Chapter 2 Chapter One A Dying Astrologer

That night, it rained heavily.The heavy rain lasted for more than half an hour. Everyone who stood at the entrance of the opera house to shelter from the rain looked helpless, watching the heavy rain pouring down from the sky. The rainwater poured down along the eaves, like countless small waterfalls, with the sound of rain There was a loud noise, and when a car passed by, it splashed Lao Gao's water.When the opera ended and a large number of audiences poured out, the heavy rain had already begun.People who listen to the opera are all very neatly dressed. It is hard to imagine that neatly dressed gentlemen and ladies braved the rain to find a car in such a heavy rain. Therefore, all the people who came out stopped at the gate of the opera house, and the gate was crowded. After it was full, people crowded the lobby.

In such a heavy rainy day, the weather is usually very hot and stuffy, and it is unbearable to squeeze hundreds of people into the small space. However, the rain has no intention of stopping, and it is getting bigger and bigger. I'm not very interested in opera, it doesn't suit my personality: the rhythm is too slow—the main character is obviously dying, but he often opens his throat and sings for ten minutes.But Bai Su liked it very much, I accompanied her, she was obviously very satisfied with this performance, so judging by her expression, she didn't care about the embarrassment of the heavy rain after the performance, she was still thinking about the scene of the performance just now.

After waiting for about ten minutes, I felt very impatient. I loosened my tie and said, "The car is not far away. It will get wet at worst. Let's go. What's the use of being crowded here." Bai Su was noncommittal, it seemed that she didn't agree, I stopped for a while, I couldn't bear it anymore, moreover, at this time, the theater actually turned off the lights, looked outside, under the illumination of the street lamps, thick raindrops It is also very interesting to go to a heavy rain and re-taste the feeling of being in the rain when you were a teenager. So, I didn't care whether Bai Su agreed or not, I took her hand and squeezed outside.

Stretching forward with one hand, I kept saying, "Please let me go, please let me go." I was about to squeeze to the door, and I stretched out my hand to open the way, and pushed a person, the person turned around, and shouted at me in a very rough voice: "Squeeze, it's raining heavily outside." He was a rather dignified middle-aged man, tall and fat, with a slightly bald head, thick eyebrows, and a square face. It was obvious at a glance that he lived a good life and had a lot of status, but on the other hand he showed a very impatient expression. look at me. I glanced at him coldly: "I still have to ask you to let me go, I am willing to get wet in the rain."

The middle-aged man's lips moved, but he didn't say anything more. I pulled Bai Su and walked beside him. While walking forward, I muttered to Bai Su: "This kind of person, I don't know Why is he so afraid of the rain, depending on his situation, even if his father is dying, he will not go to see him because of the rain." Bai Su glared at me, she felt that my words were too mean, so she would give me such a glare.While Bai Su glared at me, I heard the middle-aged man groan angrily. At this moment, someone suddenly shouted: "Wesley!" At this time, although there were many people crowded at the entrance and lobby of the theater, no one spoke loudly, only talking or complaining in a low voice, so that loud cry almost attracted everyone's attention.I stood still and followed the sound, trying to see which bastard was doing this.

I saw a person about ten meters away from me, who was hurrying to squeeze towards me. The way he squeezed was much rougher than when I squeezed out just now, and everyone around him frowned. I also immediately recognized who he was, he was Chen Changqing. Chen Changqing is a friend of mine. As for what kind of person he is, I have described it in detail in the case of "Charcoal".Very interesting, he not only accepts all incomprehensible strange things, but also takes the initiative to "discover" strange things with his imagination. He squeezed in front of the middle-aged man and stretched out his hand to push the middle-aged man. I secretly laughed in my heart, thinking that the middle-aged man would definitely not let Chen Changqing go.

But, beyond my expectation, the middle-aged man was pushed half a step down by Chen Changqing, but he didn't react angrily at all, he just looked at me, opened his mouth wide, showing a very surprised expression. I wondered in my heart, unable to think further, why the middle-aged man didn't protest against Chen Changqing's rude actions.Chen Changqing had already come to me, still shouting loudly: "Wesley, it's great to see you, I just came to you for something." He yelled loudly, and the eyes of the people nearby turned to us again, and I immediately said, "Okay, if you have anything to say, let's discuss it as we walk."

Chen Changqing was stunned for a moment, then suddenly called out: "Talking while walking? It's raining heavily outside!" I really didn't want to say anything more to him, so I immediately said: "Okay, you take shelter from the rain, I'm leaving." I immediately walked out, ignoring Chen Changqing.Chen Changqing shouted: "Wesley, I have a strange thing to tell you. If you don't listen, you will regret it." I understand very well what is the so-called "strange thing" of a person like Chen Changqing who holds a chicken feather as an arrow: when he walks, a piece of paper floats in front of him, and he can study that piece of paper for a month to determine whether it is It's not some alien creature trying to communicate with him.

