seal of magic

It is human nature to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. Asking gods, divination and fortune-telling have been valued by people since ancient times. From small businessmen to pawns to princes and generals, how many people don't want to know their own fate in advance?

Therefore, even some swindlers can deceive many foolish people in the countryside by hanging a banner of "iron mouth and magic calculation".And a divination family with real skills like the Chen family is even more difficult to find, and it was almost monopolized by the royal family in ancient times.

For this reason, even if the Chen family wanted to live in seclusion in the mountains, they couldn't do it.In the old days, they lived in the mansion granted by the emperor in the capital city. After the imperial system was abolished, they thought the city was too noisy, so they moved to the suburbs of Beijing and built a large manor there.

It took more than four hours to drive from Zhong Qingyu's ancestral house to Beijing. The two of them set off in the morning and arrived just after noon.

"Don't go to their place in a hurry, are you hungry? I'll take you to eat some delicious food, and bring some to the East Banquet." Entering Beijing, Zhong Qingyu drove the car into a small alley on the second ring road with ease. .

Qi Shao has studied here for four years, and knows a lot of famous restaurants in Beijing, but he has never eaten here.

After parking the car, Zhong Qingyu led Qi Shao around the alley.The place where the two of them walked was no more than two meters wide, and the place was not narrow enough for two people to walk side by side.If Zhong Qingyu hadn't been with him, Qi Shao would definitely not be able to find this place by himself.

Qi Shao: "Is this store only for regular customers? If I didn't follow you, I would probably think I went wrong even if I followed the navigation."

"Don't look at the remote location of this restaurant, the seats have to be reserved in advance, and they only serve [-] tables a day. Their ancestors were imperial chefs in the palace. I don't know how authentic the chef is now, but it's better than those big hotels outside. It tastes much better, and I often come to eat it when I study with Dong Yan."

Zhong Qingyu introduced to Qi Shao while leading the way, "Dong Yan likes to eat the pea yellow and kidney bean cake here, let's bring some to him after eating. There are many people who ask the Chen family to do business, and they don't lack anything. Just this Not many people know about it, Dong Yan has been in poor health for the past few years, and rarely has the opportunity to eat out."

Not only is the location of this store difficult to find, but even the gate is the same as the gates of other people’s houses seen along the way. If you didn’t turn around and see a signboard about one meter long above the door, you really wouldn’t have noticed that there is one here. Restaurant.

It's unassuming from the outside, but quite spacious inside.The owner of the house redecorated the yard, covered it with a roof, and separated it with several screens below, making it a lobby, and the rooms on both sides as private rooms.But even so, it's not too big, and it's enough to seat six tables in total.

The proprietress of the shop was sitting at the front desk. Seeing Zhong Qingyu enter the door, she immediately shouted to the room: "Old Song! Qingyu is here, we can start cooking!"

"Okay!" came a reply from the back room.

After the proprietress shouted, she turned her head and looked at Qi Shao who came with Zhong Qingyu. The time of this glance was not too short, which could make people feel her curiosity, but it was not too long, so that it would not make people feel rude.

"Is this your friend's first time here?" asked the proprietress.

Zhong Qingyu followed her gaze and turned to look at Qi Shao, then said: "You remember wrongly, you brought him here before."

The proprietress frowned and thought for a while: "It shouldn't be, I remember everyone who has been here."

Qi Shao looked at Zhong Qingyu, then at the proprietress.Zhong Qingyu couldn't help laughing at Qi Shao's eyes, Qi Shao also smiled, and said to the proprietress: "Don't listen to his nonsense, it is indeed my first time here."

"Well, you little bastard! I just said I'm not old enough yet, why am I starting to forget things!" The proprietress realized that Zhong Qingyu was joking with her, and cursed with a smile.

Zhong Qingyu said to Qi Shao: "In this store, not only is Master Song's craftsmanship superb, but the proprietress's ability to never forget is also superb. Guess how old the proprietress is this year?"

Qi Shao heard the words and looked at the proprietress seriously.She was wearing a short cheongsam with a light green background and embellished with bright yellow flowers. People with darker skin would look very dark in this color, but her fair complexion would make her look whiter and tenderer.You can see some wrinkles in the corners of the eyes when you smile, but they are not obvious.Qi Shao felt that she looked about 30 years old, but since Zhong Qingyu asked, it was obvious that the proprietress was actually older than she looked.

"I guess...twenty?" Qi Shao pretended to hesitate for a while, and gave the final answer. Although he doesn't like to spend too much time socially, it doesn't mean that he has low EQ. Guessing a woman's age is so important It is always better to guess younger.

Sure enough, the proprietress was elated after hearing this, she covered her mouth with a smile and said to Zhong Qingyu: "Your friend is really good at talking, I am already in my 40s and approaching [-], how can I compare to a little girl in her [-]s?" .”

