In the huge "Huanbei" market, the shops are different from each other in the four corners of the southeast, northwest and northwest.

The north side is mainly dominated by weapons such as "knives and swords"; the west side is mainly dominated by old objects such as "antiques and porcelain"; and the remaining east and south sides are a little messy, selling all kinds of items with different characteristics.

It is the season of autumn wind and falling leaves, and the whole market seems to be a little strangely deserted, and the people who come and go can be described as "the door is full of birds". However, the "antique" shop in the north corner is doing relatively good business.

When Song Qingcang and Wang Hao walked into the "Ning's Antique Shop" before and after, the guys in the store were busy wiping a series of various old "antiques" in front of the table, on the table, and on the counter. The scale of the store is not very large, and the surrounding area is full of all kinds of antique furniture, mixed with a few sandalwood smells, but it looks a little fresh and refined.

When he found that there were customers in the store, one of them hurriedly stepped forward and greeted him with a smile and said, "Two, what do you want, we have everything, come in and take a look." ”

"Is there really anything?" Song Qingcang asked as he slowly walked to a dark brown wooden frame and pointed to a "smiling jade Buddha" on the shelf.

"The guest officer is really good eyesight, this thing has just been put on the table, it is an old object with a "wide open door"; "Staying in the antique shop for a longer time, there are some related homophonic words, and the head of the guy who is a little troubled can say is the Tao, it depends on whether there is a master of the "upper way".

"Things are good, but now in this day of "autumn wind sweeping away the leaves", there is no expert lining, I am afraid it is easy to miss the eyes;

"Okay, then you two will take a look outside, and I'll go into the inner room and call our shopkeeper. These days, there are only some small customers who are competing for "bargaining", and the two people who came today feel a little different in temperament, if they just buy the "Jade Buddha", this month's achievement is enough to eat for a year. This "palm" is looking for his own shopkeeper, and that is not a matter of changing the money bag on the left to the money bag on the right.

With that, he trotted into the inner room, and Song Qingcang and Wang Hao began to visit the store casually.

After a while, I saw a man walk out of the inner room, and was led by the guy to Song Qingcang, who was carefully watching an "official kiln" of the Ming Dynasty; this was a thin old man with white temples and wrinkles, but he was in good spirits.

Song Qingcang intuitively felt at first glance that this person was not the person he was looking for, and out of politeness, he greeted the other party politely: "Is the old gentleman the shopkeeper here?"

The old man smiled all over his face, and said clearly to Song Qingcang: "Exactly, the old man's surname is Qin, you can call me Lao Qin; By the way, I don't know what to call the two of you?"

"My surname is Song, his surname is Wang, and I like to study some ancient objects on weekdays, which is not introduced by a friend, saying that your things are the most "authentic" in this area, so I came to take a look. ”

"Oh, I see, your friend must be a "connoisseur", I guess he bought something from us. “

"Not a real expert, it is estimated that everyone in this film knows or knows; he is actually "Chengye".

"Cheng Ye", is that Cheng Ye on this road?" the old man looked a little nervous and a little surprised when he asked this.

A few days ago, I asked him to help me see if there were any rare old objects in this area recently, and he recommended your shop, no, this high-quality "whetstone" dared to flow out from your side. After speaking, Song Qingcang took out a narrow stone from his black handbag and handed it to the old man, which was the one that was shown to the bald man in the "knife shop" store before.

The old man looked at the black and shiny stone, and was already sure in his heart that it was a whetstone that flowed out of his own store and was transferred to the hands of "Cheng Ye". The old man who was a little surprised in his heart couldn't judge the relationship between this man surnamed Song and "Cheng Ye" for a while.

Seeing that the old man was standing a little dazed, Song Qingcang decided to ask tentatively, and then said with a smile: "Old Qin, before I came, "Cheng Ye" told me everything, over the years, I am afraid that you will not be able to support the signboard of this time-honored brand by yourself, I heard that there is also a person nicknamed "Old Knife Handle" who has been helping out. Referrals, referrals".

Qin Lao, who was still a little stunned, heard Song Qingcang talk about the "old knife handle", he instantly came back to his senses, and said in a somewhat puzzled tone: "Cheng Ye" This is also told to you, it seems that you are really a good friend of "Cheng Ye"; ”

"Why?" Could it be that there is a big business waiting for him now, and he won't do it?" Song Qingcang asked with some curiosity.

"Let's be honest with you, you were originally recommended by "Chengye", and we will help you a little, but he has been unwilling to see the living for almost a month, and it is useless for anyone to come. Qin Lao said, shrugged his shoulders slightly, and said helplessly.

"In that case, so be it, I have a little brinket here, and I would like you to show it to him, that a friend out there wants to tell him the story of the knife. As he spoke, Wang Hao beside him handed over a silver knife to Old Qin.

Looking at the silver knife, Qin Lao suddenly sighed and said, "Speaking of which, the name of this 'old knife handle' is still famous because of the knife he forged in the past, and now this skill level has been abandoned for a long time. So saying, he went straight to the inner room.

"This thing can even forge knives, and this nickname really doesn't disgrace his reputation. Wang Hao on the side said with a smile in surprise.

At this moment, Song Qingcang found a trace of the source from the inextricable relationships in his heart like "peeling off the cocoon".

The waiting process was long, but fortunately, the two of them were quite curious about these "strange" things in the house.

After a while, Qin Lao slowly paced out of the inner room, and stretched out his right hand to Song Qingcang and made a "please" gesture.

