The old woman stood inside the door, holding the door frame with both hands and looking out.

"Sure enough, it's you. I said.

I felt as if my throat was being imprisoned, and every word I uttered was as dry as sandpaper.

"Come in and sit, come in and sit......" she took two steps back.

I hesitated, and before I could move forward, the old woman had fallen on her back.

The room was so cramped that she took two steps back before she fell, right on the bed.

I rushed in and reached out to feel her pulse. The terrible thing is that she has no pulse at all, or it is so weak that her heartbeat has almost stopped.

"Do you want to call a doctor?" Lian Chengbi rushed to the door.

I shook my head, she couldn't stand the toss of the ambulance staff in this situation.

"I have medicine here, injections to bring her to her senses. Lian Chengbi said.

I nodded, and Lian Chengbi bent over and came in, took out a pink needle, and injected it through the crook of the old woman's right elbow.

"Look at that...... Look there, look at the cicada, he's in it, his soul is in it, it's been in it...... I'm waiting for you to come, just to ...... I'll tell you, thank you for saving ...... Saved me and our daughter...... She's fine, she's doing well...... I've had a lot of fun in my life, thank you, thank you, thank you......" The old woman said so many words in a row, gasped, raised her hand with difficulty, and pointed to the dark place between the bed and the table.

I looked down and saw a faded sachet tied to it, and the four threads on the sachet were tied to the table legs and the head of the bed.

A gray cicada was lying in the corner of the sachet, its mutilated fingers and claws clasping the sachet, barely holding on.

The cicada molt is the shell of the cicada, and when the cicada is gone, the cicada molt is naturally empty. However, when I gazed at it, it seemed as if there was an unyielding life hidden in it, and the soul was suddenly beating like a candle in the wind.

"That's good...... That's good, it's a happy ending, ha...... Ha...... Ha ......" The old woman laughed three times, and then she was silent again.

Lianchengbi and I looked at each other and fell into a daze.

With a click, the cicada exploded, scattering fragments and scattering in the darkness at the foot of the bed.

The moment it burst apart, I seemed to see a vigorous shadow sweeping through the air to the old woman's side.

"Brother, thank you so much, hahahaha......" Zhang Quanzhong's hearty laughter sounded again. However, I knew that it was an illusion, and even if he recovered from the cicada, he was already like an old woman, with only his last breath left.

Lian Chengbi helped me check the old woman's belongings and found several photos of the two women in the drawer.

In one of them, the young Jingguan Xiaowu stood in front of the Daming Lake Tiegong Temple with a chubby baby girl in her arms, her eyes calm and full of hope.

In the other picture, the baby girl has become an adult, which is exactly what the official lady looks like. At that time, Jingguan Xiaowu was nearly fifty years old, and the charm still existed.

There is another one, Jingguan Xiaowu is already old, and the official lady combs her short hair to her ears, holds a handful of incense and a roll of yellow mounted paper in her hand, calm and relaxed, and has the demeanor of a master of rivers and lakes. The two stood by the railing of Liu's Quanjing on Qushuiting Street, quietly looking at the camera, without fear, bravely facing a difficult life.

I'm sad, but I can't tell where it's coming from.

In fact, I have already saved Jingguan Xiaowu. When the Wulongtan Rebellion occurred, I left her and returned to Lianchengbi, and she also escaped the predicament, safely avoided the catastrophe of World War II, gave birth to a fetus, and raised an adult. What's even more gratifying is that she didn't know what kind of thaumaturgy she used, but she actually placed Zhang Quanzhong's soul in the cicada metamorphosis, and stayed together day and night until the end of her life.

"Is this a comedy or a tragedy?" I asked.

"It's not a comedy, it's not a tragedy, it's just a moment in the myriad changes of life. She replied.

We stayed in the hut until dawn, and the short man informed the funeral home and the neighborhood committee to deal with the old woman's funeral. In the register of the neighborhood committee, her name is Guan Xiaowu, which is very beautiful and poetic.

Jingguan Xiaowu will always remain in my memory, so I stubbornly refused to call the old woman "Jingguan Xiaowu".

The funeral home's car picked up the old woman's body, and by the way, the quilt, mat, and cushion on the bed were swept away, revealing the old-fashioned Luohan bed below.

Almost every old neighbor of Qushuiting Street has such a bed, and I have seen it countless times since I was a child, so I know that most of its bed legs and beds are equipped with hidden compartments to hide some valuables.

I crawled under the bed, and found a dark compartment one foot wide and half a foot deep, and took out a small abacus with a silver frame, gold edges, red gold trim, and sandalwood beads. On the side of the abacus beads, there is a striking "Zhang" character in small block with inlaid silver.

Zhang Quanzhong is known as "the first god operator in Jiangbei", this abacus must be his relic, carefully preserved by Jingguan Xiaowu.

Now, even the official lady is gone, and the relics can only be kept by me.

