Yi Wan once watched a puppet show with Gu Ruchao.
The puppet show takes place in the ancient temple. It is a lively traditional cultural festival and a kind of ritual that attracts visitors. It is the twelfth lunar month, and the sky is covered with snow. Under the night sky, only the stage is bustling. The carefully carved puppets are wearing flowery clothes made of cloth, and the noise and laughter are hidden behind the clouds and mist of the night.
The dark heads blocked the view. Two young men were sitting on a high boulder, with a huge cliff behind them.
Gu Ruchao chose this place—he didn't like to squeeze into the crowd and always liked to be in a high place. Yi Wan didn't understand whether he wanted to overlook the whole situation or just liked excitement. He guessed that this was like the air wall of the game—the boundary of the world that could be explored was here. The air wall meant that it was not feasible, and the boulder that was only one foot away from the abyss was also the same.
The boundary of the game is an air wall, and the cliff is an air wall of the world—falling off the cliff means death. No protagonist can exit before the end of the script.
The puppets on the stage were singing. Yi Wan watched their every move carefully. Compared with Gu Ruchao who was bored and browsing a domestic slider phone, he was always very serious.
Trying to figure out the plot, studying the characters, being a boring audience.
"...Have you seen the training plan of P University's xx College?" Gu Ruchao said in Yi Wan's ear.
The audience exclaimed “Oh!” as they saw the heroine find the jade pendant that belonged to her childhood enemy.
“… Do you know who the prototype of “The Wolf of Wall Street” is? Do you know what he should do to escape legal sanctions?” Gu Ruchao said loudly again shortly afterwards.
The audience exclaimed “Ah or Oh” as they saw the hero discover the heroine’s true identity.
"... Do you know that if I fall from here, I might get a martial arts secret book?" Gu Ruchao held the boulder with both hands, stretched his body backwards and said, "It's written like this in the novel, like this-"
"I just want to know who killed the heroine's father in the secret room, and what method he used. Is it the same as I guessed?"
Yi Wan's voice was dry and cold, like the chill of spring. Gu Ruchao sat up straight, escaping the danger of falling. He said, "You are actually watching the drama seriously?"
“…” Yi Wan’s face showed “what else?”
"Otherwise, you can come here and take a selfie like everyone else." Gu Ruchao pointed at the family next to him and said, "Then post it on your Moments to show that you caught up with a great event."
"… "
Yi Wan ignored him. The two teenagers sat on the boulder and continued to watch the puppet show. Gu Ruchao also watched quietly with his chin in his hand. After two minutes, he said to Yi Wan: "Would you like what I said about the puppet show more?"
Yi Wan looked at him again.
"You probably won't be able to see the drama puzzle you want to watch, so why not chat with me?" He said with a smile.
Yi Wan: “I don’t believe it.”
"The show will last two hours. I saw their performance plan from my uncle. One hour, 15,000 yuan, and the temple's budget is only 30,000 yuan. It's 7:53 pm now, and they have seven minutes to finish the show."
As he spoke, he smiled playfully beside Yi Wan's slightly unhappy face: "Of course, they can also spend another five minutes to take their bow."
Yi Wan said: "I saw online that this drama is two and a half hours long."
Gu Ruchao said: "But they only paid for two hours."
"Don't talk to me during these seven minutes." Yi Wan said.
Gu Ruchao accepted his friend's displeasure.
They sat there. Seven minutes later, the puppet show ended with the hero accidentally killing the heroine. A resounding sound ended the life of the pied puppet. Her life story and ambition were buried in the audience's applause. When the lights faded, it was just a piece of delicate wood.
"I told you before that I would not reveal the secret." Gu Ruchao said.
"It just... died like that?" Yi Wan said
But why did it die
The story was not finished, the conspiracy was not revealed, and the heroine's lifelong dream and goal were destroyed in a tragic love. Yi Wan didn't understand why the audience cried so contentedly.
