Duanzheng asked his friend to come to the other party's home phone, and when he called, he said that he wanted to deal with the wood carving, and Cheng Beilong's wife Li Meng answered it. Cheng Beilong's new funeral, his daughter is a critical period in the third year of high school, and it is an expense to go to college in the future, it is the time of lack of money, I heard that Duanzheng intends to return the wood carving, Li Meng has refused to agree, and there is no way to be upright, so he had to turn a corner, saying that he would go to their house to give Cheng Beilong condolences, and talk about the wood carving and follow-up payment in person.

With a little threat in the open and secret, Li Meng agreed, reported the address to Zhou Tong and them, and made an appointment to meet.

In the afternoon of the same day, Zhou Tong went to Li Meng's house with wood carvings.

Cheng Beilong's house is in an old community, and it has been built for more than ten years, and after arriving at the place, he pushed the door and went in to see that the house was full of solemnity, Cheng Beilong had not been buried, and Li Meng was packing up his relics.

The daughter of Cheng Beilong's family stood timidly at the door of the room and peeked at them, Zhou Tong looked at the little girl and asked Li Meng, "What's the matter with the injury on her face?"

Li Meng sighed and said: "The day before yesterday, I passed downstairs, the flower pot fell down, wiped my face, fortunately, I was lucky, I didn't hit my head, my family has been very unlucky these days, I don't have time to entertain you, we orphans and widows, some things are told by Beilong to you, we will not take back this wood carving." Li Meng made her attitude very clear, if the wood carving is sold, it will be sold, and then it will be returned.

Zhou Tong looked at the faces of Cheng Beilong's wife and daughter, and found that the evil qi brought by the wood carving had affected the two of them, and they had to hurry up and deal with it quickly.

Zhou Tong thought for a while, turned around and asked, "Actually, we didn't come this time to return the wood carving. I heard that this wood carving is from the hands of Mr. Cheng Beilong's father, I see that the wood carving is very exquisite, and I want to buy a few more to play, I don't know where Mr. Cheng is?"

Li Meng frowned, stuffed Cheng Beilong's old clothes into the bag, and prepared to take them to be cremated, without looking at Zhou Tong, and said: "Dad is not in good health, he went to the hospital a few days ago, and he didn't dare to tell him the news of Beilong's death, you ...... You'd better not bother him. Just buy this wood carving, our family won't sell a second piece. ”

Li Meng's tone was very strict, and Zhou Tong couldn't ask anything, so he had to give up, pay off the wood carving money, and take it himself.

Out of Li Meng's house, Zhou Tong asked Zhengzheng: "Can you go through some channels to find out which hospital Cheng Beilong's father lives in?"

"Yes. He nodded and said, "Give me some time." ”

He went to make a phone call, and after coming back, he waited for more than ten minutes before the information he asked for was sent to him.

Cheng Beilong's father, Mr. Cheng Jiuan, was hospitalized in the municipal hospital, and yesterday, Cheng Jiuan was so angry that he had a heart attack after learning that Cheng Beilong had taken his statue of the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea, and he was admitted to the hospital, and Cheng Beilong died suddenly at home that night.

How do you look at things during this period, how is there a problem.

When he arrived at the city hospital, Zhou Tong managed to see Cheng Jiuan, Cheng Jiuan didn't know Cheng Beilong's death, lying on the hospital bed in a daze, not knowing what he was thinking, and there was no one around to take care of him.

In his life, he has only one son of Cheng Beilong and a room full of wood carvings, and there is nothing else.

Zhou Tong asked Ling Yuan and Duanzheng to guard the door, and went in by himself, after entering the room, Zhou Tong raised a smile, that clear and handsome face combined with a smile that slightly hooked the corners of his lips, it looked very friendly, and it was easy for people to let down their guard.

Zhou Tong greeted politely: "Hello Mr. Cheng, I am a friend of Cheng Beilong, I heard that you are hospitalized, I came to visit you." ”

"What about that unfilial son?" Mr. Cheng's temper was as fierce and stubborn as Cheng Beilong said, and when he saw Zhou Tong's eyebrows, he scolded, "The little bastard didn't dare to come to see me, did he?"

Zhou Tong didn't answer, put the nutrition he brought on the ground, sat next to Cheng Jiu'an, reached out and picked the largest, roundest and most ruddy apple in the fruit basket he brought, took the apple knife and began to sharpen it, and smiled at Cheng Jiu'an with crooked eyebrows, not at all impatient: "Mr. Cheng, don't be angry, eat an apple, this apple is transported by air from Y City, it is big and the fruit is sweet." He was dexterous with ten fingers in both hands, wielding a fruit knife, and inadvertently revealing a string of sandalwood Buddha beads on his wrist.

