2. Mysterious basement
There are many rooms in Mr. Ding's villa. Jin Yan is a very curious person and wants to take a look at each room. However, Mr. Ding restricts him to only move within the scope allowed by him, saying that his family members all have quirks and personalities. I am irritable and don't like to be disturbed by outsiders. Especially the basement, you are not allowed to get close, otherwise you will be expelled from Ding's house.
Jin Yan's curiosity became even more intense. In fact, Mr. Ding didn't need to tell him that from the day Jin Yan entered Mr. Ding's house, he would always feel a strange feeling in his heart every time he passed by the basement. Not only because it was so tightly locked, but also because it was strange. There was an extra-large door lock hanging on such a heavy iron door. What is hidden inside? Can't an ordinary door lock lock it?
Fortunately, apart from these two constraints, Mr. Ding has nothing else. Mr. Ding does not have high requirements for life. He has three simple meals a day. He never hires a nanny. He always cooks by himself, even without Jin Yan.
But it is strange that Jin Yan has been at Mr. Ding's house for more than ten days and has never seen other members of Mr. Ding's family, nor has Mr. Ding called them out for dinner. The meals Mr. Ding cooks every time are only for two people. .
Where is Mrs. Ding? And what about his other family members?
Finally, Mr. Ding began to teach Jin Yan how to cast wax figures. Jin Yan actually knew a little about how to make wax figures, but Mr. Ding's explanation made it difficult for him to understand.
On this day, Mr. Ding brought Jin Yan to the room he had entered when he came, pointed at a beautiful wax figure of a girl and said: "You see, if she is real, her beauty is the most beautiful in the world." It can be preserved for decades, or even less time. But it will be different when we make her into a wax figure. Her beauty will be preserved forever. What we have to do is to turn the temporary beauty into eternity. So, I’d rather she was a wax figure than a real person.”
This sounds strange to Jin Yan. He and Mr. Ding have opposite ideas. He would rather it be the real girl Hideko Takamine standing in front of him at Onisukan Hall instead of a wax figure; of course, as far as art is concerned, he has to admit that Ding Sir, you are right. How many works of art still retain their brilliance after thousands of years of wind and rain erosion, and are still showing people their original beauty. This is the charm of art. If not, even if Venus was the most beautiful at that time, The princess can only become a handful of rotten soil now.
Anyway, Mr. Ding began to teach Jinyan how to make wax figures. Mr. Ding is indeed a master. His teachings completely overturned the superficial kung fu that Jin Yan had learned before and made him know that many things are not as simple as they seem on the surface. For example, wax is resistant to heat and will melt when exposed to heat. This is common sense. Mr. Ding cannot completely solve this problem. But he invented the method of spraying a flame-retardant and anti-corrosion isolation layer on the surface of wax figures, so that the wax figures he made could prevent heat and corrosion. He kept this secret and did not reveal the formula to Jin Yan.
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Hideko Onisukan Takamine Hideko_Onisukan Hideko Takamine_Onisukan Hideko Takamine’/>
However, the skills that Mr. Ding was willing to teach Jin Yan were enough to make Jin Yan ecstatic. For many days, he was immersed in the great joy of acquiring the skills and could hardly care about what was happening around him.
But he still saw that the young people who came earlier had disappeared, and their figures had long disappeared outside the villa door. Jin Yan would occasionally feel sorry for them, especially the one with curly hair who looked very similar to that one. Famous sculpture of David as a Young Man.
In addition, Jin Yan also knew that the African lion was fake. It was just a wax figure. Mr. Ding cast it so realistically that everything on its head and face could move, making it look like a real lion from outside the courtyard. .
3. Strange noises in the middle of the night
A few days passed, and something strange happened in the villa. To be precise, it was just some strange noises. For a few days, every night in the middle of the night, Jin Yan would always hear Mr. Ding coming down from upstairs, opening the basement, going in, and then locking it from the inside. Then, there would be a "gurgling" sound, as if Mr. Ding Something was being cooked and the sound of water being flushed lasted for several hours every night, making it difficult for Jin Yan to sleep.
