To be king and magician

"Didn't you say you would come at noon, teacher?"

Xia Chuanhu scanned the interior of the office while talking.

"It looks a bit messy, this place, and I don't know if it's my illusion, there are a lot of meaningless things. Teacher, are you the kind of person who likes to put things casually?"

"I can't say that. Occasionally, I will tidy up, but I have been busy with the puppet exhibition recently."

"It's the same as my brother."

Gray laughed.

"My brother often does the same thing, saying that he will tidy up later, but when I look at it a few days later, not only has it not been tidied up, but it has become even messier."

"I can't argue with that."

Xia Chuanhu laughed dryly twice.

As his little housekeeper, Gray knows the situation in his room better than himself. He even knows where Xia Chuanhu likes to put everything. Sometimes Xia Chuanhu himself can't remember where he put things. Gray could find him out in no time.

In a sense, this is also terrible.

"So."

After taking off his glasses, lit a cigarette and took a puff, Aoqi Chengzi took out a piece of parchment from the drawer and said, "Come and sign the contract, I have prepared the contract, after signing your name, we will be Formal master and apprentice."

After receiving the contract, Xia Chuanhu read it carefully, and when he saw the line in the middle, Xia Chuanhu couldn't help asking: "Mr. ..."

"Oh, that's what you mean by giving me a free job." Aoqi Orange said with a smile, "The magician accepts students not only to impart knowledge and strengthen the faction, but also to find assistants for himself. But now I There is no magic research to be done, so you can work for me."

"A white job?"

"It can be said that if you have to talk about remuneration, I will teach you the puppet technique. What's wrong? Is there any problem?"

"There's no problem...it's just that I thought you would take that kind of one-on-one cram school education."

In this way, learning becomes something like clocking in.

Aoqi Chengzi smiled lightly: "Well, there are various ways of education, and I am more used to the kind that students practice. Are you not good at practice?"

"No, my original teacher is the same as you, so it should be regarded as good at it."

That's what I said, but because Mei Li made troubles in every practice homework, Xia Chuanhu had to hang up once first, so it's hard to say whether he is good at it or not.

After reading the entire contract and confirming that there were no problems, Xia Chuanhu signed his name.

"This way the contract will come into force."

Putting away the contract, Aozaki Chengzi put on his glasses while smiling.

"Then without further ado, as your first task as my student - buy me lunch and come back."

"what?"

"Hurry up, the convenience store diagonally across the road, pork chop bento. I'm starving to death after sitting all morning."

Looking at Gray, Xia Chuanhu couldn't help but smiled wryly: "Yes, yes, I'll buy it for you, master."

"Oh! That's a good title!"

————————————————————————————

After a few minutes.

"The car accident last March?"

Cangzaki Chengzi, who was eating a bento, couldn't help being stunned for a moment when he heard this question from Xia Chuanhu: "What's wrong? Asking this all of a sudden?"

"There are some things I want to confirm."

"Well, let me think about it... last March... I don't remember if there was a car accident, but I do remember a murder incident very clearly."

"murdering case?"

"Well, because I happened to be the victim's friend, I was asked by the police to ask some questions." Aoqi Chengzi pulled out a mouthful while speaking, "To be honest, I never dreamed that the guy would die, at least not I was really shocked to think that he would die in that way."

he?

Xia Chuanhu's heart skipped a beat, and an idea vaguely emerged in his mind.

"I remember that the scene of the crime was in front of a bamboo forest. The first person who discovered it was a driver. When he passed by there, he found a dead body lying in the middle of the road, and then called the police."

"Bamboo forest... is it Liangyi's family?"

"Oh, you know—get me a glass of water."

After taking a sip of the water poured by Xia Chuanhu, Cang Qi Chengzi continued: "A lot of things have happened to Liangyi's family in the past two years. The dead body, the disappearance of family members, and the tragic murders that happened in the alley from time to time in the past two years, everything makes the Liangyi family busy."

In March 1996, the dead body in front of Liangyi's house, the missing members of Liangyi's family, and the murder in the alley.

In addition, the person I met last night should be someone from the two ceremonies.

Xia Chuanhu could probably imagine what had happened in Guanbuzi City in the past two years.

But there is still a problem, if it is really what he thinks, then...

"Teacher, can you answer one more question for me?"

"What else do you want to ask?"

"The name of your friend who died."

"..."

After a moment of silence, Aozaki Chengzi sighed slightly: "Ara."

"Huangye Zonglian."

13. First contact with puppet making

Araya Zonglian is dead.

Although he was aware of it when he heard Aoqi Chengzi say that there was no car accident last year, but a homicide, but after actually hearing the facts, Xia Chuanhu was still involuntarily surprised.

"Dead...is it?"

"Well. Although he is an excellent puppeteer like me and a powerful enchanter, I have confirmed repeatedly that he is indeed dead."