The short-tempered Cheng Jiuan was immediately attracted by the string of Buddhist beads.

There are a total of eighteen Buddha beads on this Buddha bead bracelet, which means the eighteen worlds of Zen Buddhism, and each Buddha bead is a small world carefully carved by hand, which is different and very exquisite.

Cheng Jiuan is a person who knows how to carve wood, and he knows at a glance how delicate and exquisite the craftsmanship on this Buddha bead is, and he naturally can't take his eyes off it.

Zhou Tong saw that Cheng Jiuan had been staring at his wrist, so he took off the string of Buddhist beads on his wrist and handed it to Cheng Jiu'an: "I heard that Mr. Cheng is an expert in the woodcarving industry, please Mr. Cheng to taste my string of Buddhist beads." ”

Cheng Jiuan's old face was red, and his face was a little refusal, he was an old man who was about to enter the earth and was still staring at a young man's things like this, no matter how he looked at it, he was a little disrespectful to the old. But when I think of such a good opportunity, I don't look at it in vain, in front of art, there is no respect for the old and the young!

After doing enough ideological work for himself, Cheng Jiuan took Zhou Tong's string of Buddhist beads and admired it carefully, and praised it again and again, the carving is exquisite, and the wood carving is a technical job, and it is generally a local carving on a large piece of log, and it is very difficult to carve on the flat plate, not to mention the micro-carving in this small place where the beads are round and jade, it is simply like the record in the nuclear boat.

Cheng Jiuan couldn't help but ask: "I don't know which famous artist this string of Buddhist beads came from?"

"It's Mr. Diqiudi. After Zhou Tong peeled the apple, he carefully divided it into pieces and put it on the plate, and sent it to Mr. Cheng, Mr. Cheng saw that Zhou Tong was kind and enthusiastic, and couldn't help but take a piece of apple, the taste of the mouth was excellent, and he swept away the boring mood left by taking medicine and hanging water in the hospital, coupled with the idol blessing of Diqiu, Mr. Cheng's guard gradually let go.

He rubbed the Buddha beads in his hand lovingly, and finally returned the Buddha beads to Zhou Tong with pain, and sighed and said: "Di Lao's skills are mellow, and he has reached the realm of perfection, which is beyond the reach of my younger generations, but unfortunately there are not many treasures handed down, so you have to get one, you must protect it well." ”

"Hmm. Zhou Tong put away the Buddha beads again and asked, "Mr. Cheng has also produced a lot of treasures, I am fortunate to see a few, love at first sight, I don't know if I can have the honor to collect one or two?"

Mr. Cheng had already seen through Zhou Tong's purpose this time, he saw that Zhou Tong did not hide it, and took the initiative to admit it openly, which was much better than some of the previous roundabouts and painstaking efforts to take the wood carving from his hands, and he had a little more good impression of Zhou Tong in his heart, he said: "I thank you for liking my old immortal carved things, but ...... I really can't sell what I have. ”

"What do you mean by that?" asked Zhou Tong.

Mr. Cheng said: "Since you say it clearly, I won't go around the bend with you, the Eight Immortals across the sea wood carving that Beilong took from me a few days ago was bought by you, right? I advise you, your wood carving is not clean, you better not keep it by your side, if you want, return the goods, I will give you the money." ”

Cheng Jiuan said vaguely, some things are not that he is unwilling to say, but not many people will believe what he says, often take the heartfelt words he said as an excuse for his unwillingness to sell wood carvings, Cheng Jiuan has a stubborn temper, does not like to explain, and over time it will be whatever others think, he has put it in place, and if something happens, blame him for not listening to him.

Zhou Tong heard the meaning of Cheng Jiu'an's words, and guessed that Cheng Jiu'an knew the particularity of wood carving, he thought about it, and simply spread out and explained it to Cheng Jiu'an.

He looked at Cheng Jiu'an and said: "Everything has a spirit, Mr. Cheng regards wood carving as a child, carefully carves and pours his heart and soul into it, and naturally gives the wood carving spirit, which cannot be said to be unclean, it can only be said that the spirit of wood carving is taking care of Mr. Cheng, so you are unwilling to sell wood carving, and you don't want their spirit to be disappointed in you." ”

Cheng Jiuan was stunned, he didn't expect Zhou Tong to say this, he frowned and thought carefully, then looked at the door, and saw that the door of the ward was closed, and it was not time for the nurse to make rounds, so he lowered his voice and said to Zhou Tong: "Do you believe that there is such a thing as a spirit on wood carving?"

