"Long Fei, don't get me wrong, don't get me wrong, I'm just looking, just looking." Director Song curtled and said, "Oh yes, let's go out to eat, it's time for lunch." ”

He stepped back, and I laughed, and everyone gave each other a face, and the point was there.

Director Song is not a person from any official organization, but only worked as a private Dunhuang Cultural Relics Research Institute when he was young, so everyone calls him "Director" to show respect. You know, the so-called research institute survived for less than three years, and it was automatically written off because of no money, no housing, and no projects.

"Okay, eat first, you invite first." I held down the easel and bowed my head to Director Song.

He walked out with small steps, and I was the only one left in the cave.

I took a closer look at the painting, Ming Shuisleeve used a very primitive cloak technique to paint, borrowing the techniques of Chinese painting with a brush, one stroke after another, like an impermeable wind, which is equivalent to tracing and covering all the things I painted, highlighting the double texture.

The reason why Maihime is expressive is because Ming Suizu draws her inner desires and makes her eyes have a divine light.

Looking at Ming Shui's age, he is less than thirty years old, how can he surpass me so much in painting skills? Or in other words, it is her understanding of life, men and women, emotions, and greed that surpasses mine, so that she can make a profound interpretation through this painting.

I rolled up the paintings, put them in a cardboard shell, and prepared to take them home at the end of the afternoon.

"Long Fei, go to dinner, go to dinner!" The white-haired Teacher Yan appeared outside the cave.

I put the stiff tube in my backpack and came out with my bag.

Mr. Yan is a very kind elder, and when I first arrived in Dunhuang, he helped me a lot. was able to join the painter group because of his strong recommendation. So, no matter what he says, I'm willing to save face.

"Long Fei, a Shandong dumpling restaurant has just opened in the north of the square, I invite you to eat and taste the deliciousness of my hometown." Teacher Yan said with a smile.

The wrinkles on his face were so numerous and deep that even when he laughed, they were still constricted, as if they were a past that would never be erased.

"Okay, Mr. Yan, I'll invite you." I say.

Teacher Yan laughed and shook his head: "How can I let you invite you to eat our Shandong people's food?" I please, absolutely I please. ”

Shandong people are hospitable, and although Mr. Yan is poor, he has not lost this fine tradition.

We went down the stairs and headed straight north to the dumpling restaurant called "Qingzhou Family". Qingzhou is the city with the highest calligraphy and painting heritage in Shandong and even north of the Yangtze River. Therefore, there are countless calligraphy and painting exhibitions there every year, and there are countless painting sects and painting masters, as if there is the demeanor of "the first city of calligraphy and painting in the country".

Although I am not a professional painter, I have heard about the great achievements of Qingzhou calligraphy and painting from Mr. Yan before, and I admire it very much.

Just now, I made a few rounds around the square, and I was sure that the bus Gu Qingcheng was riding had left.

"I wonder when I'll see you again?" A trace of melancholy came to my heart, half of it was because of Ming Shui's painting, and most of it was because of Gu Qingcheng's laughter.

There are beautiful women in the north, who look at the city and then the country. Although Gu Tingcheng's appearance does not have the beauty of the country and the city, her speech, demeanor, and comprehensive quality are unforgettable.

In recent years, the popularity of Sister Ya and Sister Hong Kong has plummeted, because the quality of the selected beauties has deteriorated, which has made the majority of voters and citizens dissatisfied. Just imagine, if a girl like Gu Tingcheng appeared on the election stage of Sister Asia and Sister Hong Kong, she would definitely be able to sweep all the beauties and win the championship in a row.

"Come on, Long Fei, come in, come in!" Teacher Yan opened the blue cloth curtain and invited me into the house as half a master.

I walked in quickly, although the shop was small, it was clean and tidy, and the faint aroma of vegetable and meat dumplings wafted in the air, which made people suddenly have a great appetite.

Standing behind the counter was a proprietress in her early thirties and full of charm, with a pair of red phoenix eyes slanted and provoked, with a faint smile, which actually had the meaning of "seducing the soul" in ancient books.

"Master Yan, please come in, the No. 1 private room is ready for you." The proprietress walked out of the counter with a smile and personally led the way in front.

I found that as soon as the proprietress spoke, all the wrinkles on Mr. Yan's face unfolded, as if the proprietress was a good iron, and with just a flick, it ironed out all the bitterness in Mr. Yan's heart and face.

Teacher Yan seemed very excited, which is very rare in normal times. At least in my opinion, when this old painter, who is close to 60 years old, enters the Mogao Grottoes, he always behaves calmly and inflexible, as if he carries too much suffering on his shoulders.

