Clues from Changsha

It was already the afternoon of the second day that Xue Dongqing and I returned to Beijing. Dorje's words made me upset. I didn't sleep much along the way, so I just sat there staring at me. During this period, a flight attendant looked at me in surprise several times. , I guess she thought I was airsick or something, but I really couldn't help it, so I forced a smile on her face to show that I was fine.

When I returned to Longshan Pavilion, I locked myself in my room, trying to find clues about the year from the information left by the second master. Unfortunately, even the second master didn't know what my father did in the last period of time.

Just when I was about to drive myself crazy, Nan Bei came over and told me that someone was looking for me. It was a sister. I walked out in confusion and found that it was Zhao Min.

Different from the heroic camouflage clothes she wore last time, she is now wearing a white slim-fitting T-shirt and blue jeans. She looks much cleaner. I almost didn't recognize her.

She and I hadn't contacted each other for a long time, and I didn't expect her to come over, which somewhat surprised me. She happened to turn around and saw me staying there, flipped her hair, and said with a smile, "What's the matter, you're not welcome?"

I quickly walked over and refilled her tea, "Welcome, welcome, warm welcome."

"Have you... gone to see her?" I subconsciously wanted to ask her what she was doing here, but I swallowed it back as the words reached my lips. The atmosphere was so bad, I cursed in my heart.

When she saw my grinning look, she smiled, rolled her eyes and said, "It's not my first time here."

"What happened to Zhao Jun and his two brothers..." I regretted it as soon as I said it. I wanted to slap myself, wondering why I couldn't speak so well today.

Hearing this, a hint of gloom appeared on Zhao Min's face, but she soon calmed down as usual. She said: "We chose a secluded place near mountains and rivers over there to lay a tomb for his two brothers. I hope I'll be less homeless in my next life."

The atmosphere was a little awkward for a while. I quickly took out my mobile phone and said, "I'm going to call the boss and ask him if he's in Beijing. We haven't gotten together for a long time. Let him be the host today and give him a good meal."

After the boss answered the phone, I explained the reason. He was still a little confused and asked me who Zhao Min was. I whispered "Lao Wan", and he said "oh" twice and said maliciously... "Girl, after a while I knew it." arrive.

After putting down the phone, I smiled at her and started talking about drinking tea. She tilted her head and looked at me for a while, and raised the corners of her mouth: "Do you usually talk to girls like this?" I was sweating, and there weren't many girls. You're as smart as choosing a lipstick shade.

Just when I was at a loss, she looked at my embarrassment and laughed sincerely, then adjusted her sitting posture and said seriously: "No kidding, I really have something to do this time. I'm here for our boss this time. Others I'm in Changsha and it's not convenient for me to come here, so let me bring you a message. He agreed to what you asked him about last time, but there is one condition."

I was overjoyed, it was great. With Lao Wan joining the team, it would open up the market in Hunan and Hunan. For Longshan Pavilion, this was a timely help, so I hurriedly asked her: "What are the conditions?"

She took out a wooden box of about 20 centimeters from her bag and opened it without haste. She looked at me and said, "Actually, our boss had another purpose when he went to Xinjiang to collect folk customs last time."

I thought, and Han Sheng had guessed. At that time, he had doubts about Lao Wan's purpose, but he didn't know what Zhao Min meant by what he said.

She glanced at me, patted the wooden box, and continued: "The boss has an older brother, and the two of them depend on each other for life. Most of the boss's Jiu'anzhai was built by his older brother, but one year his older brother went out to carry goods with others. ' (the old name in Changsha, also called Zhiguo in the north, which means organizing people to go to the ground), he left and never came back. Since then, there has been no news. No one is seen alive or dead. After the boss picked up Jiu'anzhai, he secretly spent We spent a lot of money and pursued it for a long time, but in the end we only found out that the destination of the cargo was in Xinjiang, the identity of the person traveling with it was unknown, and the organizer was nicknamed the Immortal Finale, Cao Chunqiu of the Cao family."

I looked at Zhao Min in surprise. It took me a long time to react and stammered: "Are you sure?"

When Zhao Min heard me asking her this, she showed a very surprised expression: "What's wrong?"

I hurriedly lowered my head to drink tea, feeling shocked. How could it be related to my father? Could it be... I felt something in my heart, and pretended to be casual and asked her, "What year did it happen?"

Zhao Min replied: "For more than 20 years, our boss has been trying to contact the Cao family due to Jiu'anzhai's influence in the north but has no way. It wasn't until the last time I came to Beijing that I met you serving a pot in a teahouse, so I agreed temporarily. Come down."

My heart was pounding. Sure enough, it was more than 20 years ago. It seemed to be closely related to what happened back then. But I didn't expect that my father would find Lao Wan's brother.

I asked her: "Then why did he find me?"

"Back then, Cao Chunqiu had a close relationship with the Second Master of Longshan Pavilion. This was something everyone on the street knew. At that time, the boss agreed to your job, and he was also a dead horse. He wanted to get some clues from you, until he heard about you later. Only when I go to Xinjiang do I take it seriously."

I nodded my head clearly. No wonder Lao Wan had some unexplainable behavior in the tomb. Now that I think about it, his feeling of loss after coming back was not because he didn't get the treasure under the tomb, but more probably because he was disappointed that he hadn't found his brother. Be disappointed.

