Ping'an Seventeen Alley is not far from the hotel. Shen Xing specially chose this area near the puppet market when he booked the hotel.
Said it is an alley, in fact, this alley is very spacious, just like the old street in the ancient town, the surrounding streets on both sides are dazzling, and there are all kinds of goods related to puppets.
There are also craftsmen who make puppets on the spot in the shop, and sell them one by one. There is a feeling of speculation and selling.
In fact, this is the same as Shen Xing's production of wood carvings in a woodcarving shop. Some customers who watch the production process will probably pay for one or two on the spot because of the rising interest.
Before leaving the hotel, Shen Xing activated the face-changing skill, and a face had become unfamiliar and ordinary. As before, he had never seen this face himself.
I went a little earlier, and some shops have not yet opened. Because the whole street is designed in Antique Town, there are also hawkers carrying poles.
These vendors not only sell small dolls, but also sell them for breakfast.
Shen Xing got up early and hadn't eaten anything. When he saw a hawker picking up tofu brains, he immediately stopped him and ordered a bowl.
The peddler put down the pole and opened the wooden barrel with a lid at one end. This wooden barrel has an exquisite design. Half of the lid is opened to scoop out the tofu that has a thermal insulation effect, and the other half is opened, but it is a thin drawer-like one. Layer, there are small bottles of various condiments, which can be eaten salty or sweet.
"Sir, do you eat spicy, salty, or sweet?" The peddler asked kindly while operating with his hands and feet.
"Sweet." Shen Xing said.
So early in the morning, there was nothing in his stomach, so he didn't want to eat spicy food to ruin his stomach.
"Would you like white sugar, brown sugar or honey?" the hawker asked again.
Shen Xing felt a little curious, but he didn't expect this guy's condiments to be really rich.
"brown sugar."
"With or without sesame seeds?"
"plus."
The hawker's white sugar is granulated sugar, the brown sugar has been blended into a thick brown sugar water, and the purity of the honey seems to be higher.
Soon a bowl of steaming tofu brain filled with the aroma of brown sugar and sesame was handed to Shen Xing's hand.
The pure white tofu brain trembled slightly as it moved, covered with a layer of brown sugar water, dotted with a small handful of sesame seeds, just smelling the aroma made the tongue produce fluid, and the index finger moved.
The bowls and spoons are disposable, and you can throw them away after you eat them.
Shen Xing paid, and put a spoonful of tofu brain into his mouth. It was full of fragrant smell and melted in the mouth. He blinked? To the vendor who was about to leave after he had packed his poles, he said: "One more bowl."
"Good!" The hawker immediately opened the lid of the barrel again.
Waiting for him to finish this bowl in a few bites? The hawker offered his second bowl again.
Shen Xing still paid the money first, and then took it? While eating? He asked: "By the way, brother, ask you something? I think some shops on this street don't have a house number at the entrance. May I ask the 200th one? Which direction is it going above the house number?"
The hawker huh? Said: "To be honest? The house number here is indeed a bit confusing, I will live here. You just say where you are looking, maybe I still know."
Shen Xing nodded: "I'm looking for Mo's Handicraft Workshop."
Without even thinking about it, the hawker pointed to the direction he came from and said, "Go straight from here? There will be a three-way road? You go to the intersection on the right. After entering, there is a small alley, bluestone. The brick floor is Mo's handicraft workshop."
There was a pause? The hawker said again: "But their family does not sell directly to the outside world, but ships to the dealer..."
"Huh? I just want to buy some goods." Shen Xing smiled, "Thank you!"
"You're welcome." The hawker didn't think much about it? He picked up the pole again and walked forward quickly.
Shen Xing followed his guidance and quickly walked to a three-way intersection? Then he chose the road on the right and walked two hundred meters before it was a little too close? Sure enough, he saw a bluestone brick path extending in from this road.
There are walls on both sides of the path? I didn't see the door. It can be seen that the door of this Mohs workshop may be located at the innermost point after entering the path.
He looked around, there were not many pedestrians here, and Shen Xing walked in directly along the path.
It may be due to the early morning dew. The bluestone brick floor was still a bit damp. He took two turns along the path and finally saw an open door inside the path.
This was a double-opening door, and beside the door stood a man wearing a dark gray shirt and black trousers.
