Tiandi Baiju

Morning of September [-]:

Zhou Luoyang's thoughts were in a mess, trying to sort out all the clues, but found that he couldn't start.

There was nothing unusual about Du Jing. After sending him to the store, one sentence solved Zhou Luoyang's panic about going back in time in a sense.

"Why are you so calm?" Zhou Luoyang asked.

"Why are you so restless?" Du Jing asked back, turning over the "close" signboard again, completing the second opening in the long river of time.

Zhou Luoyang stood in front of the store in a daze, and Du Jing said, "Because this matter is currently under control for the two of us."

These words temporarily relieved Zhou Luoyang's tension. He now understood what Du Jing meant. It was controllable, which meant that the watch and the phenomenon of time regression would not cause fatal danger to them and drag them into a difficult situation.

"If you want, you can even go back to the day when your father was in a car accident," Du Jing said, "Go back and save your father, do you think it is necessary?"

Zhou Luoyang's nervousness, which was finally relieved, became tense again by this sentence.

He and Du Jing looked at each other, if time goes backwards again and again, that is to say, as Du Jing speculated, it is okay to go back to the day of the car accident and stop his father from driving.

But in this pair of eyes, he read another thought in Du Jing's heart:

Zhou Luoyang clearly remembered that from the case of Yu Jianqiang and the head of the overseas extortion organization, he understood that death was inevitable.To save one person's life, another person's life must be sacrificed. Although the occurrence of this phenomenon has not been confirmed yet, two cases have proved that this is not an accident.

That day, father, stepmother, and Le Yao were sitting in the car. Two of the three died. If you want to save your father, there is a high probability that...

...in exchange for Le Yao's life.

"Not for the time being," Zhou Luoyang said, "I have accepted the past...I...don't have this idea right now."

"Huh?" Du Jing had expected Zhou Luoyang to answer like this, so he patted his head casually.

Even if they can't figure out how it works, they can destroy the watch if they want, or store it in a bank safe, never to open it.

Thinking of this, Zhou Luoyang calmed down a little.

"I have to think about it." Zhou Luoyang planned to try to find its origin from the pile of waste paper.

"You can give it a name by the way." Du Jing glanced at Zhou Luoyang from the driver's seat and said casually.

"It?" Zhou Luoyang asked doubtfully.

Du Jing raised his hand and showed Zhou Luoyang the exquisite mechanical structure watch with the twelve-point dial that he was still wearing on his hand, and said, "Mechanisms and phenomena, for example, are called 'time gyrations' or something. Let's go, see you later. "

Du Jing put on his sunglasses casually, stepped on the gas pedal, and walked away.

"Time Cycling" is the name of a science fiction novel. When Zhou Luoyang was in college, he borrowed it from the library to read it. Although the time circling in this book designed a phenomenon of time acceleration outside the earth's atmosphere, it was different from them. The phenomenon of going back 24 hours is two concepts, but Du Jing suddenly mentioned it, which seems very reasonable.

God!Zhou Luoyang scratched his head, what happened in my life?

"Where's the book?" Zhou Luoyang said to himself, and found a thick black leather notebook from the box of Chang'an Clock and Antique Shop, which recorded all the collections.

The paper on the book has been obviously yellowed, and there are two to three collections recorded on each page, with simple sketches on the side: bronze ware, jade ware, lacquer ware, mechanical products, etc., which are organized in an orderly manner.On a few collections, there are still newspaper clippings from decades ago.

Zhou Luoyang assisted his grandfather in making this notebook when he was in primary school.At the beginning, my grandfather had a whim and wanted to make an inventory of the collection, record the origin and description, so he used the notebook used by his great-grandfather to continue the records and make some additional annotations.

The eyesight of the elderly deteriorated, so Zhou Luoyang took on the role of painting and registration, like a little assistant.

After grandpa passed away, nearly three-quarters of the things in the book were divided up by relatives. Zhou Luoyang re-counted it and marked the divided items to avoid confusion.

"Products of mechanical crafts." Zhou Luoyang murmured, found the blue note insert, opened it, and tore off a post-it note stuck to it, leaving a line of words in Latin:

【One cannot step into the same river twice. 】—Heraclitus.

Can't step into the same river twice?Obviously can!

That was the handwriting that Grandpa was familiar with. Compared with this sentence, Zhou Luoyang preferred "Nothing in the world stops, and everything flows in an endless stream."

