Ping'an 17th Alley is actually not far from the hotel. When Shen Xing booked the hotel, he specifically chose this area close to the puppet market.
It is said to be an alley, but in fact this alley is very spacious, just like an old street in an ancient town. There are a dazzling array of shops on both sides of the surrounding streets, and there are all kinds of puppet-related goods.
There are also craftsmen who make puppets on the spot in the shop and sell them one by one, giving the feeling of being speculated and sold on the spot.
In fact, this is the same as Shen Xing making wood carvings in the wood carving shop. Some customers who watch the production process may pay to buy one or two on the spot because of their interest.
Shen Xing activated the face-changing skill before leaving the hotel, and his face became unfamiliar and ordinary. As before, he had never seen this face before.
I went a little early, and some of the shops were not open yet. Because the whole street was designed like an ancient town, there were also vendors selling on poles.
These vendors not only sell small dolls, but also sell breakfast.
Shen Xing got up early and hadn't eaten yet. When he saw a vendor carrying tofu puffs, he immediately stopped him and asked for a bowl.
The hawker put down the pole and opened a wooden bucket with a lid at one end. The wooden bucket was exquisitely designed. Half of the lid was opened to scoop out the tofu curd which has a thermal insulation effect. The other half of the lid was opened to reveal a thin drawer-like drawer. Layer, there are small bottles of various condiments inside, you can eat salty or sweet.
"Sir, do you want something spicy, salty, or sweet?" The vendor was quick and asked kindly while operating.
"Sweet." Shen Xing said.
It was so early in the morning, and there was still nothing in his stomach. He didn't want to eat spicy food to upset his stomach.
"Want white sugar, brown sugar or honey?" the vendor asked again.
Shen Xing felt a little curious, but he didn't expect that this guy's condiments were really rich.
"brown sugar."
"With or without sesame seeds?"
"add."
The white sugar from this vendor is in the form of granulated sugar, the brown sugar has been mixed into thick brown sugar water, and the honey seems to be more pure.
After a while, a steaming bowl of tofu curd filled with the aroma of brown sugar and sesame was handed to Shen Xing's hand.
The pure white tofu puffs tremble slightly as they move. They are covered with a layer of brown sugar water and garnished with a small handful of sesame seeds. Just smelling the aroma makes your mouth salivate and your index fingers move.
The bowl and spoon are disposable and can be thrown away after eating.
Shen Xing paid the money, took a spoonful of tofu curd and put it into his mouth. It was fragrant and melted in his mouth. He winked and said to the vendor who had packed up his pole and was about to leave, "Have another bowl."
"Okay!" The hawker immediately opened the lid of the barrel again.
When he finished the bowl in several mouthfuls, the vendor handed him the second bowl.
Shen Xing still paid first and then took it. While eating, he asked: "By the way, little brother, I want to ask you something? I saw some shops on this street that don't have house numbers at the door. May I ask about the number 200?" Which direction is it above the house number?”
The hawker chuckled and said, "To be honest, the house numbers here are a bit confusing. I live here. Just tell me where you are looking. Maybe I will know."
Shen Xing nodded: "I'm looking for Mo's Handicraft Workshop."
Without thinking, the vendor pointed in 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. About two hundred meters after entering, there is a small alley there, with a blue stone The brick-paved floor is the Mo family’s handicraft workshop.”
After a pause, the vendor continued: "But they don't sell directly to outsiders, but ship to dealers..."
"Huh? I just want to buy some goods." Shen Xing smiled, "Thank you!"
"You're welcome." The vendor didn't think much. He picked up the pole again and walked quickly forward.
Shen Xing followed his guidance and quickly reached a three-way intersection. Then he chose the road on the right and walked almost two hundred meters. Sure enough, he saw a bluestone brick path extending from this road.
There are walls on both sides of the path. There is no door. It can be seen that the door of Mo's handicraft workshop may be located at the innermost side after entering the path.
He looked around and saw that there were not many pedestrians here at the moment. Shen Xing walked directly along the path.
Perhaps due to the early morning dew, the bluestone floor was still a little damp. He turned two corners along the path and finally saw an open door on the inside of the path.
