Mojing, the city that never sleeps
"You're different from before, handsome boy!" Ding Can patted Gao Wenwen's shoulder hard, causing him to almost lose his balance.
Gao Wenwen rubbed his numb shoulders: "Be gentle, isn't Sister Yanzi out yet? Wasn't she the first one to dress up?"
"It should be soon." Ding Can looked inside Yan Nianfang.
They were taken to different locations for makeup and agreed in advance to meet at the door. There were hundreds or thousands of people inside, and it was impossible to find anyone for a while.
Wait a moment, she noticed a figure slowly walking out of the passage.
His gait was a little stiff, as if he was not quite used to his outfit, but his face looked a little familiar.
Looking closely, it turned out to be Shi Yan.
Shi Yan arrived late. The reason why she couldn't recognize him at first glance was that he had made major changes to his makeup, which seemed to have changed his facial features and bones.
In order to match the style of her clothes and the makeup style of that era, the makeup artist chose a relatively soft makeup for her.
Shi Yan originally had an oval face with not much flesh on it, which made her look much sharper.
But the makeup artist put a lot of effort into filling the facial depressions with lighter contouring, making her look a little more fleshy at first glance.
Most of the thick eyebrows were trimmed off, and thin long eyebrows were re-outlined, with the ends of the eyebrows curved and slightly raised.
She originally had short hair, and her hairstyle needed to be enhanced. In order to make it more natural, she did not choose to just use a shaped wig on it, but instead had hair extensions added to the ends of her hair.
That's why I arrived a little later than the other three.
All the extended hair is gathered up into a simple snake bun, with a golden phoenix hairpin placed in the center to secure it. Four pearl hair accessories are evenly dotted on the top of the head as decoration.
As for the clothing combination, she wore a light red short-sleeved shirt on the upper body and a red wavy skirt on the lower body. The waistline was tied very high, making her look pretty and slender.
She held the lotus-pink round fan in front of her body with both hands. Just as the clothing designer had said before, it made her skin look as white as jade, and she looked like an ancient person who had walked out of a scroll.
"Are you really Shi Yan?"
She stood in front of him for several seconds, and Gao Wenwen asked hesitantly.
Shi Yan raised her hand uncomfortably and touched the hair behind her ear: "I also feel that it is a bit strange. It is so different from my usual style. I dare not take big steps when walking. I always feel that it will ruin my style."
Gao Wenwen shook his head like a rattle. "No, I just think it's amazing. It's good that you're like this. How should I put it? You're very gentle. I don't have to worry about you suddenly hitting me."
Seeing Shi Yan's expression suddenly turn for the worse, he took a step back tactfully and hid behind Xia Jialian: "If you don't believe me, ask Old Xia."
Shi Yan glared at him fiercely, then turned to look at Xia Jialian with a softer gaze. At least in her opinion, the other party was not the kind of person who could often joke.
"It is beautiful." Xia Jialian answered pertinently.
"Ah," she blinked, "thank you for the compliment."
Ding Can held her arm affectionately and said, "This is the highest praise I've ever heard since I met him. You don't need to doubt it at all."
Gao Wenwen also nodded in response from behind, but only half of his head was exposed, for fear that she would really make a move in this style.
"Now that everyone is here, let's go!"
He pointed his sword at the city gate, the metal hilt gleaming in the sunlight.
At the city gate, two soldiers stood on each side, checking the pass of every person entering the city.
The road token is tied around the waist and can be clearly seen, so people are allowed into the city very quickly.
It is worth noting that the soldiers will give each person a bag of copper coins as funds for survival in the city that never sleeps for three days.
The amount is not much, enough to buy some food and simple items.
But if you want to buy more expensive things, you have to rely on your own abilities to make money.
When they passed the broad base of the city wall and reappeared in the light, they got their first glimpse of the entirety of the city that never sleeps, Mojing, and entered the city's main street, Phoenix Street.
"Come and take a look, don't miss it if you pass by..."
The streets are filled with the cries of all kinds of vendors.
There are all kinds of pedestrians, some are walking hurriedly with bags on their backs, some are strolling leisurely, and some are stopping to chat.
Someone was riding a horse on the cobblestone road, and in the distance a horse-drawn carriage could be seen heading towards the city center.
There are all kinds of shops and restaurants, with special lanterns hanging in front of the courtyard. Some shops facing each other are connected by bright red silk and large fish-shaped paper lanterns.
The owner of the bun shop was lifting up the steamer, revealing the chicken-filled buns underneath. White hot steam rose into the air, and the delicious aroma drifted into my nose.
There were several low square tables in front of the stall selling wontons next door. Only one person was tending the shop. He used a spoon to scoop out small pieces of meat filling and spread them on the thin dough held in his other hand.
While he was making wontons, a pot of them was cooked. He poured them into bowls, called out loudly, and then the customers went to the stove to get them themselves.
There is also mutton soup, oven-roasted chicken, and raw food stalls selling vegetables and fish.
In addition, there are calligraphy and painting stalls, rouge stalls, decorative items stalls, etc.
Moreover, wherever you look, there is not a single modern element to be seen, as if you have really traveled through time and space and stepped into that prosperous era.
