Exorzismus - Kapitel 17
Gao Xuan suddenly moved closer to her: "Actually, the reason I asked you out today is to ask you for a favor." "How can I help you?" "From the first time I saw you, I noticed your unique气质 (qi zhi, a kind of refined elegance or aura), which is perfectly suited for being painted. I've been preparing an oil painting these past few days, but I'm struggling to find a suitable subject. None of my students meet my requirements, so I had no choice but to ask you—" "To be a model?" Chunyu immediately stood up, her face unable to hide her disappointment. She was genuinely angry, but still managed to restrain herself and whisper, "I'm sorry, I have other things to do."
Gao Xuan quickly stood up and said with a smile, "What are you thinking? I just want you to sit in front of the easel for an hour—clothed, of course."
His last addition made Chunyu a little embarrassed. She understood Gao Xuan's meaning, lowered her head and said softly, "Let me think about it." "I've already designed everything. I'll wear this sweater you're wearing, in a dimly lit room, with my face illuminated by the winter sun."
As Gao Xuan described it, Chunyu envisioned a scene. She looked out the restaurant window and, sure enough, saw a layer of golden winter sunlight. Although her heart was pounding, she suppressed her nervousness and nodded slightly. "Thank you so much."
Gao Xuan quickly paid the bill and then led Chunyu out of the restaurant. A dozen minutes later, they arrived at the art department building. As they entered, many girls greeted Gao Xuan, while also casting envious glances at Chunyu.
Chunyu could only lower her head and follow Gao Xuan through the hall to a studio upstairs.
It was a small room with a small window in the wall, through which a beam of winter sunlight shone, casting a square shadow on the opposite wall. The room was filled with the smell of paint, and Chunyu couldn't help but cover her nose. There were also many easels in the room, mostly unfinished works. It seemed that Gao Xuan wasn't into postmodern art, because the paintings were all conventional oil paintings, mostly portraits of clothed people, or paintings in the European classical style.
Gao Xuan said calmly, "I'm sorry, this room is too small, but..." "This is an artist's studio?" "I wouldn't call him an artist, just a schoolteacher who can paint."
Then, Gao Xuan turned off several lights in the room, making the studio suddenly dim, while the ray of sunlight became even more conspicuous. He had Chunyu sit down in a chair, and the small ray of sunlight coming in from the window illuminated her face.
Against the dim backdrop, the soft winter sunlight streamed through the small square window, casting a movie-like glow on her face. Chunyu's skin was incredibly smooth, and the sunlight, like raindrops, splashed across her forehead, creating a dreamlike scene. Her sweater, perfectly complementing her long hair and fair skin, made her appear serene and tranquil, like a saint descended from a dream.
Gao Xuan set up his easel and prepared his pencils and paints, but he didn't pick up a brush for a long time, only staring at Chunyu. It wasn't until Chunyu became restless that he made a gesture and began to sketch on the canvas.
The canvas wasn't large, only fifty centimeters square, so it could only accommodate a bust at most. Gao Xuan quickly sketched the outline, and the silhouette of a girl sitting in a small room leaped off the paper. After finishing all the parts with a pencil, he began to add color. The winter sunlight streaming onto Chunyu's face easily reminded him of a work from the Renaissance period. The dark background behind her, however, was more reminiscent of Rembrandt's style. The sunlight streaming into the small room created a strong contrast between light and shadow, making the use of light crucial to the painting.
Two hours have passed.
Chunyu sat quietly in front of the easel. She didn't know how much longer Gao Xuan would paint, but she could only maintain this posture, barely moving except for panting and blinking.
Gao Xuan painted with astonishing speed, almost finishing, but the sunlight inside had already disappeared. He looked out the window; the sky seemed to be darkening. However, this no longer affected the completion of the painting. Gao Xuan looked into Chunyu's eyes and completed the last few strokes.
Finally, he threw his paintbrush to the ground and let out a long sigh of relief: "That's amazing, you really are like a saint."
Chunyu asked cautiously, "Can I get up now?" "Of course, it's all done."
Chunyu's legs were numb, and she couldn't stand up. Gao Xuan quickly helped her. Chunyu felt like a million ants were crawling on her legs, and she could only rub them constantly until she recovered. She slowly walked behind the easel and finally saw her image in the oil painting. Fortunately, Gao Xuan hadn't painted her as an abstract painting. The image of her in the oil painting was almost identical to the real person; the contours and lines of her face were quite precise, and the oil paint was used very appropriately. In short, it was a realistic classical oil painting, only the figure in the painting had the face of a Chinese girl.
However, the most important thing is the use of light, especially the sunlight falling on Chunyu's face. Chunyu exclaimed, "You painted so well!"
Gao Xuan also said with considerable pride, "Although this painting is not large, it is the best painting I have seen in the past few months."
But Chunyu coldly replied, "Really?" "Of course it's true," Gao Xuan said with a smile, shaking his head. "You're really special, you know? My female students usually speak to me in a fawning tone, looking at me with obsequious eyes. After a while, every time I hear those words and see those looks, I feel disgusted. Only you are different. Your eyes and words are so cold, like a frightened fawn, always on guard against the wild beasts in the forest." "You say you're a wild beast in the forest?" "Maybe."
