Chapter 7 Chapter 6 Strange things in the diary

Dr. Le Sheng said: "That shouldn't be difficult, there is dust everywhere here, and Luo Luo opened those bookcases, so it's easy to find them!" Dr. Le Sheng and I began to search one bookcase after another carefully. In many bookcases, there were books such as very unpopular county chronicles, as well as many ancient books, some of which were out of print. Ruan Yao came behind me and walked with me. In less than half an hour, he looked through all the bookcases. Here, as a private collection of books, it can be regarded as extremely rich, but I am disappointed because all the books have nothing to do with the Ruan family, that is to say, as a "family library" "As far as I am concerned, there is no part of family information!

I looked at Ruan Yao: "No more?" Ruan Yao nodded and said: "It's all here, but there is also a hidden iron cabinet, and there are many books in it, I can open it for you to read!" As he spoke, he came to the fireplace, and stretched out his hands to hold a brass tiger's head displayed on the mantelpiece. Before his hands touched the brass tiger's head, he called out again: "Look, how did Rollo know my secret?" Dr. Le Sheng and I walked forward together. Indeed, this copper tiger head seemed to have been touched by someone, because the dust accumulated on it was of different shades.

Both Dr. Le Sheng and I showed doubts, and Ruan Yao's expression became very serious: "This is the most serious secret in our family. I only learned it from my father when he was dying. , The two places ordered me again, this is an important secret, and I can only tell my son when I am dying!" Dr. Le Sheng and I looked at each other, and both felt that this matter was very serious.Because the Ruan family is such a wealthy family, this important secret in their family must be related to many important things! I said: "After you know this secret, haven't you opened this iron cabinet to see it?"

Ruan Yao said: "Naturally open it and take a look. Do you think I'm a person without curiosity?" Impatiently, I asked, "So, what's in the cabinet?" Ruan Yao sighed: "You can see it after a while, almost all of them are letters, correspondence between my predecessors and various people, and some diaries. I never opened it again." As Ruan Yao said, he held down the bronze tiger's head with both hands and rotated it slowly. When he turned the bronze tiger head, there was a row of bookshelves that made a "click" sound and moved forward, allowing people to walk behind the bookshelves. The three of us walked behind the bookshelves together. There was a door on the wall. Doors that can be moved.

Ruan Yao stretched out his hand and moved the door to the side. As soon as the door was opened, an iron cabinet appeared. It can be said that there is nothing special about the appearance of the iron cabinet. It is about six feet high and two feet wide. It is divided into ten layers, that is to say, there are ten drawers. Ruan Yao immediately opened a drawer and said: "Look, they are all old stereotyped letters." I pulled out a bundle of letters, and when I saw them, I couldn't help but startled the boss. The reason why I was surprised was because the first letter I saw at a glance had four big dragon five-cent stamps with the broad border of the customs on the envelope.This set of four stamps, together with the actual envelope, is a treasure for stamp collectors!

I have introduced before that Ruan Yao is a man with a collection habit, but he is really a weirdo. He does not collect stamps because the reason is that collecting stamps is too common and everyone does. To show that he is different, he collects cars! Naturally, my astonishment immediately faded away, because I remembered that when I came in, among the calligraphy and paintings hanging in the living room, there were several of them, the value of which was even more inestimable. Compared with these stamps, Undoubtedly it's a little witch's opinion! And those famous paintings are also dusty, not to mention these stamps?

I looked at the envelope again, the recipient's name was Ruan Yao's grandfather, and the letter was sent from Tianjin. Ruan Yao said: "You can read the contents of the letter, after reading it, you may not be interested." Now that I got Ruan Yao's permission, I took out the letterhead, which was a standard "eight lines". The writer told Ruan Yao's grandfather that he had a friend who was going south, and asked Ruan Yao's grandfather to give him the letter. take care of. I put the letter back: "If Rollo opens this iron cabinet, what is he looking for?"

