doll city

Chapter 96 The Eve

"Doo... hello? Dad, I'm still in class, what's the matter?"

"It's nothing. I'm going back to Ciling. I'll take your grandma for a checkup. Are you going home on New Year's Day?"

"Recently, my senior arranged an audition for me. If necessary, I can find time to go back to my hometown..."

"You don't need to come back, it's best not to come back after the next year."

"Huh? Why?"

"The epidemic situation in the south is still relatively serious, so let's celebrate the New Year on the spot."

After hanging up the phone, Yan Xuechao closed the car door and walked on the old porcelain street with a suitcase, attracting the eyes of many passers-by from time to time.

Aunt Liu, who sells ginger candy on the side of the road, stretched her head up to look while she was working, and accidentally spilled the croissants she weighed for customers.

"Aiyo, aiyo, I'm sorry Zhao Mama, I'll weigh another bag for you, and I'll give you any more."

"You girl, you just like to look at pretty guys, just like when you were young..."

Aunt Liu is old, but she can only be considered a little girl in front of this old lady.

Seeing Mrs. Zhao teasing her with a smile, Aunt Liu said "Hi" and waved her hands again and again: "Stop teasing me, that's Mrs. Gu's eldest son-in-law, and her son has gone to college."

"Yo, I can't tell, she's even more handsome than the star on TV, I thought she was in her early thirties..."

At 3:30 in the afternoon, Yan Xuechao returned to the Gu family's old house. When he entered the door, he happened to meet Yan Ge's third uncle who was about to go out with a leather bag.

"Sister, brother-in-law..." The third uncle never expected Yan Xuechao to come back at this time, subconsciously hid the purse behind his back, "Why are you back?"

Yan Xuechao's gaze stayed on his face for a second, as if he had seen through everything about him, pushed his glasses, and said, "Look for your other brother-in-law? What's the trick this time?"

The third uncle blushed immediately, compared to the pungent second sister, he was most afraid of this manly elder brother-in-law, stiffened for a while, and said: "It's nothing, after all, Luo Jiankun has connections... He said he can hang us on retail accounts. Institutional accounts are commission-free and leveraged, and if you are lucky, the stock can double tenfold in a day..."

"Hmm." Yan Xuechao listened, but didn't stop him, and lowered his head and took out his phone.

Third Uncle: "Brother-in-law, what are you doing?"

Yan Xuechao: "I found illegal fund-raising fraud, and I am calling the police."

The third uncle was in a panic all of a sudden. At this time, the familiar sound of crutches hitting the ground came, and Yan Xuechao turned around, just in time to see Mrs. Gu walking over with the support of a girl.

"Mom? What's the matter?" Yan Xuechao immediately went to help Mrs. Gu.

"It's nothing, I was rubbed by a car accidentally on the road, sprained my ankle, just take a rest." Mrs. Gu looked energetic today, and praised the girl who helped her back, "Fortunately, this little girl has a heart. Good, help me go home."

The girl was carrying a portfolio and looked like a college student. Hearing this, she smiled shyly: "Grandma, do you live here? What a beautiful yard."

"It's an old house, girl, thank you for helping me along the way, let's go inside and have a rest."

"No, no, I have to go back to school for the exam. If there is a chance, I would be very grateful for letting me come to the expensive house to sketch." The girl declined the kindness of the old lady Gu, and left briskly.

Yan Xuechao was in charge of the place at home, and the third uncle didn't dare to make any fools anymore, so he could only put the money home first, and went out in despair on the pretext of picking up Gu Lili from school.

After making tea for Mrs. Gu, Yan Xuechao finally sat down, and the family's British shorthair cat jumped down condescendingly from the sunny wall, nestled into the arms of the former owner and took a nap.

"Xuechao, it's not a year or a festival, why do you want to come back today?"

Although his wife left early, Yan Xuechao has always respected and trusted Mrs. Gu as his mother-in-law.As a scientific researcher, Yan Xuechao has been busy for decades. In Yan Ge's education, his father's absence was replaced by Grandma Gu, and the education was very good, so that he has no worries at work.

"Mom, it's like this. I want you to leave Ciling temporarily and come to live in Beining for a while."

Grandma Gu raised her head in surprise, and after a while, she slowly said, "Is it because of the death anniversary of Yan Ge's mother?"

Yan Xuechao nodded: "It's the [-]th anniversary, I want you to visit her tomb in Lilac Mountain."

"Hey, what did I think?" Grandma Gu smiled, with a look of nostalgia on her face, "The tablet at home has been kept well. If a person has a spirit, he will accompany him at home as well."

Yan Xuechao glanced at the screen on the right side of the hall, there was a row of old memorial tablets of the Gu family, and Grandma Gu always wiped them clean.It's just that there is a missing place on the middle floor, which should have been the memorial tablet of Grandpa Yan Ge.