I also know that he will not follow, he will think that his "story" can attract me, and he will turn back to him. Bai Su and I walked outside, down the stone steps, heavy rain fell on us, within half a minute, we were already wet all over, I felt someone followed out.I didn't look back, my body was already wet anyway, and being in the rain became very interesting, I pulled Bai Su and ran forward, deliberately picked a place where the water was deep and stepped down hard, the water splashed everywhere, and then I laughed. Bai Su was also full of interest, and ran forward with me.

We ran for a while, Bai Su whispered in my ear: "Someone is following us." I thought it was Chen Changqing, so I immediately said, "Chen Changqing, let him get wet in the rain." Bai Su said simply: "It's not Chen Changqing." I was stunned for a moment and stopped. At this time, we happened to be next to the street lamp, Bai Su's body was soaked, his hair was sticking to his face, and his face was covered with rain Beads, the rain was still hitting her face, she looked as beautiful as a psychedelic dream, I couldn't help but kiss her, Bai Su was a little shy, she leaned behind me and pursed her lips slightly.

I turned around and saw a man standing behind me. He is not Chen Changqing, of course he is also soaked through, his hair sticks to his forehead, dripping water, making it difficult for him to even open his eyes, he looks extremely embarrassed, I have to look carefully to recognize him, he is The middle-aged man who called out to me when I squeezed out just now. I don't know why he followed me, but I couldn't help laughing out loud when I saw his embarrassed look.While smiling, I raised my head and let the rain pour into my wide mouth, which gave me a refreshing feeling. I was still laughing, Bai Su pushed me: "This gentleman seems to have something to say to us." The middle-aged man wiped the rain from his face while looking at me, hesitant to speak. I stopped laughing and said loudly, "What do you want to say? Just now you told me that it was raining heavily outside, thank you for reminding me." The man looked even more embarrassed, Bai Su hurriedly said: "Our car is right in front, let's go to the front and talk about it." Before the man said anything, a large black saloon car had already sped up and stopped beside us. A driver in uniform jumped out of the car with a shocked expression and walked towards the middle-aged man. The man shouted: "Second Master, you, Second Master, you..." Most likely, the driver had never seen that middle-aged man in the rain, so he didn't know what to say except "Second Master, you", and he was terrified by his "Second Master". At this time, the "Second Master" finally opened his mouth and said to me: "Mr. Wesley?" I nodded——because it was raining heavily, I nodded, and a puddle of water splashed on my head. The middle-aged man said again: "May I invite the two of you to get on the bus?" I shook my head—another puddle of water scattered around: "I don't think it's necessary." The middle-aged man was a little anxious, and while wiping the water off his face, he said, "Please... you promise, I have something to do... In fact, there is a person who wants to see you. He... is dying, and he wants to see you. His wish, I hope... Sorry, I'm not very used to asking for help." I was a little bit tempted. Originally, there was a dying person who wanted to see me. No matter what the purpose was, I should always let him see me.But the last sentence of the middle-aged man made me very disgusted. I immediately said: "Then, from now on, you should get used to it." The middle-aged man was confused by what I said. I turned around and was about to leave, but the middle-aged man came to me immediately. I looked at him and saw that his face was covered with rain , It's almost like crying bitterly.But Bai Su gently pulled my sleeve again, I knew what Bai Su meant, that he wanted me to agree to his request. The middle-aged man sighed: "Mr. Wei, please get in the car first!" He said, walked over, opened the car door, and kept holding the door handle. The uniformed driver was frightened again, and shouted loudly: "Second Master, you, Second Master, you!" The driver seemed to be unable to say anything other than "Second Master, you." Bai Su said "thank you" and got into the car first. After I got into the car, he entered the compartment. There are three rows of seats in the large caravan. After he got in the car, he sat in the row of small seats opposite the formal seats, facing us. The three of them were completely soaked, and the seats of the car were covered with white seat covers—generally speaking, only old-fashioned and conservative people would do this.The seat cover also got wet when we sat down. The driver quickly got into the driver's seat: "Second Master..." The middle-aged man said: "Go home." The driver agreed, the car started and drove forward. Where the lights on the front of the car shone, the rain was still surprisingly heavy. The middle-aged man was sitting across from me. It was only then that I took a closer look at him, and found that he was close to sixty years old, and after being exposed to the rain, his face had quite a lot of wrinkles. He fumbled around his body, and found a small leather bag in his soaked coat. Water was dripping from the small leather bag. He smiled wryly, and took out a business card from the bag to give me: "My name It's Kong Zhenyuan." Say your name, with a natural conceit.Kong