Paintings of Terror

About chapter title

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year_picture

Used as decoration during the Lunar New Year.

In a historical town like City K, it was indeed very fitting to hold traditional Chinese New Year activities.

The city’s streets and alleys were already put up with decorations and lanterns, and various New Year markets attracted citizens buying New Year goods. Almost everyone wore expressions of joy from reunion and abundance.

As the New Year approached, the number of guests at the hotel was dwindling. Wei Dong suspected that their own group of ten might be the only ones staying there on New Year’s Eve.

To conserve energy for entering the painting on the first day of the Lunar New Year, everyone went to bed early on the Eve. This was likely the most special New Year’s Eve each of them had ever experienced.

Because they couldn’t sleep soundly, many of them were awakened by the fireworks and firecrackers in the middle of the night. Once woken, it was hard to fall back asleep. The outside world’s festive joy only made them feel even more desolate.

Just like that, they drifted in and out of sleep, with a jumble of dreams throughout the night.

The next day was the first day of the Lunar New Year, and everyone gradually got up before dawn. Shao Ling looked at the chilly yet lively dawn outside the window and murmured, “If I were back home for New Year, I’d be getting up at this time for New Year greetings.”

Wei Dong felt a little emotional and patted Shao Ling on the shoulder, “Let’s get some food; Ke Er has cooked frozen dumplings. The hotel restaurant is closed today, so we’ll have to think of something ourselves.”

“In the north, it’s traditional to eat dumplings on the morning of the New Year’s first day.” Qin Ci had already cleaned up and was ready to go over to Ke Xun’s place for dumplings.

At 10:00 a.m., the activities at City K’s New Year Customs Art Gallery officially began.

The gallery they were about to enter, the Ninth Hall, was on the third floor of the gallery, opposite the Eighth Hall, where couplets were displayed. The Ninth Hall was set to feature a variety of traditional Chinese New Year pictures.

Although the museum had not disclosed the exhibition content in advance, Mu Yiran had managed to gather some information about the Ninth Hall a few days before, so the group had spent most of their time in City K studying New Year pictures.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

“Is Dong Ge talking about the one with the big, round baby? With three heads and six arms, riding a carp and holding a lotus?…I think it’s called .” Luo Bu knew what he meant as he was dodging a group of kids who were trying their hand at cotton tie-dyeing at a booth nearby.

The ten of them took the escalator to the third floor and finally breathed a sigh of relief. They finally escaped the bustling crowd, especially away from the kids.

Just ahead was the entrance to the Ninth Hall. The exhibition hall didn’t even have a door, only a giant New Year painting of Shentu and Yulei, stood as a large screen at the doorway.

Looking at the two imposing gods of door in the painting, the visitors instinctively felt both a sense of insignificance and safety.

Ke Xun stood by the entrance and noticed a woman in a wheelchair preparing to enter the hall. He quickly pushed her wheelchair away from the doorway.

The woman in the wheelchair did not look panicked; instead, she calmly glanced at Ke Xun, politely inquiring with her eyes as to why he had done this. Indeed, her gaze alone was distinctively polite.

Ke Xun explained, “We just came out of this hall. There’s a strong smell from the renovations—the formaldehyde is really choking, not very suitable for visiting.”

“Thank you,” the woman nodded slightly.

“Are you all set? Do you need me to push you to another hall?” Ke Xun asked.

“My wheelchair is fully equipped, thank you,” After the woman let him know, she adeptly turned and wheeled herself in another direction.

Ke Xun sighed in relief; if this lady with limited mobility were to enter the painting, her chances of getting out alive would be slim.

His companions were already accustomed to Ke Xun’s behavior by now, and they waited in mutual understanding at the entrance.

Though everyone was curious about the artworks in the exhibition hall, they all knew deep down that no matter how well-prepared they were, the painting instigator would never let them correctly guess which one they’d enter.

After the ten of them gathered at the entrance, they broke into smaller groups and walked inside.

“Everyone must have noticed just now, there’s a massive painting of the door gods at the entrance to this exhibition hall. There is a particular significance for displaying such a painting in a conspicuous space,” a male voice echoed in the hall.

Wei Dong looked at the group huddled together in the exhibition hall. “Who would’ve thought people would come to tour in groups… In all my visits to art galleries, this is the first time I’ve actually seen a tour guide…”

“Dong Ge, that’s a docent,” Gu Qingqing corrected him in a whisper.

Wei Dong glanced at the middle-aged tour guide, no, docent in the crowd, and suddenly had an idea: “What if we ask this person if there are any New Year paintings in this hall with special significance? Maybe it could help us?”

“It’s hard to say,” Shao Ling expressed some pessimism. “If you’re talking about significance, every painting here has its own significance. The paintings we’ve entered before, sometimes just looking at the image, there’s nothing particularly special.”

“That’s true.” Wei Dong’s gaze shuffled between the brightly colored New Year paintings. “We can’t exactly go up and ask which of the artists has passed away…”

“I think, we don’t need to ask. The labels here framed the names of the deceased artists.” Gu Qingqing said.

