Folklore and Strange Tales: At the Start, You Retrieve the Sea-Suppressing Black Iron

Chapter 85: The Standoff at Rongbaozhai, the Death Knell on the Copper Membrane

In the morning, on the second floor of Rongbaozhai, Glasses King put on white cotton gloves and placed a small white box in the center of the table.

Boss Lin sat opposite him, his silver ouroboros ring gleaming, while his secretary held a black leather briefcase, the corner of which pressed against his arm, not an inch away.

Cheng Xiaojin entered the room with his hands tucked into his sleeves.

The bespectacled man glanced at him. "Didn't you sleep last night?"

Cheng Xiaojin chuckled. "I'm asleep. In my dream, I was arguing with Yao Guangxiao, and the old monk said that after-sales service wasn't his responsibility."

The bespectacled man glanced at his cuffs. "Why are your hands hidden?"

"The craftsman's hands are dirty; I'm afraid they'll soil your mahogany table."

Mr. Lin picked up his teacup. "Mr. Cheng still knows how to joke."

Cheng Xiaojin sat down, Tong Kexin stood guard outside the door, and Tieguai Li approached the stairwell, his prosthetic leg landing very lightly.

There were Boss Lin's men at both ends of the corridor, dressed neatly, but their shoes were covered in dirt from the dark passageway.

Boss Lin put down his teacup.

"I've been thinking about what happened at Liulichang last night for a long time."

"Oh, so Boss Lin can actually think?"

The secretary's face darkened.

Boss Lin raised his hand and pressed him down.

"I'm not here to argue today."

"Then you'll come to burn incense? Rongbaozhai doesn't handle that; you'll have to go to Baiyun Temple."

The man with glasses coughed.

"Let's look at the things first."

When the small white box is opened, an extremely thin copper film lies on white velvet, with traces of dried gray water on the edges. When a small light shines on it, the engraved characters appear even darker than they did last night.

Boss Lin looked at the copper film.

"Mr. Wang already examined it last night."

King Glasses nodded.

"The wax seal is old, the copper film is old, the engravings are old, it was newly inserted that night, it's impossible."

Cheng Xiaojin said, "Things don't lie."

Boss Lin smiled.

"People will."

He took the envelope from his secretary and pushed it in front of Cheng Xiaojin.

The envelope contained a blank check.

"Mr. Cheng, please fill in the price. I need the coordinates of the seventh Yin Gate."

The bespectacled king looked up, and Tieguai Li was outside the door, holding the wrench in his other hand.

Tong Kexin looked in through the door frame; Cheng Xiaojin's hands were still inside her sleeves.

"Boss Lin, the shadow on the wall in Liulichang just bit your copper ruler, and the sleeve of the nose scar is still missing a piece."

Boss Lin said, "It's precisely because it can't be measured that I need you to tell me."

"If I told you, would you believe me?"

"If you want to live, you'll tell the truth."

Cheng Xiaojin looked at the check.

"Threatening me?"

"Buying and selling".

Boss Lin leaned back.

"The stalls in Panjiayuan, Master Ma's courtyard, the street near Huguosi, Mr. Cheng has a lot of people around him. You can keep it up once, but you can't keep it up ten times."

Tong Kexin's footsteps could be heard outside the door.

Cheng Xiaojin did not turn around.

"Boss lady, don't come in."

Tong Kexin stopped.

"He mentioned Huguo Temple."

"I heard you."

Cheng Xiaojin looked up.

"Boss Lin, someone died last night."

Mr. Lin's eyebrows twitched.

My condolences.

Cheng Xiaojin smiled briefly.

"Your name, like the ones sold wholesale at paper craft shops, are they sold in bundles, right?"

Boss Lin served tea.

"The dead cannot be brought back to life; the greater good must prevail."

"The bigger picture?"

Cheng Xiaojin took his hand out of his sleeve, his fingernails were bluish-black.

The bespectacled man frowned.

Cheng Xiaojin took out half a sheet of rubbing paper that Master Ma had copied and placed it on the mahogany table.

"Then let's talk about the big picture."

The secretary clutched her briefcase tightly.

Cheng Xiaojin pointed to the rubbing paper.

"The three guides return to the ruler, and the ruler returns to the living."

The man with glasses leaned forward to look.

Cheng Xiaojin continued reciting, "If the living do not move, the gates of the underworld will not open."

No one in the room interrupted.

"If the living are to be measured, the door will be locked from the inside."

The magnifying glass in the Glasses King's hand touched the edge of the teacup.

Is this sentence complete?

Cheng Xiaojin nodded.

"I solved this last night, Professor Wang. Could you tell me what it means?"

The man with glasses compared the copper film with the rubbing paper, and his breathing became heavier.

"The person who wrote this knew that the seventh thing could not be measured. The ruler is the guide, and the living person is the door bolt. Once the living person moves, the door will shut off."

Mr. Lin's teacup stopped in mid-air, and Cheng Xiaojin looked at him.

"Do you understand? What you paid for wasn't a key, it was a death warrant."

