The first volume of the funeral Chapter 11 Three Sophora Trees
"But it still needs one final confirmation," Mu said happily, "Before it is thoroughly confirmed, I will not say anything for now, so as not to lead you astray - if you have such a thing as an idea."
Ke Xun: "Although you mocked me again, I'm still not angry. The last confirmation you mentioned, does it mean to see the death state of the next person who dies?"
"Yes. Although it is cruel, there is no other way." Mu Yiran had a blank expression on his face.
"Maybe I will be the next one." Wei Dong sighed.
"Don't talk nonsense, children should not be restrained in their words." Ke Xun kicked him and turned to Mu Yiran, "But I think we can't just wait like this, we have to do something."
"Looking for the seal!" Wei Dong perked up.
"We can't just look around like a headless fly," Ke Xun looked at Mu Yiran, "Brother Xiaomu, give me some directions."
"Call me Mu Yiran." Mu Yiran glanced at him coldly, "To find a seal, we need to consider the content of the painting."
Ke Xun: "Last night you said that this painting depicts a funeral scene in the countryside. We searched the funeral hall this morning and found nothing that looked like a signature or seal."
Mu Yiran: "This shows that the mourning hall is not the subject that this painting wants to highlight."
Ke Xun: "Apart from the funeral hall, the most suspicious place is the cemetery just now."
Mu Yiran: "I've checked it out, nothing suspicious."
Ke Xun: "Could it be in that old man's house?"
Mu Yiran said, "It's unlikely. After all, if there are repeated cases where no one died the night before, everyone will often gather in that room, and the chances of the seal being discovered will be very high. It's almost like putting the answer sheet under your test paper."
Ke Xun: "This kind of good thing never happens to me, PASS. If it's not the funeral hall, not the cemetery, not the old man's house, then where else could it be? It's all wilderness, there's nothing that looks outstanding."
Mu Yiran: “The prominent places in the painting are not necessarily the places with profound meaning.”
Ke Xun raised his hand and pointed forward: "Could it be those three locust trees?"
Outside the Li family's yard, there are three old locust trees planted in the north direction .
Mu Yiran's eyes flickered slightly. "According to the customs of some regions, locust trees belong to Yin wood, known as the ghost among trees, and should not be planted near Yang houses. In fact, the ancients loved locust trees more. For example, the word 'Huai Ding' refers to the position of the three dukes, and 'Huai Chen' refers to the emperor's palace. In some places, locust trees are even a symbol of auspiciousness."
Ke Xun scratched his head: "So this family planted three locust trees in order to get promoted and make money? That makes sense."
Wei Dong: "Let me interrupt for a moment. I think you two have a misunderstanding. Although the world in the painting is also a world, it is first a 'painting' and then a 'world'. Even if it depicts a scene from the real world, you should know that a work of art needs to be artistically processed. Unless this painting is a hyperrealist painting, otherwise, in order to pursue artistic effects, some artistic modifications will inevitably be made to the picture."
Seeing that Mu Yiran looked at Wei Dong with a strange look in his eyes, Ke Xun explained: "Dongzi is an artist, so he has something to do with art."
"So in your opinion, which parts are added for artistic effect?" Mu Yiran asked Wei Dong.
"Trees." Wei Dong pointed at the three old locust trees. "Like you said just now, some places think locust trees are unlucky, while others think they are auspicious. This is the situation in reality, but if it is used in a painting, I think the painter does not need to consider the different customs and particulars of each region. He only needs to match the details according to the content of the painting.
"Look at these three locust trees. Why are they not planted somewhere else, but right next to the Li family's house where the mourning hall is located? If locust trees here mean promotion and wealth, wouldn't it be inappropriate to plant them next to the Li family's house?
“Look at this tree again. Even if it really has auspicious meaning in this place, it will not be highlighted in the whole painting, otherwise it will conflict with the theme of the funeral. If it must be painted for the sake of realism, painting one tree will be enough. Why paint three?
“Obviously, the purpose of painting three trees is to highlight, to embellish, or even to imply something.
"Look at the shapes of these three trees. They are so weird and strange. Do they look like normal trees? Of course, it is possible that wild trees can grow into such ugly shapes. But why didn't the artist paint them according to the normal state of trees, but chose to paint them in an abnormal state?
"Obviously ×2, this kind of drawing is for artistic rendering or metaphor. Since it is artistic rendering, it can't be rendering its auspicious meaning. It can only be another meaning."
"...Yinmu, the ghost in the wood." Ke Xun said.
Mu Yiran seemed to be thinking about something, and looked up at the three old locust trees.
"No matter what it means, we have to search it anyway." Ke Xun said, striding towards the three locust trees.
When I got closer, I realized that the three locust trees were taller and more terrifying than when I looked at them from a distance. The bark should have been gray-brown, but I don’t know if it was due to years of dust or the smoke from the kitchen in Li’s house, but now it was a dark gray color, pressing down heavily on my head.
