Chapter 12 Chapter two

Old Chen, wearing a rough blue apron, reached out to support the crooked wooden sign, which read "Ordinary Puppet Store".That's right, Lao Chen is the owner and puppet maker of this puppet shop. He is always so deep.His movements were slow and stiff, more like a puppet than those in the window. It was Lao Chen, but in fact he was not old, he was just in his early forties, but the marks left by the years on his face were extremely deep, making him look like he was in his fifties. He had been married once, but just a few years ago, his wife and son died in a traffic accident.After that, he seemed to be a completely different person, becoming taciturn and unreasonable.He didn't get married again, and just lived alone, like the lonely bell ringer in the movie.

Old Chen was once a well-known skillful carpenter. He made good furniture in his early years. Is there any household in the neighborhood without one or two pieces of furniture made by him? But times changed, and no one asked him to make furniture anymore, so he opened a puppet shop.Not only the puppets in the store were made by him, but even the whole store was piled up like building blocks bit by bit. The 100% wooden structure looks like a castle in a fairy tale, with gorgeous patterns engraved on the corners of the frame. , those puppets are more like princes and princesses living in castles.

Lao Chen sat down on the bench by the door, took out a cigarette from his pocket, licked it on his chapped lips, then struck a match and lit it.There was no wind at this time, and the white smoke slowly rose from his fingers, gathering into a strange shape above his head. At this time, there was a sound of high heels in the distance. Lao Chen looked up and saw a strange woman in her thirties, holding a newspaper in her hand, her eyes kept rolling around. "You are Master Chen?" "Yeah." The visitor shook the newspaper in his hand, "I work in the town puppet troupe, and I found it specially when I saw the advertisement. It's really hard to find, why is there no one in this area?... I heard , This generation often has people missing?"

Lao Chen looked at her, without saying a word, and cast his gaze into the distance. The visitor was a little embarrassed, and coughed lightly: "Hey... Let me tell you, I'm from the Town Puppet Troupe." Old Chen stood up, patted his buttocks, turned and entered the room: "Come in and have a look." Ten minutes later, the visitor went out in frustration.She originally fell in love with a life-sized, lively and cute little boy, but unfortunately, his mouth was worn out, and Lao Chen would not sell it to death. "Then, here is my business card. If you change your mind, please remember to contact me."

Lao Chen took the business card and put it in his pocket without looking at it.The visitor couldn't help sighing. Before leaving, she looked back at the little boy in the window again.Its eyes are so bright... She couldn't help shivering, feeling a little cold. After the man left, Lao Chen locked the door of the store and went to the inner room of the store, which was his puppet making room. The production room is very gloomy, because the windows are blocked by thick black curtains.Around the room are some unfinished puppets, children, adults, men, women... They are lifelike, very lifelike, but lack a pair of eyes.There are only two of them, they are an old couple, each of them has a pair of piercing eyes, as if they are ready to blink at any time.

Isn't a puppet a living thing that has lost its soul? Despite the strong smell of wood, paint, and glue in the air, Chen never wears a mask when he works.His nose was already numb to those pungent smells.He was used to all this and had no intention of changing it. Lao Chen walked to the center of the room and reached out to turn on a light. The light "brushed" down, very dazzling, he hastily covered his eyes with his hands. In the center of the huge room was a large workbench, on which lay a life-size, almost completed female puppet, except... a pair of eyes was missing.