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

Chapter 66: The Half-Sheet of Rubbing Paper Wasn't Lost After All

The words "half a paper box" caught Cheng Xiaojin's eye, and he almost slammed the ashtray back onto Boss Lin's face.

He held back.

Not only did he hold back, but he also casually pressed the black grime back down, as if he found it dirty.

"Mr. Lin, you need to wash this ashtray. The bottom is all crusted over. If you leave it for another two years, it might hatch into a baby ashtray."

Boss Lin stared at his hand.

"What did you see?"

"We have witnessed the fine tradition of being diligent and thrifty in managing a household."

Cheng Xiaojin threw the handkerchief back onto the table.

"My dad didn't smoke back then, but you've turned his ashtray up like this. What, is the Ouroboros organization holding meetings with no ventilation?"

Boss Lin was not led astray by him.

He moved his hand away from the teacup, and the ouroboros ring spun halfway around under the lamplight.

"Boss Cheng, your father left behind more than just old feelings."

Cheng Xiaojin looked up at him.

"So you didn't notice it back then?"

For the first time, Boss Lin's expression changed.

It was so short that the secretary didn't even notice, but Cheng Xiaojin saw it, and he felt a little more at ease.

Boss Lin pressed the ashtray down on him, trying to make him panic and admit that he lacked clues about his father. But what the other man didn't know was that he hadn't discovered the words Cheng Shouyi had actually left at the bottom of the ashtray for twenty years.

Half a paper box waist.

Half a sheet of rubbing paper is on the waist of the box.

It's not the bottom of the box, nor the most common false bottom in the wooden box's interlayer; it's the hidden tenon joint on the box wall's waistline.

Grandpa Cheng Yannian was skilled in woodworking with mortise and tenon joints. When he was a child, he repaired wooden boxes. With a carving knife, he could glue two layers of wood veneer together so tightly that there was no seam. Cheng Shou stuffed half a sheet of damp paper into the interlayer of the wooden box. Grandpa must have done it again later.

No wonder no one has been able to find it for so many years.

Cheng Xiaojin remembered the old wooden box in the hidden compartment of Master Ma's rosewood bookcase.

Previously, everyone was focused on the bottom, and no one tried to pry open the middle section.

Boss Lin was still looking at him.

"What are you laughing at?"

Cheng Xiaojin touched the corner of his mouth.

Did I laugh?

You just laughed.

"That might be a poor person seeing their father's belongings and wondering if they can cover the rent—it's an occupational hazard."

The secretary frowned.

"Cheng Xiaojin, stop beating around the bush."

Cheng Xiaojin looked at his secretary.

"Secretary, stop calling me by my full name. We're not that close. If you keep calling me that, I'll think you're from the market management office here to collect stall fees."

The secretary was speechless, and Boss Lin tapped the table.

"Boss Cheng, I can give you the ashtray."

Cheng Xiaojin raised his eyelids slightly.

"Give?"

"Sell."

"That's more like it."

Cheng Xiaojin leaned back in his chair.

"I just thought Mr. Lin had a change of heart and was preparing a program to reunite lost children. Selling is fine, but the price needs to be clearly negotiated."

Boss Lin looked at him.

Name your price.

"The ashtray body is two hundred and fifty."

Cheng Xiaojin counted on his fingers.

"You're asking for compensation for emotional distress over my father's belongings, plus the twenty years of safekeeping fees offsetting the depreciation of our kinship, and then there's the fact that Tiechi scared me by spitting water just now. You're asking me to pay you 30,000."

The secretary stepped forward in anger.

"You want more money?"

Cheng Xiaojin pointed to the carpet.

"Just now, an old man in front of me was shouting about water tanks and selling girls. It chilled me to the bone. Do you understand psychological trauma? I'm being polite by not asking Boss Lin to reimburse me for the braised pork."

Mr. Lin ignored his secretary and leaned back.

"I can give you the ashtray, and I can also lend you the third array diagram."

Cheng Xiaojin didn't respond to the banter this time. The tea smell in the private room had faded, and the smell of ash water rose from the carpet again.

Boss Lin continued to push the conversation forward.

"Before the full moon, you need the third array diagram to guide the return of the pillars. The water outlet at Panjiayuan is under pressure, and the original pillar positions throughout the city have been destroyed. Without the array diagram to guide them, you won't be able to find the right spot."

Cheng Xiaojin picked up the teacup; the tea was already ice-cold.

He held the cup but didn't drink it.

Boss Lin continued, "I'll give you the array diagram. Whether it's a stick of incense or an hour, we can discuss it. The condition remains the same: take me to the seventh point."

Cheng Xiaojin put down the teacup.

"You call this a loan?"

