Book 5: The Serpent of Pharisee

Chapter 135: The Serpent of Pharisee (1)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

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Editor’s note: This story uses a lot of Greek mythology as its base, but the author, as is any author’s right, has used and changed things to fit the story. I have provided footnotes for anything I can find. If a character has no footnote, the author just invented them.

“Hey, stop drawing, it’s time to eat!” The roommate patted the young man’s shoulder from behind. “Wow, you look… pretty terrifying, buddy!”

Xie Ning didn’t even turn his head, just rolled his eyes.

“Get me a portion,” he blew his bangs, his mouth covered in cheese powder from Cheetos, his skin tinted orange. “I don’t feel like going down, too busy.”

“You run a paint shop or what? Streaks all over you. Next time my paint can is empty, I’ll dip you in it,” the roommate said disdainfully.

Xie Ning dipped his brush into the palette, delicately spreading the woman’s soft, yellowish complexion on the canvas.

“You’re already filthy, and you have the nerve to say that about me?” Xie Ning bared his teeth, really wanting to grab a brush and slap a few strokes onto his roommate’s rather maternal apron. “Get lost, now!”

The roommate, a guy from Shandong, fit the stereotype of a robust, tough-looking man. Every time Xie Ning saw him holding a brush thinner than his pinky, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of toothache.

The man took off his apron and walked away. “Fine, then I’ll just buy my own meal.”

“Oh, kind sir, stay a moment!” Xie Ning snapped out of it, and hastily said, “Hurry up and get me a bowl of chicken soup dumplings. I’ll hold your spot here.”

The roommate furrowed his thick brows. His voice was dark as he replied, “Is this spot reserved just for me, or is it open to others? If it’s not just for me, then I’d rather not have it.”

Xie Ning, “…”

Xie Ning, “Hey! Where did this demon come from? Hurry up and get the hot water for the chicken soup dumplings so I can exorcize it!”

The demon, fearing the brush that was about to flick water, let out a whimpering scream and scurried off to the cafeteria.

After the commotion, Xie Ning dampened his brush again, then eyed his roommate’s vacant seat. With assignment deadlines approaching, the studio was full of students rushing to finish their work. If you weren’t careful, your seat would be taken.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, then carefully examined the canvas in front of him. The woman’s face was taking shape, but it still lacked something in terms of light and shadow…

Xie Ning added some lemon yellow and sap green, and lightly put a bit onto his skin. After comparing it with the canvas, he felt it was close enough and slowly brushed it on.

Amidst the background of dark brown and olive, there seemed to be a stable, hazy lamp light covering the woman’s oval face on the canvas. Her eyes were hidden in the shadows, her lips obscured, but the halo on the side of her cheek and the tip of her nose added a feather-like softness and tranquility to her expression, as if she were smiling slightly.

There was progress in his brushstrokes and techniques, much more natural than his previous attempts. Xie Ning relaxed his brows. He felt as light as a fall leaf, gently carried away by the breeze.

The young man stopped his brush with satisfaction, and flexed his sore wrist. He examined his work from left to right, and gradually, his gaze, like an uncontrollable puppy, quietly wandered to the upper corner.

From his seat, he could see half of another painting derived from the same photo. The girl in the painting had her black hair tied back, sleeves rolled up, and her arms marked with a few messy strokes of blue and purple. She was chatting and laughing with the people around her while moving her brush on the palette.

The wind stopped, and the leaves in Xie Ning’s heart fell slowly; drifting into the pond.

Same course, same teacher, so naturally, the assignments were the same. The girl and he were drawing from the same reference photo, but she boldly chose dark blues and purples. On her canvas, the woman’s frozen pupils were like two night stars piercing through thick curtains of darkness—stunned, stiff, panicked, even glaring.

Many subtle and complex emotions, with an atmosphere difficult to describe. While others were painting a person, she was painting a person in pain.

Xie Ning took a deep breath. Flames licked his gaze. He should have turned away as if scorched, but he forced himself to look, painfully and greedily.