The prosperous scene in front of them attracted most of the four people's attention. After a while, Shi Yan finally remembered the reason for being here.
"This place is so big, where should we go first?"
Gao Wenwen raised his hand enthusiastically: "I know. We must trigger some tasks first, and then complete them, or make some money first. If we want to have fun, the money we have is definitely not enough."
"Then let's take a walk first?" Ding Can knew that this place was very big and it would probably take more than a day to explore it completely.
Just as I walked a little further, a man in coarse clothes, with his upper body slightly bent, came over and said earnestly, "Dear guests, our teahouse has invited a famous storyteller, who is telling a story in the hall. If you are interested, you can come in and listen."
Isn't this the NPC trigger clue that came to your door?
Without hesitation, the few of them followed the waiter into the teahouse and found that there were already quite a few people sitting in the hall, with only a handful of vacant seats. They could only be arranged in a relatively remote corner of the hall.
"Take a look, do you need anything?"
Before the menu could be spread out in front of them, Gao Wenwen waved his hand and said, "Don't bother looking at it. Just give us a pot of the cheapest tea."
The waiter's smile immediately faded a little, and he left quickly after agreeing. It was obvious that these customers were not worth his time.
"There's no need to be so frugal, right?" Xia Jialian spoke after everyone left.
"You don't understand," Gao Wenwen said, looking towards the stage. "The dried fruits and snacks in this shop are definitely several times more expensive than those sold at the street vendors outside. If you're really tempted, just wait until I finish listening before buying them outside."
Xia Jialian hesitated to speak: "That's not what I meant..."
He was used to his normal living conditions. For four people to come over and only order one pot of tea was a bit inappropriate considering the number of people.
When he saw the look in the waiter's eyes just now, he was even a little ashamed to raise his head and still needed to work hard to adapt.
A pot of green tea was brought up quickly and dropped heavily on the table, causing a lot of tea to splash out from the mouth of the pot.
Shi Yan's fingers, which were holding the round fan, were bulging with veins. She was about to get angry with the waiter, but the waiter ran away again.
Ding Can picked up the teapot and poured the tea into each of their cups to the appropriate height.
"We are here to inquire about things. We will leave after listening for a while. We don't want to stay here for too long."
Gao Wenwen scratched his head and realized something: "I'm sorry, I'm just used to being frugal."
He came from a poor family and worked part-time while studying. He started to be independent at a very early age and was often short of money. Over time, he developed a character that was a bit stingy with money.
For Xia Jialian, it may be difficult to get used to such a scene.
Xia Jialian raised his teacup, his face righteous, "I'm not angry. Don't think too much about it. It's my problem. We are a team. I will work hard to integrate with everyone in the future."
After he finished his passionate speech, he drank the tea in one gulp.
Ding Can almost laughed out loud at his serious look: "We were originally quite harmonious, please don't make things awkward anymore."
Xia Jialian nodded, not quite understanding. Just then, the table was slammed with the sound of a gavel, and everyone in the hall looked in the direction of the storyteller.
He was an old man with white hair and drooping brows. Even his beard was gray, with only a few other colors visible.
The years have left knife-like marks on his face, but his eyes are bright and he does not look old.
He looked very kind and wise, wearing a white Taoist robe. After slamming the gavel, he slowly got into a stately manner, and he really looked like a reclusive master coming out of seclusion.
"I see that most of you here today are unfamiliar faces, so I won't tell you about those legendary stories. Instead, I'll tell you about a strange thing that happened recently in Mojing."
"There's a rumor going around that a number of disappearances have occurred in the residence of Mr. Zhang, known as Zhang Gusheng, in the west of the city. In the backyard, on the sixth day of every month, a female member of the household disappears for unknown reasons. Calculating the time, today is the sixth day, so it's almost the fifth month."
"At first I thought it was just someone leaving without saying goodbye, but it wasn't until three months in a row that women disappeared on the same day that I started to take it seriously."
"To prevent this from happening again, the official ordered all the women in the courtyard to flee the palace on the sixth day of the fourth month. But guess what happened?"
Someone couldn't help but ask out of curiosity, "Since there are no women in this courtyard, the victims must be servants or guards, right?"
"Not really..." The storyteller tapped his folding fan against his palm a few times and spoke slowly, "The next day, news came that a female relative had disappeared outside. And this time, the missing person was the young lady of the mansion."
If no clues are found, it is inevitable that some people will think of ghosts and gods.
In order to calm people's hearts, Mr. Zhang sent the women in his mansion to live in a temple in the city, thinking that with the protection of the gods, they would feel more at ease.
But after dawn, the maid found that the young lady who had gone to bed early last night had disappeared from the room.
"So rumors started spreading in the city that the official's mansion had been cursed and would never have peace again."
Someone asked, "Sir, if you want to see the person alive or the body dead, you haven't even found the body?"
"The government has sent numerous troops to search the entire city, but they haven't found any clues. The people in the mansion are in a state of panic. Many servants are afraid to stay any longer and are even leaving without receiving their monthly wages. They're currently recruiting new servants and guards."
The important person in the family must be served, but there are not many people who are willing to joke with their own lives.
Even though a higher monthly salary was offered, it was still difficult to recruit people, so the recruitment notice was always posted at the door.
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