Zhang Zhuoxun squatted down, took off his gloves, and gently touched the thangka with his fingers, "I think your painting does not seem to be a traditional painting style from Nepal, but more like... from southern Tibet."
Kadampa style.”嘊
"Besides, this painting of yours is already a few years old, and the lines and colors are harmonious and natural. Isn't it a loss to sell it at such a low price?"
"If you want to buy it, don't buy it." The hawker was so haggard that he leaned on the steps behind him without raising his eyelids and even snored.
Zhang Zhuxun didn't care about his perfunctory attitude. He smiled and asked directly in Chinese: "What is your name, sir?"
After snoring for a while, the hawker opened his eyes slightly, and there was a shrewdness in his weathered eyes. He glanced at Zhang Zhuxun, and then said in English: "I don't understand what you are talking about."
"It doesn't matter if you don't understand." Zhang Zhuxun took out the Nepalese rupees he had exchanged at customs from his pocket, took out two thousand-dollar bills, and put them in front of him. "I want to ask you about a person. His surname is Ma, and he lives here.
Do you know anyone near the square?"
"I don't know!"
The vendor shook his head, picked up the money in front of him, hesitated for two seconds, threw it back to Zhang Zhuoxun, and then directly packed up the stall.
Zhang Zhuoxun clicked his tongue, put the money back, picked up the ancient thangka painting, turned around and left without leaving any more.
After Zhang Zhuxun's figure disappeared around the corner, and after a while, the vendor who was still pretending to clean up his stall relaxed, picked up the money in his hat, and chuckled, "Idiot."
These two words are actually spoken in Chinese.
Other vendors on the side cast envious glances at him, "Oh my God, Barma, you've made a fortune today. That rich customer is so kind. His face is so clean that he looks like an angel." p>
"Ubuya is right. Those shabby paintings of yours are only worth a few dollars. That customer is equivalent to giving you two thousand rupees for free. It's really jealous."
Balma grinned with a smile, and the beard on his thin cheeks was caked with grease. If it were summer, the fleas inside would have reproduced many generations.
He ignored the cynicism of others, rolled up the few remaining antiques in the thin blanket underneath, threw it on his back, put on his hat, covered his heart, and swayed towards the street.
Walking to a tavern, my steps were heavy and stiff.嘊
"This Barma went out to drink when he had a spare rupee or two, and didn't know how to save it to support his family. No wonder his wife and children died."
"Shh, don't talk nonsense. I heard that this guy had offended a Bahun priest. Otherwise, how could such a big family die overnight? I heard that their family used to come from the east.
The rich man who moved here."
"How dare you say this? You absolutely don't dare to say it. If you say it, you will end up like the Balma family."
The vendors whispered for a while, sighed a few times, and then retreated to their stalls.
Balma came out of the tavern with dark glass windows, put a bottle of low-quality tequila he had just bought into the pocket of his felt coat, wandered back to the square again, and bought two kilograms of corn and hazelnuts from a vendor.
Slowly walking towards the small alley on the edge of the square.
The thin sunshine at noon was quickly covered by dense clouds, it began to snow, and the wind started to blow.
The weather was so cold that after walking out of the square area, there were very few pedestrians on the street. They were all walking in a hurry amidst the fluttering goose feather snow. 嘊
Barma walked up and down, circling around in this piece of soft mud and tiles, looking back from time to time, as if he was guilty of committing a crime.
Finally, he came to an old two-story apartment. The landlord was a short, strong man with a fleshy face and a brown-red face covered with a rough, rough beard.
He had just finished dinner and was standing at the door picking his teeth with his eyes squinted. When he saw Balma coming over, a malicious glint flashed in his eyes.
Balma wanted to pretend not to see him, but the burly landlord's nose was as sharp as any dog's. He immediately smelled the slightly bitter smell of strong liquor and stepped forward to block him.
"Balma, it's time for you to pay the rent for the second half of the quarter."
Seeing the undisguised greed in the landlord's eyes, Barma's inner disgust was about to reach its peak, but he couldn't resist, just because the landlord's surname was Vaishya, and it was said that he was a descendant of the former Rajputs.
Nepal is a country with a very strict caste system. Even though it was abolished by law in 1962 by King Mahendra, the caste system that has existed since the 14th century has been deeply imprinted in the hearts of Nepalese people. To this day, this
The caste and surname hierarchy still remains, and its influence is still felt.嘊
As a foreigner and a member of a ruined family, Barma, like those small traders, is a scavenger at the bottom of society, one level lower than a Sudra, and is also called an untouchable.
