Part 2 Chapter 27 Cage Street
It was already daybreak, so I had to get up and wash up. In the mirror, my eyes were full of red bloodshot. When I first started in the industry, Qin Yiheng had said that long-term contact with unclean things could easily shorten one's life span. Looking at the current situation, I'm afraid I will really die early.
After waiting for a while at home, Qin Yiheng called me and asked me to come downstairs. After going downstairs and getting into his car, I didn't wait for him to speak, and told him about yesterday's experience. After that, I hurriedly stuffed the seal that the old man gave me yesterday into his hand. I did this not because I was angry, but because I was really sleep-deprived. I was afraid that if I didn't speak quickly, I would feel dizzy and more likely to miss something.
After hearing this, Qin Yiheng turned off the engine, looked at the seal for a long time, and finally asked me, "Didn't the old man say what his name was?"
I shook my head and said, "It's not that I don't have the ability, that old man is really too cunning." Then I asked, "What is this seal for?"
Qin Yiheng held the seal higher, looked at it against the sun , and said, "This thing is not an evil thing. Under the seal is a simple rune that can calm the soul and suppress evil. But it is because it is simple that this thing is a bit strange." As he said that, he turned the seal over, pointed to the rune on it and told me that this kind of rune is very widely used. Not only Taoists use it, but many immortals who invite gods to possess their bodies also use it. Even some old men and women who have seen the world can write it. The strokes are not complicated. If you pay a little attention and memorize it, you can remember it. It is a very popular rune. But because of this, it is really too simple. It should not be engraved into a seal. Anyone can write it, and it is easy to write. It is unnecessary to engrave it into a seal.
Throughout the ages, some runes have indeed been carved into seals, but they are few and far between, and at that time they had some specific uses, so they had to be carved and used. Speaking of this, he lowered his head and thought for a while, then looked up and told me that he might have guessed the meaning of the existence of this seal, that is, the user of this seal needs to make a large number of runes to suppress the soul and evil in a very short time, and it is too late to write them by hand, so he came up with this idea.
Qin Yiheng curled his lips, made a "tsk" sound, and continued, "But he couldn't figure out what would require so many soul-suppressing and evil-suppressing talismans, and what's more, it had to be done within a demanding time. This is really outrageous, because each family only uses one of these talismans. Although using more than one will not cause any harm, it will not increase the value of the talisman."
His analysis did give me a heads-up. I thought to myself, "Is this thing used to mass-produce talismans? Did someone in the know take on a big job and put up talismans in a building or a community?" I thought again, "Since the old man found me and was so mysterious, could it be that he wanted me to find a house with a lot of talismans to suppress evil spirits? But the old man's hint was very obscure, so I asked Qin Yiheng, what did the old man mean by asking me to find the same thing?"
Qin Yiheng lit a cigarette, thought for a while, shook his head, and sighed: "I'm afraid there will be no conclusion for the time being. From your description, it is certain that there is something wrong with the old man. And if the hat is really the same as the one left by Liu Guizi, I'm afraid this old man is most likely the reason for Liu Guizi's disappearance. The water in between is really unfathomable."
I was not too moved by his sigh, probably because I was too sleepy. Many people who have stayed up all night know that if you wake up after sleeping for one or two hours like me, you might as well not sleep at all. I also lit a cigarette and took a big puff before I realized what was going on. Qin Yiheng was acting mysterious before he came and asked me what I should buy. And why did he disappear for a whole day yesterday when he was fine?
When asked, he threw away his cigarette butt, started the car, took a deep breath, and told me: "After I woke up yesterday, I accidentally discovered that the Spring Festival couplets given by Fang Wanjin were not written by Fang Wanjin! Fang Wanjin is famous for fortune-telling, so his calligraphy skills are naturally not too bad. He is also a person who likes to show off his reputation. Spring Festival couplets are a tool for him to show off his calligraphy skills. He has always written them by hand, especially for gifts like this to friends. I was worried that there was something wrong, so I hurried to find Fang Wanjin, but the old man's store was closed. I asked the surrounding shops, and they all said that the old man left a message that he was going back to his hometown to purchase things, and he would not come back until he had bought enough things."
"I was afraid that Fang Wanjin had met with an accident, so I drove to the train station, the airport, and the long-distance bus station to inquire all day, but there was no news about the old man. When I gave up and prepared to go home in the middle of the night, I suddenly realized that what Fang Wanjin had said was that going far away was not the point, but buying enough things." At this point, Qin Yiheng tilted his head and looked at me seriously, and said, "My brain has never been free before, and I actually forgot such an important thing. Today is the day when Long Street opens!" After that, without waiting for me to ask, he started the car and set off.