"For the puppets, the puppeteer who controls the threads is the master." Gu Ruchao looked at his frowning brows and chuckled, "The master told them to die, and they died. It's that simple."
Yi Wan: “…”
"But who is the real murderer?" he said.
"The murderer is not important. What is important is that the audience cried and they were very satisfied. At the end, they also promoted that everyone should come here to draw lots, get blessed with beautiful love, and carve a promise on the Three Lives Stone. The line for drawing lots was more than a hundred people, so the temple was also very satisfied."
"… "
"So the puppeteer is very powerful, isn't it? Whether it's a real puppeteer or a 'puppet master'." Gu Ruchao said with a smile, "He controls the puppets and also controls the emotions of the audience watching the puppets. So Yi Wan, don't watch the puppet show anymore, come and watch it with me-"
“What kind of elites is this training program cultivating, and should I choose it—to make me cooler?”
He smiled with white teeth, his eyes like snakes in the dark night. He opened his hands, and behind him was the wind of glory bowing to him.
Then…
Gu Ruochao: …
Where is Yi Wan
While Gu Ruchao was showing off, Yi Wan had already blended clumsily into the night - he climbed down from the boulder, wearing a down jacket without a trademark, and ran towards the backstage like a goral.
He thought there was a god backstage, and that god was the puppeteer. The puppeteer had absolute control and freedom on the stage, and decided the story in another time and space. The puppeteer would tell him the reasons for all the joys and sorrows, and the reasons for the ending - of course, this was far from being the deep reason for him to come here. Yi Wan knew he was looking for an answer, but he didn't even know the question.
Perhaps the puppeteer would know - he would certainly know the reason for his creation - Yi Wan thought so.
The curtain of night was swept away by the brilliant sunshine, and along with it were the memories - Yi Wan looked up and saw the sapphire sky.
There was no thread in the sky, only the azure blue written for their reunion. He crossed the gurgling stream, and not far away under the Sansheng tree, Bai Yueguang tiptoed and carefully threw a red silk strip with his wish written on it to the treetop.
The higher the red silk strip is thrown, the greater the possibility that the wish will be fulfilled. Huigong leaned close to Yi Wan's ear and asked, "What do you think he will throw?"
Yi Wan glanced at him.
"It depends on whose set it is." Huigong said with a smile, "If it is on the set of your young agent..."
Xiong Xiaohua sat next to Hong Lei, thinking about Yi Wan, and chatted with Hong Lei casually: "Sister Hong Lei, the movie "The Hidden" you starred in..."
Hong Lei: ?
Xiong Xiaohua: "… It's okay, it's okay."
Xiong Xiaohua was a little embarrassed, pretending to look at the scenery under Hong Lei's murderous eyes. But the phone in her arms vibrated anxiously.
This is the mobile phone that Xiong Xiaohua carries with her. After Jiang Bei's accident, Xiong Xiaohua gave up using her mobile phone to browse lofter and CP, and only used it for emergency contact. However, despite this, she still had a girlish heart and wrapped the phone in a sparkling crystal-studded phone case.
Xiong Xiaohua is such a person. She comes from a wealthy family and is beautiful. She grew up in a sweet environment and has never suffered. She entered the entertainment industry because she was a fan. All conspiracies seem to be far away from her.
She didn't have any memory of ever having suffered, except that she often had a crush on gays at first sight - in this world full of greasy men, clean and polite gays made straight women suffer.
Before she saw the text message, she spent 0.5 seconds to carefully think that she probably didn't evade 300 million in taxes...
Liu Chen
Then her face changed slightly, she straightened her back, pretended to be in the wind, and passed by Yi Wan and Hui Gong...
"I want to get rich and marry into a wealthy family." She heard Yi Wan's clear voice.
Xiong Xiaohua: …
"Is Yi Wan okay?" Liu Chen sent her a message anxiously.
Xiong Xiaohua: …
"It's okay, I still have dreams." Xiong Xiaohua replied.
