I, the only extraordinary in this world

Chapter 110 Red Plum Winter Snow
The tall granite gate tower stands in front of the road, very similar to the archway in ancient China. The surface covered with tiny ravines and blue moss clearly shows the ancient generation of this building.

On the square and square stone building is a square spire-shaped stone plaque, on which a series of Brahmi characters are etched, which is a Shan Pyu script, which means "mountain of ghosts".

The direct transliteration is "Mata".

Under the guidance of Sangji, Li Heng has reached the town of Marta.

As soon as he came here, he gave Li Heng a refreshing feeling, because this place seemed very out of place with the surroundings.

Along the way, there are either barren mountains and wild ridges covered by tropical vegetation, or wet and watery tidal flat farmland. Although there are villages, they are scattered with a few bamboo buildings and houses. They are very primitive and backward, and sparsely populated.

But after arriving here, the style suddenly changed.

This town of Mata is quite prosperous and huge. It is located in the valley at the foot of the mountain. From its architectural style, we can see obvious traces of ancient times. Many buildings and houses are in the traditional stone building style of Shan State. The tall stone gate building in the town is the representative.

But in addition to those traditional buildings, there are all kinds of modern things covering them. Concrete poles run through the streets and alleys, and hundreds of large and small cables run in all directions.

There are also many old buildings with brightly colored neon tubes flashing non-stop, and a large number of satellite TV signal receivers placed on the old blue-tiled roofs.

The ancient blue brick pavement that has been passed down for hundreds of years is full of people coming and going, and even a simple bus stop sign made of wooden boards can be seen.

In short, this is a town with a very scattered first impression, where tradition and modernity are intertwined, and ancient and advanced are mixed and matched.

Of course, this advancement is also relatively speaking. Compared with the villages along the way that look like before the liberation of the country, this place can be called a "small city".

It stands to reason that such a huge place should not be found on Guge's map, but Li Heng couldn't find it. At most, he could only take a rough look with the help of Guge's satellite bird's-eye view, without any other geographical information at all.

It can be seen that no locals or tourists have uploaded geographical information here to the Internet.

And because it is deep in the mountains, it is cloudy and foggy for a long time, and satellite maps are not very easy to use.

“It's really a good place to escape from the world”

Li Heng thought in his heart, if he didn't let his acquaintance lead the way, it would take him many days just to find this place.

It's just that this "good place" doesn't seem to welcome itself so much.

Less than 10 minutes after entering the town, Li Heng, who was walking on the street of the town, already felt at least four or five eyes from different directions.

The seemingly inadvertent, but attentive way of looking at the corner of the eye is obviously not an observation method that ordinary people would use.

"The fish killer at the corner of the southwest street, the tea drinker on the second floor of the tea house at twelve o'clock on the upper right, the man in the hat pretending to wait for the bus at the bus stop behind, the woman drying clothes on the roof of the second floor of the side house..."

However, compared with Li Heng's observation ability, these people thought they were secretly spying, just like a student sitting under the podium facing the teacher, with a clear view.

Like a radar, Li Heng scanned out all the targets that were deliberately observing him.

"Huh? There are still a few eyes on Sanji..."

At this moment, Sangji, who was still walking in front with his neck curled up, was looking around, not knowing what to look at, but he didn't even know that he was being watched.

"It seems that the townspeople here are so hospitable"

Li Heng walked on the road with a faint smile, as if he was really a tourist.

At this time, Sangji couldn't help but turned around and said to Li Heng submissively: "Sir, I have brought you to Marta, I... I can go now, as for the bar you are looking for... town There are only three bars in total, all of which are on Longshi Street, which turns right ahead.”

It can be seen that he is really afraid of this place, and he doesn't want to stay here for a moment.

After thinking for a while, Li Heng nodded: "Okay, let's go."

Sanji thanked him as if he had received an amnesty, and then slipped away.

Li Heng glanced briefly in the direction of his departure, and felt that several gazes disappeared with Sangji's departure.

Well, it seems that the composition of this town is quite complicated, not completely controlled by a group of people.

But that's pretty good, if there are partitions, there will be chaos, and if there is chaos, there will be opportunities. If it is really monolithic, Li Heng may have to worry more.

According to Sangji, Li Heng walked all the way along the street and turned right to Longshi Street. As soon as he turned the corner, he saw a scene of "pure and simple folk customs".

A middle-aged man wearing a jacket who looked about 50 or [-] years old passed by another pedestrian, and quickly snatched the leather bag in the pedestrian's pocket.

The movements are very skillful, and it can be seen that he is a veteran.

On the contrary, this scene made Li Heng feel a bit old-fashioned. It has been a long time since I have seen this in China, especially in modern times when the use of cash has been greatly reduced after the popularization of mobile payment, this craft is almost losing its market in China.

Even in countries where this kind of cash payment is still the mainstream, there is still room for this technology to shine.

After succeeding, the man turned around with ease and entered a roadside bar.

Li Heng looked up, and there was a string of colorful characters in Shanpu script flashing on the rolling neon tubes, which translates to "Red Plum Winter Snow".

Quite a poetic bar name.

Li Heng walked in with strides. As soon as he entered the door, he was enveloped in thick smoke. There were at least a dozen kinds of tobacco smell mixed on his face.

Different from the urban bars I have seen in China, the layout style here is completely different. How to put it, it is quite Southeast Asian. There are tables and chairs woven with rattan, and wine glasses made of bamboo or wooden tubes are floating in full bloom. The frothy sweet potato beer and the rice wine brewed with the characteristic pandan indica rice, on the contrary, are strong shochu and rare foreign wines that are available in normal bars.

And looking around, almost every person sitting at a table is holding a cigarette, even if they are not drinking, they must have a grass cigarette in their mouth.

Calling it a bar, it would be better to call it a smoke bar.

After finding a semi-hanging woven ivy wine table and sitting down, Li Heng also ordered a glass of rice wine.

Some turbid light white wine washes against the inner wall of the bamboo tube to stir up some air bubbles, which are the gases produced by fermentation.

After a sip, there was a special rice aroma and sweetness, but not much wine.

“It’s delicious, almost like sweet-scented osmanthus wine”

After tasting it, Li Heng expressed his sincere appreciation.

During this process, both the owner of the bar counter and the clerk who poured him drinks were quietly watching him quietly.

And Li Heng also noticed that the old man with good "craftsmanship" just now was also sitting not far away, sipping a glass of relatively high-strength white wine by himself. It seemed that he preferred the stronger taste.

After tasting the rice wine, Li Heng got up and went to the counter aboveboard, and then took out a photo from the wallet in his hip pocket. Inside was a portrait of a middle-aged man, it was Ma Hongtu.

"Boss, have you met this person before?"

Asking questions in Shan Pyu, Li Heng's voice was not loud enough to reach the tables around the front desk of the bar.

The counter boss wearing a scarf raised his heavy eyelids to glance at the photo, then went about his business with a blank expression.

Li Heng asked again in the same calm tone.

At this moment, the boss raised his head and still had an expression of not knowing what to say. He took the photo and threw it back on the counter. His lips were buzzing with a mocking smile that was not a smile.

"This is a bar, not a tracing hall. To find someone, you should go to the police station"

Hearing what he said, Li Heng smiled and put away the photo thrown on the counter.

At this moment, the skilled pickpocket who had already finished his small bottle of white wine got up and left, passing by the front of the counter, he happened to brush Li Heng slightly.

In this brief moment, Li Heng could realize that the wallet in his butt pocket had changed hands.

(End of this chapter)