1929, Shanghai, Public Concession, Jockey Club.

Xing Renju traveled to Mongolia five years ago.

The clubs of the Jockey Club are crowded with men and women, since the end of the Qing Dynasty those foreigners brought the horse into Shanghai, in the past few decades, this gambling sport under the banner of competitive sports has developed rapidly in Shanghai, and now it has entered its heyday, and now the average annual profit has reached more than 7 million silver dollars, betting on horses has not only become a new way for the Shanghai magnates to have fun and make money, but also become the daydream of other classes of people to get rich overnight.

Dressed in a suit and a top hat, Xing Renju shuttled through the crowd, and finally came to the bar, then took out an old silver dollar and put it on the bar, and whispered, "A glass of wine." ”

The bartender stared at the old silver dollar on the counter and whispered, "Sir, we don't accept old silver here." ”

What Xing Renju gave was a Qing Dynasty silver coin minted by the Tianjin Mint in accordance with the requirements of the household department at that time during the Guangxu period, trying to replace the currencies of other provinces with gold, silver and copper coins minted by the government.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Xing Renju said and took out another silver coin and handed it to the bartender, which was a Mexican silver coin, commonly known as Eagle Ocean.

During the Qing Dynasty, there were about 1.1 billion foreign silver dollars in circulation in China, one-third of which were Mexican eagles, and it was not until after the establishment of the Nanjing Nationalist Government that it was completely banned, and all other currencies on the market were replaced by silver dollars with a profile portrait of Mr. Sun Yat-sen, commonly known as Sun Xiaotou.

The bartender took the eagle and immediately felt the three marks cut by the knife on the edge of the silver dollar, and said respectfully, "Sir, please come to the VIP room." ”

With that, the bartender turned his head to look at the carved door with two groups of galloping horses on the right side of the bar, guarded by four bodyguards.

Xing Renju nodded, picked up his hat, and left the bar and walked towards the door.

At the same time as Xing Renju left, another businessman who had heard him talking to the bartender earlier said with some dissatisfaction: "And the VIP room? Why didn't you tell me? I'm going to the VIP lounge too. ”

The bartender didn't pay attention to the merchant, but turned around to pour the wine, and the merchant followed Xing Renju to the door, and when Xing Renju took out the eagle and showed it to the bodyguards, the bodyguards immediately opened the door and invited him in, and the merchant also took out the silver dollar from his pocket, and threw it directly to the bodyguards, and was about to break inside.

The outermost bodyguard reached out and pushed the merchant back, and the merchant said angrily: "Why can he enter, but I can't?" ”

The bodyguard smiled, motioned for the merchant to come closer, then pulled open his clothes and showed the merchant the two American-made pistols at his waist, still not answering the question.

The merchant's face changed, he apologized repeatedly, turned and disappeared into the crowd, wiping his sweat as he went, and soon disappeared into the crowd.

After Xing Renju walked into the VIP room, he stood at the door, looking at the dozen or so men in the room who were dressed and about the same height, these people looked like they were doppelgangers of a person, and even the posture of holding a cigar was exactly the same.

Xing Renju smiled, handed his hat and coat to the man at the door, sorted out the vest inside, glanced inside the room, and then walked straight towards the man at the window.

The man standing at the window didn't turn around, and Xing Renju stood still and said, "Young Master Guo, I haven't seen you for many years, and your life is still so luxurious." ”

The man who was called Young Master Guo turned around, looked at Xing Renju, suddenly showed a smile, and hugged him with open arms, this person was Guo Gai, who had saved Xing Renju from Shen Dongjun in Fengtian many years later, and the descendant of the Guo family who was said to have guarded Qimen.

While the two embraced, the other people in the room immediately turned around and left, some walked into the open dark room door, some entered the study inside, and some left through the door, and soon only Young Master Guo and Xing Renju were left in the room.

Young Master Guo motioned for Xing Renju to sit down, and he opened the box and took out a cigar and handed it over.

