Chapter 2 Chapter 1 The Priceless Ruby

Sometimes, the gaps in life are unpredictable, a completely unsurprising thing, if it develops, it can become an incredible and strange thing, such as the "Qimen" incident. In the past few months, a new miracle has been bothering me. It is really a mysterious thing, so I must write about it first. Door". It must be explained that the word "Qimen" has nothing to do with the Chinese "Qimen Dunjia". It means just a strange door. Of course, all strange things are also related to a strange door. Slightly related. Gossip less, let's get down to business. The whole thing started with a big luxury car, no, it shouldn't be said that it started with that car, but it should be said that it started with that mangy dog ​​that suddenly jumped out from the corner of the street.

When the incident started, I was driving the car and was going to visit a friend who was a philatelist. He said that he had recently found an old version of Beijing’s Eryuan Palace Gate reverse printing stamp in early Chinese stamps. It is impossible to appreciate it. I am also very interested in collecting stamps, so I naturally agreed to him. However, when I was only ten minutes away from home and the car was speeding, a mangy dog ​​suddenly rushed over from the opposite side. If I didn't let it, it would be hit by the car and its brains would burst. I have studied driving skills very well, and it would have been easy to avoid such a reckless mangy dog ​​under such a situation. A large off-white car suddenly rushed out.

I hurried to the brakes, but it was too late. The result can be imagined, with a sound of "Peng", the two cars collided, my car had already stopped, but the big and overbearing RV hadn't stopped yet, it rushed straight forward , bumped into a mailbox across the street, smashing that mailbox into two pieces. I quickly jumped out of the car and crossed the road. In a big city, if there is any accident, people watching the excitement will come from all directions. When I ran to the side of the car, there were already more than ten people Everyone gathered next to the car, and I pointed to one of them who looked very gentle, and said, "Don't watch the excitement, go to the police!"

The man was stunned for a while, but immediately turned around and walked away. I pushed away two people who were looking at the car curiously, and opened the door. Sitting in the driver's seat was a very gorgeously dressed middle-aged man. young woman. At that time, she was already in a coma, with blood still flowing from her forehead, and the glass on the front of the car was cracked but not broken. It seemed that her injuries were not too serious. A few minutes later, the ambulance and police cars also arrived at the scene . If you think that the subsequent development of this incident has anything to do with the woman driving the car, or that car, then you are wrong. I made it clear at the beginning that the matter only started from that big car!

After the police car arrives, I should go to the police station once. I may be delayed a lot of time in the police station, so I have to make a phone call to inform my friend who is a stamp collector. I made a call with a police officer. After saying hello, I walked to the nearest grocery store to borrow a phone. Before I reached the grocery store, two or three urchins ran past me, and one of them bumped into me! When the naughty boy bumped into me, I was afraid that he would fall, so I reached out to support him, but the naughty boy quickly threw the letter in his hand at my feet, struggled hard, and escaped !

I was stunned for a while, then bent down to pick up the letter from the ground. The envelope of the letter was made of thick kraft paper. I could tell at a glance that it was made of thick kraft paper. Moreover, the whole letter was quite It was heavy, I stretched out my hand and squeezed it, it seemed that there were not only letters in the envelope, but also some hard things. Those hard things look like a key. When I first saw the letter, I didn't know why the urchin was about to throw the letter away as soon as I supported him, but when I looked at the envelope, I understood why the urchin was so angry. What a panic.

Just now, when the big RV crossed the road in a straight line, it bumped into the mailbox and broke the mailbox in two. A lot of letters were scattered on the ground, and the urchins who watched the excitement picked them up.And their purpose of picking up the letter is also very obvious, because the stamp on that letter has been torn off! The letter was still in the mailbox, and the stamp on the envelope was naturally unstamped. Although it was a small amount, in the eyes of the urchin, it was already a pleasant surprise. I had this letter in my hand at the time, and my first reaction was naturally to send it back to the postbox immediately, but I immediately changed my mind, because the naughty boy was in a hurry when tearing off the stamp, so before putting the stamp When tearing off, a layer of kraft paper on the envelope was torn off, and more than half of the recipient's address was torn off.