Jin Yan wanted to visit the basement more and more, completely forgetting the promise he made when he came.
Finally, one night after Mr. Ding came downstairs, Jin Yan quietly left the house and followed Mr. Ding to the basement. Of course, he failed to go in. Mr. Ding was very cautious. Although he walked in front, he glanced behind him from time to time. Fortunately, Jin Yan was well hidden and was not wearing shoes, so he was not discovered by Mr. Ding.
Mr. Ding had already walked into the basement. Jin Yan peeked in through the crack of the door. The door was very tight and nothing could be seen, not even a ray of light. Jin Yan had no choice but to put his ear to the door and carefully distinguish the sounds coming from the door.
He heard several other sounds that he had not heard before: Mr. Ding seemed to be cutting something with a sharp knife; then there was a "gurgling" sound, followed by the continuous sound of flushing water.
The last sound is familiar to Jin Yan, that is the sound of pouring wax juice.
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Hideko Onisukan Takamine Hideko_Onisukan Hideko Takamine_Onisukan Hideko Takamine’/>
What is Mr. Ding casting? Why so late at night? Jin Yan had no time to think, because Mr. Ding came out of the basement.
Things became more and more weird. That night, Mr. Ding actually locked himself in the basement and never came out. It was already broad daylight, and Mr. Ding still didn't come out. Jin Yan was scared. He was a person who liked association very much. He thought that Mr. Ding had an accident while casting the wax figure and died in the basement? Mr. Ding has been in poor health these days. Could it be that he had another heart attack?
It was almost noon and Jin Yan was about to call the police. Mr. Ding opened the basement door and walked out tiredly. However, he did not lock the door immediately as usual. He seemed to have forgotten about it and walked up. Go upstairs.
Jinyan’s opportunity has come. He hid behind a wax figure outside the basement door. If he hadn't seen Mr. Ding walking around in real life, he would not have dared to do so: many times, whenever there was a new wax figure in the villa, Jin Yan came closer. When he was ready to take a closer look, the wax figure would suddenly move and smile triumphantly. It was Mr. Ding who was pretending to do it. The old child's prank scared Jin Yan so much that he never dared to approach any wax figure casually again. This wax figure was also newly added, and Jin Yan had not seen it during the day.
After Jin Yan waited for Mr. Ding's figure to completely disappear from the room upstairs, he quickly ran out from behind the wax figure, pushed open the basement door and rushed in. Jin Yan had been wanting to enter the basement for more than a day or two. He was so anxious that he didn't even notice that the wax statue moved and followed him into the basement.
4. Weird relief paintings
However, Jin Yan was disappointed with everything in the basement. It was very spacious and filled with sundries that were not usually used.
How is this going? Those sounds obviously came from the basement? However, it’s impossible for everything here to make those “gurgling” and “clacking” sounds?
Jin Yan really couldn't figure it out, and was afraid that Mr. Ding would come back suddenly, so he wanted to leave. At this moment, he saw something weird. To be precise, it should be a very beautifully made decoration. It was weird. The thing is it shouldn't be here.
It was a relief painting of Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper", mounted on the wall facing the basement. This relief should be regarded as an art treasure, but it was mounted casually by a man with high artistic accomplishments like Mr. Ding. In the dark and damp basement, everything was wasted. It was really weird that such a thing happened in Mr. Ding's house.
<img src='https://www.people.com.cn/mediafile/pic/20150821/16/10166479582569248180.jpg' alt='
Hideko Onisukan Takamine Hideko_Onisukan Hideko Takamine_Onisukan Hideko Takamine’/>
There is another thing that makes Jin Yan feel even weirder. Perhaps Mr. Ding hates Judas very much and can't help but hit him on the cheek every time he sees him. As a result, half of Judas's face becomes shiny and looks very bad on the relief painting. conspicuous.
Could it be that those strange noises were made by it?
However, it can only make a beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep. How could it be "gududu" or "huchacha"?
