Shen Manyi felt a touch of white in front of her eyes. It was a very beautiful hand, with clean white cotton threads wrapped around her fingers and swept over the tip of her nose lightly.
That hand didn't directly cover her face, didn't touch her skin, but was in front of her eyes a few millimeters away, hanging steadily without shaking at all.
She remembered that Mr. Li, who taught, said that this is called Duanfang and Measure.
They always didn't understand before, the sisters and sisters chased and played around, pulling their braids and skirts, like a group of little lunatics. Every time, Mr. Li would take out these two words for a long time, and finally shook his head and said, "Forget it, you will understand when you are a few years older."
It's a pity she's always been this big and never grows.
Shen Manyi blinked and suddenly said, "Your thread has a smell, it smells good."
The person behind him didn't mean to coax the child, and his tone was not enthusiastic, so he replied, "What."
Even questions are very similar to declarative sentences, as if they are not answered at will.
The little girl thought about it seriously: "The taste of my home."
The person behind him said silently for a few seconds, "You got it."
Little girl: "..."
She didn't really mean that, but she was too young to express it. She wasn't even sure if the smell came from the thread or the hands.
She sniffed a few more times, but couldn't smell it. In retrospect, it was like a cold winter wind blowing through the back garden.
She used to like to play there. Uncle Qi had a swing there, with goose-yellow flowers like butterflies on both sides and rabbit ears. That's how Mama Cai's bow came from.
But she hadn't seen that back garden for a long time.
She wandered in this corridor every night, and all she saw was always black. Dark doors, dark cabinets, dark shadows... Everyone who saw her cried and stayed away from her, as if she was something dirty.
"I wasn't dirty before." Shen Manyi muttered softly.
As soon as she lowered her head, her forehead touched Wen Shi's palm. Children's foreheads are always round, like some kind of small animal. But Shen Manyi's is a little strange, because the flesh on her face is collapsed.
He didn't take his hand away when he smelled it, and let her touch it.
When he saw Xie Wen approaching, he bent down and handed the bow to Shen Manyi, saying, "No one said you were dirty."
After Xie Wen finished speaking, he raised his eyes and said in a low voice with a volume that can only be heard when he was listening: "Don't move yet."
Then he turned and glanced at the corner where the crowd gathered, pointing to the shabby sofa.
Lao Mao immediately understood what his boss meant, went to the bed and pulled a clean quilt, wrapping the body that rolled out of the sofa.
Others were still in shock.
They mechanically looked at Wen Shi and Shen Manyi, Xie Wen and Lao Mao, and mechanically realized what Lao Mao was going to do, and then mechanically walked over to help.
Dadong's mouth is open, his face is wooden. He squatted down, helped Lao Mao wrap the rotten body tightly, and moved it to the big bed.
It’s like that little girl named Shen Manyi ran into her parents’ room one afternoon in 1913. After playing for a while, she felt sleepy, then climbed into the big bed and fell asleep with the quilt rolled up.
It wasn't until they finished everything that Wen Shi retracted his hand, and Xie Wen also stood up.
Shen Manyi grabbed the bow, as if she saw the back garden in late spring and early summer again.
There is an old-fashioned pin behind the bow, rusted. She rubbed her rusted fingers behind her back, pinned the bow to the dress seriously, and fiddled with the half-draped edge of the bow like a bunny's ears.
The bloodstains running on the walls gradually faded, like water marks, smeared into the walls, and disappeared when they dried. The black mist that filled the whole room also flowed again, the edge thinned and faded, and the strands circled her, no longer as sharp as a knife.
When the black mist pulled back, it swept across Dadong's face.
He had just lowered the curtain, covering the roll of quilt on the bed. Being swayed by the black mist, he touched his face and suddenly froze in place.
What happened just now? ?
He quickly rewinded the tape in his mind—starting from Shen Manyi getting the bow, the ghost turning into a cat, and going back all the way, chasing the moment when the black fog spreads wildly.
The image of white cotton threads crisscrossing the entire room was really shocking, even if he just thought about it, he subconsciously held his breath.
He screened for a while, and finally came to his senses.
Pulling the line, can you lift the house like this, is it strong
big.
Can you manage so many lines, so many directions at the same time, with strong control skills
powerful.
The roots of the thread are distinct, and when it is nailed into the wall, the dust splashes, and it seems that it is not a problem to cut the iron and break the gold. Can such a spiritual god be ranked among the puppet masters
Can, and is a master generation.
Who is the one who did these things
The eldest apprentice of the Shen family.
my day.
This was the first sentence that popped into Dadong's mind.
