Seven Evil Slips:

It felt like he had been waiting for a long time, and Kiyo felt sleepy, leaning on the sofa to take a nap, in a daze, as if he heard a crackling sound, the sound of tearing paper.

I seem to hear Luo Ren asking: "What's wrong?"

13,000 replied: "The painting is useless."

When she was sleeping in a dream, she never forgot to bury 13,000 in her heart: she was drawing blindly, as if it was 2,580,000.

Then, all of a sudden, the surrounding area was brightened.

Muyo sat up suddenly, his mind was buzzing, and he had a sense of trance that he didn't know when and where he was. Cao Yanhua, who was diagonally opposite, also raised his head blankly, his eyes were so blinded by the light that he couldn't open them.

Kiyo was ashamed secretly, he was still on guard at night, it was really embarrassing and disgraced.

She took out her phone to check the time: four o'clock in the morning.

The sound of the paper being scratched, Wan San didn't know when he sat up, leaning on the sofa to massage his neck, Luo Ren stood beside him, staring intently at a piece of paper that had just been torn from the drawing book. of paper.

Hey, have you drawn it yet? The memory of Kiyo's bedtime finally came back, so he hurried over to watch it together.

***

If you can only use four words to describe the paintings that have worked so hard for half a night...

It's like a dog gnaws.

After drawing for about four or five hours, did you draw something like this?

13,000 yawned, and said in a cold voice, "Little proprietress, it's ok, let's do it, I'm blind, I'm not a magic brush, Ma Liang, I've ruined several of my drawings."

The subtext is: bb.

Luo Ren explained to her: "Thousands of words, every time after a long period of time, the water shadows that come out are repeated, that is to say, it goes round and round, and countless strokes make up just one picture."

Is a picture the one in front of you? This is also...

Kiyo doesn't know how to describe it. On the picture frame, there are only a few strokes in the distance. Anyone who knows how to read freehand landscape paintings knows that it represents the outline of the distant mountains, and the nearby ones are drawn horizontally. They also understand that the painting is a strip Let the mighty river flow.

Among the mountains and rivers, it is divided into two parts, the left and the right, and the left is one...

Kiyo wondered: "Is this a wolf?"

Luo Ren glanced at her: "Maybe, I thought it was a dog at first."

During the conversation, Cao Yanhua's big head also came in, and he made a concluding speech: "Wolf dog."

It doesn't matter if it's a wolf or a dog, the same family is right.

Looking at the right side again, there is a scroll of bamboo slips, like the scrolls where ministers wrote letters to the emperor in ancient times.

The first two birds are similar in length, although the 10,000 pictures are terrible, but I can barely recognize the long trailing tails. They say they are peacocks, but they don't look like them. Finally, they agree that it should be a phoenix.

But the bottom one looks like a chicken.

Luo Ren looked at Mudai and Cao Yanhua: "It's over? How do you feel? Tell me."

Kiyo said: "I don't know if it's a dog or a wolf. It's squatting by the river, and it looks like it's about to jump into the river to commit suicide. Here are two phoenixes and a chicken, squatting on bamboo slips. It's gone."

Is this how she feels? The blue veins on Luo Ren's forehead even twitched: "You are really... straightforward."

Turning back to look at Cao Yanhua: "What about you?"

Cao Yanhua is a typical person who has no ink in his stomach, and prefers to tinker with a few elegant words. At the moment, he is showing off his deepness: "I think, you can't just look at the surface, you have to look at the deep meaning."

"How?"

"Look at this wolf... dog, I think it represents a kind of evil force. Didn't the ancients call people a wolf with a heart and a dog's lungs, or "you beast", so this is a kind of evil force. As for the right side, the two There is only a phoenix and a chicken, the chicken is at the bottom, and the bamboo slips are like a wooden frame, reminding us of a saying, the so-called phoenix is ​​not as good as a chicken.”

Okay, one is talented than the other, Cao Yanhua is talking from a picture: it means that someone was framed by evil forces, and in the end, he was not as good as a phoenix?

