Just after the Spring Festival in 2011, in the early morning of the seventh day of the lunar calendar, the alarm clock at the head of Zhang Yan's bed rang non-stop, accompanied by the vibration of the bedside. He woke up from his sleep and slowly opened his eyes, sleepy-eyed and helpless, wanting to sleep a little longer. Then he reached out and touched the head of the bed, and picked up the phone that was vibrating while making a noise.

Then he looked at the time, seven o'clock in the morning, with a look of disbelief, then rubbed his eyes, looked at his mobile phone, it was indeed seven o'clock, and said bitterly in his heart: "My sweet dream!" The beauty of the dream is gone again! I feel like I've just fallen asleep, and it's time! ”

He slowly sat up from the bed, lifted the quilt, and put on his clothes. I walked to the window, opened the curtains, and a ray of sunlight shone in, but there was no temperature. Looking at the street downstairs, there are few pedestrians, there are few cars on the road, and it is deserted. The steamed bun shop downstairs hasn't been open for a long time, and he said with some loss in his eyes: "Since I went to work, every time I come back, the owner of the steamed bun shop has gone home for the New Year, and I only came back after the Lantern Festival." I haven't eaten his buns for two years in the blink of an eye, hey! Disconsolate! ”

He pushed open the door and saw his parents sitting on the sofa, looking like they had been up for a long time. His mother looked reluctant, her eyes were a little moist, and she said to him, "Yan'er, you're awake!" ”

He looked at his mother, then at his father, and said with an expression that he hadn't woken up, "Hmm! Parents! You guys wake up so early! ”

His father smoked a cigarette and said with a serious face: "Every time I am so ink, I can't get up early for a while, and I almost can't catch the plane every year, so hurry up and wash up!" ”

He said with some displeasure on his face: "Don't worry! If you won't miss your flight, don't worry about it, it's not your first time flying! ”

Then walked to the bathroom, and his mother said: "Yan'er is measured, and she hasn't missed the opportunity for so many years!" ”

His father looked at his mother, and said with some displeasure in his eyes: "It's okay to sleep less, it's better to arrive early than late, it's all what you're used to!" ”

When his mother heard this, she felt a little uncomfortable, and then said: "I'm just such a son, who is not used to him?" ”

The two of them were arguing outside, and after a while, Zhang Yan came out of the bathroom, and the whole person was in a lot of energy. Then his mother smiled at him and said, "Yan'er come for breakfast, you won't be able to eat the breakfast your mother made for you tomorrow!" ”

Hearing this, he felt a little sad in his heart, his eyes were a little moist, and he said in his heart: "Yes! I'm going to eat egg scones every day again! ”

He was eating breakfast while listening to his mother's advice. His mother said earnestly: "Yan'er, when you are alone outside, you must pay attention, pay more attention, don't believe what others say, and don't be greedy for small gains!" ”

He didn't get bored and said, "Mom! How many times have you said it, from college to now! Your son is not so stupid, you can put ten thousand hearts! ”

She continued to say tirelessly: "Yan'er, Mom isn't afraid that you will be deceived by others!" And at the end of the year, take a daughter-in-law home for the New Year! ”

He put down the bowl, looked at his mother, and said: "This is not in a hurry, I used to want to talk about you and didn't let me, but now the good girls have the master!" ”

After the meal, Zhang Yan carried the suitcase and went out, and the family of three took the elevator and walked down the underground garage. He put his luggage in the trunk and sat in the back of the car, his dad drove and his mom sat in the front.

Then the car drove towards the airport, and after more than 40 minutes, the car arrived at the airport. His dad parked his car in the parking lot, he pulled the suitcase in his right hand, held his mother's hand in his left hand, and the family walked towards the terminal.