Now, in this Shandong dumpling shop, he has become a different person and completely let go of himself.

Led by the hostess, we turned right at the end of the corridor and entered a single room.

The food and decoration habits in the Dunhuang area are on the rough side, and even the so-called single rooms are very shabbyly furnished, with only one table, four chairs, and a wooden coat rack. The only thing that has a little color is a small painting hanging on the white wall.

I only glanced at it and saw that it was the work of Mr. Yan.

In the painter group, Mr. Yan loves to copy the flying sky in the mural. The content of this small painting is the gathering of flying in the sky, raising hands and scattering flowers, and after the pencil is typed, the outline is delicately outlined with colored paint, and then the different color blocks are evenly applied with watercolor. This comprehensive technique is also one of the painting skills that Master Yan is quite proud of, and according to his own words, he learned it from Tibetan thangka artists.

"Four dumplings, half meat and half vegetarian, and four more side dishes. Wine - just half a pound of loose wine. Bookkeeping, settled at the end of the month. Teacher Yan commanded loudly.

The proprietress lowered her eyebrows and nodded again and again, giving Mr. Yan enough face.

"Boss, let me introduce you, this is the youngest and most handsome one in our painter group, and he is also my good brother, surnamed Long, and his single name is Fei. Later, when he came here for dinner, he remembered to hang up my account and finally settle it together. Teacher Yan introduced proudly.

I nodded politely to the proprietress and didn't speak, so as not to steal Mr. Yan's play.

"Okay, Master Yan's friend, it must be the distinguished customer of our shop, welcome, welcome. Master Yan, don't mention the matter of not paying out, it's just a little money, it's completely appropriate to invite fellow villagers to eat, and it's the honor of our small shop. Okay, the two of you will sit down first, and the wine, vegetables and dumplings will come soon. The proprietress responded decently.

In my opinion, this woman is very good.

Just now, she walked in front, and I had silently observed. She walked with a fairly standard stride, and even when she reached the corner, the distance between her feet remained about a foot and a half, without any panic. Only a seasoned soldier would do this, or to take a step back, only those who had served in the army had this knee-jerk compulsion to walk.

I have also observed the hands of the proprietress with slender fingers and rounded nails, and I don't see that I have done any rough work.

According to the convention, all the proprietress who opens a restaurant is both civil and military, inside and out, red and white cases, brushing pots and cooking, wiping tables and sweeping floors, settling accounts, and everything can be afforded and put down. Therefore, there is work in the hands every day, and there is no time to take care of the skin, and the ten fingers should be quite rough.

Also, this person speaks without hurry, every word is used just right, and his attitude towards Teacher Yan is neither humble nor arrogant, not too close or deliberately distant. This is all a unique manifestation of a general's talent, and on the surface, it is not much better than Gu Tingcheng.

With such a talent, how can she be the proprietress of a small Shandong dumpling restaurant?

As I thought when I saw Gu Tingcheng: "With such a great talent, how can he become Ming Shui's personal assistant?" ”

The proprietress withdrew and helped close the door again.

"How?" Teacher Yan asked with a smile.

I knowingly asked, "How's that?" Is it asking about the quality of service in the store? I haven't eaten it yet, how do you evaluate it? ”

Teacher Yan was anxious and pushed me on the shoulder: "You, I'm asking, how does the boss lady look?" ”

I didn't want to upset Teacher Yan's interest, so I nodded lightly: "It's really good." ”

Mr. Yan is just a painter, or a painter, he doesn't know anything about the sinister ways on the rivers and lakes, and only looks at the handsome appearance of the proprietress, but completely forgets the ancient adage of "it is difficult to draw a tiger and a bone, and it is difficult to know the face but not the heart".

If you fall into the way of others because of this, you can only consider yourself unlucky.

"Long Fei, I asked you to come to dinner, one is to introduce my fellow countrymen to you, and I will come to support you more in the future, and the other one, I still have something to ask you!" Teacher Yan said.

I was a little surprised, everyone has known each other for a while, and I have always been outside the painter group, rarely asking for people, and rarely being asked.

"Please speak, Mr. Yan, as long as I can do it, I will do my best." I nodded in response.

Teacher Yan smiled: "I know, brother, you are a good talker." That's the case, Xiao Du - it's the proprietress just now, she wants to go into the Mogao Grottoes to have a look, open her eyes well, if you agree, brother, in the afternoon, take her in to see, how about it? ”

I became more and more strange: "Teacher Yan, what you said is so unreasonable. Your friend wants to visit the cave, so why bother me to take her? You bring it yourself or say hello to Director Song and let her go in and visit freely, is there anything else difficult about this? ”

When ordinary tourists arrive at the Mogao Grottoes, they must follow the tour guide's arrangement and visit in the order of opening. If some caves are being repaired or cleaned, the management office will inform the tour guide in advance and skip those caves. If tourists have to name a certain cave or a certain mural, they can also get a real impression in the viewing room of the museum that simulates the interior of the Mogao Grottoes, so as not to leave regrets.