But after that page, another page was torn from the notebook.

Who tore it?Zhou Luoyang found out. He remembered that he didn't tear up the book back then, did his grandfather tear it up before he died?Zhou Luoyang couldn't remember what was recorded on the next page.

Looking back after many years, he vaguely remembered many past events: the Huizhou merchants of the Zhou family, more than a hundred years ago, were mainly engaged in compradors between the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the Western world.When the great-grandfather was still alive, clocks and watches, antiques and rare goods were available for living, and he accumulated a lot of wealth. 110 years ago, the family business had a strange coincidence with the present, and it was also called "Chang'an Trading Company".

So when Du Jing proposed the name "Chang'an", Zhou Luoyang agreed without thinking.

Passed through the hands of the great-grandfather, and then passed to the hands of the grandfather. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the family business did not develop significantly. To protect oneself, it no longer dealt in antiques, but instead repaired clocks and watches. In [-], the rise of light industry led to the development of New China. first watch.The watch repair industry conforms to the times and successfully makes the Zhou family gain a foothold again.

For a long time, "three turns and one sound", that is, three turns of a sewing machine, a bicycle, and a watch, and the sound of a radio have become indispensable household items for marriage, just like today's RV is for marriage, which shows the status of watches.

As for the antique calligraphy and paintings of that era, they are bound to be destroyed in the Abolition of the Four Olds movement.In order to preserve the foundation of the ancestors, they were all hidden in a basement warehouse in Inner Mongolia by my grandfather when he was young.The former antique collection and a large number of belongings passed down by the great-grandfather were not taken out until after the reform and opening up, and reopened.

Zhou Luoyang remembered what his grandfather often said before his death: "I am a watch repairer".As a matter of fact, due to environmental reasons, my grandfather's understanding of antiques is obviously not as deep as that of previous generations, he has not caught up with the best era, and he can't even tell the origin of many things.

Father, aunt and uncle had little interest in this industry, but Zhou Luoyang's father collected a large number of ukiyo-e prints and made a living in the printmaking industry in Tokyo.The old man could only hope to train Zhou Luoyang, hoping that one day his grandson would be willing to take over.

However, many collections have been collected by the Zhou family for hundreds of years, and after experiencing the devastation of the times, their origins have been deliberately concealed.Zhou Luoyang flipped through the records, and it was really difficult to match the notes he took down with the current collection one by one.

At this moment the bell on the doorknob rang.

Zhou Luoyang didn't raise his head, and said, "Mr. Daniel, Miss Lin Di, hello, there is a Nepalese magic bell on the door, and the thangka on the back is not for sale. The Chang'an Clock and Antique Store is still in trial operation and has not officially opened. The house is completely empty. , It is difficult to continue. I am afraid that Sotheby’s autumn auction this year will not be able to participate as expected. There are only a few limited edition Daytona pieces, just to express your feelings. They are in the B3 and B6 compartments of the mahogany glass cabinet on the back. Watch, if you don't mind."

Daniel just took off his fedora, and the corners of his mouth twitched.

Lin Di: "..."

Zhou Luoyang was still flipping through his notes, and added: "Again, this store has not yet set up a store-defining treasure."

Lin Di broke out into a burst of laughter, and Daniel was immediately embarrassed when he came into the store and was exposed.

"Boss Zhou has good eyesight," Lin Dile said, "How did you know we're here?"

"Guess." Zhou Luoyang said calmly, "Go and drink tea. You have to take off your shoes on the tea bed. I'll find something and I'll come right away."

found it!Zhou Luoyang vaguely remembered seeing this watch before, and it was recorded in his notes.

"Eye of Forseti," Zhou Luoyang murmured, "Eye of Forseti. From Russia, Derbent? A Russian watch? Not right."

Lin Di sat on the tea table, very casually, and started to boil water to make tea.

"What does the boss have to drink?" Lin Di asked with a smile, "Where are you from?"

"From Huizhou." Zhou Luoyang replied, "Taiping Monkey Queen or Keemun black tea, in a jar, Miss Lin, please choose."

Lin Di stroked her hair, and started making tea with her slender hands.

But Daniel didn't sit down, and went shopping in Zhou Luoyang's shop.

Lin Di thought for a while and said, "Isn't it too expensive to entertain guests with such good tea?"

