Chapter 284 Shadow Play

Yu Hai couldn't take it after spending a day at some of the more famous scenic spots in Xizhou.

Without him, there are really too many people!
And there are more and more trends.

A simple sentence is: everyone, everyone, everyone in the sea.

Is it to see the sights or the people?

Fortunately, his travels have always been as he pleases. Since the scenic spots are no longer fun, he starts to visit places with few people.

At this time, he was in Xizhouguan City, an old city.

It mainly takes various historical sites as tourist selling points.

In addition to many circled monuments and classics, the streets of this city are also full of various quaint buildings.

The whole is an antique feeling.

Yu Hai walked in the opposite direction to the flow of people, and soon came to a very secluded old street.

The flow of people here is very small, and it is very quiet. Except for the occasional tourists who stray into this place, most of the people walking on the street are old people.

The appearance of Yu Hai seemed out of place here.

He didn't care about being surprised by others, he just wandered here slowly.

After being a public figure for a long time, he has learned to ignore everyone's attention.

Besides, he wears a mask, which makes him a lot more comfortable in public.

If he encounters something slightly interesting along the way, he will stop and watch it for a while before leaving.

As he walked, he came to a promenade bridge.

Stepping up, I saw many elderly people sitting on the chairs on both sides of the covered bridge.

They were sitting with their bodies turned to one side, their eyes all focused on one place, looking very focused.

Yu Hai looked in the direction of their attention, and saw a young man standing there, holding a few bamboo sticks in both hands and manipulating two shadow puppets.

Very flexible look.

This is the first time for Yu Hai to watch people play shadow puppets on the spot.

Although this is not a formal performance, there is no soundtrack, or even a curtain, but I still feel very strange and amazed.

Yu Hai felt that it was much more interesting than many scenic spots.

He also took advantage of the situation and sat down, watching over there.

It's a pity that after a while, people called the old people to eat, so the onlookers gradually dispersed.

The little brother who played the shadow puppet was left slowly swinging the things in his hands.

He watched Yu Hai staring at him all the time, so he took the initiative to talk: "Are you a tourist?"

Yu Hai nodded and asked, "Did you make this shadow puppet yourself?"

"Yeah, I learned from my grandfather." The young man looked less than 30 years old and dressed like an office worker. He didn't seem to be engaged in intangible cultural heritage performance work at all.

"Is there a shadow puppet theater near here?" Yu Hai thought, if there was, he would buy a ticket to watch it.

The young man shook his head: "No, there is one in the west of the city, but it's quite far away. If you want to see it, it's an hour's drive by bus."

"I thought you were doing this job." Yu Hai asked, "It looks very professional."

"I can't afford to rely on this." The young man seemed to shake his head helplessly: "I work in a nearby company, and I came here during my lunch break. Grandpa and aunt like to watch it, and I also like to perform for them."

Yu Hai couldn't help being a little surprised when he heard this: "Do you come here at noon every day?"

Today is the weekend, this young man should not be at work.

So I came here specially.

Sure enough, he replied: "Basically, they will come. If you don't practice for a day, you will become unfamiliar. The skills passed down from family should not be lost."

"Then you are really amazing!" Yu Hai exclaimed.

The young man smiled: "It's just because I like to play with this, so I'm reluctant to throw it away! If I don't like it, I don't know where to throw it away."

Yu Hai understood.

Seeing that he was very interested, the young man said, "If you like to watch it, then I'll show you another part!"

As he spoke, he manipulated the shadow puppet in his hand again, but the storyline was a little different from the previous one.

While chatting, he said: "Few young people watch this now."

"Well, there are few places to see."

"Because no one has learned it!" He sighed: "This thing has been eliminated by the times!"

Yu Hai was silent.

For many people, including him, watching shadow puppets is just a novelty. If you really want to listen to the story, compared to this, the real movie is more immersive.

Thinking about it this way, the loneliness of this thing seems to be really created by the times.

Yu Hai sighed, and gradually stopped following the movement of the young man's hands. He said, "Thank you for performing this for me. Shall I treat you to lunch?"

"Ah! No need..." The young man was about to refuse, but before he finished speaking, Yu Hai said, "You know that we tourists are very afraid of being slaughtered. As a local, you should know which restaurants are reliable and delicious, so you can buy them." Please be my guide!"

Youth can't find a reason to refuse.

Yu Hai and the two packed up their things and walked towards a restaurant introduced by the youth.

Because of Yu Hai's request, he didn't take him to the fly shop on the side of the road.

Although, in fact, many roadside shops often taste the same.