He took the ticket, went to the security check, said goodbye to his parents, and his mother repeated the words of the morning, then walked into the waiting hall, took out his mobile phone and sent a text message to his mother: "Mom! Don't worry, I've been working for two years, and I'm an old fritter! You and Dad should pay attention to your body! ”

At around 8:00 p.m., he arrived home and put his suitcase in his bedroom. Then he sat on the sofa with a tired face, took out his mobile phone from his pocket, and dialed his mother's number. After a while, a voice came from the phone: "Yan'er, where are you?" ”

He said, "Mom! I arrived safely, don't worry! ”

Her tense heart finally relaxed, and then she said into the phone, "That's good! Rest early, you'll have to go to work tomorrow! ”

He smiled and said, "Okay! You too, pay attention to the body, then I'll hang up and go to the shower. ”

The next morning, the alarm clock at Zhang Yan's bedside rang again, he looked pained, slowly opened his eyes, and then lifted the quilt, the cold air hit like limbs, so cold that he shivered: "Beijing at the beginning of the year, the cold is still cold!" ”

Facing the cold air, he got dressed, folded the quilt, and walked out of the bedroom to the bathroom. He brushed his teeth, washed his face, stood in front of the mirror, stared at himself in the mirror, his face was a little rounder, his stomach was a little bulging, and he said with a melancholy face: "It's really a big three pounds every festival, and I am going to be gradually wiped out by this ghost festival!" ”

With his computer bag on his back, he walked out of the house and strode downstairs. Walk out of the gate of the community, there is a road, and go straight to the right to the subway station. He walked about a hundred meters, and a middle-aged couple in their forties set up a pancake stand on the side of the road. He walked over and said with a smile on his face, "Boss, let's have an egg scramble!" ”

The boss looked at him and smiled, "Add more chili peppers, right?" Are you at work? ”

He nodded, then smiled, "Yes, add more chili peppers!" That's right! Basically, I go to work on the eighth day of the new year every year. ”

After a while, the egg scones were ready, he took the cake in one hand, paid the money in the other, said thank you to the boss, and continued to walk forward. After he finished eating, the subway entrance was already close in front of him, threw the plastic bag into the trash, and walked towards the subway entrance.

After three o'clock in the afternoon, Zhang Yan was seriously typing on the keyboard, staring at the screen on the left. I saw that the screen on the left was full of code, and the screen on the right was a web page. After a few keystrokes, he refreshes the web page on the right screen, as if debugging code.

Suddenly, the phone on his desk vibrated and he turned his head to look at the phone screen, which was an unfamiliar phone number. Then he lifted his hands from the keyboard, grabbed his mobile phone and ran out, and answered the phone when he arrived at the door of the company: "Hey! Hello! Who is it? ”

A man's voice came from the phone: "I'm SF Express, you're Zhang Yan, right?" ”

He said lightly: "Hmm! ”

The courier said, "You have a package that has arrived, please come and get it." ”

He had some doubts in his heart, and said with a surprised expression: "Package? I haven't been buying anything lately! ”

The courier said with great confidence: "The above is indeed your name, and the phone number on it is also yours!" ”

He was even more puzzled in his heart, and kept recalling the people he had contacted recently, and then said, "It's strange! I can't have a courier! ”

The courier said helplessly: "There is no signature, and I don't know." ”

He sighed and said, "Forget it, it's over first!" He said, "Okay, so where are you now?" ”

The courier said, "I'm here in Qinghe Camp." ”

He said apologetically: "That's it, don't worry, I'm in the company now, I can't go over and get it, you can put it to the community doorman, thank you!" ”

The courier said, "Okay, then I'll put it at the doorman, polite, this is what I should do." ”

After hanging up the phone, he laughed at himself: "I haven't bought anything lately, and I haven't chatted with friends, how can there be a package?" It's been a long time since my phone is in arrears, so did my mom and dad send me something? ”

Then Zhang Yan dialed his mother's phone and asked her if she had sent anything to her. My mother said that she didn't send anything, and said that Zhang Yan had only left home the day before yesterday, and even if she sent it, it would not be possible to send it so quickly. After listening to his mother's words, Zhang Yan became curious, who would send me something? Can't wait to get off work.

Zhang Yan returned to the office, in a daze for more than an hour, thinking about the problem of the package, without writing a single line of code, and had no intention of thinking about those business logic. Recently, the company is doing an outsourcing project, making an examination system for the State Grid, urging it very tightly, and it will be delivered at the end of next month.

Before 8:00, Zhang Yan arrived at the gate of the community, went to the doorman to get the package, the package was not big, but it was very heavy, one hand almost did not hold it steady, Zhang Yan went upstairs with the package with both hands, and did not eat dinner. In the past, Zhang Yan used to cook by himself, and every time he made something casually, he had to eat two or three meals before he could finish it, so he simply didn't do it and went outside, and he could eat something fresh every day. When he got home, Zhang Yan tore open the wrapped box, and inside was a rectangular box, a metal box, no wonder it was so heavy.