"This tree is too tall. It must be more than 20 meters high, right?" Wei Dong looked up. "How can I find it?"
Mu Yiran also raised his head, his eyes darting around, as if thinking of a solution, but he saw Ke Xun, without saying a word, rolled up his sleeves, walked to the tree, jumped up, grabbed the trunk with both hands, and quickly climbed up the middle of the tree like a monkey.
"Get to know the top student in the tree climbing project in the Department of Physical Education." Wei Dong introduced his childhood friend to Mu Yiran.
Mu Yiran glanced at him indifferently, walked to the tree, suddenly stretched out his arms, and with light and nimble movements, he climbed up the tree in the blink of an eye.
"..." Wei Dong was stunned and looked up at Ke Xun who was almost reaching the top: Brother, I can only help you up to this point.
Ke Xun was not surprised that Mu Yiran could climb trees. Just based on the two times he pushed him down last night, he knew that he was a martial artist.
"I can tell you don't know how to enjoy life," Ke Xun sat astride a tree branch, waiting for Mu to climb up happily, "Why do you still need to do things yourself when you have a little brother to order you around?"
Mu Yiran stood up, holding onto the tree trunk, and looked down at him: "Who would trust their life to the hands of a little brother?"
"...You are handsome and you are right." Ke Xun also stood up, "Then I will work hard and strive to be promoted from a younger brother to a confidant."
Mu Yiran was too lazy to pay attention to him and began to search among the branches.
Ke Xun lowered his head and shouted towards the tree: "Dongzi, search below. Don't miss any part of the bark, cracks or roots."
"Don't worry," Wei Dong's voice came from below, "Our artists are best at handling details. We will make sure not a single pixel is missed."
A locust tree has at least hundreds of thousands of branches. Ke Xun followed Mu Yiran and searched root by root. After a few hours, his eyes were blurred.
"This is too abnormal," Ke Xun panted while leaning against a tree trunk, "What if the seal or signature is only the size of a pinhole? How long will it take to find it?"
"That won't happen," Mu Yiran also stopped to rest, "I've said it before, there's no need for the world in the painting to set us impossible tasks, otherwise it would be meaningless, they can just kill us directly."
"So how do we find it now? We have to have a focus." Ke Xun looked around, "This tree is really ugly. Look at the galls on it. It looks like something..."
"Grimace?" Mu Yiran interrupted.
Ke Xun touched his arm, which was covered with hair.
Mu Yiran said, "In ancient times, it was said that the locust tree had a heavy yin energy. After a long time, a ghost face would form on the tree. And as the tree gets older, there will be more ghost faces on the tree. The more ghost faces there are, the heavier the yin energy of the tree is."
Upon hearing this, Ke Xun looked around again and suddenly got goose bumps all over his body - the trunks and branches of these three trees were indeed covered with densely packed ghost faces!
Looking more closely at the shapes of these ghost faces, they actually look like real people, with all the facial features complete and lifelike expressions. Some are adults, some are children, some are old people, some are confused, some are crying, some are terrified, some are twisted in pain, and some are grinning with malice...
The texture of the bark made these ghost faces look even more bizarre and hideous. Suddenly, a sharp wind blew through the branches, and from the mouths of these thousands of ghost faces, which were formed by large and small tree holes, came sounds that sounded like crying and laughing, rising and falling, and sometimes far and sometimes near.
Ke Xun's scalp tingled after hearing this, and he asked Mu Yiran hesitantly: "You said... that signature or seal, it can't be... in the mouths of these ghost faces..."
"It's not impossible." Mu Yiran said expressionlessly.
"Oh my god...what if I reach my hand in and get bitten off by this mouth?" Ke Xun asked.
"I know a chief physician in a good hospital and I can introduce him to you." Mu Yiran replied calmly.
"..." Ke Xun sighed, " Even if there is nothing wrong with this ghost face, there are at least several hundred faces on these three trees. How long will it take to find them all?"
Mu Yiran lowered his eyes and said, "Call the others to come and look for it together."
"Is it okay?" Ke Xun asked, "Will someone find it and leave quietly without saying anything?"
"If someone found the seal somewhere else, they might just walk away," Mu Yiran said, "but if he disappeared here in full view of everyone, others would naturally know where the seal was."
"Okay, let's go get the others later," Ke Xun shook his arms that were tired from climbing the tree, and raised his eyes inadvertently, "Have you noticed that the sky seems to be darker than before? It's only noon, but it's already as dark as evening."
"It's going to rain." Mu Yiran also looked towards the dark sky in the distance, and suddenly his voice tightened, "That pure cypress coffin!"
Ke Xun was stunned for a moment, then reacted: "Pure cypress will be struck by lightning!"
Seeing Mu Yiran's face darken, Ke Xun asked him tentatively: "What will happen if the coffin is struck by lightning?"
Mu Yiran gave him a gloomy look and said, "Pretending to be dead."