"Yes. Zhou Tong nodded.

Cheng Jiu'an sat back in his place, leaned on the cushion, and after thinking about it for a while, he told Zhou Tong the truth: "Tell you the truth, my wood carving is not just a spiritual problem, but the wood carving itself has a curse." ”

"Curse?" These words frightened Zhou Tong, Mr. Cheng loved wood carving so much that he was even crazy, how could he say that there was a curse on wood carving? He became more and more interested, his eyes lit up, and he asked, "What did Mr. Cheng say this?"

"That's right. Mr. Cheng said, "I don't remember when I started, every time I carved a wood carving, on the day of completion, I would have a dream about wood carving, for example, you got the eight immortals across the sea wood statue, on the night of the official carving I dreamed that the eight immortals and I had fun, the dream was too real, people have a feeling of being drunk to death in a dream, and when I woke up, I was sweating, it was really the same as drinking too much wine and sweating." This is one point, if only this is the case, I can still deceive myself and say that I think too seriously about the image of the wood carving, and I think about it day and night, but once the wood carving is sent or sold by me, the person who gets the wood carving will have something wrong, and the light will be ruined, and the heavy will die. So I'm reluctant to sell the wood carving, even if people like it, they can't hurt others. But ......"

Mr. Cheng sighed heavily again and said, "Beilong thought that I was holding these wood carvings and refused to sell them, so I stole one from me. ”

The person who bought it has not suffered for the time being, but Cheng Beilong has been unlucky and directly planted his life.

There is really a problem with this wood carving, Zhou Tong nodded after listening to Mr. Cheng's words, and didn't ask any more, just said: "So that's the case, Mr. Cheng gives up utilitarianism and compassion for others, which is worthy of admiration, but I really like Mr. Cheng's wood carving very much, since Mr. Cheng is inconvenient to cut love, then I don't know if I can go to Mr. Cheng's house to visit, so there should be no problem." ”

"It's okay to see. Mr. Cheng was happy to see that Zhou Tong liked wood carving so much at a young age, and he said to Zhou Tong, "You leave a phone number for me, and I will contact you when I am discharged from the hospital in a few days, and you will come to my house to have a look." I don't know what's going on, I know that there is a problem with these wood carvings, but I still can't help but want to carve them, and I don't carve out a whole body that is uncomfortable, as if I have lovesickness, alas. ”

Zhou Tong stayed in the ward and chatted with Cheng Jiu'an about some things, most of them were about wood carving, from wood carving, to maintenance, to the development of wood carving, etc., and chatted heartily for more than two hours, until the nurse came to round the ward to hang water for Cheng Jiu'an, Cheng Jiu'an reluctantly said goodbye to Zhou Tong.

After Zhou Tong left, Cheng Jiuan looked at the gift box on the side, and suddenly saw that there was something piled up in the corner of the gift box, he hurriedly asked the nurse to help check it, and took it to see that it was the wooden statue of the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea that was taken away by Cheng Beilong, Cheng Jiuan hugged the wooden statue and sighed again and again, knowing that Zhou Tong was sympathetic to the special situation of their family, and directly returned the Eight Immortals across the sea.

Cheng Beilong's matter Zhou Tong did not tell Cheng Jiu'an, this matter should not be said by his mouth, Cheng Jiu'an will know sooner or later, Zhou Tong was worried that Cheng Jiu'an would not be able to stand the stimulation, and went to the hospital to visit Cheng Jiu'an when he was free these days, and specially made up for a few days of woodcarving-related knowledge, and chatted with Cheng Jiu'an every day, more than a month later, Cheng Jiu'an gradually came out of the grief of losing his son, but his body was getting worse.

This is also helpless, the white-haired person sending the black-haired person is one of the saddest things in the world.

On the day Cheng Jiuan was discharged from the hospital, Zhou Tong and Li Meng were sent back together, Ling Yuan and Yun Xiu didn't know what to do again, and Shenlong couldn't see the end.

When he arrived at Cheng Jiuan's house, Li Meng still had to go to work, so he left Zhou Tong and Cheng Jiu'an.

After Li Meng left, Cheng Jiuan took out a few regular passbooks.