Grandma Gu's husband is a scumbag. He used to work as a comprador abroad. During the war, he promised to take Grandma Gu abroad, but he just squandered her property. At that time, he also got into the bad habit of smoking opium. In the end, he left his wife and The three children escaped, and are said to have died at the hands of debt collectors in some island country.

When Yan Ge's mother was alive, every time she mentioned it, she always looked disdainful, never admitting that such a person was her father.Therefore, all the children of the Gu family share their mother's surname.

Fortunately, after the death of that scumbag husband, apart from dragging the children for more than ten years, Grandma Gu had a relatively comfortable life. After applying medicine to her sprained ankle, she began to joke about her son-in-law.

"You, it's been 20 years, you should put it down and find a sequel. Mom doesn't believe that no one wants you like this. You fly around abroad every year, and there is nothing... the love at first sight on TV. Encounter in a foreign country?"

Grandma Gu looks dignified and elegant, but she loves to make fun of the juniors, and Yan Xuechao is used to it.

"You're joking... But I'm quite surprised that you can hear the young people's tone of 'love at first sight' from your mouth."

"Of course, Mom also had love at first sight when she was young."

After chatting, it was time for dinner. Yan Xuechao rolled up his sleeves and prepared to cook. Before entering the kitchen, he checked again.

"Mom, just now I asked you to live in Beining for a while, don't you really think about it?"

Leaving Ciling?

The steam in the teacup blurred the lenses of the glasses, and Grandma Gu seemed to be in a trance, shaking her head: "I'm here, I'm used to it, so I won't go out."

Yan Xuechao nodded: "Okay then, I'll stay for a while too."

"Aren't you busy?"

"no way."

After all, it is very possible that in parallel time and space, the son was kidnapped.

……

"...Uncle will scold you to death if he finds out that you have dismantled grandma's antique skirt like this."

Gu Lili lay at the window, watching Yi Ziang compare the altered skirt to Yan Ge with a sad face, feeling very melancholy.

She has always liked that white pearl flower dress since she was a child, but she was too small to wear it. Grandma said that she would pass it on to her when she grew up, but now it has been changed to look like an adult.

"Be careful, that chest is Dongzhu!"

Teacher Dai, who was in charge of altering the skirt, thought it was just an ordinary skirt at the time. After getting it, she realized that the pearls and white diamonds on the skirt were real. When doing it, she was very careful not to lose one.

Regarding this, Yan Ge, the main character, supported the wall, his eyes had already lost their luster.

As an actor, you can't choose a role, but once, twice, three times... If you go on like this, you always feel that there will be some problems in the direction of life.

"Okay, I'll bring it with me when the time comes. Rest well tonight and recharge your batteries. Tomorrow will be a big test."

Everyone knew that they might die there, just like the people who died in this city before, killed, crushed, turned into dust and the laughing stock of later generations.

"Good night then."

No one said much, after Yan Ge sent Gu Lili back to the room, he put on his grandmother's old skirt and returned to his room.

"came back."

Li Ya was picking the strings, with a rare concentration.

Yan Ge hummed, and checked the equipment one by one to bring tomorrow, especially checked the bullet reserves, stuffed it into the belt buckle of the leggings, and after checking, he lay back on the bed as usual.

After coming here, I fell asleep very quickly, and recently I would lose consciousness for more than a minute after closing my eyes.

But tonight may be because of the real nervousness. Thinking of seeing Princess Alice tomorrow, Yan Ge will never forget her blood-red, innocent and indifferent eyes.

The cold texture of ceramics, separated by a layer of skin, he felt that the blood in his body was about to burn.

—Our wedding is coming, Luca.

"...the perfect wedding belongs to the Red Death King."

Half asleep and half awake, Yan Ge involuntarily opened his mouth to read the ode to Princess Alice. At the same time, the mattress beside him sank, and Li Ya sat beside his bed, covering his forehead with his hand.

A string-like vibrato drilled into Li Ya's brain along Li Ya's hand, and the chaotic voices in Yan Ge's mind were cleared up immediately.

He opened his eyes and looked at Li Ya.

"You still don't need to sleep?"

"You have been sleepwalking lately, which is not a good sign."

Li Ya's fingers slid along the brow bone to the delicate cheek below, and Yan Ge raised his hand to hold it.

"I've been dreaming about Princess Alice every night recently."

It's not because of feelings like admiration, but because I can appreciate the princess's human side.

Yan Ge looked at the ceiling, eyes empty: "At that time, I thought she was not a doll, she was just... a little girl waiting for her mother to come home."

"I had time to think about my own role, but I found that once I was in the role of her 'mother', there was no way to do anything to her again."

"Li Ya, have I been assimilated by a living puppet?"

Li Ya was silent for two seconds, then lay down naturally and looked at the warm yellow lights on the ceiling with him.

"We don't become puppets, puppets imitate us."

"They are human creations, just like everyone must have the shadow of their original family. What you feel is only human empathy."