Liu Chen:
"Oh, right." Xiong Xiaohua replied hastily, "And Huigong..."
—Really? Xie Ziyu
When typing these three words, Xiong Xiaohua was in a trance for a moment - this was very strange, logically, she shouldn't know Xie Ziyu. From the past to the present timeline. Just like...
How did Liu Chen get her cell phone number
…
"That's the plot with your young manager as the protagonist on the set, but it's too outdated - the red silk strip fell, Chu Shang saw it, and then he found that Bai Yueguang didn't have him in his heart." Huigong shook his head, "This is too old-fashioned."
"so what?"
Huigong smiled mysteriously.
"I arranged for someone to tell Zhang Jianhua at this time. Is there still a possibility for them to get back together?"
Zhang Jianhua is one of the countless people in the black dot in the distance, and his fate is the breeze blowing through the treetops. A bright red silk strip fell from the treetops and landed in the hands of Chu Shang, who had not yet finished writing a sentence.
"Ah, you..."
Bai Yueguang blushed because his secret was discovered. The gossipers laughed at the silk strips: "Live a long life, Chu Shang!"
"Ah, what a 'suitable and personalized' blessing!"
Indeed, there is no blessing more suitable for Chu Shang than this. Chu Shang then also took a deep look at Baiyue Light and wrote "Baiyue Light shines brightly" on the red silk.
"The moon reflects light." Yi Wan said.
No matter what he said, Chu Shang still threw the red ribbon to the treetop. But he failed several times and it kept falling down. The last time, he finally threw it to the highest position. Director Cheng in the distance gave him a close-up of his eyes, which were shining brightly.
"They are both really quite touching."
"No? No? No? Yi Wan's agent is still here..."
"Isn't it embarrassing to watch..."
Director Cheng turned around and saw Zhang Jianhua, who had an old-fashioned name and was standing obediently beside him with a notebook.
He also had a pair of black-framed glasses on his face.
He is the director of this complex play, and he is also the pitiful "troublemaker" of this complex play. The script has been finalized, and Zhang Jianhua is no longer needed here. But he still stays here, like a stubborn green plant.
"Look, he looks like a dog." Director Cheng suddenly remembered this sentence.
He then asked the flirtatious girl to sit next to him, but she didn't look at him. He was a little nervous, so he scratched his knees nonchalantly and said, "You like him so much."
"I like it." The latter said without even raising his head.
Director Cheng suddenly felt a little frustrated and jealous as a man - maybe because he had been single for too many years and had been a slut for too many years. So he coughed and said deliberately: "Then don't make trouble, remember we still have the penalty for breach of contract -"
"Who doesn't like money?" Zhang Jianhua asked without even looking up, "How much is our penalty?"
Director Cheng was stunned for a moment and reported a number.
"Oh... The penalty for breach of contract is? It's two-way, right?" Zhang Jianhua rubbed the bridge of his nose, "I have to compensate Director Cheng for breaking the contract, and Director Cheng also has to compensate my artist for breaking the contract?"
Director Cheng: “Yes? Yeah.”
Zhang Jianhua: "Oh... I remember the contract was drafted by me?"
Zhang Jianhua likes to do things by himself. Director Cheng doesn't quite understand why he is born to work hard. Seeing that the people next door are almost hugging each other, he sighed: "By the way, didn't you come back from studying abroad?"
Zhang Jianhua:
Director Cheng: "If your name is Leonardo Zhang, maybe the person standing there right now is you."
Zhang Jianhua: …
His eyes were fixed on a blurry photo on the screen. The photo was blurry, but the angle was just right. A blurry back figure contrasted with a back figure in the distance, dozens of meters away.
Gray Palace.
Thanks to Ziyu.
He pushed the frame with his fingers and resisted the urge to vomit.
Zhang Jianhua, exhausted both physically and mentally... stayed.
Hong Lei's necklace... shattered.