Gao Xuan packed up his painting tools and then left the studio with Chunyu.
As Chunyu left the art department building, she kept her head down, trying not to be seen by others. When they reached the door, they found that the weather had changed; just two hours ago it was a warm winter day, but now it was drizzling.
Gao Xuan immediately said, "Shall I get you an umbrella?" "No need, I can run back by myself." "Then what about your beautiful sweater?"
Before Chunyu could answer, Gao Xuan had already turned and run towards the building. Less than two minutes later, he ran back, carrying two umbrellas. He handed one umbrella to Chunyu and said, "Let me walk you back to your dorm." This time Chunyu didn't refuse. They each opened their umbrellas and walked into the drizzling rain.
Walking in the drizzle reminded Chunyu of a scene from the Korean film "The Classic." But Chunyu quickly stopped her wandering thoughts, because no matter what, the man beside her was still her teacher.
It's a long walk from the art department to Chunyu's dorm. Gao Xuan seemed to really like the rain, muttering to himself, "Winter rain is more precious than winter sunshine." "Yes, it rarely rains in winter."
Spring Rain only answered this one question, and then fell silent.
After walking for half an hour in the winter drizzle, they finally arrived at Chunyu's girls' dormitory. Gao Xuan wisely stopped there. He waved to Chunyu and said, "You really helped me a lot today, thank you."
Chunyu nodded and handed the umbrella back to him, saying, "Thank you for the umbrella too."
After saying that, she lowered her head and went upstairs.
There were several girls at the stairwell just now. They all seemed to know Gao Xuan and immediately started whispering among themselves. It turned out that Gao, the art department teacher, was known as a handsome man, a fact already familiar to girls from many other departments. Every time they saw Gao Xuan, they acted as if they were seeing...
They felt the excitement of being a star.
However, none of them were happy this time, because Gao Xuan had come to see Chunyu off, and on such a romantic rainy day no less. The girls could only look at Chunyu with envious eyes.
At this moment, Chunyu had already run up to the upstairs corridor. She leaned out of the window and looked down; Gao Xuan was nowhere to be seen, and the entire sky was shrouded in mist and rain…
night.
The winter rain pattered against the awning, making an irritating sound. Officer Ye Xiao paced back and forth outside his window, gazing at the city in the rainy night. He breathed out onto the windowpane, the white mist blurring his vision, much like the mysteries he had been facing these past few days. Although it was just a suicide at a university, supposedly caused by a relationship that led the girl to take her own life, and the police no longer saw any need for further investigation, the sudden spring rain and the strange text messages left on the deceased's phone still filled Ye Xiao with unease.
Ye Xiao returned to his desk. A fatal number was written in his notebook: 741111. Early yesterday morning, unable to suppress his curiosity, he sent a text message to this number, only to receive a reply: "Do you know what the 19th level of hell is?" From then on, he was unstoppable, dragged into a strange game, entering "the first level of hell." But he quickly turned off his phone, not continuing.
He had already returned Su-lan's phone to the school that morning. But a whole day had passed, and the number kept popping into his head. What secrets were hidden behind those numbers?
Without even looking at the notebook, the set of numbers appeared before his eyes, arranged like a cipher—Ye Xiao suddenly remembered the case about the five words "God is watching you," which also used words as a cipher. Could he deduce it the other way around? Could numbers represent a certain meaning or word?
Ye Xiao muttered "741111" to himself again. The first five digits were meaningless; the key was the six digits "741111". When he was studying at the Public Security University, Ye Xiao had learned some cryptography. If English letters were used as the password, the simplest setting would be: =0, =1, =2, =3, =4... and so on, until =25.
In this way, by alternating the twenty-six English letters with the numbers 0 to 25, this is the basis of the alternative code, and it is also the simplest as a code or password.
To solve the number "741111", you first need to understand the sequence "7, 4, 1, 1, 1, 1".
These six numbers are decomposed and replaced with English letters according to a coded pattern, namely — 7＝, 4＝, 1＝ "7, 4, 1, 1, 1, 1" which is equivalent to "、、、、、、", and if read continuously, it should be "". Ye Xiao really couldn't think of any such English words; at the very least, those four consecutive "" completely violated the rules of pronunciation.
But Ye Xiao had another way: to separate the single-digit and two-digit numbers.
If we assume that numbers using the hexadecimal system of English letters are the code words, numbers like 74 or 41 cannot be replaced because there will be no two-digit numbers greater than 26.
Looking at the numbers "741111", arranged in order, the only two-digit number less than 26 is 11, which can be represented by the letter "".
Besides the first group of letters, Ye Xiao tried to break down "741111" into several different groups of numbers and letters—7, 4, 1, 1, 11 = 7, 4, 1, 11, 1 = 7, 4, 11, 1, 1 = 7, 4, 11, 11 = Ye Xiao looked at these numbers converted into letters and then tried to pronounce their English pronunciations—"、、".
None of these three groups of letters can form a meaningful English word.
Only the last group of letters — "
Ye Xiao not only immediately pronounced it in English, but also understood its meaning—Hell. He succeeded! He finally grasped the mystery of this number.