Ping'an Seventeenth Lane is actually not far from the hotel, and Shen Xing specially chose this area close to the puppet market when booking a hotel.

It is said to be an alley, but in fact, this alley is very spacious, just like the kind of old street in the ancient town, with a dazzling array of shops on both sides of the street, and all kinds of puppet-related goods.

There are also craftsmen who make puppets on the spot in the store, one by one and sell the other, which has a feeling of being fried and sold.

In fact, this is the same as Shen Xing's making wood carvings in the wood carving shop, and some customers who watch the production process are likely to pay for one or two on the spot because of their interest.

Shen Xing activated the face swapping skill before leaving the hotel, and a face had become strange and ordinary. As before, he had never seen this face himself.

I went a little early, and some of the shops haven't opened yet, because the whole street is designed to imitate the ancient town, so there are also hawkers who carry flat poles to sell.

These vendors not only sell small dolls, but also carry them for breakfast.

Shen Xing got up early and hadn't eaten yet, when he saw a vendor with tofu brains, he immediately stopped him and asked for a bowl.

The peddler put down the flat pole and opened the wooden barrel with a lid at one end, which was cleverly designed, half of the lid was opened to scoop out the tofu brain that had the effect of keeping warm inside, and the other half of the lid was opened, but it was a thin drawer-like layer, in which various small bottles of condiments were placed, and salty or sweet could be eaten.

"Sir, do you eat spicy, salty, or sweet?" The peddler asked kindly as he operated it.

"Sweet." Shen Xingdao.

So early in the morning, there was nothing in his stomach, and he didn't want to eat spicy food to spoil his stomach.

"White sugar, brown sugar, or honey?" The peddler asked again.

Shen Xing felt a little curious, but he didn't expect this guy's condiments to be really rich.

"Brown sugar."

"To add sesame seeds?"

"Plus."

The vendor's white sugar is granulated sugar, the brown sugar has been blended into thick brown sugar water, and the honey seems to be of higher purity.

After a while, a bowl of steaming tofu brain, filled with the aroma of brown sugar and sesame seeds, was handed to Shen Xing's hand.

The pure white tofu brain trembled slightly as it moved, covered with a layer of brown sugar water, and dotted with a small handful of sesame seeds, just smelling the aroma made the mouth tongue flutter and the index finger moved.

Bowls and spoons are the kind that are disposable and can be thrown away after eating.

Shen Xing paid the money, scooped a spoonful of tofu brain and put it in his mouth, his mouth was full of fragrant, and it melted in his mouth, and he blinked his mouth? He said to the vendor who was about to leave, "Another bowl." ”

"Okay!" The vendor immediately opened the lid of the barrel again.

How many bites will he take to finish this bowl? The vendor's second bowl was handed over.

Shen Xing still paid the money first, and then took it? While eating? While asking, "By the way, little brother, do I want to ask you something?" I see that some shops on this street do not have a house number at the door, may I ask which direction is the house number above 200? ”

What about the peddler? "Honestly? The house numbers here are a bit confusing, and I live here. You just said where you were looking, maybe I still know. ”

Shen Xing nodded: "I'll find Mo's handicraft workshop." ”

The peddler didn't even think about it, and pointed in the direction he came from and said, "From here, all the way down?" Will there be a three-way street? You go to the intersection on the right, and about 200 meters after entering, there is a small alley with bluestone brick paved floor, which is the handicraft workshop of the Mo family. ”

Paused? The hawker said: "But their family does not sell directly to the outside world, but ships to dealers......

"Huh? I just want to buy something. Shen Xing smiled, "Thank you!" ”

"You're welcome." Didn't the hawker think much about it? Pick up the flat shoulder again and walk briskly forward.

Shen Xing followed his guidance and quickly came to a three-way intersection? Then choose the road on the right and walk two hundred meters when you are a little close? Sure enough, I saw a bluestone brick path extending from this road.

Fences on both sides of the path? There is no door in sight, so it can be seen that the door of this Mohs handicraft workshop may be located in the innermost part of the path after entering.

He looked left and right, and there were not many pedestrians here at the moment, so Shen Xing walked directly along the path.

Probably because of the early morning dew, the bluestone brick floor was still a little damp, and he turned two corners along the path, and finally saw an open door in the path.

It was a double door, and next to the doorway stood a man in a dark gray shirt and black trousers.