Came to a restaurant where the environment looked very good and the taste was said to be quite good, Yu Hai asked the waiter for a private room.

Because this place is not considered a tourist attraction, the flow of people is not large. Most of the people who come here to eat are office workers nearby, so they are led to a private room by the waiter and start ordering without queuing.

After ordering, the shadow puppet youth, according to his introduction, is named Jian Jixiu.Start to find a topic to chat: "Brother, where did you come from?"

"Linhu, it took more than ten hours by train to get here."

"That's really far away, you... damn it!"

Jian Jixiu passed the bowls and chopsticks in his hand over the tea on the table, and then looked up to see Yu Hai took off his mask, and burst out with a swear word.

"Whale, whale fall? Damn!"

Yu Hai was a little helpless, this young man was still polite just now, why did he become impolite all of a sudden.

But he still made a small gesture: "Don't be discovered, otherwise we won't be able to leave!"

Jian Jixiu hurriedly closed his mouth, and made a movement of zipping his mouth up, expressing that he would never reveal it.

However, this action could not calm his surging heart at all.

On the contrary, the more depressed you are, the more difficult it is to suppress yourself.

After his face turned red, he stood up directly from the chair, waved his hands, lowered his voice, and said excitedly: "Your Highness, I am your fan, I am Xiaoshuidrop, I like your Huaxia style the most I'm, I'm a little excited, I'm sorry, let me control it, control it..."

As he spoke, he took a few deep breaths, trying very hard to calm himself down.

Yu Hai watched his movements very calmly, raised his brows slightly, unexpectedly he was still his fan.

It's a bit of a misstep.

It turned out that when chatting, I felt like a very stable elite man, but his painting style suddenly changed.

After adjusting my breathing, I felt my beating heart slow down gradually.

Only then did Jian Jixiu sit back on his seat, and carefully looked at Yu Haidao: "I didn't expect you to come to us, Your Highness. We were still discussing in the group yesterday, and I thought you might have left. I didn't expect... Your Highness , you must let me do my best as a landlord, if the friends in the group know that you are here, and I ask you to pay, I may be expelled from the fan membership..."

Yu Hai didn't realize that this guy was such a chatty person.

He gave a suggestion: "If you don't tell them, it will be fine."

"That won't work. I must show off this kind of thing! I can also meet you by chance in this way. My God, I am too lucky. Tell me, Your Highness, if I buy a lottery ticket later, will it be okay?" Winning the lottery? I feel like today is my lucky day..."

"Generally speaking, a person will not be lucky in a row, so there is a high probability that your luck today has been used up."

"That's okay. The probability of meeting you is lower than winning the lottery. There are so many people in Guan City, so many small water droplets, but I just met them. From now on, today will be my lucky day every year." It's..."

Yu Hai helplessly raised his forehead, and changed the subject: "Are you busy this afternoon?"

"No." Jian Jixiu said categorically: "I have nothing to do for two days on weekends, and I can ask for leave next week. Your Highness, let me tell you that the real fun places in our city are not in those scenic spots. There are too many people, don't squeeze in with them, I will take you to some other places..."

"You don't need to ask for leave." Yu Hai saw that he took out his mobile phone and seemed to send a message to the company leader to ask for leave, and hurriedly stopped him: "I'm going to stay here for two days."

"Okay then!" Jian Jixiu put down the phone with some regrets: "In this case, let me plan our route carefully..."

Yu Hai's scalp is a little numb, this guy won't give him a special forces-style itinerary!
He's here to travel, not to train.

He hurriedly said: "There is no need to plan a special itinerary, let's do whatever we want, and we count where we go."

"It's okay." Jian Jixiu said enthusiastically: "I see that you like traditional culture very much, Your Highness. Let me take you to see some intangible cultural heritage. I know some veteran craftsmen, how about introducing them to you?"

"Yes!" Yu Hai's eyes lit up, feeling that this idea is good.

Because of the shadow puppet show, Jian Jixiu came into contact with many veteran craftsmen, some of whom his grandfather brought him to contact, and some of whom he came into contact with later.

But these people are almost in the same situation as him, and may be able to barely make ends meet with their own craftsmanship, and there are no more.

Some people are already old, but still can't retire with peace of mind, because they haven't been able to find a qualified successor.

Few people are willing to learn, but many people give up halfway.

This is the status quo of many traditional old crafts.

Meeting Jingluo today and finding that he seems to be a little interested in these things, Jian Jixiu inevitably had a glimmer of extravagant hope.

(End of this chapter)

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