As I asked, I put the letter back, but Ruan Yao said: "You got the order wrong, everything here is numbered, I don't see the letter, how about reading the diary?" As Ruan Yao said, he opened another drawer, frowning: "Rolo must have opened a drawer, and there are two diary numbers, look, it's messed up!" I followed what he pointed, and there was no doubt that, judging from the numbers, there were indeed two diaries in reverse order. Here, I must add that the so-called "diary book" in this drawer is completely different from our modern concept of "diary book". Stacks of rice paper are stapled into thick books.

At that time, I suddenly became nervous: "Rolo once moved one of them!" Ruan Yao stretched out his hand and took out the two notebooks together. He handed one of them to my hand, while he flipped through the other. I flipped through a few pages in that diary, and said in a voiceless voice: "Look, some pages have been torn out here!" Ruan Yao stretched out his head, looked into my hand, and cursed in a low voice: "Rolo, pig! Although I haven't read all the contents of these diaries, I have read every one of them. I can swear that every one is Perfect!" In that diary, quite a lot of pages were torn out, and the edge of the paper was still there. When Ruan Yao said those few words, I counted them: "A total of twenty-nine pages were torn out, and the pages were torn out. It’s in a hurry, you see, the margin of paper left here is very wide, and half a line of writing can still be seen.”

I held the diary forward, and we looked at it together. The words in the diary were all written with a brush. It was indeed very difficult to figure out what sentence the remaining half line belonged to. I quickly turned to the page before it was torn away, and looked at the diary of that day. The diary began with the date, which was "the sixth day of September in Xinyouqiu", and it was more than a hundred years ago. What was recorded in the diary that day was all trivial things.To be honest, copying it out is also meaningless. It is worth noting that there is one thing recorded at the end of the diary: "Hui asked them to come to talk tomorrow. It's really strange, and it really can't be explained."