Araya Soren, like Aozaki Takako, can achieve a certain degree of immortality through puppet technology, but unlike Aozaki Takako's reincarnation after death, his method is to transplant the brain into a new body.

And last year, during the autopsy on him, Aoqi Chengzi was sure that it was indeed him who died.

After hanging his head in silence for a while, Xia Chuanhu sighed slightly: "Sorry, teacher, I made you mention your dead friend."

"It's nothing, my relationship with him is not that good." Aoqi Chengzi smiled, "Compared to this, you said that you asked these things to confirm something, are you sure now?"

"Well, I still have some doubts, but I'll just go and investigate myself later."

"That's good."

Throwing the bento box into the trash can, Aozaki Orange stood up: "Well, lunch is over, questions are over, and work... Let me think about it, it seems that I have an unfinished project here. I will finish the order now, and you can send it to me later."

"Where?"

"I'll look at the roster..."

Pulling out a register from a pile of folders and sundries on the desk, Aozaki Orange directly turned to the last page: "Ah, there is."

"This is my last remaining order. Because the size is not big and I don't have any special requirements, it has been put on hold—I have to deliver it tomorrow at the latest? Thanks to my memory, bad bad, no I don't have the credibility to deliver on time... wait, this is an opportunity."

Sighing and knocking on the head, Aozaki Chengzi walked to the door: "Come with me, boy. I'll let you actually visit the doll making."

"Eh? Is it okay? I don't even have any theoretical knowledge?"

"It's okay, it's just a very simple doll. I'll explain it to you while I'm making it. Compared with listening to me explaining those theories, it's definitely faster to just watch me do it—little sister can come along too. Oh."

————————————————————————————

The place where Aozaki Orange makes dolls is also an empty room on the fourth floor, and the interior space is about the size of three rooms.

There are not many light sources in the room, and it looks very dim. The only light is a few small chandeliers hanging in the center of the room, and under the lamps is a large, somewhat excessive table.

The basic composition is like this, and the rest of the place is piled up with a large number of chairs or various sundries, which looks like it was violently cleaned up around.And on the chairs and piles of debris—it should be said that they are exhibits—all kinds of dolls are placed.

"Are these dolls the ones from the previous doll show?" Xia Chuanhu asked when he saw a doll that looked familiar.

"Yes. Why, want to buy?"

"I have no money."

The overly straightforward answer made Aoqi Chengzi laugh a bit: "Hehe, even if you want to buy it, I won't sell it. Although I told you that before, [Did you fancy any dolls?], but I'm actually a little There is no thought of selling these things.”

"Eh? Are they not for sale?" Gray was a little surprised, "Then why does Miss Orange hold a doll show?"

"Attract customers." Aozaki Chengzi smiled, "I don't sell the things I have already made. After all, those are made according to my own aesthetics and requirements, and they will definitely not satisfy customers. So I show the dolls It's just to get clients, and to sell myself."

“[I have the technology to make this kind of exquisite doll, so if you have a doll you want, you can entrust me to make it]——I just want to express this meaning. After that, I will make the doll after receiving an advance payment.”

It's almost the same as selling hands.

Coming to the workbench, taking off his glasses, and looking through the requirements for making dolls, Aozaki Chengzi asked: "Speaking of which, young man, do you know what the raw materials for making dolls are?"

"I remember in the Middle Ages, it was metal. It's just that it would cause too much weight, so modern times use various industrial materials that have been magically processed, such as silicone."

"Correct. But there is actually a more lazy way."

Aoqi Chengzi moved out a box from under the table while talking, Xia Chuanhu went up and took a look: "Eh? Yarn ball?"

"Are you surprised?"

"Yes... Will the strength of the puppet made in this way be lower?"

"Well, it's the lowest-strength doll, but the doll I made this time doesn't need particularly high strength, so it's just right to use this material, and if it's not enough, use magic to deal with it - watch me do it carefully. "

While speaking, Aozaki Orange had already spread the ball of wool and sprinkled it on the table, and then took out a bottle from below.

"The basic material for magic processing is mercury, because it is very adaptable to magic power. In addition to making dolls, it can be used in many magic experiments. In addition, sulfur and salt are also the three sacred elements of alchemy. It’s also important in even magic.”

"Yes."

.......

In the next three hours, Aozaki Chengzi devoted himself to making the dolls, explaining each step in detail to Xia Chuanhu about the role of this step in the making of dolls and the applicable occasions.

And every time Aoqi Chengzi said something, Xia Chuan, who was holding a notebook at the side, would write down all the key points she said.Although it couldn't be tidied up immediately due to time constraints, it was only the first day and there was nothing to tidy up.

One thing to say, Xia Chuanhu felt that he was not so serious about checking game strategies back then.