() Found the way home!

Xi'an.

An ancient city wall encloses the central area of ​​Xi'an City. The center of the center is the bell and drum tower. A street is dragged out from behind the drum tower. There is no difference between peak and peak seasons. Regardless of sunny and rainy days, there will always be a gathering of delicious food and tourists gather.

This street is called Huiminjie, also known as "famous food and cultural district", "a representative of Xi'an style", and "a must-visit attractions in Xi'an".

Once the popularity is high, every inch of land is valuable. All kinds of stores have to squeeze into places like the tip of the cone... If the street is not enough, just extend into a narrow fork. Just pick out a sign on the street, and write the words "15 meters inward, accommodation".

About one-third from the end of the street, there is an alley where the alley sells sour plum soup. The sign picked from the high place says "Shadow Puppetry, regular performance".

The head of the brand is decorated with a shadow puppet woman, with charming eyebrows and eyes, slender waist, and a long black braid behind her head, which is a beautiful and beautiful sign.

Visitors who are interested or tired of shopping will receive a cup of sour plum soup at the entrance of the alley, buy a ten-dollar ticket, and watch a ten-minute shadow puppetry performance.

The shadow puppet theater is not big, with only about ten square meters outside the stage. There are three rows of tables and chairs, and colorful shadow puppets hanging on the walls. If tourists like it, they can take away 3 for 50 yuan.

The shadow puppet picker is an old man named Dingzhou. He is in his sixties, with gray hair and poor legs, so he doesn't have a lot of social engagements. He only sits behind the white curtain with a crisp and transparent polished fish oil for a long time, and fucks two or three shadow puppets with both hands, and dances with drum beats to the old era.

Sometimes it is "The Big Girl Seller" and sometimes it is "Nezha Three Explorations of the Sea".

That night, the shadow puppet was about to start at 7 o'clock, and at 6:50, the audience was already full of people.

Dingzhou lifted the curtain and looked down.

Most of the audience are parents taking care of their children, and most of them can’t sit still, twisting their butts on the bench, and asking in a lingering manner: “When will the cartoon be performed?”

Dingzhou can foresee what will happen next: after the performance starts, children will feel bored, knowing that shadow puppetry is far from cartoons, and they think the babbling style is obscure and difficult to understand, and they are trying to go out to play, adults will scold them, and children will cry and scream.

And he will be in this chaos, just like Qin Yun's old singing style, insisting on finishing the play.

It's quite boring to think about it, but most of the time people live, they are boring.

At seven o'clock two minutes, a young woman came in.

Dingzhou's heart was shocked.

She came again, for three consecutive days, every time it was seven o'clock.

The first time she came to Dingzhou noticed: she was very beautiful, with half-length fluffy hair, half-old black canvas bag on one shoulder, wearing a plaid shirt, ripped jeans, strappy big leather shoes with large slings, and her cuffs rolled to her elbows, arms and pants, and there were traces of oil.

Like a motorcycle repairman, but it must not be.

The first time the audience came to the shadow puppet, it was nothing more than listening to it; the second time the audience came, maybe they were interested; the third time, they were a little interested in Pei Gong... The theater at 7 o'clock was full of the "Girl Selling the Practice" back and forth, and the straightforward flirting scene is not worth watching again and again.

What's more, there were several times when he was playing, he glanced down from the edge of the curtain: The woman was not watching the show seriously.

She seemed to smile, her eyes as if she was about to penetrate the curtain.

What's behind the curtain? Apart from the lanterns that play the singing style, isn't it...he?

Dingzhou felt a little panicked.

A scene ends and the lights are on.

Most of the audience muttered that they were "not good-looking" and walked towards the door. Some of them were left behind, picking up shadow puppets on the wall and preparing to take a few back for a travel souvenir.

The woman sat without moving, and the canvas bag was hanging on a corner of the protruding back of the chair. She twisted and rubbed the show ticket with one hand, and had a snake-like thing tattooed on her wrist. At first glance, she thought she was wearing a bracelet.

Dingzhou coughed, dragged his legs down from the edge of the stage, pretending to be dragging the tables and stools. When he passed by the woman, he smiled politely to her and asked her, "Come on a trip?"

"That's right."

"Look at how many times you have come, do you understand? They are all old singing styles, and many young people don't like them."

The woman looked at the dark curtain: "There are so many shadow puppets, and they are just alone to take the thread. It's so amazing."

Dingzhou said modestly: "I'm much worse. Go to the backstage to watch the singing styles, gongs and drums, are recorded in advance. The real old shadow puppet is called 'Dancing Millions of Soldiers with both hands'. He picks up more than ten people in his hands to fight without any confusion. He also has to sing, beat, recite, and beat. That's really amazing... What do you call a girl?"

"The surname is Ye, Ye Liuxi."

Dingzhou did not introduce himself, and his name was printed on the play card tickets, which she could not have known.

He pointed to the shadow puppet hanging on the wall: "Don't bring two? They are made of cowhide, with a translucent leather, a leather push knife, purely handmade, and complicated one, it takes more than three thousand knives, and one takes two or three days to produce, which is a good thing."

I know it's nonsense. Now there are shadow puppet machines that specialize in carving. One machine can work through water. Hundreds of shadow puppets can be produced a day. Few people are willing to use hand-made knives to carve... But I'm fooling tourists, so I say that.

Ye Liuxi smiled: "You may have seen it, and I don't go around the corner. My purpose is not to watch shadow puppets... I want to find someone. I heard that you have a nephew named Changdong?"

