Paintings of Terror

Chapter 188: Ship at Sea

The decoration style of the Bronze Art Gallery was very consistent with its name.

The exterior walls of the entire venue were decorated with bronze texture and color.

However, the group were not in any mood to appreciate this simple and atmospheric building. A cold autumn rain had encroached upon the entire city, and the temperature plummeted three times within a week. The freezing temperature caught these outsiders off guard. Even Qin Ci, after getting off the plane, had to put on the thin down jacket he’d brought along with him.

Ke Xun wore a baseball cap and a baseball-themed outfit. As he stood at the door of the art gallery, the young girls passing by couldn’t help but look at him.

The Bronze Art Gallery opened at nine in the morning and now it was 8:40am. Mu Yiran was the only one in their group of five who hadn’t yet arrived.

“Will the boss make it in time?” Wei Dong’s teeth were chattering despite his thick sweater.

Mu Yiran had gone to the Italian Peninsula. When Ke Xun had called him at three last night, he had just gotten off the plane.

Ke Xun put his hands in his pockets and looked at the rain falling on the street. “Why so anxious? We have until 8pm. Let him sleep a little longer.”

“Tsk, tsk. It’s obvious that you’re in love with him.” Wei Dong turned his head. “Come on, Haowen’er. Brother will love you. You can put your hands in my pocket, my pocket is warm.”

Zhu Haowen raised his hands blankly, showing him his thin gloves.

“You know how to take care of yourself.” Wei Dong shivered. “I regret not listening to my mother. I should have worn one more layer. At this point, even my pee will freeze in trajectory…Ke’er, did you bring extra clothes?”

Ke Xun took off his shoulder bag and threw it at him. “Just a coat. You can wear it first, but don’t get it dirty.”

“Damn, you’re starting to disdain me. Now that you have a wife, you’re starting to forget your mother, you unfilial son!” Wei Dong pulled out the clothes, only to see a short, black woolen trench coat.

“Huh? You usually don’t wear such formal clothes.” Wei Dong looked at Ke Xun curiously and saw that he was still standing there with his back to him. Wei Dong was shocked. “Yo, I get it now. This is specially prepared for the big boss. You’re afraid that he might freeze. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Now that you have a family, you’ve become more careful than us rough guys.”

Wei Dong, who was now wearing a trench coat and jeans, looked up at the sky. “It’s still very cloudy. Since it’s raining like this, I don’t know how many people are willing to come to the art gallery today.”

“Don’t worry about others. Have you reviewed the paintings in this art gallery?” Ke Xun turned to face him.

“I have,” Wei Dong answered. “All the works on display in the art gallery are Chinese paintings by modern and contemporary artists. I took down all the information we’ve searched on the internet about the collections displayed in this gallery and also backed up the documents and the images of the paintings on my phone, so don’t worry!”

“I feel that this time we’ll have it easier than in the last painting.” Qin Ci wanted to pass his optimism along to everyone. Smiling, he looked back at the closed doors of the art gallery and added, “We did quite a bit of preparation this time.”

“Only if we can do things step by step, and there are no emergencies.” Zhu Haowen was always calm.

At exactly 9 o’clock, the door of the art gallery opened from the inside and two staff members came out to display a poster on the outside of the door.

The group members looked at the content of the poster, and then looked at each other.

They all saw that it said: New paintings now on display at the Bronze Art Gallery today. All is welcome.

“…What the fuck…” Wei Dong looked at his companions with a blank face. “It’s deliberately making it hard on us! I bet the painting we’re going to enter today is one of these new paintings! I’ve made all this preparation for nothing!”

“It’s resisting.” Ke Xun’s mood did not fluctuate. “You go in first and warm up. I’ll wait out here for Yiran.”

The other three did not try to be polite to him, and entered the hall.

Ke Xun’s cell phone rang just then. When he saw the caller ID, the corners of his mouth curved up involuntarily. “Why didn’t you sleep longer?…Mmn, we haven’t arrived yet. We’re just about to leave. I guess we’re a step behind you…There’s no hurry. Go and buy something to eat first so you won’t be hungry…Oh, what did you eat?…Mmn, drink more hot water. Are you dressed warmly? It’s raining and it’s freezing…What about me? So warmly dressed that I’m sweating all over…Okay, I’ll wait for you…Don’t worry, I won’t stand outside. I’ll go in as soon as I get here, okay?…Okay, see you later. Be safe on your way.”

Looking at his phone, Ke Xun saw that it was almost 9:40. Turning his head, he entered the art gallery. Less than five minutes later, he saw Mu Yiran step through the door holding a black umbrella.

“Am I good?” Ke Xun greeted him, wrapping his arms around him.

“You neglect the raindrops still on your body.” Mu Yiran pursed his lips and wrapped his free arm around Ke Xun’s back.

They hadn’t seen each other for ten day. Mu Yiran had been busy flying around at home and abroad.

“How many days are you staying in the country this time?” Ke Xun retracted his arms and brushed his lips across Mu Yiran’s cheek.

Mu Yiran looked at the moisture on his eyebrows and eyelashes and raised his hand to wipe it off for him. In a somewhat calm voice, he said, “This time, I’ll stay as long as you want me to stay.”

Ke Xun was taken aback at first, but soon, the corners of his lips slowly rose. “Darling, I won’t be polite. Since you’re letting me say, then I hope that from today onwards, you will always stay by my side. Won’t you regret it?”