On the way back, Lian Chengbi was very stunned: "It's a pity that your illusion came too late, otherwise we could have contacted her earlier, and she would have found out the secret of Wulongtan." Huh-"

We smiled bitterly at the same time, because we thought of a question at the same time: "Looking for the triangular stone chamber is to find Jingguan Xiaowu and give everyone an explanation." Now that Jingguan Xiaowu has passed away, her life has come to an end, and there is no need to bother to find the stone room, so why waste everyone's time?"

When I arrived at the hospital, the nurse had already helped me change wards and transfer to a superior suite.

"You don't have anywhere to go anyway, so it's better to recuperate here for a while, and then make plans when your body does recover. She said.

I could hear something in her words, but I was too tired physically and mentally to talk more, so I immediately nodded in agreement.

After another day of sleep, Lian Chengbi came to see me with an old man with a goatee.

"This is Teacher Shan, a well-known abacus expert in Jinan. Lianchengbi introduced.

The old man got straight to the point: "Mr. Xia, I heard that you have a good abacus, can you borrow me to open your eyes?"

I hadn't fully woken up yet, so I lazily pulled open the bedside table drawer and took out the little abacus.

The old man's expression was extremely arrogant at first, but when he picked up the abacus and looked at it, his expression suddenly changed greatly, and even his goatee was pouted.

"This ...... Miss Lian, do you have any clean towels for me to use?" he asked nervously, carefully placing the abacus on the table.

Lian Chengbi went to the bathroom to get a towel, the old man padd it with a towel, held up the abacus again, walked to the window, greeted the sunset, turned over and over to take a closer look, and at the same time there was a sound in his mouth.

"Teacher Shan, you once said that as long as you see the abacus, you can reverse calculate the number of the user's life. Now that you've seen the abacus, can you please open Chrysostom and talk about it?" urged Lian Chengbi.

The teacher said "oh oh" twice in his mouth, and watched it for another four or five minutes before reluctantly returning to the table with the abacus in his hand.

"Teacher Shan, we are listening. Lian Chengbi urged again.

The single teacher looked me up and down, ignoring Lianchengbi, and suddenly said: "Three houses in Dongcheng, can you change them?"

I laughed dumbly, and from the gaffe he had just seen when he looked at the abacus, I had already expected this outcome.

"No, I don't change. I shook my head.

"Add a check and you'll be happy for the rest of your life. "Teacher Shan was anxious, and his goatee pouted, which was extremely incommensurate with his age.

"Teacher Shan, listen to Miss Lian, let's talk about things first, and then talk about other things. I said.

"This ...... You ...... Negotiate the price first, then talk about things. Teacher Shan blushed and said.

I sank my face: "In that case, I can't say it, please go, don't send it." ”

This abacus has a special meaning for me, and naturally it cannot be measured by money. I guess Lian Chengbi invited this teacher to come just to explore the secret of Zhang Quanzhong's life, and he would never sell it for money.

"Hmm...... Okay, okay!" Teacher Shan was defeated by me, his goatee sank, and he endured it and nodded to Lianchengbi.

"Please, Mr. Shan, we're listening. Lian Chengbi urged very politely for the third time.

"The owner of this abacus is a ghost, and each bead hides a set of serial strategies. In my ability, I can only interpret one-tenth of its wisdom. Teacher Shan said.

Lian Chengbi smiled and nodded: "Teacher Shan doesn't have to be modest, if you, the world's top abacus expert, can't interpret it in detail, who else in the world dares to give it a try?"

I personally came into contact with Zhang Quanzhong, who set up a Hongmen banquet at the Tiegong Ancestral Hall was only the first layer of the big plan, and then changed repeatedly, fighting wits and courage with the enemy bigwigs, until he deliberately rushed to the headquarters of the occupation army with the spy Xiaoling, causing the Wulongtan Change. His strategy is ever-changing, with calculations and calculations, and ordinary people can't guess the core of his calculations at all, but passively follow him and become a pawn at his mercy.

The word "ghost talent" does not completely summarize the whole of Zhang Quanzhong, I would rather compare him with Zhuge Wuhou of the Three Kingdoms. They were all the wise men of the world, and they all fell on the way forward because of the impermanence of the world, and became victims of a dark age.

I even thought that dying first in Wulong Pond and then succumbing to the cicada to die was part of his calculations.

During World War II, when the smoke was raging and the Central Plains was in chaos, great wise men like him and Jingguan Xiaowu were very likely to die from rogue or stray bullets if they refused to succumb to a certain faction. So, he took a weirder, simpler approach, and took a shortcut to this day.

"Alas—" I could not help but feel sad again at the thought of the life of the great wise man, who had lived so gloomy.

"Brother, what is your relationship with the owner of this abacus?" asked Teacher Shan.

I ignored him, got up alone, and walked to the window with a glass of water.

Of all Zhang Quanzhong's schemes, "dragging it out until dusk" is the only point.

Dusk is approaching again, but unfortunately he and Jingguan Xiaowu can no longer see the beautiful sunset of this harmonious and prosperous world.