Yan Ge stretched out his hand to block half of his sight: "But I feel that I am less and less a person. I will subconsciously figure out, imitate, and interpret all the people I meet... For example, I never I don't know the violin, but now I can imitate you and play it exactly."

"Men, women, artists, tramps... even beasts, reptiles, I seem to be able to be everything in the world... I am about to enter that state."

This is the "sequel" after Yan Ge encountered the two puppet kings, or in other words, after suffering their spiritual radiation, his own sinking depth of the role of "servant" increased geometrically.

At this time, Yan Ge felt a chill on his wrist, and his pupils moved to the side. He saw Li Ya put his bad watch that would never go off on his wrist.

The watch is quite old. The black dial is inlaid with gold hands, and a few fine diamonds are dotted on the twelve divided timepieces. In this city where time flows backwards, it seems to have frozen time.

Regarding Yan Ge's distress, Li Ya didn't give any self-moving suggestions, but said: "Don't be carried away by time, if you are confused, just look at its time."

Yan Ge didn't refuse, and after looking at it for a long time, his eyes regained some light.

"Hey, after you go out... I mean, what's the first thing you want to do when you come back to our world?"

"Buy flowers and plane tickets, and then go see you."

Yan Ge chuckled and said, "I'll keep you out of the door. Also, I don't like flowers. I like jellyfish. The one on the phone screensaver..."

While talking, Yan Ge closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

Like many nights before, Li Ya has been quietly waiting for him to fall asleep.

But Yan Ge didn't sleepwalk tonight, he slept very, very deeply.

"Sweet dream." He said silently, closing his eyes too.

……

Friday, January 11th.

Today's sunset is almost as red as blood. In the bright shadow of day and night, cars and motorcycles are speeding on the silent city streets.

At 82:[-] p.m., in front of the credit union building, a car pulls up behind the assembled men on the M[-].

"……so many people."

The mental fluctuations coming from the car window were enough to scare away all the dolls nearby. Xiao Yi stretched her neck to look out, and when she was about to fall out, Yi Ziang pulled her back.

"Don't look for it. Diana is a sniper by profession. A sniper has to hide her position. This is the biggest deterrent chip. The key to victory may be her first shot."

Xiao Yi said in surprise: "I know she is very powerful, but...can she kill a orphan with one shot?"

"That depends on what kind of orphan it is. Orphan slimes may be useless, but the Red Death King is made of ceramics. As long as you use things like gunpowder...even if it's not a one-shot kill, it can still kill you." Beat him half to death."

It was so cruel, a group of vicious men were watching outside a girl's castle, and they would go in to burn, kill and loot as soon as it got dark.

Xiao Yi complained in her heart, and saw a truck with a load of more than 82 tons driving out from the back of the M20 team. The truck was obviously not pulling any big things, but the tires showed signs of being flattened.

"what is that?"

"If I'm not bad..."

Yi Ziang glanced at it, and saw several muscular men working together to carry a rectangular package down, looking as expected.

"That's the 'Rose Frame', which is the orphaned part of M82 from "Red Eclipse". , if it hadn't been hit hard, we wouldn't have had a chance last time."

Yan Ge was playing with a silver willow-leaf scalpel. Because of Joker's character, his fingers were extremely nimble. The silver tip danced between his fingers, drawing light and shadow, but it couldn't hurt him at all.

His eyes stopped on the picture frame, and he saw the strong men lifted the cover, carefully moved the angle, and finally confirmed that the framed picture was only the museum itself, so he took a deep breath and let out a road.

Aunt Zhou, who had worked with the convention and exhibition center last time, stood out from the crowd—this time she was wearing an orange hard hat and a sweat towel around her neck, looking more like a brick mover.

Aunt Zhou adjusted the angle again, and after confirming it, the person next to her handed her a row of injection-like things.She deftly sucked it up with a syringe and inserted it into a vein in her arm.

"That's... the 'stimulant' made by the Xianggu pharmacist?" Yan Ge remembered that it could give a person a steady stream of strength.

Yi Ziang muttered in the back: "How do I use this picture frame? I have never heard of the function of the rose picture frame..."

"Shh..."

Everyone was engrossed in watching Aunt Zhou's performance. After she finished applying the medicine, the muscles in her arms swelled and she was full of strength. She stepped on the asphalt ground with her legs. Cracks, clods of soil and cement climbed up to her feet as if they were alive, firmly fixing her to the ground.

Then, Aunt Zhou held both sides of the picture frame, let out a "drink", and began to tilt the picture frame to the left.

At the same time, everyone felt the movement of the earthquake...

"What's the matter?" Xiao Yi looked around in surprise, and soon found that the source of the earthquake came from the museum. "The Red Death King has begun to show his power?"

"no!"

Even Yan Ge showed surprise, he pointed to the picture frame and said:

"That picture frame, as long as it is strong enough, can change the position of the scenery it frames... They want to overturn the entire museum!!"