The three of us all saw this line of words at the same time. For a while, I even forgot that the diary below had been torn out, because judging from this sentence, in the next day's diary, there must be a record called " "Hui" and a few other people -- "they" will come to talk about an unexplainable strange event, which should be recorded in the diary.So I was anxious to know what a strange thing it was. However, after turning to the next page, the date I saw was already "the fourth day of October in the Xinyou Year". The three of us raised our heads and glanced at each other, Ruan Yao hurriedly said: "Turn through the front again, maybe someone still remembers this matter!" I said, "Let's not crowd here, go out and have a look!" I took the diary and came to the table, when I put the diary on the table.The three of us shouted together! The open diary, placed on the table, happened to be the same size as the dusty square print on the table! I had guessed that Rollo had been at this table, with his hands on it, looking at some document.Now, it is even more certain that what Rollo was looking at at that time must be the diary, maybe this one! The reason the three of us yelled together was because we thought of this at the same time. I turned the diary to the previous page, which was the fifth day of September in the year of Xinyou.There is nothing recorded in the diary, so I turned to the previous day, which was the fourth day of September of the same year. At the beginning of that day, the diary recorded: "Hui Lai." However, there are only two words, and everything else has nothing to do with this "wisdom" at all! I glanced at Ruan Yao: "Do you know who this 'Hui' is?" Ruan Yao smiled bitterly and said, "How would I know? It was my great-grandfather's diary. This person is of course his friend." I hastily turned to the previous page. There was nothing worth noting at all, and I turned forward again. After another three days, the word "Hui" appeared again. On this day, it was recorded in the diary: "Hui Kai came alone, and he was extremely strange and unbelievable." The three of us looked up at each other again, Ruan Yao paused and said, "It's terrible, what's wrong with it, why don't you write it down in detail?" I said, "You can't blame your great-grandfather. He must have recorded this incident in detail, but it has been torn up. I think Rollo took it home!" Dr. Lesheng smiled wryly: "We burned everything that belonged to Rollo!" Ruan Yao stretched out his hand again, and turned a page forward. On that day, there was also the mark of "Hui", like this: "Hui said nothing, but Yu Zhi denounced it, and broke up unhappy." As for what that "Hui" said, it is naturally not recorded in the diary. I turned forward and found nothing, so I turned back and found the beginning of October and September. On that day, Ruan Yao's great-grandfather wrote down: "Wealth can rival a country. In the world, descendants will never worry." I glanced at Ruan Yao, and Ruan Yao said: "Look, my great-grandfather was already rich in the world more than a hundred years ago!" I frowned: "But what do you think? His wealth seems to have come out of nowhere!" Ruan Yao said: "Why do you say that?" I turned over the front and pointed to a page for him to read. On that page it was written: "For the birth of a nephew, the business borrows three or two taels of silver. I am well-off, but I can't bear the long-term loan, so I refuse." I said: "Did you see that less than a month ago, in his diary, he only claimed to be well-off!" Ruan Yao stared, this is the most conclusive evidence, he naturally cannot object. Ruan Yao was stunned for a while, before saying: "In less than a month, even if he engages in some illegal activities, it is impossible to become rich in the world." I said: "I didn't mean that, I just said that the great-grandfather's fortune came suddenly." Ruan Yao was so angry that he didn't speak out anymore, he just flipped through the diary, and that "Hui" never appeared again. After we finished looking through this diary, Dr. Le Sheng immediately took another one, but that one was even more useless to us, what was recorded in that diary.It was all after Ruan Yao's great-grandfather suddenly became a wealthy man. Ruan Yao's great-grandfather, after becoming a wealthy man, built a house, spent money, and almost all the large digital expenditures were recorded. We flipped through the diary and looked at each other. Ruan Yao scratched his head: "It's strange, there are records of large expenditures, but who bought the large land I have now, why is there no mention of it in the diary?" I was stunned for a while, Ruan Yao, if you say he has no brains, he really has no brains to the extreme.However, sometimes, the questions he raises are really thought-provoking.The beginning of this incident was all because of a question from Ruan Yao——At that time, Ruan Yao was holding a map in his hand, and he asked: What does the gold color on the map mean? At this moment, he asked another question. Dr. Le Sheng and I looked at each other, but neither could answer his question. Indeed, any expenditure, as long as it is a large sum, is recorded.It is said that after Ruan Yao's