He turned his head so violently that there was a click in his neck, and the old hair next to him was stunned for a moment.
"What are you doing? Are you haunted?" Seeing that his eyes were straight, Lao Mao stared at Wen Shi's direction without turning. That posture was more frightening than a ghost.
Dadong is already numb. I don't know if it's too trance or unbelievable. Anyway, his voice is very soft and his anger is very empty: "I want to ask you something."
Lao Mao has a less enthusiastic temperament, which is completely different from Da Zhao and Xiao Zhao. He glanced at Dadong and said, "What's the matter?"
Dadong said quietly, "You know that eldest apprentice of the Shen family, right?"
Lao Mao: "Who?"
He was stunned for a moment before realizing that the eldest disciple of the Shen family was referring to Wen Shi.
Lao Mao glanced at Dadong silently, thinking that the people today are really brave, pointing to his ancestors to recognize his apprentices. You dare to point it out, do the Shen family dare to recognize it
Lao Mao scratched his face, and said, "I know."
Dadong is still faint: "Have you seen him use puppet art before?"
Lao Mao: "I have seen it."
I've seen big since I was a kid.
Dadong said in a rather hazy tone: "I just met for the first time, and now I'm a little overwhelmed."
Lao Mao: "?"
Dadong: "There is a saying that the authorities are obsessed. I'm afraid my judgment is wrong."
Lao Mao: "??"
Lao Mao couldn't help it: "You have something to say."
Dadong: "Okay, then let me ask you, from the perspective of your bystander, how does his puppet technique compare to mine?"
Lao Mao: "… "
Who will listen to this.
Old Mao's eyes were round and black, and he blinked with a deep sense of doubt. He squinted at Dadong and said, "Are you so clueless?"
Dadong: "I have it, so I'm a bit confused right now."
Don't say he was ignorant, he almost went crazy when he recalled how he had just entered the cage.
He was actually in front of someone who could be his master, and he immediately said with a special momentum, "You go, I'll come".
He sprayed other people's threads and tangled them in a mess, and tried to teach them the most basic puppet skills and rules.
If he was given a rope now, he could hang himself here, and he would be embarrassed anyway. But before he died, he remembered something else—
When he pointed to Wen, he said in a tone of doubt about life: "He is better than me in this puppet art, right? At this level, he can't get on the famous chart? Who is this mocking?!"
Dadong finally spit out his doubts, but accidentally got a little excited and his voice was a little loud.
So the whole room was silent for a moment, and only his words "who are you mocking?" echoed in the room.
Zhou Xu, Xia Qiao, and the unknown Sun Siqi all looked at him, Xie Wen and Wen Shi also raised their eyes, and even Shen Manyi shifted his attention from the bow and blinked to look over.
After a few seconds, Zhou Xu was the first to speak out and said, "Damn, finally someone is as confused as me. I've been thinking about this since I was released last time, and I haven't slept all night!"
When he pointed to Wen, he said to Dadong in a complaining tone: "Last time, he released a puppet on the horse and put a puppet out, especially—"
Zhou Xu froze for a moment, then looked back at Wen Shi, and changed his words: "A little... It's okay."
It is better to kill him if you let this middle-of-the-road second disease compliment people face to face.
"Anyway, I can't figure out why I can't reach the famous tree at this level." Zhou Xu said.
He recalled the conclusion that Zhang Lan and Zhang Yalin had made to Wen Shi before, saying that the big apprentice of the Shen family should be unstable, with occasional outbreaks, and the overall level was not up to the mark.
but…
If you enter a cage and explode once, it is also called unstable strength. Then he also wanted such unstable strength.
When Dadong saw that Zhou Xu was on the same front as himself, he immediately got motivated and asked straight to the point: "So why didn't you post the picture???"
It would be fine if he was the only one, but Xie Xie asked this bastard if it was a big deal to watch the fun, he raised his eyebrows, followed him, and asked in Dadong's tone, "Yeah, why didn't you post the picture? ?"
When smelling: "… "
You are fucking toxic.
Wen Shi is not a person who is good at lying, so whether the words can be fulfilled is basically a matter of fate. The process is basically like this - make excuses with a sullen face, find more and more holes, give up struggling, believe it or not.
If you are a person who knows him, it is actually very interesting to watch him go through this process. However, almost no one who knew him dared to tease him.
The bastard Xie Wen followed and coaxed for a while, and laughed for some reason. After laughing, he turned his head and asked Dadong: "Speaking of who made the famous tree map?"
Dadong was directly questioned.
It was Zhou Xu, a theoretical talent, who answered for him, "My family."
"Who?" Dadong was still confused.
