It is no exaggeration to say that it is magnificent. Everywhere you look, it gives people a golden visual effect. But if you look closely, it is not difficult to find that the objects themselves are not all gold, silver, copper and iron, but the warm-toned lighting gives everything a dazzling feeling.
Why turn on the lights during the day? Probably because there are no windows in the house. Each window was hung with thick dark curtains, blocking out the natural light and leaving no mercy at all. They had a strange feeling: the windows - or rather the entire wall where the windows were located - were far away, as if the room shouldn't have such a small area that could be estimated from the outside. Besides, there were a lot of debris piled up here, so it should look smaller, but the two of them didn't feel that way at all. Rather, it is precisely because there are too many things piled up that people naturally think that the original space should be wider.
What are they? It's like a grocery store with everything. Valuable and worthless things, imaginable and unexpected things, were placed randomly on the table, on the shelf, or even thrown directly on the ground. The cheap ones are mostly small items. Bamboo pen holders, enamel cups, keychains, rusty birdcages, yellowed books... There are also strange things - almost rusty scales and weights. I don't know what the purpose of their presence here is. There is a lamp on the table that looks crystal clear, but it is easy to tell from the light and fluffy texture of the "crystal" that it is an imitation of celluloid, but the price may not be cheap because of the cost of craftsmanship. The sewing box next to it is wide open, as if it is not afraid of dust. Several silver needles of different heights were stuck on the needle inserts, and the thimble on the side looked like a gold ring under the light. These messy gadgets in such an environment actually give people the illusion of being worth a lot of money.
Radios, typewriters, telephones, and other items of some value were placed on the table on the other side of the table in a relatively uniform manner. There are also many more expensive things. There is a metal armillary sphere mounted high on the solid wood cabinet. I wonder if it can work. There is a pair of staggered stabbing swords from the West hanging on one wall. There is a shield with exquisite patterns in the center. They must have never been on the battlefield. Next to it are several tapestries, all in good order, with all kinds of fabrics. There are many paintings on the other wall, including landscapes, portraits, and still life paintings, including ink paintings, oil paints, and lead paintings. There is a floor-to-ceiling mirror against the wall, with an iron frame with patterns of vines and butterflies. All these are just things they can recognize. There are more things that they can't name, or have even never seen before, maybe they are foreign goods.
At first glance, everything seems messy, but after a second glance, it seems that it has its own way of displaying it, but passers-by can't tell the pattern. All of this is very novel to Wu Hui, just like entering a museum, but everything is close at hand. There are no cordons or glass covers. They are so boldly presented in front of tourists and displayed within easy reach. The place. There were some unfamiliar things that she wanted to touch, but she finally restrained her itchy hands. It's just that Mo Weiming felt uncomfortable all over. Every step he took felt like he was stepping on a nail board, and he felt uncomfortable everywhere.
"Look, there are so many strange things... What is this?"
Wu Hui finally couldn't help but pick up a glass stick at hand. It contained a fluorescent yellow liquid, possibly oily. There is a group of bubbles moving inside. If you stand the stick up, the bubbles will move to the top.
"Don't touch other people's things." Mo Weiming tried to stop him, but didn't dare to act rashly. "Be careful. This is a level, for measurement. How could there be such a thing..."
"Putting such a fragile thing next to the table means the host's family is very generous." Wu Hui shook his head, "But there are so many interesting things, many of which I have never seen before."
"I agree. They should be placed where they belong. The finished books should be put back on the bookshelf, the used pens should be put back into the pen holder, and the needlework should be placed in the sewing box. How on earth did the owner do that? Everything is exactly where it shouldn't be? I don't understand. It's not a good place to work, and it's not a good place to live."
Mo Weiming finally found the pattern of their placement - there was no pattern. That is to perfectly avoid their correct destination. He felt that he was suffering from an occupational disease, and all this made him feel inexplicably uncomfortable, but Wu Hui, who was in high spirits, did not notice his abnormality. While he was complaining, Wu Hui had already walked a few meters away and came to a grandfather clock.
When you get close to this clock, you can smell a light woody fragrance. Wu Hui didn't understand this, she just thought it smelled very good. The edges and corners of the clock are wrapped in gilt lines, making it look like a foreign product. It's still working, and the pendulum never stops for a moment. Looking up, the pointer on the dial stopped halfway past eleven.
Just when Wu Hui was about to take the watch to confirm, a black figure flashed from behind the grandfather clock.
"ah!"
"ah!"
The black shadow was frightened by Wu Hui's exclamation, and he also heard one right after. Mo Weiming in the rear seemed to have become a double victim, and his trembling almost caused his glasses to fall off. He pushed his glasses back on the bridge of his nose in embarrassment and said in a rare and reproachful tone:
"I don't have a heart disease but I still want to scare you... huh?"
Mo Weiming walked up, and the two of them stared side by side at the little guy who suddenly appeared. Wu Hui actually felt a little sorry for scaring the other person. After all, looking at the other party's posture, I'm afraid it's not for the purpose of scaring her.
Wu Hui sighed silently in her heart that there would be a child here. Is she an adult? Definitely not. He looked to be only eleven or twelve years old, maybe younger. Compared to the environment here, she looks very ordinary. Her long black hair is tied low and her clothes are dark. Coupled with her somewhat gloomy and timid face, she looked out of place in the entire environment.