great-grandfather suddenly became rich, he bought such a large piece of land. Even if the land price was cheap at that time, it was a huge sum of money. Why didn't he mention it? Thinking of this, not only Ruan Yao scratched his head, but I also scratched my head. Dr. Le Sheng said: "It may be that the great-grandfather bought this land as soon as he had money. The diary was torn up more than a dozen times. Twenty days, the possible purchase of land will be recorded in those few days!" Ruan Yao and I nodded together. Dr. Le Sheng's words should be the most reasonable explanation before there is any further explanation. I thought for a while, and said: "Now our thoughts are very confused, let me sum up the whole thing and write down what I have learned, okay?" Ruan Yao spread his hands in agreement.I pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down the following points while speaking. (1) The great explorer Luo Luo drew a 400-to-1 expedition map with the Ruan family garden, painted one of the lands with gold (it is known that it is the pavilion base of a pavilion), and placed it on the Several places around it are marked with danger marks. This danger mark, in terms of the meaning of the expedition map, means that the explorer may encounter unexpected dangers and die when he arrives at the place. (2) The places marked with danger marks on the map seem to be nothing surprising on the surface, but when people stand there, they will have the urge to dig, and once they touch the place, they will lead to mysterious death . (3) Rollo may have drawn this mysterious map based on the diary of Ruan Yao's great-grandfather. (4) Ruan Yao's great-grandfather encountered an extremely strange and unbelievable incident during his lifetime. The truth of this incident is unknown, because the diary that records the truth of this incident has been (very likely) It's Rollo) torn off.But among the people involved in this mysterious incident, there is a person named "Hui" and several strangers. (5) This mysterious incident made Ruan Yao's great-grandfather suddenly rich. After I wrote down these five points, I showed them to Ruan Yao and Dr. Le Sheng, and asked, "Do you have any objections?" Both of them nodded: "No." I took the paper and said, "Although we have discovered these five points, it still doesn't help the whole thing, because we have more than five problems, and I will write them down." I said it again, and wrote down the question at the same time. Question 1: What is Rollo's purpose in drawing this mysterious map? Question 2: Why does it seem that there is absolutely no danger, but there is a real danger of death? Question Three: What is the force that causes the mysterious deaths of people and dogs? Question 4: What was the incredible thing that Ruan Yao's great-grandfather encountered back then? Question 5: Who are "Hui" and that stranger? Question 6: How did Ruan Yao's great-grandfather get rich in mysterious events? Question 7: When I wrote "Question 7", Ruan Yao interjected: "Actually, there are thousands of questions, and there is only one. Why is there a piece of gold painted on the map?" I wrote the problem down: "Yes, this is a fundamental problem, and the easiest and most direct way to solve it is to take down the base of the pavilion in your garden that has been demolished, and put the Let’s dig down and find out why!” Dr. Le Sheng forced a smile and said, "Who doesn't know that is the most straightforward way, but what consequences will there be if you do that?" I smiled wryly and spread my hands: "I don't know, Professor Tang died, and a dog as strong as a cow also died. Their deaths were due to a mysterious force. Do it. There will be consequences, so we can't do it this way!" Ruan Yao sighed, and said: "The most straightforward method cannot be implemented, and it will be round and round, and there will be no results. I think I am going crazy, damn Rollo!" In my heart, I couldn't help cursing the damned Luo Luo. Ruan Yao said again: "It's our own fault. We did too well as friends. If we don't listen to Luo Luo's weird instructions before he died If so, then among his relics, the answer must be found!" Dr. Le Sheng smiled wryly: "The words can also be reversed. If we do everything according to Luo Luo's words and don't leave that map behind, then nothing will happen!" I waved my hand: "It's meaningless to say these words now. I think, since that "Hui" appeared in Ling Zengzu's diary several times, maybe he will write some letters. In the letter, look for the details!" Ruan Yao and Dr. Le Sheng said nothing more, we took out all the letters from the iron cabinet, and read them one by one. We were in the basement, and we didn't know how long time had passed. Reading those old letters made us feel dizzy and have backaches.Tired, the sky may have already dawned, but we continued to watch, and after an unknown amount of time, Dr. Lesheng said, "Look at this note!" Ruan Yao and I hurriedly moved our heads together to read the note he was holding in the hands of Dr. Le Sheng. The note in his hand was already yellow and brittle, and the words on it were still very scribbled, but we could still read the words clearly.Of course, the most