At the back of the exhibition hall is a warehouse for the storage of raw materials, and further back is the real studio. The studio is very large, and there are a lot of machine tools with circular saws, and I am not familiar with these mechanical equipment, and if I hadn't known in advance that this is a puppet making studio, I would probably think that this is a furniture factory or something.

Mao Xiankang walked to a table that looked like a design table, pointed to the countertop and said, "That's where he committed suicide." On Friday, he gave Li Xiang a vacation, which was his apprentice, and then he locked himself in the studio and swallowed a whole bottle of sleeping pills, and when Li Xiang came back on Monday, he found that my brother was out of breath, and the suicide note was in his hand. ”

Saying this, Mao Xiankang's eyes stared at the desktop and he was silent for a while, and the smile he had been hanging on his face before finally disappeared at this time.

From the first time he met Mao Xiankang in the funeral home until now, he has not mentioned to me and Qiao Wei what he does, but the suit on his body looks quite high-end, and there is a sense of confidence in his gestures, and his brother's death makes him sad, but he always smiles when facing friends who attend the funeral, this smile is not forced by him, but more like an instinctive habit developed over time - when facing friends and guests, facial muscles make reflexive movements.

He may be a businessman, and a very successful businessman.

That's what I guessed.

But now it's not in public, the funeral is over, he's back to where his brother died, and all the business expressions can finally be put aside.

"I really didn't know that my brother Weishenme would choose to commit suicide, he lived happily every day, and this is the life he wanted. He has a girlfriend who has been dating for ten years, and he brought his girlfriend to my house for dinner during the Chinese New Year this year, and said that he was going to get married on the National Day this year. I can't figure it out, I really can't figure it out. ”

After speaking, Mao Xiankang sighed heavily.

"Have you ever wondered if your brother might not have committed suicide?" I asked.

"I've thought about it, how could I not have thought about it. The first thing Li wanted to tell my brother after he found out was me, and I also thought of calling the police immediately, and I couldn't think of any reason why my brother would commit suicide. The police came to check for three days, and no suspicious fingerprints were found at the scene, and the neighbors did not hear any fights or anything like that, let alone any suspicious people, and the suicide note was also identified by a note-taking expert, all of which came from him, and all the evidence showed that my brother committed suicide. ”

Mao Xiankang paused slightly, then looked at me and said, "To be honest, I really didn't expect a response to that letter to London, so when you called me back, I thought maybe you could tell me that my brother would commit suicide." ”

"It's a pity that the result still seems to disappoint you." I smiled apologetically.

Mao Xiankang also hurriedly waved his hand at me, "No, no, in fact, I didn't have much hope, people are already dead, even if I know the cause of his death, what can I do?" He can't come back to life, right? ”

"Yes, if you are too concerned about him here, it will be difficult for his soul to ascend to heaven with peace of mind." I followed Mao Xiankang's words.

Mao Xiankang closed his eyes and nodded at me, and after a soft sigh, his face returned to his previous commercial smile, and the tone of his voice was obviously not as heavy as just now.

He said: "The whole workshop is probably like this, this is the key, you can do whatever you want with the things here, after all, he handed over the management of this workshop to you, and you have the final say." But you can't sell this house, it's mine. After speaking, Mao Xiankang put the key of the workshop on the table.

I hurriedly said: "Don't worry, I won't sell the things here casually, although your brother asked me to take care of these things, I really don't know him, and I am also a layman, it is better to leave it to his apprentice Li Xiang if I hand it over." ”

"A gentleman loves money and takes it in a good way, if you don't dislike it, I really want to make you a friend."

"Don't dare to dislike anything, I'm just an ordinary ordinary person, or an unemployed vagrant."

"You are so humble! By the way, this is my business card, if you want to enjoy your face, you can sit in the humble house tonight. As he spoke, Mao Xiankang handed me a business card with both hands.

I don't know much about social etiquette or anything, but I vaguely remember that if you want to read a business card when you get it, you have to read it out loud, so it's polite. So after taking the business card, I immediately read the name on it: "Chairman and General Manager of Hangzhou Shuntian Technology Co., Ltd....... Looks like you're doing a good job! ”

"It's just a small achievement, a small achievement." Mao Xiankang nodded modestly and smiled.

I haven't heard of the company Shuntian Technology, and it is estimated that it should not be a well-known large enterprise in the country, but I guess the scale of the company should not be too small - if it is just two people who partner to run a wholesale store of electronic consumables, and then he prints a business card of the chairman himself, then he is too "Ah Q".

However, after reading this business card, I also had a question, the chairman of a company should know a lot of people, and only ten people came when his younger brother died, which is a bit too much.

"Any questions?" Mao Xiankang seemed to see something in my expression.

I hurriedly said, "Oh, I was thinking that only so few people came to your brother's funeral. At first, I thought it was because your family had a narrow social circle and few friends, but now it doesn't seem like what I thought. ”

"Are you thinking about this, in fact, if I want to hold a big funeral, but I don't think it's meaningful, the funeral is my brother's, and the people who come to attend are people who know him well, and that's enough. As for the people I know in my business, I don't think it makes much sense to call them in and shed a few tears in a false way. Mao Xiankang said.

He has a point.

Maybe the rich people think differently from us ordinary people, if someone dies at my house and wants to hold a funeral, then I must notify everyone I know, so that I can take this opportunity to collect the gifts that I have gone out with before. Mao Xiankang estimated that he was not short of those few courtesy money, and he didn't want to call anyone who had nothing to do with his brother.

I've always hated the rich, but Mao Xiankang left a good impression on me, as he said before, I'm also interested in making him a friend.

Later, Mao Xiankang showed me a contract for the transfer of workshop management, and he asked me to sign this first, so that he could be regarded as fulfilling his brother's last wish according to the suicide note. As for whether I am willing to hand over the workshop to Li Xiang, that is a matter between me and Li Xiang, and he doesn't want to participate in it.

After a brief review of the contract, I signed my name, and then we each kept a copy, and the puppet workshop was officially under my management.

Because there are still some things to deal with in the company, Mao Xiankang also left first, and before leaving, he still invited me again, hoping that I could go to his house to sit and have a light meal in the evening, of course, Qiao Wei was also invited.

Qiao Wei and I didn't have any friends in Hangzhou, and we didn't have any places we wanted to visit, so I happily agreed.

Mao Xiankang looked very happy, and then left with a smile.

When Mao Xiankang left, Qiao Wei immediately pointed to the table and said to me: "This table is full of yin qi, and the yin qi in the front exhibition hall is also very heavy. ”

After hearing this, I quickly took out my vision glasses and put them on.

Sure enough, the entire studio was filled with a faint yin aura, and a large black fog gathered on the design table of Mao's instantaneous suicide.

"Mao's ghost lingers? Is he wronged? I asked.

"It's hard to say right now, if you have a little grasp, I'll come and summon the soul at night. However, it may not necessarily lead to anything, these puppets can also be said to be works of art, and all works of art will be poured into the soul of the author, just like paintings. ”

I've heard Qiao Wei talk about this, it seems that every famous painting will retain the state of the author when he was creating, I think Mao Xiansheng should be full of passion and joy when making these puppets, but unfortunately I can't see anything related to joy from these dark yin qi.