It was a very hot day in Wuhan, and I sat on the sofa in my office and passed the time with a newspaper in boredom.

Recently, the business of my detective agency has been a little weak, and I haven't received any decent big orders for several months, just some shit such as catching juniors and finding adulterers.

Just as I was staring at the advertising page of the newspaper in a daze, the internal phone on the desk rang, and I saw that it was the front desk calling, so I asked what was the matter.

The front desk said that an old man with a little girl came and asked to see the president by name.

I hurriedly put down the newspaper and went out, generally this kind of customers who come in and coax to see the president are basically of good status, and they will not be stingy, which is a little experience I have been doing this for many years.

Sure enough, as soon as we met, the old man handed me a business card, which was printed with "Wu Dingwen, permanent director of the Chinese Archaeological Experts and Scholars Association, professor and doctoral supervisor of Hanjiang Normal University".

I let people into the reception room with a smile on my face, and said politely: "Yo, it turned out to be Professor Wu, I have heard of your name for a long time!" I'm Xu Chenfeng, the president of our company, I don't know if you need my help when you come here? ”

Actually, I haven't heard of his name, but just by looking at the title on this business card, I know that his status is not low.

Who knew that he didn't say anything to me, but said to the little girl next to him: "Xiaoqian, take out the photo." ”

I looked at the girl named Xiaoqian with some embarrassment, and then I found that her appearance was simply indescribable, with a pair of big eyes that were extremely watery, and the whole face looked very well-proportioned, which made people feel very comfortable.

I couldn't help but think to myself, this old man brought such a beautiful little girl over, could it be the legendary old husband and young wife?

Or maybe this Xiaoqian is his second wife, come to me to find out something, so that she can divorce her wife and divide the family property?

Before this, I did handle a few similar cases, all of which were people with a bit of status in society, and when they got old, they wanted to kick their own yellow-faced mother-in-law and take a young and beautiful girl or something.

When Professor Wu saw me looking at Xiao Qian, he coughed heavily, and then I realized that I had lost my temper.

"I'm sorry Professor, but you... What photos do you say? I said incoherently with a blushing face.

Xiao Qian snickered and handed over the photo, but Professor Wu didn't seem to care much, just said, "I want to ask you to help me check the things on this photo." ”

When I looked at the photo, it seemed to be a certain number of years old when I saw whether the photo was taken with that kind of film camera, or with a black and white background.

But the strange thing is that the whole photo looks blurry, and only a few black spots are faintly discerned, connected by straight lines, which looks like a map or something.

I asked, "What does this mean?" ”

Professor Wu replied: "This photo is actually a nautical chart of the Ming Dynasty, which can also be said to be a cultural relic, related to an archaeological project in my hand, but for some reason, this nautical chart is missing, you know, I am old, and some things are inconvenient to do, so I can only ask others for help." I heard that your detective agency has a good reputation, and I just want you to help me find it. ”

I secretly estimated that the price of this kind of thing to find people and things is not high, but if it is a cultural relic, it is different, for example, its value can be more than ten or two hundred thousand, and I can at least ask for a 30% commission.

So I smiled and said, "It's all raised by outsiders, but don't worry, Professor, since you trust me, then I will definitely do my best to do this well."

It's just one thing I don't quite understand, since this is part of your archaeological project, with your connections, it is not difficult to find something, right? ”

Professor Wu was silent for a long time before he said: "Because I don't want too many people to know about this matter, but can do it secretly, as a private detective, you should know what secrecy is, right?" On the other hand, this thing is very sensitive and can only be found by you professionals. ”

I wondered, "Oh? What do you mean by that?"

Professor Wu seemed to be a little impatient: "This nautical chart involves too many things, and I am not the only one staring at it, in short, you just have to look for it, I will not treat you badly in terms of remuneration, don't ask about the rest." ”

I instantly understood that this thing was either a hidden thief or something behind it that could not be known to outsiders.

Although private detective itself is a gray area industry, I still have some concerns when it comes to some sensitive matters.

But then I think about it, I just take money to do things, and I have formal procedures in my hands, even if I really get involved in the crime, there are more or less conditions for exemption.

Besides, listening to the tone of this old man, if this order is done, the commission earned will definitely not be less, and it seems that it is worth my risk.

Then I said, "Professor, we never ask about our customers' affairs, we only do our own business, you can rest assured of this."

But the nautical chart you mentioned is so mysterious, you should always give me some clues, otherwise I wouldn't be able to find it even if I had the ability to get to the sky with just a blurry photograph. ”

Professor Wu nodded and said, "To tell you the truth, this photo was actually taken by myself thirty years ago, but I didn't know how to use a camera at that time, so it was taken like this."

As for the clues you want to know, I can only tell you that I took this photo at Hanjiang Normal University, and then the nautical chart mysteriously disappeared within a few days, and the only thing that is certain is that it is still in Hanjiang Normal University.

But everyone in this school knows about this, and the rest has to rely on you, otherwise what's the use of you playing this private detective's signboard. ”

I secretly scolded this old man for being sick, and since he knew where the things were, he had to sell them to me.

After thinking about it, I had to talk about it first, regardless of what his intentions were. Recently, the performance of the detective agency is really miserable, whether it is a big fish or a small shrimp, the business can't be just yellow.

After a while, the front desk brought two prepared contracts, and Professor Wu signed them without even looking at them, and then threw down the advance payment of 20,000 yuan and took Xiaoqian away.

As soon as I saw that the remuneration column on the contract was directly filled in with 500,000 yuan, my heart immediately blossomed.

I thought that this old man would negotiate with me more or less, and even if he couldn't slaughter three or four hundred thousand at that time, at least one hundred thousand should be able to fall.

Unexpectedly, he directly filled in 500,000 without even asking, which completely exceeded my expectations, and I couldn't say anything more.

Just as I was about to get up to see them off, Professor Wu suddenly turned around and said, "By the way, your surname is Xu, where is your hometown?" ”

I didn't know what he meant for a while, so I replied truthfully: "My hometown is in Qinghai, and my ancestors moved from Jiangsu. ”

Professor Wu nodded, and said to himself, "That's the case," and went out with Xiao Qian.

After sending the two away, I saw that it was already twelve o'clock, and I was about to pack up my things and go to lunch, when two text messages suddenly came to my mobile phone.

The first one was a harassing advertisement, and I deleted it easily, but the content of the second one made me instantly excited.

I saw that the text message was sent by an unfamiliar number, and the content was only two short sentences: "Don't wade into this troubled water casually, the surname Wu is not as simple as you think!" ”

Who could have sent this? It stands to reason that Professor Wu and the others have just left me, and we are the only three of us who know about it.

Not long after the contract was signed, the text message came, could it be that someone was spying behind it?

I hurriedly called the two doormen downstairs and asked them if there were any suspicious people in the office building just now.

However, they were very sure that Professor Wu and Xiaoqian were the only ones who came to me just now, and no one from the other units went in or out at all.

In this way, it seems that Professor Wu should be being targeted, and the person staring at him is definitely not ordinary, thinking of what he said just now, I am afraid that this matter is really not so simple.

I lit a cigarette and thought about it before deciding to go to Hanjiang Normal University first.