“I brought back your chicken soup dumplings!” The roommate announced, “The cafeteria wasn’t crowded, so I asked the chef to add two spoons of shrimp for you…Oops!”

Bending down, the roommate looked at his painting in amazement. “Nice, Xie Ning. You’ve improved a lot. Don’t roll it up. Give yourself a chance.”

He teased, but Xie Ning didn’t respond. So he raised his eyes and followed Xie Ning’s gaze.

The roommate fell silent. He stared for a while before he sighed.

“A little genius.” He shrugged. “God’s feeding them, and us mortals can’t compete…”

He nudged Xie Ning with his elbow. “Stop staring, let’s eat. Your junk food won’t fill you up. Come on.”

With his words, Xie Ning felt a lump of hot coal form in his stomach. He forced a smile and whispered, “Thanks, I’ll transfer you the money later.”

They managed to finish their dinner in the studio. When it was almost time for the dormitory doors to be locked, they got up to stretch and pack up their art supplies.

Xie Ning was a bit listless. Despite filling his stomach, he hadn’t made much progress. With the chilly wind outside, they wrapped themselves in coats and leisurely walked back along the path.

“What’s up with you?” the roommate asked. “You looked down when I saw you earlier. Did your family call to urge you again?”

Xie Ning tried to pull a smile, but failed.

“Not really,” he said quietly. “My family…they’ve been urging me, but it’s not too much pressure.”

“Yeah,” the roommate nodded. “Art careers are tough. Especially for those of us in our third year. What’s the rush? So what’s bothering you?”

Xie Ning sighed and hesitated, “It’s just…seeing He Muyao…”

“The little genius?” The roommate was astonished. “What, are you…? You’re not secretly in love with her, are you?”

Xie Ning, “…”

Xie Ning remained expressionless. “Firstly, I’m gay.”

“I was just joking.” The roommate shrank back. “I know you can’t be secretly in love with her. So what’s wrong?”

“She’s just so good at painting,” Xie Ning murmured. “I envy…her talent.”

To describe his feelings as envy was an understatement. Intense anxiety and resentment surged within him, like a venomous snake coiled tightly around his heart, occasionally opening its mouth to burn his spirit.

Jealousy, he thought. I’m jealous of her, and people like her.

“Hey,” the roommate waved his hand, “what’s the big deal? I envy her too. She’s about to graduate and probably won’t be painting replica oil paintings in Yiwu. Plus, she’s the professor’s favorite student. With a little push, she might enter the art circle in the capital.”

“I…” Xie Ning opened his mouth. “I just can’t stand it.”

The roommate fell silent. 

He carefully chose his words, “In my family… you know, from childhood till now, they’ve never asked much of me. I’ve never cooked a meal, and household chores were always taken care of by my grandparents. Their only expectation is for me to study well, get into a good university, graduate, and find a good job, so I can live a comfortable life…”

The evening breeze whispered as Xie Ning sniffled and said, “Later, I found that I really liked drawing and didn’t like studying. Although they were disappointed, they still supported my decision to pursue art. And with my sexual orientation like this, I can’t get married and have children either. Disappointing them in university, disappointing them in marriage and children…then what? Will I repay them with this mediocre ability that can’t reach high or low?”

The roommate sighed. “You can’t think like that. You’re living your own life.”

“I envy people with talent,” Xie Ning muttered. “I’ve always wondered, when can I be honest with my family? Later, I realized, instead of waiting for success, at least I should wait until I’m financially independent, until I can elevate our family’s lifestyle a bit more. That way, I’ll have a little more confidence.”

“Isn’t that a form of redemption?” The roommate hit the nail on the head. “You want to use your success to earn your family’s forgiveness.”

Xie Ning’s eyes were bitter. They climbed the stairs,and unlocked the door with the key.

“So I envy He Muyao,” he said. “And people like her.”

The roommate furrowed his brow, tongue-tied. “There are so many talented people in the world! You’re always comparing yourself to them. Always jealous and envious. Where will that lead you? Cut yourself some slack, buddy.”