Barma whispered: "Didn't I pay the rent for the second half of the quarter a few days ago?"
"Oh, then just hand over next quarter's payment." The burly landlord didn't care what he said at all, he just found an excuse to deliberately humiliate this poor untouchable.
The brawny landlord himself is at the bottom of society, but he still looks down on people with lower status than him. Even if Bamar pays to rent a house, he will only rent him a small basement.
Bamar didn't want to give him money so easily, so he could only ask him for a few days of grace.
The brawny landlord immediately shouted impatiently, "Hurry up and pay the money, otherwise I will kick you out of my property right now and have you arrested by the patrol!"
Tramps are not allowed to stay near Durbar Square at night. Once found, they will be thrown directly into jail. Don’t try to fish them out without a sponsor and money.
There was a flash of cruelty in Balma's eyes, but when he raised his eyes again, there was some pleading and flattery on his face. He took out the bottle of wine from his pocket and handed it to the burly landlord, and said in a flattering tone: "How about you stop giving me this?"
I need some time. Oh, by the way, I sold a painting today and earned thirty rupees. I bought this bottle of wine in total. See if you can be accommodating."
The burly landlord snatched the wine bottle, opened it, sniffed it, and said with disdain: "How can such a low-quality wine be worthy of my stomach?"
As he said this, he held the wine bottle tightly with his hand and refused to let go, "Okay, I'll give you another week."
Barma watched him staggering back upstairs, smiled to himself, and walked around to the back door of the apartment. There was an iron door half a man high, which was the entrance to the basement.
Barma walked to the door and was about to open it when he suddenly saw something. He paused and silently put the bag on his back into the broken vat at the door. Then he carefully backed away from the iron gate step by step. Five-six
After rice, he immediately ran away.
This neighborhood is very chaotic, with narrow alleys and gaps everywhere. Barma has lived here for a long time and is very familiar with it.
His escape has a purpose. He wants to lure people into his old big house. There are traps there, which are enough for him to escape. 嘊
But he obviously underestimated the strength of the enemy this time.
As he quickly ran through a crossroads and the big house appeared in his sight, a heavy blow suddenly struck from the side and behind. Barma flew out uncontrollably and hit the wall, spitting out a pool of blood from his mouth. Two very light footsteps came from behind, rustling on the half-foot-thick snow that had accumulated on the ground.
Two ghostly figures jumped down from the wall and walked towards Balma step by step.
Balma struggled to turn over. When he saw the two black figures, his pupils suddenly shrank, his eyes straightened, and his whole body trembled uncontrollably, as if someone had strangled his throat in an instant, and his face turned from flushed to pale.
, breathing rapidly, the base of his tongue twitching, and several short strange screams coming from his throat.
It’s “them”!
It’s “them”——嘊
"They" are here, "they" have finally found themselves.
"Quick, let's fight quickly." A cold female voice said.
Another black shadow stepped forward, and the cold light flashed across like lightning, but the one who screamed was not Balma.
A splash of blood splashed onto Barma's face, and a few drops of blood flowed down his cheek into his mouth, which was open in shock.
In the heavy snow, four black shadows were fighting together, the cold light was flying across the snow, and the strong wind brought by the fight was wrapped in a biting murderous aura, lashing Balma's body like a whip.
The smell of blood rushed into his nose, and he felt a little dizzy in his head. There was a pain in his heart and he was suffocating. Looking at the sudden change in front of him, his face was full of confusion and sluggishness.
The battle started suddenly and ended suddenly. 嘊
After only a few breaths, those who finally stood in front of Barma were the fair-skinned young man who bought him a thangka for two thousand rupees, and a stranger with a cold face.
The two devil-like guys who had made Barma infinitely frightened were now lying in a pool of blood, their breathing disappeared, and their dilated pupils seemed to be filled with disbelief.
The tip of his nose was filled with the strong smell of blood, and Balma felt as if something was coming up in his empty stomach. Nausea and hunger were intertwined.
But what is the situation now? Why is there a knife on the fair young man's neck? The knife belongs to the cold-faced man, and at the same time the fair young man's knife is also on the other's neck. Could it be that these two people are also hostile?
Relationship?
Barma's brain was running wildly. While the two were still confronting each other in front of him, he looked at the big house not far behind him and immediately decided to run away.
However, as he stood up from the ground with difficulty while holding on to the wall, a chill suddenly hit his back, as if a poisonous snake had crawled along his back and into his neck.
