Tianzhu: The Record of Foreign Stories in the Republic of China

Chapter 3 Painting and Killing (3)
Wang Hanhao breathed a sigh of relief, and quietly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Nobuo Yamada had just walked down the steps when he suddenly heard someone shouting urgently from behind: "Master Yamada, Master Yamada!"

Nobuo Yamada and Wang Hanhao turned around at the same time, only to see a person holding a scroll of paintings in his hand, sweating profusely, rushing out from the inner hall behind the counter, almost bumping into Wang Hanhao.Wang Hanhao looked up and saw that it was his son Wang Wenjin.

Wang Wenjin rushed to catch up with Nobuo Yamada, and shouted: "Master Yamada, the picture of "Angry Cat" you are holding is a fake, this one is the real one." Hastily unfolded the painting in his hand and presented it to Yamada Nobuo looked.

Wang Hanhao exclaimed "Ah", at first glance, almost fainted, what his son took out was the original painting of "The Picture of Angry Cat" that he kept in his collection! "You bastard!" He cursed angrily, and rushed forward to get back the original work.

Wang Wenjin hurriedly turned around to block him, Wang Hanhao's cheeks twitched in anger, his temples throbbed, and he gritted his teeth and cursed, "Beast!" He raised his hand and slapped him across the face.Wang Wenjin was furious and pushed his hands. Wang Hanhao couldn't stand still, staggered backwards, and fell to the ground with his hands on his chest, gasping for breath, unable to get up for a long time.

Wang Wenjin said triumphantly: "A few days ago, I saw you sneakily taking the painting off the wall, so I knew there was something wrong with it. As soon as I followed you, I found out that you had asked someone to copy a picture of "Angry Cat". I want to use fakes to deceive Major Yamada."

Nobuo Yamada turned his head and gave Wang Hanhao a hard look, and unfolded the two paintings at the same time. After seeing it, he couldn't help being stunned: "This, this...why is it exactly the same?"

Wang Wenjin said: "Master, the one you took just now is a fake, and the one I found in the back hall is the real one. The person who copied this painting is a master forger, so from the surface, the two pictures of "Angry Cat" are exactly the same." , hardly noticeable any difference."

Nobuo Yamada looked back at Wang Hanhao and then at Wang Wenjin, his eyes suddenly became suspicious, and he frowned and said, "Wang Wenjin, what the hell are you doing? Which one of the two "Pictures of Angry Cats" is the one?" Really? If you father and son dare to collude to lie to me, be careful, I will shoot you dead!"

Wang Wenjin shivered all over, nodded and bowed quickly, and said, "Master, please calm down, how dare I lie to you? Don't look at the two paintings that look exactly the same on the surface, but the real one can't be fake, and the fake one can't be real. I have a way. Identify which one is fake and which one is real."

Nobuo Yamada hurriedly said, "Quickly tell me, is there any way?"

Wang Wenjin said: "Shao Zuo didn't know that cat's eyes are very distinctive. People in ancient China summed up the cat's eye twelve o'clock song and said: Ziwu Maoyou is a line, Yin Zhong Si Hai is round like a mirror, Chen Xu ugly is not a jujube core. Shape. It means that the focusing power of the cat's eyes is extremely strong. Under strong light, its pupil can shrink like a line; , it will form the shape of a jujube stone. The real "Angry Cat Picture" is a masterpiece in the painting, the cat in the picture is alive, and the eyes can change. You can tell which is true and which is false by trying it."

Nobuo Yamada stared at him for a long time, his face was full of suspicion, and he took the two pictures of "Angry Cat" to the sunlight for a look. The cat seems to be alive, but the other "Angry Cat Picture" has not changed at all.

Yamada was overjoyed, patted Wang Wenjin on the shoulder, repeatedly called "Yo Xi yo Xi", and gave him a thumbs up.

Wang Wenjin smiled all over his face, nodded and bowed his waist, and hurriedly said: "Working for the Shao Zuo, I will not recognize my relatives and do my best."

Nobuo Yamada put away the original "Angry Cat Picture" and hid it close to his body. He looked back at Wang Hanhao, with a vicious look in his eyes, lit a match, and lit another "Angry Cat Picture". Throwing it at Wang Hanhao's feet, the raging flames almost burned his trouser legs.

"You robbers! Beasts! Give me back the painting!" Wang Hanhao blushed anxiously, hissed loudly, and rushed forward like crazy, trying to get back the "Angry Cat Picture".

Yamada had been on guard for a long time, and he was caught in the air just by dodging.Haha smiled and walked away.

"Bandits! Beasts!"

Wang Hanhao was angry and anxious, his face was bruised, blood rushed to his forehead, he stomped his feet and cursed angrily, suddenly felt the hair in his throat sweet, he opened his mouth, and with a sound of "Wow", a mouthful of blood gushed out, and he fell back straight.

"Master!" Xiao Zhao hurried forward and supported him from behind.Wang Hanhao's face was pale, his eyes were glazed over, his hands and feet were trembling, his mouth was open, and he couldn't speak.

Xiao Zhao hurriedly helped him to lie down on the inner bed, and kept massaging his chest with his hands. After a while, Wang Hanhao gurgled in his throat, and spit out another mouthful of blood with a "wow".He couldn't catch his breath, rolled his eyes, and passed out.

Xiao Zhao was taken aback, looked carefully, and found that he was just furious and fainted for a while, so he was relieved, took the quilt and covered him, letting him rest well.

When Wang Hanhao woke up, it was already the next morning.The pain in the head was still unbearable, but the chest felt much smoother and more comfortable, but the thirst was tight, so he took the tea served by Xiao Zhao and gulped down two cups.