Cheng Jiu'an was an artist before his death, and he was the kind of artist who didn't eat the fireworks of the world, he didn't have much savings, and he also used it to buy logs to make wood carving, and in recent years, he felt that there was a problem with wood carving, and he gave Zhou Tong a total of only 70,000 passbooks, and Zhou Tong could see Cheng Jiu'an's meaning at a glance.

Cheng Jiuan pushed the passbook in front of Zhou Tong and said: "I heard Li Meng say that the wood carving was sold for a total of 250,000 yuan, and the money was collected in Li Meng's hands, and I didn't tell her that the wood carving is in my hands, you take the money first, and I will slowly make it up to you, and it must be all replenished." ”

Zhou Tong saw that Cheng Jiu'an looked serious, and he didn't deliberately hold it, and sincerely pushed the passbook back to Cheng Jiu'an, and said: "Old man Cheng, you take this money first, and it's not too late to give it to me when you get it together." ”

Cheng Jiuan insisted on giving, but he couldn't resist Zhou Tong, so he had to put the money here for the time being.

Taking advantage of Cheng Jiu'an to pour tea for Zhou Tong, Zhou Tong looked around the room, the whole house is not big, it is a typical old room type, two bedrooms, one living room, one kitchen and one bath, and the living room is obviously a later addition of two lattice cabinets, which are full of all kinds of wood carvings, some from Cheng Jiu'an's hands, and some wood carvings he collected, a hundred flowers are blooming.

The most eye-catching thing is the wood carving that hangs on the wall opposite the TV.

The wood carvings are framed very carefully, and there are no broken corners of the paintings, which shows that Cheng Jiuan cares about this work very much.

Zhou Tong sat on the sofa, turned around and looked at this wood carving, and asked, "Mr. Cheng, is this wood carving also your work?"

"yes. Cheng Jiu'an's eyes were full of smiles when he saw the painting, he went to the bathroom to get a rag out, and carefully wiped the dust that had fallen on the painting since he was not at home for more than a month, "Although this painting is an early work, it can be regarded as my proud work." ”

This painting is still Dongyang wood carving, the selection of mountain poplar wood for the log is carefully carved, the statue painting is carved with a gentle palace lady is sitting in the courtyard, drooping eyes and tears, full of sorrow, behind the peach blossoms falling, pond koi poke head, looking at the lady from afar, the arch hangs a plaque on the word "Shen Yuan".

Zhou Tong glanced at the inscription next to the wood carving and read: "Hairpin head phoenix?"

"yes. Cheng Jiuan nodded and said, "This wood carving is engraved with the poignant love story between the famous poet Lu You and his beloved wife Tang Wan. Sometimes, these already spiritual stones and woods can reflect the mood of the painting better than the monotonous paper. ”

When Zhou Tong heard this, he paid more attention to this wood carving painting, the woman's facial features on the picture were clear, and even the texture of her eyebrows was carved extremely delicate and realistic.

He looked at it and was a little fascinated, and suddenly saw that the woman in the painting seemed to be looking at him at this time, her eyebrows and eyes were bent, Ying Ying smiled, Zhou Tong was stunned, and then looked at it, Tang Wan on the painting was still in tears, not at all playful and agile just now.

Zhou Tong frowned slightly and asked, "Mr. Cheng, is this wood carving before or after?"

Cheng Jiuan thought that Zhou Tong wanted this wood carving, but he really couldn't remember whether it was before or after, so he had to tell the truth: "I can't remember this clearly." ”

"Okay. Zhou Tong nodded in understanding and asked, "Can I look more closely?"

"Yes. Cheng Jiuan saw that Zhou Tong really liked it, "If you don't feel too troublesome, you can take it off first and then look at it." ”

"Good. Zhou Tong thought that it would be convenient for him to step forward and prepare to take off the wood carving paintings to take a closer look at the subtleties.

The calligraphy and painting are framed with the function of sealing, and if possible, Zhou Tong also wants to directly disassemble this wood carving painting and look at it more carefully.

At this moment, the doorbell rang, and Cheng Jiu'an, who was helping Zhou Tong move the painting, temporarily put down the wood carving painting and went to open the door instead.

There were two young people standing at the door, one tall and one short, and the short young man at the head saw Cheng Jiu'an, showing a big smile, a mouthful of white teeth shook Cheng Jiu'an's eyes hurt, and said in a lively and crisp tone: "Hello! Is it Mr. Cheng Jiu'an?"

"yes. Cheng Jiuan asked suspiciously, "Who are you?"