The envelope is all written in English, and the handwriting that can still be seen shows that the envelope is sent to a place called "Bilechi". That place is in which corner of the earth, I have no way of knowing, because The paper has been torn off a layer. And the name of the recipient is still there, it is "Pastor Zun Ai", and the address of the sender is also very clear, it is not far from here, I can see that street when I look up.After discovering those, I changed my mind and put the letter in my bag. Of course, I am not planning to swallow that letter, but because that letter can no longer be delivered according to the address.The reason why the letter could not reach its destination was because the naughty boy broke the envelope when he tore off the stamp, and the reason why the naughty boy got this letter was because the big car crashed into the mailbox, and the big caravan was After colliding with me, it hit the postbox, so the root cause is all my relationship.

I have already made up my mind that after my procedures at the police station are completed, I will visit the sender and ask him to add the address on the envelope, so that I can put a stamp on the letter and go to the vote. Sent. I made a phone call in the grocery store, drove my own car, and arrived at the police station together with the police car. In the police station, I already knew that the woman had only suffered minor injuries and had already been discharged home. I didn't stay at the police station for a long time, and I finished the formalities, and I walked out of the police station. My car was just sunken into the front of the car, and it was not damaged. So, I came to the letter very quickly. sender address of .

It was a very ordinary house, located on a quite quiet street, I went up to the third floor, rang the doorbell, the door opened a crack, and a little girl aged eleven or twelve asked, "Who are you looking for? " After reading the letter, I said, "I'm looking for Mrs. Mirren. She lives here, doesn't she?" Of course, I didn't know that Mrs. Mirren at all, just because the envelope stated that the sender was Mrs. Mirren from "3rd Floor, No. 17, Book Road". When the little girl heard this, she immediately widened her eyes, looked at me with a very strange expression, and said, "You are looking for Mrs. Mirren? How do you know her? No one has ever looked for her. You are Chinese." ,Yes or no?"

