I obediently called out to him: "Senior Wen." ”

He was surprised when he saw me, but he should still remember me based on his expression: "You are Aru?" ”

I smiled with satisfaction: "It's great that my seniors still remember me." ”

He looked me up and down, his wary eyes revealing a full distrust of me, as if I really had something big to ask him: "Is there something wrong with you?" ”

I whispered, "You don't know that, do you?" ”

"Know what?"

"The jade girl in the jade clothes of the Orange Painting Garden asked me to give you a message." I stared at him steadily, and at the mention of the three words of the Jade Maiden, his hand that was arranging the painting tools paused, and then solemnly focused his gaze on me.

"What did she tell you to say?"

"Mr. Yuqin Fangyu, the master of the painting hall, has died."

"Yu-Qin-Fang, dead?" His voice trembled slightly.

"Yes." I nodded.

I saw him sigh heavily, and turned around with one hand on his forehead, leaving me with only a slightly trembling back. I didn't know how to comfort him, so I just stood still for a while.

"Huanyi-went to Lingdu to see her?"

"Well, I should have left the rain capital by now." Seeing that he was silent, I asked tentatively again, "Is there a relationship between Senior Wen and Mr. Yu?" ”

"The past is unbearable!" He sighed heavily, raised his head slightly, and sighed to the sky, "I don't know how she is in the palace?" ”

"Mr. Yu is the master of the painting hall, and she is the most appreciated and favored hall master of the Lingdu monarch, but she has no quarrel with the world and has an indifferent temperament, so she is very respected in the palace, even His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and His Royal Highness the Princess have to respect her by three points compared to others. Ah Ru felt that although Mr. Yu died early, his life as a painter was already complete enough. ”

"There is no quarrel with the world, and the temperament is indifferent." Mr. Wen was quite critical of my assessment, "How do you know? ”

"Aru doesn't hide from my predecessors, in fact, I grew up in the palace since I was a child, and I have also practiced in the painting hall for a long time, even if I am half of Mr. Yu's apprentice, I still met Zhou Mubai in the painting hall." After thinking about it, I finally added.

"And is she—in—in the palace—happy?"

"I don't know much about this, everyone rarely comes into contact with Mr. Yu on weekdays. However, I personally feel that Mr. Yu should not be happy, but it is not particularly sad, after all, he has no worries about food and clothing, fame, and respect, which is probably the lifelong pursuit of most people. ”

"Yes, in life, how many people are not pursuing these!"

"Senior Wen, you and Mr. Yu?"

"Twenty-five years ago, Mr. Yu and I met under this locust tree in Hejian Lake. At that time, when the lotus flowers in this lake were in full bloom, she came to the lake with her fellow students from several painting gardens, and happened to meet a group of us young street painters. After a few conversations, everyone sat together and began to compare paintings, in fact, at that time, her and I were not very good at painting skills, but after this competition, she began to have a soft spot for my paintings.

I still remember what he said to me at that time, 'Of all the lotus, only this one of yours is the cleanest and most like a lotus.'"

I've never heard anyone use the word clean to describe a painting, and I didn't know what it meant at the time, but I just laughed it off.

But since then, she has often come to me when she is fine, sometimes we will learn from each other, sometimes we will talk about other things, she will tell me about her troubles and ideals, she said that she wants to become the first painter in the world, to feel the attention of the world, she said that it is very spiritual, and then she can occupy a pivotal position in the painting world, and have the ability to make what she likes become popular. ”

When he said this, Wenqing painter stopped, his eyes completely fixed on the locust tree, and I asked softly, "And then?" ”

"Then we fell in love, I fell in love with her, and she fell in love with me, when the two cities of Yudu were not in harmony, at that time she was even willing to leave the Orange Painting Garden for me, and give up her splendid future. We lived together for three years, and suddenly one day, she told me that she was unwilling, that she couldn't stand poverty and blandness, and that she felt that she deserved a better life.

I don't blame her, life is so unsatisfactory, I'm really tired of competing for fame, we don't conspire with each other, we are back on the track that originally belonged to us, I am still the unknown street painter, and she has returned to the orange painting garden that belongs to her, and has never appeared in front of me again.

The news that she entered the palace to become the master of the painting hall was not notified to me in advance, I only knew that there was another painting hall master in the rain that year, surnamed Yu. The day she left, the rain was lively, and it was also when the acacia flowers were in full bloom. ”

In the days when the acacia flowers fell, Huanyi returned to Yudu, and she entrusted Mr. Yu's urn to Mr. Wen Qing's hands, saying that Mr. Yu wanted Mr. Wen Qing to bury her under the locust tree where they first met.

"What else did she say at the end?"

"She said that the world went around and around, and in the end, she still felt that your paintings were the cleanest." Huanyi said softly, raising her head slightly, "She also said that the man you introduced to the house to enjoy the painting was Lingdu Junshang, the person who intended to build branches for you, you didn't want it, but she didn't want to waste it, she knew that she couldn't persuade you, so she wanted to prove it in person and prove that you were wrong."

But after all, she doesn't seem to have proved anything, but she herself never stopped thinking about you in the end.

She also said that if she was given another chance, she would still choose this way, because, because I, your daughter, she said that she could endure poverty with you, but she could not bear that her daughter would be like you. ”

"Yiyi!"

Huanyi's face was cold: "I'm just a messenger, don't be so sensational." She also said that in fact, she has been waiting for such a day for a long time, only death is complete liberation, and when she dies, she can really come back, she can do whatever she wants, and she can dream whatever she wants, and she can do whatever she wants in her dreams. ”

Huanyi, the daughter of Wenqing painter and Mr. Yu, said the news so calmly as if everyone in the matter had nothing to do with her, and there was not even a trace of superfluous expression on her face, including hatred and pity.

A person who still loves until death, that kind of love is not the sweet words of the morning and twilight, nor is it the loyalty oath of white head to old age, it is until death can return to you, in order to truly love without scruples. There are too many things in the world, too many desires in the world, and once you fall into such a knot, you will not be liberated.