"Little brother, he is there—the master of this abacus has hidden a message for you in the beads. Teacher Shan said behind my back.

"Really?" I didn't look back.

My first impression of this teacher was too bad, so my attitude towards him could only be like this, and I was not interested at all.

"Tianshi, cheer up a little and listen to Teacher Shan. Lianchengbi interjected.

I couldn't bear to disobey her kindness, so I slowly turned around, leaned against the window, and waited for Teacher Shan to speak.

"He said—" Teacher Shan's five fingers of his right hand fiddled with the abacus beads, making a tick-tick click.

In the eyes of ordinary people, the abacus can only be used for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division calculations, and it is the personal belongings of the previous generation of businessmen. By this generation, the inexpensive and rugged electronic calculator had absolutely replaced the abacus, and such bulky calculation tools were no longer visible in stores large and small.

Although Teacher Shan is old, his fingers are very flexible, and in less than ten seconds, those abacus beads rang at least hundreds of times.

"He wants you to go to a place, but you have to be mentally prepared for that place that will bring back your sad memories. He wants you to get through the biggest difficulties in your soul, be reborn, and get back on the road. In that place, you will understand the real responsibility that lies on your shoulders. He also said that you are a great person, don't waste your time, and cherish every second of your life. You must learn every thaumaturgy and become one in order to be king among all people. He wants you to open your heart to more new ideas – there's a word here, I don't know what it is, which roughly means 'a part of the earth caught in the gears of fate', and the latter paragraph means that when you become the king of thaumaturgy, there will be more kings joining forces with you to become an indestructible whole and work together to maintain world peace. He has high hopes for you because you were born in a good age. Teacher Shan babbled for a long time, stopping from time to time to caress the beads, like a translator encountering an unfamiliar word.

"That word means 'Asian gear,' right?" I asked.

Asian gears and Asian horoscopes are two things that are closely linked, and I believe that with Zhang Quanzhong's wisdom, he has long had a certain understanding of this.

Teacher Shan shook his head: "I don't know, the content on these beads is too profound, just translating these, my temples began to hurt sharply." ”

Lian Chengbi interjected at the right time: "Teacher Shan, please go next door and rest for a while." The hospital has arranged the best health care doctors, and I believe that their skillful hands will quickly eliminate your physical fatigue. ”

She rang the bell, and two young nurses came in and carried Teacher Shan out.

"How's it going?" asked Lian Chengbi.

I looked at her, not knowing whether to thank her or reprimand.

As you can imagine, when I was asleep in the dark, she was always trying to find a way to spy on Zhang Quanzhong's secret. I also really admired her logical analysis of things, and even found an abacus expert like Teacher Shan to come over and prescribe the right medicine and crack the secrets in the abacus.

"Very good, as long as Teacher Shan can hold on, there is no problem on my side. I replied with a frown.

"Tianshi, don't blame me for being troublesome, with your talent, if you can be deliberately diligent, the future will be unspeakably expensive. I have been familiar with history books since I was a child, and I have seen thousands of examples of those 'hurt Zhongyong'. So, I'm doing my best to help you succeed, like a rocket, and hopefully one day I'll be able to send you this satellite into the sky. Now that we've found the key to entry, we're well ahead of the rest, and it's definitely something to celebrate. Lianchengbi couldn't suppress the joy in his heart.

I was a little ashamed, but I was afraid that I was not a satellite and had failed her kindness.

"Tick", Lian Chengbi inadvertently touched the abacus beads, but scared himself.

"Hehe, Tianshi, don't you think it's weird? We have also learned mental arithmetic since we were children, and we were forced by the mediocre teachers in the school to memorize those abacus formulas, and now we have forgotten none of them. If you had known that there was also a world of Qiankun in the abacus, it would have been better to study seriously at that time, and it would have come in handy at this moment. She laughs.

People always have subconscious movements, and while she spoke, the index finger of her right hand subconsciously fiddled with the abacus beads on the bottom of her hand, making a monotonous "tick" sound.

Suddenly, her face changed, and she pressed her left hand on her forehead.

"What's wrong?" I realized something wasn't right.

"I see...... I saw a place that was ...... The triangular stone chamber you mentioned is at the bottom of Wulong Pond. Now, there are two people trapped there, looking like they're going to die, they're going to ...... Dead, one of them was lying on the ground writing a suicide note......" Lian Chengbi said intermittently.

Her right hand was still fiddling with the abacus, and I couldn't decide whether to move it away from her.

If there were two people in that stone room, it should mean me and Jingguan Xiaowu. However, at that time, the attention of both of us was on the crystal plate roof, and we didn't think about writing a suicide note.

"They're dying, it's not the lack of oxygen, it's ...... It's mental exhaustion that they die, they can't die, they can't die...... Tianshi, don't be sad, they won't die, they will survive......" Lian Chengbi's expression was extremely painful, as if every time she said a word, someone would stab her in the heart, and it hurt her to death.