Li Zijin spread out his palm, and a snowflake fell from his palm, slowly melting.

He helped the old man in front of him up, and said noncommittally: "Mr. Wu, I saw her once, just by the Wuding River, in an unknown cave. But when the bonfire went out, she disappeared with the firelight, and I tried to rekindle the bonfire, but in vain. You have been hanging for so many years with a breath of resentment, I think, the silk puppet back then, maybe the same, relying on a trace of obsession, can see me many years later, and want me to tell the artist Wu Gui's words. I don't think she ever blamed you. ”

At this moment, Wu Gui no longer denies his identity as an artist. To deny this identity is to deny her together.

The skinny old man choked up and said, "I'm Wu Gui······ Entertainer Wu Gui ······"

The old man closed his eyes and remembered the appearance of the silk puppet.

Li Zijin smiled, although the young man asked many times before, the old man did not admit that he was the artist Wu Gui.

He asked the old man so many times. And the girl in red who has been waiting for so many years in the cave of Wuding River has been by his side since the old man was still a young man, until he grew old. Only her face has not changed, and her original intention has not changed.

In that case, Mr. Wu will listen to her in person. ”

The long river of time, which was originally an ancient well without waves and extremely calm, suddenly had a trace of ripples, rippling and slightly undulating.

Li Zijin stabbed out with a sword, picking up a drop of time from the long river of time in front of the two of them.

A drop of water hovered in front of the artist Wu Gui, like a picture scroll.

Just as Li Zijin witnessed the story about the disciples of the Wuding Sect and Chen Siyuan from Xie Yufeng's empathy for the first time, Wu Gui, a hawker at this moment, wants to witness the story about himself from the empathy of the young man.

Regrets, no regrets.

————

It was night, a young man Lang cave to hide from the rain.

The boy roasted a rabbit leg and ate it with relish.

It was raining and a little cold, so the boy leaned into the cave.

He finished nibbling on one rabbit leg and picked up the other.

Suddenly, a girl appeared out of thin air at the door of the cave, wearing a red robe, holding a colorful crown, and her face was beautiful, but her face was a little pale.

She whispered, "Can I come in?"

The boy handed her a rabbit leg, and the girl in red politely refused, in fact, it was not that she didn't want to eat it, but she couldn't eat it, because her existence itself was a kind of irregularity. She is an unrecognized spirit of the world, not even substantial, a wisp of ······ It's just a lonely ghost.

The girl in red knelt on the ground, looked at the bonfire, and asked the boy if he wanted to hear a story.

Naturally, he wanted to hear it, and of course she wanted to talk about it.

So she hugged the colorful crown in her hand tighter, and said with a smile that she had accompanied a young man, how many mountains and rivers she had walked, how many cities, how many countryside, and how many puppet shows she had acted.

She watched teenagers become young, middle-aged, and old. Accompany him through countless winds, frosts, rain and snow.

The first time we met, it was on a stormy night.

A young man named Wu Gui gently put down the tools in his hand, and sawdust was everywhere. Next to it is a delicate and small wooden table, and there is only one candle in the room, reflecting the young man's delicate face.

The young man's face was full of joy, and he gently blew away the sawdust from the "eyes" of the puppet puppet that he had carved with his own hands, and he was very happy, he had just carved the eyes for her.

So, the silk puppet in the young man's hand opened his eyes.

In fact, at this time, she didn't know what joy was, a word that she slowly understood after a long, long time.

At the beginning, the young man named Wu Gui was clumsy, pulling the silk thread with one hand, and learning an awkward joke on the other hand, doing one thing alone, Wu Gui could still cope with it, but if he wanted the young man to carry out these two steps at the same time, he would be a little powerless and always fail.

Over and over. He was defeated and defeated. Finally, it took a whole year to "perform" a puppet show in its entirety, and the only audience was himself.

In fact, there is also a silk puppet in his hand.

He danced happily and exclaimed, waking up his sleeping father, the door of the house was gently pushed open, Wu Gui hurriedly put his hand behind his back, and held the silk puppet in his hand, in the face of his father's inquiry, he only said that he had a nightmare.

Father and mother asked Wu Gui to go to bed quickly, and tomorrow I will go to learn how to strike iron from the master. In order to facilitate this matter for him, his father and mother gave the master a lot of gifts, so that the master could accept Wu Gui, an apprentice who had no talent for striking iron.

The young man doesn't like to strike iron, he likes puppet shows, from the first time he saw the puppet show in the township, he liked it, and he made up his mind to learn puppet show by himself, and he will also learn from the puppet show in the future.

But he didn't dare to tell his father. Wu Gui smiled and nodded in agreement, saying that early in the morning, he would go to the iron shop in the village and learn to make iron from the master.

