Chapter 10 chapter Five

Captain You Guoyi Ma Rong muttered, "Brother Qiao Tai chose such a smelly and dirty Wufu Restaurant to entertain me." Ma Rong is Qiaotai's best friend to Jinlan, and also Di Gong's most trusted entourage.He was born with a tiger's jaw and leopard's eyes, a fierce appearance, a burly body and three points better than Qiao Tai. He took a sip of his wine, sat down on a bench sullenly, and waited for Chotai.The small and narrow shophouse of Wufu Restaurant is filled with the pungent smell of wine sour and putrid mildew.The shopkeeper is a hunchback.After the hunchbacked shopkeeper delivered a jug of wine to Ma Rong's seat, he never showed up again.Let Ma Rong pour and sip alone.

Besides Ma Rong, there was another guest in the shop.The man was in his fifties and looked shabby in a faded blue cloth gown.He was looking down at the puppets in his hand in a daze. Against the wall was his large mirror-embedded box, which was covered with a blue cloth curtain.Squatting on his left shoulder was a little maroon monkey with its tail coiled around its owner's neck. It was grinning at Ma Rong and screaming sharply.It took a while for the man to raise his head and glance at Ma Rong, and said: "Drink it slowly, the shopkeeper is in a bad mood and can't come to socialize. The neighbors here are all infected with the epidemic. Just carried away three dead people!"

Ma Rong said angrily: "This hotel is smelly and dirty. If there is no epidemic, it will suffocate people to death. What's the sign of 'Five Blessings'!" The man smiled and said: "Five blessings, this is what everyone yearns for. High officials, rich salary, longevity, health, and many children, why can't they be used to get the brand name of this hotel? This is also a good wish of the poor! They often only get one of the blessings—many children. But they don’t complain about heaven or others, and enjoy it even when they are suffering. The end is no worse than the five blessings of rich and noble families.”

Ma Rong picked up his wine glass and sat down beside the man's head, and asked, "Sir, you've come to perform a puppet show, don't you! May I ask your name, where is your house?" "My surname is Yuan, and my name is Yutang. Now I live in a dark, dirty and narrow alley in the old city. Are you familiar with the old city of Chang'an?" "I know a little bit about Daduan. I'm going to inspect there tonight." Ma Rong replied. Yuan Yutang said: "In the old city, there is a huge disparity between the rich and the poor. They are fighting cocks and running dogs every day, beckoning prostitutes, spending a lot of money. Relying on the power of the ancestors to do anything wrong, trampling on the king's law, torturing people and killing them, and no one is in charge!"

Ma Rong said: "Stop talking wildly! In today's Qingping world, the king is wise and ministers are worthy, and everyone is happy in their work. Even when the plague is rampant, we must not allow gangsters and demons to be rebellious and unreasonable to harm the people." Yuan Yutang glanced at Ma Rong contemptuously, and said, "Sir, you might as well lift the curtain and look inside." Ma Rong was curious, so he opened the curtain outside the large mirrored box and looked inside.There is only a long corridor with colorful paintings and carvings, and the corridor is covered with Xiangfei bamboo curtains.A man in a black satin gown was whipping a naked woman lying prone on an embroidered couch with a whip.The poor woman's face was covered with tears and blood, and her long black hair hung down to the ground.Suddenly the man's movements stopped, and the hand holding the whip hung in the air, motionless.

Ma Rong turned his face and scolded angrily: "Mr. Yuan, follow me to capture that demon king! I can see clearly that he is tall and thin, and he is wearing a black satin gown. I am Guo Yidu from the sixteen guards of the Beijing camp." Lieutenant, who specializes in catching such evil villains who abuse people and things." "Sir, don't be impatient. This is just a series of pictures, like a puppet, not a real person." Yuan Yutang said with a smile. "I have more than 30 sets of such comic strips in this square box, all depicting legends of old people, including emperors and generals, talented scholars and beautiful women, as well as real boudoir grudges and human tragedies. You might as well read this set again, sir. "

Ma Rong lifted the curtain and looked in, and saw an elegant pavilion in the shade of willows, weeping willows fluttering gracefully in the breeze, a small river below, and a small boat tied to the water pavilion.One person paddles, and the boat slowly travels along the willow bank, with a maidservant woman sitting in the stern.Suddenly, the door of the pavilion opened, and an old man with a white beard rushed out, desperately holding a stick in his hand, and forced himself onto a small bridge.Then there was no movement again, and then it was pitch black. Ma Rongzheng was engrossed in watching it, but he couldn't help feeling frustrated.And I don't understand the meaning of the picture, so I am very surprised.

Yuan Yutang said: "The candles in the box are extinguished, sir, let's see here for now!" Ma Rong asked: "How did Mr. Yuan make this picture so cute. It resembles the behavior of a stranger?" Yuan Yutang replied: "This is a unique art handed down by my Yuan family, and outsiders don't know about it. In this puppet show, the drawings are dark and the characters have movement. It all depends on the dexterity of the fingers and the cooperation of the magic light, which makes the landscape paintings lifelike. The measures are fully compliant..." Suddenly, a slender woman with a slender waist walked into the shop, and Yuan Yutang was taken aback for a moment.