Takeda Mayumi still didn’t quite understand what Chang Sheng meant, “What’s the purpose of doing this?”
"To avoid suspicion," Changsheng said, "I will try to find someone to open this hairpin. If the map inside is useful to you and does no harm to the Tang Dynasty, then I will put it back intact. If the map inside will harm the Tang Dynasty, Don, I will try to change it."
Chang Sheng paused for a moment before speaking again, "That Iga Mitsuko who is in the prison has probably seen the map in the hairpin. If you rescue her, get her to a safe place, and take a closer look, she will You will find that the map has been altered."
"I understand what you mean," Mayumi Takeda suddenly realized. "You wanted her to open the hairpin with her own hands, but you gave them the map before she had time to examine it carefully, thereby misleading them. And I have not touched that map, even if one day If they find out the map is wrong, they won’t implicate me.”
Takeda Mayumi called the other envoys to the Tang Dynasty "them" instead of "us", which made Chang Sheng feel happy, "Yes, according to my speculation, the map hidden in this hairpin is likely to be the hiding place of something that Japan wants to steal from the Tang Dynasty. .”
"I believe you and agree with your approach," Takeda Mayumi said with a tangled face, "But they are my tribe after all..."
Before Takeda Mayumi could finish speaking, Chang Sheng interrupted her, "Don't worry, I will let them work in vain at most, and I will never let them fly into the flames."
"Okay." Takeda Mayumi was relieved.
"Time is tight, you go back first," Changsheng said, "No matter whether I open the hairpin or not, I will put the hairpin under the locust tree before the third quarter of the night."
Takeda Mayumi followed Chang Sheng away from the table and walked towards the door, "The Iga family's mechanism technique is famous in Japan. If you fail to open the hairpin, how will you deal with it?"
Changsheng thought for a while and said, "At the fourth watch, I will send a female agent over. This person is a nun. She uses the Hanyue Sword that I used before. It is easy to identify. If she nods slightly at you, she will It means that I have opened the hairpin. If she shakes her head slightly at you, it means that I have not opened the hairpin. No matter what the situation is, you should not hand the hairpin to Iga Mitsuko with your own hands. The other two envoys to the Tang Dynasty will give the hairpin to Iga Mitsuko and open it, then the female detective will try to snatch the map."
"Okay," Takeda Mayumi nodded, "No matter what the outcome is, I have to leave in the middle of the night today."
"You know where I live. I will definitely not leave Chang'an within half a year. If you have anything, you can come to Chang'an to find me at any time," Changsheng said. "Even if I leave Chang'an, I will still be on the beam of my current residence." Carve my whereabouts.”
Takeda Mayumi nodded heavily.
Time was running out, and there was no room for the two of them to say goodbye. Chang Sheng reached out and opened the door, and went downstairs with Mayumi Takeda.
After going downstairs, the two of them headed southwest. Takeda Mayumi returned to his hiding place, while Chang Sheng took the hairpin directly to the Taiping Inn.
The Tian Ping Inn is a pawn shop, and the six shopkeepers are able to appraise all kinds of strange and strange objects. You cannot do this without being well-informed.
Since it was already night, only Song Cai, the shopkeeper on the third floor of the Taiping Inn, was on duty for the night. After Changsheng arrived, he found Song Cai and got straight to the point, "Does our Taiping Inn have anyone who is good at creating objects?"
Chang Sheng suddenly asked the question, and Song Cai was a little confused, but he did not ask back, "When I return to my employer, I have a little knowledge of mechanical artifacts. I am the one who identifies and appraises any artifacts with strange skills and ingenuity."
Changsheng was overjoyed when he heard this. He didn't want too many people to know about it. Since Song Cai was involved in the creation of the agency, there was no need to alert other shopkeepers.
Changsheng took out the hairpin from his arms and handed it to Song Cai, "Shopkeeper Song, look at this hairpin."
Song Cai took the hairpin with both hands, frowned and looked at it close to the light, "My boss, if I'm not mistaken, this hairpin should have been made by the Iga family of Japan."
Seeing that Song Cai was very familiar with hairpins, Changsheng was even more happy, "Shopkeeper Song is really a sharp eye, can you open this hairpin?"
Song Cai did not answer immediately, but walked to the door and bolted it, then returned to the table and lit two more oil lamps. He looked back and forth with the bright firelight. After looking at it, he put it close to his ear and shook it slightly, and then leaned in again. Go to your nose and smell deeply.
Seeing Song Cai's brows furrowed, Changsheng was very nervous, "How?"
Song Cai spoke up and said, "Back to my boss, this hairpin has four layers. The outer layer is this thin layer of silver skin, which plays a decorative role. The second layer is a thin iron sheet. The iron blocks Yin and Yang. The second layer is made of iron sheet. It is designed to prevent the spiritual energy perception of purple energy masters. The third layer must be phosphorus stone powder. The phosphorus stone burns when exposed to the wind. It is designed to prevent someone from forcibly destroying the hairpin. The innermost layer is hollow and is used to store important letters. If If there is a mistake in the order of opening, the phosphorite powder will be mixed with the letter, and the moment the hairpin is opened, the letter will be burned."
"You're right, can it be opened safely?" Changsheng asked.
"No," Song Cai pointed at the hairpin and said, "The Taiping Inn has only received one similar utensil over the years. This is the second one. The other one was opened by my father and his old boss together. Now my father has passed away. The old club is not in the city either.”
Changsheng was disappointed when he heard this, "Since you can explain the origin of this thing in one sentence, you must also know something about it."
Song Cai shook his head and said, "I only heard my father talk about this kind of artifact from the Japanese country, but I have never seen it with my own eyes before."
Seeing that Song Cai couldn't open it, Changsheng could only think of another way, "Do you know anyone in Chang'an who can open this hairpin?"