Zhou Luoyang said: "Our big boss drank it himself. He didn't come to the store today."

Lin Di: "Oh? Who is the big boss?"

Zhou Luoyang didn't pay much attention to Daniel, and sent him away with only two limited edition old watches.Knowing that although he is an investment manager of Sotheby's, his understanding of culture is far inferior to that of Lin Di. After all, this position determines that he cannot specialize in a line of work, travels on business trips, and does not even have time to recharge.

On the contrary, Lin Di should have some real skills, otherwise he wouldn't be a consultant to him.

"Little white collar," Zhou Luoyang thought for a while, then said, "Security industry."

Lin Di nodded, as if looking for words, the antique master and the mercenary manager... Zhou Luoyang guessed that she wanted to say "the right family" but felt it was inappropriate.Daniel was not polite to Zhou Luoyang either. He put on his gloves and asked Zhou Luoyang to take out the two collections that Zhou Luoyang promised to send for auction. He took them to the tea table and put them on a low mahogany table for a closer look.

There were surveillance cameras in the antique shop, so Zhou Luoyang didn't stare at him, but fell into deep thought.

"I'm an investment consultant in the Asia-Pacific region," Lin Di said, seeing Zhou Luoyang's expression, "Do you have any questions, boss, you want to consult?"

Zhou Luoyang: "How much is an hour?"

Lin Di laughed and said, "It doesn't cost money, just find us some collections that can be seen as a front. I'm worried about the autumn auction."

Zhou Luoyang said seriously: "I don't have any collections that can be listed in Sotheby's here... But I will pay attention to you. Speaking of which, Ms. Lin, what is your main research direction?"

Lin Di said: "Graduate students are studying the history of Assyria, and other regions have been dabbled in to some extent. What's wrong?"

When Zhou Luoyang heard this, he knew it in his mind. After all, in history and museology, there are also situations where different directions are separated like mountains.

"It's from the generation of the Caucasus...um...maybe it's a myth or legend?" Zhou Luoyang redrawn the picture, passed it to Lin Di, and said, "Does this picture have anything to do with 'Vansaidi'?"

"Vasetti," Daniel said, glancing at her, "the Scandinavian region, the god of justice in Nordic mythology."

"Oh," Zhou Luoyang nodded and said, "Is that so, I've been taught."

You only need to look up the name with your mobile phone, but he still has the attitude of asking others for advice.

"This is..." Lin Di looked at Zhou Luoyang's hand-painted drawing with some doubts. On it, three squares were stacked together, showing a twelve-pointed pattern.

Zhou Luoyang said, "Is this a twelve-pointed star?"

Lin Di hesitated: "Strictly speaking, it doesn't count, of course, we can transform it."

Speaking of which, she took the pen and raised her eyebrows as a questioning expression. Zhou Luoyang nodded to indicate that he could draw, and Lin Di drew a few auxiliary lines to connect the corners of the three squares to re-divide them, saying: "This way It's a twelve-pointed star."

What Zhou Luoyang drew was the dial of the "Eye of Versailles".After Lin Di reconnected the wire, there was an obvious pointer.

"Three-pointed star to twelve-pointed star have specific meanings." Lin Di said.

Zhou Luoyang nodded and said, "Yes."

Lin Di said: "In myths and legends, the twelve-pointed star symbolizes the absolute law of the sky, and corresponds to 'justice'. Versatile is the god of justice, maybe because of this connection?"

"Is there any connection between Derbent and Northern Europe?" Zhou Luoyang asked again.

Lin Di was startled when he heard the words without cause and effect, but did not ask further, and said, "Maybe? Derbent, backed by the Caucasus Mountains and facing the Sea of ​​Caspia, was once a strategic location between Russia and the Tatars. .Since the third century AD, goods from southeastern Europe, western Europe, and northern Europe have all been transferred there."

"'Derbent' means 'iron gate' in Russian." Daniel raised his head and explained to Zhou Luoyang in a straight-forward manner.

"Well, I see, thank you." Zhou Luoyang said.

Lin Di glanced at Daniel, who nodded and said, "Is Boss Zhou interested in participating in the autumn auction?"

Zhou Luoyang remembered that he had to attend, suddenly changed his mind, and asked, "Can you give me three invitation letters?"

