It was a middle-aged man in his forties, emaciated, sallow, unkempt, and with a beard that had not been shaved for a long time, and looked like a beggar who had been malnourished all year round. His clothes were also in tatters, wearing a black jacket full of scratches on his upper body, a pair of jeans with several holes in the bottom, and a pair of cracked Nike sneakers under his feet, which were covered in yellow mud.

However, on the waist of the middle-aged man, he carried a brand-new satchel, which looked incompatible with his clothes all over his body, and the satchel must have contained some important items.

The middle-aged man raised his head, looked around, and asked the two of us, "Do you accept antiques here?" ”

As soon as I heard it, I immediately understood what was going on, this guy must have thought our shop was an antique shop.

In fact, I am not surprised by this kind of thing, because the name of our shop, Qibao Zhai, does sound like the name of an antique shop, and the location of the shop is not far from Qingshuitang Antique Street, so people often think of our store as an antique shop.

I glanced at the middle-aged man in front of me who claimed to have antiques to sell, if it was usual, I would definitely immediately point my hand to the opposite side and ask him to take the antiques to the Guyuan Pavilion, after all, for antiques, I and the cheap are completely laymen, not to mention that this guy in front of me doesn't look like the owner of the antiques in his hands.

But today I don't know which tendon is wrong, maybe I just feel bored and want to tease this person, I asked him, "What good treasure do you have in your hand?" ”

The middle-aged man came up to me, lowered his voice and said, "It's a human skin map!" ”

When I heard the map of human skin, I couldn't help but be surprised, it was the first time I had heard that there were maps made of human skin in this world. also suddenly became interested, and hurriedly said: "You take it out and show it to me!" ”

The middle-aged man did not immediately take out the contents of the satchel, he seemed very alert, first turned his head to look outside the door, and after making sure that there were no idle people waiting outside, he took out the contents of the satchel.

It was a boxy, dark brown wooden box, the box looked like it had been many years old, the corners had been worn out, and the surface of the box should have been carved with patterns, but it was also worn out so that it could not be seen clearly.

The middle-aged man opened the box, carefully took out the contents, and spread out the contents in front of me and the cheap.

It is a yellowish-brown piece of leather paper, about a foot square, the edges of the leather paper are extremely irregular, and the surface is full of cracks, presumably due to age.

As for whether this leather paper is the human skin that the middle-aged man said, neither I nor the cheap can be sure.

There was indeed a map drawn on the parchment, and the back was full of strange words, which were crooked, a bit like foreign languages, and I didn't know any of them anyway.

"Are you really a human skin map?" I asked the middle-aged man.

"Since the two of you open the door to do business, you should also be considered experts, can't you see it?" The middle-aged man asked rhetorically.

I fixed my mind and asked, "How much do you want to sell this thing?" "I thought in my heart, if the other party offered a price of 1,000 yuan and 800 yuan, I would buy it, even if it was fake, the loss would not be big.

The middle-aged man stretched out five fingers and waved them in front of me, saying, "At least this number!" ”

"How much, five thousand?"

"What are you kidding! This thing is a thousand-year-old treasure, and it is very likely to be a treasure map, of immeasurable value, so you can send me for 5,000 yuan! ”

"You don't want 50,000, do you?" I couldn't help but be stunned.

Who knew that the other party actually shouted: "Fifty thousand? Are you kidding me? At least 500,000! ”

"What!? 500,000! I didn't expect the other party to offer such a high price, and without saying a word, I immediately snatched the so-called human skin map from my hand, stuffed it back into the wooden box, and handed the wooden box back to the middle-aged man, then pushed him out of the door, and said while pushing it back: "Dude, we're not interested in this thing, you can sell it elsewhere!" ”

The middle-aged man may be too thin, he seems to be a little weak, the cheap is obviously just a gentle push, he actually hit a stumbling, almost fell, fortunately I reacted quickly, hurriedly held him up, he said a little angrily: "If you don't buy it, you won't buy it!" Push what push! ”

The middle-aged man put the wooden box back in his satchel, turned around and walked out, perhaps curious about the human skin map, I hurriedly called out to him: "Brother, please stay first!" ”

The middle-aged man who had already walked to the door of the store stopped, turned his head, and asked angrily, "What else is the matter?" Thinking that I was going to buy the human skin map, he immediately blocked in front of me and said, "Brother, is it possible that you really want to buy it!" Who knows if his thing is real, and he actually offered 500,000 yuan, you just listen to his nonsense! ”

"Whether it's true or not, just ask Boss Wen to take a look." After saying that, I walked straight up to the middle-aged man, bowed my hand to him, and said, "Brother, can you wait here for a while, and I'll find an expert to take a look at this human skin map." ”

The middle-aged man glanced at the cheap, hesitated for a moment, and nodded.