important thing for us is to look at the signature.Signature, impressively is a word of "Hui". The note is very simple, just six or seven lines, and it reads: "Diligence is as good as your grasp. If you encounter an extremely incomprehensible matter, you should visit my father within a day and tell it to others. I hope you don't mention it to outsiders. My brother lives in Wujia Village. , There is a big pond in this place, which was produced by my brother's ancestors, but it disappeared overnight. It is a strange thing in the world, and I have never seen someone like this. I will talk to you in person." This note may have been sent by this "Hui" because there is no postage stamp on the envelope. Seeing this note, the three of us couldn't help feeling ecstatic. Because although this note is simple, it is already an extremely important discovery for us! First of all, we know that this "Hui" lived in Wujia Village for generations, so his surname is very likely to be Wu, so we might as well assume that he is Mr. Wu Hui. Second, we know that the so-called strange thing is that Wujia Village, a big pond belonging to Mr. Wu Hui, disappeared overnight──this incident is really hard to imagine, but it is indeed written like that on the note .Big pond, of course, is a huge pond, how can a pond disappear?A mountain can be missing, but if the pond is "missing", the result must be a bigger pond, because the pond is originally a sunken ground, which means that water is stored on it.Or it could be explained that the water in the whole pond is gone. However, the fact that the water in the pond disappears is not the same as "the disappearance of a pond", and what is written on the note is "a large pond ... disappeared overnight." Not really. It is said that this big pond dried up overnight. Moreover, there is another thing, the most interesting thing is that the place where Ruan Yao's family is located is called "Wujiatang". A few years ago, this area may have been a very desolate wasteland, but with the progress of the times, the city area has gradually expanded , this area has become a suburb very close to the urban area.But no matter how many changes have taken place on the ground, the place name remains the same. This area is called Wujiatang, and the newly built road outside the wall of Ruan Yao's house is also called "Wujiatang Road". The three of us looked at each other, and I said first: "Ruan Yao, the place name here is Wujiatang." Ruan Yao said: "Yes." I said again: "I think this is not your ancestral home. When Ling Zengzu received this note, he must have lived in another area some distance away from Wujiatang. Look at the outside envelope of this note. "Please send Mr. Ruan Qin, Shishan'ao, Daqi" means that the great-grandfather moved here later." Ruan Yao said: "Of course, he may have bought a large piece of land here after he made a fortune." I frowned: "There is not a big pond near here." Dr. Le Sheng said: "Wesley, what's the matter with you, isn't it written on this note that the big pond disappeared overnight?" My mind was extremely chaotic, but suddenly, in the depths of my mind, there was a flash like lightning, and I thought of it! With a "bang", I knocked hard on the table and said loudly: "Do you know what it means that a big pond suddenly disappears? It not only means that the water in the pond disappeared, but also that the pond has become It became a large flat land!" Dr. Le Sheng and Ruan Yao looked at each other, unable to speak a word.Indeed, I put forward such a view, which seems to be very absurd and unbelievable. But what explanation is there other than this one? I said again: "Things must be like that. A big pond suddenly turned into flat land overnight. This is just an unimaginable strange thing!" Ruan Yao seemed a little timid, he looked at me for a while, and then said: "What do you want to say? Do you want to say that my piece of land was born after the pond disappeared?" At this time, I was so excited that I forgot all my tiredness because things gradually became clear. I said loudly, "Isn't there a lot of county chronicles hidden in that bookcase? Take this county chronicle and look it up, hurry up!" Dr. Le Sheng and Ruan Yao were also affected by me. They immediately brought out many county annals from the bookcase, some dilapidated and some quite new. They were all the county annals of the county where Wujiatang is located. We just flipped through it a little, and found that there are two completely different versions of the county annals of this county.One was engraved during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, while the other was engraved decades ago. We searched through the old one first, and found "Wujiatang" not long after. No matter from the text or the simple picture, it was a huge pond. . When Ruan Yao saw the simple figure of "Wujiatang", his eyes straightened a little. I hurriedly pushed him: "What's the matter with you?" Ruan Yao said: "This big pond...its size and shape are exactly similar to my real estate!" I looked through the newly engraved county annals again. In the newly engraved county annals, Wujiatang is gone, but the famous characters are still preserved, and it is specially