She asked me a series of questions, until she asked me if I was Chinese, and I realized that although the little girl also had black hair and dark eyes, she was not Chinese, she might be Mexican or Spanish people. The surprised look on the little girl's face when she looked at me seemed very interesting. I nodded and said, "Yes, I am Chinese. Where is Mrs. Mirren from? Spain or Mexico?" The little girl said: "Mexico, we are all Mexicans. Are you a friend of Mrs. Mirren? We have never heard that she has Chinese friends!" I couldn't guess the relationship between the little girl and Mrs. Mirren, and the little girl seemed unwilling to open the door to me, so I had to ask: "Can I see her?" "See her?" The little girl screamed immediately, and at the same time, an indescribable look appeared on her face, as if what I said was impossible, but what I said What I said was the most common thing, I just wanted to see Mrs. Mirren. Perhaps this Mrs. Millen is a lonely old woman, or she is a very strange person, because the child said that she never had friends, but after listening to my words, she reacted so strongly, This somewhat surprised me, and I don't know why. I repeated: "Yes, I want to see her, just for a little thing." "But," the little girl's voice was still sharp, "but she's already dead!" "Dead?" I was also taken aback suddenly, this is really something I never thought of again, I wanted to say "that's impossible" immediately, but the look of the little girl was absolutely different. Just kidding me a little bit. "Yes, he died half a year ago." The little girl added. I became more skeptical, and I said, "This is impossible. I know she sent a letter to Pastor Zun Ai. I'm afraid that the letter was posted this morning. How could she have sent it half a year ago?" , has died?" The little girl smiled shyly and said, "This letter...is from me." I was even more baffled, and said: "But, that letter indicated that the sender was Mrs. Mirren's, little sister, did you make a mistake?" The little girl finally opened the door, let me in, and said, "Are you an employee of the post office? This is how it happened, Mrs. Mirren—" Before she finished speaking, she heard a very rough female voice from the kitchen, asking, "Gina, who are you talking to?" "Mother!" cried the little girl, "a gentleman, he has come to see Mrs. Mirren!" The little girl had a very beautiful name. I looked into the kitchen and saw a very tall woman coming out of the kitchen. I hurriedly prepared to salute the woman, but when I looked at the woman, I couldn't help being surprised! I have never seen such an ugly woman.Gina is a very beautiful little girl, and it is really an unimaginable strange thing that she should call the ugly woman "mother"! Although I knew it was very impolite to stare at someone like this, but my eyes still stayed on the woman's face for half a minute. I definitely didn't mean to be rude to that woman, but the woman's appearance was really terrible, so after I saw her, I couldn't take my eyes off her face. Fortunately, at this moment It's daytime, if it's night, I can't help but cry out loudly. Moreover, it must be understood that I am not a timid person! I am not only courageous, but also, I have traveled all over the world and seen all kinds of strange things, but I have never seen such a terrifying woman. The shape of her head seems to be randomly smashed on a tree with an ax A cut piece of hardwood, with one eye bulging horribly, and the other, apparently blind, with many red scrofula on the eyelid. Her nose is quite big, and her thick and everted upper lip, in terms of these two parts, she looks like a baboon—although her eyes are much scarier than a baboon, and her teeth uneven. At this time, she was wiping her wet hands with an apron, and I also saw that there were many scars on her face and hands, like knife wounds. When I regained my composure from the shock, I saw anger on the woman's frightening face (it was doubly scary)! She stared at her eye, which was almost protruding from the eye socket, and said in a hoarse voice: "Who are you? What are you talking to my daughter about?" The little girl—Gina called: "Mom, this gentleman came to see Mrs. Mirren. He mentioned the letter. Mom, do you remember? It was Mrs. Mirren who asked us to hand it in before she died. letter, but we forgot, kept it for half a year, and only found it this morning." I sort of understand the truth of the matter, Mrs. Mirren, probably an old lady who lived with Gina and her daughter.And before the old lady died, she asked them to hand in a letter, but they forgot, and it was delayed for half a year, and they didn't find it until this morning. And when the letter was still in the mailbox and hadn’t been picked up by the postman, the big car broke the mailbox. Because the letter was very heavy, more stamps were attached to it, so it was noticed by the urchins. Steal it, and tear off the stamp on it, so the address is unclear. And because of this series of relationships, I came here according to the address, and met the lovely Gina, and her such a terrifying mother. I figured everything out, and just when I was about to open my mouth to talk about my reason for coming, the woman said in a vicious voice: "What's wrong with that letter! Who are you?" I forced a smile on my face, and said: "There is something wrong, madam." I took out the envelope again, and said: "Look, the address on the envelope has been torn off, If you remember where the letter was mailed and lost, then please tell me, thank you." I'm ready to end this thing. Because, as soon as the woman told me the address, I wrote it down, put a stamp on it, and put it in the mailbox, wouldn't that be the end of it? I was thinking in my heart, it would never happen by coincidence, and another daredevil broke the mailbox again! The woman laughed. Her laughter was actually like a gasp when someone grabbed her throat. She said, "Where did you send the letter? What else did Mrs. Mirren send?" Where is the letter? Of course it’s Mexico, you