Chu Shang’s red silk strip was glowing at the highest point.
On the smooth Sansheng stone... you can easily carve your name.
The lovers in the underworld... walked towards the temple.
Even the broken bridge that was collapsed by rain had a stone slab that was big enough to step on.
Xie Ziyu walked beside Yi Wan. Everyone thought he was just gossiping and whispering—just like the excited actor, Hong Lei, and the slightly absent-minded Xiong Xiaohua.
Only Yi Wan knew that he was explaining the plot.
He accurately predicted every plot, every point, and every conflict, and his proficiency was shocking. What surprised Yi Wan the most was a sentence that Huigong suddenly blurted out.
"Little Bear has grown up."
Little bear
"Have you noticed that her eyes are a bit like yours?" Huigong said, "She's a very cute girl... In the current timeline, she doesn't know me yet, just like Liu Chen can't remember her... That's great."
He laughed, and that tone reminded Yi Wan of the strategy games that Gu Ruchao had played many years ago—some development games. He easily messed up his daughter's fate, and then saved the game and started over.
Just like the cold tone he used when he mentioned Xiong Xiaohua.
"Are you interested in her?" Yi Wan said.
"No." Huigong said, "Compared to her, I am more interested in your career choice - Yi Wan."
"-In my opinion, being an actor is the last career you would choose in this world."
Yi Wan saw the desolate stone platform. Many years ago, there was a grand performance here. Puppets and puppeteers, boys and boys, air walls and death, and a chase under the moonlight.
He suddenly felt that he couldn't bear it anymore.
He experimented too much, but did too little with conviction. There are all kinds of people in the world, and everyone should have his own story. He heard himself say, "What do you think I should do?"
"A philosopher, a physicist, or an algorithm researcher. Or, a programmer obsessed with philosophy." Huigong said, "You like to summarize things and conduct experiments, but you should never be obsessed with acting. And actors—"
He pointed at the two people who walked into the fortune-telling hall and said, "They are being manipulated by the director and the script."
He snapped his fingers loudly: "Auspicious!"
There was a subtle change in the air, which no one noticed, except Yi Wan. He heard Hui Gong say, "Let me guess why you entered the entertainment industry—did you recognize me?"
Yi Wan avoided the question and said, "Aren't actors also puppeteers? We are the mouths of the characters. I know an actor..."
"Your teammate?" Huigong sneered, "I have seen him and worked with him. A little weakness is enough to knock him down. You can ask him-"
"Why did he quit the film industry back then?"
The venomous snake spit out its tongue again. He was sure that the lot was a good one, and he was also sure that Yi Wan would surrender as he was sure.
In fact, there is no need to go to such great lengths. It's just that venomous snakes are lonely. Humans are, after all, vain, warm-blooded animals. Venomous snakes will bite to death the biologists who observe them, but humans need a witness.
Although there were enough people in the past who were able to witness his glory.
Therefore, everyone around Yi Wan must be worthless.
"Oh, your other teammate is an unqualified depressive. God gave him a chance, but he only wanted to destroy himself. There is another teammate, what is he without a wealthy club? There are talented people everywhere in the world, but people with stories are precious. And that Ding..."
Huigong didn't even comment on him, but just laughed strangely. Ding Biehan, who was far away at AT, sneezed and fell into the cold.
His voice reminded Yi Wan of fallen leaves on the city wall, misty, cold, and aggressive. Yi Wan walked step by step until he sat on the big rock with the best view.
The large stone gave him a clear view of the scene inside the temple. He knew Huigong would sit down with him.
But this feeling is really strange. The big rock that was so high that I had to use all four limbs to climb down when I was a child has become so small now. Yi Wan knows that it is not the stone platform that has changed, but the reference system, just like he knows -
There will also be places in the Gray Palace that have not changed.
