The old streets of the old city are more lively at 10 o'clock in the evening than at 10 o'clock in the morning.

Small restaurant, the owner greets the guests so busy that their feet do not touch the ground.

Tang Du lowered his hat and only ordered a box of duck blood vermicelli soup to take away.

"Okay, wait a minute." The proprietress agreed, wiped her hands on her apron, lifted the cage drawer and picked up buns for a woman holding a child first.

Tang Du glanced at the woman, his gaze drawn to the sleeping baby leaning on her shoulder. The child looked less than a year old, a small one carved in pink and jade, with a red rope tied to his left wrist, and a beautiful wrist color, like a lotus root.

Do you want to stop ordering a box of vegetarian lotus root?

Tang Du thought in his heart, and the child burst into tears.

The woman hurriedly shook and urged the proprietress to hurry up. At this moment, several police cars whizzed past the door, causing a brief silence in the store.

The woman's eyes fluttered for some reason, and she suddenly stammered, "Forget it, I'...... I don't eat it. ”

Turn your head and walk out.

Tang Du seemed to be in a hurry to pay, and hit forward desperately, touching his pocket, only to remember that the mobile phone had been stolen before, so he took out his wallet, but the wallet was hooked on the clothes of other children.

"What's the matter with you, you don't look at the road when you walk." The woman scolded and scolded, and the dry bark seemed to be tightly wrapped around the child, and Tang Du even suspected that the child was crying bitterly.

At this time, two policemen/detectives who got off duty entered the restaurant to eat and approached to order.

In just a few minutes, the woman's forehead was soaked with sweat.

"Auntie, are you okay?" Tang Du shouted, which caused the police/inspector and the other customers in the store to look this way.

The woman's whole body was shocked.

Tang Du comforted softly again, "Don't worry, it's just that the zipper is stuck by the clothes, you wait a while, I'll solve it...... Hey, I can't solve it. ”

"Hurry up, hurry up!"

The woman urged, her eyes dodging as much as she could, as if she wanted to look at the two policemen/inspectors but did not dare to look at them.

Tang Du's hands were red, and finally sighed: "That's it, Auntie, my store is nearby, you come with me to the store, I'll find clothes for your child to change, and I can't pull it hard." And he said, "My wallet is not cheap." ”

The woman gritted her teeth, looking a little hesitant. looked at the child, then looked at the police/inspector, and nodded helplessly: "Come on, let's leave after changing our clothes." ”

The woman walked behind, looking at a young man dressed in black, wearing a hat, and dressed in a strange costume, who almost blended with the darkness in the night, making people inexplicably feel a feeling of hair in their hearts, and for no reason remembered the story of encountering a ghost while walking at night.

I looked down at the time.

She took out her mobile phone and dialed a person named "Viagra", lowered her voice and asked, "Where are you, why didn't you come!" ”

Viagra's voice was also anxious, revealing irritability, "There was a car accident on the second street, the onlookers blocked the road, and a bunch of police/inspectors were there, I couldn't get through from here, so I could only change the road and go far away!" ”

The woman wondered.

He peeked at Tang Du again to confirm that the young man had not noticed the movement here.

"I've left that little restaurant and now I'm following a man," she said. There are also a lot of police/detectives here, so I'm just dodging. You solve the trouble on your side as soon as possible, and then send me the location, and I will go to you. ”

After confirming the plan, the two ended the call.

And the store in Tang Du's mouth has also arrived, but it is different from what women imagined.

This is a commercial building called "Taoqing Garden", I didn't see the entrance after looking for a long time, there was only an external elevator, Tang Du pressed the fourth floor, and in her puzzled eyes, she explained: "There is a store on the first floor here, which is not connected to each other, and can only be reached directly by elevator." ”

The woman looked at the lower floor, and it was clear that there were only nine floors, but she didn't know why when she just looked at it, she had a feeling that the building was towering into the sky and piercing the sky.

She tossed the child in her arms, and from the time she came in, he didn't cry much.

"Here we are." The door opened, and Tang Du took the lead in going down and casually threw the supper on the cabinet.

He pulled off his hat, and the woman noticed that the back of his head was wrapped in gauze, and blood was oozing out, but he didn't think so, and beckoned: "Auntie, you can sit casually, and I will go next door to borrow two clothes that children can wear." ”

The woman frowned when she saw him go inside.

Didn't you say that they didn't understand each other? Next door? What's next door?

But in the blink of an eye, Tang Du was gone, so she could only wait in the store uneasily. After looking around, she judged that this should be a craft shop.

Rows of shelves and glass display cases are full of items.

There are ceramics in the shape of monkeys, hanging paintings of birds and phoenixes, and several vases with unknown patterns...... Eventually, the eye was drawn to a wood sculpture in the shape of an eagle.

The wood carving is lifelike, and it has a pair of eyes that are as red as blood.

Reach out without realizing it.

"Auntie, I borrowed the little girl's clothes, it's a skirt, do you think it's okay?"

