Chapter 5 Section 4 Father

When Chu Feng returned to China, he immediately called his friend Fang Weijian who was the middleman for this trip to the United States. This person is a senior media person, already in his early 50s, he is eager to do justice, and has a wide range of contacts.He also likes antiques. The two met because they had been to the antique shop opened by Chu Feng in Nanjing. Later, they met several times. The two had similar temperaments and became good friends.Fang Weijian felt that it was a pity that Chu Feng's skills were extraordinary but his reputation was not obvious. He invited him to do a few TV programs and the ratings were very good, but Chu Feng was never interested in it, and he never went again.

"Old Fang, it's me!...Yes! I'm back!...There's no need for Jiefeng, let me ask you something!" From the phone, Chu Feng's tone was very cautious, Fang Weijian was startled, could something have happened? "This time I went to the United States, besides that Mr. Qiao, who else did you tell?" Chu Feng knew Fang Weijian's personality quite well, and knew that he would not spread it everywhere, but some things still mattered. Good question. "No, I didn't tell anyone except Mr. Qiao!" Fang Weijian was at a loss! "Then, how did you introduce me to Joe?"

"I didn't introduce much, that is to say, you are an associate professor of a certain university in Nanjing, and you are an expert in the appraisal of antiques, especially jade and miscellaneous antiques. They just asked me to find such an expert, so I recommended you to them. I don't tell you all about these things. Did you say that? What happened? Why are you so nervous? The trip to America didn't go well?" Chu Feng did not answer Fang Weijian's question: "It's okay, the trip to the United States went well, I believe Mr. Qiao will call you soon to thank you, I'm just a little curious, I don't know why Mr. Qiao values ​​me so much. Alright , hang up!"

After hanging up the phone, Chu Feng quickly flew back to Nanjing. When he stepped into the antique shop he opened called "Qiwuzhai", he met his store manager—Qi Qingfang.Qi Qingfang is a master's student who graduated from the university he named. She contacted him for an internship in the third year and has stayed here since then. She is a very capable and ambitious woman. Well organized, she suggested to Chu Feng to open a branch, but unfortunately Chu Feng didn't have this thought.Chu Feng is very grateful to her, because without her, he would not have so much free time to run around.

Qi Qingfang's eyes lit up when she saw him: "Mr. Chu, you're back!" As she said, she handed the document in her hand to the person next to her, retracted her leg that was about to step out of the store, and went back to the tea room behind the store to make a cup of tea for him. A cup of tea was brought over. Chu Feng didn't go upstairs directly, but came to the general manager's office on the first floor.Although this store is not big, the upper and lower floors add up to more than 600 square meters, which is not a small store in the bustling streets of Nanjing.In Chu Feng's store, there are a total of more than ten shop assistants on shift, plus the store manager, financial staff and a specially hired appraiser, there are nearly twenty employees up and down.In addition to the storefront on the first floor, there is also a large office and a general manager's office. The second floor is Chu Feng's private living space. When he is away, the general manager's office is used by Qi Qingfang. The general manager's office has almost become Qi Qingfang's private office.

Qi Qingfang came in with tea and saw him sitting behind the desk looking at the photos on the table, she couldn't help blushing, and explained: "This is a photo of going out with friends a few days ago, I just put it up, I'll put it away right away! " "No, don't take it, it's pretty, just put it like this, anyway, I don't come to this office often, so you can decorate it according to your own wishes!" Chu Feng didn't care. Qi Qingfang on the table smiled coquettishly among the blue sky and green water, but Qi Qingfang in front of her looked serious: "Mr. Chu, you have been away for a month and a half this time, and the business situation of the store is not very good now. Look, it is It’s not about taking some measures.” As he said, he handed over a thick stack of documents, “This is the sales report for this month, last month’s, I’ll bring it to you later.”

Chu Feng took it over and looked at it without looking at it: "Xiaofang, you don't need to bring the account book. I don't have time to read it now, and I have to go out again soon. You are fully responsible for the things in the store, and you can do it yourself. You don't need to talk to me. I say." Qi Qingfang looked a little worried: "Mr. Chu, this is not a small matter. Although there is a boom in collecting antiques everywhere, most people are still fond of Mr. Ye. Those shops with mixed fish and dragons are booming, but we are here because you insist on buying genuine products. The boutique route, so the prices of our items are all relatively high, except for the old customers, almost no new customers have come to the door in the past two months, I wonder if we also sell some low-priced items!"