13000 didn't comment, just waved his hand weakly: "Don't ask me, I still have hundreds of strokes in front of my eyes, to me they are just strokes, nothing else."

The expectant eyes of Mudai and Cao Yanhua fell on Luo Ren: Since everyone has spoken, what is your opinion? tell me the story?

Luo Ren spread his hands, more straightforward than Muyo: "I don't understand, I'll see the time is about the same later, call and ask the magic stick."

Kiyo felt a strange sense of pride in his heart.

After all, she was the one who took the lead in finding the magic stick in the first place, and now she is really... honored.

***

From four o'clock to five o'clock, and then to six o'clock, ten thousand and three were sound asleep, Cao Yanhua strolled around the water basin, occasionally stretching his head to look.

Kiyo sneered: "Look, look again! It will jump out and stick to your face later!"

Cao Yanhua shrank his head in fright, and couldn't even see his neck.

When it was almost seven o'clock, Uncle Zheng called and said that he was coming back to help Pin Ting get some hospital supplies. Luo Ren asked him to bring some breakfast by the way, rice porridge, flatbread, fried dumplings, tea Eggs, spread out on a table full, a few people set the bowls and share the chopsticks. It's so strange, it looks like a family.

Kiyo hid at the side, and called Shengun first, wanting to make an appointment for a convenient call time, but was afraid that he was still sleeping, and would disturb him after calling him——unexpectedly, Shengun would pick up the phone soon With a pleasant voice and full of energy, he said: "I'm doing morning exercises."

Are you still doing morning exercises? It's really an orderly life, a combination of work and rest, healthy and reasonable.

"My friend told me that if you travel alone, you must pay attention to your body and exercise regularly."

Well, Kiyo sighed sincerely: "Your friend cares about you."

Actually, the original words of the magic stick friend are not like this. The original words of others are: I have a family and a mouth now, so I don’t have time to take care of you. Me, believe it or not, I killed you?

Anyway, in the eyes of the **** stick, this is a concern that is not meant to be concealed. Kiyo said this, which made him even more sympathetic: "Of course, the best friend."

The greetings were over, and Kiyo went straight to the point. Luo Ren guessed that she was calling Shengun, and motioned her to put the phone away, while telling Cao Yanhua and the others to keep quiet.

That's why there was a hustle and bustle in the morning, and the silence fell again. Cao Yanhua ate cakes gracefully, his movements were two beats slower.

"Afraid of water? I am afraid of water but not fire... I have never heard of it..."

Having never heard of it, Kiyo was a little disappointed. She cheered up and mentioned the painting again, the mountains in the distance, the river nearby, the wolf dog by the river, and what... Chicken"...

Shen stick's voice suddenly increased by an octave, with uncontrollable surprise and excitement: "Wait a minute, you just said, two phoenixes, one chicken, three ways up, middle and down, bamboo slips?"

Kiyo's heart was beating wildly, everyone stopped when he looked at the table, Luo Ren nodded to her, indicating to continue.

"That tube of bamboo slips, count them, how many?"

Kiyo hurriedly gestured to Luo Ren: "What about painting?"

Before Luo Ren could answer, 13,000 rushed to answer: "Seven roots."

He also said: "I drew it. I remember where the strokes were broken at that time. There are seven strokes."

The magic stick seemed to take a deep breath.

Kiyo did not dare to urge, after a while, she heard a voice like a magic stick: "Seven...there are really..."

What do you mean? Being able to say such a thing means that he at least knows something, right? Kiyo's nervous heart almost jumped out: "What does that mean?"

The magic stick laughed loudly: "Little pocket, your head is just an empty pocket. What kind of chicken is that? Luan. Luan is 'red, colorful, and shaped like a chicken'. Haven't you heard of it?"

She actually said that her head is an empty pocket! What Luan, where did the teacher talk about this in class? It’s all because it’s bad. She doesn’t paint a picture even if she paints it. If she paints it, can she say it’s a chicken?