Shen Xing quickened his pace and walked over, came to the man with his head bowed slightly, and said, "I'm sorry, is this the Mo handicraft workshop?" ”

He had just looked around the doorway and saw that there was no sign.

However, when I think about it, this workshop does not sell scattered puppets to the outside world, but only supplies dealers with Motu's popularity, so it is not very meaningful to hang it here or not.

Just like some century-old shops, when the fame goes out, sometimes they start to think very highly of themselves and look at everything.

As for whether this workshop will be a big bully Shen Xing doesn't know, but thinking of what the boss of Naja Degao entrusted to him, I'm afraid that this workshop is also an existence that cannot be offended by those small dealers.

After asking, the man still lowered his head slightly, did not answer, and did not even raise his head to look at it.

Shen Xing was slightly stunned, and spoke again: "May I ask ......?"

But this time he had only said two words, and he suddenly stopped, bent down, and raised his head to look at the man with his head down.

After a closer look, I found that the other party was staring at the ground with his eyes open, as if he was observingly observing something, but there was nothing on the ground at the moment.

Shen Xing smiled self-deprecatingly, shook his head and stood up straight, and walked directly past the motionless man into the door.

At this moment, he didn't expect that he almost didn't recognize that this was a dummy.

The man standing at the door was too realistic, whether it was skin or hair, or even his pupils, if he hadn't looked closely at it just now, no one would have thought he was a dummy if he saw him for the first time.

Although he didn't know what it meant to place such a dummy at the door, Shen Xing now had a feeling that this workshop could not be taken lightly.

Perhaps this is the purpose of the Mohs handicraft workshop to deliberately do this, so that the customers who come in will have a sense of surprise in their hearts, and then identify with their own products, and deepen the importance of Mohs puppets.

Soon after he walked in, he saw another man standing in another arc-shaped doorway.

The man was also motionless, staring in this direction, still unable to tell if he was a puppet or a real person.

However, Shen Xing didn't want to be deliberately done by them all the time, otherwise he would make himself look like a fool.

He took out a brand-new hundred yuan from his pocket, flicked his index finger, and said to himself, "There is still money in the pocket of that dummy outside!" ”

As soon as the words fell, I saw that the expression of the man standing still changed instantly, and he couldn't hold back.

This guy and the guy outside the door, one fake and one true, should they really tease themselves?

Shen Xing wanted to laugh a little, so under the man's nose, he put the hundred yuan in his pocket and patted it.

"Damn, which stupid* put the money in?" The man couldn't help but speak, no longer pretending to be a dummy, and approached Shen Xing.

Shen Xing clapped his hands and introduced himself: "Hello, my name is Lin Xing, I just opened two shops to prepare to operate puppets, one in Jingzhou and one in Kuazhou, I came here today to see if I can establish a cooperative relationship with you." ”

The man who came over squeezed out a slight smile, and quickly returned to his appearance just now, and said: "Well, you also saw the dummy at the door, which represents the basic level of the store, if you are satisfied, enter from this side and sign an agreement." If you want to take another look, go in through this door behind me,"

Shen Xing nodded: "Then I'll take a look at it again." ”

As he spoke, he walked towards the door behind the man.

When he passed by the man, he couldn't help but ask, "Did you really find money in that dummy's pocket just now?" ”

Shen Xing looked at him in astonishment, and at the same time pressed the trouser pocket he had just put the money in with one hand, and deliberately made a vigilant appearance: "Fortune and money, beckoning and money, isn't this a way for you to welcome customers?" Otherwise, who would be so stupid* to take the initiative to put money in the pockets of dummies? ”

The man's tone froze, as if he had swallowed a dead fly in his mouth.

Shen Xing had already pushed open the door and walked into the puppet exhibition hall at this time.

The size of this exhibition hall is actually not large, only a few open display cases with lights overhead, and the puppets in them are sitting, standing or lying.

And the puppets are male and female, old and young, and on the ground near the door, there are two animal puppets, which are two different breeds of dogs.

At first glance, Shen Xing felt that these things could almost be regarded as specimens, because they were too realistic with real people and animal images.

The man who greeted him just now followed behind Shen Xing and didn't say anything more.

Shen Xing felt that he was guarding against reaching out and touching these puppets, after all, with his own eyes, he could easily see that the quality of the puppets on display here was much higher than that of the dummy at the door outside.

At this moment, it seems that there are many people standing in the room, but in fact, the pin drop can be heard, and it is very quiet, even so quiet that it makes people feel oppressed.