"Give it back to me when you're done."

"Then I'll take you to Liulichang so you can take the third piece of the compass needle to measure the seventh piece?"

Boss Lin's eyelids twitched.

Cheng Xiaojin looked at him.

"Mr. Lin, we're both adults. Don't try to take advantage of me. The third incident is the third incident, and the seventh incident is the seventh incident. If you use the wrong key to open someone else's door and something jumps out, who's responsible?"

Mr. Lin said, "You know there was a problem with the seventh case."

Cheng Xiaojin grinned.

"BJ is such a big city, what isn't a problem? The stall fees at Panjiayuan go up every year, the braised soup at Huguosi Temple gets weaker and weaker, and the barriers to entry for selling paper at Liulichang are high. These are all problems."

"Boss Cheng."

Mr. Lin pressed his finger against the ring.

"Your father said back then that the seventh spot was loose, and twenty years later, your grandfather wrote on the map that this spot had been moved. Do you think I didn't know?"

Cheng Xiaojin stopped laughing. The light in the private room shone on the corner of the ashtray, making it appear dark and bronze.

Boss Lin is much more difficult to deal with than Fatty Sun.

Sun Pangzi is greedy, and greed leaves room for error. Boss Lin knows when to stop, when to wait, when to use old things to pressure people, and when to use real information to coerce them.

But he didn't know that half a paper box was enough.

Cheng Xiaojin picked up the ashtray and weighed it in his hand.

"Mr. Lin, are the things mine?"

"You agreed to lead the way."

"I promise to consider it."

The secretary couldn't help but sneer.

"You think this is haggling at a farmers market?"

Cheng Xiaojin glanced at him.

"Even in the wet market, you have to inspect the goods before you pay. But here, you're making me work like a slave with an ashtray. Even capitalists can't cut corners like this."

He put the ashtray back on the table.

"I will verify the formation diagram first. After verifying its authenticity, we can discuss leading the way. For the seventh point, I can show you the outer perimeter. As for whether to touch it and how to touch it, that will be done according to my rules."

Boss Lin's gaze swept over.

"Your rules?"

"Old BJ's rules."

Cheng Xiaojin pointed to the door.

"First, you're not carrying a gun. I'll pretend I didn't see that thing your man had sticking out halfway. Liulichang isn't like your Nanyang port, where even dogs recognize their neighbors at night. If a gun goes off, half the old men and women on the street will come out with their stools to watch. You won't even be able to run away properly."

"Second, don't get out of bed."

Third, do not touch anything in the stationery and general store.

The secretary said coldly, "Then what are we going to do?"

"look."

Cheng Xiaojin said.

"If you want the seventh item, I'll show you the entrance. I charge for showing the entrance, but don't think it's expensive. That's how it is at tourist attractions in Beijing."

Mr. Lin put the lid of the teacup down.

"You're afraid of the seventh one."

"I'm afraid of many things."

Cheng Xiaojin told him the story.

"I'm afraid of ghosts, afraid of being poor, afraid of Tong Kexin's braised dishes, afraid of Master Ma hitting me on the head with the lid of his teacup, afraid that my hands will be ruined and I'll only be able to work as a screen protector installer on the overpass. Mr. Lin, it's not shameful to be afraid, it's shameful to be afraid and still rush in."

Mr. Lin remained silent for a moment.

"The night after tomorrow, Liulichang."

Cheng Xiaojin narrowed his eyes.

"Did the battle formation diagram bring this?"

"bring."

"Authentic?"

"Test it yourself."

"Where's the ashtray?"

Mr. Lin pushed the ashtray over.

"You can take it first."

Cheng Xiaojin didn't answer immediately, and Boss Lin laughed.

"What, you're afraid to take it?"

"It's not that I'm afraid, it's that I'm afraid you'll put a listening device inside."

Cheng Xiaojin picked up the ashtray and examined it from all angles.

"However, this thing of yours is too old. If you want to insert a listening device, you have to drill a hole first. Drilling a hole will damage it, and damage will lower its value. Fine, I'll reluctantly take it back for my dad."

He tucked the ashtray into his coat, the copper body pressed against his chest, the coolness making him feel empty inside.

Half a paper box waist.

These four words seemed to be engraved on his chest once again.

Mr. Lin raised his hand, and his secretary took out his phone.

Upon seeing this action, Cheng Xiaojin regained his composure.

"Mr. Lin, is there anything else planned?"

"Since Boss Cheng wants to verify the array diagram, I also need to verify your sincerity."

Boss Lin nodded.

The secretary placed the phone on the table and pressed play.

First came the sound of water.

Glug, glug.

It's like someone is blowing bubbles from the bottom of a water tank.