"There are still living things here..."
Mo Weiming shouted in a low voice, but was poked by Wu Hui's elbow.
Wu Hui asked: "Are you the owner of this place?"
Before the little girl could speak, Mo Weiming looked at her with a strange look and said quietly: "What do you think?"
"Yeah, too. There should be an adult here, right?"
The girl was silent. It is not difficult to see some unspeakable rejection and vigilance from her expression. She took two steps back and quickly hid behind the clock, never to be seen again. This kid is too timid. Wu Hui reached out and touched it, and then realized that the dark brown "wallpaper" behind the grandfather clock was not wallpaper, but a curtain, and the little girl must have hidden behind it. She tried to lift the heavy curtain, and as soon as she saw a corner of the inner space, she heard a strange voice:
"Ah - there are some."
She let go of her hand, turned around with Mo Weiming, and saw a tall man. If it weren't for the fact that the voice just now was indeed male, they would have mistaken it for a female - his hair was too long. These days, not many men have such long hair that reaches their waist, or even just let it down. He wore an ocher-colored mandarin jacket with a stand-up collar and embroidered silver edges, which was clean. On the smooth fabric, there were dark lines of sudden laughter, and dim golden reflections appeared with his movements. It is worth noting that he wears a gold-wired monocle on his right eye. Foreigners have deep eye sockets that can hold lenses. How did he manage to wear that imported product on his face... Wu Hui was very curious.
"I'm sorry, our store just sent off a guest, leaving some aftermath matters that haven't been dealt with yet. I apologize for the poor reception. So, what is the purpose of your visit to our store... ah , I forgot to introduce myself. I am the store manager of 'Eclipse', you can just call me Storekeeper Shi."
He went straight to the point and got to the point. Wu Hui and Mo Weiming looked at each other. It was Mo Weiming who made a gesture of invitation, indicating her intention to come in person.
"We were introduced by Qiwen," Wu Hui said, "Ouyang Qiwen. You should know him. He said just give him his name. It sounds like you two are old friends?"
"Oh - Ouch! Ouyang."
The two of them clearly felt that Shopkeeper Shi's tone had relaxed and his movements were much more casual. He no longer straightened his back, casually picked up the tea needle at hand and started playing with it. He said while playing with it:
"So we can't talk, but he is indeed an old customer of mine. He did tell me on the phone a long time ago that he introduced a friend. But it's not convenient to say it on the phone. I just know that you need to appraise the treasure, right? But I don’t know what kind of treasure it is? Have you brought it? I’ll help you two take a look.”
"I brought it."
Wu Hui took out the beads from his pocket. Shopkeeper Shi really didn't expect that something she had preset as a treasure would just be put in her pocket casually. Mo Weiming saw the awkward smile on his lips, but it was fleeting. So far, he doesn't have much favorable impressions of this careless shop owner. Of course, the main reason is that the furnishings here are too messy.
"Yo……"
His tone was subtle, but the two of them couldn't figure out for a while whether this was the inherent showoff of a businessman. Shopkeeper Shi carefully took the beads and greeted:
"Can you two please come with me?"
Not that far, Shopkeeper Shi just opened the curtain on the other side. With a swipe, a small office space appeared in front of the three of them. Wuhui realized that the part he had just caught a glimpse of was the residual light from the table lamp here. The two spaces should be connected but obscured by other debris. On the tall solid wood table covered with thick glass, there is a dazzling array of tools, which are very delicate and very messy. He walked around to sit down behind the desk, randomly pulled out a small red cushion from the drawer, and placed it under the green glass desk lamp that was always on. The round beads were placed on the mat, and he observed them carefully with a magnifying glass.
However, the two of them didn't pay much attention to his actions. All their attention was attracted by the wall behind Shopkeeper Shi. There are all kinds of dials hanging on the walls, which is dazzling to see. The shapes are round, rectangular, rhombus, polygonal, and irregular; the colors are gold, silver, red, blue, and black and white; the time is represented by numbers from all over the country, and some are They are symbols with unknown meanings, and some even have only twelve lines or dots. What's even stranger is that on each dial, the time pointed by the hands is different, and the moving speed of the hands is also different. What surprised Wu Hui the most was that she noticed that the hands of a watch moved backwards.
But Mo Weiming felt anxious. He knew exactly what was causing the strangeness—a disorderly ticking sound. His previous attention was not here, not to mention the thick curtain blocking his attention. Now, these ticking sounds that cannot be ignored are like a chaotic symphony, and every note falls on his sensitive nerves. He mechanically adjusted his collar, fiddled with his cuffs, and rubbed his hands again, over and over again.
Fortunately, Shopkeeper Shi's voice quickly pulled him down from the peak of his obsessive-compulsive disorder.
"This is... a clam."
"In the name of the river "Sujiang" that appears at the beginning of this chapter, the pronunciation of "Su" is xiu, which is the same as "xiu", and the compound word can be Xingxiu. Many readers may have noticed that the place names appearing in the Zimo volume are similar to Other exclusive nouns all contain astronomical elements."