Kiyo gouged out ten thousand three eyes, just like she could recognize Luan after coloring-in fact, even if she had enough "red color, five colors" to color, she would still say it was Luan A big colorful rooster.

"The two in front are not phoenixes. The seven fierce slips sealed with the phoenix luan buckle."

Seven fierce Janes?

At the critical moment, the magic stick was able to calm down: "I'm going to go through my notes and sort them out, please wait a moment."

***

He still needs to look through his notes? Kiyo's heart was scratching like a cat's paw, and he wished to reach into the phone, grab the sound of the magic stick, and pull him out of the invisible sound waves.

Luo Ren was calmer than her: "I've been waiting for so long, I don't care about waiting another hour or two."

There was suppressed excitement in his voice, Kiyo looked at him and nodded, feeling really happy for him.

At this moment, Shisan spoke angrily.

"What is this Phoenix Luan holding seven fierce slips, you two, I drew the picture all night, can you briefly introduce the background of the story?"

So after finishing the meal in a hurry, they turned to Luo Ren's room, where Cao Yanhua was in charge of carrying the basin, trembling all the way, with both arms stretched out desperately, only regretting that his parents didn't give him a tall figure with long arms and long legs.

In Luo Ren's room, that wall is the best demonstration board. The three past events, fishing line puppets, and the eloquent stories made Cao Yanhua dumbfounded, full of doubts: "Then what is this about?" What does it matter if you deduct the evil Jane?"

Kiyo charges his cell phone to ensure that there may be a long call later: "Then I have to ask the magic stick."

***

The phone call from the magic stick didn't come until the afternoon, the sun had already slanted to the west, and a red light and shadow enveloped the half of the wall, making people feel unreal.

The real and long-awaited calls began to come out, but Kiyo felt that at this moment, even if she was asked to buy a ticket to enter, she would be willing to listen.

There was the sound of flipping pages on the other end of the phone. Wan Fenghuo seemed to have mentioned that a magic stick is used to write things down with a pen. A year in mind? Should be very old, right?

"I really heard about this incident many years ago. It was near Hangu Pass, only in that place. I heard it from an old man. He told it as a legend."

Hangu Pass?

The whole thing is like a huge picture with many jigsaw pieces missing, and Kiyo thought to himself: It matches, and another piece matches.

"Where do we start? Believe it or not, there is always a 'first' for everything in this world. For example, the first person to eat an apple, the first person to eat a crab, the first person to know A swimmer."

Yes, it was a long, long time ago, but there must have been, as historians have speculated, primitive people drank blood at first, and then one day thunder and lightning ignited the forest, and the forest fire burned the beasts to death. The bravest man said: "Let me have a taste."

Then the era of cooked food began.

"According to the legend, the first seven crimes in this world with written records are not counted, and those without written records are not counted. Meaning.”

"But there were written records in the first place. It should be oracle bone inscriptions at that time. Whether it was carved on tortoise shells, animal bones or other things, the first seven words are said to have the power to confuse people. Later, anyone who came into contact with them , will always have a sudden change of heart and commit similar crimes, which was called ominous by the people at that time."

Luo Ren asked: "Why seven?"

Shen stick sighed: "I don't know too well. I later looked up the special meaning of the number 'seven'. It is said in the "Han Shu" that 'seven' is the beginning of the four seasons of the world and the beginning of a week. It is seven days. In Buddhism, there are seven treasures and seven sufferings. After a person dies, there is a sacrifice for seven days, such as the first seven..."

"Even in the West, 'seven' has a special meaning. In the Bible, it took God seven days to create the world, and there is also the saying of 'seven deadly sins' in Catholic doctrine."

Kiyo doesn't care about numbers, she only cares about another question: "Why do people who come into contact with them have sudden changes in their minds, are they... possessed by ghosts?"

After asking, I got goosebumps all over my body.

Luo Ren pondered for a while: "Like the Japanese... Ziling?"

