Four hundred and seventieth chapters love and kill each other
You buried your bones in the mud under the spring, but I sent them to the world with a head full of snow.
——Excerpt from "Meng Wei Zhi" by Bai Juyi
…
The look in Huangfu Zhen's eyes before his death made Wu Daozi suffer a lot, and Gongsun Jiao's eternal farewell made Wu Daozi feel heartbroken and regretful.
Wu Daozi painted "Transformation of Hell" in Zhao Jinggong Temple overnight, which shocked Chang'an. In the painting, the underworld is invisible, and the viewer is wearing armpits and fluid is flowing.
Xuan Zong, an old monk from Zhao Jinggong Temple, said: "After the painting of "Hell Transformation" was completed, everyone looked at it, fearing sin and practicing good deeds. The two cities slaughtered the fish and meat, and the fish and meat were not sold."
After the completion of "Hell Transformation", Wu Daozi stopped painting for a year. He drank heavily all day long and lay drunk in Pingkangfang Bodhi Temple, repeatedly pondering Huangfu Zhen's mural "Pure Land Transformation".
In Wu Daozi's view, there must be some kind of secret hidden in the painting "Pure Land Transformation" - the secret that caused Huangfu Zhen to be silenced.
There is a guessing game among painters, which is like a lantern riddle and is called "picture riddle". Painters often hide self-portraits or images of admiring women in their paintings, just for their own enjoyment.
Other painters often identify the authenticity of this painting by deciphering the painting. This deciphering method is called the "identification key".
This "identification key" is a very private thing, like a password. The highest level "identification key" can only be deciphered by the person who encrypted it, that is, the artist himself.
Wu Daozi believed that Huangfu Zhen must have hidden this huge secret in "Pure Land Change" through the "Illustration Key".
Even so, because Huangfu Zhen himself is a master of painting and his origin is unknown, it is difficult to guess his unique "identification key" through his apprenticeship.
In addition, Huangfu Zhen deliberately concealed and encrypted the painting, making it even more difficult to decipher the "identification key" of this mural.
Even a generation of "painting saints" like Wu Daozi didn't know how to decipher it for a while.
…
On the night when Xuanzong fled and Chang'an was in chaos, the people of Chang'an were in panic. The princes, nobles, merchants and common people fled in panic with their wives and children. The local ruffians took advantage of the fire, looted the houses, and burned Zuozang. Before the puppet Yan army arrived, flowers bloomed like flowers.
Jin's Chang'an has become a ghost on earth.
The world was turned upside down, and even most of the monks in Bodhi Temple fled.
On the streets that were in chaos, Wu Daozi and the fleeing people walked in the opposite direction, like lonely ghosts, lost and lost.
The abbot of Bodhi Temple handed over the key to the temple gate to Wu Daozi, and then led his disciples to flee in panic.
The moment he opened the door of the Bodhi Temple and stepped across the threshold, Wu Daozi suddenly realized that he had deciphered Huangfu Zhen's "identification key" from his eyes before his death.
At this point, Wu Daozi discovered the secret hidden in the mural "Pure Land Transformation" and found the appearance, identity and method of activation of the eighty-eight spies lurking in Chang'an by An Lushan.
As expected, one of the spies was Gongsun Jiao!
Wu Daozi originally wanted to report this secret to His Majesty Xuanzong, but first Xuanzong fled from Chang'an and did not know where he fled to. Secondly, Wu Daozi discovered that many of the spies were Xuanzong's favored ministers. Reporting the secret rashly would not only bring trouble to the matter.
If it doesn't help, it will lead to death.
Therefore, Wu Daozi painted another mural "Eighty-seven Immortals Scroll" next to Huangfu Zhen's mural "Pure Land Transformation", and painted the other eighty-seven spies except Gongsun Jiao into the mural. At the same time,
Erase the image of the character representing Gongsun Jiao in "Pure Land Transformation".
In "Eighty-seven Immortals Scroll", Wu Daozi simplified Huangfu Zhen's "identification key" so that interested people can relatively easily find the appearance, identity and method of using these eighty-seven spies.
It was a pity that An Lushan's army subsequently invaded Chang'an, and all the officials fled. No literati came to Pingkangfang Bodhi Temple to visit the Buddha and appreciate the paintings.
No one could discover the secrets in the murals "Pure Land Transformation" and "Eighty-seven Immortals Scroll". It was not until Bai Fuli came to Bodhi Temple to copy Wu Daozi's murals that the secret was revealed again.
…
When Bai Fu returned to the Bashu Guild Hall, the 'catcher' Fang Shuliu had been waiting for a long time.
Bai Fu informed Fang Shuliu and Tang Kui of his conjecture. Fang Shuliu nodded frequently and said, "Brother Bai's inferences are closely linked and make the whole process more complete."
Tang Kui pondered for a moment and said: "Then the cause and effect of the whole incident are correct. I followed Brother Fu's thoughts and pushed down:
Tongzhou, the witch of Yunmeng, found Wu Daozi and asked Wu Daozi to help her disguise herself and assassinate the emperor. In exchange, she produced evidence to prove that her eldest sister Gongsun Jiao and her younger sister Gongsun Jiao were actually the same person. Gongsun Jiao was just a spell cast by Gongsun Auntie.
The clone of illusion.
In order to verify Tong Zhou's words, Wu Daozi disguised Tong Zhou as Gongsun Aunt and assassinated the emperor as Gongsun Aunt. The purpose was to see if Gongsun Jiao would appear:
If Gongsun Jiao really existed in the world: Gongsun Auntie would have pointed out that the assassin was someone else, probably his sister Gongsun Jiao.