I hurriedly asked the cheap to call Wen Qingshan, and the cheap muttered a few words, and walked towards the Gu Yuan Pavilion opposite with great reluctance.

I beckoned the middle-aged man to sit down, and since the shop had not been open for a while, and there was no tea, fortunately, when we came in the morning, I brought a pot of cold white boiling, so I poured him a cup, and the middle-aged man seemed to be very thirsty, grabbed the cup and drank it in a big gulp.

He drank three glasses of cold white in one breath before he stopped, wiped his mouth, raised his head and asked me, "Do you have anything to eat in this store?" ”

I couldn't help but be slightly stunned, and said secretly: What is the situation, did this guy come to my store to eat and drink for nothing?

Although I have doubts, since the other party has opened my mouth, I can't refuse, but after all, this is not a restaurant, and it has not opened for many days, and there is really nothing to eat in the store. Fortunately, there was a stall selling steamed buns next to the shop, so I walked to the door and shouted at the owner of the steamed bun stall, "Uncle Zhang, bring me two big meat buns!" ”

As soon as my voice fell, the middle-aged man said, "Two is not enough, come five!" No! Come eight! ”

I couldn't help but be taken aback: "I said brother, Uncle Zhang's buns are really good, at least two, three, two, eight, can you eat eight?" ”

"Eat it, eat it! Hurry up! The middle-aged man seemed to be too hungry to die, and couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva.

Eight buns were quickly served, and the middle-aged man immediately grabbed one in one hand and devoured it.

When the cheap led Wen Qingshan into the shop, this guy had already eaten four big meat buns, and his mouth was still full, the cheap was stunned for a while, looked at me, and asked in a daze: "Brother, what's the situation!?" ”

"This brother may be hungry and wants to eat steamed buns, so he brought him eight!" As I spoke, I raised my hand to make an "eight" gesture and deliberately accentuated the tone of the last two words.

Hearing that this middle-aged man actually asked for eight big meat buns, Cheap and Wen Qingshan were taken aback, and Cheap stared at him and said, "Dude, you haven't eaten for a long time." ”

The middle-aged man's mouth was stuffed, and he couldn't answer, so he could only nod his head, but he just nodded his head twice, and suddenly reached out and grabbed his neck, "Uh...... Uh......"

Looking at his face again, it had turned purple, and I was slightly stunned for a moment before I reacted, this guy was eating too quickly and was choked.

I hurriedly stepped forward and raised my hand to slap the middle-aged man on the back a few times, and with a violent cough, a large piece of belt-stuffed bun squirted out of his mouth. He hurriedly grabbed the water glass on the table again, and poured most of the glass of water, and then he was relieved.

I looked down at the big piece of bun he squirted out, it was three fingers wide, and I hadn't chewed it much, so gobbling it up, it was strange not to choke, I couldn't help but joke: "Brother, it's really rare to eat buns with your momentum." ”

The middle-aged man gasped and said, "I won't hide it from you, but I haven't had a good meal for more than half a month." ”

Hearing him say this, I couldn't help but be slightly stunned, and hurriedly asked, "Why is this?" ”

The middle-aged man looked at me, then looked outside the door of the store, and said in a low voice: "Because someone wants to rob me of the human skin map in my hand, I am afraid that someone will poison the food, so I dare not eat." If I hadn't been so hungry today, I'd ......."

This guy's answer is simply ridiculous, it's the first time I've heard that someone will not even dare to eat because they are afraid of being poisoned, Wen Qingshan said with a smile: "I said brother, being poisoned to death is better than starving to death, starving to death is more sinful!" ”

Who knew that this guy waved his hand and said, "That's not necessarily, these guys are not ordinary poison, they are Gu poison that can make people's lives worse than death!" ”

"What!?" When we heard about the poison, we were all taken aback, and I hurriedly asked, "Who is going to harm you?" ”

At the mention of those people, the middle-aged man looked very frightened, his body trembled slightly, and he muttered: "That's a group of devils who kill people without blinking, they not only killed my wife, but also turned her into a walking corpse......" As he spoke, the middle-aged man suddenly buried his head and whimpered.

Listening to what he said, I suddenly understood what was going on, glanced at Wen Qingshan, and said in a low voice: "It seems that the Black Demon Sect did it." ”