Zhong Qingyu: "The little girl in her twenties doesn't have your memory."

"Everyone has been here for a long time, why are you still standing at the door, you are telling people to sit first!" A fat man came out with a tray and said when he saw a few people standing at the door chatting.

"That's right! Come on, sit first! There will be no one after dinner, so sit wherever you want." The proprietress hurriedly led him into the yard.

Qi Shao has been in Beijing for these years, and he has also eaten at some Beijing restaurants. He thinks the taste is average, and he prefers Sichuan cuisine to Beijing cuisine.It wasn't until this dish was served that Qi Shao realized that it wasn't that the Beijing cuisine was not delicious, but that he hadn't found a good place to eat it. He who has always been self-disciplined rarely got a little full, even the sweets he didn't like to eat Stretched out two more chopsticks.

"Are you going to see that kid from the Chen family later?" Master Song handed the packaged pea yellow and kidney bean cakes to Zhong Qingyu at the checkout, and casually chatted with him.

"Well, he has been in poor health for the past few years, and the baby at home is very big, so he can't come out." Zhong Qingyu took the pastry and replied.

Master Song sighed: "Hey, time flies so fast, it has been five or six years in a flash, and you two will always come to my place to eat."

"Six years!" the proprietress corrected, "I still remember that the child from Dongyan came to our store for the last time on May 20th."

Zhong Qingyu: "Yes, he didn't go out much since that summer, and he didn't go to university either."

"Speaking of which, President Zhong hasn't been here for a long time." Master Song said, "If I hadn't received your call the day before yesterday, I thought I wouldn't be able to stay here if I cooked enough food."

"Is my uncle not coming?" Zhong Qingyu didn't know, he started running around to deal with cases when he was in college, and he couldn't stay in Beijing for a few days a year after graduation.In the past, Zhong Zhenlin liked this place very much. At first, he brought Zhong Qingyu and Chen Dongyan here to eat.

The proprietress: "Yes, it's been two years."

Here Zhong Qingyu chatted with Master Song and his wife, while Qi Shao over there took a look at the photos hanging on the wall of the shop one by one when he had nothing to do.There are some photos of Master Song and some celebrities. It seems that there are many celebrities who come here to eat.There are also some photos taken by the diners themselves at the party, and they are also left and hung here to share the happy moments at that time.

Qi Shao looked at each photo one by one, and suddenly stopped in front of a photo.

This photo should be of a birthday party.There is a birthday cake on the table, the protagonist wears a birthday hat, and other friends gather around him to perform various actions.

But what Qi Shao cares about is not these people, but the table behind them.There was only one person sitting at that table. The person was wearing a red and black plaid shirt and a white T-shirt inside. His hair was black and long. He seemed to notice that the table was taking pictures, so he turned his face to the side and covered it with his hands. No face was photographed.

I don't know if it's because I've been thinking about Qi Jing so much lately. In this photo, I can only see the man's nose, not even the eyes and mouth, but Qi Shao thinks that this man is Qi Jing.

"Hello, I want to ask if you have any impression of this person?" Qi Shao pointed to the woman in the photo and asked the proprietress.

The proprietress walked around the table at the front desk, walked closer, took a closer look, and said, "I remember her, is she your friend?"

Qi Shao: "It looks a bit similar, I'm not sure..."

Zhong Qingyu also came over, carefully observed the photos, and asked, "When was the last time she came?"

"Let me think about it... It seems like two years ago, yes! It was two years ago. She came here three times in total, once in February of that year, once in May, and once in August, and never again came."

"Look at this person?"

Qi Shao found Qi Jing's photo from his mobile phone, and the proprietress recognized it immediately: "It's her!"

Qi Shao and Zhong Qingyu looked at each other, and unexpectedly got a clue about Qi Jing here.Qi Shao was a little more shocked than Zhong Qingyu. Qi Jing actually came to Beijing two years ago. At that time, he was still studying in Beijing. Why didn't everyone from Qi Jing come to him?Or did she actually go there and just didn't let him know?

Qi Shao was a little excited when he suddenly heard about Qi Jing, but he quickly calmed down and asked the proprietress for more clues: "Does she come alone every time?"

"Yes, the first two times she came here to eat, and the third time she didn't eat, so she came in and walked around and left." Usually friends bring friends to stores like this, at least the first time they almost They were all brought by friends, so the proprietress was very impressed with this guest who came alone.

Two years ago... What did Qi Jing do in Beijing two years ago?Qi Shao was still thinking about this question when he returned to Zhong Qingyu's car.

Back then, Qi Shao lived on campus after he was admitted to university, while Qi Jing temporarily stayed in his hometown because of work.What the hell happened four years ago?Why did Qi Jing suddenly disappear?And what happened two years ago?Why did Qi Jing show up in Beijing?

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