Could it be that there is a darkroom in the basement, and half of Judas's face is the switch to enter the darkroom? Jin Yan had a sudden idea, but he immediately denied it: Even if there was a dark room in the basement, wouldn't it be better to just set up an inconspicuous mechanism? Why are you so conspicuous? Doesn't this mean that people who come in are told clearly that this is a darkroom mechanism?
With Mr. Ding's intelligence, he shouldn't do such a stupid thing, right?
But, that's what happened. Jin Yan unconsciously pressed his palm on half of Judas' face. He never believed that Mr. Ding would design his darkroom mechanism so stupidly, so he did not use force rashly. He only used a slight force on his hand, but He felt that half of Judas' face was very elastic, as if it was resisting his pressure.
He couldn't help but add some more strength.
Suddenly, Jin Yan heard footsteps. It was Mr. Ding coming down from upstairs. He was walking so fast that Jin Yan had no time to run out of the basement. He had to stop what he was doing and ran to hide behind the basement door. He wanted to wait for Mr. Ding to come in and then find an opportunity to run out from behind the door. Mr. Ding didn't give him this chance. He came down to lock the door. Maybe he didn't remember to lock the basement until he got upstairs.
Mr. Ding locked the door and hurried back upstairs. He didn’t know that Jin Yan was hiding in the basement.
Jin Yan's heart dropped and lifted again, even though Mr. Ding didn't find him hiding in the basement for the time being, it would be a matter of time. After a while it will be dinner time. If Mr. Ding finds that he has not gone to dinner, he will definitely look for him everywhere and find that he is missing.
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Hideko Onisukan Takamine Hideko_Onisukan Hideko Takamine_Onisukan Hideko Takamine’/>
But, such a thing did not happen. From the ventilation hole in the basement, Jin Yan discovered that it was already dark outside. At this time in the past, Mr. Ding and he had both had dinner, and it was time for Mr. Ding to give him a theoretical lesson. But no, Jin Yan didn't hear Mr. Ding calling him. Maybe Mr. Ding called him but he didn't hear him. Because he had already opened the door to the darkroom and was stunned by what he saw.
Half of Judas's face is really the switch to enter the dark room. No wonder it is so smooth and smooth. I don't know how many times it has been touched by Mr. Ding's family.
family? Is there more than one family here? This is definitely not a small darkroom! After Jin Yan pressed down half of Judah's face, a slight creaking sound sounded in his ears. The relief painting was divided into two halves and retracted into the wall, and a large door appeared. Jin Yan looked at the door with his mouth wide open. Here he found the answer to everything.
Mr. Ding is truly a man who is willing to sacrifice everything for art! He's crazy!
5. Real person? Wax figure?
"No, he's not crazy!" A voice came from behind Jin Yan, and Jin Yan turned around in shock. He saw a wax figure standing not far from him.
Why does it look so familiar? After Jin Yan was frightened, he finally remembered that he was Curly Hair among the young people waiting outside the door.
"How did you get in, and how did you become like this? Didn't Mr. Ding kill you?" Jin Yan thought of the associations he had in those sleepless nights. He had always thought that Mr. Ding was making wax figures out of living people at night. The "gurgles" meant that Mr. Ding was cooking the human internal organs; The victims were the young people waiting outside the door. They were tricked into the villa one by one by Mr. Ding and made into wax figures.
Curly Hair laughed and said, things are not what you think, we all misunderstood Mr. Ding.
Curly Hair said that he was a policeman and came to Mr. Ding's house to investigate the case. Recently, they received a report that Mr. Ding’s house had a wax figure made of a real person, and it wasn’t even one. If this is true, it is a shocking case! Since there was no evidence, the police could not rush into the house to search. It happened that Mr. Ding was recruiting successors, and Curly Hair joined in. However, he and the young people were frightened by the fake African lion, and waited outside the door for a few days until Jin Yan came, Curly Hair followed Jin Yan into the villa, and discovered all the secrets of Mr. Ding.
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Hideko Onisukan Takamine Hideko_Onisukan Hideko Takamine_Onisukan Hideko Takamine’/>
There are indeed wax figures made of real corpses in Mr. Ding’s house, and there are not just a few, but hundreds of them, and they are kept in the darkroom in the basement.