This is a double door, and standing next to the door is a man wearing a dark gray shirt and black trousers.
Shen Xing walked over quickly, came to the man with his head slightly lowered, and said, "Excuse me, is this the Mo's Handicraft Workshop?"
He just looked around the door and found that there was no store sign.
However, when I think about it, this workshop does not sell scattered puppets to the outside world, but only supplies to dealers due to Motu's popularity, so whether it is listed here or not does not actually mean much.
Just like some century-old stores, once their reputation spreads, they sometimes start to think highly of themselves and become arrogant.
Shen Xing didn't know whether this workshop would be a big bully, but thinking about the trust that boss Jiade Gao had entrusted to him, I'm afraid this workshop was something that the small dealers couldn't afford to offend.
After asking, the man still lowered his head slightly and did not answer, nor even raised his head to take a look.
Shen Xing was stunned for a moment, then spoke again: "Excuse me..."
But this time he only said two words. He suddenly stopped, bent down, raised his head and looked at the man with his head lowered.
Upon closer inspection, I found that the other person was staring at the ground with his eyes open, as if he was observing something in a trance, but there was nothing on the ground at the moment.
Shen Xing showed a self-deprecating smile, shook his head, stood up straight, and walked directly past the motionless man into the door.
At this moment, he didn't expect that he almost didn't recognize it as a dummy.
The man standing at the door was so lifelike, whether it was his skin, hair, or even his eyes. If he hadn't taken a closer look just now, no one who saw him for the first time would think he was a dummy.
Although he didn't know what it meant to place such a dummy at the door, Shen Xing now had a feeling that this workshop should not be underestimated.
Perhaps this is the purpose of Mo's Handicraft Workshop to do this deliberately, so that the customers who come in will feel a sense of surprise, and then identify with their products, and deepen their attention to Mo's puppets.
Not long after walking in, I saw another man standing at another arc-shaped door.
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 them to do this intentionally all the time, otherwise he would look like a fool.
He took out a brand new hundred yuan from his pocket, flicked his index finger, and said to himself: "That dummy outside actually has money in his pocket!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the expression of the man who was standing motionless changed instantly and he couldn't hold himself tight anymore.
This guy and the guy outside the door, one fake and the other real, are they really kidding me?
Shen Xing wanted to laugh a little, but right under the man's eyes, he put the hundred yuan into his pocket and patted it.
"Damn it, who put the money in?" The man couldn't help but speak. He stopped pretending that he was a dummy and came closer to Shen Xing.
Shen Xing clapped his hands and introduced himself: "Hello, my name is Lin Xing. I have just opened two stores to sell puppets. One is in Jingzhou and the other is in Kuazhou. I came here today to see if I can establish cooperation with you. relation."
The man who walked over gave a slight smile, and soon returned to his previous appearance, and said: "Well, you also saw the dummy at the door. It represents the basic standard of our store. If you are satisfied, enter from this way. Sign the agreement. If you still want to see it again, go in through the door behind me."
Shen Xing nodded: "Then I'll take another look."
After saying that, he walked towards the door behind the man.
When passing this man, I heard the other man couldn't help but ask: "Did you really find money in that dummy's pocket just now?"
Shen Xing looked at him in astonishment. At the same time, he pressed his hand on the trouser pocket where he had just put the money, and deliberately looked alert: "To attract wealth and money, to attract money and money, isn't this a way for you to welcome customers? Otherwise? Who would be so stupid as to take the initiative to put money in a dummy’s pocket?”
The man's tone was stagnant, as if he had swallowed a dead fly in his mouth.
Shen Xing had already opened the door and walked into the puppet exhibition hall.
The exhibition hall is actually not very large. There are only a few open display cabinets with lights overhead. The puppets inside are sitting, standing or lying down.
There are male and female puppets, old and young. On the ground near the door, there are two animal puppets, which are two different breeds of dogs.
At first glance, Shen Xing felt that these things could almost be regarded as specimens because they were too realistic to real people and animals.
The man who greeted him just now followed Shen Xing without saying anything more.
Shen Xing felt that he was wary of reaching out and touching these puppets. After all, with his own eyes, he could easily see that the quality of the puppets on display here was much higher than that of the dummy at the door outside. .