"As far as I know, there is none," Song Cai shook his head and said, "The art of mechanism comes from the Mohist school. The Mohist school is the first in the art of creating organs in the world. The art of creation of the Iga family of the Japanese country was also brought back to the Japanese country after they sent envoys from the Tang Dynasty to learn the art from the Mohist school. It's a pity. The Mo family is not prosperous and is far away in Yuzhou. Seeing how anxious our employer is, we must not have time to go to Yuzhou to find the Mo family."
Changsheng frowned when he heard this. In fact, the second brother, Li Zhongyong, was also very good at the art of mechanism creation, but Li Zhongyong was far away in Jiangbei and had no time to go for help.
Song Cai guessed from Chang Sheng's solemn expression that the contents of the hairpin were very important to him, but he was indeed not sure about opening the hairpin safely. Even if he wanted to share the Lord's worries, he was unable to do so.
Time was running out, and Changsheng didn't care about being frustrated and lost. Instead, he was thinking anxiously in his mind. After a moment, he suddenly remembered something, "Where is the hairpin from before?"
"It's not in the warehouse's account," Song Cai shook his head and said, "This kind of hairpin is made of crude materials. Although it is rare, it is not valuable. It has not even been recorded in the account. I only heard it mentioned by my late father."
"Did you just say that your father and your old club opened the hairpin together?" Changsheng asked.
Song Cai nodded.
"The old club you are talking about refers to Mr. Ni?" Changsheng asked.
Song Cai nodded again.
"Is it possible that the hairpin from before was taken away by Master Ni?" Changsheng asked again.
"There is a possibility that my old club likes to collect such things." Song Cai said.
Changsheng once again had hope in his heart. On that day, he was invited by Ni Zuo to go to the study room in the west courtyard to observe the relics left by the beggar who came from a thousand years later. There were a large number of wooden shelves in Ni Zuo's study room, and the wooden shelves were all covered with storage wood. box.
"If you find the hairpin from before, can you open the one in front of you?" Changsheng asked.
Song Cai did not answer immediately. He pondered for a moment before slowly nodding, "It should be okay."
"Let's go, follow me to Ni Mansion." Changsheng put away the hairpin, left his seat and stood up.
Song Cai followed.
After leaving the Taiping Inn, Changsheng walked quickly, followed closely by Song Cai. He also had spiritual energy cultivation, and it was not low. The reason why he lit the oil lamp before was just to see more clearly, not because he could not see at night.
Although Ni Zhuo moved away with his family, all the servants and servants in the mansion stayed. Everyone knew that Chang Sheng was Ni Zhuo's son-in-law. When they saw him and Song Cai arriving, they hurriedly opened the door to let them in.
What Ling Changsheng didn't expect was that there were two agents from the Yushitai patrolling the Ni Mansion at night. After asking, he found out that they were both sent by Datou. Previously, he had asked Datou to be in charge of the Ni family's business. The house was also the property of the Ni family. Datou didn't think it through and was worried about attracting thieves, so he sent a policeman to guard it at night.
Changsheng took Song Cai directly to the west courtyard. The west courtyard has the main house and the east and west wings. When he came last time, a dark-skinned female Kunlun slave lived in the east wing, while a blond foreigner lived in the west wing. Both of them followed the Ni family to the Western Region. At this time, the entire Western Courtyard was dark.
Changsheng looked around and found that all the rooms were locked. Even the main room, which was originally unlocked, was locked. The key should be in the hall, but Changsheng was too lazy to go and look for it. He just broke the lock and pushed the door open.
Some of the drawers in the main room were opened. It was not that thieves were invited, but that some of them were taken away by Ni Tuo. What was placed in which drawer of the wooden frame was recorded in the ledger. At this time, the ledger was placed on the table. .
Song Cai must have never been to this place, but he knew the rules very well and did not look around or walk around. After entering, he stopped at the door and lowered his eyebrows.
There were two braziers in the house. After Changsheng lit the braziers, he went straight to the table and quickly looked through the account books on the table. His guess was right. Ni Zhuo had indeed taken some things from the house. Whatever he took away would be listed in the directory. Write one stroke horizontally.
The account book was compiled based on the morning and evening of the collection date. The previous hairpin was collected earlier, and I only turned two pages before I saw the "Iga Hairpin."
Changsheng found the drawer containing Iga's hairpin according to the specific location marked on the ledger, and opened the drawer. As expected, there was a hairpin exactly like the one in his hand, except that the hairpin in the drawer at this time was It's divided into two.
Unexpectedly, there is a detailed explanation in the drawer, including who made the hairpin, what is so magical about it, and the detailed assembly and disassembly methods.
With this detailed explanation, even without Song Cai, Changsheng was 70% sure of dismantling the hairpin. However, he did not take risks and instead called Song Cai over. The two of them deliberated together based on the detailed explanation written by Ni Zhuo back then.
After a while, he opened the hairpin without any risk, and sure enough, there was a thin roll of silk hidden inside.
After opening the hairpin, Song Cai immediately turned around and walked towards the door, "My boss, I'll wait for you outside the door."
"It's okay, you don't have to avoid suspicion." Chang Sheng persuaded him to stay.
Even though Chang Sheng tried to persuade him to stay, Song Cai still walked out of the study.
Changsheng carefully unfolded the roll of silk, and the first thing that caught his eye was a row of small characters. What he didn't expect was that these small characters were not Japanese characters, nor the regular script commonly used in the Tang Dynasty, but the small seal script of the Qin Dynasty.
He can also read Xiaozhuan, but he needs to read it carefully.
When he saw the row of small seal characters clearly, Changsheng took a breath of cold air. This row of small seal characters turned out to be "Kyuzhou Dragon Vein Continuation Map..."