"Zi Ling" is a strange story in Japan. It comes from "Onmyoji" by Dream Pillow Tapir. It is about a monk in the Tang Dynasty in China who copied Buddhist scriptures. One day, a woman appeared in the meditation room, but always He covered his face with his sleeve, but the monk couldn't help but pulled down the woman's sleeve and found that she had no mouth on her face. After the woman disappeared, the monk copied the Buddhist scriptures again and found that there was a word for "Dari Tathagata".

The moral of the story is that all things have animism, and that character turned into a speechless girl, who came to remind the monk. At first glance, it does have something in common with the seven murder cases engraved on oracle bones.

Shen stick thought for a while: "It's not like, "Zi Ling" is just a strange story, but the kind I said, can't be seen, can't be touched, in short, it's an ominous thing, like the curse of the pharaoh, somewhere It will bring bad luck to people."

"The people at that time were in awe. When offering sacrifices to the gods, they also prayed to the sky. It is said that the result of divination is that a virtuous person will be born in future generations to end this ominous atmosphere."

Speaking of this, the magic stick suddenly became excited: "This person was active in the late Spring and Autumn Period. He is a real person. He is very famous in the history of Chinese culture and can be called a world cultural celebrity. Guess who he is?"

Cao Yanhua's voice is loud and loud: "Confucius!"

Luo Ren glanced at him: "It's me."

The **** stick said "Hey": "One point for the little radish, who was the one who answered the question just now?"

Cao Yanhua was instructed by Mudaiqian before, to be respectful to the **** stick: "Hello, Mr. God, my name is Cao, you can call me Cao Fatty."

Of course Pangpang Cao doesn't sound good, but at least it's his existing nickname, and he doesn't want to have another one, little carrot? God, I really don't know how Luo Ren endured it.

The magic stick educated him: "Cao Fatty, Confucius is of course also a cultural celebrity, but you have to guess based on the context. I mentioned Hangu Pass earlier. Laozi and Hanguguan are closely related, and Laozi He himself is revered as the ancestor of Taoism, the Taishang Laojun, and he is more mysterious than Confucius."

He turned back to the topic: "The matter of the seven fierce slips starts with Lao Tzu passing through Hangu Pass."

***

According to the legend, the Zhou royal family declined, and Lao Tzu, a virtuous man, decided to retire and ride a green bull across Hangu Pass.

Commander Yin Xi has a good sense of the sky. He faintly saw the purple air coming from the east. He guessed that some nobles would pass through the pass. Then the university asks, don’t you leave something for the world?”

Historical records, because of Yin Xi's kindness, Lao Tzu stayed in Hangu Pass for three months and left a "Tao Te Ching" with about 5,000 words.

But the version heard by Shenzhu is far more than that.

In that version, it is said that Lao Tzu was determined to eradicate a great evil for the present world. He drew the seven ominous spirits from the tortoise shell and animal bones to the seven wooden slips, sealed them with three bronze slips of phoenix, phoenix, and luan, and told Yin Xi to say: , The five elements create the world, and the whole world is composed of five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Each of them can temporarily overcome the evil, but it is not a permanent solution.

Wooden slips belong to wood, wood grows in soil, draws water and grows, implying "wood, earth, water", bronze slip buttons belong to "gold", "phoenix, phoenix, and luan" are **** birds in the world, and their nature belongs to fire , so far the five elements are complete, attracting the auspicious spirit of the divine bird, and sealing the seven ominous slips.

Yin Xi took it with respect and respect, and asked Lao Tzu, why didn't the master destroy the fierce slip?

Lao Tzu sighed and said that even if it is surly and vicious, it is indeed a crime committed by human beings. It cannot be erased by whitewashing or destroying it. It has long been a part of history.

Yin Xi asked again, if one day, the Phoenix Luan buckle is opened again, wouldn't the seven evil slips be going to bring disaster to the world again?

Lao Tzu laughed out loud, flung the floating dust, stepped straight away on the green bull, and said, don't worry, no one in this world can open the Phoenix Luan buckle.