in the corners of her eyes.

It's just that he always feels that something is wrong, and his chest is a little stuffy, as if he is blocked, and in an instant, his mood is completely different from Fang Cai.

What's wrong? What went wrong?

Zhang Yaozhong suddenly gasped: it wasn't chest tightness, there was really a hard and cold thing on his chest, and through the layers of clothing, he could feel the cold air coming out of it.

He lowered his head, it was a cane, Lingshou wood, no more than eight or nine feet, three or four inches thick, the red skin was pitted, and the other end, that is, the end of the pestle on his chest, was naturally curved, looking like a bird's beak.

Zhang Yaozhong rubbed his eyes, he didn't know how such a worn-out cane suddenly appeared in the carriage, the door was not opened, and the window was locked by him from the inside, did this cane appear out of thin air?

He reached out and slowly reached for the corner that was pressed against his chest, for until this moment he did not believe that the cane was real.

But before his fingers could touch it, another hand suddenly appeared on the cane, and the skin on the back of the hand was wrinkled, bursting with green tendons, and the fingers were like crooked grape branches.