Zhenyuan, I have heard of this name.He is not very active, but he has a fairly high social status. He belongs to a family and is engaged in business. His business methods are relatively conservative, solid and reliable. Being soaked like us, sitting in a car, no matter how luxurious the equipment is, will not be a comfortable thing, so I want to solve the problem quickly and forget about it. Kong Zhenyuan kept wiping the water off his face: "It's my brother." I said "Oh", "Why?" Kong Zhenyuan's expression became very hesitant, as if why his brother wanted to see me, he couldn't tell. I glanced at Bai Su, Bai Su should know what I meant by looking at her, I was saying to her: "Look, when you got into his car, he started to stutter." Bai Su also glanced at me, and I knew what she meant, she was trying to comfort me: "Since you've already got in the car, forget it." Kong Zhenyuan coughed a few times: "Mr. Wei, my brother is older than me..." I heard him say this, and I couldn't bear it: "Isn't this nonsense? If he is younger than you, he will be your brother." Kong Zhenyuan robbed me, and his face, which had just been drenched by the heavy rain, turned red: "No, no, I mean, my brother is much older than me, he is thirty-eight years older than me, and we are half-brothers. My brother, my father gave birth to me when he was sixty-six years old." There is a thirty-eight-year age difference between the two brothers, which is not common, but there is nothing special about it, and when Kong Zhenyuan’s father gave birth to him, after much deliberation, it has nothing to do with me at all, so I immediately felt uncomfortable. A look of patience. Kong Zhenyuan said: "My brother is ninety-three years old this year." I waved my hand: "Tell me, why did he want to see me, just be direct." When I said this, I was thinking in my heart: "No wonder the driver called him the 'Second Master', the Grand Master must be his ninety-three-year-old 'brother'." Kong Zhenyuan once again showed a stunned and embarrassed expression, I stared at him a little bit fiercely, Kong Zhenyuan looked even more frightened, his face flushed, and he struggled to say a word: "He...is an astrologer." Before I had any reaction, he added, "He thinks he's an astrologer." I said, "So what?" Kong Zhenyuan smiled wryly. Looking at the situation, he seemed to have made up his mind and said what he wanted to say. He took a breath: "The astrologer...what he said, many people...I mean it is not easy for ordinary people to listen to it. I understand, and he is getting older and in extremely poor health, so when he talks upside down, he is very..." I finally understood what he meant: "Isn't he very organized?" Kong Zhenyuan nodded vigorously, and I said: "Your Excellency may not necessarily speak coherently, why does he want to see me?" Naturally, Kong Zhenyuan seldom gave such comments to others, so he showed an angry expression, and snorted: "I don't know, but he has been arguing to see you for at least several years, and I have not gone Pay attention to him, because he seems really abnormal, if it weren't for his... health is getting worse and worse, and you happened to meet you again tonight..." I said "Oh": "Is he dying?" Kong Zhenyuan shook his head: "The doctor said it was just a few days ago, and he was basically unconscious most of the time." I frowned, and looked at each other with Bai Su, who also smiled wryly.What's the matter with a dying astrologer?It's unimaginable. I didn't think much of it, because the dying astrologer would soon be meeting, and he would naturally tell me why he wanted to see me. The car continued to drive forward, the rain was a little lighter, and the water on the road reflected the dazzling brilliance under the illumination of the headlights.The car turned a corner and started to drive up the hillside, and a big house could be seen on the hillside. It was a really big house, completely old-fashioned. In the dark, it looked like a shadow, I don't know how big it was, and those cornices looked like strange birds. I said sincerely: "What a big room." Kong Zhenyuan's tone was full of pride: "My late father completely imitated the mansion of Xu Guangqi, a prime minister of the Ming Dynasty." I smiled: "If there are few people in the family, you have to be brave to live in such a huge house." Kong Zhenyuan obviously felt the same, nodded, the car had already arrived at the door, the two doors, against the big stone lion beside the door, looked extremely spectacular.The driver honked the horn, the door slowly opened, and the car drove straight in.It is a huge garden, and in the darkness, it is impossible to see how many pavilions there are. The car drove straight to the main building and stopped. The rain had stopped. Two servants in uniform walked down the stone steps and opened the car door.When the dripping Kong Zhenyuan stepped out of the car, the eyes of the two footmen were bigger than pigeon eggs. Bai Su and I also got out of the car, entered the hall together with Kong Zhenyuan, and several servants came out, standing with their arms down, their expressions were very strange.Because the three of us were soaked and still dripping.A man who looked like a butler came over in a hurry and called, "Second Master..." Kong Zhenyuan waved his hand: "Go and see if the elder is awake, take these two, and change into some dry clothes, hurry up!" The officials repeatedly agreed, although I was eager to take a look at the dying astrologer in his 