November 15, 2013, 12:22 p.m., near the Lingering Garden in Suzhou, No. 8 Pawnshop.

A white cloth banner was hung at the door, and the word 'dang' was written in black ink. It was really as the fruit shop owner said, the smallest door on the whole street. A large tree in front of the door completely blocked the sunlight and looked gloomy.

I bought two cans of Red Bull at the grocery store next door, one tucked into a small leather backpack straddling across my back, and opened the handle to drink and walked inside.

Pawnshop No. 8 should belong to the category of antique shops, such small shops abound in this culturally rich city. It may also sell some pawn antique calligraphy and paintings, named No. 8 pawnshop.

On the right side of the entrance is a row of wooden shelves lined up along the wall, which are some years old and glow with a yellow-brown sheen. The shelves are messy and scattered with seemingly ancient objects such as tin pots, copper tripods, porcelain bowls, etc., and discerning people don't need to look closely to know that they are all modern and old imitations, and their value will not be very high.

On the wall facing the door, there was a large map of China, the corners of which were turned out, and the paper was yellowed, apparently for a long time.

Underneath the map is a long, narrow glass case, half a man tall. On the outward side is glass, and from my angle, it seems that there are two rows of small things like Hetian jade and jade. On the inward side is a door panel that can be panned out for customers to choose from. The glass counter lit up listlessly with two soft orange-red display lights that doubled as a cash register, but I didn't see anyone say hello.

On the other wall, hang a set of official hats and official uniforms of local officials in the Qing Dynasty. The official uniform is lined with silver wires, blue and gray, and ancient, at first glance, it looks like an ancient person standing there with his head down. Against the backdrop of the dim spotlights, it is significantly strange and mysterious.

The whole space is cramped, I don't know whether the air conditioner or the exhaust fan makes an old and weak humming sound.

"Anyone?" I asked timidly and whispered.

………………………………

The sound of "dang" really scared me in this dreary space.

In the left corner of the Qing Dynasty official uniform, there is an English floor-to-ceiling self-striking clock, and the hands pass 12:30.

I feel a little crazy, I want to quit, I am a little curious, and I don't know where to go now.

"Ahh......h I took two steps closer to realize that there was a little old man, hunched over with his head bent, sleeping on a chaise longue behind the counter.

The sound came from the mobile phone that the little old man put on the armrest of the recliner, and it should be his own mobile phone ringtone.

The little old man picked up the phone and said angrily, "Thank you." ”

I took a step back, speechless in surprise, one of his second sentences was really to ask, "What day is today?", and secondly, his voice has the muddness of an old man, crisp like a boy of twelve or thirteen years old.

The little old man raised his head, obviously a face in his thirties, with shiny skin and no wrinkles at the corners of his half-open and half-closed eyes.

With a withered body and gray hair, if he has his back to you, no matter how you look at it, he is an old man. But when he looks back, you only look at his face, but he is a young man in his thirties. If you close your eyes and listen to him, you will think that you are an immature teenager.

The little old man hung up the phone, as if he had long been accustomed to the strange way others looked at him, and stretched his waist and stood up straight.

When he stood up, he was only half a head lower than me, about 1.7 meters. I don't understand why he looked so thin in my eyes just now, could it be because he was curled up behind a tall glass case?

The little old man closed his eyes half-closed, showed an embarrassed and apologetic smile, and said strangely: "Aren't you happy to have guests early in the morning?"

The voice is translucent, and the tone is like a student shaking his head in class in a movie, with a bit of exaggeration and artificiality. I looked at him and forgot for a moment, not knowing whether to cry or laugh.

How can there be a wisp of Tibetan incense in the air? It is said that this fragrance can easily make people lose their nature, and I didn't notice it just now.

As soon as I forgot the words in a hurry, I habitually called my secretary Xiaoji: "It's me, what's the next sentence?"

"Boss, what are you talking about?" Xiao Ji was inexplicable on the phone, and said angrily: "Who is that Irina in your car in the morning?"

In the morning, I watched the projection at home, and I remember chasing Korean dramas all night. I feel that my thinking is a little confused, is it because I haven't slept all night, driving with coffee and Red Bull and Tibetan incense?

That Korean drama is very exciting, it was sent to me by Sima Wei on the website. It wasn't yesterday, it was one day last week or last month, and I watched it at home all night, during which I fell asleep twice, and the title of the film seems to be ...... That's right, "The Moon is Just Right".

I slapped my thigh and said, "I know, that's it, Yue'er is just right!"

"Boss, are you okay?" Xiao Ji chattered on the phone, I ignored her, hung up the phone, and said, "Yue'er is just right." ”

………………………………

The owner of the pawnshop, still with his eyes half-closed, I remember Irina saying that he was blind, but he could see?

I stretched out my hand to gesture in front of him, and he smiled wryly and said, "Did someone say that I was blind?" He opened his eyes suddenly, and I only felt a fine light passing across my face, and the pawnshop owner immediately closed his eyes and said slowly: "I just have severe glaucoma, and I am afraid of light." Today's children don't talk big or small, and they do things upside down, alas......"

I nodded, no wonder the entire Eight pawnshop was dimly lit.

As he spoke, he turned around and pushed a wall with a map of China hanging behind him. The whole wall creaked and creaked, and it slowly rotated from the middle, and the pawnshop owner flexibly put away the chaise longue to the side, and there was no way to see it.

I saw a map of the whole world hanging on the wall halfway through, also with the corners turned out, and the paper was old.

It's not this map of China and a map of the world, what kind of code hints, I think.

"Come in," said the pawnshop owner, making a gesture of invitation, "they have been waiting for you for a long time." ”

As I walked into the darkroom, the wall closed slowly, and the map of China followed me inside.

Passing through a short walkway, turning with my left hand, I suddenly felt a light in front of me, and the harsh light taught me not to open my eyes.

At this time, I somewhat understood the feelings of the blind man, no, I felt the feelings of the pawnshop owner.

………………………………

In the dark room, the air conditioner was turned on very much, which made me feel excited.

In the dark room, there were at least five or six different lights on, and Jiang Long was lying on the bed, his face miraculously recovering a little.

Inside the dark room, Wu Wangjing and Irina were looking at me with serious expressions, and I had never seen such expressions on these two people's faces.

Wu Wangjing pointed to a Chinese chair with armrests at the door and said, "Please take a seat." ”

The chair is low in the front and high in the back, the back panel is a whole board with a slight S-shape, and the armrests and backrest are rounded at both ends.

I looked at Irina, and she looked away, not speaking.

At this time, I felt inexplicably sleepy, and I had an autosuggestion of how good it would be to sleep now. As we get used to the intense lighting in the room, the hints intensify.