Shen Xing speeded up his pace and walked over, came to the man with his head down, and said, "Excuse me, is this a Mohs workshop?"
He looked around this door just now and found that there was no shop sign.
But when I think about it, this workshop does not sell scattered puppets, but only supplies dealers with Motu's popularity, so it doesn't make much sense to list it here.
Just like some century-old shops, once their reputation goes out, they sometimes start to think highly of themselves and be arrogant.
As for whether this workshop will bully customers, Shen Xing doesn't know, but thinking of the boss Jadegao's trust in him, I am afraid this workshop is also an offensive existence for those small dealers.
After asking, the man still lowered his head slightly, did not answer, and did not even lift his head to take a look.
Shen Xing was taken aback for a moment, then said again: "Excuse me..."
But this time only two words were spoken, and he suddenly stopped, bent down, and raised his head to look at the man with his head down.
Upon closer inspection, he found that the other party was staring at the ground with his eyes open, as if he was observing something in a trance, but at the moment there was nothing on the ground.
Shen Xing showed a self-deprecating smile, shook his head, stood up straight, and passed the motionless man directly into the door.
At this moment, he did not expect that he almost didn't recognize this as a dummy.
The man standing at the door is too realistic, whether it's skin or hair, or even his eye pupils, if you didn't look closely just now, you wouldn't think he was a dummy when he saw him for the first time.
Although I don't know what it means to put such a dummy at the door, Shen Xing now has a feeling of not being despised of this workshop.
Perhaps this is the purpose of the Mohs Handicraft Workshop deliberately, so that the customers who come in will feel surprised in their hearts, and then identify with their products, and increase the importance of Mohs puppets.
Soon after I walked in, I saw another arc-shaped doorway with another man standing.
The man was also motionless, staring in this direction, still unable to tell whether he was a puppet or a real person.
But Shen Xing didn't want to be deliberately done by them all the time, otherwise he would make himself a fool.
He took out a brand new one hundred yuan from his pocket, flicked his index finger, and muttered to himself: "There is still money in the dummy outside!"
As soon as the words fell, the expression of the man who was standing still changed instantly, and he couldn't hold it any longer.
This guy and the one outside the door are fake, the other is true, should they really play with themselves
Shen Xing wanted to laugh a little, and just under the man's nose, he put the one hundred dollars into his pocket and patted it.
"Fuck, who stupid* put the money in?" The man couldn't help but said, no longer pretending to be a dummy, and approached Shen Xing.
Shen Xing clapped his hands and introduced himself: "Hello, my name is Lin Xing. I just opened two stores and am preparing to operate puppets. One is in Jingzhou and the other is in Kuazhou. I came here today to see if I can establish cooperation with you. relationship."
The man who walked squeezed out a slight smile, and quickly returned to his previous appearance, saying: "Well, you have seen the dummy at the door. It represents the basic level of the store. If you are satisfied, enter from here. Sign the agreement. If you want to see it again, go in through the door behind me."
Shen Xing nodded: "Then I will look at it again."
After speaking, he walked to the door behind the man.
As he passed by the man, he could not help but ask: "Did you really find money in the dummy's pocket just now?"
Shen Xing looked at him in astonishment, and at the same time pressed the pocket of his trousers into which he had just put money in with one hand, deliberately making a vigilant look: "Recruiting for money, for money, isn’t this a way for you to welcome customers? Who would be so stupid* to put money in the dummy's pocket?"
The man's tone was stagnant, as if a dead fly had been swallowed in his mouth.
At this time, Shen Xing opened the door and walked into the puppet exhibition hall.
The area of this exhibition hall is actually not large, only a few open showcases are placed. There are lights above the showcases, and the puppets inside sit, stand or lie down.
And there are male and female puppets, old and young, on the ground near the door, there are two animal puppets, these are two different breeds of dogs.
At first glance, it seemed to Shen Xing that these things could almost be regarded as specimens, because they were too realistic for the images of real people and animals.
The man who greeted him just now followed Shen Xing and didn't speak any more.
Shen Xing felt that he was guarding against reaching out to touch these puppets. After all, from his own eyes, he could easily tell that the quality of the puppets displayed here is much higher than the quality of the dummy outside the door. .
At this moment, it seems that there are a lot of people standing in the room, but the needle drop is actually audible, very quiet, and even so quiet that it feels depressing.
