Covered with water

There is an hour's time difference between China and Japan. Qiao Yuan was naturally still in class when they were waiting for dinner. After receiving the information sent by Xiao Yunhe, he took the lead in clicking on the part of Zheng Guo and Tsubaki Kojiro, and said in surprise: "Well ?Japanese?"

Xiao Yunhe replied: "Well, Japanese. Kanno Masakuni is a Japanese Chinese, and his original surname is Lu. Tsubaki Kojiro is a scholar who lives in China all the year round, and studies bronze wares."

"...Bronzeware?" Qiao Yuan keenly captured the key words, double-clicked the picture and clicked on the photo of the Yunlei Wen Ding, and suddenly realized, "The trouble for a long time is about cultural relics?" No wonder they were so secretive before.

Xiao Yunhe said "hmm", and remembered what Tong Yu said, "According to the investigation, this bronze tripod should be a cultural relic lost overseas by our country".In fact, among those lucky enough to participate in the investigation, Tong Yu's level of confidentiality should be the highest. If his attitude of cooperation was more correct, Qiao Yuan wouldn't have to go round and round to investigate this matter.

Across the screen and the network cable thousands of miles away, Qiao Yuan didn't know what Xiao Yunhe thought of.The matter between Zhengguo and Tsubaki Kojiro is easy, but the bronze ware... Qiao Yuan smacked his lips and suggested, "How about I contact the Bureau of Cultural Relics?" Professional questions have to be answered by professionals, and antiques are indeed It was a little too hard for him.

"Wait." However, Xiao Yunhe felt that the Bureau of Secrets would not dare to say that the Bureau of Cultural Relics had shut up, and it prevented Qiao Yuan from attempting to exercise normal official powers. "Don't alarm them for now." Qin Zhi thought of someone at this moment, I found Ouyang Ling's number from the phone's address book, and sent it to Qiao Yuan: "Teacher of H University, try to contact her first, and keep the news about the bronze tripod secret from her."

After graduating, Ouyang Ling stayed at the school and became a teacher. Because of her love for archeology and her father Zhou Jing, she is also well-connected in H University.As a well-known archaeological institution in China, H University often grasps first-hand information from major excavation sites. If the valuable treasure that is no less valuable than Simu Wuding appears in the world, there is no reason why it can hide it from many industry experts in the school. ox.

Although he has not had much contact with Ouyang Ling in the past few years, Ouyang Ling has maintained due courtesy to his savior, and always greets him every year and festival, and now it is time to pick out this line for use.

Qiao Yuan saved the contact information, and finally gained some confidence in his heart, and replied: "Okay!" He thought that this must be an old professor from grandma's generation, and the moment the phone was connected, he was stupid.

During this time, the school was on vacation, and Ouyang Ling had no new research projects to take over, so it was a rare leisure time of the year.Qiao Yuan dialed the phone and reported his family name. The two matched the password. Ouyang Ling felt that there was a reason for the incident, but because Qin Zhi emphasized confidentiality, she had no choice but to use the name of a student and said that she planned to publish a science popularization issue related to bronze wares. The familiar professor borrowed the key of the library to check.

These are all things to talk about later.

Here, the couple finished their conversation with Qiao Yuan, and Yuko delivered dinner in person not long after.Two servings of curry pork cutlet rice are served with traditional miso soup. Ordinary Japanese-style light meals can also be prepared with excellent color and taste.Yuko added hot water to the thermos in the house again, bowed and apologized: "Master Fang Shu asked me to tell you that he still has some company affairs to deal with, so I'm afraid I won't be able to dine with you tonight, I'm very sorry .”

Qin Zhi nodded to indicate that it's okay, there is an antecedent reason for Zhengguo's last words, it is a normal reaction for Fang Shu not to appear at this time, and the husband and wife are happy to avoid these bureaucratic formalities of "slightly showing the friendship of the landlord" Leisurely.

Yuko completed the task assigned by Yoshiki, and said: "Just put the plate in the corridor after you finish your meal. I will come to clean up later. Excuse me, please take it slowly."

