Ink Burns

Chapter 12 Painful Memories

When he entered the brothel, he saw the girl using all her strength to stand precariously against the wall, her eyes burning, and in her hand she held a piece of broken porcelain with its sharp corner pointed in his direction.

Indeed, it is beautiful.

Like the beauty of a sword shining coldly when it is unsheathed.

He is not very old now, at most twelve or thirteen years old, but he already has such a sharp appearance. I dare not imagine what color he will be in the future.

"Generally speaking, most girls will point the pointed end at their necks." He smiled.

The girl crushed the porcelain with even greater strength, her palm was cut and bright red blood oozed out.

He stepped forward, his expression gentle: "Put it down. If I wanted to do something, why would I wait until you wake up? Why would I make medicine soup for you? Cover you with a thick blanket? Take good care of you?"

Generally speaking, at this time, the girl's attitude will gradually soften, and then her eyes will start to turn red, her gaze will start to become dazed, and her arms will slowly droop - returning to the helpless and frail appearance of a weak animal.

Generally speaking, it's just, generally speaking.

Just as he was about to take a step forward, he heard the girl's voice, emotionless and hoarse like a broken old bowl.

"If you dare to come over here, I will kill you."

It's not a weak animal, but the legendary hyena, who doesn't feel pain and is born stubborn. Even if it's dying, it will fight to the death to bite off a piece of flesh from your belly.

He stopped and his gentle demeanor slowly faded.

"Where is this?" the girl continued to ask.

"Shan Tang Street." He stood at the door and answered briefly, but in his heart he was thinking boredly: What can a beautiful girl worth five taels of silver and who is stubborn enough to want to die do?
The girl leaned against the wall: "It's where they sell paintings, right?"

He didn't answer.

"I heard from Little Foot that Shantang Street in Suzhou is the place where fake paintings are sold." The girl held her breath.

Little Foot should be the child who grew up in the jar, right?
He guessed in his heart but still didn't answer.

The girl held the porcelain piece in her hand and looked fierce: "I can draw."

He also leaned against the wall, tilted his body, and looked at her calmly: "This is not a fake painting shop."

"Here it is." The girl kept speaking in the same tone: "I smell the smell of mineral pigments."

He stood up slowly.

The girl continued, "I can draw everything I see, no matter how long it takes."

His expression gradually became serious.

"If you let me stay, I'll paint for you. Ten cents for each painting." The girl's hand was pierced deeper and deeper by the broken porcelain pieces. The blood was flowing down the ground, and the bright red on the ground was like the inappropriate lip balm she had applied that day. "I'll pay you for the medicine, food, and bed these days in copper coins."

The beautiful carp was bloody and skinny, but he was suddenly willing to believe.

"Okay." He said.

"Write a document." The girl whispered.

He didn't hear clearly.

"Sign a written agreement!" The girl gritted her teeth and tried her best to make her voice louder.

He didn't understand why, but he still did it. The document was simple and sloppy. He was the first to sign and put his fingerprints. Holding the thin hemp paper, he asked with a smile: "Can I come over now?"

"Put it there." The girl raised the broken porcelain pieces in her hand and pointed to the chest of drawers not far away.

He did as he was told.

The girl did not use a pen, but wrote her name with her trembling fingers stained with blood.

He Shanyue.

He murmured in his mouth.

"Actually, this piece of paper has no effect at all." He thought it was ridiculous: "If you have bad intentions, how can you be restrained by a thin piece of paper?"

Xiao Niangyu put her hands on the chest of drawers, her wrists fluttering like butterflies, and said in a low voice: "I know. But this is my last..."

If she didn't have to sacrifice her life to perish together with her, then this was the last, futile protection she could do for herself in a desperate situation. He didn't know what had happened to this young girl, but her skinny figure and hyena-like defensive attitude were enough to prove that she must have experienced extreme pain.

He did not ask in detail, just like he would not talk about his past, Miss Wang would not talk about how a Sichuan woman came to the south of the Yangtze River, or how Lao Lu acquired his superb martial arts skills.

"Bones crossing the bridge" means that after the bones cross the Naihe Bridge, they will be reborn as living people.

It is enough to know this, there is no need to delve deeper.

If a clearly priced contract gives you peace of mind, then do it.

The bright moon hung high in the sky. Uncle Sun Wu stared at the white jade mortar in a trance. The malachite had been pounded into small pieces. The breeze blew across the window lattice, bringing the beautiful green light softly to the point of his thoughts.

Master Sun Wu woke up as if from a dream, and ordered the servant: "I told you not to have open flames or paper lanterns. What if the ore and the painting catch fire?"

The servant said hurriedly, "Yes! Yes! Fifth Master, it's hard to be safe when you're out. That guy stole the painting from the warehouse. He was caught in Songjiang Prefecture a few days ago. He was interrogated for several days, but he refused to tell us where the painting went. That's why I wanted to light a fire and scare him with the branding iron."

Master Sun Wu said "hmm" and waved his hand to tell the servant to go out.

The door of the tavern closed gently.

The door latch of the post station also tightened in response.

There were two wooden barrels in the wing room. Wang Erniang and He Shanyue filled several barrels with hot water. Wang Erniang carefully took off the big gold bracelet on her wrist and asked He Shanyue, "Do you want me to give you a bath?"

He Shanyue didn't understand why this evil woman from Sichuan had such a persistent hobby of scrubbing other people's backs.

There are bathhouses in Sichuan too.

"No." He Shanyue frowned and refused as always.

Miss Wang Er shrugged her shoulders, and soon she emerged riding on a cloud of mist in the diffuse hot air.

He Shanyue walked in neatly dressed and undressed bit by bit. The bronze mirror in the post station was as tall as a person. She stood naked in front of the mirror. She first opened her mouth to look at her tongue which had been burned by the charcoal fire but had long since recovered.

She moved her tongue and scratched the surface of her tongue with her sharp molars, and finally confirmed again that there was no feeling.

The skin and flesh in the mouth grows the fastest and heals easily.

But the sense of the tongue - including the sense of taste - can never be restored.

Along with the disappearance of the sense of taste, there were also dense and intertwined burn marks on the back.

A piece of red, a piece of white, a piece of purple, and a piece of gray.

The red is the color of fresh flesh, the white is the mark after the blood scab fell off, the purple is the evidence of blood congestion, and the gray is the existence of rotten flesh instead of new flesh growing.

He Shanyue touched her shoulder cherishingly.

There should still be some of my mother's flesh and blood left here, right?

Her mother turned back and held her tightly in her arms, and the fire burned their flesh together.

The umbilical cord is cut and the baby is born, but he no longer has a blood connection with his mother.

And she still has this scar on her back.

Daughter.

My mother who protected me in the fire, and my sister who has disappeared without a trace.

He Shanyue leaned over and looked at the bronze mirror calmly.

After experiencing unbearable escape, pain and endurance, I was finally about to enter the Cheng family.

That night, the man serving drinks was the eldest son of the Cheng family.

Fortunately, I still have the ability to draw the things, people and scenery I have seen so that I will not forget them.

In the bronze mirror, the girl, as beautiful as a glittering koi fish, slowly, slowly forced out a smile.

Her gentle and kind smile was exactly the same as that of the female gentleman who went to apply for the job today.

　Friends who are familiar with A Yuan know that A Yuan is a fairy who relies a lot on spiritual encouragement. Generally speaking, comments are the driving force that motivates A Yuan to write like crazy, and they are even more useful than rewards and monthly tickets.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)