Xie Ning shook his head, and remained silent.

“Truth is truth, life is life. Otherwise most people wouldn’t know so much truth yet still not live well.” Their dormitory was a four-person room. By their junior year, one buddy had rented a place off-campus, while the other buddy got a girlfriend and spent whole nights away, so just the two of them were left.

As he sat on the bed, the roommate looked at the still silent Xie Ning. He brought up a new topic, “Hey, are you going to the exhibition this weekend?”

“Which exhibition?”

“Where else? The one at the Capital Art Museum. The one co-sponsored with foreign countries.”

“The Ancient Greek Art Exhibition?” Xie Ning perked up a bit. “Definitely going. Even if I’m disabled, I still have to go. How about you?”

The roommate scratched his head. He felt depressed. “I’ll see if I can make it in the last two days. This weekend, my relatives’ kids are coming over, and they want me to be their tour guide.”

Xie Ning chuckled. “Then I won’t wait for you. The first day of the exhibition will have the best stuff.”

“You better take pictures and send them to me!” The roommate grumbled unwillingly. “I’ll try to finish up early!”

Regardless, classes had to be attended, assignments had to be submitted. Xie Ning’s submitted work received praise and acknowledgment of improvement from the professor, while He Muyao’s work earned a couple of reprimands. The professor criticized her for not being diligent enough, and stated she could have done better.

When genius was being scolded, Xie Ning felt even more uncomfortable because the mixed praise and criticism from the mentor were a peculiar honor. In comparison, the teacher’s straightforward encouragement to him was just ordinary, indicating he hadn’t even touched the edge of being “worthy of criticism.”

Perhaps admitting to being an ordinary person would make life easier, but Xie Ning couldn’t accept defeat. For some reason, there was always a voice in his heart, faintly telling him, if you admit it, you will truly blend into the crowd, never having the chance to rise again.

He sighed, adjusted his breath, calmed his mind, and awaited the weekend relaxation.

On the day of the exhibition, the exhibition hall was crowded with students and tourists who had come. Xie Ning barely managed to get in and nearly had his water bottle knocked over by the crowd.

Many valuable artifacts were displayed this time, mostly replicas as it was too risky to bring genuine artifacts from abroad. Standing in front of a red-figure Kylix cup, clearly depicting two men, one sitting and one half-kneeling, portraying Patroclus wounded by an arrow during the Trojan War, and Achilles caring for him diligently. ²

Xie Ning stood beside it, capturing several shots from angles with good lighting, then moved on.

He had always been interested in red-figure art. Passing by an amphora with a narrow neck, he took another picture of Athena pouring wine for Herakles, the original item being kept in Germany. Seeing a replica there, though, was also a delightful experience. ³

Suddenly, there was a commotion ahead. Even from a distance, one could hear the continuous “wows” from the crowd, as if a movie star had appeared at a fan meeting.

Even as tall as he was, when Xie Ning leaned against the wall on tiptoe, trying to see over the dense crowd, all he could glimpse was a shining golden light ahead, without being able to discern what it was.

He liked to discover unknown surprises in life, so he hadn’t read the promotional brochure introducing the exhibits before coming. Now his curiosity was piqued, and he followed the surging crowd slowly forward.

After several twists and turns, walking about a hundred meters, Xie Ning finally stood on tiptoe and could see clearly what the exhibit was.

– An open golden book.

If an ordinary book could be held and read in one’s hands, then judging by the size of this golden book, only a giant could hold it. The melted gold shone brilliantly, as if it had been dug out from the center of the sun. White light shone down from above, then refracted into countless golden rays. It made people feel warm and intoxicated, as if they were basking in the sunlight.

Was that real? Xie Ning’s mind was filled with many big question marks.

When was that cultural relic unearthed? With such a sensational appearance, it couldn’t have gone unreported by the media, right? Moreover, if it was genuine, the exhibition cost would be too high. The sketches of the Library of Alexandria, ⁴ the bust, and the amphora were all replicas, but now suddenly this was genuine?

