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

The second half of the auction was even quieter than the first half.

People in the front row stared at the goods on the stage, while people in the back row stared at people in the front row.

Cheng Xiaojin huddled in the last row against the wall, a red cloth bag pressed under his sleeve, the third array diagram affixed to his palm. The cold air seeped into his flesh through the cloth, making his fingertips tingle in waves.

Han Shaobai glanced at him sideways.

"Your complexion is getting worse."

Cheng Xiaojin lowered his voice and said, "Young Master Han, if you really care about me, please get me a Boguzhai membership card later."

"You wish!"

"Then ask less. If you ask too many questions, I'm more likely to take them seriously."

Han Shaobai cursed through gritted teeth.

Through the earpiece, Tieguai Li spoke: "More security personnel have been added. Bags are being randomly opened at the main entrance. If you bring any metal objects out, the detection gate will definitely go off."

Cheng Xiaojin stared intently at the front row without moving her eyes.

"What about the back door?"

Tong Kexin responded.

"They check license plates at the unloading area. Food delivery trucks can still pass, but I'm in the kitchen passageway."

Cheng Xiaojin frowned.

"How did you get in?"

"What's it to you?"

"Boss lady, the kitchen of the antique market isn't a braised food stall. Don't overturn their pot."

"Stop joking. The soup will be served in three minutes. The waiter will leave through the left door from the back row. Just follow him."

Tieguai Li warned: "Don't touch the sink, the kitchen floor is slippery, and there's a hot soup pot by the wall, so don't let it touch the steam."

Cheng Xiaojin glanced at the cuff.

"Will this thing cook if it touches soup?"

Tieguai Li cursed, "Screw you!"

Han Shaobai couldn't help but ask, "Who exactly are you arguing with?"

Cheng Xiaojin replied in a serious tone, "Our Panjiayuan founder had a rather fiery temper."

Han Shaobai stuffed the invitation back into his pocket.

"Cheng Xiaojin, the thing I regret most in my life is believing you tonight."

"Young Master Han, you have a long life ahead of you, and plenty of days to regret things."

Another item was sold on the stage.

The applause was sparse and scattered.

The door on the left opened, and two waiters pushed in a food cart; one carried the drinks, and the other collected the empty glasses.

Cheng Xiaojin stood up.

Han Shaobai reached out and grabbed him.

"If you walk this way, Boss Lin will see you."

"He's busy guarding the fake bags now."

Are you sure he won't find out?

Cheng Xiaojin looked at the front row.

Boss Lin's fingertips were still resting on the safe, his secretary stood beside him, and the man with the nose scar looked down at the tips of his shoes.

"He believes in that little bit of air conditioning."

"Can the air conditioning really hold up?"

"I can hold out until he gets on the bus, no problem."

Han Shaobai released his grip.

"If you get arrested, I'll just say you're a temporary worker."

Cheng Xiaojin patted his name tag.

"Don't worry, I'll throw this sign away as soon as I leave the house."

He followed the waiter and turned into the corridor through the left-hand door.

The corridor lights were brighter than the meeting room lights, and a water dispenser stood against the wall, the water in the transparent bucket swaying slightly.

Cheng Xiaojin slowed down and stepped aside.

Tieguai Li urged him through the earpiece.

"Don't stare at the water."

"Know."

"You know that, yet you still watch it?"

"Let me see if it's looking at me."

Tong Kexin's voice entered my ears.

"Turn left ahead, there's a fat chef at the kitchen door. I told him you were here to hurry up with the soup order."

As Cheng Xiaojin walked to the door, the fat chef reached out to stop him.

"What are you doing?"

Cheng Xiaojin flashed his name tag.

"The table at Boguzhai is urging for hot soup, saying it's not hot enough. Young Master Han is picky."

The fat chef frowned.

"Just delivered it."

"Rich people are just as hard to please as they are to please."

The fat cook stepped aside.

"Don't touch anything inside."

"I'm poor, I don't touch expensive things."

The heat from the kitchen hit my face.

Several large pots were not being cooked, only kept warm. There were lunch boxes piled up in the corner, the unloading door was half open, and an old electric vehicle could be seen outside.

Tong Kexin was wearing a gray food delivery jacket, her hair tucked into her hat, and carrying a stainless steel insulated container.

When she saw Cheng Xiaojin, her eyes first fell on his sleeve.

"Give it to me."

Cheng Xiaojin handed over the red cloth bag.

"Be gentle, it has a bad temper."

Tong Kexin caught it, her wrist turning back as it was frozen.

"Is it this cold?"

"Are you going to eat the third bone from the water spout like an ice pop?"

"Shut up."

She placed the insulated container on the worktable and unscrewed the bottom compartment.

Inside, there was already a layer of mugwort ash, red thread, dried ginger slices, and a thin copper mesh.

Cheng Xiaojin was stunned for a second.

"All ready."

"Tang Wanqing taught me."

"She'll teach you this too?"

She said you're unreliable.

Cheng Xiaojin touched his nose.

"You don't need to be taught this; even the old ladies in the alley know it."

Tong Kexin guided the array diagram into the interlayer, fastened the copper mesh, and tightened the red lines from both sides.

The cold air drawn by the array was reduced by half.

She then poured the top layer with boiling hot braised soup.

The aroma of the soup, along with the flavors of the pork intestines and garlic juice, masked the slight chill at the bottom of the pot.

Cheng Xiaojin frowned.

"Boss lady, isn't bringing braised food into the antique market a form of cultural invasion?"