"I'm here to see it!" the short man raised a smile and said, "Listen to Mr. Qin, Mr. Cheng Jiu'an's wood carving works are very exquisite, we want to take a look, this is Mr. Qin's business card, you see." ”

Cheng Jiuan took the business card handed over by the young man, and when he looked at the name on it, he suddenly understood: "It's Lao Qin, are you his students?"

"yes, yes. ”

"Then please come in, there is a guest at home, and he is also a young man, it should be okay, you can communicate. ”

"Zou Fei, why worry?" Zhou Tong looked at the visitor in surprise, Zou Fei saw Zhou Tong here, his face suddenly changed, his smile froze on his face, and he glanced at He Chou in embarrassment, asking He Chou to make an idea.

When he heard the voice at the door just now, Zhou Tong felt a little familiar, and when he saw He Chou and Zou Fei again, he understood, these two people can, they deceived people into his territory, and they went directly under their noses.

"Do you know?" Cheng Jiuan was also surprised, looking at Zhou Tong on the left, and Zou Fei and He Chou on the right.

"yes, yes. Zhou Tong smiled and looked at Zou Fei and He Chou, the latter had a very ugly face.

But Zou Fei didn't leave, his eyes rolled, he stretched out his hand to Zhou Tong, and said, "Zhou Tong, long time no see, are you okay?"

"It's ok. Zhou Tong didn't poke it on the spot, seeing what trick Zou Fei was going to play, his eyes fell on He Chou, He Chou had listened to Yun Xiu about those things, and it was also a bad fate, but at this time, He Chou's brows had not been unraveled, as if there was something on his heart, and he didn't say a word.

Zou Fei saw that Zhou Tong was looking at He Chou, and stepped forward to block Zhou Tong's sight, the two brothers seemed to hold Zhou Tong's shoulders and bring Zhou Tong to the sofa, Zou Fei turned his head to look at Cheng Jiu'an, and said, "We met when we were removing paint together." ”

The wood carving needs to be painted at the end, Cheng Jiuan did not doubt Zou Fei's statement, he said: "Since you all know each other, then I won't entertain you much, I'll pour you a cup of tea, you can talk slowly, don't damage my wood carving." ”

"Hey, Mr. Cheng, go get busy!" Zou Fei greeted lively.

After Cheng Jiuan left, Zou Fei sat next to Zhou Tong, looked at Zhou Tong with a smile, and said: "Zhou Tong, we are here to have fun, don't reveal our identity, I will go out and invite you to dinner later, what do you think?"

Zhou Tong: "......"

Zhou Tong looked at He Chou suspiciously, and then looked at Zou Fei, feeling that today's Zou Fei was a little wrong, very lively, Zou Fei used to follow He Chou all day long, like a fart, sticky all day long, although he also likes to talk, but there is a little arrogance in his words, it will not be like this.

Seeing that Zhou Tong didn't speak, Zou Fei poked Zhou Tong with his elbow and said, "What do you think?

Zhou Tong didn't agree positively, but only said vaguely: "It depends on the situation." ”

"Then I'll let you say yes. Zou Fei raised the dimples on both sides with a smile, he looked at the wood carving that Zhou Tong had just taken off and put on the sofa, and said with a look of surprise, "This wood carving is so exquisite." It's realistic...... Red crisp hands, yellow vine wine, willows on the palace wall of the □□ city full of ...... Interesting, interesting. ”

His hand kept stroking on the painting, especially lingering left and right around the lady's body, Zhou Tong's eyes fell on Zou Fei's fingertips, and suddenly saw a little light flickering on Zou Fei's fingertips, Zhou Tong's eyes quickly grabbed Zou Fei's hand and took it away.

Zou Fei was startled and almost sat up, he looked at Zhou Tong with a dazed expression and asked, "What's wrong?" Why did you suddenly grab my hand. ”

Wrong.

The yin and yang eyes in Zhou Tong's eyes swam, and he looked at Zou Fei carefully, capturing the changes in Zou Fei's qi.

The cloud on Zou Fei's forehead was accumulating more and more, even thicker than the last time he had seen it, but it was precisely because this cloud was so thick that Zhou Tong couldn't see what was behind the black cloud.

He felt that the Zou Fei he saw this time was different from before, but he couldn't see where the difference was.

Zhou Tong looked at He Chou again, since he entered the door just now, He Chou has not said a word, nor looked at Zou Fei, like a conscientious bodyguard, he is only responsible for following Zou Fei, and other things have nothing to do with him.

What happened to these two people?