Chapter 11 Section IV Master

"Master, this is Police Officer Wenzel from the 11th Branch. It is said that there has been a new progress in the case of the young lady." "Well, Rhodes, you can step back." "Yes Master." Rügenmann Hofer, the owner of this villa, is sitting opposite me at this moment, where Rhodes was just now. "Mr. Rügenmann Hofer, I am really sorry to bother you during this rest day." "That's nothing. What Rhodes said just now, there is a new development in the case? What happened?" According to the records in the file, Mr. Rügenmann is only fifty-one years old this year—but what appeared in front of me was an old man who was almost seventy years old: his skin exposed outside the red silk nightgown was dull and pale. Lacks radiance and even shows visible age spots in some places.His left hand had been trembling non-stop since it was placed on his knee—even if he held his wrist with his right hand, he couldn't hide it.Poor owner of the villa, the whole person is submerged in the breath of aging, only the gray pupils exude a little brilliance of hope-I have seen Mr. Rügenmann's photo eight years ago in the file: then and now Almost like two different people.We can know how much the loss of his beloved daughter dealt a blow to this gentleman.

"Well, the thing is like this. After our team took over the materials of this case, we found that there are many ambiguities and confusions in the previous investigation results, so we plan to conduct a new investigation..." "Huh? In other words, there is no new development at all!", Mr. Rügenmann said coldly - an indirect criticism of my poor excuse for interviewing him. "That's not true, Mr. Rügenmann. The new investigation has brought up some new doubts, which makes it necessary for us to re-examine the whole case - which is why I must come to you."

"Hmph? You've been using such excuses for years without any substance—if you were talking about business, you would have been fired by me long ago. A bunch of trash!" It was very difficult for Mr. Rügenmann to speak these words of reprimand—his body trembled more violently, and his panting became abnormally heavy.Probably Ms. Gabbette, who had been guarding outside all the time, came in and put a glass of water in front of Mr. Rügenmann. Mr. Rügenmann was obviously very angry. He swung his left hand vigorously and knocked the water glass in front of him down on the carpet, spilling the water all over the floor.

"Get out, get out! Get out of everything!!! All of them are trash? Useless trash?" After doing all this, Mr. Rügenmann seemed to be exhausted—he slumped on the armchair, and before his breathing eased, he coughed violently again. Ms. Gabbett picked up the water glass that had fallen on the carpet, then took out a medicine bottle from her pocket, and poured out two small pills for Mr. Rügenmann to take. "Cough? Is it Ambroxol again (author's note: Ambroxol Hydrochloride, which is a phlegm-reducing drug)? Gerbet, this drug is useless at all. I often have stomach pains after eating them? Cough, it's all these people Trash harm?"

Ms. Gabbette supported Mr. Rügenmann, whose breathing had eased a little, and seemed to be about to leave the reception room. "Cough? Young man, you stay here first. Maybe when I'm in a better mood? Cough cough?" Mr. Rügenmann didn't continue talking, Ms. Gabbett helped him out, and Mr. Rhodes came back and sat back in the position he had just taken. "I'm sorry. Officer Wenzel, the master's temper has been like this since that incident." "? Well, I think, it seems that I should leave too. Mr. Rhodes, should I apologize for disturbing me?"

"That's not necessary, just now the master said he wanted you to stay first. I've already asked Gabet to prepare a guest room for you—your task hasn't been completed yet, has it?" "Yes, but?" "Mr. Wenzel, the master told you to go to the knife room." Miss Gabet's sudden return forcibly interrupted the conversation between me and Mr. Rhodes that was about to start again. "Could you pay more attention when you speak?" "?what?" "Please try not to offend the master—his health is already very bad. It is a bit cruel to mention the matter of the young lady too directly?; Although, it has been so many years? Well, you know, at last It's better to talk about something irrelevant first. If there is anything, I'll be outside the sliding door?"

Ms. Garbett kindly reminded me of this as she led me to the knife room on the second floor of the villa. "Master, Mr. Wenzel has come up." "? Let him in." Miss Garbett opened the door of the knife room: this is a large room imitating the Japanese style, with a lot of calligraphy and paintings hanging on the walls—probably the pictures of ladies in the post-Edo period occupy a large part of it .In the center of the room is a quaint low square table. Mr. Rügenmann sat cross-legged with his back to us. I took off my shoes, walked into the knife room, and sat opposite Mr. Rügenmann—although the tatami mats here are very comfortable, I am really not used to this sitting posture: my right elbow rests on my knee, The left hand is barely holding a small memorandum book——that kind of appearance is really quite embarrassing.

"? I'm sorry. Mr. Wenzel, I was a little too excited just now, so that I let you see me like that. My respiratory system has not been very good recently, and I coughed badly at night? No one expected it , can aging come so quickly?" In this case, I don't know how to proceed - so I choose to change the subject: "Are you interested in Japanese culture?" I gestured to the whole room with my eyes. "It can be regarded as a long-standing hobby. Hehe, young man, are you interested in this aspect?" "I'm only impressed by the chaotic disputes of this nation in the Warring States Period and their aggressive image as always.

Other than that, about samurai swords and ukiyo-e, probably the same as you?" "Oh? Then we should really have a good discussion! You must be willing to see this, my collection for many years?" Mr. Rügenmann's expression was surprised and unbelievable: When I answered his last question, Inadvertently put me and him on an equal footing in terms of interests—this probably aroused Mr. Rügenmann’s ambition: a billionaire wants to compete with a poor police officer in collecting interests—— Funny old man. Mr. Rügenmann got up and opened a chest of drawers near the sliding door—this chest of drawers had three layers, and a samurai sword was displayed on each layer.