Shen Xing carefully identified the image of the old woman in these puppets. It was almost the same as the carving techniques of Miss Chang Ge and the boy puppets, but was slightly different.
This difference does not prove that they are not made by the same person, but it is very likely that it is just a difference between pure handwork and assembly line craftsmanship.
In other words, if it is a purely handmade puppet, Shen Xing believes that the old woman puppet is the same as the long song and the boy puppet, and should be created by the same person.
He pointed to the old woman puppet and said to the man who followed him: "Who is this work from?"
Shen Xing is also aware that although it is called Mo's Handicraft Workshop, not all puppet works are produced by Motu alone. He also accepts apprentices, and these apprentices have also produced many works.
Even some puppets have unique styles. Although they are not as layered as Master Motu's works, they also have their own style. Otherwise, all the puppets of Mohs could not take so many dealers.
The man nodded: "Your eyes are very vicious. This old woman puppet is the only work on display here by Master Mo."
Immediately he pointed to a middle-aged man puppet beside the old woman: "This is the work of Master Mo's major disciple Yatu."
He pointed to a child puppet: "This is the work of Master Mo's seventh disciple Hongtu, and this, this is the work of the four disciples exhibition."
After regaining his gaze from another young girl puppet, Shen Xing nodded slightly. I have to say that each of these puppets has its own characteristics, but the general lines and methods are the same, still containing the hand-crafted features of Motu.
Moreover, the names of several of Motu's disciples are also very interesting, instead of letting the stage name follow his surname Mo, they all use the word "tu" behind them.
At this moment, Shen Xing suddenly felt cold, as if the air in this small exhibition hall suddenly dropped by two degrees at this moment.
He looked up at the air conditioner outlet on the side of the ceiling. It seemed that the central air conditioner was installed uniformly here, but the outlet seemed to be quiet and no cold wind was blowing.
"Why is it a bit cold?" The man next to Shen Xing also rubbed his arms at this moment, and said in confusion.
At the end of the conversation, he walked outside the door. Maybe the switch of the air conditioner or other electrical appliances was outside the door of this small exhibition hall. He wanted to check it.
As soon as he walked out of the door, the lights above Shen Xing's head, including the spotlights on the top of the showcase, all flickered twice, and then quickly went out in the next second.
The location of this small exhibition hall is located in a small alley. The room has no windows and no light. Therefore, after all the lights were suddenly turned off, Shen Xing's eyes suddenly went dark, and for a while, he could not see anything.
He immediately touched his phone subconsciously.
But at this moment, Shen Xing felt something moved beside him.
He was standing right next to the old woman puppet. Just now because of careful observation, the distance between the two parties was relatively close.
There was a slight noise next to him, which made Shen Xing think of the old woman first.
He immediately turned around so that his direction could roughly face the position of the old woman puppet.
In my memory, the scene of the old woman I just saw came to my mind. This was an old man with wrinkled face and sparse white hair. He was wearing a burgundy cotton jacket and black cotton trousers. His eyes were squinted. There are plexiglass beads that mimic human eyeballs.
After reacting, Shen Xing was about to back up immediately, but at this moment, his right hand that took out the phone suddenly tightened and was grabbed by a cold hand.
At the same moment, something suddenly approached him, leaning close to his ear, and at the same time it made a very clear sound.
"Hush—"
Shen Xing shook his hand violently, and his cold palm was like a steel hoop, unable to break free. He immediately bowed his body, raised his right leg, and was about to kick into the darkness in front of him.
However, the light in front of him suddenly flickered, and when he grasped his cold palm, Shen Xing maintained the motion of kicking out, and when he looked up, the light was already on.
The man who had just gone out was standing at the door looking at him in surprise, and not far from Shen Xing, was the old woman with sparse white hair wearing a burgundy padded jacket.
It's just that the old woman still kept the appearance she had stood at the beginning, as if she hadn't moved at all.
Shen Xing's mobile phone flashlight was already turned on at this time, but it was almost lit up with the light in the small exhibition hall, so it didn't seem to have any effect just now.
But he knew very well in his heart that the flashlight had already turned on half a second before the lights in the exhibition hall turned on. Under the light of the flashlight that had just turned on, the old woman's face was clearly reflected in his eyes. (End of this chapter)