He started driving very fast. The road leading from my house is very narrow, which is quite demanding. I didn't dare to ask him what Long Street is. I looked at the gas gauge and saw only half a tank of gas. I guessed he couldn't go far, so I didn't ask him. I thought I would ask him when we got there.
As expected, Qin Yiheng had no intention of leaving the city. He just drove around the city in a circle and then headed straight to the development zone at the west end of the city.
On the way, I was still thinking, after all, I have lived in this city for more than 20 years. Although I rarely drive myself, at least I have driven most of the roads. How come I have never heard of a place like Long Street? When I parked the car, I realized that the place we came to was not a street at all, but a very narrow alley, the kind that even cars cannot drive into, on the edge of the development zone, between two rows of farmers' self-built houses in the suburbs.
After we got off the car, Qin Yiheng didn't explain and just led me inside. There were already seven or eight people in the alley, all gathered together, and it was impossible to tell what they were watching from the outside.
We squeezed aside and stood still. Then I saw a long broken case in the middle. On the case were several bird cages. Each bird cage contained a wooden box, some large and some small.
The group of people gathered around were all pointing and talking, but no one touched it.
I was a little confused at first glance. Was this the legendary black market transaction? Were there any antiques or things stolen from ancient tombs? I did understand why this place was called Cage Street. Others bought things and gave plastic bags, but here they bought things and gave bird cages?
I wanted to ask Qin Yiheng something, but when he saw me about to speak, he motioned me to be quiet and handed me a cigarette, which was like shutting me up. Seeing him like this, I could only smoke and wait and see.
When the cigarette was almost finished, two more people squeezed in from outside the crowd. Both of them were fat and big-eared, one fatter than the other. They didn't open their mouths when they came in. The fatter one just stepped forward one by one, picked up the birdcage and shook it a few times, similar to the method used by old men who walk their birds in the park in the morning.
After he had shaken the bird cages one by one and put them away, he walked out of the crowd, leaving the other fat man behind. He looked around and cleared his throat.
The more I looked at it, the more interesting it seemed to me. I recognized the case with the bird cage. I had seen a treasure appraisal program on TV a while ago and learned that this thing was not a table, but a table used by scholars in ancient times to look at paintings. There was a bamboo bird cage on it, which was considered a traditional Chinese culture. Is this fat man clearing his throat to sing Peking opera? Are the people around him all amateurs?
Who knew that after the fat man cleared his throat, the people around the case all took several steps back. Qin Yiheng also pulled me and told me to step back together.
Then, the fat man standing in front of the case spoke up, pointing at the first bird cage and asking, "Is this one in there?"
Someone in the crowd responded immediately. The fat man nodded, gestured, and asked the person who responded to come out. The person came forward, picked up the birdcage, and followed the fat man to a self-built house with a separate courtyard behind him. After waiting for about ten minutes, the fat man came out again, still pointing at the second birdcage and asking: "Is this one in?"
This time, one person in the crowd responded and walked out, carrying the bird cage and following the fat man into the yard. After a while, the fat man came out again.
I was completely stunned. I took a closer look at the bird cages. They were not new. There was even a lot of bird droppings in several of them. The wooden boxes inside did not look new either. What was this thing for? What did the fat man say it was? It looked like an auction!
Qin Yiheng stared at the fat man intently. When the fat man opened his mouth to ask about the third bird cage, he directly responded with a "release", then stood out of the crowd and told me to follow the fat man carrying the bird cage into the yard.
After entering the yard, I realized that most of the yard was covered with sheds, and there were many bird cages inside, some of which were covered with red cloth. However, judging from the outline, they were also bird cages, countless. I didn't have time to look closely, and I don't know if there was a wooden box in every cage, anyway, wherever I looked, there was a wooden box inside. This place was getting more and more weird, like a flower, bird, fish and insect market, but the things inside didn't match at all.
There was no time to think about it. We walked through the yard and entered the house. The fatter man was sitting in the living room waiting for us. When he saw us come in, he nodded as a greeting and then took out a POS machine from the side. Qin Yiheng didn't hesitate and swiped the card.
I glanced at the amount displayed on the POS machine. It was quite a lot, tens of thousands. I thought to myself: "It's so damn expensive. Is Qin Yiheng here to gamble again?"
However, I couldn't ask in front of the two fat guys, so I could only wait for him to swipe the card and take me out of another door of the self-built house. Then I patted him on the shoulder and asked him what he was doing.
