dragon hunter

Chapter 375 Mysterious Ancient Painting
The Fang brothers and sisters were dumbfounded, obviously shocked by what their father said.

"Dad, you never mentioned about Mom before, why did you suddenly say this today?" Lao Fang asked with a puzzled expression.

The old Fangtou ignored his son's question, turned his eyes to our side, showed a wry smile, and continued: "Speaking of which, the brothers and sisters are also pitiful. When their little sister was born, their mother had dystocia and hemorrhage. Among the brothers and sisters, probably So the boss still has an impression of her mother."

I sighed, and looked at the Fang brothers and sisters with sympathy.

It's not easy for this old square man, being both a father and a mother, raising several children to adulthood, the hardships involved are absolutely unimaginable to outsiders.

"Dad, tell us about Mom." Fang Xiaomei said softly.

The old Fangtou was on the square table beside him, picked up the pipe, tapped the end of the cigarette on the ground, put on the shredded tobacco and lit it, Meimei took a puff, and then began to tell the story of Fang's brother, sister and mother.

"In recent years, people in the town have been spreading rumors that the entire Ruan family, young and old, contracted a strange disease for no reason, and then the whole family died. In fact, this is a deliberately fabricated rumor." The old square head first In one sentence, a secret about the Ruan family was revealed.

"Why would anyone do that?" I asked, frowning.

"I didn't know about this until I got to know their mother." The old square man babbled and took two puffs of his pipe.

"This Ruan family is not simple. It is said that they got a magical ancient painting from a stranger. There is a big secret in that ancient painting. Since getting the ancient painting, the luck of the Ruan family has been getting better and better. In just a few decades, he has become a wealthy family." The old Fangtou narrated slowly.

I fixed my eyes, and when I heard old Fangtou mentioning "ancient painting", I subconsciously thought of my ancestors, the inheritance left by the guardians of the pictures.

However, there is no information about the guardian of the map in the Broken Physiognomy, so I don't know whether the alien that Lao Fang mentioned is the ancestor.

"Every man is not guilty, but he is guilty of carrying a jade. After decades of prosperity in the Ruan family, someone finally has their eyes on the treasure in their hands, and thinks that the Ruan family's prosperity is due to that ancient painting." The old square man said. After finishing, he took a deep breath of dry smoke and swallowed the clouds.

"When did that happen?" My heart moved and I asked.

"I heard from the child's mother that it was a matter of her great-grandfather's generation. Calculating the time, it must have happened in the period of the Republic of China." Old Fangtou replied.

"That era was quite chaotic." Zhen Qingyi said with emotion.

"No, my grandma died of starvation when there was a famine at that time." Old Fangtou sighed and agreed.

"Has the painting from the Ruan family been taken away?" Fatty Wang immediately regained his energy when he heard about the treasure.

"The one who came up with the idea of ​​that ancient painting was a small military officer under a warlord. Before he became a soldier, he was a well-known ruffian in all the towns and villages." The old Fangtou knocked on the soot.

"At that time, the Ruan family was still quite powerful. In the surrounding area, everyone from the county magistrate to the village ruffian had to sell some face." The old Fangtou said this, and the addiction to cigarettes became serious. He smoked a dry cigarette.

"Then what happened next?" I looked at the old Fangtou and asked.

"That rogue military officer asked the Ruan family for several times to ask for ancient paintings, but failed, so he started to think wrongly." Old Fangtou was accidentally choked by the smoke, and coughed a few times forcefully.

We didn't speak, and stared at the old square one by one, waiting for him to tell the next story.

"I happened to meet the old mother of the warlord who celebrated her 80th birthday. The rogue military officer ran to her immediate superior and said a slander, saying that the Ruan family had a picture of a hundred years of life. The birthday gift, the old man will be happy." The old Fang's voice was dry, and he motioned for Fang Xiaomei to pour tea.

While old Fangtou was drinking tea, Miss Fang picked up the kettle and filled our cups with a glass of water.

I thanked him, picked up the teacup and took a couple of sips, then put the cup on the side table.

After the old Fangtou finished his tea, he continued to tell the story of the Ruan family.

"The warlord believed his subordinate's slander, immediately waved his hand, and sent a group of soldiers to his subordinate, and followed him to Ruan's house to ask for ancient paintings."

"Then is it coming? Old man, I'm really anxious to hear your story." Fatty Wang scratched his ears anxiously.

"Shut up, don't interrupt the old man." I glared at Fatty Wang.

Fatty Wang grunted dissatisfiedly, shrank his neck, and stopped talking.

Seeing that bastard stop, I gestured to Mr. Fang to continue talking.

"It's said that the Ruan family got its fortune from that ancient painting. Of course there are elements of exaggeration in it, but one can imagine the importance of that ancient painting to the Ruan family. Do you think the Ruan family can hand over the ancient painting?" Old Fang Speaking of which, replace the dry tobacco with new shredded tobacco.