As Mr. Yan said, if he wants to take his friends to visit, he will always get some tacit preferential treatment from the management office, and he can visit at will, the admission is free, and the order of the visit is not restricted in any way. This kind of thing has been done by the artists in the troupe before, and it has developed into a gray income business, which is done several times a month.

"This, this ......" Teacher Yan scratched his head embarrassedly, "That's right, Xiao Du wants to see the rebound pipa diagram, you are specialized in drawing this, better than me." She wants to ask you more about the ancient dance of Mogao Grottoes, and I am a complete layman in this part. If my brother is not too troublesome, I will promise my brother and me to make it convenient by the way, how about it? ”

Although I think the reason that Mr. Yan said is a bit far-fetched, the whole thing has no effect on me, it is just a small favor to push the boat, absolutely no problem.

"Okay, Mr. Yan, since you have spoken, I will do it. After eating, I'll take your friend in. The only regret is that my understanding of the bouncing pipa diagram is also very superficial, I'm afraid I can't help her, don't be surprised. I said.

This is the truth, every mural in the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang is very old, and the meaning it represents cannot even be explained by professional historians, archaeologists, cultural relics experts, and cultural scholars, let alone a halfway monk like me.

Teacher Yan was overjoyed: "Okay, you just agree, and everything else is easy to say." ”

He got up and went out, and returned with the proprietress in half a minute.

"Xiao Du, Long Fei has promised to take you over in the afternoon. As I said earlier, this is on me. Teacher Yan patted his chest and said.

"That's great, thank you, Mr. Long." The hostess bowed to me.

I smiled and shook my head: "Don't thank me, if you want to thank you, thank you Teacher Yan." ”

Teacher Yan looked at the proprietress with a look in his eyes, and he knew that he had already sprouted a spring heart.

The love of middle-aged people is like an old wooden building on fire, don't want to extinguish it as soon as it is burned, and there is nothing left when it is burned.

I don't want Mr. Yan to be deceived or taken advantage of, but at this moment, he definitely can't listen to any advice from others, and he has been carried away by belated love.

"Mr. Long, a friend of mine and I both like to dance folk dances, and we have great admiration for the dancing girl who rebounds the pipa diagram and regard it as our idol. So, we prepared a few offerings and wanted to bow down to the cave. Of course, it is only symbolic, and it will not burn incense and light a fire and cause you trouble. You see, is it convenient? The proprietress spoke again.

Her eyes were very calm, and even when she saluted me just now, she did not show any surprise, as if she had calculated that I would agree.

Now, she proposes to "go with one more person" and says that she wants to make offerings and worship, which is completely beyond the scope of "visiting".

"Okay, if the people in the management office have objections, I believe that Mr. Yan and Director Song will find a way to dredge it, and they will definitely be able to meet your wishes." I say.

Except for the frescoes, there are no other items of theft value in the cave. Even if the proprietress wants to achieve some ulterior purpose, it is impossible to have a target.

At the beginning of the last century, foreign cultural relics dealers used to take away some of the murals by means of "adhesive tape", but the result was only to harm others and not to themselves, wasting manpower, material and financial resources, and the sticky murals were also destroyed and turned into irrestorable paint garbage.

As it turned out, the mural could not be stolen unless even the entire wall was cut off and transported away in a heavy truck.

Of course, this plan is theoretically possible, but in practice it is not feasible.

The people of the Mogao Grottoes Management Office have long devised dozens of anti-theft measures, weaving a net to eliminate the possibility of all cultural relics thieves taking advantage of loopholes.

"Long Fei, just go in and take a look, it's okay. Besides, what is left in the Mogao Grottoes now except for the murals? Those valuable scriptures and cultural relics were stolen by the Eight Nations powers and traitors as early as before the liberation, and now they are placed in private museums overseas. Isn't it a joke that we Chinese places and Chinese have to pay for tickets to get in? Teacher Yan's voice instantly raised.

He is a cynic, and the questions he asks are common difficulties faced by all scenic spots in Chinese mainland. Therefore, after the 18th National Congress of the National Government, many urban scenic spots are open to the public for free, and the policy has greatly warmed the hearts of the people and is one of the most needed benefits for the people.

There are objective reasons why Mogao Grottoes cannot be visited for free, and it is not an overnight matter to solve this problem.