Zhou Xu rolled his eyes and said unhappily, "Zhang."
Dadong responded with two "oh oh" sounds.
This is not entirely true.
In fact, the name tree can be traced back to the generation of apprentices who are not even in the dust. The earliest picture was decided by everyone, and one person wrote it. The one who wrote it was Bu Ning, who specialized in hexagram formation.
The original intention of drawing this famous tree map is not to rank, nor to show that a certain family is huge and prominent. It's just because Bu Ning and the others are going to accept apprentices. They are afraid that there will be too many branches and branches in the future, and they may not be able to sort out after a few generations, so there is such a picture to show the inheritance.
There were also rankings back then, but they weren't as precise and sensitive as they are today, with only an approximate range. Bu Ning did this not to arouse competition, but to think about the descendants of later generations. If anyone accidentally encounters a big cage that he can't understand, he can find someone who can help Yu Shang's peer judges according to the name tree map.
Later, when the Zhang family sat down, considering that there were more and more people on the famous tree map and the branches became more and more complex, in order to better distinguish it, I made some repairs on the basis of Bu Ning's map.
In fact, they can't add or subtract things, they can only make the ranking more detailed. To put it bluntly, it is to make this picture more flexible and sensitive.
This story has been passed on, and in some people, it has become a "picture made by Zhang's family".
Zhou Xu actually listened to Zhang Yalin's story, but in order to save trouble, he always skipped his ancestors and talked directly about the Zhang family.
"Yes, I almost forgot, it's the Zhang family." Dadong didn't want to appear ignorant, so he added quickly.
However, Xie Wen nodded and said, "Then why can't there be such a thing as a famous tree map? You ask Zhang's family to go and ask him what he does. He is not a painter."
Dadong was stunned, but he couldn't find a reason to refute.
Yes, as we all know, no one can forcibly add their own name to that picture, unless you Bu Ning is reborn.
Dadong felt that he had asked a stupid question, and looking at the silence of the eldest disciple of the Shen family, he probably had nothing to do.
"Then—" Dadong waved his hand embarrassingly, "then treat me as if I didn't say it, as if I didn't say it."
However, this situation is very rare, and he plans to go back and ask his master, as well as Aunt Zhang. Famous tree map is such a big bug, no one cares about it? How scary.
Such an episode starts with an embarrassing Dadong and ends with an embarrassing Dadong.
With the help of Xie Wen's rare words, he succumbed to the enemy without fighting. He didn't even have to think of lame excuses, so he exposed the topic of the famous tree.
He looked back and asked Shen Manyi a serious matter: "Is your family so big?"
Shen Manyi shook her head: "My house is very big, with two floors, a front yard and a back garden."
Wen Shi: "Is this the second floor?"
Shen Manyi: "Well."
Wen Shi: "How do I go to other places?"
Shen Manyi said subconsciously, "Take the stairs."
After speaking, she was stunned for a moment, then shook her head and said, "Oh, I can't go up the stairs."
She was right. When I first entered the cage and smelled it, I saw that the second floor of the Shen family was shaped like a zigzag, with rooms outside and stairs inside. But they walked around this corridor several times, but they never saw the entrance of the stairs.
No matter which side of the corridor they went to, they saw the same staircase shape, with the entrance always behind their left-hand corner.
The other end of the stairs is forever submerged in darkness, and the scene downstairs cannot be seen.
Normally, this scenario would only mean one thing—the cage was so big, it only contained the second floor, so there was no entrance to the first floor.
But this time is obviously special. After all, they turned around on the second floor, but they never saw the real cage owner. It can only show that there are other areas, but they have not found a way to enter.
"Is there another way?" Wen Shi asked.
Shen Manyi lowered her head and said, "I don't know."
"Look for it again." Xie asked.
Shen Manyi grabbed the bow and stood for a while, then suddenly whispered, "Can I follow you?"
What? ?
Zhou Xu and the others looked at her suddenly.
The little girl hesitated for a moment, and looked up at Wen Shi and Xie Wen, perhaps thinking of them as people she could rely on. She explained earnestly: "There used to be a lot of people in the family and it was very lively. Then they disappeared, so I could only find someone else to play with, but they didn't take me and ran away when they saw me."
Only by pretending to be someone else can she be mixed in with many people and someone will be willing to talk to her.
"I don't want to be alone, I'm afraid." Shen Manyi said aggrieved.
Xia Qiao and the others were all drunk, thinking that we are more afraid, little sister.
Wen Shi had never brought a kid with him in his life, and it was the first time that he heard this kind of request from a kid, and he was a little stunned.