"I only have two cards in my hand," Lin Di said regretfully, "I don't know why this year, there are so many people here."

Zhou Luoyang nodded, just like the last time they met, he negotiated the details with the two of them, and sent the watch as the auction item to him after a while.He estimated the time, maybe Du Jing was coming, so he politely saw off the guest.

When leaving, Lin Di suddenly smiled and said something.

"It's so strange. When I met Boss Zhou, I felt a sense of déjà vu."

Daniel said: "Is this what you often call 'fate'?"

Those words were just Lin Di's unintentional words, but Zhou Luoyang vaguely sensed the unusual meaning behind it, but time left him no time to think about it, and said, "Then I think we will have many opportunities to cooperate in the future, go slowly."

After sending Lin Di and Daniel away, Zhou Luoyang was still standing in a daze.

Du Jing didn't run into them, which was different from yesterday.

It seems that in this "time gyration", not all the "past" that has happened will repeat itself faithfully according to cause and effect.When he asked Lin Di for three invitation letters, he was rejected. What's the reason?

Zhou Luoyang just said it casually. After returning home yesterday, he suddenly realized that he forgot to count Le Yao, but Lin Di only agreed to give him two copies.

Zhou Luoyang scratched his head, always feeling that he seemed to have solved an important problem in the history of science, but he couldn't think more deeply.

The primary purpose is still this "Eye of Versatile", which symbolizes "justice", and it comes from Derbent, Russia. Is there any special connection?

The original records cannot be counted, and the great-grandfather got it in Derbent or from someone from Derbent, which does not mean that it was produced locally.Zhou Luoyang still believed in his own judgment. It was true that this craftsmanship came from Switzerland, but he couldn't find the mark left by the producer. Right now it is being worn on Du Jing's hand, so he has to study it.

While thinking about this, Du Jing came back.

"The people from Sotheby's didn't come?" Du Jing looked around.

"It's gone." Zhou Luoyang said, "Today is different from yesterday."

Just like yesterday, Du Jing took off his shoes and sat down in front of the tea table, took out his lunch box, and prepared to have lunch.Zhou Luoyang changed his tea and found some snacks, but his eyes were still fixed on Du Jing's watch.

"Have a conclusion?" Du Jing asked.

Zhou Luoyang told Du Jing the few clues he had found. Du Jing didn't judge after listening, so he took off the Eye of Versailles and handed it to him at his request.

Du Jing: "Repay you?"

Zhou Luoyang looked over and over, but couldn't find the craftsman's mark, and said, "If you wear it, it already belongs to you."

Zhou Luoyang never returns what he gives away, of course, Du Jing is the special one.But Zhou Luoyang felt that Du Jing took a fancy to it, which in a sense was also an arrangement of fate.

"Mine and yours," Du Jing said casually, "there is no difference."

"That's right." Zhou Luoyang said, "It's just that I believe that on this point, it's a coincidence and destiny."

Du Jing said: "So you allow me to use it."

"Is it not allowed to be useful?" Zhou Luoyang thought for a whole morning, and figured out a certain key point. Du Jing activated another time spin last night, and there must be his purpose.

No matter what this guy does, he has his logic, but most of the time Zhou Luoyang can't understand his logic.

"If you don't allow me, I don't need it." Du Jing said lightly.

"I won't allow it. Didn't you use it last night?" Zhou Luoyang said.

Du Jing: "It's just an experiment, it's a special case."

"Is it really just an experiment?" Zhou Luoyang pointed out the key point, and Du Jing stopped talking.

Zhou Luoyang added: "The twelve-pointed star symbolizes 'justice', you can't use it to do bad things."

Du Jing replied: "Factual justice or procedural justice?"

Zhou Luoyang: "..."

Zhou Luoyang was so teased that he couldn't answer, he expected that no matter what he said, Du Jing would be able to sweep his logic into a sieve.When disagreeing with this guy, the smartest thing to do is not to argue with him.

"How is today?" Zhou Luoyang asked again.

"There is progress." Du Jing finally talked about this topic.

Zhou Luoyang originally wanted to tell him the confusion that Lin Di's words had caused him, but after thinking about it carefully, he decided not to interfere with Du Jing's judgment.

The two were silent for a while, Zhou Luoyang took some food with a spoon, and Du Jing said again: "The French minister made a concession. As long as there are organizations in Vietnam and Cambodia to issue invitations for visits, they can ask the local government for a certain degree of immunity from investigation. , of course it must be kept secret from the outside world.”