Xiao Yunhe also temporarily put down the case, crossed his arms and stretched forward.The crispy and tender pork chops are wrapped in warm curry, which is an extraordinarily satisfying meal in summer.Xiao Yunhe supported his chin with his hand, and said casually: "You speak Japanese well, when did you learn it?"

Young Master Qin's skill points are full, and selling potatoes in eight languages ​​is not only the monopoly of diplomats.From Xiao Yunhe's "Hey" at the beginning to "Oh" now, the phrase "How many surprises do you have waiting for me" is already a long-standing emoji.Qin Zhi didn't realize that he was teasing himself again, and while picking out the fish bones in the miso soup, he replied, "It's been a long time."

Xiao Yunhe asked: "How long is 'a long time'?"

Qin Zhi thought for a while, and said seriously: "It must be 100 years."

Xiao Yunhe: "..." I thought to myself that your quantifiers are really great.I heard Qin Zhi continue: "After the Sino-Japanese War, I lived in Japan for a while. It was very common to go to Japan to 'learn Buddhist scriptures' at that time. After the failure of the Huanghuagang Uprising, I came back. Not long after, the Republic of China was established. .”

Xiao Yunhe is not a master of modern history, and his understanding of that era is at most equal to the contents of high school textbooks. Hearing these old stories from him now, he couldn't help asking curiously: "What happened later?"

But Qin Zhi said: "There is nothing later, it has not been done step by step to the present." The Qing court was in decline, and he studied in Japan, raised his arms and started the uprising, and witnessed the change of several generations of dynasties. He prefers to be a bystander in accordance with the times Fortunately, it was much easier to escape in those days than it is now.

Xiao Yunhe intuitively felt that he didn't really want to say anything, but after thinking about it, he felt that there was nothing to say.Casual and presumptuous, the step-by-step appointments that Young Master Qin said are like playing tricks to death - he knows it all.

Xiao Yunhe simply blacked out the topic, and looked at his right hand, which had become empty again: "I borrowed the fingers, is it okay?" After all, I haven't seen him take it off for others to wear in so many years.

Qin Zhi made a "hmm" and said, "It's okay." He usually doesn't use this finger wrench as a magic weapon, not to mention that when his life is hanging by a thread, there is always someone who cares more about a life-saving idea than himself .But... A meaningful smile curled up on the corner of Qin Zhi's mouth: "Yunhe, I have an idea."

Xiao Yunhe: "..." Seeing him laughing like this, he felt that nothing good happened, and asked cautiously, "What do you want?"

"Interest." Qin Zhi had an expression of "shouldn't I do this?" "I didn't come to Japan to do charity. Besides, Tong Yu has already hinted at us several times."

Xiao Yunhe frowned and said, "You want to..." After a while, he vetoed, "No, at least not now."

He understood what Qin Zhi meant. Tong Yu repeatedly expressed in front of them how precious and how long this tripod was, just because he wanted this cultural relic that had been lost overseas to return to China without any threat.Now that Ichiro Maeda is retreating, Yoshiki doesn't necessarily care about the fate of this tripod. It is not difficult to have a clean net worth, but the only difficulty is how to break the death curse that is said to "no one is spared".

But the current dilemma is that no matter how much information they have, they are still just bystanders of these murders.

And the only shortcut to go deep into the center of the incident is to put yourself in the center of the incident—Master Qin, who is used to taking risks with his own life, may have already made the same choice as Fang Shu, who is already on the verge of dying.

No wonder Fang Shu declared himself the current owner of Yunlei Wending when they met for the first time.

but……

Qin Zhi said: "I know. I will not act rashly until I am sure that my family will not be affected."

This is also what Xiao Yunhe is worried about, because they don't know the mechanism by which the curse is triggered.Tong Yu's statement of "successful masters" is obviously inaccurate. Keiko Maeda is the daughter of Ichiro Maeda, Kojiro Tsubaki has a close relationship with Masakuni Kanno, and there are four teachers and students who died in a car accident. The safety of Qin Yao's family took such a risk.