90s and 30s, but I was soaked through and it was not very comfortable, so the housekeeper took me and Bai Su into the room. a room. The layout of the room is half Chinese and not western, the kind that was common in wealthy families 40 or 50 years ago, but now it can only be seen in long-form TV dramas. We took off our coats, and the butler came in with two stacks of clothes, put them down, and then retreated out respectfully. I picked up the clothes and looked at them, and I couldn't help laughing, such underwear can only be found in museums.The coat that was sent to me was a long gown with a soft texture, and very comfortable soft shoes. When Bai Su got dressed, I looked at her, she looked like she had returned to the 1920s, a gown with exquisite embroidery, moon white background, purple piping, I don't know where it belonged to in this mansion before A woman's family. We opened the door, Kong Zhenyuan was already waiting at the door, he also changed into a long gown, he said apologetically, "I'm sorry, my brother has never been married, my wife passed away long ago, these are old clothes." Bai Su smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, such exquisite clothes are not easy to see now." Kong Zhenyuan took a breath and led us forward. The corridor is very long, the ceiling of the building is high, and the lights are not bright, just like in a museum. At the corner at the end of the corridor, there is a staircase with quite large steps. We were already on the second floor, and we walked up two more floors, only to see the butler greet him: "Master Wei, he is in good spirits. , just drank a cup of ginseng soup." Kong Zhenyuan nodded. I noticed that this is the highest floor of the building. The structure of this floor is different from the lower floors. There are no long corridors. There are two rather large doors, and a huge Tai Chi painting is painted on the door. Figure, looks extremely weird. Outside the door, there were several other people, some in long gowns, some in suits, and some who looked like nurses.Kong Zhenyuan walked over, and they all greeted him. An old man with a rather serious expression spoke first: "The situation is not very good, it is the reflection of the light." The old man seemed to be a Chinese medicine doctor. Kong Zhenyuan nodded, and looked at several other people, who were probably Western medicine doctors. One of them said, "Maybe, but when he heard that Mr. Wei would come, that kind of peculiar The performance is rare in medical records." When I heard them say this, I was even more surprised. It seemed that they still wanted to discuss it, so I raised my voice: "Stop discussing, I am the person he wants to meet, let me meet him." The old man who was the first to speak looked at me suspiciously: "Your Excellency is also a medical student?" I didn't bother to answer him, I just gestured to Kong Zhenyuan, Kong Zhenyuan pushed open the door, and the three of us walked in together.As soon as I entered, I froze. I've never seen a room that big.It seems that the entire top floor is just this room. In that room, there are rows and rows of bookshelves. Those bookshelves are not very high, and they are filled with thread-bound books. Among the many bookshelves, there is a large one. Bed, lying on that bed alone. That man is not the dying old man I imagined, on the contrary, he is very tall, lying there, giving people a "huge" feeling, lying on his back, with short and hard white hair, very thin , he is the kind of person with a big frame, so in a very thin situation, he looks very scary. His eyes were wide open and he looked up. I followed his gaze to the ceiling of this room, and I was surprised again. Above that bed, the ceiling is a huge pane of glass, five meters square.At this time the rain began to increase again, and the raindrops sprinkled on the glass, forming a very strange-looking pattern. I know that the old man lying on the bed is Kong Zhenyuan's elder brother, the astrologer, and he arranged his bedroom like this for the convenience of observing the astrology. Kong Zhenyuan led Bai Su and me towards the bed. The old man on the bed turned his head slowly and looked at me.His eyes still looked quite alive.Because he is thin and has a big frame, his whole head is like a skeleton, but he has a pair of very bright eyes, so it is even more weird. Kong Zhenyuan said in a deep voice, "Brother, Mr. Wesley is here." The old man's eyes turned and stopped on me for a while, and I also came to the bedside. The old man let out a hoarse "ah": "Your father didn't come?" I was stunned for a while, not knowing what he meant by that, Kong Zhenyuan said: "Brother, he is Mr. Wesley." The old man said "ah" again, and his voice sounded hoarse: "Is it a kid?" I shook my head and said, "Mr. Kong, that's because you are too old." The old man on the bed shook and began to struggle hard. Kong Zhenyuan hurried over to help him up, and put pillows on his back and head.The old man looked up at the sky again through the glass in the ceiling, and there was nothing to see now but the rain. I waited patiently. Although I didn't say anything, I was secretly anxious in my heart, because it seemed that this old man's life would not last long. If he didn't say anything, he might die every minute. The silence lasted for a full five minutes. The old man coughed for a long time before he said slowly, "Wesley, listen carefully to what I said... I don't have time to say it again! Listen, you must Find them."