There are a lot of strange patterns on the box, which looks a little old, and there are some patinas on the box, which seems to be a bronze box. Zhang Yan tried to break the box with both hands, but he didn't break it with the strength to feed, and then turned the box, and saw a hole in the middle of the side, like a keyhole, it seems that this thing needs a key to open.

Zhang Yan then went through the packaging bag that he had opened before, and there was nothing in it. Is there a mistake, there is no key, the person sending the thing is sick in the brain, is someone pranking himself? Zhang Yan muttered to himself.

"This box is old, it doesn't look like a prank, what does the person who sent it mean? If you don't give me the key, do you want me to help keep it temporarily? If so, aren't you afraid that I will throw it away or hand it over to the Cultural Relics Bureau? Isn't that a waste of all your work? I lived in this community not long, two weeks before the Spring Festival to change here to live, the general Spring Festival express will also be a holiday, it seems that it was sent a year ago, this person who sent things seems to know me very well, did not move long before it was sent, and I moved only my father and mother know, have not mentioned it to others, too strange. Zhang Yan continued to talk to himself.

After speaking, Zhang Yan picked up his mobile phone and called his mother again, Zhang Yan said into the phone:

"Mom, have you ever mentioned to my dad about my move in Beijing?"

His mother said, "Yan'er, I haven't mentioned it, what's wrong?" ”

Zhang Yan said: "It's okay, just ask, there is a strange package sent to my place today, I don't know who it is, just ask you." ”

His mother continued: "Yan'er, be careful when you are alone in Beijing, if you don't know whose it is, then let the courier company return it." ”

Zhang Yan said: "Mom, I know, don't worry, I'll be careful." ”

After saying that, he hung up the phone, who could this be? This person must have been paying attention to me, in this way, this box can't be thrown away, who knows when that person will come to me, this ability is quite big, it's better to be careful, don't mess with him first, I can't open it anyway, I don't know what's inside, but this pattern, go check it on the Internet and see if there are any clues, Zhang Yan said in his heart. Then Zhang Yan took a picture of the pattern on the box with his mobile phone, put the box in his wardrobe, walked to his desktop, turned on the computer, typed in the browser, and after entering, Google's search page came out.

Zhang Yan looked at the photos in his mobile phone, this pattern is quite complicated, it is not easy to describe at all, Zhang Yan thought for a long time, typed in the search box: bronze pattern box, pressed enter, and all the items listed were some irrelevant entries. It would be great if you could search for pictures, although the current technology has changed people's lives, there are still many flaws, Zhang Yan said to himself. There are no clues on Google, and then I use Baidu to search, the same fruitless, Zhang Yan is a science student, the history is a mess, I used to take history classes, I was basically sleeping, I never failed the exam, and I hated less when the book was used, if his history was better, maybe he could find some clues.

After a busy night's work, there was nothing to gain, Zhang Yan's stomach was already protesting, and after cleaning up Zhang Yan, he went out to have some supper, at this time it was almost twelve o'clock, so he could only go to the barbecue restaurant downstairs to eat some barbecue for one night.

After eating the barbecue, Zhang Yan returned home, took a bath and lay on the bed, thinking about the strange pattern, what was in the box, and would the person who sent the things come to me? I fell asleep thinking about it. Time flies quickly, it's going to be clear in a blink of an eye, it's going to be a holiday again, for more than two months, nothing has happened, Zhang Yan is as usual, going out early and returning late, as if the box has never appeared, the exam system has been delivered, and now it's about to start a brand new project, outsourcing is like this, a project that can't be done.

Zhang Yan has not stopped looking for clues, and every night he looks for clues of bronze and patterns on the Internet, and currently only roughly understands that this thing may be something before the Han Dynasty. During the Qin Dynasty, iron tools were already more popular, and the most popular era of bronze was probably before the Qin and Han dynasties.

On a weekend after the Qingming holiday, Zhang Yan went to the Xinhua bookstore near Wangfujing to read books, wanting to see if there were any related books.