After listening to Qin Ci's explanation of the "rules for entering the painting," Li Xiaochun looked incredulous, his gaze scrutinizing everyone as if he feared it was a prank—after all, he had fallen asleep and arrived there; who knew what had just happened?
Yue Cen remained silent, seemingly deep in thought.
Hua Jiqiu asked a couple of routine questions, which Qin Ci patiently answered, after which he fell silent as well.
Perhaps because Director Hua was also present, Li Xiaochun felt the story had some credibility. He walked over to Hua Jiqiu and whispered something to him. Hua Jiqiu replied helplessly, "The truth should be as Dr. Qin said… Yes, we should be inside the painting now… Really, I think it's true."
Luo Cheng looked at Li Xiaochun's rather robust physique and asked, "Dude, what do you do at the art museum?"
Luo Cheng's inner monologue: Probably a security guard, hopefully a former reconnaissance soldier!
Li Xiaochun: "Cook."
Luo Yi: "..."
After confirming the authenticity of the painting incident, Li Xiaochun felt calmer. After traveling all over the country for so many years, he had gradually developed a carefree attitude.
Li Xiaochun felt that he should give a clear self-introduction, so he cleared his throat and said, "My name is Li Xiaochun. Because I was born in spring, my grandfather named me Li Xiaochun. I, I am good at... good at cooking. What about you? Since we are going to experience so much together, we should at least know each other beforehand."
"It was my oversight," Qin Ci realized that he had only told everyone the general rules of painting but forgot to introduce themselves. "My name is Qin Ci, and I am good at curing."
Although Wei Dong did not understand the meaning of curing, it did not affect his introduction: "Wei Dong, good at... eating."
Ke Xun: "Ke Xun, good at running. This is Mu Yiran, good at driving... no, good at thinking."
Ke Xun bathed in Mu Yiran's cool gaze and gave him a completely innocent smile.
Shao Ling hadn't expected everyone to be so accommodating to this newcomer, so he said, "Shao Ling is quite good at choosing."
No one else said anything, and the awkward self-introduction in English stalled at Shao Ling.
Shao Ling: ...
Mu Yiran cleared his throat and said, "This hall doesn't provide us with any clues right now. Perhaps we should use this time to figure out the painting 'Harmony and Unity'."
Hua Jiqiu put his glasses back on, but it was no use. That's just how the world is; taking off your glasses doesn't bring you back to the familiar past.
Hua Jiqiu sighed softly and said, "As the guide for this New Year's painting exhibition, I should be quite familiar with this painting. Hopefully, I can provide some clues."
Having someone so knowledgeable about paintings in the team was indeed a lucky thing.
Everyone looked at Hua Jiqiu with serious expressions, waiting for his next words.
Hua Jiqiu's voice maintained the clarity and pace expected of a guide: "This painting, 'Harmony and Union,' is made from 28 fragments of woodblock printing. The artists weren't professional New Year picture craftsmen, but two archaeologists."
"Two?" The crowd wondered if they'd misheard.
"Archaeologists?" Shao Ling asked alone.
The crowd: Why is your focus so different?
Wu You pressed on: "You mean, Si Nian, this name belongs to two people?!"
"Yes," Hua Jiqiu nodded firmly, "Si Youjun and Qinian, a married couple, were both scholars specializing in archaeology. In the last few years of their lives, they dedicated themselves to collecting fragments of New Year picture woodblocks. This painting, 'Harmony and Union,' is a collection of fragments with suitable patterns that they found and pieced together."
"The painting is called 'Harmony and Union.' Is it related to this couple?" Yue Cen, the wheelchair-bound woman who hadn't spoken for a while, suddenly asked.
Indeed, the words "Harmony and Union" easily evoke the image of the Two Immortals of Harmony and Union, the deities who govern marital bliss in the human world.
"I have no idea about that." Hua Jiqiu looked around the bright, spacious, yet despairing hall he was in, trying to regain his composure. "Besides, the Two Immortals of Harmony and Union don't just govern marriage; they also protect family harmony and even world peace."
Ke Xun couldn't help but ask, "You just said that they collected those woodblock fragments in the last few years of their lives. How did they pass away? It's as if they knew they would die in a few years."
Hua Jiqiu: "They died in an archaeological accident a few years ago. Everyone else on the team was unharmed, but the couple insisted on going to a dangerous area and didn't survive. But before that archaeological expedition, they had already made arrangements for their lives and their deaths, so many people in the industry speculate that they were preparing to die… They donated many of the woodblock fragments they had collected to our art museum, including this New Year picture work called 'Harmony and Union' made up of the fragments."
Everyone listened to this and seemed to be deep in thought.
"Director Hua, could you sketch the approximate pattern of that New Year's painting from memory?" Gu Qingqing asked, opening her schoolbag. Thankfully, her notebook and pen were still inside.