He slowly turned around, only to find that the two people were staring at him intently. With just one glance, Balma was frozen in place. Hey
Seeing that Balma stopped running, the two people started staring at each other again.
"Who are you?" the cold-faced man said.
Zhang Zhuxun, on the other hand, was so shocked that he could not move his eyes, "Brother! Why are you here?"
The little brother frowned slightly and stared into the eyes of the person in front of him, catching a familiar look in them. There was also a hint of surprise in his eyebrows. He moved his lips and silently called out a name.
Seeing him, he recognized himself immediately. Zhang Zhuoxun raised his eyes, and a smile suddenly spread on his face, stretching to the tips of his eyebrows.
He turned his wrist to retract the antler hunting knife that was placed on the brother's neck, inserted it into the bamboo sheath stuck at the back of his waist, then looked at the brother whose face was buried in a furry scarf, and burst into laughter.
My shoulders are shaking when I laugh, and my laughter is full of unexpected joy and happiness.
Smiling, he squatted on the ground and covered his face with his hands. 嘊
The little brother stood quietly beside him, blocking the wind from the alley and the falling snowflakes.
Time seems to have stopped at this moment, everything is silent, the snow is still falling, falling very lightly, like thousands of white butterflies flying in the sky, floating on the shoulders, falling on the top of the head, gracefully and silently.
Snow is using the softest means to conquer the world. It wants to sprinkle on the dark corners and all the places that need white.
Balma huddled in the corner and looked at the two people silently. He could feel that the fair young man was obviously very happy, but seemed to be extremely sad. He didn't want to cry, so he smiled, but in the howling wind,
, there was still an inaudible choking sound.
This is an unexpected reunion. Winter turns the water in the sky and the hearts of the world into ice, but the temperature of the overlapping palms will always melt the cold.
Zhang Zhuxun squatted on the ground for a long time. After the initial emotional outburst, he felt a little embarrassed, but then he thought about it, he is a junior, crying in front of the elders, it is embarrassing, and the younger brother will not tell anyone.
.
Sighing heavily, Zhang Zhuxun grabbed the clean snow that had just fallen in the corner, covered his hot eyelids for a while, shook off the melted snow on his hands, stood up, looked at his little brother, and kissed his
Eyes, Zhang Zhuoxun couldn't help but laugh again. 嘊
Seeing a few grains of snow still hanging on Zhang Shuxun's eyelashes, the younger brother's eyes gradually softened. He stared at Zhang Shuxun's face several times, obviously not used to the fact that he was now standing in front of Wu Xie's face.
.
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In order to prevent himself from laughing too stupidly, Zhang Zhuxun turned his back and covered his lips and coughed before suppressing his smile. He turned to look at Balma and asked his brother, "Are you here to find him?"
The little brother said "Hmm" and said, "Looking for something."
After a pause, he took the initiative to ask Zhang Zhuxun for the first time, "What about you?"
This question mark contains many questions, how did you come out of the ancient building, why did you hide yourself, why did you use Wu Xie's face, why did you come here... what on earth are you doing.
Zhang Zhuxun was silent for a few seconds and then answered him, "I have to go to the other door to see."
The little brother looked at him steadily, "It's very dangerous."
Zhang Zhuxun nodded and said solemnly: "This is a necessary link, I will be careful."
In just a moment, the two corpses on the ground were almost buried by the heavy snow.
Zhang Zhu went over and squatted down, swept away the snow with his gloves, cut the clothing on the body's back with a knife, took out a small hand warmer from his pocket and put it close to the skin.
In the snow, the remaining warmth on the two corpses had already cooled down. It was a bit difficult to show the tattoos. It was too windy here and the lighter could not be lit.
"Why don't you drag them in?" Zhang Zhuoxun raised his chin towards the Ma family's big house and said to his younger brother.
The younger brother nodded, and the two of them took the body into the house, cleaned up the traces on the ground, and grabbed Balma as well.
The Ma family's house is an obvious combination of Chinese and Western structures. It combines a Chinese-style building with a Western hall. It is very large, but unfortunately the contents have been emptied out.
The main hall also collapsed, and the redwood beams were tilted and fell in half, as if they had been robbed.
The house wall was blocking the wind, so the younger brother brought the dry firewood he collected and made two fires next to the corpse for them to roast.
Zhang Chuxun rekindled a fire on the other side and set up a pot to boil water to cook instant noodles.
The two of them were busy with their own affairs, and neither of them paid attention to the uneasy Balma who was left aside.