Luo Bu was examining the paintings one by one and was probably a bit shocked. “Why…why are all of these framed…Does that mean every artist here has already…”

Shao Ling remained composed. “Those framed names belong to the carvers of the woodblock New Year paintings. Most of the paintings displayed here have quite some histories. For example, look at this ‘Kirin Delivers a Child’ painting; the carving was done in 1907, so the carver from back then is surely no longer alive. And here, this ‘God of Profitability’, carved in 1931. Even if the carver is still alive, they’d be over a hundred years old.”

“So, looking at it this way, these New Year paintings here today are all antiques,” Luo Bu said, staring at each painting. The vibrant, auspicious colors, under the premise of “entering the painting”, seemed somewhat eerie. After he was startled by the lifelike “Zhong Kui Looking into a Mirror,” he glanced at his companions. “This exhibition hall is massive, and there are at least thirty people in that group over there, and more might come in later.”

The large number of people in the hall indicated that the place was temporarily safe; at least the painting incident wouldn’t happen immediately.

“We can skip the New Year paintings we already researched about; let’s focus on unfamiliar images,” Mu Yiran, who hadn’t spoken until now, finally said.

Everyone understood, and they began to concentrate on studying the unfamiliar New Year paintings.

At this moment, the exhibition hall was relatively quiet, and the docent’s voice carried clearly to each visitor: “This large sheet with added gold powder is called a ‘Golden Gongjian,’ and a triptych on a single paper is called a ‘Golden Sancai.’ The ‘Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity’ painting we’re looking at now is classified as a ‘Golden Sancai.’”

Soon, an eager visitor asked, “Mr. Hua, you just mentioned the difference between the Qing and Qiu editions. I see this ‘Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity’ is labeled as a Qing edition. You just said that Qing editions are works from before June—is that because demand for New Year goods peaks towards year-end, so they print them early in the spring in case they can’t finish the work in autumn?”

The docent smiled slightly and explained patiently, “Most people may have a somewhat vague idea about the New Year pictures, thinking that they are only put up during the New Year, but that’s not entirely accurate. New Year pictures actually have various categories. For example, xi paintings, also a type of New Year pictures, are used to congratulate newlyweds. There are also fan paintings, which are a product to supplement the off-season for New Year paintings in summer. Additionally, images of ancient trade grandmasters and lantern screen paintings used during the Lantern Festival, are all considered New Year paintings. Take this ‘Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity’ painting, for example—it’s a longevity-themed New Year painting, typically used to create a festive atmosphere for an elder’s birthday.”

The visitors listened attentively, feeling they had gained a wealth of new knowledge.

Luo Bu said in a low voice, “Why does it feel like all the New Year painting research I did was for nothing… This teacher’s talking about entirely new knowledge points…”

Mu Yiran’s expression, however, was a bit unnatural. After exchanging a glance with Ke Xun, the two of them gradually blended into the crowd.

“What are my Ge and brother-in-law doing…?” Luo Bu was confused.

Gu Qingqing and Wu You were also perplexed. Qin Ci whispered, “Don’t you all think that this docent seems a bit like a ‘chosen one?’”

They were slightly shocked after hearing that, even though the guess was a bit grim, this Mr. Hua, who was responsible for explaining the exhibition items, indeed seemed suitable for entering an artwork with a New Year painting theme…

“Now that you mention it, his surname is a bit strange. Why is it Hua.”

The rest of the time, the group stopped speculating and started studying the New Year paintings displayed in the hall.

Roughly half an hour later, the group of visitors gradually left. Mr. Hua, the docent, accompanied them to the entrance， but made no sign of moving further.

Ke Xun, who was following the crowd, stopped, “Are…aren’t you responsible for this touring group?”

Mr. Hua smiled. “I’m responsible for the New Year painting exhibition hall. If there’s anything further you two would like to ask about the exhibits, feel free to let me know.”

Ke Xun couldn’t help but sigh sadly in his heart: this felt like it was destined by God…

“It’s truly an honor for the visitors today to have Director Hua personally serve as a docent,” Mu Yiran said politely.

Director? Ke Xun then looked closely at the name tag on Mr. Hua’s chest, which read: Hua Jiqiu, Deputy Director of the City K Folk Museum.

This person looked at most forty, but he was already at the position of Deputy Director. Judging from his commentary just now, he seemed to possess a wealth of folk knowledge.

Hua Jiqiu smiled modestly, “I am deeply moved that you all chose to visit our humble museum on this special day of the first day of the New Year.”

Ke Xun looked at Hua Jiqiu with a trace of pity but, considering his work today, there was probably little reason to persuade him to leave the exhibit.

“Excuse me, Director Hua, among the New Year paintings exhibited in this hall today, are there any New Year paintings with special significance?” Mu asked.

Hua Jiqiu thought for a moment. “In terms of monetary value, there are indeed some rather precious pieces. For instance, the large door good painting at the entrance is made using two whole wood blocks and has already been purchased by a collector at a high price. Additionally, the row of New year paintings with gold powder at the back of the exhibit, whether they’re Gongjian or Sancai, all the gold powder used were real, hence they are also quite valuable.”

“And what if we’re talking about significance from a historical or other perspective?” Mu Yiran directly asked what he wanted to ask.

Hua Jiqiu fell into deep thought, his eyes brightening slightly. “There is indeed a rather unique New Year painting. Follow me.”