Dingzhou's hands trembled.

The audience was almost gone, and the lights were scattered on the shadow puppet hanging on the wall, the pink willows and green apricots, and the slender eyebrows and eyes carved out with one knife were squeezed together, making them seductive.

Dingzhou walked to the door, hung out the sign of "rest" and then bolted it to the door.

The door panel could not stop the noise of the people on the streets and the fireworks of various barbecues.

He looked at Ye Liuxi, his voice older than before: "Do you have something to do with Changdong?"

Ye Liuxi said: "I heard that he is a good player in the Gobi Desert. He once crossed Lop Nur by bicycle, and someone called him "Shaya". When ordinary people arrived there, they could only leave their fate, but he was a fang that could pierce the desert."

Dingzhou understood: "Prepare to enter the desert? Want to find Changdong as a guide?"

"yes."

"Do you know that something happened in Changdong two years ago, and the news was reported, and netizens scolded him like a dog."

Ye Liuxi opened the canvas bag, drew a magazine and put it on the desktop: "If you are talking about 'black camellia', then I know."

Dingzhou's eyes fell on the cover of the magazine.

This is an outdoor magazine, with the cover of a popular online post. Dingzhou has seen that post and has been on the largest outdoor website in China for a long time.

The poster is a veteran outdoor player. With his good intentions to warn later generations, he summarized the major outdoor disasters in the past few years, including "Medou hiking disappearance", "Shater's death river", "Karas snow loss", and "Desert black camellia".

Two years ago, an outdoor group called "Cambochang" planned to travel through four unmanned areas in China. The first stop was Lop Nur, which made a huge splash. He conducted news interviews and posted online all the way. The guide he hired was Changdong.

On the night when the accident happened, I had just entered the desert and had not even wiped the edge of Lop Nur... The official blog of "Cambochum" posted an instant message, which was about the camping site at night. The leader had a dispute with Changdong. The leader wanted to stay on site, but Changdong insisted on rushing for two more hours to camp near Etou Shapozi.

Many netizens who were playing outdoors replied, standing in Changdong on the same side.

Falling in love with Xiong who doesn't go home: Changdong is "Shayao". He is experienced and of course he should listen to him. Don't mess around with those who are inexperienced.

I am a Saudi prince: Some hikers actually have donkey brains. They have only been to the beach and think they can walk through the desert. Of course, they should listen to Changdong. People have traveled through Lop Nur. You must know that Yu Chunshun couldn't get out.

Coriander is gone: It’s right to hear Changdong, he is indeed an expert. In my heart, he is the same desert king as Zhao Ziyun!

...

That night, no one expected that a rare sandstorm occurred suddenly, the dunes were propelled on the ground, and the camp suffered a catastrophe.

Except for Changdong, all 18 people were killed. Moreover, because the dunes were too mobile, the body and camp may be pushed away for miles overnight, and the search for the body was not captured.

The official avatar of the camellia's official blog has since turned black and has no updates.

Once a person dies, outdoor news will ferment in the direction of social hot spots, and the people who follow it will grow in geometric numbers.

The matter is not over yet. Two days later, a person who claimed to be familiar with the inside story posted a post and threw out a bombshell.

...In addition to the guide, there were 17 people in the team, and eighteen people were killed. Since Changdong is still alive, who is so many?

...Why did Changdong insist on rushing for two more hours? Is it really out of reasonable arrangements for marching and safety considerations for camping?

Netizens were angrily discovered that the extra one was Changdong's girlfriend Kong Yang, and Changdong insisted on rushing to Etou Shapo because there were many desert rose stones naked in the sandy mountain. Changdong wanted to propose to Kong Yang there.

The curses were overwhelming, more raging than a sandstorm, instantly devouring Changdong.

...

Dingzhou asked Ye Liuxi: "You know 'black camellia', do you still want to invite Changdong?"

Ye Liuxi felt that there was no conflict: "I asked him to take a fancy to his ability. If he made a mistake, he would not lose his ability at the same time."

Dingzhou said: "Then come with me."

He hunched over, choked all the way, and took Ye Liu westward into the backstage.

The backstage was crowded and cramped. In addition to playing tricks, it also used partition rooms to make several small rooms. Dingzhou stopped at the smallest door at the end and opened the door with the key.

As soon as the door opened, the smell of dust came over me. It was too dark inside and there was nothing to see. There was only a small glass, which was a white light.

Ye Liuxi was about to say something, but Dingzhou pulled off the light rope.

Under the dizzy yellow light, she could see clearly that the small glass was actually a glass photo frame, with a black and white photo framed in the black edge. On top was a young man of twenty-seven or eight years old, with handsome eyebrows and despair.

There is an incense burner in front of the photo, with light incense ash accumulated in the cup, and two small porcelain bowls, one filled with rice and the other filled with small packages of candy biscuits.

Changdong is dead?

Dingzhou said: "Eighteen people were killed, and the whole world was scolding him. Not only did he scold him, but he also called Kong Yang a bitch. Changdong sold all his property and asked someone to compensate the deceased's family and came to find me."

He lived with Dingzhou, silent, and sat under the stage for a long time, watching Dingzhou play shadow puppets over and over again, staring at those inanimate shadow puppets, listening to the long ancient singing voice and burst into tears.

One day in the middle of the night three months later, Changdong cut his wrist in his room, and blood flowed all over the room, out of the crack in the door, and into the aisle behind the stage.
Chapter completed!