Chu Feng thought for a while: "Xiaofang, I know that you have worked hard these days, and I don't care about anything else, but I think you should understand that we have accumulated a good reputation after doing so for so many years. This is more important than anything else. We You can't do things that destroy your reputation, and for the rest, you can figure it out yourself, I trust you!" After finishing speaking, he walked straight out of the office and went up to the second floor, leaving Qi Qingfang in place with a resentful expression on his face. Chu Feng went straight to his bedroom when he went up to the second floor. In the safe in the bedroom, he took out an old wooden box about one foot long with four winged angels carved on it. This wooden box seemed to be very old. But the paint on it is still very new. This is because each generation has to repaint it according to the instructions of the previous generation after taking over. The latest paint was just more than a year ago.

The four sides of the box are engraved with mosaic carvings, with four winged angels holding their hands upwards. A cloud pattern and a sun protrude from the surface of the box. Nothing came out, it was a blur. Seeing it, Chu Feng seemed to see the scene when his father handed it to him with trembling hands before his death: inside the box was a wolf skin scroll and a yellowed thread-bound booklet. Chu Feng knew from a young age that his family was a family with a long history. There was a family tree that his father spared no effort to preserve. That family tree was packed in a big wooden box. When Chu Feng was admitted to university, his father only allowed him to Check out the family tree.But later, he studied all the genealogy thoroughly, and he never saw the words in this wooden box.The wolfskin document is the original, specially made, and Chu Feng himself judged that it should be something from ancient times, because it was not used for determination, so it is difficult to judge the exact age.The pamphlet may be a copy left by Chu Feng's ancestors just in case, and the text on it is exactly like the text on the wolf paper.

Chu Feng once took this booklet to Professor Ling for advice, but even Professor Ling couldn't recognize the words on it.The professor was very interested in this, and after scanning these words, he passed them on to colleagues and friends at home and abroad. As a result, Chu Feng did not expect that no one could read this kind of words!You know, Professor Ling himself is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who enjoys a national subsidy, and the people he communicates with are all top philologists in the world!This made Professor Ling very excited. He has been researching it for a year, but there is no result. Chu Feng has not mentioned the existence of the wolf book to anyone so far.