Hua Jiqiu glanced at the student-like girl before him. Initially, he had thought the other young women in the group were relatively weak, but now he realized they were all quite capable.
Hua Jiqiu took the notebook from Gu Qingqing: "I'll give it a try."
While Hua Jiqiu was engrossed in drawing, Yue Cen asked the group several questions about their past paintings. The angles he posed were very precise, some even recent ideas that everyone had only recently considered, yet he asked them calmly and methodically.
After a few rounds of questions, even Mu Yiran couldn't help but look at Yue Cen with new respect.
Wei Dong couldn't help but ask, "Sister Cen, what do you do for a living? Are you a detective?"
Yue Cen smiled gently, "Thank you for the compliment, but unfortunately, excellent detectives seem to only exist in mystery novels."
"Then you..."
"I'm just unemployed."
Wei Dong sized up the unemployed middle-aged woman in the wheelchair before him, yet he couldn't see a trace of weakness in her—the unemployed middle-aged woman, wearing a dark blue shawl, often had to look up at people because of her wheelchair, but her gaze only revealed wisdom, composure, and humility.
Yue Cen looked up at everyone, "Given the current situation, is there anything we can do besides wait?"
Ke Xun was about to answer when he realized that it seemed that all they could do now was wait.
Mu Yiran said, "The current location is very open and bright. Judging from the surrounding light, those areas should be forbidden zones, which are the edges of the painting we mentioned before. I think if the painting continues to develop, either the scene will change, or an NPC will appear. All we can do now is wait and learn as much as possible about the painting's content."
Everyone agreed that this made sense, and Shao Ling counted the number of people again: "Anyway, we're all here. This world can't stay stagnant forever."
Hua Jiqiu had already completed almost half of his painting, and Gu Qingqing was observing him intently. "It's truly remarkable, Director Hua, your painting is so similar to the original!"
Hua Jiqiu, however, held his brush, his brows slightly furrowed. "I only remember some of the patterns that interested me; there are a dozen or so patterns I simply can't recall, and I can't guarantee that their positions are correct."
"My memory for paintings is also limited; I remember things like text much better." Despite saying this, Gu Qingqing still pointed to the lower right corner of the painting with her brush. "I remember there should be a bat here."
This reminded Hua Jiqiu, and he quickly drew a simple, ancient-looking bat in the lower right corner, its wings resembling auspicious clouds and ruyi scepters.
"If I'm not mistaken, there should be a peach diagonally above the bat." Wei Dong also came over, picked up his brush, and drew a peach in that spot.
Hua Jiqiu was quite impressed with the young man: "I didn't expect we had such a talented painter here."
Wei Dong quickly waved his hand
: "I'm flattered, I'm just a junior artist. -- This looks like a squirrel. Are squirrels also found in ancient auspicious patterns?" "Yes, in ancient times, squirrel patterns symbolized many children and many blessings," Hua Jiqiu said. "'Squirrel and grapes' was often used by the ancients in embroidery or porcelain."
"What does this squirrel have to do with many children and many blessings?" Luo Yu asked unconsciously.
"Because the rat represents the hour of Zi (11 PM - 1 AM), which is a homophone for 'Zi' (子), and pine trees produce many seeds, which also represent longevity, squirrels are often associated with many children and good fortune."
Luo Yu: "The ancients really knew how to make connections."
Wei Dong seemed to remember something and drew several circles next to the squirrel: "You mentioned squirrels and grapes earlier. I remember there were actually a few grapes drawn in this spot. I didn't understand what they were for at the time, so I took another look. There seemed to be some auspicious patterns on the grapes."
Hua Jiqiu carefully examined the string of circles Wei Dong had drawn: "These shouldn't be grapes. If I remember correctly, this should be a part of a string of Buddhist prayer beads."
After everyone tried to recall, they gradually remembered a few more patterns, but they still couldn't fill the entire picture, and the positions weren't very accurate.
A cough suddenly rang out.
Mu Yiran frowned, his alert gaze sweeping over all his companions present.
Shao Ling also sensed something was wrong: "Who was that? Who coughed?"
No one answered for a moment.
When the second cough rang out, everyone was even more certain that the cough came from a stranger.
The hall was spacious and bright, and the cough was so clear, yet no one could see the person behind it.
Fortunately, the three newlyweds were quite cooperative; no one screamed or showed any signs of panic. Li Xiaochun wiped the cold sweat from his brow and slowly approached the group: "I... I feel like the sound is coming from underground."
Li Xiaochun's analysis was correct, and everyone else shared the same feeling; the cough clearly came from beneath the marble floor tiles.
"Back up!" Fang Fei suddenly said, "The tiles there are starting to loosen!"
This discovery made everyone tense. At Mu Yiran's gesture, everyone gathered together and silently retreated, watching as the gap between the tiles in the center of the hall widened, and the entire floor began to slowly sink.