These wax figures made of real people are not all made by Mr. Ding. Mr. Ding's skills in making wax figures are passed down from his ancestors. His great-grandfather knew how to make wax figures of real people and preserve them for a long time, but they could not make real people. Wax figures were preserved forever, and they could not completely solve the problem of embalming corpses. Because the corpse cannot be completely dehydrated, it cannot prevent the corpse from decomposing. However, if the corpse is completely dehydrated and the original expression of the corpse is lost, the wax figure produced will not be lifelike.
How to solve this problem? Mr. Ding's predecessors have been groping and experimenting, but the results are not ideal. They have to re-embalm the wax statue body every once in a while, which is very troublesome and can easily damage the body of the wax statue – the body. This is the source of the sounds Jin Yan heard. The "gurgles" are Mr. Ding's cooking of preservatives; the "clacks" are Mr. Ding's clipping of nails grown on corpses.
In Mr. Ding's generation, he has conducted research for more than half his life. He also made wax figures of his wife and daughter who died young. According to his wife's will, he made the famous painting "The Last Supper" into a relief and mounted it on the On the door of the darkroom, because Mr. Ding’s wife was a very devout Christian during her lifetime, and what she hated the most was Judas, the traitor who betrayed Jesus. For this reason, Mr. Ding designed Judas’ face as a darkroom switch, so that every time he entered the darkroom, I gave Judah a slap on the face for his wife.
Of course, this is not Mr. Ding’s real purpose. The reason why he added a large iron lock to the basement door and a nondescript relief painting to the darkroom door was because he felt that he was getting older and older in the past few years and his body was not in good health. He has the final say and often feels powerless to do anything. He is very worried that one day he will suddenly be gone. Then not only will his ancestors slowly rot and turn into soil in the secret darkroom, but more importantly, the inheritance passed down by his ancestors will The skills will be lost. But he was unwilling to pass on such valuable skills that had taken many generations to pass on to outsiders easily, and he had no successors, so he had no choice but to send out the message that he wanted to recruit successors, and added a large and eye-catching iron lock to the basement door. , just in case he dies suddenly one day, someone will find this place, so that the country can find a way to preserve the bodies and precious skills of the ancestors, and make a final contribution to the country.
This day really came. When Mr. Ding was doing experiments in the darkroom for the last time, he was so involved that he forgot about time. He suddenly felt chest tightness and discomfort due to overwork. He hurried out of the basement to get medicine upstairs and forgot to lock the door. After he took the medicine and thought about it, he went back and locked the door, but he didn't know that two young people – Jin Yan and Curly Hair – had been locked in the basement. What he didn't even know was that when he returned upstairs, his heart suddenly suffered a massive blockage, causing him to pass away in his sleep.
Fortunately, Jin Yan and Curly Hair both brought mobile phones and quickly found someone to rescue them. Jin Yan also found a very old notebook in the darkroom, which recorded all of Mr. Ding's family's explorations in making wax figures and embalming corpses. , the secret recipe for preventing wax figures from heat. Mr. Ding also recorded his research results on dehydration and filling of corpses over the years in the back of the book, and left a will saying that he hoped that those who acquired his skills could also make him into a wax figure, permanently. Save it.
However, this wish of Mr. Ding could never be realized. His body was either donated for medical research or cremated. Regarding the donation, Mr. Ding passed away too suddenly and failed to leave a will. He also had no descendants, so no one could make this decision.
Finally, Mr. Ding's body was cremated, but his wax figure making skills were not lost, and the remains of his ancestors were also well preserved, because they (they) are no longer simple corpses, but precious The works of art have high scientific research value and are worthy of great efforts to collect them. For this reason, the local government thought of Jinyan.
It should be said that Jin Yan was the last descendant of Mr. Ding, but Jin Yan left suddenly one morning. No one knew that since Jin Yan knew the secret of the darkroom, he did not even dare to hold a candle, let alone let him Touched the wax figure made from the corpse of a dead person.