168. A Brick with a Story (most chapters)
In Ding Qi's soul, he seemed to hear the bronze ancient sword crying softly. The shop owner was a little surprised. The customer was so weird that he said he was identifying things, but he closed his eyes and didn't speak for a long time. The boss finally couldn't help but speak, "Sir, what's wrong with you? Should you buy it or not?"
In such an occasion, Ding Qi could not concentrate on his concentration and sense it. He just felt it roughly. He opened his eyes and said, "How about a thousand dollars?"
The boss said dissatisfiedly: "You are kidding! I just said that the minimum is 3,000. If the minimum is minus, I will have to discount the book."
"Didn't this sword be collected by you for 500 yuan last year? Why did you lose money if you lose 3,000 yuan? I said Wang Wentong, what's going on today? It doesn't look like doing business well at all!" Another voice came from outside the door. He turned his head and saw that it was Guo Yi, the head of the Joint Defense Office of Public Security just now.
Guo Yi was very angry. When he was on duty today, he happened to meet Li Pin, the leader who also worked in the political and legal system. He accompanied Section Chief Li to visit the shop, but he met an unlucky boss like Wang Wentong. After seeing Section Chief Li away, Guo Yi came back and wanted to ask Boss Wang what it meant today. He happened to see someone wanting to buy that sword again.
Guo Yi is just a grassroots police officer. Although he is not a big official, he has many things in charge in this market and is very well-informed. The antique market has always been mixed, and he turns a blind eye to many things because he really can't control it and can't offend too many people.
Guo Yi happened to have heard of Boss Wang's incident of spending 500 yuan to collect a bronze sword from the worker who buried the water pipe. He just told it out loud at this moment, which is also a search for bad luck.
Boss Wang smiled bitterly and said, "Director Guo, you saw it just now. It was obvious that two guests were angry. When I opened the door to do business, it was hard for me to offend anyone, so I was in a dilemma..."
Guo Yi: "I won't talk about it just now, I will talk about what's going on with your sword now? Is there any problem with the origin?"
Boss Wang quickly explained: "There is no problem with the origin. I just spent 500 yuan to collect it. Didn't Director Guo know? As for how they came from, we don't know the rules of our antiques business."
Guo Yi: "Is this a cultural relic? Does the public sale conform to national regulations? Do you need to check it carefully?"
Boss Wang stepped forward and bowed and said, "This is a modern imitation, not a real antique, how can I receive real things?"
This is a standard jargon in contemporary antique shops. Selling fakes as genuine products to customers is considered a skill, but when encountering official inspections or someone seeks fault, such as cultural relics with problems with their origins, the boss will say that this is a modern imitation of handicraft. Anyway, he just collects the fakes as real products, and he is not a professional appraiser, but he can't tell them.
Ding Qi, who was standing beside him, smiled and held the sword: "Are modern imitation crafts? Then you are so expensive!"
Boss Wang: "Although I collected it for 500 yuan, I have rent, water, electricity, market management fees, and my own labor. These are all money. If you really like it, give me another price."
After all, the deal was 1,500 yuan. Business people would observe their words and expressions. Just now, Boss Wang saw Ding Qi tragically holding the sword and hadn't let it go for so long, and it was obvious that he had already taken a fancy to it. Usually, in this case, he would probably buy it. So he had already planned to kill 3,000 yuan and not reduce the price. Unexpectedly, Guo Yi found a fault, but he still sold it in half.
Ding Qi paid for the phone and handed the sword to the boss and said, "Pack it for me." Then he pointed to the two ancient bricks on the shelf and said, "Bundle the sword rack together."
The boss was stunned: "You want to take those two bricks away?"
Before Ding Qi could speak, Guo Yi shouted again: "Nonsense! There are more than one sword sellers in this market. Who sells things? They don't sell them together with racks? You just said that these two bricks are racks that put swords on them. If the swords are sold, of course they have to be packaged with others."
Ding Qi smiled and said, "This Director Guo is right. It's true that this is the truth. Give me the sword frame together."
Boss Wang: "But these two bricks..." At this point, he suddenly stopped his voice because he saw Ding Qi's eyes.
Ding Qi turned his back to Guo Yi, looking straight into Boss Wang's eyes, and the smile on his face had already faded away, and it seemed extremely cold. Boss Wang had never seen this kind of look before, as if he could see through the depths of his soul, which made people feel unconcealable, and his mind was dazed, as if he had lost his mind, as if he was instantly hypnotized.
Ding Qi said slowly: "The customer just now won't come to buy these two bricks again, nor will he go to your store to buy things..."
Boss Wang knew what these two bricks were from, and it was not a rare object. At worst, he could just pick them up. The real problem was his shop and the customer just now. At this moment, Ding Qi paused, and Boss Wang suddenly came to his senses, feeling like a drowning person finally rushing ashore, and was already sweating.
He waved his hand immediately and said, "Why do you say so much? I'll just wrap the things for you."
The two bricks that were not sold for 2,000 yuan were given to Ding Qi for free as a sword frame. The ancient sword was too long and wrapped in a long strip of cardboard shell. The bricks were too heavy. I found a nylon bag to carry them. Ding Qi took the things and left the Xinshikou Antique Market with his things.