Xing Renju shook his head to show that he didn't like it, but instead took a bottle of foreign wine on the table, opened the cork and smelled it, then raised the bottle and took a sip, and said with a smile: "This is okay." ”

Young Master Guo smiled, while Xing Renju looked at the position of the window and asked, "What?" And now someone is trying to kill you? You've got a dozen stand-ins, right? ”

Young Master Guo lit his cigar and nodded slightly: "As for." You probably don't know the situation in Shanghai, since the Nationalist Government began to purge the party two years ago, Shanghai has become more and more chaotic, and the prosperity and calm you see are only on the surface, secretly, there are many gangs, and the fish and dragons are mixed, and those who are in charge of the goods chase are taking advantage of their ability to find out the news, and their hands are getting longer and longer, and I heard that even within the Nationalist Government, there are their people, not to mention other gangs and organizations. ”

Xing Renju just nodded, drank slowly, and didn't speak.

Young Master Guo said: "However, I got the news from a reliable friend that the Zhangrong Cargo Chaser is almost finished, and the Nationalist Government has already targeted them, because their ability is too outstanding, and they are afraid that they will infiltrate too deeply and have the opportunity to subvert the government, so it will not be long before the government's intelligence department will sweep away their strongholds and important people in Shanghai and even the whole country, and the code name of this operation is 'Unclean'." ”

Xing Renju finally asked, "What is your friend doing?" ”

Young Master Guo hesitated for a moment and said in a low voice: "It's the person next to the head of the General Affairs Section of the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang. ”

Xing Renju was stunned: "Xu Enzeng's people? ”

Young Master Guo nodded silently, and Xing Renju glanced at him: "You still have less contact with this kind of person, it's dangerous." ”

Young Master Guo nodded and asked, "Where are you going?" ”

Xing Renju put down the wine bottle: "I have found the descendants of the Helian family." ”

"In the past five years, it turns out that you have been staying at Helian's house?" Young Master Guo seemed to understand something, "How is it?" Is there a catch? ”

Xing Renju hesitated for a moment and said, "Yes, the Helian family doesn't know what the real secret is, on the contrary, it is their domestic servants who know the secret. ”

Young Master Guo was shocked, got up and said, "What? The family doesn't know, but the servants do? ”

"Yes, the Cast Iron Immortal deliberately played a trick back then, so that the Helian family would not leak a flaw no matter what, if they really knew, they wouldn't be able to guarantee that the people of the Helian family would also look for it themselves, right?" Xing Renju took another sip of wine, "Now the people of the Helian family don't even know that they are the descendants of the Cast Iron Immortal, plus they were originally sinicized and intermarried with the Han people, and they didn't have too many Cast Iron Immortals left in their appearance, which is also one of the reasons why those Zhangrong chasers have been looking for so long and haven't found it." ”

The cigar in Young Master Guo's hand trembled, looked at Xing Renju, and asked, "What is the secret?" ”

Xing Renju put down the wine bottle: "Young Master Guo, after we found Xiaojin back then, you forgot what my father told us?" ”

Young Master Guo shook his head: "No, his old man disguised his identity as a treasure keeper of filial piety, the purpose is to let future generations confuse Qimen and filial piety, at the cost of filial piety, hoping that future generations will find filial piety, in this way, they will mistakenly think that they have found Qimen, and they will not chase any Qimen, and they will not let more people pay attention to Qimen, and they will die on the journey of chasing Qimen, but ......"

Young Master Guo looked at Xing Renju and said seriously: "However, as a descendant of the Guo family and the guardian of filial piety, since I am asked to give up filial piety as a price, I must know what Qimen is, right?" ”

Xing Renju looked at the wine bottle and asked, "Do you believe in the existence of God?" ”

Young Master Guo hesitated for a moment and shook his head: "I believe in fate, but I really don't believe in God, if there is really a god, how can there be so much suffering in the world." ”

Xing Renju looked calm: "I'd rather believe that there is a god, at least God is a hope, right?" If people lose hope, there is nothing. ”

Young Master Guo was puzzled: "What do you want to say?" What exactly did you do? ”