It seemed like there were a lot of people standing in the room at this moment, but in fact you could hear a needle drop and it was very quiet, even so quiet that it felt depressing.
Shen Xing took a closer look and found that the image of the old woman among these puppets was almost the same as the carving techniques of Miss Changge and the boy puppets, but they were slightly different.
This difference does not prove that they are not made by the same person, but it is most likely just a difference caused by pure handwork and assembly line technology.
In other words, if it is a purely handmade puppet, Shen Xing believes that the old woman puppet is the same as the Changge and boy puppets, and should be created by the same person.
He pointed at the old woman puppet and said to the man following behind him: "Who is this work from?"
Shen Xing also knew that although this place was called Mo's Handicraft Workshop, not all puppet works were made by Mo Tu alone. He also had apprentices, and these apprentices also produced many works.
Some puppets even have unique styles. Although they are not as layered as Master Motu's works, they still have their own style. Otherwise, all of Mo's puppets would not be available to so many dealers.
The man nodded: "You have a very vicious eye. This old woman puppet is the only one among the works on display here that was created by Master Mo."
Then he pointed to a middle-aged man puppet next to the old woman: "This is the work of Master Mo's eldest disciple Yatu."
Then he pointed at a child puppet: "This is the work of Hong Tu, the seventh disciple of Master Mo, and this one, this is the work of Zhan Tu, the fourth disciple."
After looking away from the other girl puppet, Shen Xing nodded slightly. It must be said that these puppets each have their own characteristics, but the general lines and methods are the same, and they still contain Motu's handicraft characteristics.
Moreover, the names of several of Mo Tu's disciples are also very interesting. Instead of having their stage names follow his surname Mo, they all use the character "图" at the end.
At this moment, Shen Xing suddenly felt a cold feeling, as if the air in the small exhibition hall suddenly dropped by two degrees at this moment.
He looked up at the air conditioning outlet on the side of the ceiling. It seemed that central air conditioning was installed here, but the air outlet seemed to be very quiet, with no cold air blowing out.
"Why is it a little cold?" The man next to Shen Xing suddenly rubbed his arms and said doubtfully.
After saying this, he walked out the door. Maybe the switch for the air conditioner or other electrical appliances was outside the door of the small exhibition hall. He wanted to check it out.
Just as he walked out of the door, the lights above Shen Xing's head, including the spotlights on the top of the display cabinets, all flickered twice and then went out quickly the next second.
This small exhibition hall was located in an alley. The room had no windows and no lighting, so when all the lights suddenly went out, Shen Xing's eyes suddenly went dark, and he couldn't see anything for a moment.
He immediately subconsciously touched his cell phone.
But at this moment, Shen Xing felt something move beside him.
The position he was standing at the moment was next to the old woman's puppet. Because of his careful observation just now, the distance between the two parties was relatively close.
There was a slight noise beside 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's puppet.
In my memory, the scene of seeing this old woman just now came to mind. She was an old man with wrinkles on his face and sparse white hair. He was wearing a burgundy cotton-padded jacket and black cotton trousers. His eyes were squinted, and there were still tears in his pupils. There are plexiglass beads that imitate human eyeballs.
After reacting, Shen Xing was about to retreat 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, not far from his ear, and made a very clear sound at the same time.
"Shh-"
Shen Xing shook his hand suddenly, and the 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 lights in front of him suddenly flickered, and the cold palms holding him loosened. Shen Xing kept on moving to kick out. When he looked up, the lights were already on.
The man who had just left was standing at the door looking at him in surprise. Not far from Shen Xing, there was the old woman with sparse white hair wearing a burgundy cotton-padded jacket.
However, the old woman still maintained her original standing appearance, as if she had not moved at all.
Shen Xing's mobile phone flashlight had been turned on at this time, but it almost turned on at the same time as the lights in the small exhibition hall, so it didn't seem to have any effect just now.
But he knew very well that before the lights in the exhibition hall turned on, the flashlight had already turned on half a second earlier. Under the light of the flashlight that had just turned on, the old woman's face was clearly reflected in his eyes.
