Author: Really the younger brother among younger brothers
Chapter 5 Li Mo, have you ever eaten meat?
Not only was Liu Qin missing, but the Painting and Calligraphy Hall did not send any new painters.
The pawn shop suddenly became heavily guarded, and it lasted for several days before it was over. During this period, the apprentices could only paint repeatedly.
They have no idea what kind of paintings they should paint, and no matter how energetic they are, they will become numb and desperate over time.
On the contrary, Li Mo became the most idle.
Among the three people living in the same room, Zeng Xiaoyi chose to be demoted to a handyman on his own initiative, while the other two voluntarily switched rooms, leaving him alone.
Li Mo no longer went to the lobby. Anyway, there were no similar regulations in the painting and calligraphy hall. In addition, his current painting skills were difficult to improve through long-term practice.
He simply stayed in the house and painted by dim candlelight, and he did not feel that the conditions were simple.
Li Mo combines work and rest. Usually after completing a painting, he stretches his muscles and bones for a while to try to slow down the rate of body decay.
Only when hungry would he leave the room briefly.
The only drawback is that sometimes I can't tell the difference between day and night.
Li Mo looked at the stars outside the window and saw that it was still early in the night. He held a brush and danced on the rice paper. The gray-black ink slowly spread and formed a ferocious tiger.
The tiger is looming in the painting, exuding an unspeakable evil spirit.
As the painting becomes more and more complete, Li Mo has completely entered the state. There is no pause in the brush, and his expression is relaxed and comfortable.
Just when he was putting the finishing touches, Li Mo's dilated pupils regrouped.
His thoughts seemed to have returned from the dense mountain forest, and he forcibly stopped writing.
Li Mo didn't feel any regret when he looked at the tiger that lacked vitality in the painting. He rolled it into a ball and burned it to ashes on the candlelight.
The ink sticks in the calligraphy and painting hall are very strange, and they reveal a delicate fragrance when burned by the flames.
When he paints now, he can only guarantee that 30% of the paintings will reach the level of the first Tiger Roaring painting, and most of them will be a bit weak at the end.
When I started painting for the first time, I was definitely blessed by the right time, place, and people.
Even if Li Mo just finished his stroke, the tiger in the painting would not be the one he wanted.
He practiced painting hard in the wing room for several days, but unfortunately he could not grasp the inspiration he had before.
Of course, Li Mo is not without gains. At least with the improvement of his painting skills, he is gradually regaining the feeling of being like a god when he writes.
He closed his eyes to summarize the problem, and then jogged several times along the wall.
After Li Mo's condition recovered, he sat back at the desk and continued to start a new round of painting. He was still the tiger.
But there was not enough ink, so he picked up the few remaining ink sticks.
When Li Mo was about to grind the ink, thin footsteps passed by outside the door.
"What the hell?"
Li Mo noticed that although it was getting late, the painter apprentices had not returned to the wing yet. They would at least practice in the lobby until midnight.
Bang bang bang...
Footsteps outside the door sounded again, like a heavy object hitting Li Mo's heart, and the temperature in the room dropped suddenly by five or six degrees.
You know, Li Mo is almost eleven years old, and his fatal illness is beginning to show signs.
Li Mo is not sensitive to cold, and he can immediately detect something strange, which means that the temperature in the room is already equivalent to the depth of winter.
He remembered the vigilance shown by the pawn shop recently, and subconsciously put his right hand behind his waist, and a dagger fell into his palm.
This dagger was a small-edged knife used by carpenters for carving. The hemp rope on the handle was tied to it by Li's mother, and Li Mo kept it hidden in the sole of his shoe.
Li Mo looked nervous, leaning against the wall and staring at the door.
After a few breaths of stalemate, he hesitantly shouted: "Guanshi Hu has a lot of money, so why bother with a kid with yellow hair and gray hair?"
"Hehehe..."
A laughter like a silver bell came, and at some point in front of the desk where Li Mo was sitting, the figure of Manager Hu appeared. He was wearing a light red robe, and his attire looked extremely coquettish.
Especially the eyes, turned into willow-leaf eyebrows and red phoenix eyes.
"Xiao Li Mo, how did you recognize me?"
Li Mo breathed a sigh of relief, bowed respectfully and said, "I accidentally smelled the unique smell of rouge on Mr. Hu's body..."
"What now?"
When Li Mo heard this, he looked up and saw gray smoke coming out of Steward Hu's body.
The smoke and dust are very similar to the black gas emitted by Liu Qin, but the color is slightly different.
Immediately afterwards, a large number of abscesses appeared on Guanshi Hu's delicate skin, accompanied by rancid rotten flesh, and the skin seemed to be dissolving rapidly.
Li Mo couldn't help but stood there blankly. Although he understood that this was Manager Hu's test, there was still a chill on his back that went straight to Tianling Gai.
"I won't tease you anymore."
Manager Hu smiled and covered his face with gauze.
In an instant, the gray energy she exuded disappeared, and her flesh and blood returned to its original state, except that her facial features were wiped away, and she stared at Li Mo with a faceless face.
Li Mo finally understood why Manager Hu wore dark makeup, because her facial features were all fake, so she looked extremely exaggerated.
Manager Hu took out the picture of a roaring tiger that Li Mo had given to Liu Qin, and it was still stained with blood.
She looked at it carefully under the candlelight.
"Li Mo, you do have some firepower. No, it's because of your talent that you can draw the tiger's ferocity vividly."
"It's strange to say..."
Guanshi Hu stared at Li Mo with his faceless face, and Li Mo faintly sensed malice, as if the tiger in his painting was coming towards him.
"Have you ever seen a tiger beast?"
Li Mo had a hunch that if his answer was not in line with Manager Hu's intention, he would probably be greeted by a dismembered head.
"Go back to the manager."
"Li Mo grew up in Niujia Village. He once saw a tiger on the high slope behind the village and has never forgotten it."
"Oh, blame me, blame me."
Manager Hu smiled brightly and said moodily: "You are from Niujia Village, so it's not unusual to see a tiger."
She changed her temper again and asked playfully: "Have you ever eaten animal meat?"
Li Mo frowned slightly and replied: "Since I was a child, my family has been poor, and my brother and sister are still here. I only eat one meal of grains every day. Only pregnant women and children in the village eat meat."
Because of his immortality, he no longer needs to eat at the age of thirty.
Children's food intake is no more than one meal a day. Eating some whole grains will not affect physical development at all and is easy to maintain.
If it weren't for the fact that they couldn't reproduce after the age of twenty, every family would have children and grandchildren in droves.
In Li Mo's opinion, not eating meat was because the villagers were accustomed to being frugal. In addition, there was no shortage of food, so there was no need to take risks in hunting.
But after a series of inexplicable inquiries from Manager Hu, he couldn't help but think deeply and fear.
Li Mo suddenly recalled that although he had seen pregnant women eating meat, he had never seen villagers slaughtering beast carcasses.
What kind of weirdness are there in the birds and beasts in the mountains and forests? Why are there no birds and beasts in Rong Town? Is there an inevitable connection between the two?
Li Mo wanted to know the answer, but it was obvious that Manager Hu would not tell him.
All the mysteries will have to wait until he has enough power to unravel all the secrets of Rong Town.
Li Mo looked at Shopkeeper Hu. Even if he didn't speak, Shopkeeper Hu already understood what he meant.