Song Xiaofang couldn't help but feel funny when he looked at this invitation that was somewhat similar to the cover of a science fiction novel, especially the vampires and gold painted on it

"Alchemist? You think it's an anime? ”

As he spoke, he casually threw the invitation aside, Zhang Fan was not surprised by Song Xiaofang's attitude, carefully put away the invitation, and explained slowly

"This so-called vampire alchemist is actually a mad chemist, and he has always believed that gold can be refined through hard work."

Hearing the word "chemist", Song Xiaofang vaguely thought of something and asked tentatively

"If it's a chemist, does it have something to do with your wife?"

Zhang Fan nodded

"Well, yes, my wife was his student and assistant back then, and now she is able to work as a researcher at the institute thanks to this teacher's guidance."

At this time, the bar seemed to be very sensible, and the noisy music slowly stopped, and a relatively soothing melody was changed, making it easier for Zhang Fan to explain

"His surname is Chen, and he is a genius in chemistry, but I don't know from which day, he actually believed that gold could be refined through chemical experiments, so he quit his originally very decent job and took his wife and daughter to a desert island to start his alchemy experiment."

Song Xiaofang had heard a lot of stories like this, but he didn't care too much about it, and said it casually

"Otherwise, people always say that geniuses and madmen are only one step away."

Zhang Fan was deeply impressed by Song Xiaofang's words, and couldn't help but nod and continued

"Not only did he take that step, but he also took a very deep step, and the whole person went crazy, staying in the laboratory all day, and because the experiment was always unsuccessful, his temper became more and more irritable, and he slowly became angry with his wife and daughter, beating and scolding them, and finally his wife couldn't stand it anymore and left him with her daughter."

Song Xiaofang opened another bottle of beer and asked

"It would be interesting if I included the story of this scientist in my novel, and you want to give me fodder again?"

Zhang Fan shook his head

"After his wife and daughter left, he began to recruit new assistants, and with his previous achievements, many people were willing to help him, but because his personality was too eccentric, he has changed nine assistants in 15 years."

"Your wife is one of the nine? And then, how did he become a vampire alchemist again? ”

Song Xiaofang asked while pouring wine for Zhang Fan.

Zhang Fan moved his wine glass and said with a slight hesitation

"Because I heard that the scientist was completely insane, like a demon, he only came out at night every day, and he had to suck blood."

Although he is a novelist himself and has written many whimsical works, Song Xiaofang still doesn't believe in the existence of vampires, especially this kind of "heard", shrugged his shoulders and said

"Why did you hear about it? Your wife doesn't know? ”

"Yuanyuan is a chemical genius, at the age of 17, that is, 8 years ago, he was appreciated by the bloodsucking alchemist and became his second assistant, although Yuanyuan has been helping him do alchemy research out of respect, but she doesn't believe in the existence of alchemy in her heart, so she left after two years, therefore, what happened after that, I don't know very well, this is all spread in their chemical world."

After listening to Zhang Fan's narration, Song Xiaofang began to ponder by himself

"In other words, the first one did it for seven years, the second one did it for two years, and the next six years changed seven people, it seems that this guy may really be crazy, and the people around him can't stand him at all."

Song Xiaofang seemed to feel that the alchemist was a little pitiful, and continued to ask

"But what do you have to do with these two invitations?"

Zhang Fan didn't answer in a hurry, he took a slow sip of wine, and his tone became more slow and heavy, as if he was about to announce something very important

"There are many versions in circulation, but it is generally believed that he really succeeded and made a lot of gold."

"Poof!"

Hearing Zhang Fan, who has never liked to joke, say this sentence so seriously, Song Xiaofang squirted out a sip of wine, hurriedly wiped the table with a tissue, and asked in disbelief

"You're not serious, are you? Do you believe this nonsense? ”

But Zhang Fan still had that calm face, and even said something profound

"100 years ago, when you talked about airplanes, people said it was nonsense; 50 years ago, when you talked about computers, people said nonsense; Even 20 years ago, when you said that everyone had a mobile phone, people would say that you were nonsense. ”

After speaking, he stared at Song Xiaofang meaningfully, and when Song Xiaofang saw him so serious, he spread his hands and shook them, signaling him to wait a while

"Okay, dude, I know you've seen a lot of anecdotes since you became a reporter, so... So you can believe some strange things, but, then what? What are you going to do? ”

The light of the bar hit the ice cubes of the wine glass, refracting onto Zhang Fan's face, making his eyes even deeper

"The invitation letter said that whoever of the nine assistants can find the 100 catties of gold first can keep it for himself."

"100 pounds?!" Song Xiaofang was taken aback, and at the same time, he instantly understood Zhang Fan's intentions and sneered

"Hehe, so you want that money..."

Zhang Fan did not answer directly, but asked indifferently

"Can't you?"

Song Xiaofang knew that Zhang Fan was not a crazy person, or even a person who was so calm that it was incredible, this time he believed that this matter was true, it can be seen that the credibility is still very high.

At this time, Song Xiaofang, in the deepest part of his heart, seemed to have a trace of expectation for this gold, and smiled slyly

"Fan, this kind of treasure hunt really needs me as a detective novelist, and you put these two invitations in front of me, do you want..."

Speaking of this, Song Xiaofang realized that there was a problem, and the conversation changed

"No, if only those nine assistants are eligible for this competition, how can you have two invitations?"

Zhang Fan cocked his thumb, looked at Song Xiaofang with appreciative eyes, and praised

"It's worthy of you, really careful."

and slowly explained what happened

"Although I really wanted this money, when Yuanyuan received the invitation, she was already pregnant, and it was inconvenient to move around, so I refused at first..."

