1

故事发生在很久很久以前.
   楼兰国有一个贤明的君主,也就是贤明的楼兰国君.贤明的楼兰国君有一个女儿.她的来历向来众说纷纭.比较甚嚣尘上的一种说法是:
   贤明的楼兰国君游学中国(注:中原地区),在一个美丽的江南小镇,泛舟游于城中的一条小河中.两岸绿烟红雨,桃柳相映,更有街肆店铺,行人如织.总之,这是一个楼兰国人民梦中的天堂.某一天,下着落寞的微雨,正是暮春天气,清风徐来,在贤明的楼兰国君心中荡起了涟漪.
   舟行过外城门,只见城郊草长莺飞,沐着霏霏细雨,笼着一层薄雾.夹岸桃红,漫山遍野,就象出嫁的女儿新制的水红衣裳.雾渐渐浓了,在沁人心扉的氤氲之中,贤明的楼兰国君仿佛看到一位豆蔻年华的少女,款步,提衣,走出一间茅舍.贤明的楼兰国君年少轻狂,邀请这位豆蔻年华的少女同游.她的脸绯红,就象那夹岸的桃红盛开的笑靥,却多了一分芙蓉的清雅和茉莉的羞涩.
   后面的事情就不再赘述了,大家都该知道这套路.
   简单来说,贤明的楼兰国君和这位豆蔻年华的少女回到了楼兰国.夜夜笙歌,君王从此不再早朝.
   忽然有一天,这位豆蔻年华的少女,也就是贵妃夫人死了.
   有人说,她是投井自杀的,并以后宫沉香井血迹为证,这种说法是信国公公达国公公雅国公公流传出来的.他们每天夜里潜逃出宫,使楼兰的醉香楼雨香楼痴香楼鸡犬不宁.当然太监的说法总是半真半假.
有人说,她是难产死去的,有死胎为征,这种说法是太医传出来的.这位太医,医术高明,祖上三代,全是太医,分别是脚趾末梢神经专科尾椎增生专科和妇产科.当然太医的诊断总是摸棱两可.
   甚至有人说她腹中胎儿并没有死,已经十八有余.
   唯一确定的是,曾经的那位豆蔻年华的少女已香销玉陨.
   我是翰林院中一介书生,宰相府下新晋幕僚.这些传闻是听宰相大人说的.
   这一天,贤明的楼兰国君驾崩.
                            

                             2
   贤明的楼兰国君驾崩于这一年的仲秋.
   举国上下沉浸在莫大的悲哀之中.据说,楼兰国都城楼兰城,一夜之间雪白一片.民居用素练挂满外墙,官府门前规定摆用白色的花圈,知县府前的花圈用一字长蛇阵,知府门前是北斗七星阵,三品官邸的门前是十八罗汉阵,宰相府前据说雪白的花圈从外门一直摆到宰相大人和夫人的卧房,以衔哀至诚.
   翰林院中似乎没有太多的骚动.翰林大学士大人主持的"龟兹国文献中女妖考"课题已进入攻坚阶段.研究工作紧锣密鼓,龟兹国文献中女妖就要在大家的辛苦努力下浮出水面,这是一件激动人心的事情.如果龟兹国女妖真的得以重见天日,宰相府就会亲自拨出课题经费十万两银子,除了修建一座龟兹国女妖实验室,并建立以此为中心的主题公园,吸引世界各地的游人来参观,剩下的,嘿嘿,便是活动经费.简单来说,假如信国公公达国公公雅国公公要去醉香院花天酒地,那么他们将要损失一大比私房钱,而这些钱他们平时都藏在后宫的神龛后壁橱里甚至是观音菩萨的肚子里,因此拿出来十分不便.而翰林院学士要去醉香院花天酒地,只需要拿醉香楼后院的一瓣梅花为证,回翰林院报销即可.
    之所以以醉香楼后院的一瓣梅花为证,是因为醉香楼后院那一株醉香梅天下无二,四季不调,夜有异香.据说这香,普通人闻了,醉三天三夜不醒,只有比这梅花更美的少女才可不醉.由此可见,醉香楼实在是彩霞满楼.
    而世上只有两株醉香梅,另一株在我卧榻旁,是一座小小的盆景.
    我便是世上唯一不被醉香梅醉倒的男子．
    贤明的楼兰国君驾崩于这一年的仲秋,满株的醉香梅全部盛开.
    那一刻我正在案头画梅.欹曲的枝头暗香浮动,婀娜旖旎.我煮了淡酒一壶,边描边饮.只看见,满树灼灼,光晔照人.酒力发作,我挥笔写下一树梅花.
    在雪白的宣纸上,花倏尔谢了.