"Enough talk, let's go to the main entrance."

"Are you going through the unloading area alone?"

"I ride an electric bike, and they check the delivery menu, but not the soup."

"What if they investigate?"

Tong Kexin looked up at him.

"You made room for me to leave, and now it's too late to ask what might happen."

Cheng Xiaojin stared at the thermos in her hand.

"Don't try to be clever."

Tong Kexin tightened the lid of the bucket.

"I'll return those words to you."

Footsteps could be heard outside the kitchen door.

The fat cook shouted, "What are you two doing?"

Tong Kexin immediately picked up the bucket.

"Table 18, please order more soup. What's the rush? Will you pay for it if we spill it?"

The fat cook was so choked by her that he took a half step back.

"hurry up."

Cheng Xiaojin said in a low voice, "Boss lady, don't look back after you go out."

"The same to you."

"I'll go through the front door; it'll be more respectable than you."

"You're so dignified, my foot!"

She carried the bucket toward the unloading gate, dangling the electric scooter key in her hand.

Cheng Xiaojin returned to the corridor from the other end, straightened his suit, and then adjusted his name tag.

Tieguai Li asked, "Have they been lured out?"

Cheng Xiaojin said, "The soup is served."

Tieguai Li let out a breath.

"Go through the main entrance, and don't bring any old copper or iron."

"I'm cleaner now than when I was born."

"Your mouth is dirty."

Cheng Xiaojin returned to the venue and sat for less than two minutes before saying to Han Shaobai, "I'm going out for some fresh air."

Han Shaobai's expression finally relaxed a bit when he saw that his sleeve was empty.

"Did it work?"

"It's half done."

"What about your other half?"

"Return to the hospital alive."

Han Shaobai raised his hand to cover his face.

"Get out of here."

Cheng Xiaojin walked from the main entrance to the security checkpoint.

Security guards stopped him.

"Sir, random check."

Cheng Xiaojin spread his hands.

"Go ahead and investigate. These clothes of mine all belong to Young Master Han. If the investigation goes wrong, come to him."

Security personnel scanned the area, but the detection gate did not sound.

Another security guard asked him to open his coat.

Cheng Xiaojin lifted his coat.

"There's no stock inside, just poverty."

The security guard frowned and waved his hand.

"Walk."

Only after Cheng Xiaojin left the room did he finally let out the breath that had been weighing on his chest.

At the other end of the underground parking garage, Tong Kexin rode her electric scooter out of the unloading area.

The security guard glanced at the delivery slip, his eyes landing on the insulated container.

"Delivering so late?"

Tong Kexin immediately retorted, "Rich people drink soup in the middle of the night, can we, the working class, say we won't see them off?"

The security guard smiled and then reached out and tapped the lid of the bucket.

The soup in the bucket sloshed around.

The cold air at the bottom of the bucket pushed outwards, and Tong Kexin pressed her wrist against the handle, her fingertips touching the red knot.

Her face darkened.

"Would you like to try a bite? The braised pork intestines with garlic sauce, it's on you on the truck."

The security guards stepped back.

"Let's go, let's go."

The pole was raised.

The electric car just left the underground parking garage like that.

Cheng Xiaojin stood behind the pillar, watching her turn into the auxiliary road, before taking out his headset.

"The soup's gone."

Tieguai Li said, "Get back in the car. I'm at the east entrance."

"Where is Boss Lin?"

"Still at the venue."

Half an hour later, the covert bidding ended.

Before Mr. Lin got into the car, his secretary carried a black leather briefcase.

Mr. Lin reached out and pressed the bottom of the bag.

The fake cold air was still there.

His fingers paused on the bottom of the bag for two breaths.

The secretary asked in a low voice, "Boss, Cheng Xiaojin just now...?"

Boss Lin withdrew his hand.

"He's not capable of swapping things right under my nose."

The boy with the nasal scar followed behind, his head bowed low.

Boss Lin turned to look at him.

You didn't do well tonight.

The nasal scar and Adam's apple moved slightly.

"Yes."

"Show me your wrist after we get back to the hotel."

The nasal scar didn't answer.

The convoy drove out of the underground parking garage.

Not far away, a black minivan followed, its license plate half-covered by mud.

Cheng Xiaojin sat in the old bread cart at the entrance of the alley, watching two groups of car headlights turn onto the main road one after the other.

Tieguai Li asked, "Should we follow or not?"

Cheng Xiaojin shook his head.

"Let them bite."

Tong Kexin carried the thermos to her lap from the back row.

"Let's go back to the hospital first."

Cheng Xiaojin glanced at the bucket.

"Boss lady, hold on tight, this soup is more precious than my life right now."

Tong Kexin ignored him and simply pulled the bucket closer to her chest.

When we returned to Master Ma's courtyard house, the doors and windows of the main room were closed, and three layers of yellow paper were placed on the well.

Master Ma sat at the octagonal table, and the lid of his teacup remained silent.

Tang Wanqing stood to one side holding a compass, while Zhou Banxian squatted by the threshold, his wine pot unopened.

The white lamp in the west wing was still lit.

Tong Kexin placed the thermos on the table, and the bottom of the thermos hit the table with a muffled thud.

Tieguai Li closed the door and bolted it shut.

Cheng Xiaojin looked at the bucket emitting the smell of braised food, and the corners of her mouth just lifted slightly before she suppressed it again.

"Gentlemen, the bones for the third item have been brought back."

Master Ma finally raised his hand.

The lid of the teacup clicked softly.

"dismantle."