Then, just as Richard had thought, a succession of troubles followed: falling rocks, dead ends, broken suspension bridges......

In this way, Richard stopped and walked, and finally came to a village near evening.

The village is very ordinary, not too large, with hundreds of houses scattered along the road in the shape of a "field". Because when it's time for dinner, smoke billows from many houses. A group of five or six-year-old children were chasing each other, and when they saw Richard, a stranger on horseback, they were slightly frightened and ran away.

Richard shook his head, and was about to enter the village, when he suddenly subconsciously turned his head to look to the side.

A few hundred meters away, a white crow flew up from a dead tree and flew away.

"Still don't give up—" Richard squinted his eyes and muttered to himself, "what are you going to do after spending so much effort to hinder me until now?"

Shaking his head again, Richard rode into the village, preparing to cross the village and leave.

When passing through a small square in the center of the village, I saw a group of people who were busy building a wooden platform, and the children who had just run away because they were afraid of him were watching curiously in front of the wooden platform, looking very expectant, and the villagers who had eaten around gradually gathered.

This is?

Richard was puzzled, and suddenly heard someone call him: "Passerby, stop!"

Richard turned his head to look over, and saw a tall thin man wearing a clown mask standing up next to the wooden platform, hiding his whole face under the mask and saying, "Passerby, you're heading north, aren't you? But it's going to be dark, and the road won't be easy to walk."

Take my advice and stay and watch our circus show and you won't regret it. Wait until dawn tomorrow, we can go on the road together, take care of each other, and make sure that you walk fast and steady, and will not delay the trip. ”

Richard listened to the clown's words, his eyes flashed, and he looked the clown up and down seriously: "You seem to have something to say, Mr. Clown?"

"No, no, it's just that you're thinking too much, passerby. The clown waved his hands and spoke, "As a clown, I always like to use some awkward words to express the meaning in my heart, which is easier to cause misunderstandings. But I just sincerely invite you to stop and watch me perform. By the way, we have lions!"

As he spoke, the clown pointed to an iron cage covered with black cloth next to him: "Do you see that iron cage, the lion is inside, called Kuba, he is a good companion of our circus animal trainer Thors." ”

"That's my circus director, Oliver. The clown pointed to a short and fat man on the wooden platform, and introduced it naturally.

Richard looked over and saw a man like a ball standing, commanding the others to do their work. The other party was wearing black pants and white clothes, extremely funny, with a bulging belly, and his fingers could barely be seen.

"That's the most powerful man among us, and you should be able to understand by looking at his size. The clown pointed to a strong man busy on the wooden platform, "His name is Tyne, and he often performs with Baku the Lion. ”

"That's our groom. The clown pointed to an old man who looked a little lame, "His name is McGee, he is not very well, but he is good to us, he cooks for us, and drives us around in a carriage. ”

"By the way, I almost forgot, and the last person, our big beauty, Amy!" the clown pointed to a beautiful young woman in purple in the corner, wearing makeup in the mirror, "She is the most important person in our circus, and often performs with Tyne and the lion. A lot of people watch our circus shows just to see her. ”

"Alright. The Joker looked over and asked Richard, "I've introduced all my companions to you, and out of politeness, shouldn't you introduce yourself too, passerby?"

"Me?" Richard raised his eyebrows, looking at the clown, "As you can see, I'm just an ordinary passerby, and you can always call me a passerby." ”

"Okay, passerby, you can always call me Mr. Clown. The clown said, "So do you want to stay and watch our show?"

"Is there any benefit to me staying?"

"Like I said before, you're going to see a great game, and you're going to have to travel tomorrow, isn't that enough?" said the Joker.

Richard stopped talking, because he saw the white crow suddenly fly and land on a cage covered with black cloth in the distance, with some scrutiny.

Richard raised his eyebrows, thought for a moment, looked at the clown, and said, "Okay then, I'll stay." ”

"That's for the best, you won't regret it, passerby. "Now you can find a random place to sit and wait." As soon as the wooden platform is ready, the show begins. And I'm going to get busy now, otherwise the head of the regiment, Oliver, will definitely curse in a while. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, the fat head of the troupe on the wooden platform shouted: "Jack, where is Jack, where did you die, don't you see that the circus is short of manpower, and you are lazy?"

The clown spread his hands in front of Richard's stall, walked backwards back to the wooden platform, and began to work.

Richard turned his head to look at the iron cage on the side, and found that he didn't know when, the white crow had disappeared.

"What the hell are you buying?" said Richard, jumping off his horse, leading the horse to the side and bolting it, and looking at the wooden platform.

......

After a while, it got dark, and many torches were lit in the small square, which were used to illuminate it.

The wooden stage was also set up, and the circus performance began.

The first to take the stage was the clown, who walked funny, made ridiculous movements, and said witty things that made many of the audience laugh.

Richard didn't laugh, but watched calmly from the periphery of the square, thinking about the identity of the mastermind behind the scenes, and what exactly the people behind the scenes wanted to do with the circus. Could it be that the clown is behind the so-called mastermind? But the other circus members seem to know the clown very well, which is weird. Or is it the mastermind behind the control of the clown?

Richard thought so, and suddenly saw two children, a man and a woman, five or six years old, running in front of him, hand in hand.

"That...... Sir......" the little boy looked at it with a blank look and asked, "Do you know how to perform tricks?"

"Huh?" Richard asked, looking at the little boy with interest, "why do you ask me that?"

"Because...... Because the circus should have horses, you have horses. So, you should also be a circus person, so naturally you will be able to trick. The little boy said what he thought was unassailable logic.

Richard exclaimed: "Although I have horses, I am not a circus person, so I can't do tricks." ”

"Well...... "The little boy looked disappointed in his eyes, and pulled the little girl to the side.