Chapter 12: Punishment (I)
For some reason, the night was so dreary, and the stars in the sky were crushed.
Even after listening to Cao Zhi's unexpected story, I regretted coming to the painting of "Luo Shen Futu".
It was just to take a look at Luo Shen's appearance, but it led to such an outrageous story.
Cao Zhi in "Luo Shen Fu" bravely pursued love, but because of the difference between people and gods, he had to leave with hatred. Although it is sad, it makes people's hearts surge.
But listening to him tell this story in person, my opinion has changed drastically, and Cao Zhi is not what he imagined. I know that this is the real Cao Zhi, and the legendary him is just our ideal product. But people are complex animals, and many times, they are unwilling to know the truth even if they know that they are false, because those illusions are instead a kind of spiritual sustenance.
"Sir, I don't dare to kill myself." Cao Zhi said in a choked voice. "I really don't dare, although I look down on Hongchen in the poems, but in reality I can't do it."
Your Highness ...... "I don't know what to say for a while." You don't have to blame yourself too much, no one doesn't want to live......"
Cao Zhi was in a trance, his eyes were empty, and he seemed to be unable to hear my words.
The aftertaste of the wine glass, reflecting the gloomy moon shadow and his sad face, touched his frosted tears. The wind blew across the lake, and it was cold.
"Sir, don't comfort me, it's just my own cowardice." Cao Zhi gently pushed the wine glass down, and the wine slowly poured out. "Zhen Luo is braver than me, she did it, but I can't do it. I'm not as good as a woman, and I still pretend to be free and easy. β
"Your Highness...... Fate is always on the move, so you don't have to be too obsessed. β
"Hey." Cao Zhi sighed, sounding colder than the night. "I turned my back on her again, and she left in tears, without reproaching me."
β......β
"If she scolds me, I'll feel better, she can call me ruthless, she can call me cowardly, but she doesn't say anything......"
"What more can you get her to say? It's you who say you want to marry her, but you always can't do it, what can you ask her to say more? Of course, I couldn't say this, but I just cursed a few words in my heart.
Cao Zhi suddenly began to beat his chest, and he kicked the wine jug over, and Yujin splashed everywhere. "Later, I couldn't bear it, so I rode my horse to chase her, but her cloud car ran so fast that I couldn't catch up no matter how I chased her."
"I can only ...... Watch her slowly disappear into a cloud of mist. β
At this moment, the cicadas are poignant, the mist on the river bank is rising, and the story of Cao Zhi is really full of desolation.
The story of Cao Zhi and Zhen Luo will be torturous to listen to, and I have to withdraw from it.
"Your Highness, this story of yours...... I can't take it anymore. "I feel that my whole mood has deteriorated to the extreme, Cao Zhi is a poet I admire, but at this moment maybe this idea needs to be changed a little.
"Haha." Cao Zhi smiled bitterly twice. "Sir, I won't suffer any more, my story with Roselle is over, and then I wrote the well-known Roselle Fu, the poem I used to cover up my cowardice."
His hysterical laughter echoed in my ears for a long time, like poison.
"Sir, I think you will have a new understanding of Zijian, please tell future generations in the future, don't recite the poems I wrote, this hypocritical statement is not worth praising it." Cao Zhi said arrogantly. "I've never really been free and easy, saying that it's not for fame and fortune, but I haven't let go of fame and fortune for a moment."
At this moment, in the cold wind of the cold night, my heart is like ashes.
"Sir, if you feel tired, I will send you back. Of all the people who have entered this painting, very few of them have been able to listen to my story, and you have already built face for me. β
"Wait." Suddenly, an insoluble doubt arose in my heart, which made me not vomit or be unhappy. "I want to ask Your Highness something that has nothing to do with Luo Shenfu."
"It's okay for Sir to talk about it, but I've been in this painting all along, and I'm afraid that the world I know is much smaller than Sir."
I took a deep breath, frowned slightly, and said slowly. "Your Highness, before I entered this painting, I also entered another landscape painting, and I feel that this "Luo Shen Futu" is fundamentally different from that landscape painting."
"Oh......" Cao Zhi looked at me in surprise. It was the first time someone had come into a painting to talk to me about the painting itself, and it was really unusual. β
"Your Highness, I have always felt that the characters in the paintings are thoughtless and act according to the stories given by the painter." I gestured to the motionless squire beside us. "Just like them."
"That's true."
"Then why does His Highness have his own thoughts, while the characters belong to the painter's brush?" I was suspicious. "The story His Highness just told me, I don't think it was arranged by the painter in advance."
"Naturally, it's not arranged, because I'm Cao Zhi, the real Cao Zhi."
"I can understand the fact that outsiders enter the realm of painting and indulge in it and are reluctant to leave, but Your Highness, you lived more than a hundred years before the painter of this painting, so according to common sense, it is impossible for you to see this painting." I'm going to put my thoughts out there.
Cao Zhi stared at me intently, and the corners of his mouth suddenly raised slightly. "Sir, there are dozens of people who have been to this painting, and you are the first one who can think about the problem so deeply."
"Please let Your Highness give me advice."
"Sir, if you want to listen, Zijian naturally knows everything." Cao Zhi stood up and waved his sleeves. "But sir, I'm afraid this matter is even more puzzling than that Luo Shenfu, this is my own choice."
"What ......"
More complicated than Roselle? Or is it his own choice? For a while, too many doubts accumulated in my heart, and I couldn't let go.
"In a word, I am both the painter's Cao Zhi and the real Cao Zhi, and the two have long been combined." Cao Zhi said.
Previously, Cao Zhi told the story of him and Zhen Luo, although it was very uncomfortable, but he could understand it clearly, but now I don't know why I don't understand every word of Cao Zhi.
"After she left, I was depressed and depressed, my body was not as good as day by day, and my days were numbered." Cao Zhi told the story. "As she said, someone from heaven really came to me."
"People from the Heavenly Court?"
"That's right, a few liaison envoys found me before I died, saying that my merits during my lifetime could already be ranked in the immortal class, and asked me if I had any intention of making a document in Heavenly Court."
When I heard this, I was shocked. "That's great! Your Highness, after you ascend to the heavenly court, won't you be able to see Luo Shen every day, and you can be together without hindrance. β
"Sir...... You were so naΓ―ve, I rejected them. β
"What! Why? How many people want to be in the immortal class, why do you want to refuse. "I was furious for a while, so many opportunities were missed by Cao Zhi, and now that God has favored him again, what reason does he have to refuse?
If it was for fame and the throne, I can understand that this death period is coming, what else is there to be nostalgic for?
"I don't dare to face Zhen Luo again, so if I don't see her again, maybe I can still have a good thought."
What kind of reason is this, I really want to go over and beat him up. "Your Highness! Why don't you dare to face it again, have you ever thought that maybe she has been waiting for you, or maybe she won't blame you at all. β
"Sir, you don't understand, I have made her sad again and again, and at that time, if I go to Heavenly Court again, it will make her even more disappointed in me, and she will think that I will do that because I look forward to the prosperity of Heavenly Court." Cao Zhi replied. "It's better to make her think that I don't care about anything, just a ruthless person."
I sighed hard, not knowing what to say.