"Huh? Yuanyuan is pregnant? ”

Song Xiaofang was surprised and delighted by this, and looked Zhang Fan up and down, with all the words written on his face

"It turns out that you still like women, and you're really not gay."

Zhang Fan knew that Song Xiaofang had been joking that he didn't like women, so he glared at him, ignored him, and continued

"But then I received a second invitation letter, saying that I could bring my family with me and take care of them on the way, so I was thinking that since I can go if I am not one of the nine assistants, then you can also go as long as you have the invitation letter."

Speaking of this, the two of them laughed tacitly

"So, you want me to go with you?"

Zhang Fan hurriedly shook his hand

"No, no, you know Yuanyuan, you can't do without me, and now that I'm pregnant, I can't go, so I mean, you can take someone with you, for example, your Yalan."

"Oh, no, no." Song Xiaofang thought of the previous lesson and hurriedly refused

"The last time I took her to the escape room, it scared her into tears, this is a vampire and an alchemist, it will definitely frighten her."

Zhang Fan looked at Song Xiaofang in surprise and asked incredulously

"You're dating a girl to play an escape room?"

Song Xiaofang didn't care, wiped his mouth and said

"Ah, yes, what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing." said that it was nothing, but Zhang Fan was thinking in his heart

"No wonder you don't have a girlfriend." And he continued to persuade

"Actually, that's what I said, if she doesn't go with you, you can take someone else there."

Originally, Zhang Fan's words were also well-intentioned, but it stabbed Song Xiaofang's heart a little: I have been chasing for eight months, not to mention the progress, and I have even begun to be hated, and I can't ask out to play.

After that, I didn't know if it was the effect of alcohol, or if Song Xiaofang was too aggrieved, and he was vaguely fascinated by his eyes, recalling the quarrel between the two before

"Why don't you like me?"

"Then why do you like me! Do you know me? ”

……

"Hey, don't fall asleep, do you agree to this?"

After being pulled on the shoulder twice by Zhang Fan, Song Xiaofang came back to his senses, opened his eyes, and hurriedly replied

"Yes, yes, of course."

Zhang Fan raised his glass with a smile

"Okay, then I'll wish you the best of luck."

Song Xiaofang didn't clink glasses with Zhang Fan, held his wrist a little harder, and said seriously

"My brother is clear, if I really get this gold, according to the current market value, it is worth more than 10 million, how can we divide it?"

Zhang Fan didn't expect Song Xiaofang to say this, he was stunned for a second, and laughed

I didn't expect you to be so confident, but I was relieved. ”

He adjusted his tone and continued

"Although most of it depends on your efforts, this opportunity is provided to you by me after all, and we have 55 points." As he spoke, he raised his glass again.

Facing the wine glass raised in front of him again, Song Xiaofang said half-jokingly

"You're not afraid that I'll take it alone? Or lie to you and say that there is not so much gold, only 100 grams. ”

"If I don't believe you, I won't look for you, even if you only bring back 1 gram of gold, I believe you, I'm afraid you won't be able to bring it back."

"Bell"

Hearing this, Song Xiaofang no longer hesitated, and decisively clinked glasses with Zhang Fan, and the two drank it all, indicating that the deal was decided.

(It's just that what happened later made Song Xiaofang think that even if all the gold was given to him, he would suffer a loss in this transaction)

After drinking a lot of wine and talking about business, Zhang Fan handed the invitation to Song Xiaofang, and the two said a few words before leaving the bar

"Hey, let's go home early, don't let Yuanyuan wait."

"Well, you too, hurry up and take a taxi."

The bar at midnight, the melancholy music and lights, far less charming than the girl in Song Xiaofang's heart, the flowers are elegant in the water, Yalan is delicate in her heart, is there a better love song than wine?

Song Xiaofang also got into a taxi, sat drunk and paralyzed in the back, took out his mobile phone very hard and looked at it, there was neither WeChat message nor phone, sighed softly, and put away his mobile phone in great disappointment.

After returning home, Song Xiaofang still couldn't help it, took off his coat, took out his mobile phone, and sent a message to Su Yalan

"Yalan, are you home?"

"Well, it's already there."

"Oh, that's good, I've just arrived home and I'm going to take a shower, so let's get some rest."

"Hmm."

After a brief "chat", Song Xiaofang threw his mobile phone on the bed, slowly stripped naked, wrapped around a bath towel, and was about to walk towards the bathroom, when he suddenly remembered something, hurriedly took out the invitation letter from his jacket pocket, took a photo and sent it to Su Yalan, and said

"Yalan, I got an invitation from a friend, this event is similar to a big adventure, but the prizes are very rich, do you want to go together? Hey. ”

After the message was sent, Song Xiaofang stared blankly at the phone screen, and did not receive a reply after a long time.

"Hey, she seems to be asleep." I threw my phone on the bed and walked into the bathroom.

The question that Song Xiaofang thought about the most when he took a bath was

"Who should you go with?"

He didn't believe in his heart that Su Yalan would go to that kind of desert island with him, this kind of questioning was just with the mentality of "it's absolutely impossible if you don't try, there is still hope if you try".

After taking a bath, Song Xiaofang glanced at his phone again, but still did not reply, at this time, the alcohol came again, and the drunken road was sleepy, and the only instruction given by his body and brain was: sleep.

There was nothing to say all night, and early the next morning, Song Xiaofang just opened his eyes, flipped through his mobile phone casually, and received Su Yanan's reply

"It's fun to watch, let's go together."