Wait, what did Tong Yu say back then?

The audience of bronze ware is not as wide as that of jewelry. After careful investigation, there are traces to follow...

Investigation... what did they investigate?

Xiao Yunhe pushed away the already eaten dinner plate, and dug out the information of the former owner of Yunlei Wending.

The owner was named Horikawa Eita, who was the president of a real estate company before his death. He was born in [-] and died in [-]. The cause of death is said to be sudden death caused by long-term overload.According to his personal files, Eita's parents divorced when he was very young because of emotional discord. After that, he lived with his father who was strict and controlling. After graduating from university, he married a well-matched woman. married.After his father passed away in [-], he inherited the company and became the new president of Horikawa.In [-], he suffered a heart attack while staying up late and working overtime. The next morning, his subordinates who came to report to work found his dead body.

The following is the testimony of Eita's wife, Chiemi.

"Yes. At that time, the project encountered very serious problems. He was under a lot of pressure and often stayed in the company to think about solutions. After his accident, because we knew his physical condition, we did not raise any objections to the hospital's conclusion, and we quickly provided for him. A funeral was held."

"Bronze tripod? Yes. But I don't know the origin of this antique. I just heard Eita mention it occasionally. It is a treasure left by his grandfather, Mr. Kenji. It has been kept in the basement of my house. At that time, because the partner suddenly repented, there was a big gap in our funds. Eita’s departure made things worse, and the operation of the company almost stopped. I don’t want to give up like this. A few days before Yingta left, we discussed in private whether to mortgage assets in exchange for funds. At that time, Yingta mentioned this antique and seemed to be planning to invite some experts to appraise its value. Unexpectedly, he suddenly... …Eventually I contacted the pawn shop, traded this antique for working capital, and barely kept the business.”

"The value of this tripod... Yes, I saw the news and was very surprised."

The Juechuan family was the earliest person Tong Yu traced back to have contact with the bronze tripod.The first known owner of the bronze tripod should be Mr. Kenji, Eita's grandfather.According to Qian Huimei, Kenji passed away before Eita was born, and the relationship between Eita and his father Ryunosuke was not very good, so it was not until Ryunosuke died of illness that he re-appeared in the inheritance letter. The existence of this tripod was confirmed, but almost nothing was known about its inside story.If it weren't for the company's crisis a few years later, this antique might have been lying in the basement of his home in obscurity, and it would be difficult to see it again.

Qin Zhi also read this document and said, "It's not suicide." The three owners of the Horikawa family all died of illness, while Zheng Guo and Keiko, who are currently classified as cursed to death, committed suicide.

Xiao Yunhe nodded: "If the curse really exists, the triggering condition must not only be related to the tripod." He found a piece of manuscript paper and summarized some scattered information as concisely as possible.

-

Kanno Masakuni: Presented by Maeda Ichiro; seppuku suicide; temperamental change, lover of ancient culture, left a strange last word.

Tsubaki Kojiro: Zhengguo's friend?Injured by a falling object, in a vegetative state; an expert on bronze ware.

There are four teachers and students in a girls' high school: a visitor; a school bus accident; and the four are members of the same historical interest group.

Ichiro Maeda: Purchased at auction; currently safe.

Maeda Keiko: Maeda Ichiro's daughter; she suffered from mental problems after slipping and fell from the building, and committed suicide by cutting her wrists.

Eita Horikawa: Inherited; Sudden death; During his lifetime, he intended to find an expert for identification.

Horikawa Ryunosuke: Inheritance; Death;? ? ?

Horikawa Kenji: Passed away; source? ? ?

Qin Zhi picked up a pen, drew a circle on the positions of "Ancient Culture", "Bronze Ware Expert", "Historical Interest Group" and "Appraisal", and tapped lightly on the paper with the tip of the pen.

Xiao Yunhe made a "hmm" sound, and said the common answer of the two: "The other connection... is 'history'?"