                                  3

  第二天一早，我便造访宰相大人。
  好象这天宰相府格外热闹。
  运筹帷幄的宰相大人邀我进了卧房密谈。我们坐在柔软的花圈上讨论楼兰城的各个酒楼，讨论政治，最后谈到了贤明的楼兰国君驾崩这样一件另人悲伤的事情来了。宰相告诉我目前政事由太子处理，还算稳当。可是据说贤明的楼兰国君，死因不明。
  死因不明，这几个字已经耐人寻味。
  刀锋密探来报。话说运筹帷幄的宰相大人幕僚之中有文士三十六，各个上知天文下晓地理，文史星历，样样精通；武士七十二，各个身怀绝技，上天入地。其中有四大密探，全是皇家学院信息安全专业高才生，刀锋、剑风、信封、马蜂，据说没有打听不来的消息。
  刀锋密探说，有人看见贤明的楼兰国君驾崩系他杀。
  满纸梅花凋落的场景顿时浮现在眼前。
  运筹帷幄的宰相大人见我神情恍惚，便问我有什么看法。我摇摇头，只问贤明的楼兰国君的贵妃夫人是怎么死的。 运筹帷幄的宰相大人只是微笑，缓缓说道，她死的时候啊，夜里楼兰城下了一场小雨，一会儿就干了。全城的人都在梦里，哪知道，有位画匠，为了临摹醉香楼后院的醉香梅夜间盛开的景状，没睡呢。
  我问，这画匠可曾画得梅花？
  运筹帷幄的宰相大人又只是微笑道，画了，画了，这为画匠正准备砚色，不料下了那一阵雨。避之不及，磨盘承了雨水。运筹帷幄的宰相大人停顿片刻，说道，那画匠一看，血红血红的，正是梅花的颜色。
  剑风密探来报。

                            4

    剑风密探来报的时候，我正坐在柔软的花圈上与运筹帷幄的宰相大人一幅具有神秘主义色彩的绘画作品，运筹帷幄的宰相大人把它叫做《雨夜醉梅图》。我问运筹帷幄的宰相大人可知道《雨夜醉梅图》的下落，运筹帷幄的宰相大人用他的具有神秘主义色彩的表情告诉我，他知道。
   剑风密探说，博古通今的翰林院大学士主持的“龟兹国文献中女妖考”又取得了重大进展，简单来说，有人说在楼兰城看到了与龟兹国文献中女妖惊人相似的东西。
   我一惊。
   运筹帷幄的宰相大人倒好象在意料之中，缓缓问我道可想看《雨夜醉梅图》。我回过神来，说，当然。于是运筹帷幄的宰相大人领我来到他深紫色的檀木书柜前，摸着胡桃木把手，开了柜子，在一个隐秘而布满灰尘的角隅里，拿出一本卷轴，小心翼翼的摸着胡桃木把手关上他深紫色的檀木书柜，用蓝绿色的大理孔雀毫掸子轻轻的拭去卷轴上的灰尘，慢慢打开卷轴。
   里面是，一幅小卷轴。
   信封密探来报。
   运筹帷幄的宰相大人一边象剥洋葱一样剥开一层又一层的卷轴，一边听信封密探密报情况。洋葱一样剥开的一层又一层的卷轴仿佛永远也剥不到尽头。信封密探说，有人看见了谋杀贤明的楼兰国君的凶手。运筹帷幄的宰相大人要信封密探描述一下那位刺客的模样。信封密探说，目击者信国公公只看见它在烛光下的投影，和人差不多。
   和人差不多。
   我从未见到运筹帷幄的宰相大人露出今天这样惊讶的表情。运筹帷幄的宰相大人定了定神后问，和人有什么区别呢？信封密探说，背部隆起，就象--
   运筹帷幄的宰相大人将洋葱一样剥开的一层又一层的卷轴剥到了尽头，空空如也。
   宰相府《雨夜醉梅图》被盗。

                               5

   I was too tired to do anything that day and went straight home with an air of sulky gloom.The evening wind gently touched my forehead like a little girl groping her cat. There is a smell of lilac, not strong but very intoxicating, almost like alcohol.

   The whole of it, the incident, was rather strange, unconceivable. I was pondering over what had indeed happened when something, accurately speaking, when somebody dropped down from the heaven, and bumped directly into my piteous body. Ok, it (I’m not sure whether it was a man or woman) was about to drop down from the heaven, and bump directly into my piteous body when I swiftly ducked to avoid a collision. Consequently it crashed into the ground with a velocity equal to those drunken driver on highway.