"Then Boss Wan's request is not for me to help him find his brother, right?" I tried to ask her.

Zhao Min nodded solemnly and said, "The boss asked me to ask you something. The last time your Excellency Longshan went to the Lingtai, it was not for the sake of the bright weapon below."

I laughed and said, "We in Longshan Pavilion are all good, law-abiding citizens, but we are just running around in the antique business, and we don't know what we are doing."

She stared into my eyes seriously without speaking. I took a sip of tea awkwardly and nodded vaguely, "Well, it's something else."

She said: "The boss has an intuition that you will have clues in your hands. It is not a wise decision to side with Longshan Pavilion at this time, but the boss said that the decision is yours. As long as you are willing to nod, no matter whether you can find clues about his brother or not, , will fully assist Longshan Pavilion."

I said jokingly: "You're not afraid that I'll do something perfunctory."

She shrugged and said, "That's not what I should worry about. From my personal point of view, you are still so-so and reliable. You are better than that big guy."

I held my forehead and smiled bitterly, and then said seriously: "To be honest, I have some clues in my hand, but I can't promise anything to Boss Wan now, but I promise to inform him as soon as I have any clues about his brother."

She seemed to be expecting what I would say. She pushed the box she was holding on to me and said, "This is what Brother Lao Wan left before he left for the last time. He asked me to bring it to you. I hope you can It can be used."

I took the box and thought that if Lao Wan's brother really went to Xinjiang with my father and others, then apart from the Tianshan Mountains behind Suke Village, the most likely place to go would be the mountains behind Shixiazi that Dorje once mentioned. They tracked the place where the survey team went. This has always been a place that I feel is full of doubts. It seems that we really need to investigate the survey team back then.

The wooden box doesn't look big, but it's very heavy to hold. I open it gently and there is an irregular-shaped stone inside, only the size of a baby's fist. There are no extra patterns on it. There are no clues. I look at it. Suddenly my heart moved. I picked it up and smelled it. The stone gave off a strange smell.

I was surprised that this stone had the same strange smell as the stone I brought back from the locker at Nikko Station. I asked her to wait, then turned back to the room and took out the stone. I compared the two stones and found that the two stones were very similar in terms of texture and material, especially the taste.

Zhao Min also looked at me in surprise, pointed at the stone and asked, "Where did you get this piece?"

I didn't intend to tell her the truth, so I told a lie and said it was the second master who stayed behind.

She thought for a moment and then tried to ask me hesitantly: "Can I tell my boss this news?"

I was stunned for a moment, nodded and said, "Okay."

"It seems that the boss's guess is correct. The second master of your Longshan Pavilion really knows about it." She breathed a sigh of relief and looked at me again: "Do you have any clues about this stone?"

I shook my head: "I'm sorry, I have to look for the source of this stone again. To be honest, this stone is not only important to Lao Wan, it is equally important to me."

I asked her out of curiosity: "How did your boss get it?"

Zhao Min said: "The boss later found it in his brother's room. After his brother disappeared, the boss thoroughly checked all his contacts and the items left behind. According to the boss, his brother's whereabouts were mysterious in the few days before carrying the goods. , and contacted someone behind his back, and this thing was placed in a secret room in the study, and the boss had never seen it before, so he suspected that this thing was related to his brother's disappearance."

"The boss later found several relevant experts, but they still couldn't figure out the origin of this thing. Did you find anything?"

I sighed and shook my head and said: "There are no clues at all. This thing has no lines, no words, no words at all, no age at all, and it doesn't even have a specific shape, just these irregular honeycomb openings, nothing. I can't tell. I originally thought that the piece in my hand was the only one and represented a certain meaning. Now it seems that these stones are probably pointing to a certain place. The second master and your boss's brother have both been there."

Just as he was talking, Xiao Nanbei walked in with his big head. This guy had a coquettish slicked-back hair as usual, and his shiny hair looked like it had been licked by a calf. He was arrogant but didn't know it. He took off his sunglasses and said hello: "Hey, who is this? The dashing beauty Zhao has taken the youth route. Where can we eat? Let's start walking."

Before I could say anything, Zhao Min said, "Would you like to treat me to a treat?"

Datou laughed and said, "You've already started saving money for us, Xiao Cao, before we even get through. You can do whatever you want. Sichuan, Shandong, Guangdong, Huaiyang, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Hunan are all here. I'll take care of everything today."

I blushed with shame and glared at this guy who spoke so freely.

Zhao Min took her time and said with a smile: "I heard that Mr. Cheng's craftsmanship is excellent, so let's have a banquet at Cheng's house."

Datou's face suddenly fell. He scratched his head and stammered: "Well, why don't we change the place? It's not spacious. We don't have an appointment today." I didn't say anything, covering my mouth and snickering.

"Oh, that's it." Zhao Min pretended to be innocent and said, "Then let's try Master Mei's private dishes. We can also have a banquet at Mei's house now."

I raised my hand and said, "I have a classmate who works there. Let him reserve a seat in Lan Hall."

When Datou saw both of us standing up, he finally couldn't stand it anymore and said with a sad face: "You two heroes, I was wrong, okay? The two coins in my pocket can't afford to eat like this. I want to know that Beauty Zhao is a local slut." Don't brag, we have a small restaurant at the door. Can you two condescend to go there?"