Mu Yiran pulled off the cap on Ke Xun’s head and lightly rubbed his hair. He quietly said, “This issue you raised, it seemed like you’re not trying to settle the score.”

“As long as you don’t leave for more than ten days and will settle me when you return, I will gladly endure any hardship.” Ke Xun held his hand.

Mu Yiran glanced at him, started walking inside, and said in a low voice, “As you wish.”

Ke Xun: “…”

Did the boss mean that he would only leave for ten days, or that he was ready to “settle” him to death?…

How exciting.

The other three who had entered the art gallery in advance weren’t idle. They asked the gallery staff for information regarding the new batch of paintings. Unfortunately, the staff didn’t know much about it either. They only said that the paintings were shipped in by air last night. This morning, the staff were told to come in at 7 to hang up the art pieces.

The three group members walked around the hall and saw that these new paintings were all Chinese paintings. Some of them were completed by modern, contemporary artists, and among these paintings, there were even imitations of ancient paintings.

They could glean no clues. Chinese civilization was thousands of years old, and there were paintings from ancient times to the present. There was no way for them to guess which was the right painting in the exhibition hall.

“Should we go in now?” Standing at the door of the target exhibition hall, Wei Dong asked Mu Yiran and Ke Xun.

“Let’s go in now. Maybe we can find out more clues if we go in earlier.” Ke Xun had never hesitated due to fear, and holding Mu Yiran’s hand, he took the lead in entering the exhibition hall.

When the lights went out and a flash of light from the void fell across the painting, Ke Xun saw that it was a faded ancient painting.

Colored ink; thin, durable silk; dull tone; indistinct patterns.

There were thin, gray stripes outlining the ocean and the ship. The sky was smeared with damp patches of primal chaos. Underneath the vast sea, there was a dense layer of creatures.

Before he could take a closer look, the white light had already brightened, and when he opened his eyes, he was already inside the painting.

“Crash, crash.”

A vast sea of ??black ink suddenly appeared in front of everyone.

“Holy shit… this is…a ship?” Wei Dong turned around in a circle, looking at their surroundings in shock.

This was clearly the large ship that was inside the painting. Between the wooden hull and upper deck, there were two floors. Each floor had about a dozen rooms with primitive doors and windows. The tall masts had a large black flag with ancient characters written in gold.

“This painting is…” Qin Ci looked at everyone.

“Burning Rhinoceros at Sea,” Mu Yiran and Zhu Haowen responded.

They had both seen the name of the painting before entering the painting.

“Is this painting famous?” Ke Xun asked Mu Yiran.

Mu Yiran’s eyes moved slightly, and his voice was low, “This is from a private collection of paintings. It has never been made public, and I only heard one friend in the industry mention it occasionally. I didn’t expect its imitations to appear in this place.”

“Friend?” Ke Xun tilted his head and looked at him.

“A connoisseur of painting and calligraphy and a lover of Chinese culture who is over 60 years old,” Mu Yiran glanced at him. “He’s Japanese.”

“Our Yiran have friends from all over the world,” Ke Xun boasted.

“Your expression just now tells us that this is not what you want to say,” Wei Dong squinted his eyes. “I smell the sour rot of love.”

“How much do you know about this painting?” Zhu Haowen asked Mu Yiran.

“Not much.” Mu Yiran’s expression was also a little solemn. “The owner of this painting refuses to disclose the content of the painting to anyone. He only said a few words when he was drunk and chatting with a friend. His friend is the man I previously mentioned, who is a connoisseur of calligraphy and painting. Similar to him, the owner of the painting is also from Japan.”

“Then which country is this painting from?” Wei Dong asked.

“This ancient painting is from our country, but it has not been recorded in any literature,” Mu Yiran said.

“How did our country’s painting get into the hands of a Japanese person? Could it be that it was looted?” Ke Xun asked.

“I also have a question,” Qin Ci added. “Since this painting has never been made public before, how can we be sure that it is a Chinese painting?”

Mu Yiran answered unhurriedly, “The owner of the painting is a man named Fukuoka, and his family has lived on the coast of Japan for generations. His ancestors lived by fishing and so they possessed superb underwater skills.”

“Hundreds of years ago, a generation of Fukuoka’s ancestors was fishing at sea and accidentally discovered a sunken ship.”

“The Fukuoka family gathered all the children who were good underwater and they went to the sea to salvage it. However, the shipwreck was too old, and most of the items on the ship had been soaked out of value. The Fukuoka family only picked up a few remaining valuables. This silk painting in a water-proof container was one of them.”

“The Fukuoka family sold a few salvaged items, and gradually moved from a fishermen’s family to the ranks of the rich. And this silk painting and other salvaged collectables were left at home, unsold, and was passed down from generation to generation.”

“The reason why I can determine that this painting is a Chinese work is that the other objects that they fished out on the same boat were produced in our country, and some of them are now in the National Museum.”

“And…”

At this point, Mu Yiran pointed to the big flag hanging on the mast. “The ship on the painting came from our country, and the font on the flag is Qin calligraphy.

Understanding dawned on everyone’s faces.

Ke Xun asked again, “Then who is the artist of this Burning Rhinoceros At Sea?”

Mu Yiran’s gaze was a little complicated as he solemnly replied, “Unknown.”