Xing Renju picked up the wine bottle again and took a sip: "Since the appearance of those pair of chopsticks, I have understood that we are just caught in the struggle between the two factions in the Chaser for hundreds of years, in fact, what Qimen is, for me, it doesn't matter at all, what matters is what Qimen will bring, when you figure out the ins and outs of all this, you will find that everything is just a trap." ”

After listening to Xing Renju's words, Young Master Guo became even more curious: "What did you find?" You...... Have you ever been to Qimen? ”

Xing Renju shook his head: "My father let me mix in the palm of the hand of the cargo, the purpose is to cut off the key clues, I think about it, I can only start with Helian's house, because the chopsticks have appeared, those palm Rong cargoers will know the whereabouts of the bowl sooner or later, I can only mix the true and false together, leave the clues, the next place I will go to, all have a close relationship with the cast iron fairy, only in this way, can I not only complete the task given to me by the palm Rong cargo, but also complete the things that my father told me." ”

Xing Renju seemed to be talking to himself, and he didn't answer the slightest question raised by Young Master Guo at all.

Young Master Guo was anxious: "Okay, I won't ask Qimen, then you have to at least tell me, what do the Zhangrong cargo chasers want to do?" ”

Xing Renju took a deep breath and took another big sip of wine: "In general, Qimen is divided into two places, one is the place where the cast iron immortal left his relics before he died, and the other is the place where legend has it that he unloaded his miracles and kept them. ”

"Huh? What the? Young Master Guo was almost incomprehensible, "Relic? Miracles? Are you drinking too much? Got a lot of wine? ”

Xing Renju didn't raise his eyes to look at Young Master Guo, his eyes were straight, and he looked ahead: "There are some things that can't be let us get, it is absolutely impossible, once we get them, no matter how kind a person is, they will have evil thoughts in their hearts, Young Master Guo, let me ask you, if you can read people's hearts, are you happy?" ”

Young Master Guo was stunned: "I don't know, but in that case, I will avoid doing a lot of wrong things, and I will avoid believing people who shouldn't be believed." ”

Xing Renju shook his head: "No, you will become afraid, you will no longer trust anyone, even if it is your loved ones, you will reject it, because no one is absolutely kind, everyone has ** in their hearts, and some people's **, in your eyes, will hurt you." ”

Young Master Guo nodded, and Xing Renju asked again: "What if you have the ability to bring the dead back to life?" Can you control life and death? What would you do? ”

Young Master Guo said righteously: "I will go to save people, save those who should not die but die." ”

Xing Renju finally raised his eyes to look at him: "Under the premise that you have the ability to see through people's hearts, you don't trust anyone, who else can you save?" ”

Young Master Guo was speechless, and his brain couldn't turn around, because Xing Renju was telling the truth, if he didn't trust anyone anymore and thought that everyone was a threat, under this premise, would he still save people? No, even if it will, it is on the premise that you can control the person in front of you, if you become trying to control the hearts of others, will you still be a so-called good person?

Xing Ren raised his head and asked again, "If you have the ability to turn iron into gold again, what will you do?" ”

Young Master Guo was confused, shook his head and said he didn't know, and then said: "Before I had all this, what I said was just speculation, and I didn't know what I would do if I really had these." ”

"Yes, no one knows, but we can analyze it." Xing Renju stood and said with a wry smile, "There will only be two extremes, either the person who gets all this will do nothing, just like a god, high up and cold-eyed, this is why you said that if there is a god, why there is so much suffering in the world, or the person who gets all this will try to change the world, and eventually go astray, each has a fifty percent chance, so I don't dare to take the risk." ”

Young Master Guo stood there, not knowing what to say for a while, so he had to ask, "What do I need to do?" ”

"Stay away from me." Xing Renju said softly, "The farther you go, the better, I will arrange everything that follows by myself, I will follow the instructions of the Zhangrong Chasers, and I will also do what my father asks, so that the Zhangrong Chasers can not find the secret of the Helian family and give up, but also let the other Chasers not go astray and reduce casualties." ”

Young Master Guo sighed and said, "I understand, the Palm Rong Cargo Master wants to use you to leave wrong clues and reduce the danger of his hostile forces, and your father's ultimate goal is to hope that no one can find Qimen, right?" ”