Dinner was made by Xian Hao, and Ding Qi ate ready-made. At dinner time, Zhu Shanxian also came back. Ding Qi put the bought ancient sword and two bricks on the table. The two introduced Xian Hao about the day. Ding Qi asked again: "District Director Zhu, are that Section Chief Zhang and Director Guo both yours? They cooperated well and their acting skills are good!"
Zhu Shanxian replied: "I am a native of Jinghu. I have lived here for more than 40 years and worked for twenty years. How could I not have a group of trustworthy people? Even if it has nothing to do with the eight major gates of the world, it is okay to ask anyone to do something. Li Pin is indeed my person, but I don't know Director Guo, it's just a coincidence."
Xian Hao asked Ding Qi again, "You accompany Brother Zhu to block Zhang Wangxiong, go to the antique market and buy swords back, why do you need to get these two bricks back? There are still many things on the mountain... Do you see that they are fighting in the store and want to take advantage of it?"
Ding Qi explained: "That's not, it's just because these two bricks have stories."
Zhu Shanxian: "Story, what story?"
Ding Qi answered the question as if he was illusory: "Senior Brother Zhu, you infer that Zhang Wangxiong is looking for special objects and using the methods of the Cemen to assist in the cultivation of the soul sensing, trying to make the Juemen Qi-seeing Technique a higher level. I have some research on the Essence of the Cemen Microscience, and you have taught me the Juemen Qi-seeing Technique, so I want to try it too.
I entered that shop today and I felt it. I seemed to hear the sword crying, and then I seemed to see its experience, but the sense was not very clear... What surprised me even more was that these two bricks actually had stories. When I sensed it carefully, it was like reading the stories that happened to them. It was very clear, so I brought them back too."
Xian Hao frowned and said, "There are bricks with stories? You and I have been to Huangzi Mountain. These two bricks should be on the mountain at that time. Why didn't you find them? There are so many bricks on the mountain, and they all have stories? You have to move them back to see them, or just go to Huangzi Mountain to read the story carefully?"
Ding Qi sighed: "It is a mountain with stories, a tower with stories, a world with stories, and a brick with stories all over the ground. But these two bricks are different. I should have seen them at that time, but after they went down the mountain and walked into the world, they felt that they had changed. They could really read stories from them, which was different from other bricks on the mountain."
Zhu Shanxian said curiously: "What story did they tell you?"
Ding Qi shook his head and said, "It's not that they are telling stories, but if you sense carefully, you can see, hear, or feel the stories that are happening to them, it seems that the objects have spirituality.
When A Quan introduced the Enwei Art, he once said that after practicing, the things in his hands seem to become living, and they can speak. It is not that things can speak, but that people can feel it. The Juemen Qi-seeing technique practiced by Brother Zhu is originally a living thing, mainly looking at people. But what if it is used to observe everything in this world?
Junior Sister Xian, when you were on Huangzi Mountain, you mentioned that primitive shamans and all things have spirits. Everything in this world has its own spirit, including every brick on that mountain, but how can we discover it? Or how can an object have special spirituality? Actually, I can't explain it clearly, but today I suddenly feel it.
This is a sword that can cry, and these two bricks gave me the feeling that they could walk after growing their feet. I saw the path they walked and even sensed what happened around them, so I said that they were bricks with stories…”
The bricks have no long legs, so how could they walk? When Ding Qi saw these two bricks, a heart plate appeared in his soul for no reason, including the location and route. Starting from Huangzi Mountain, the two bricks were taken down and sent to the antique shop called Wuhuatang.
The boss specially put the two bricks on the shelves, and in order to cover up, he set up a rusty copper sword. Later, Zhang Wangxiong came and wanted to buy these two bricks, and then a series of disputes occurred around the two bricks. If the bricks were spiritual and could tell their own experiences, this was a bizarre story.
Zhu Shanxian said laughing and crying: "This is not that there is a story on the brick, but that there is a story on Teacher Ding. You know clearly what these two bricks have experienced, so you have this feeling."
Ding Qi: "It's true, but it is really what I sensed from these two bricks."
Xian Hao: "Will it just be a psychological hint? Because you hypnotized yourself by these two bricks?"
Ding Qi did not refute, but just nodded and said, "It is indeed possible, but the artifacts can produce psychological hints to people, which is worth studying. Do you still remember the double-blind test A Quan conducted? You can take one piece back and sense it well.
Senior Brother Zhu, you should not know the details on Huang Zishan. Junior Sister Xian, you should not know the details of the antique market. If you can all sense clearly and match the facts, it will prove that these two bricks are indeed spiritual, from bricks with stories to bricks with stories.
I am still thinking about another question now, where does the so-called spirituality of the object come from? It is obtained from the world, created by the environment, or simply given by people? For example, we have been sacrificing the Stone of the Scenery, but why can we give it the wonderful use of opening the portal of the outside world..."
Zhu Shanxian nodded and said, "Okay, then Master Xian and I will take a brick to study it carefully. What about you?"
Ding Qi: "I will study this sword carefully."
Xian Hao: "Don't worry, have a meal first."
Chapter completed!