written that "the land is owned by Ruan Qin, the richest man in the county, and Mr. Ruan is willing to do good things...etc. .” I raised my head: "See, this Mr. Ruan Qin, after he got rich, he must have paid for the re-engraving of the county annals, and destroyed the original county annals, leaving only this one. Since then, no one has You will know that this large piece of land turned out to be a pond, and this pond disappeared overnight!" Dr. Le Sheng said: "But at that time, there must be no one in Wujia Village, and others should know about it!" I said: "Of course I know, but there are a few possibilities. First, at that time, Wujiatang was originally a remote area with few residents. Second, after Ruan Yao's great-grandfather made a fortune, he was able to use money to buy it. Country people, it’s an easy job, even the county chronicles can be changed, let alone other things.” Ruan Yao was a little angry: "I can't see why my great-grandfather would lie to people about this matter." I paused for a while, and then said: "Ruan Yao, you shouldn't have missed it. On that note, it was clearly written that Wujiatang was Wu Hui's ancestral property. This big pond disappeared and became a piece of land. This piece of land should naturally belong to Wu Hui, but since your great-grandfather's generation, it has become your players' property!" Ruan Yao sneered: "That's nothing to be surprised about. My great-grandfather bought this land from that Wu Hui." I didn't say anything more. This piece of land was bought by Ruan Yao's great-grandfather from Wu Hui. It is naturally possible. However, there are other possibilities. That fact must have been recorded in the diary. It's a pity. Yes, the most important pages in the diary were torn away! Dr. Le Sheng saw that the atmosphere between Ruan Yao and I was not quite right. He said: "We seem to be getting further and further away from the topic. What we are studying is why people die mysteriously. What does the gold color on the map represent? Study how the Ruan family made their fortune!" I sighed and said: "But, you have to admit that the matter started from Ruan Yao's great-grandfather and has been passed down!" Dr. Lesheng winked at me, and then slapped Ruan Yao. I looked at Ruan Yao, and I saw Ruan Yao's complexion became ugly. I reached out and patted Ruan Yao's shoulder: "Don't mind, no matter what happened that year, it has been more than a hundred years, and no one will pursue it anymore." At that time, I saw that Ruan Yao's face was very gloomy, but I didn't pay much attention to it, because I was too tired.While yawning, I said, "It's time for us to take a break too!" Dr. Le Sheng also yawned: "Yes, it should be dawn!" As he spoke, he looked at his watch, but then he yelled loudly, "It's terrible, it's already ten o'clock!" Ruan Yao still didn't say anything. At this moment, it is absolutely unexpected that Ruan Yao thinks so much about his ancestor's reputation that he would be desperate to do something that we have a tacit understanding that no one dared to do. things come. At that time, we left this gloomy building together, went outside, the sun was shining, Dr. Le Sheng and I bid farewell to Ruan Yao, Ruan Yao did not keep us, we broke up, and Dr. Le Sheng and I went home . When I got home, I took a comfortable hot bath, read the morning paper, then lay down, fell asleep, and slept until the sun went down. I sat up on the bed and told the whole thing After thinking about it, I felt that something was a little bit off. Ruan Yao's large piece of real estate turned out to be a big pond, which was indeed surprising. Under what circumstances would a large pond become flat overnight? This is really a question that no one can answer.Naturally, changes in the earth's crust can make a large lake disappear on the surface of the earth, and even become a high mountain.However, I have searched all the information I can, and there is absolutely no sign that there was an earthquake or something during that night, and there will be no volcanic eruption in that area. But.A large pond turned into flat land overnight! Now, all the mysterious and unpredictable things that trouble us can be said to have been caused by the disappearance of this big pond called "Wujiatang" overnight. I thought for a while, and then Dr. Lesheng called. He asked me if I had contacted Ruan Yao. I said no, but I was going to talk to him. Dr. Le Sheng asked me to call Ruan Yao and tell him the result.I put down the phone receiver, picked it up again, and dialed the number. Not long after I got through, I heard Ruan Yao's voice. On Ruan Yao's side, it seemed to be very noisy, there was a constant "cracking" sound, so I had to raise my voice: "Ruan Yao, are you awake yet?" Ruan Yao said loudly: "I haven't slept!" I stayed for a while, but his side was too noisy, so I said loudly: "What's the matter with you, what are you doing?" Ruan Yao laughed, "Guess what." I couldn't help being a little angry: "How can you guess?" Ruan Yao said: "I think the most straightforward way to solve the problem is to dig out the base of the pavilion to see—" Before he finished speaking, I was shocked and said, "Ruan Yao, how could you do such a thing!"