can go and leave us alone!” Although she issued an order to evict the guest, I still had to stay a little longer. I asked again: "Then, where is Mexico? Because the address on the letter has been torn out, and there is only one word 'Bilezhi', maybe it is some kind of bridge?" The woman stared at her protruding single eye, and said, "Where is Mexico? I don't know, do you know, Gina? Huh?" Gina shook her head, her lovely black hair was swaying from side to side, and said, "I don't know, Mom, I never paid attention to it." The woman spread her hands and said, "Look, we don't know, let's go!" At that moment, I really thought that things were hopeless, and I already knew that the letter had been backlogged for half a year, and even if there was any urgent matter, it would have long since become a thing of the past.So, I'm ready to bow out. However, just as the woman spread her hands, I froze for a moment.At that moment, I saw that woman was wearing a ring with a shockingly red ruby ​​on her hand! It is a top-quality ruby ​​(I have an extreme hobby and deep research on jewelry), the price of this kind of ruby ​​is far higher than the top-quality diamonds of the same size, and the way the woman wears this ring is also very special Well, instead of turning the side with the gemstones out, she turned the side inwards, so I could only see it when she opened her hands. Such a red treasure head ring is not commensurate with such a woman! And my shocked expression obviously caught the other party's attention immediately, she quickly withdrew her hand, and held it tightly, so that the top-grade ruby ​​became hidden in her palm. At that moment, extreme doubts arose in my heart; who is this terrible woman?Why does she live in such an ordinary place and has to do the housework herself, but she wears such an amazing ruby ​​ring.According to my estimation, the value of this ring is extremely frightening. Moreover, the number of fine rubies in the world is very small, and it is not something that can be bought with money. One thing, when money can't buy it, then its value is naturally even more astonishing! In that instant, I changed my mind about leaving them immediately.To be honest, I suddenly changed my mind, not for any reason, I was just curious. I am a very curious person, and I really want to know the history of that terrible woman and the history of that ruby ​​​​ring. I deliberately didn't mention the ring, I coughed and said, "Look, there seems to be something attached to this letter, maybe it's a very important letter—" The woman suddenly interrupted me and said, "We have already said that we don't know where Mrs. Mirren is going to send the letter." I laughed along with him and said, "Then, does Mrs. Mirren have any relics?" The woman immediately opened her mouth wide. Looking at her, she clearly wanted to reject me, but the little girl Gina rushed forward and said, "Mom, didn't Mrs. Mirren leave a box? The big red one box." The woman immediately said again: "Then don't do this gentleman's business, don't talk too much!" I still squeezed a smile on my face, and said: "Ma'am, look, this letter is addressed to Pastor Zunye. Perhaps, among Mrs. Mirren's belongings, there is the address of Pastor Zunye. She She is dead, she wanted to send this letter before she died, you don't want the wish of the deceased to be fulfilled, do you?" I know that Mexicans are very superstitious and respect the dead, which is very similar to the Chinese. Sure enough, my last sentence took effect, the woman hesitated for a moment, and said: "Okay, you might as well come and see, but you'd better leave as soon as possible, my husband is a drunk, when she saw the If there is a strange man—" I couldn't help laughing when I heard this, I had to bite my lip tightly so that I wouldn't laugh out loud.If a man has such a wife and still has to worry about it, then he must be a drunk! I lowered my head until I could control myself from laughing, then I dared to raise my head and followed her into a room, followed by Gina.The room was very small, there was only a single bed in the room, and beside the single bed was a dark red wooden box. The box wasn't very big either, and it was being erected and used as a bedside.On top of the box, there is a statue of a god. The idol seemed to be made of copper, and it must have been very old, because it glowed with a very dark blue-black color.The first time I saw it, I was attracted by it, because I couldn't recognize what kind of god it was. This god has a very strange face, wears a horned helmet, and seems to hold a torch in his hand , his feet are very large. And that box is engraved with a very delicate pattern, the engraving is very delicate, it is absolutely impossible to come from the hands of modern craftsmen! These two things, and the single bed, are also absolutely incompatible. The woman said: "This is Mrs. Mirren's room. It is the same as before she was born. This box belongs to her." From the box and the statue, I suddenly thought of the unusual ruby ​​ring in the woman's hand.I suddenly had an idea in my mind, that ruby ​​ring must also belong to Mrs. Mirren! I reached out and picked up the idol (which was very heavy, much more than I had expected), and leveled the box, which was locked with a lock. At the same time, I said by the way: "Ma'am, you are also Mexican, aren't you? Mrs. Mirren is here alone, why is she here alone? What does her husband do?" The woman immediately raised her vigilance and said, "Sir, why are you asking so many questions?" I smiled and didn't ask any more questions. It didn't take long before I unlocked the lock and opened the box. To my great disappointment, the box was almost empty, save for a stack of tapestry, and a few pieces of copper, the size of silver circles, embossed on them. I didn't completely shake off the stack of brocade, although it is colorful and extremely beautiful, I just hid five or six round copper pieces like that in a very fast way. I held it in my palm first, then stood up, stretched out