But where is the part where he hasn't changed
Why did he come to him and go to so much trouble to say so many meaningless words to show off his "power"? What was the reason
Yes? Because only Yi Wan... understands what this power is
The thing that could have been grasped was as unclear as a thread, and Yi Wan was unable to detect it. Or even if he detected it, Yi Wan would not change.
He just looked at the desolate ancient temple in silence, and at the camera and Zhang Jianhua moving away from him.
"You're right." Yi Wan suddenly said, "People can acknowledge the existence of the three laws of mechanics, Kepler's three laws, and the three laws of thermodynamics - they are inseparable and part of this world."
"- Just like the 'method' you discovered that belongs to this world, it is also a part of this world. Or, it is the theory of world control." Yi Wan said, "So why can't people admit the existence of this science?"
“Why reject it?”
“Why deny it?”
Huigong smiled. He heard Yi Wan say, "Do you remember that there was a puppet show here?"
“Puppet show…”
In Huigong's memory, that performance was his newly discovered talent development program. He didn't know what this memory meant to Yi Wan. Yi Wan seemed to have finally accepted the reality and said to himself, "I went backstage."
I went to see the puppet god backstage. But the backstage was a mess.
They complained about the low performance fee, and their props and luggage were thrown all over the floor. There were no shining gods backstage, only artists being pushed around. The puppeteer who controlled the heroine's puppet was a man, who seemed like a god on the stage, but was scolded by the boss lady because he broke the string that shouldn't have been broken.
"That's 20 yuan!" said the proprietress.
After the lady boss left, the man was furious. I stopped the volcano, and all the mysteries turned into one sentence:
"But who is the real murderer? Who is it?"
Murderer? There is no murderer. We don't give a damn about who the murderer is.
"What is the method of committing the crime?"
Technique? We didn't think about it. Creation is like this, how good it is, the hero and the heroine love, hate, bitterness, love, deep affection, enough excitement, enough surprises, to mobilize emotions and stimulate nerves. Then the plot ends. No one needs to know the story behind it. We just need a little performance.
So.
So.
"What is the training program?"
…What the fuck is a training program
"Are you the boss's puppet too?"
… ha
... Why don't you have any feelings about the story you directed? Or... You don't want to explain anything clearly
Yi Wan has a strange ability. He can find connections and conclusions in completely unrelated things. At that moment, he felt fear for the world for the first time.
Extremely intense fear.
This fear may have been deeply rooted, buried in his heart. It was like a person realizing that he was looking up at the sky. From the moment he met the devilish Gu Ruchao, from the moment he saw the billboard fall, he should have had this fear.
The man has no feelings for his puppet show. The Heavenly Dao has no feelings for the recurring plot. And what about other living beings? Aren't they all controlled, whether they have visible threads or not? He saw this world, and at the same time, colorful puppets and excellent sheep were all walking to the same set. He thought he was being educated, but he was just a puppet - whether Gu Ruchao existed or not, whether the Heavenly Dao existed or not. Is escaping from the Heavenly Dao freedom? Is escaping from the plot freedom
All controls exist and are part of this world. The world has already been written. In this case...
Yi Wan suddenly felt that if everything was already destined, he could at least try one last thing.
He reached out and held Huimiya's shoulders.
He felt his fingers tremble a little, but he knew that this was not his set. A little fear, a little anger, nothing important.
The Gray Palace verified everything he wanted to know. This is how the world works. The chaotic heaven may not notice him, but he will always be a member that the Gray Palace wants to cultivate. In this case...
"Gu Ruchao." He said
It seemed that no one remembered this strange name, even Huigong himself was stunned for a moment when he heard it - Yi Wanyu could see it.
When he blurted out the name in his own voice, ecstasy flashed in Huimiya's eyes.
At this moment he thought of Yu Rongshi again. He felt that his behavior was really a little crazy.
"The last piece of evidence..." he was about to say.
But he was interrupted by the sound of grass on the other side.
"Shit! What a bad sign!"
"Bad sign!!!"
"Another bad sign!!!"
…
"No sign!!"
“No sign!!”