Xie Wen was amused by his expression, lowered his eyes and asked Shen Manyi: "Alright, then do you still play real and fake brides?"
Shen Manyi flattened her mouth, shook her head and said, "I'm not playing anymore."
She is honest, well-behaved, and even a bit pitiful with her head down, like an obedient child, completely different from her previous appearance of resentment.
Dadong has seen it.
Wen Shi did not object to Xie Wen's approach, but asked Shen Manyi: "Then there is no one you touched on the second floor now?"
Shen Manyi nodded again honestly: "No more."
"Okay." Wen Shi nodded and said to Dadong, "Ask where your companion is."
Dadong: "Companion?"
He was stunned for a moment, and finally remembered the mouse. The last time they talked was when Shen Manyi was in it. Because it's hard to tell the truth from the fake, he never dared to get in touch with the other party, he always felt a little weird.
Now that Shen Manyi doesn't make trouble, at least he can be sure that there will be no more problems with the mouse on the other end of the walkie-talkie, and there will be no burden to contact him.
Besides, the other party has indeed been silent for a while. Could it be that he is not in this building
Dadong felt a little guilty, and went over to get Sun Siqi's walkie-talkie. He pressed the button and said to the walkie-talkie, "Rat mouse, I'm Dadong. What about you? There's been no movement for a long time."
He spoke quickly, and released the button when he finished speaking.
In the next second, a zizi electric current suddenly sounded in the house. The sound was a bit harsh, and it was very clear when no one was talking.
Then, Dadong's voice sounded in the bedroom with the sound of electricity: "Rat mouse, I'm Dadong. What about you? There's been no movement for a long time."
At that moment, the bedroom was dead silent.
Dadong was at a loss for a moment, and goosebumps sprang up behind his back, leading directly to Tianling Gai. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw a clothes hanger covered with a white cloth.
He just remembered that when he first entered the door, Zhou Xu was taken aback by this hanger, thinking it was a person.
For a moment, everyone was looking there, but no one moved.
Xia Qiao and the others may also remember Zhou Xu's words, and their faces turned pale.
Dadong stared at his eyes and swallowed his saliva. He grabbed the walkie-talkie again, squeezed the button and said, "Rat, where are you..."
The hanger sounded his voice again, repeating: "Rat, where are you."
"Take off the white cloth." Xie Wen said in a low voice.
Wen Shi had already walked over and pulled off the white hood.
I saw a man standing on the base of the hanger, looking at the clothes, it should be a mouse. It's just that he lowered his head, soft, as if he had no bones.
But when he smelled it soon, he realized that it wasn't like it, he just had no bones - the man in front of him was not standing on a clothes hanger. If you look closely, he was actually hanging on it, with clothes braces in his shoulders, and his toes touching it. base.
When Dadong rushed over, he happened to see Wen Shi lift up the hanging face, only a layer of empty skin.
Dadong was sitting on the ground.
"Fake." Wen Shi said.
Dadong didn't recover immediately, he didn't know whether it was out of comfort or telling the truth.
He sat on the ground for several seconds before finally recovering from the blank state of his mind, and saw the birthmark on the left ear of the man's skin.
Then Dadong collapsed and whispered, "Fuck, you scared me to death."
The rat's birthmark is on the right ear.
But anyway, it's really scary for a person to hang here like this. The crowd took courage, put the thing down in a hurry, and accidentally swept the curtain in the corner.
Xie Wen's eyes were sharp, and he saw a small ball of paper stuck in the crevice by the wall. Judging by the color, it looked a bit like the inner pages of a diary. He picked it up, swept the ashes, unfolded the page, glanced at it, and handed it to Wen Shi.
See it says:
"Rain on May 26, 1913
It has been raining all the time recently, the house is too humid, and things are easy to rot. Shen Manyi couldn't hide it, and Mr. Li found it.
Hey, he's out of luck. "
What do you call his bad luck
He frowned when he smelled, suddenly feeling that someone was looking at him in front of him.
But he is facing the window of the room, so there is no way that something is hanging from the window on the second floor to look at him
He looked up suddenly, and there was a haze of mist on the windowpane at night. Reflecting in the room, there are vague figures.
Wen Shi stared at it for a while, then raised his hand and opened the window.
Outside the window is still thick black, and the sound of insects can be vaguely heard, like a remote deserted village. He remembered something and leaned out.
…
Xia Qiao was enduring the fear of being a coolie when he was suddenly patted from behind.
He was startled and exclaimed: "Who is it?"
I saw Zhou Xu pointed somewhere and asked, "What is your brother doing?"
Xia Qiao looked in the direction he pointed, and saw his brother jumped out of the window.
jumped out...