my arm, and slid it into my sleeve. In my conduct, I stole something that belonged to Mrs. Mirren! I certainly wouldn't be a thief, but at this point, I couldn't help myself not to.Because everything here is so strange, so strange that I made up my mind to find out its origin. When I hid the round embossed copper piece in my sleeve, I didn't know what it was, I was just going to go back and study it slowly, or ask some of my archaeologists, A knowledgeable friend went to ask for advice. At that time, I just thought that Mrs. Mirren must be a very experienced person, not an ordinary person. My "stealing method" was very clean and neat, and Gina and the woman didn't notice it. I closed the box and locked the lock, and said, "I'm sorry to trouble you for a long time. I will write this letter separately." to find a way." While talking, I walked towards the door, and when I got there, I said goodbye to the woman, patted Gina's head, and asked casually, "There seems to be something in that letter, do you know what it is? " I just asked casually, and never really wanted to get an answer, but Gina immediately said, "That's a key! A key with wings, Mrs. Mirren's favorite thing in her life." I was stunned for a moment, and said, "A key with wings? What do you mean?" "There are two wings on the key, which are for decoration," Gina explained. "Mrs. Mirren has two favorite things. One is this key, and the other is a ring of hers. I gave it to my mother when she was dying, and my mother promised to give it to me when she died." Gina paused for a while, and then added: "I don't want my mother to die early, but I want to get that ring sooner, it's so beautiful!" Gina kept saying that the ring was so beautiful, and I didn't need her to explain, but I knew that the ring she was talking about must be the one her mother was wearing. I was no longer in a hurry to open the door, and turned around, saying: "Madam, that ring is indeed beautiful, can you let me take a closer look?" The woman hesitated for a moment, perhaps because my attitude was always so gentle and polite, so she nodded, took the ring off her finger, and placed it in my palm. I was able to take a closer look at the ring, and Gina leaned in.Alas, it is really a thrillingly beautiful thing. It is not without reason that people from all over the world love gemstones so much, because the beauty of natural gemstones can make people feel suffocated when facing them! This is by no means comparable to any artificial product. Natural gemstones seem to have a special magical power. The gemstone in front of me now is like that. It is only one centimeter square and will not be more than three millimeters thick. Looking at a small red gem, it's like looking at a translucent, red ocean, or a red sky! I looked at it for a while before returning it to the woman, and then I said: "Madam, please forgive me for asking, do you know the real value of this ring?" Putting back the ring, the woman said, "I don't know, it's beautiful, isn't it? Is it worth much? How much is it worth? Five hundred? Huh?" I didn't answer her question, I just said something vaguely, "Maybe." It's not that I don't want to answer her question, but I'm afraid that if my answer is told, she will be at a loss and faint. If such a fine ruby ​​is brought to the international jewelry market, its price should be Under "three hundred" or "five hundred", add a word "ten thousand", and it is still calculated by the highest currency value in the world! The original owner of this ring was Mrs. Mirren, so, doesn't Mrs. Mirren know the value of this ring?It was impossible to think about it, but she gave the ring away, but sent the key back to Mexico! My heart was full of doubts. When I left and came to the side of my car, I looked up to the place where I just came out, and took a look. The experience of less than half an hour just now was really the happiest experience in my life. A strange thing. I kept asking myself, who is Mrs. Mirren? I got in the car, sat down, and tried to keep my thoughts still, where am I going?I decided to find those friends who are particularly interested in antiquities and have researched them. I know one place where they hang out, it's a club they form.There are only seven members of this club, and the difficulty of joining this club is that it is easy for you to set up a coup d'etat and become president yourself. To become a member of this club, you must recognize the seven old members. The origin of any antique. I once applied to join this club, and I recognized a Shang tripod, a Chu mirror, a dilapidated document, and a silver perfume bottle that belonged to Queen Mary. But I hit a wall in front of a piece of dark rotten wood. Later, according to the person who took out the rotten wood, it was the handle of Genghis Khan's spear.I cursed secretly in my heart, "Damn you", I failed to become a member. However, because I recognized four antiques, which had not happened for many years, I was "permitted" by them to "walk" to their clubhouse at any time.This "extraordinary grace" is a bit like the taste of "walking in the imperial study room given by the imperial court" in the Qing Dynasty. I drove the car all the way outside the clubhouse, which was actually the property of one of their seven members. The clerk knew me, so he let me go in. A servant opened the guest room for me. Listen to the door. Among them, only five people were there.A dull copper vase is being passed around.Don't think that the seven of them are all old antiques, they just like old antiques. At this moment, someone who was not holding a vase poured out a fine brandy from a crystal glass bottle.Among them, three are teaching at universities, and five of them are Ph.D. students from world-renowned universities. They saw me and greeted me with a smile. One of them clasped the copper vase with his finger and said, "Hey, do you want to see the peerless antiquities from the Babylonian era?" I shook my head and said, "Don't look at it, but I have something, please identify it."