After Wu Gui's father and mother left, he quietly took out the silk puppet and said slightly apologetically: "I'm sorry, it seems that I can't take you to play a puppet show recently." ”

The lights in the room were faint, and the silk puppet in Wu Gui's hand was lifelike, and under the reflection of the candle flame, it was as if he blinked, and the young man only felt that he was dazzled, and smirked, feeling that he was really stunned.

She wanted to say that it didn't matter, but she tried her best, but she couldn't open her mouth or make a sound.

It's a pity that she's just a puppet.

She was carefully hidden by Wu Gui, hidden under the box, covered up with a lot of things, pressed to the bottom of the box, and hid for a long, long time, so long that when Wu Gui took her out again, he was already a young man.

The teenage years are gone, and Wu Gui has a lot of calluses on her hands, which she can feel.

From this moment on, she felt a little sorry for Wu Gui. It must be tiring to be a blacksmith's apprentice, isn't it? She seemed to ask the young man, but unfortunately she still couldn't speak.

Wu Gui, who is no longer young, is holding a silk puppet in his hand that he hasn't seen for a long time, he looked at her and smiled: "I messed up, but it's okay, I can take you out to play a puppet show in the future, hehe." ”

Wu Gui smirked. The ghost made a mistake, and felt that the silk puppet in his hand was also laughing, and he once again felt that he was stunned.

The first time he took her to perform a puppet show was in the village, a small pocket stage, under which sat a few children, young Wu Gui, holding the silk thread in one hand, manipulating the gestures and moves of the puppet.

Wu Gui sang the play, the drama was still a little awkward, fortunately, he had practiced for a long time, this play is to tell the story of a bride, so he made a pocket red dress for the silk puppet in advance, looking quite festive, there is a taste of a big wedding, but his craftsmanship is not good enough, he can't make a wedding dress, so he can only let her wear a red dress, there are no details, except for the color festive point, it is not worth mentioning.

The young man Wu Gui sang joy, anger and sorrow.

The string-pulling puppet plays a twist and turn.

After the stage, he smirked.

On the stage, she danced like flying.

Under the stage, a few children watched it with relish, and at the end of the song, they asked Wu Gui to give them the puppet to play with. Of course the young man Wu Gui didn't do it, the silk puppet was his treasure, how could he let others get involved?

A few children laughed and scolded and said that they would not come to watch the puppet show after they were not allowed to play.

Wu Gui drove them away, saying that if they didn't look at it, they wouldn't look at it.

After the play, he suddenly felt that the silk puppet in his hand was wearing a red dress, which was very beautiful, and decided not to change her into other clothes in the future.

She felt a little sorry because she couldn't see it. In fact, she also wanted to see what she looked like in the red dress he made with his own hands?

Later, the young man Wu Gui often performed puppet shows in the village, and more and more people watched them, and the little guys who shouted that they would never come to see the puppet show again were not absent once.

It's just that although there are many people who watch the play, there are very few rewards, and often after a few plays, there are still few children in the pocket.

He is a little lonely, and often holds the silk puppet in his hand in a daze at night.

His father and mother often talked to him, saying that he should go out to find a job, but it would not be possible to act like this puppet show, not to mention marrying a daughter-in-law and supporting his family in the future, and now it is difficult to even support himself.

This time, Wu Gui did not press her to the bottom of the box, but made a ruthless decision.

He took the silk puppet to travel far away from his hometown, and left all the meager savings he had accumulated as an apprentice in the blacksmith shop for many years to his parents, without a single copper plate, and traveled away from home.

Wu Gui, a young man, felt that he should also follow the example of the old man who came to the village to perform a puppet show, travel the mountains and rivers, and change places to perform puppet shows, so that he could make a profit, otherwise he would be able to perform in one place all the time, and everyone would not be rewarded if they were tired of watching it.

At this time, Wu Gui seemed to have become an artist.

Artist Wu Gui has traveled a lot of places, but the imaginary life of selling art is still very different from reality.

Sometimes, some spectators would give a lot of money with a generous hand, and the most common one was when a noble son happened to pass by and threw a gold ingot from the carriage window. That time, he took the silk puppet to the restaurant and ordered two side dishes for himself, and said to her the heartfelt words that he only once in his life.

And sometimes, Wu Gui will act for several days, and he can't even earn a copper plate, he often has a full meal and a hungry meal, and he doesn't have a meal after eating.

One night, the young entertainer Wu Gui met the old entertainer who had gone to his hometown to perform a puppet show many years ago in a ruined temple.

The old man's body and bones were no longer as tough as they used to be, and he curled up in the ruined temple and talked a lot with Wu Gui.

At this time, Wu Gui finally knew that the old artist was not as good as he imagined back then, but he was just beautiful on the surface, but he was actually as poor as himself behind his back, and he was so shy that he didn't even have a place to live, so he could only spend the night in a broken temple.

Both of them had silk puppets on their bodies, and they looked at each other and smiled bitterly.

At this time, in addition to joy, she learned a new word, sadness.