Shen Xing carefully identified it, the image of the old woman in these puppets was almost the same as the exquisite carving technique of Miss Changge and the boy's puppet, but it was slightly different.

This difference does not prove that they are not made by the same person, but it is likely that it is just a difference between pure manual and assembly line technology.

In other words, if it is a handmade puppet, Shen Xing thinks that this old woman puppet is the same as Changge and the boy puppet, and it should be created by the same person.

He pointed to the old woman's puppet and said to the man who followed him, "May I ask who this work comes from?" ”

Shen Xing also knew that although this place was called Mo's Handicraft Workshop, not all the puppet works were made by Mo Tu alone, and he also accepted apprentices, and these apprentices also produced a lot of works.

Even some puppets have a unique style, although not as layered as the works of Master Motu, but they also have their own style, otherwise all the puppets of Mohs would not have eaten so many dealers.

The man nodded: "Your eyes are very vicious, this old woman puppet is the only one of the works on display here that comes from the hand of Master Mo." ”

Immediately, he pointed to a middle-aged male puppet next to the old woman: "This is the work of Master Mo's eldest disciple Yatu." ”

He pointed to a child puppet again: "This is the work of Master Mo's seven disciples, and this, this is the work of the four disciples." ”

After retracting his gaze from the body of the other girl puppet, Shen Xing nodded slightly, I have to say that these puppets have their own characteristics, but the general lines and practices are the same, and they still contain Motu's handmade characteristics.

And the names of several of Motu's disciples are also very interesting, instead of letting the stage name follow his surname Mo, they all use the word "Tu" at the back.

At this time, Shen Xing suddenly had a cold feeling, as if the air in this small exhibition hall suddenly dropped by two degrees at this moment.

He looked up at the air conditioning vent on the side of the ceiling, which seemed to be installed with a central air conditioner, but the air outlet seemed to be quiet, and there was no cold air blowing out.

"Why is it a little cold?" The man beside Shen Xing also suddenly rubbed his arms at this time, and said suspiciously.

After the words fell, he walked out the door, maybe the switch of the air conditioner or other electrical appliances was outside the door of this small exhibition hall, he wanted to check it.

As soon as he walked out of the door, the electric lights above Shen Xing's head, including the spotlights on the top of the display case, all flickered twice, and quickly went out in the next second.

The location of this small exhibition hall is located in the inside of a small alley, the room has no windows, and there is no lighting, so after the lights suddenly went out, Shen Xing's eyes suddenly went dark, and he couldn't see anything for a while.

He immediately subconsciously touched his phone.

But at this moment, Shen Xing felt something move beside him.

The position where he was standing at the moment was next to the old woman's puppet, and the distance between the two sides was relatively close because of his careful observation just now.

There was a slight noise beside him, which made Shen Xing think of the old woman first.

He immediately turned around so that his direction could roughly face the old woman's puppet's position.

In my memory, the scene of seeing this old woman just now came to mind, this is an old man with a wrinkled face and sparse white hair, wearing a burgundy cotton jacket and black cotton pants, his eyes are squinted, and there are plexiglass beads that imitate human eyeballs in his pupils.

After reacting, Shen Xing was about to retreat immediately, but at this moment, his right hand that took out his mobile phone suddenly tightened, and he was grabbed by a cold hand.

At the same moment, something suddenly approached, not far from his ear, and at the same time made a very clear sound.

"Shhhh

Shen Xing shook his hand suddenly, the cold palm was like a steel hoop, unable to break free, he immediately bowed his body, raised his right leg, and was about to kick towards the darkness in front of him.

However, the light in front of him suddenly flickered, and as soon as he loosened his cold palm, Shen Xing maintained the action of being about to kick out, and when he looked up, the light was already on.

The man who had just gone out was standing at the door looking at him in surprise, and not far from Shen Xing's body, it was the old woman wearing a burgundy cotton jacket and sparse white hair.

It's just that the old woman still maintains the same appearance as she first stands, as if she has not moved at all.

Shen Xing's mobile phone flashlight had been turned on at this time, but it was almost lit up with the lights in the small exhibition hall, so it didn't seem to have any effect just now.

But he knew very well in his heart that in fact, before the lights of the exhibition hall were turned on, the flashlight had been lit half a second in advance, and under the light of the flashlight that had just been lit, the old woman's face was clearly reflected in his eyes.