As the provincial capital of Shudu, Rongcheng is home to all kinds of colleges and universities, among which the art colleges are Shudu Conservatory of Music and Shudu Academy of Fine Arts.

The former is a beautiful woman, and the latter is an excellent wolf (I hope my friends from the Academy of Fine Arts don't see it).

Where there are many beautiful women, it is natural that the lights are indispensable in order to set off their charm and vitality.

Outside the south gate of Shudu Conservatory of Music, there is a commercial street, in addition to being full of various restaurants and hotels, there are also many disco bars, bars and KTVs, which enrich the students' spare time life and make their original simple university life less pure.

Diagonally across from the South Gate, there used to be a larger bar called "The Fallen Goddess".

This bar is different from ordinary off-campus bars, but a bar with a background of the black club, which not only sells yin, but also illegal activities such as drug abuse and gambling, standing outside the school, like a cancer that mutilates the body, mutilating the body and mind of the students.

The "fallen goddess" once dragged many simple college students into the abyss, and finally completely joined the darkness and never saw a trace of light again.

Although the leaders of the school have reported to the above many times that they should ban this bar, the background of this bar is more complicated, the owner is also a policeman, and the shareholder is a high-ranking official, so the "goddess of depravity" openly pulls the students to continue to fall.

Until, in the autumn of 2017, in the bedroom on the second floor of this bar, Lin Xiao, a criminal police officer and bar owner, hanged himself in his bed and left a confession, admitting that he was the real culprit in the "case of the disappearance and death of several students of Shudu Conservatory of Music". (See chapters 76 to 82 of "It's Better to Fall in Love than to Hunt Demons")

As a result, the bar was seized, and although the high-ranking official behind it tried to turn the tide, it was eventually completely banned, and the "depraved goddess" disappeared completely.

Because he had died, and he was a psychopathic murderer, even though the shop was in a prime location on the high street, it has not been cared for since.

In order to attract tenants, the landlord lowered the rent again and again, from the original 1F rent: 260 yuan/square meter, 2F rent: 160 yuan/square meter, to 1F rent: 160 yuan/square meter, 2F rent: 80 yuan/square, which can be described as a big sale.

It's a pity that when others hear what happened here, they are discouraged.

In order to stop the loss in time, the landlord put the two-story shop out and planned to sell it at a low price.

Shortly after the New Year, a young man approached the landlord and cut the rent price to 100 yuan per square meter for the 1st floor and 50 yuan per square meter for the second floor.

Hearing the price of the cabbage, the landlord gushed out a mouthful of old blood, intending to spray it on the young man's face, so that he could feel the red and bright colors of the New Year again.

Seeing that the old blood was stuck in his throat and was about to be sprayed, the young man said slowly, "Sign for three years at a time, and pay for three years for one year."

Immediately, the landlord swallowed the old blood, replaced it with a bright smiling face, and signed his name on the contract with a stroke of the pen.

On March 18, 2018, an art gallery called "Star Gallery" was officially opened diagonally opposite the south gate of Shudu Conservatory of Music.

However, the gallery was very low-key, so low-key that there was no publicity, and there were not even two large flower baskets and a string of large firecrackers at the door.

Not only that, but the interior was not even heavily altered, except that the day after the contract was signed, a young man entered the shop with a group of decorators in overalls, and after a week of banging inside, the bar was transformed into a gallery.

Its efficiency is amazing, and its effectiveness is questionable.

The "Fallen Goddess" was originally decorated in a European retro style, not only on the inside, but also on the outside, with retro bricks, arched doors and windows, carved stone pillars, and wrought iron lighting.

Passing by here, you will feel like you have traveled through the streets of Europe.

However, the renovation workers removed all the bright neon signs, and replaced the long-lost bar sign with a distressed gallery sign.

From the outside, not much has changed, so even though the gallery has been open for several days, few people around it have noticed.

It stands to reason that such a low-key gallery should have been left unattended, but the day after it opened, it welcomed many customers.

Some of them came to buy paintings, some came to sell paintings, some took the old paintings at home for appraisal, and some came to order paintings.

These guests are all regular customers of Star Gallery, or guests introduced by regular customers.

The owner of the gallery, surnamed Qin, is said to be a veteran artist, who not only knows how to paint, but also knows how to appreciate paintings.

In the case of oil paintings, it is possible to deduce not only the date, but also the author, and even the composition of the paint on the canvas.

Not only that, but he also imitates a good painting, whether it is a Western oil painting or a Chinese ink painting, as long as he shows him the original painting, he can paint a fake and real one, and put it together with the original painting, which makes it difficult to distinguish.

It is said that the world-famous paintings hanging in the Star Gallery, which are more like the original than the original, are from the hands of Boss Qin.

However, this Boss Qin is quite mysterious and does not like to socialize, let alone deal with artists in the Rongcheng art circle.

As a result, he was given the title of "dragger" by those artists in Rongcheng.