Tang didn't know from behind the row of shelves, and the voice interrupted the woman's movements.

"Everything." The woman was a little embarrassed, sneered and asked, "This bird is so beautiful, are the eyes gems?" ”

Tang Du fiddled with the small skirt in his hand, still wondering why the big man next door had such a thing, and listened absentmindedly. "Ah, no, just ordinary decorative glass beads."

"Really?" The women were amazed.

The glass beads can be so beautiful, the color is sparkling, and the bird's eyes seem to move.

Tang Du asked the woman to put the child down and change the little boy's clothes, and her movements were unexpectedly skillful, as if she had done it a thousand times.

The woman asked, "You must have all the expensive things here, right?" ”

"It's not expensive."

I saw that the women were reluctant to give up on the wood carving, as if they were enchanted.

Tang Du took the initiative to mention: "According to mythology, ......"

"What's in it?"

"......" Tang Du glanced at the baby lying in the woman's arms, smiled, and suddenly changed his voice: "What, do you like it very much?" If you like it, I'll give it to you. ”

The woman was stunned: "Send?" Don't want money? ”

Tang Du nodded: "Don't." ”

The woman wanted to ask why, but stopped, and everyone said that they didn't want money, and who didn't want to pick up cheap.

The eyes of the wood carving are really beautiful, I don't know if the shopkeeper is gone, this young man looks casual, maybe he has misestimated the treasure.

So he agreed: "Then thank you." ”

"It's my time to thank you."

Tang Du squinted his eyes, took out the disposable lunch box, and put the wood carving in a second-hand plastic bag, saying that it was indeed casual.

The woman wanted to stay a little longer, after all, it was safer here than on the street, but in order to prevent the young man from regretting it, she immediately took her leave and hurried down the elevator downstairs.

Tang Du stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window and looked down, with a thin and tall figure and a black trench coat in silhouette. The woman noticed his gaze and looked back, almost thinking that there was a giant bat hanging there.

Holding the child and the wood carving, he turned his head and plunged into an alley.

As soon as the child left the building, the woman pulled out an unlabeled plastic bottle from her worn backpack and filled it with an unknown liquid, which she poured into the child's mouth with stiff movements.

As soon as it was quiet here, a sharp baby cry suddenly sounded behind him. Perhaps, it is more appropriate to use the word "whistle". The woman was startled, turned her head, and her whole face distorted.

Her pupils widened, as if she had seen something terrifying.

The bird's beak is extremely sharp, giving a heart-rending pain.

Like a giant bird that appears out of thin air, its eyes are slightly narrowed by the satisfaction of foraging, and its red eyes are like the uneven surface of the moon, and like ripe fruit, which is bitten by someone from both sides.

Hula –

The giant bird flapped its wings, and the sound of the wind woke up the sleeping baby, and it only glanced at it, and raised its neck to fly into the sky. A few seconds later, the silent alley was once again pierced by crying.

Nearby residents opened the window and saw an abandoned baby on the street, so they immediately put on their clothes and came out to check, and then called the police.

The man with a rat-eyed eye finally got out of the second street, but he didn't expect to meet the police here again, and the surrounding residents exchanged ears, and some people said that there was a child on the street, and the man was immediately alert.

He listened boldly for a long time, and when he learned that there were only babies and no one else at the scene, he was slightly relieved. The accomplice should not be caught, but there is no need to worry about implicating himself.

But he decided to leave as soon as possible and not to meet.

I found my car and looked at the seven or eight-year-old child who was stunned in the back seat, and sure enough, it was still a baby who was easy to control, and it took too much effort to be so big.

I got into the car in a panic, and I was hit by something under my feet.

The man bowed his head and picked up a wood carving from under the car. The wood carvings are lifelike, and the eyes are red like blood, and they look like they are inlaid with two rubies. With a greedy expression, he put the wood carving in the car and continued driving.

Only halfway through, there was a sudden gust of wind in my ears.

He turned his head suspiciously.

……

"The Classic of Mountains and Seas, The Classic of Nanshan" records: The mountain of Luwu has beasts in the water, and the name is Gu Eagle, its shape is like a carving and has horns, and its sound is like the sound of a baby - it is a cannibal."

In the store, Tang Du seemed to remember something, and then slowly finished the unspoken sentence.

It's almost dawn.

The building shows its beautiful side in front of the world, although it is high and has a roof, it is bright and quiet.

On the fourth floor, there is a conspicuous sign with three strong strokes: Baohaitang.

Tang Du raised his hand and tore off the gauze on the back of his head, the blood had dried up, and he roughly calculated the time.

Turning his head, he saw that the beautiful picture scroll on the wall was flying with the breeze, the small beast on the shelf changed its posture, chewing unknown herbs in its mouth, and the jade pendants under the window were in pairs, colliding with each other and making a "clanging" sound, and finally, the eyes fell on a certain vacancy in the cabinet.

He smiled.

I closed all the curtains in the store, opened the cabinet on the wall, and lay down.