Xing Ren nodded in acquiescence, and Young Master Guo suddenly realized something and asked, "You...... Do you mean that your father once went to Qimen? Instead of you having been to Qimen? ”

Xing Renju just turned around and walked to the door, picking up his hat and coat: "Young Master Guo, please stay away from me in the future, don't follow me closely, at least don't let me see that you are by my side, your mission has ended, and my mission has just begun." ”

Young Master Guo was still unwilling to give up, and chased after Xing Renju, who had already held the doorknob: "Does the miracle really exist?" Does Qimen really exist? ”

Xing Renju stopped, looked at him and said, "Whether it exists or not depends on whether you believe it or not. ”

With that, Xing Ren opened the door and left, shuttling out of the crowd, and through the door of the club that the waiter had opened for him, to the street outside.

Xing Renju took a deep breath, put on his coat, ran a few steps, caught up with the tram that passed in front of him, and found a seat on the tram.

"This is the last train." The driver of the tram in front of him suddenly spoke to the only seven or eight passengers left on the train.

Xing Renju sat motionless, watching the passengers on the train get off one by one, and soon only he and the tram driver were left on the train, and the tram finally stopped after entering the terminal.

The tram driver put on his hat, stood at the door and glanced at Xing Renju, then got off the train with his water glass, and at the same time as he got off the train, a man wearing a black trench coat, a scarf around his face, and black sunglasses in the middle of the night walked in a dark corner in the distance.

The man and the tram driver passed by, the two nodded to each other, the driver disappeared into the darkness, and the man boarded the tram and sat directly opposite Xing Renju.

Xing Renju took off his hat and asked, "Are you here to kill me?" ”

"Enough people have died today." The comer said lightly, "In the club before, the people who talked to you, except for Young Master Guo, all have to die, because we also need the Guo family to mislead us with clues, and the descendants of the Guo family will also help us continue to spread the news of Qimen, and at the same time spare no effort to protect Qimen, the secret is like this, the more people guard, the more curious it is." ”

Xing Renju asked, "What exactly are you going to do?" ”

The visitor slowly leaned back in the chair: "Qimen will still be found in the end, the key depends on who finds him, whether it is us or someone else." ”

Xing Renju was a little confused: "What do you want to say?" ”

The voice of the comer was low: "Do you remember what happened five years ago when I appeared at the Jiu'an pawnshop with chopsticks?" ”

Xing Renju said: "I left the Jiu'an pawnshop, found you, and accepted the task, but I never knew who you were. ”

The visitor laughed dryly: "I am the only one among the Zhangrong Cargo Collectors who knows your identity, and the only one among them who has found the location of the descendants of the Helian family, and the person who once found Qimen with your father. ”

Xing Renju stood up suddenly: "Who the hell are you?" ”

"I'm one of them." The visitor took off his hat and scarf, revealing a face that was all too familiar to him.

When Xing Renju saw that face, he lost his voice and said, "Dad? You're not already ......"

"I'm not your father, I just look like your father, I've been wearing this mask for many years, this is the perfect solution I came up with, the only way to hide the identity of the person who once dug up the coffin and find out all the secrets." The mysterious person whispered, "After that, I wandered the rivers and lakes, using the identity of a beggar as a cover, and took in two apprentices in Longquan, one of them is called Chen Wenjing, and the other is called Chen Daxu, firmly remember the names of these two people, you can use them in the future, I will deceive them with you, and let them help you hide and continue the clues in a special way." ”

The mysterious person is none other than Zhang Molu, a famous Jiangnan merchant nicknamed Baijia Food, that is, the master of Chen Jingwen and Chen Daxu, and the ancestor of Zheng Cangqiong.

Under Zhang Molu's gesture, Xing Renju sat down again: "What is the relationship between you and my father?" ”

"It's a long story, and I'll try to make it as short as possible." After Zhang Molu finished speaking, he took out a cigarette stick to fill it with dry tobacco.

At the same time, the lights in the tram also suddenly went out, and the match in Zhang Molu's hand was also lit, becoming the last ray of light in the darkness.