Aunt Gongsun's face appeared in Chang'an, letting the court know that there was an identical person, so as to clear the grievances;
If Gongsun Jiao and Gongsun Jiao are the same person, then Gongsun Auntie is An Lushan's secret agent lurking around the emperor, and her death will not be unjust.
Or, this was Wu Daozi's original idea.
As time went by, Gongsun Jiao never appeared. Wu Daozi confirmed that Gongsun Jiao and Gongsun Jiao were the same person.
But at the last moment, Wu Daozi was still shaken.
Perhaps it was because he still loved Gongsun Jiao and couldn't bear to see Aunt Gongsun being killed, so he sacrificed himself to uncover the mystery of the assassination and let Princess Qingluan save Aunt Gongsun on the execution ground."
Fang Shuliu said: "Brother Tang, your inference is based on the premise that Gongsun Jiao and Gongsun Jiao are the same person. What if Gongsun Jiao and Gongsun Jiao are twin sisters?"
Tang Kui said: "I have thought about this too. But if the two are twin sisters, how could Gongsun Jiao sit back and watch his sister being beheaded and ignore her?"
Bai Fu said: "Maybe Gongsun Jiao is really dead; maybe she is far away and doesn't know anything about what happened in Chang'an."
Tang Kui said: "In that case, why didn't Lady Gongsun defend herself? She let herself and her disciples die under the executioner's knife."
Bai Fu glanced at Fang Shuliu, who said: "Brother Bai, please speak frankly. I want to hear your analysis."
Bai Fu smiled and said: "I don't have any real evidence, it's just an intuition. I have fought against Wu Daozi, and his illusions are as terrifying as his peerless martial arts. If Her Royal Highness the Princess hadn't been protected by the Xiangxiong Dzi Pearl, I might have
Died on the spot.
Wu Daozi's illusion skills were passed down by Gongsun Jiao, so it can be seen that Gongsun Jiao's illusion skills were even more powerful.
Therefore, regardless of whether Gongsun Ji and Gongsun Jiao are the same person or not, Gongsun's illusions have the power to change the day and night.
How could a dozen red-clothed executioners and dozens of soldiers in the execution ground trap Aunt Gongsun?! She could hide everything with a little trick."
Tang Kui asked: "Then what is the purpose of Aunt Gongsun doing this?"
Bai Fu said: "As far as I know, Aunt Gongsun has a very good reputation in the world. If she is An Lushan's secret agent, she must have had no choice but to hold it in An Lushan's hands.
According to Her Royal Highness the Princess's recollection of the Emperor's hasty flight south, I speculate that An Lushan's instructions to Gongsun were to protect Concubine Yang and wait for an opportunity to kidnap Concubine Yang to Luoyang."
In fact, this is not the memory of Princess Qingluan, but the memory of Yang Yuhuan. In order to cover up the fact that Yang Yuhuan is still alive, Bai Fu deliberately replaced her with Princess Qingluan.
Bai Fu continued: "The order to protect Concubine Yang was acceptable because she did not kill anyone, so Aunt Gongsun accepted the task.
Unexpectedly, there was a mutiny in Maweipo, and the Supreme Emperor ordered Gao Lishi to hang Concubine Yang. Gongsun was unable to rescue her, and the mission was over. She could only take the opportunity to follow Princess Qingluan to Lingwu north to join the then crown prince.
With An Lushan's death, the leverage to blackmail Gongsun may no longer exist, but it may also fall into the hands of others.
If you want to stop being blackmailed by others, the best way is to make everyone in the world think that Aunt Gongsun is dead.
Therefore, Aunt Gongsun took advantage of the situation and played a trick of being escorted to the execution ground and disappeared from the world. Unexpectedly, at the last moment, Wu Daozi enlightened and saved Gongsun Jiao and Gongsun Jiao regardless of whether they were the same person or not.
After this incident, although Aunt Gongsun was vindicated, she was never used by the imperial court and was expelled from Chang'an. Her latent use value was lost, and Aunt Gongsun no longer had to be a spy or do anything against her conscience, and she no longer had to worry about her.
, it’s considered an escape.”
It's a pity that Mr. Daozi, as a great master, lost his life just because of Gongsun Jiao's obsession."
Bai Fu copied Wu Daozi's paintings for several days, cherished each other and admired Wu Daozi endlessly.
"How did you know that Wu Daozi lost his life?" Fang Shuguang said with a smile.
"How do you say this?" Tang Kui was puzzled.
Fang Shuguang stroked his long beard and said with a smile: "Since Mrs. Gongsun has the illusion method to conceal the truth, why can't she rescue Wu Daozi?
Brother Bai, do you still remember the details of the last goodbyes between Gongsun Jiao and Wu Daozi?
Have you ever thought about why Gongsun Jiao assassinated Huangfu Zhen? Was it because of An Lushan's order, or because she didn't want Huangfu Zhen to replace Wu Daozi, or both.
Although Gongsun Jiao was An Lushan's secret agent, he did not necessarily want to be a murderer who assassinated the painter. He was willing to kill people, perhaps more because of emotion.
Only when conditions arise can they cease.
Whether Gongsun Auntie or Gongsun Jiao, deliberately not seeing each other for more than ten years may be just a matter of resentment. Let this unfaithful person always remember Gongsun Jiao.
If this man really remembers that he has been stubborn and unrepentant for more than ten years, he is willing to die for Gongsun Jiao.
Gongsun? No matter Gongsun Jiao, who would watch this idiot die in front of him?"
Finally, Fang Shuliu sighed and said: "There are some things that we will never know the truth about, and we don't need to know..."