The knife on the bottom layer, judging from the handle and scabbard, should be quite old - the scabbard was probably treated with gold plating, decorated with three pairs of sorrel patterns, and between the feet, Three pairs of plain silver patterns are decorated between the middle and the clang.There is a silver shark on the handle-this should be a Taidao for ceremonial guards. The thinner blade and the larger inversion from the stem indicate that this is probably a pre-Kamakura sword. I even saw the knife in the middle in a certain issue of "Sword Art" last year: the knife is lined with snake-like textures that seem to be called "Aya Shan muscle" - if I didn't If you remember correctly, this should be one of the masterpieces of the Japanese royal artisan, known as the "spirit of the Guangda Yueshan School", the first generation of Tsukiyama Sadaichi, a contemporary Japanese swordsmith, in his later years: the monthly magazine said that "the knife was released as early as 1979. It was bought by a collector in Liberty City who did not want to be named from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, USA at a high price of 1.27 million U.S. dollars.”——If you want to come to this “collector who does not want to be named”, it is the one in front of you. Mr. Rügenmann no doubt.

Different from the two knives below, the top knife has no scabbard—on the ebony wooden knife stand, the place where the scabbard should be placed is vacant: this makes this knife stand out among the three knives It looks more and more special. This knife must also be an ancient knife: the entire body of the knife is covered with magnificent and strange decorative patterns, and the blade pattern unexpectedly presents a sharp blade shape interspersed with it; the handle is only wrapped by white shark skin engraved in the shape of a turnip without additional silk wrappings.The wonderful arc on the handle spreads to the entire body of the knife, even the tip of the knife, as if it was natural.From the moment I saw this knife, for a few dozen seconds, I couldn't even move my gaze away: they were completely out of my control! ——The magical power of an ancient cold weapon is so great, even I, a layman who appreciates ancient knives, can't help but secretly admire it. "Mr. Wenzel doesn't seem to be a layman? You can tell the heights of these collections at a glance, can't you?" Mr. Rügenmann said with a smile-of course he has noticed that my eyes linger for a long time out of place. I just came back to my senses and shrugged awkwardly at Mr. Rügenmann: "? Where, it's really rude to see such a treasure for the first time. Excuse me?" "Hey, that's right. Few of the young people nowadays have this kind of hobby? Mr. Wenzel, let's make a bet." At that time, he was completely different—he probably regarded me as a complete layman, and wanted to show off his profound knowledge of Toyo knives collection to me by means of a bet, so as to answer my casual answer of "probably and Like you" to retaliate. In fact, if the content of the bet revolves around the common sense of Japanese sword appreciation (according to Mr. Rügenmann's tone, there is an 80% chance that this will be the topic), not only will I not necessarily lose, I am afraid there is still a considerable chance of winning—O Lu's desk was within reach of my turn.In the leisurely October of last year, I finished reading his "Sword and Sword Guide" while I was bored; and his monthly must-buy "Whetstone" and "Sword Art", I also read it regularly (on the contrary It's Olu who doesn't really read "The Art of Sword" ——He likes Western knives more than Oriental knives: this is mainly related to his ability to pay for the collection): From this point of view, after I resigned, I went to the Cold Weapon Museum in Langlingen District as a temporary guide for the sword exhibition hall Seems like a good option too. "Oh, the content shouldn't be knowledge about these artworks, right?" I glanced at the chest of drawers again. "Unfortunately, that's exactly what I thought of. Mr. Wenzel." Mr. Rügenmann cleared his throat, and took the top knife off the knife holder—he seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then took off the whole knife holder. Mr. Rügenmann placed the ebony wood knife holder in the center of the low square table, a little closer to my place.Then I wanted to put the knife in my left hand on it: Probably because of his age, Mr. Rügenmann failed to put the back of the knife into the two wooden silk-wrapped jaws several times (although he wanted to help Help the old man, but alas I'm a complete amateur when it comes to the practice of Japanese knife collecting - I don't even know how to hold a knife properly: so I have to watch from the sidelines). After a near slip, the knife finally regained its balance on the knife rest.Mr. Rügenmann was already exhausted enough at this moment, and his breathing became short of breath again: "? Cough. People are useless when they are old. It takes a long time to put a knife!? Cough." Lugenman threw the large piece of white silk that he had just used for the knife on the table, and sat back In front of me, I couldn't help panting. Ms. Garbett outside also heard his coughing—she opened the door and came in, offering a glass of water.Mr. Rügenmann took a sip, put the cup on the table, and the sound of panting slowly eased: "Young man, the content of the bet is very simple." Luegenmann's voice paused for a while. "? Tell me which genre this knife is from. If you can't tell, please leave immediately and don't come back again?" "What if I could tell?" "? Then, of course I would like to assist you in your 're-examination' of that case, my young Mr. Inspector—even though I have answered your long-winded questions many times. Cough?" "The time is one hour,? Cough. I'm in the tea room next door. If you know the answer, you can come and see me right away; if it's time, you don't have to say goodbye to me - Rhodes will send you out. ? Cough, young man, nice to meet you." Mr. Rügenmann left the knife room.