When I walked into the house, I found that the inside was a little dark compared to the outside, and the whole room felt that there was no sunlight all year round, and the ground seemed a little damp. In the darkness, pushing into a secret room in the house, under the dim light, sat a thin middle-aged man with messy hair, a haggard face, and purple lips.

The man didn't seem to notice anyone entering the house, but he kept holding the silver-gray knife in his hand, and his whole body trembled a little.

Song Qingcang saw the man's state, and thought that the man should know something related to this knife, so he asked softly with some caution: "You don't have to be afraid, we are here to help you, you can definitely believe that you are safe with us." ”

After listening to Song Qingcang's words, the shaking hands of the "old knife handle" seemed to become a little calmer, and he slowly looked up at the lights parallel to the horizontal line, and asked softly: "You... Is it a person from "Makoto"?"

"Don't worry, we are friends of "Cheng Ye", as he spoke, Song Qingcang gently put his slowly raised right hand on the left arm of the "old knife handle", as if he wanted to reduce the fear in the middle-aged man's heart.

Feeling the "warmth" that the man transmitted to his heart through the palm of his hand, the nervousness of the "old knife handle" was relieved to a certain extent, and he said slowly: "You said you want to talk to me about the story of this knife, where did you get it?"

Seeing that the depressed man's mood had changed somewhat, Song Qingcang's language was flat, and he said softly: "You should have paid attention to the six "murder cases" in Jiangcheng a month ago; the murderer's murder weapon is such a silver knife; and this knife is not quite the same as the usual weapons, the size, thickness and thickness are quite particular; this is a private customized knife, and the person who made this knife is not an ordinary "knife caster", but must be a master-level figure. There are more than half of the "famous players" in Jiangcheng here, and it is presumably the possibility of the knife flowing out here will be the greatest, so ....."

"You,.. Who the hell are you? Why are you so concerned about the situation of this knife?" The "old knife handle" listened to Song Qingcang mention the knife murder case, and the emotions that had just relaxed in his heart instantly became a little tense again.

"You should be able to guess my identity, and what kind of person do you think it will be if you can come to you with his beloved "whetstone" through "Cheng Ye"?"

The "old knife handle" was silent for a while, and after a long time, he sighed softly and said: "Okay, these days of suffering can be regarded as a relief, I can tell you some things about this knife, as for whether it can help you, I can't help it." ”

A month ago, a young man suddenly came to the shop, the man was dressed in black from beginning to end, very tightly wrapped, except for those somewhat devouring eyes, he could hardly see anything else; as soon as he entered the house, the goal was very clear; as if he was prepared, he asked me to help him "forge a few knives", and pay me three times the honorarium; I had been out of the "knife casting" business for a long time, and I really didn't expect that strangers would come to me to "cast knives", but after all, I had not been in charge of the "old business" for a long time , I am inevitably afraid that I will be a little rusty, and I promised that others would ruin the "name" left before. I wanted to refuse politely; I never thought that the man casually took out a "blue and white bowl" from a black bag in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, and at that time I knew that it was a rare and rare object; I had been doing "antiques" for some time, and it was indeed a little tempting to these things; I knew that the other party was not willing to ask for it, but in the end I still couldn't refuse. After that, the man told some relevant information about the style, size and size of the knife, put down the bowl, and said that he would come to get the knife in three days, and he would be rewarded three times as much, and today this bowl should be regarded as a deposit for "casting knives".

At that time, looking at the coveted "blue and white bowl", thinking about the remuneration of the three escorts, where could I take care of so much, and rushed to make these knives day and night.

Three days later, the man came to get the knives as promised, and I gave him the fifteen silver knives that had been cast, during which he touched one of the knives, seemed to be very satisfied, and put a bag of cash on the counter, and then, taking the knives, and leaving like that.

After that, immersed in the "pleasure" brought by this business, I stumbled upon a series of knife murders in Jiangcheng a few days later, and after careful inspection, I found that those were the silver knives I had just "cast" not long ago.

At that moment, I became a little panicked, not only afraid that I would be found and questioned by the police, but also afraid that one day the man in black who asked me to help "forge the knife" came to kill people and kill me, and could kill me at any time. Therefore, since that day, I have been terrified every day, for fear that I will be killed by accident, and these days, I can only "curl up" here, so that I feel a little safe.

After listening to the words of the "old knife handle", Song Qingcang, who was deep in thought, suddenly raised his head and asked, "What is the figure and accent of the man in black?

After talking about the "thorn" that had been pressing on his heart for a while, the whole person of the "old knife handle" became much more relaxed, and the thoughts of memories gradually became clearer.

The man felt a little thin, his height was estimated to be about 1.8 meters, and he listened to the tone of his voice, like a "northerner". By the way, on the day he took the knife, he didn't seem to be wearing as tightly as the first time, and when he left, I seemed to see a tattoo on his neck that resembled a "butterfly"..."

"Northerners, butterfly tattoos, it's a useful and interesting clue. ”

"I can only think of so much, and nothing else, for the time being. ”

"Okay, this clue is very important, don't worry, from today onwards I will be responsible for your life. ”

After speaking, Song Qingcang turned around and whispered something in his ear to Wang Hao behind him about protecting the "old knife handle".

Then, he said some words of encouragement to the "old knife handle" under the light, cheering up, and finally, together with Wang Hao, he left this "airtight" dim secret room.

In the secret room, the "old knife handle" looked at the faint "flickering" lights, and the nervousness, fear, and inexplicable fear that had accumulated in his heart for many days were relieved today;

..........