Boss Lin put down his teacup.

"Are you trying to scare me?"

"I'm poor, I can't afford such an expensive scare tactic."

Cheng Xiaojin pressed his palm against the edge of the coffee table.

"You want coordinates? I'll give you a starting point."

Tong Kexin called out anxiously from the doorway, "Cheng Xiaojin."

"Don't panic, I know what I'm doing."

His fingertips touched the tabletop, and Xin Jinqi walked a short distance along the old wood grain.

A soft rustling sound came from under the mahogany table.

The tea in front of Boss Lin developed grayish circles, which then receded inwards, leaving several crooked water droplets.

One.

three.

five.

The secretary's expression changed.

"Boss."

Boss Lin looked down at the cup, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.

Cheng Xiaojin withdrew his hand, his sleeve covering his fingertips. The hand inside trembled twice, and half of the blue color peeked out again.

The bespectacled man stared at the teacup.

"Cheng Xiaojin, you can't touch the old wood right now."

"Just touch it, so no one thinks a check can buy their life."

Boss Lin stopped smiling.

"Mr. Cheng, are you telling me you're useless?"

"I'm telling you, I'm so useful that you'd burn paper money just for touching me."

Cheng Xiaojin leaned forward.

"The group behind you wants to open the gates to the underworld, to find a place to live, and to use me as a living ruler."

"But if I don't move, the door won't open; if I do move, the door will lock from the inside."

He looked at Boss Lin's silver ring.

"Guess who, when the door is locked from the inside, locks the door on the person who has the ruler first, or on the person who handed it to you?"

Mr. Lin's eyes darkened, and Glasses King closed the small white box.

"Boss Lin, we can't force this. The copper foil and the rubbing paper can corroborate each other. Cheng Shouyi left this sentence because he must have foreseen the consequences."

Mr. Lin said, "Mr. Wang only cares about appraising objects, not about feng shui."

King Glasses took off his gloves.

"I don't care about feng shui, but I've seen old things rip people off. If something is this old and can still cause the copper foil to seep in, it can't be dismissed as just superstition."

Cheng Xiaojin retrieved the rubbing.

"Teacher Wang, I'm keeping the original copper foil here with you, so no one will accuse me of altering the text at night."

King Glasses nodded.

"Can."

Boss Lin suddenly smiled.

"Mr. Cheng, now that we've come this far, what do you want?"

Cheng Xiaojin said, "The third array diagram is shown."

Mr. Lin said, "I didn't."

"What you're saying is just like Fatty Sun saying he doesn't collect protection money—it sounds so cheerful."

"If I had it, why would I give it to you?"

"It's fine if you don't give it to me."

Cheng Xiaojin stood up.

"The third Zhenhai iron pile cannot be returned to its original position, the Panjiayuan water outlet continues to rot, and the water flows through wells, pipes, teapots, and cups."

"If Aunt Zhang died last night, you can bet on who will die tomorrow night."

Boss Lin stared at him. "Are you trying to blackmail me with a dead man?"

"You threaten me with living people, so I'll use dead people to reason with you. It's fair."

As Cheng Xiaojin lifted his foot to leave, the copper clasp in the red cloth bag pricked him again.

His peripheral vision fell on the bottom of the briefcase in his secretary's arms.

On the right side of the bottom of the bag, there is a piece of leather that is half a step lower. The old cowhide is worn shiny, and the shiny part is uneven, indicating that it has been pressed open many times.

Cheng Xiaojin stopped in his tracks, and Boss Lin looked at him.

"What's wrong?"

Cheng Xiaojin looked at his secretary.

The secretary's eye twitched.

Cheng Xiaojin laughed and said, "Boss Lin, you don't even know how many deadly talismans you're hiding in your own bag, yet you're eyeing Panjiayuan?"

Boss Lin's face darkened.

"What do you mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything."

Cheng Xiaojin pressed down on the ashtray through his clothes.

"Keep a close eye on your bag, lest one day when you open it, the first thing you find inside is one hundred and forty-seven."

After he finished speaking, he went out, and Tong Kexin immediately followed.

Tieguai Li walked at the back, his prosthetic leg dragging on the floor with a short thud.

At the corner of the stairs, the man with the nose scar stood against the wall, an unlit cigarette between his fingers, a piece of his sleeve missing, and his wrist bruised.

Cheng Xiaojin walked past him, and their eyes met briefly.

He tapped the stair railing with a cigarette butt.

a bit.

Two times.

The third time it stopped in mid-air.

Cheng Xiaojin didn't turn around, but simply raised his hand from inside his sleeve.

After leaving Rongbaozhai, Tong Kexin asked in a low voice, "What does he mean?"

Cheng Xiaojin said, "Tonight."

Tieguai Li asked, "Where?"

Cheng Xiaojin looked at the traffic at the street corner.

"Jianguomenwai Hotel, 13th floor, emergency exit."

Behind the window on the second floor of Rongbaozhai, Boss Lin stood up and stared at the briefcase in his secretary's arms.