"Dragging" Boss Qin is not only dragging, but also lazy, 365 days a year, the gallery is non-business for 115 days, the door is closed, I don't know, I think the gallery is closed.

Therefore, when the Star Gallery moved diagonally opposite the south gate of the Shudu Conservatory of Music, those regular customers flocked to meet Boss Qin to talk about art and life.

It's a pity that it was not Boss Qin who received them, but the young man who negotiated the cheap rent for Boss Qin.

The young man's name is Ke Luo, he is one year old and thirty years old, he is handsome, and his whole person exudes a shrewd energy, so he is often mistaken for Boss Qin.

However, he is not an employee of Boss Qin, but a friend of Boss Qin, he is a detective by profession, he has opened a detective agency that is not very famous, and he has more free time, so he is often pulled by Boss Qin as a free laborer.

After sending off another batch of guests, Corot could finally sit for a while and drink again.

Loosen a suit button, go to the sofa at will, change the previous steady style, Erlang's legs, and sway.

After opening a can of Coke, he drank it in a big gulp, and the Coke that overflowed from the corner of his mouth flowed down his chin to the collar, instantly dyeing the white shirt collar into light brown.

However, Corot didn't mind at all, anyway, this suit belonged to Boss Qin, they were about the same figure, and whenever he needed to wear formal clothes, Corot would take away the clothes he liked from Boss Qin's wardrobe.

After drinking most of the bottle of Coke, Corot took out his mobile phone, clicked on WeChat, and sent a message to a friend named "Qin Li".

"Don't come back yet? I'm tired of the past few days, you have to give me some labor fees, otherwise in the future, I won't do it! ”

It's a pity that this WeChat stone has sunk into the sea.

Just as Corot was about to flash in, the double-open glass door of the gallery was pushed open, and with a "squeak", a slender, short woman walked in.

It was already evening, and although the lights were already on outside, the lights inside the gallery were dim and dim, and from Corot's point of view, the woman came in against the light, and her face could not be seen clearly.

"Excuse me, anyone?"

The woman's voice, like her figure, was slender and soft.

Looking over from her perspective, she didn't notice Corot sitting in the corner.

"Ahem, hello!"

Corot got up, straightened his clothes, put the Coke on the coffee table, and walked towards the woman.

"Excuse me, are you Boss Qin?" The woman looked at Corot and asked politely and reservedly.

"No, he's not here now, what's the matter with you? I can tell you that. ”

Through the light in the gallery, Corot found that the woman's face was as white as paper, but her facial features were quite delicate, and with this fair little face and long flowing hair, she felt like a sick beauty.

"Oh, forget it, excuse me." The woman lowered her eyes and turned to walk in the direction of the gate.

Watching the woman's slender and delicate back fade into darkness, Corot couldn't help but feel pity.

Just when the woman held the doorknob and was about to push the door to leave, she suddenly turned around, looked at Corot, and said earnestly: "When will Boss Qin come back?" I have something urgent to find him. ”

Seeing the woman's frowning and slightly blushing appearance, Corot scratched his head and said, "I don't know, or you leave a contact information, and I'll ask him to contact you when he comes back." ”

The woman hesitated for a moment, let go of the doorknob, and walked slowly towards Corot, "Please take your phone and write it down." ”

"Okay, okay." Corot hurriedly took out his phone.

"My surname is Zeng, and my mobile phone number is 18xxxxxxxxx." When the woman reported the phone number, she reported it number by number, and she seemed to be very careful, for fear that she would say something wrong.

"18xxxxxxxxx, huh?" Seeing the woman's caution, after noting down the mobile phone number, Corot repeated it again.

"That's right." The woman nodded, looking at Corot's phone.

"Do you want to buy paintings, sell them, appreciate ancient paintings, or order them?" Corot asked.

"Neither." The woman shook her head, her gaze still on Corot's phone.

"Huh?" Corot looked down at the woman and wondered, could she be trying to make that kind of deal?

The woman pursed her lips and said cautiously, "I want to make a fifth trade." ”

Really!

In Star Gallery, in addition to the four types of transactions: buying paintings, selling paintings, appreciating ancient paintings, and ordering paintings, there is also a fifth type of transaction.

However, this fifth type of transaction is very mysterious, a little more mysterious than Boss Qin himself.

At this moment, Corot's WeChat suddenly rang, and the message came from "Qin Li".

"Bring her up, I'm on the second floor."

Corot looked at WeChat, then looked back at the camera that was slowly rotating 360 degrees, and scolded in his heart: "Qin Li, you old slut"!

"Ahem, Boss Qin came back suddenly, it's on the second floor, I'll take you up." Putting away the phone, Corot said to the woman.

"Really?" The woman looked up at Corot, her apricot eyes sparkling, like a spring stream, sparkling and moving.

Corot opened his eyes and made a gesture of invitation to the woman, "Come with me." ”

The woman followed closely behind Corot and clenched her handbag, a little excited and a little nervous......