However, if it wasn’t genuine, how could a replica achieve such magnificence?

He was perplexed, and tried to use his phone to take a few photos. However, no matter how he adjusted the brightness and light, he couldn’t capture a whole picture of the object. It looked like an overexposed mirror reflecting daylight; dazzling.

Xie Ning walked around, trying to see the introduction for the golden book on the display board, but to no avail. There was nothing beside the exhibit stand, just four posts and the rope barrier. Yet, everyone was blissfully unaware as they all gathered around the golden book and marveled at its splendor.

Gold is the eternal temptation of humanity. The saying was really true.

This was bizarre…

Xie Ning wanted to tell his roommate about the strange display, but the surrounding area was already packed to the brim, with people squeezing in shoulder to shoulder. It was torturous even to try typing with both hands, let alone sticking a hand out to make a phone call—it would just be a struggle.

He had no choice but to push his way out of the crowd –and got his feet stepped on several times along the way. Luckily, he had the foresight not to wear white shoes, otherwise he would have been heartbroken.

Xie Ning exerted great effort and finally broke free from the circle of people surrounding the golden book. He straightened out his disheveled coat, brushed the dirt off his shoes, then grimaced as he looked at his palms. He was a bit of a neat freak in his daily life, except for when he was painting. Xie Ning hurried and headed towards the restroom in the exhibition hall. He also planned to dampen some tissues to wipe his shoes, or they’d be difficult to clean later.

Unexpectedly, there was no queue at the restroom. He tidied up inside then thought about making a quick phone call in one of the stalls, while also using the search engine to find out which civilization the “golden book” belonged to. So he went in, took off his backpack, and planned to hang it on the hook.

After hanging up his backpack and throwing the damp tissue into the trash bin, Xie Ning hesitated for a moment. He decided to close the door. As long as he finished the call quickly, it wouldn’t count as unnecessarily occupying the stall.

He flipped the latch and then turned around, letting go of the handle.

Suddenly, he felt a strange sensation, as if…as if when he let go of the handle, he also let go of something extremely important; had severed a crucial connection.

However, that was only a feeling, fleeting and easily dismissed. Just as Xie Ning turned around, the lights overhead suddenly went “pop,” and the surroundings were plunged into a darkness so pitch-black that he couldn’t see his own hand in front of his face.

Huh? A power outage?

Xie Ning was startled and quickly reached backward, trying to find the latch based on his memory.

However, he found nothing.

The young man’s hand froze in place. In fact, not just his hand but his entire body stiffened like stone or pottery.

The museum’s decor was impeccable. Even in places like the restroom, it was orderly and spotless, without a hint of odor. The marble floor was smooth and shiny, cleaner than some of the male dormitories Xie Ning had been to.

…But not being able to smell anything didn’t mean that he should be smelling the mixed scent of leaves, grass, soil, and flowers instead!

Birdsong echoed in the distance, accompanied by a refreshing breeze that blew past his temples. Though it was still dark all around, he no longer felt as if he were confined in that small stall. For a moment, the world expanded around him, boundless, unfurling with his every movement.

Xie Ning was completely dumbfounded.

He suspected he was dreaming…No, he suspected he was startled during the blackout, hit his head accidentally, and now everything he felt was just a hallucination while he was unconscious.

He tentatively took a step forward.

His shoe didn’t kick against a solid wall, and the ground beneath his feet felt soft. It was accompanied by a rustling sound, as if he had stepped on fallen leaves and grass, and…

Xie Ning, like a bewildered blind man, groped around in the darkness, at a loss. After taking a few more steps forward, he felt a sturdy, rough tree trunk, covered in a layer of moist moss, with lush branches and leaves hanging down around his shoulders.

…What’s happening to me?

What did I eat or drink before coming here? Am I poisoned? Was there something wrong with the mushroom soup I had this morning? Did it contain toxic mushrooms, so now I’m hallucinating?

Xie Ning felt like crying, really crying. He clutched the tree, and trembling, he called out, “Is anyone there? Are there other people outside the restroom? Help! Help me!”