    Oh, thy azure celestial almighty, how dare you send me this, when I have the old up and the little down(上有老下有小). how can you burden a pathetic soul with yet another chaos? Fuck you my heaven…

    Anywhere, it was hurt badly, and it was not dead.

    So I had to send it to the hospital and take care of it, coz my conscious inner voice said, people’s beginning, sex very good.（人之初性本善）. On arrival at the hospital, when I puffing like a chimney, when the most beauteous nurse stabbing into the “somebody” tons of tubes and needles, and when the nimble-fingered doctor preparing his whole set of scissors and blades, I couldn’t  help examining the stranger. It must be of my age, in its twentieth or so, can’t be more than that. And it was, I had to admit, the most beautiful thing I had ever set my eyes upon.

    It’s got a rather handsome face, so na?ve that you had to think of the holy baby when eyeing it. It’s nose is a little crooked but so lovely that you had to correlate the winter snowman. It’s got a perfect mouth, not too big not too small, just right for a kiss. And its lips, cherry-like lips.

    Like, the lips of an angel.( a song by the hinder )

    I thought I was in love with it.

                               6

I called a cab, and finally I was home.

I was fiddling with my letter from the Zaixiang, informed that the picture had not yet been found and I had to imagine what it was like and then to visualize it. What a fuck. No one can fabricate a picture he has never seen. However, he must got his reasons.

I changed into my night robe, long silk attire perfectly fit for me, and was about to rest when the butler told me that there had been a visitor. Damn, who it could be at such a time of the day? My complaint stopped when it was let in.

Still I can’t make out whether it was a boy or girl. I asked it why it fleet away from the hospital. It smiled and said, I never needed a hospital.

It intrigued me.

I could not help my curiosity and asked, why you dropped down from the sky?

It giggled out of a kind of amusement, unfettered, unpinioned, purified, unlike anyone I knew before. It said, it had been an accident.

 Perhaps it’s a alien.

Then, with a blushed shyness, it said, I pay a visit to thank you anyway. Its face was crimson, like the evening clouds tinted with the flame of the setting sun.

You are welcome, I chuckled.

I asked, where are you come from? you must be foreigner, aren’t you?

It said, you can say that.

I asked no more. There must be some link between its life and mine. I doubted there had ever been such a thing called coincidence. Yet, I hope it was pure coincidence that I meet it, as I have said, I’m in love with its lovely lips. You just couldn’t avoid love it.

“What do you de for a living” I asked.

It watched me for a while, and then said, you won’t tell anyone, will you?

I nodded to make a promise.

It said after a long pause, I was born to be a killer, angel killer.

                               7

    我不知所措。
    它察觉我的惊恐，对我淡然莞尔，仿佛鸦片，顿时消除了我的顾虑和紧张。
    我从小对天使形成了一个印象，就是丘比特那样到处乱飞，拿把弩箭射别人，而且还有丘比特那样的小酒窝和水蜜桃一般的笑靥。也许丘比特长大了也会是眼前这般沉鱼落雁闭月羞花，仿佛蜃景。
    它对我说，茫茫太虚之中，有分工详密、组织严明的天使，有的掌管季节时序，有的掌管草本植物的兴衰荣辱，有的掌管人的喜怒哀乐，有的，比如它自己，掌管人的死亡。
    我正想说什么，有人报，太子摄政升朝。
    子时。
    我对它说，等着我，不要离开我的卧榻半步。
    它似懂非懂的点头，它答应了。
    易朝服，快马进宫。
    半个时辰之后，楼兰国太子摄政开始危言耸听。
    他先代表他的父亲，也就是贤明的楼兰国君感谢诸位大臣辅佐朝政，要是没有诸位大臣辅佐朝政，处在恶劣地理位置的楼兰国早就风雨飘摇，不会象今天这样歌舞升平，然后他作为贤明的楼兰国君的儿子也就是楼兰国太子摄政表达对诸位大臣辅佐朝政的感激之情，要是没有诸位大臣辅佐朝政，就不会有他今天幸福的生活。
    最后他有请翰林院大学士展示最新研究成果。
    灯光黯淡，翰林院大学士拿出了他的宝贝。
    在夜明珠的光晕之下看到，那是一个玻璃瓶子。夜云淡伫，星河渺兮。晚风停，月华出。
    瓶中分明是一个女妖，在啜泣。

                             8

    我回到家中，天已有了一线亮色。
    它已经在西厢客房睡了，脸上安静的表情，使人觉得它对于这个喧扰尘世的一切都还是那样陌生。我想多看它一会儿。
    回到卧榻一是精疲力竭，总有纷纶俗事以劳形，案牍迁延而烦心。
    解衣方欲睡去，只见案头落梅图上缀了一篇赋文,读罢泣下沾襟.