Looking at the wooden box, Chu Feng couldn't help thinking of his father, for whom Chu Feng had complicated feelings.His father was a mechanical and electrical engineer before he retired, and he had very strict requirements on everything. He had a bad relationship with his father since he was a child. His father always forced him to do things he didn't like. He had a strong sense of resistance to his father. . This emotion was soothed well by the mother with her gentleness.Although the mother in his memory was very thin, every time he saw her, Chu Feng could feel a strange peace of mind, as if there was nothing to worry about as long as there was this person in the world.When he grows up, Chu Feng sometimes feels absurd. This feeling should be provided by his father. How could his mother give him such a feeling?He couldn't figure it out, but his mother was really a gentle and virtuous woman, no matter her colleagues in the unit, their neighbors or their family members thought so. Chu Feng still clearly remembers that every time he felt unbearable in the face of his cruel father's pressure, his mother would always come to his room, or make some delicious food, or silently stroke his head to comfort himself, She always supports herself and encourages herself in different ways.Only from his mother can he feel the warmth of home. Unfortunately, when he was 12 years old, he was blinded by a thunderbolt from the blue sky.His mother passed away due to a medical accident. At that moment, although he didn't quite understand what death was, he really felt the power of death. After his mother passed away, his father's attitude towards him remained the same. This was not the most uncomfortable thing for him. The most uncomfortable thing was that all the things related to his mother disappeared overnight in the family, and his father never said anything. Mention mother.This caused him to have a strong dissatisfaction with his father. This sentiment came to a head when he was 18 and his father was about to marry another woman six years after his mother died.In order to express his strong indignation, he left home to serve as a soldier in Xinjiang, thousands of miles away.After returning home, he found that the woman was living at home with no name or distinction. He wanted to leave immediately, but the woman begged him hard.He also understands that his father has compromised with himself on this matter. Later, he stayed at home for a year, re-entered the third year of high school, and then left home again when he was admitted to university. After that, he studied for a master's degree and a doctor's degree. He rarely went home for 10 years . During this period, he got married once and brought his ex-wife back. She was a very beautiful and capable woman, but his father was not satisfied, so he went home even less often.Seven years later, even though he broke up with his ex-wife, he did not appreciate his father's foresight. The relationship between father and son was not eased until his father died. Still living in his father's old house, Chu Feng was somewhat afraid to face her, so he let it go. There was an exquisite ancient copper lock on the wooden box, and Chu Feng pulled out a silk thread from his underwear.A jade key is tied to one end of the silk thread—I wonder if it’s because every generation of Chu family keeps it close to their bodies, but this key is still as new after thousands of years! Back then, my father pulled the key out of his underwear in the same way, right? !Chu Feng squinted his eyes to recall.When he heard that his father was seriously ill, his stomach cancer had already reached the terminal stage. When he got home, his father was still very conscious. "Zhuang Cheng! Zhuang Cheng! Take a quick look! Who's back? It's your son Xiaofeng!" When the woman Chu Feng kept calling Aunt Han said this, Chu Feng stood aside and felt a little awkward, time alienated many things.However, the scrawny father who was lying on the hospital bed surprised him so much that he couldn't care about this little detail. That man who looks like a skeleton wrapped in skin is his father?Is it the father who has always been indifferent and majestic in his mind? !Chu Feng was so stunned that he missed his father's murmur in his sleep before he woke up! As soon as his father's eyes opened, Chu Feng knew that he couldn't be wrong. This man was indeed his father who was still mighty. He just revealed a trace of ecstasy at the moment he opened his eyes, and then his eyes turned cold.He opened his mouth to ask whether Chu Feng had made new academic achievements, as if his own illness and his son's emotional life were not worth mentioning in his heart. Chu Feng didn't tell his father that he had gone into business a long time ago. Holding his breath, he exchanged a few words with his father, resisting the urge to turn around and leave, until the woman happily went to the kitchen to work on dinner! As soon as the woman came out of the room, his father's demeanor suddenly turned 180 degrees. On his face, there appeared a loving demeanor that Chu Feng had never seen in him.What stunned Chu Feng was that his father not only smiled lovingly at him, but also beckoned him to approach the bed, and tried his best to reach out and hug him: "Xiaofeng, son! I'm sorry, Dad is usually too strict with you! Dad also I really want to pamper you once in a while, but I can’t! As soon as Dad thinks of the mission on you, he forces himself to forget about spoiling you, so that now—it doesn’t matter anyway!” never mind?Chu Feng thought to himself, because you are going to die!But what about me?It doesn't matter if I can't!But wait?What is my mission? Chu Feng was dizzy by his uncharacteristic father. Seeing his unclear eyes, his father actually smiled like a child: "Haha, Xiaofeng, you are just now a little like you when you were a child, very cute!" After hearing this, Chu Feng reluctantly forcibly suppressed the urge to roll his eyes: Isn't it because of having a father like you, you killed so much of my childhood fun, and now you're making fun of me? ! "Hey! I know, you must be blaming me now! Xiaofeng, now is not the time to explain this, you go and open the second drawer in the big wardrobe!" Since the age of 18, Chu Feng, who loves to fight against his father in everything, is now rarely obedient. He opened the drawer as he said, and it was empty. "That drawer has a mezzanine, remove the top board!" His father saw that he hesitated, and the next instruction came one after another. When he took out the wooden box, his father pulled out the small key that was shining with crystal light: "Here, open it!" Chu Feng opened the wooden box and took out the wolf skin roll and booklet inside.The father took it with both hands, whirled lightly, and handed it over to him cautiously: "This thing is an ancestral property of my Chu family, no matter what, it must not fall into the hands of outsiders, and even others must not know that you have it." This thing! Xiaofeng, you must remember it!" Seeing the painful look on his father's face, Chu Feng nodded quickly and quickly put the things back in place.When he turned around and came back, his father was already sweating profusely from the pain: "Although it has been a thousand years, some people will still remember the old things. This thing must not be shown in front of the world, absolutely!" Chu Feng didn't care to listen to what his father said, so he found the Dulantin in the first aid kit by the bedside, took out one and gave his father an injection. After a while, his father's pain really eased. "Xiaofeng! Remember those genealogies I showed you after you went to college?" Chu Feng was sitting in front of his father's bed at this time, and nodded silently after hearing this. "Remember, our Chu family has a lot of history, and you have a very important mission. This is your natural destiny! If you have a choice, Dad doesn't want to be so strict with you, and wants you to grow up like an ordinary child." Great. It’s a pity—you have to read those genealogies carefully and decipher the words on this wolf skin scroll. Only when you decipher it completely can you know what kind of mission you are shouldering! Remember! You must decipher it Come out. You have to remember that our source is in the northwest, where there are all the answers!" Chu Feng scoffed at this so-called mission in his heart, and for a moment, even a thought flashed through his mind: Could it be that his father is already sick and confused, and fantasized about such a thing, so that he can feel at ease with himself? !But the idea was quickly dismissed by him. "Xiaofeng! I'm hurting! It hurts!" In the last moments, the father rolled on the bed in pain, just like an unreasonable child!Du Lengding was no longer effective, Chu Feng couldn't help it, hugged his thin body, and kept comforting him: "It doesn't hurt anymore! I gave you an injection! It won't hurt anymore! It doesn't hurt anymore...it doesn't hurt anymore...it doesn't hurt anymore!" Father's body was getting colder and colder in his arms, just like his mood...