Xiao Zhao told him, "Master, Mr. Yi came here when you fell asleep. He gave you acupuncture on your chest, saying that it will feel more comfortable when you wake up."

Wang Hanhao touched his chest, nodded, and asked, "Did Mr. Yi say anything else?"

Xiao Zhao shook his head and said, "No, I sat by your bed for a while and then left. But early this morning, he asked someone to deliver a letter."

Wang Hanhao was taken aback, and asked, "Where's the letter?"

Xiao Zhao hurriedly brought the letter and presented it with both hands.Wang Hanhao opened the envelope and took out the letterhead inside. There was a line written on a piece of white paper: I misunderstood my brother!The handwriting was scribbled, as if distracted and hastily written.An ominous omen suddenly rose in his heart, he hurriedly put on his clothes and got out of bed and said, "Follow me to the Qiu Yuting studio."

The two masters and apprentices walked quickly through Yipu Street and came to the Qiuyuting studio, and heard a burst of crying from the studio from a distance.Wang Hanhao yelled "Not good", pushed the door open and went in, only to see a white silk hanging on the girder inside the door, a person was hanging on the silk, and a girl was sitting on a stool underneath, crying and trying to hug him down, but helplessly His strength was weak, instead of holding him still, he fell off the stool.

Wang Hanhao took a closer look, the person hanging on the white silk was Yi Qiuyu, and the girl was his daughter Yi Xiaozhi.

Wang Hanhao understood everything, his liver and gallbladder were torn, he called out "Brother Yuting" sadly, rushed forward, hugged Yi Qiuyu off the white silk, and checked his breath, but he had been dead for a long time.

A flash of lightning flashed across the sky, and low-pitched thunder rolled from the sky. With a "crash", the sky was clear just now, but in an instant, it rained cats and dogs.

Three days later, Wang Hanhao finished dealing with Yi Qiuyu's funeral, sold all his property, and handed over all the proceeds to a close friend in Jingzhou, entrusting him to take care of Xiaozhi.

Three days later, someone found Wang Hanhao's body in the Yangtze River.

4
Because of his meritorious service in winning the painting, Wang Wenjin became a confidant of Nobuo Yamada from a dispensable running dog beside him. Nobuo Yamada not only treated him favorably and trusted him, but also gave him a gun and dispatched a team of troops Let him direct and let him follow him wholeheartedly.Wang Wenjin became more arrogant and arrogant, and led a group of vicious devil soldiers all day long, running around in the streets, seeing whoever disliked him, he said that whoever was bad, and immediately dragged him to shoot.People in the city looked sideways at him and called him a "dog traitor" behind his back.

In February of the following year, when Nobuo Yamada went out to sweep the city, he was ambushed several times in a row, causing heavy losses and many people died, but it was not clear whether he was ambushed by guerrillas, military workers, or regular troops of the Eighth Route Army.The situation became more and more tense, and someone found traces of the New Fourth Army on the north bank of the Yangtze River. Yamada felt that the situation was not good, so he had to abandon the city and enter Nanxian County via Huarong.After staying in Hunan for a while, the anti-Japanese voice in central Hunan became more and more popular, and it was difficult for Yamada to gain a foothold. Later, he was dispatched by the military department and bravely sent troops to Jiangxi to fight the Eighth Route Army.This battle lasted for more than four years. Nobuo Yamada lost more than he won. He retreated all the way from Jiangxi to Anhui and then fled to Zhejiang, and finally stationed in Jiaxing, Zhejiang.

Wang Wenjin followed him by his side, and he learned fluent Japanese. This made Yamada value him even more, and he stayed by his side as his confidential secretary and translator.

In May of this year, the weather in Zhejiang was already very hot.One morning, Nobuo Yamada was shaking his cattail fan vigorously in the room. Suddenly, the guards brought in a beautiful and elegant young girl in a white dress. She said that she was a reporter from Shanghai "Affinity Daily" and wanted to interview Yamada. Major.Yamada Nobuo didn't feel his eyes light up, as if there was a gust of breeze blowing in front of him, the heat on his body was relieved a lot.

The girl smiled before saying a word, revealing two rows of crystal-clear white jade teeth, which was extremely beautiful.Walking up to Nobuo Yamada, uttering the sound of warbler, called "Master Yamada", took out his ID and showed it to him.Yamada took it and saw that it was a press card of "Affinity Daily", which showed that the name of the bearer was Liu Xue.

Liuxue straight to the point explained why he came here, saying that Commander Yamada fought all the way from Hubei to Zhejiang.

"Affinity Daily" is a pro-Japanese newspaper run by the Japanese in the occupied areas of Shanghai, which was quite influential among the Japanese invaders at that time.Yamada heard that it was a reporter from "Kinwa Daily" who came to interview him.

Liu Xue talked with Nobuo Yamada all morning, and wrote down three full pages in the interview book.At the end of the interview, Liu Xue heard that Shao Zuo Yamada has a good collection of Chinese calligraphy and painting, and she couldn't help being very interested, and she must have a look at his collection.

Yamada was very happy when the beauty asked, and he agreed with all his mouth. He took her into the study, opened a large wooden cabinet, and showed her the treasures of calligraphy and painting he had collected in China one by one.Liu Xue saw that Yamada had quite a rich collection, and there were many original masterpieces of famous ancient painters such as Li Gonglin, Qian Xuan, Shen Zhou, and Dong Qichang, which were difficult for Chinese collectors to collect. She couldn't help being amazed.

(End of this chapter)