南国地气，故土风光。山鬼来归，薜荔弥望。
林草翳布，芝兰漫张，青萝阻步，紫藤止还。
浮渚上下，东皋晨暮.
对镜敛容，如淡月舒其光。
照水羞花，若罗绮盛文章。
凌波微步，如神女驾藻荇。
轻衣便体，似游龙乘云翔。
回首顾宿鸟之聚散，
环望见陇首之云飞。
耿直之士，无以展鸿鹄之志，
狷介之徒，空有干青云之心。
吐幽兰之气，断山水之襟袖。
提三尺之剑，绝亡灵之缚缨。
楼兰渺渺，草木迢遥。
黄沙漫漫，音书寂寥。
对朔风而哽咽，听胡笳以啜然。

滞巫山之云雨兮，歧路益增零涕。
奋长袖以正衽兮，汉宫未断流水。
遥想故事，柳眉不展。
尚存旧忆，杏目盈湿。
岁月其徂，顾盼无润玉之姝华。
容颜空老，吞吐失翡翠之蛾扬。
人心不测，世情浅薄。
依稀红颜，伤心黄雀。
花月年年，今年去年。
归来归去，无依无托。
奈何天意相负，啸平生之悲歌！

                           9

    第二天运筹帷幄的宰相大人要见我。

    我知道他是为了那画。我也只能告诉他自己无能为力了。

    运筹帷幄的宰相大人说，他要那幅画，并不是那幅画有什么灵异的力量，也不是因为这幅画背后隐藏着什么隐秘的传说，实际上是因为，这幅画原先是属于贤明的楼兰国君的。后来出于某种原因，这幅画遗失了。如今和贤明的楼兰国君一样贤明的楼兰国太子摄政，下令调查这件事，运筹帷幄的宰相大人推迟了调查，希望先找到这幅《雨夜醉梅图》，免得出什么乱子。

    我感到事情有些蹊跷。

    我问，当初作画的画匠还在吗？
  
    运筹帷幄的宰相大人似乎思考了一阵，我知道他在考虑我这个幕僚应该信任到何种程度。

    一会儿之后，他说，那个画匠便是我。

    我心里一惊，因为我知道，只有一种合理的解释。

    我没有做出任何表情，只是问道，《雨夜醉梅图》是宰相大人亲手送给贤明的楼兰国君吗？

    运筹帷幄的宰相大人对我得知趣表现出极大的欣赏。

    他缓缓说道，正是，就在贤明的楼兰国君驾崩的那天晚上。他看着我问，你有什么看法呢？

    我看着他的双眸，那是一种说不出的表情，有一些焦虑，一些痛苦，一些仇恨，最后用一种狡黠的微笑勾芡。

    我说，没有什么线索。一身凉汗。是他，一定是他，谋杀贤明的楼兰国君的刺客。

    马蜂信使来报。

    这是运筹帷幄的宰相大人幕僚中四大信使之首。

    他环视了一下四周，对宰相大人和我说，信国公公回忆起来了，谋杀贤明的楼兰国君的刺客背部隆起，就像禽类一般有双翅。

    换句话说，有双翼。

    世界上只有一种人有双翼。

    比如说天使。
 
                            10

   This was too much for me.

   I didn’t want to believe this. I didn’t want to admit the fact that my angel had taken another life, cruelly, coldly, relentlessly. Then I remembered that it had once told me about its being an Angel killer. That was it.

   A angel killer should have got its reason.

   I got home. I called the butler to open the door. The door opened.

   And stood in my eyes, it was the murderer, the assassinator, the killer.

   My angel killer.

   I looked into its eyes. They were so pure, so innocent, so contrary to coldness.

   Its eyes were so warm and clear.

   Yah, my angel must have got its reason.

   Then we kissed.

   It was like small kids kissing each other, Very attentively, very curiously, but soon would be forgotten. There was some differences however, for instance, I could never forget my first kiss.

   Yah, it was my first kiss, though I don’t know if my angel loves me or not. Perhaps I didn’t care. I had dreamt about it so often in my weirdest dream that I knew how it would work. I was so familiar with every single bit of skin of my angel’s and how to rub it with my groping hands. I knew how we could melt into each other.

   Its tongue asked for admittance. I let it in. Our tongues twisted and battled. And then I surrendered. My angel throbbing into my mouth made me faint. It was the taste of god itself.

   We parted for breath.

   I watched my angel killer. I didn’t care about this world of chaos.

   Its face crimson and maybe deeper, and its lips slightly swollen.

   It was unresistable.