"Oh..." Zhou Luoyang said, "Is that so?"

Du Jing is going to Ho Chi Minh City to investigate the case and track down the missing persons. He will inevitably have to deal with certain government agencies and even the local police. It will cause diplomatic problems.

"Vietnam' and Cambodia'?" Zhou Luoyang looked at Du Jing's expression.

"It's always good to do a few more preparations earlier," Du Jing said.

Zhou Luoyang understood, and said, "This is the reason why you go back in time."

Du Jing's motives are already obvious. He went to the French embassy twice to negotiate but failed. He needs to "do it all over again" and put forward another reason.So he adjusted the time again, pushed it back to 24 hours, and went to the French embassy to apply again.

This time he changed his interview strategy and made the envoy back down.

"Do you want to do it all over again?" Zhou Luoyang asked.

"No," Du Jing replied, "I think this is the most I can do. They also have their principles. I'll sleep for a while and think about it."

Du Jing was a little annoyed, and took a nap just like yesterday.Zhou Luoyang went through this boring day again, and when Le Yao came to the store, he was obviously not as surprised as he was yesterday, and then he took Le Yao home step by step.Zhou Luoyang really didn't want to repeat it, but he had to bite the bullet and try his best to put on a play.

After dinner, the two of them lay down like yesterday, Zhou Luoyang thought to himself, don't do it again, I don't want to live the same day again.During dinner, his and Du Jing's reactions were so "fake", even Le Yao noticed it was strange.

Du Jing: "You are too fake, the whole process is like acting."

Zhou Luoyang couldn't laugh or cry: "What can I do? You didn't do it?"

They lay side by side on the sofa, Zhou Luoyang took Du Jing's left hand and looked at the watch in his hand.

He knew that this overseas serial disappearance case should be very important to Du Jing, so he put forward a new hypothesis.

"You said that time can go back indefinitely," Zhou Luoyang said, "then if we go back to the day when Xiao Wu disappeared, wouldn't everything be resolved?"

"Maybe." Du Jing said drunkenly, "You want to do this?"

That's a few months back!Zhou Luoyang thought to himself, in this way, he would have to experience the past for several months, and he would have to look back 24 hours every [-] hours of normal life.It's just so frustrating.

"What if it saves someone's life?"

"I don't want it." Du Jing said, "Have you forgotten that someone died before?"

Death is the only thing that cannot be reversed in time regression. No, in essence, it can also be reversed, but in the 24-hour time reversal, as long as someone dies, there must be a death.

Both backtracking have verified this truth. Somehow, there are too many complicated laws in this world that humans have not yet been able to ascertain.

"But they don't necessarily die," Zhou Luoyang said.

Du Jing: "Birth, old age, sickness and death cannot be reversed. What if you save someone and pay for your life? Versatile is the god of justice, but in this world, even justice is not absolute."

So Zhou Luoyang didn't bring up this question any more. He thought about it from another angle. If it were him, if the return of time would have an irreparable impact on Du Jing, he would never do it.

Do your best within your ability and protect those who are important to you. In this regard, Du Jing has already done a good job.

"Maybe I have an idea," Zhou Luoyang said, "about invitations to visit Vietnam and Cambodia."

"Very good," Du Jing said, "Thank you for sharing my worries."

Zhou Luoyang was a little hesitant: "But...may have to wait for a few days."

Du Jing: "It's okay, I'm not in a hurry, whoever commits suicide is in a hurry."

Zhou Luoyang didn't know whether to laugh or cry, maybe he could get an exchange and visit invitation for Du Jing through Sotheby's, but he still had to wait for the autumn auction to officially start.

"Does this count as changing the past?" Zhou Luoyang said a little doubtfully, "Maybe I should propose it after twelve o'clock tonight."

I just heard Du Jing answer: "Some pasts can be changed, some cannot. Some of them depend on our own hearts. For me, some pasts will never be changed."

After finishing speaking, Du Jing moved closer to Zhou Luoyang.

There was a sound of opening the door of Le Yao's room. Before he came into the living room, Du Jing kissed Zhou Luoyang and got up to take a bath.

Zhou Luoyang: "..."

"Brother, where is the luggage I brought back from school?"