"Of course not. If anyone snatches Fat Master's baby, we will definitely fight him desperately." Fatty Wang waved his fleshy fists and muttered loudly.

I turned my face and stared at Fatty Wang with a frown, but this guy stared back at me, as if a dead pig is not afraid of boiling water.

"Did the warlord kill all the members of the Ruan family when he got angry later?" Fang Xiaomei asked her father while holding her chin, staring at her father with dark eyes.

Old Fangtou smiled wryly, shook his head, and said, "If this is the case, there will be no further stories."

I turned my face to the side and refocused my eyes on the old square head, feeling very curious about the follow-up story in his mouth.

The old Fangtou took a sip of tea, moistened his throat, and continued to talk: "At that time, a group of soldiers came to the door, and the Ruan family held their breath and did not hand over the ancient paintings. When the warlord learned about it, he was very angry. It was about to be robbed, when a mysterious person came to the door and said that he could help the warlord get the ancient painting."

"What is the identity of that mysterious person?" I couldn't help asking.

Hearing this, I already had a faint guess in my heart. Later, the strange disease that the young and old Ruan family contracted was probably related to that mysterious person.

"This all happened more than 100 years ago. The identity of the mysterious person has long been covered up in history, but the Ruan family was almost wiped out, and it is indeed inseparable from the mysterious person." The old Fangtou took a puff of dry cigarette.

"Dad, do you mean that there are still people in the Ruan family who survived?" The elder sister of the Fang family shrank back timidly.

"Aren't you talking nonsense, if you die, how can there be your mother, and how can there be you?" The old Fangtou glared at the eldest daughter.

"Later, what happened to that ancient painting?" I asked with concern.

Although it is still uncertain that the Ruan family is related to my ancestors, this is currently the most promising clue.

If I can find that ancient painting, I will be able to confirm whether the Ruan family is a lineage of map protectors left by their ancestors.

"Hey! Dad, I remembered. Don't we have an antique landscape painting at home?" Fang Xiaomei said suddenly.

I fixed my eyes, looked sideways at Xiaomei Fang, and thought to myself, did that ancient painting end up in the hands of old Fangtou?
"Little girl, don't talk nonsense, that painting has nothing to do with you." Sister Fang jumped out and said nervously.

"That's enough, don't think that I don't know about your little thoughts, and I'm planning to divide the family property before I'm dead?" Old Fangtou roared with a gloomy expression.

"Dad, that's not what we mean." Sister Fang shrank her head and hid aside with a embarrassed expression.

Fang Xiaomei's eyes were slightly red, she pursed her lips aggrievedly, and glared at her elder sister bitterly.

The old Fangtou took two puffs of cigarettes, looked at us with some embarrassment, and said: "I made some guests laugh, the painting at home was brought by the child's mother from her mother's house, but it is not from the story. That old painting."

"Then what happened to the Ruan family later?" I half believed what the old Fangtou said, but the painting was in his hands, so I couldn't force myself to come and see it.

"Speaking of which, the Ruan family was not destroyed, thanks to the wise and wise old man of the Ruan family at that time."

"After discovering that the whole family was infected with a strange disease, the old man of the Ruan family made a decision. He sold the family's field shop, and let the youngest granddaughter, who was the least ill, bring a large sum of money to find the At that time, the Lord of the Rising Dragon Temple."

"Shanglong temple? Is that the Taoist temple on the mountain behind?" I couldn't help interrupting the old Fangtou's narration.

"It was the Rising Dragon Temple, and it was the old master Ruan's decision that allowed many of the younger generations of the Ruan family to survive." The old Fang's gaze was far away, staring in the direction of Longchong Mountain.

"Is it Master Shenglong who cured the strange disease of the Ruan family?" Zhen Qingyi asked curiously.

"Only part of the Ruan family was cured. None of the elders of the old man's generation survived. Only some of the younger generation with strong bodies survived the torment of the strange disease." The old Fangtou sighed.

"Old man, you have been talking about it for a long time, but you haven't talked about that ancient painting. Who did it end up in?" Fatty Wang couldn't help asking.

"That ancient painting ended up in the hands of my family, the Fang family, the richest man in the town." The old square man said looking at us.

"The Fang family whose eldest grandson died just now?" I know that there is another family with the surname Fang in this town.

"Yeah, speaking of it, our great-grandfather, and the great-grandfather over there, or uncles and brothers, were all poor and shabby, but since they got the ancient paintings over there, in just 20 years, they immediately became He has made a fortune, and now he is the richest man in all the villages." Old Fangtou sighed.

"Really, is that ancient painting really that magical?" Fatty Wang's eyes widened in disbelief.

"It's even more miraculous than you imagined. Otherwise, the two Fang families were the same poor. Why did they suddenly become rich and get richer?" The old Fang defended unconvinced.

I looked up at the night sky, and my curiosity about that ancient painting reached the extreme. There were some strange things recorded in the dilapidated physiognomy, but none of them were as miraculous as the ancient painting.

(End of this chapter)