Chapter 32: The Fourth Section of the Key for Freya

  Atian's face sank, I looked at Su Haicheng, his mouth corners hooked up again. "You smiled!" I exclaimed loudly. After the crisis passed, everyone felt much more relaxed, and I also laughed along with the joke. To relieve some pressure for myself, or else I would be so tense that I'd get shocked.

  In such a relaxing situation after tension, I slept particularly soundly that night and even forgot to ask Su Haicheng what he meant by kissing me and touching me yesterday. Some things are better said clearly.

  The next day, we still split up. Kakashi and the boss and A Tian went to buy equipment. I and Su Haicheng went to visit a few of my grandfather's old friends to see if they knew what the last section of that key was for.

  If we don't know anything and dive in like this, the danger will be great. The more we understand, the safer it will be. These preparatory tasks cannot be omitted.

  This time, we drove back to my hometown in Ah Tian's car. I didn't know where my grandfather's old friends lived, so I could only go to the small alley where the fortune teller often set up his stall to look for them. Hopefully, I can find them.

  The small town in my hometown is still relatively backward, with a market every three days. Only on market days can you see fortune tellers setting up stalls there. The day we went happened to be the market day, and the car stopped at an empty place by the side of the road without anyone watching or parking lines. From there, it's still quite far to that small alley. We squeezed through the crowd, walking inwards. He held my hand, afraid that we would get lost in the crowd.

  Finally arrived at the small alley, there were many fewer people. In the alley, five or six old men set up stalls, some old men sat beside customers, chatting. Some people were also giving a little girl a tattoo. Some old men just sat there smoking coarse cigarettes and chatting.

  I met Grandpa's old friend before I was thirteen. I saw him when Grandpa passed away, but it's been so many years now, how would I still know who is who? It's just because of that key thing that I had to force myself to come find him. If it were something else unimportant, I reckon I wouldn't have set foot in this alley for the rest of my life.

  Now I'm standing in this small alley, how should I start?

  I hadn't even thought it through myself, when I heard the old man in front of the stall with the words "precious land" written on it calling out to me: "Isn't that Old Chen's granddaughter? Come over here."

  He actually recognized me, and Su Haicheng and I hurried over. He pulled over a small stool to let us sit down. Su Haicheng looked at the small stool that was only about ten centimeters high and chose to squat instead. With his height and build, sitting on such a small stool would likely make it difficult for him to get up again.

  The old man looked at Su Haicheng beside me and clicked his tongue, saying: "Wow, you've found a good husband. This guy has power, right? In this era, having power means having money."

  "We didn't come to see your face." I smiled and patted Su Haicheng beside me, asking him to take out that key. Handing the key over to the old man, I asked: "Grandpa, help us take a look at this key, what lock does it open?"

  He took the key, held it far away, half-closed his eyes, and examined it with the kind of farsighted gaze that older people often have. After a while, he said: "This..." He looked around, then lowered his voice to say: "You're Old Chen's granddaughter, so I'll tell you the truth. I don't quite understand this. Wait, Old Yu will know. I'll call him."

  The old man got up and walked towards the old man who was tattooing a small girl two stalls away. The old man was still talking to the little girl's mother, and it sounded like he was deceiving her. He said that if she had this mole removed, the child would be able to go to college, marry a rich person, and if she didn't have it removed, the child would have disasters and wouldn't live past 18 years old.

  Look at the little girl's mother, she seems to have believed it.

  Su Haicheng lowered his voice and said in my ear, "Do these people really understand? It feels like they're just cheating."

  "Uh, should be, probably." I also can't say for sure, when I was in contact with them before, I was too young and really can't remember anything.

  The old man finally sent away the guests and walked in front of us, sat down on a small stool, and said: "Chen Mei ah." In our hometown's custom, girls from the Chen family are called Chen Mei, and girls from the Li family are called Li Mei. "Where did you get this key?"

  I pointed to Su Haicheng beside me: "His family's."

  "Oh, so it's been passed down through generations, then? Hasn't any of the elderly in your family ever mentioned how to open it?"

  Su Haicheng hesitated for a moment and continued: "I was left by my great-grandfather, who died suddenly. My grandfather didn't even know how to drive."

  "Oh, this key has four sections. You see, when you turn it like this, the first button will come out. You insert the key and turn it, the button pops out, and the first section opens. Then there's a spring, you turn it around, and the spring inside the lock will bring the second section to open. When the second section is opened, the third section will have something coming in, you need to wait, wait for a moment, and see what reaction there is. What about the lock?"

  "The lock is at home, locked in a large trunk, too heavy to move out."

  "Oh, I see. So for the fourth section, let's do this: you take me to your home and I'll help you open it. Our on-site service is 400 yuan per day, plus round-trip transportation costs, and meals are included. If we can't solve it in one day, it's 600 yuan for two days, and then 200 yuan per day after that. Is your place far? I'm thinking about whether to go back and pack a change of clothes." Listening to him, I felt like the money was definitely going to be earned. And this fee, isn't it just opening a lock? Spending so much money!

  I was thinking of opening my mouth to refuse, but Su Haicheng had already taken out 400 yuan from his wallet and handed it over: "I can drive myself, just tell me what's going on in the fourth quarter."

  The old man looked at the money, hesitated for a moment, and then smiled and took it: "After the second section is opened, you just wait. The third section is automatic. Wait until the lock has a special reaction, then continue to turn the key, and you will reach the fourth section. The fourth section is wooden, old wood, but inside the wood, you notice that there are two small points on both sides, which are conductive. Wood is insulated. If one of the four sections is wrong, it's dead. Whenever you open the lock, come find me. I'll still charge you this price."

  I'm already covered in black marks on my forehead, it's embarrassing enough, and now it's dragged to this point. He thinks he's earned the 400 yuan, I'll tell you, you guys don't have the ability to open it either. Still need to find him, still need to spend money.

  Su Haicheng took back the key, pulled me up and I stood up more easily from that small stool. After thanking him, we turned around to leave, just listening to those two old men dividing the money behind us. The one who introduced the business could also get a share. The previous old man also said: "You old guy, why don't you know how to read faces? Chen Mei's husband is obviously a rich man. You open an eight hundred and he will give it."

  I don't know if my grandfather was like this before either.

  Back in the car, I fastened my seatbelt and asked, "Are we going to open this lock ourselves?"

  "Provided we can find this lock. Then I'll open it."

  "Why is it you? Didn't they say that if the opening was wrong, we'd die? Electrified? I think that old guy was just bluffing us. This key has a long history, did they have electricity back then?"

  "It's not the electricity we know, but some kind of acid that generates a weak current through metal connections. It's like an apple with zinc plates inserted on both sides and connected to a small light bulb - the light bulb will light up. The acidity of the apple can conduct electricity. This current won't kill people, but it's enough for unlocking."

  I looked at him and was surprised: "You seem to understand a lot of things."

  He looked at me without saying a word, but I could sense that he was in a pretty good mood.

  The car was driving on the third-class road in the countryside, looking at the bright wild chrysanthemums by the roadside, and my mood also improved. It seems that I haven't had this feeling for a long time, and recently it's been really exhausting. Both physically and mentally tired.

  Finally having a comfortable feeling, I thought of his kiss that day, his touch on me. I asked: "Su Haicheng, why did you kiss me?"

  After my question, he turned into a silent dead face again. No matter how I looked at that face, it felt like the temperature was going to freeze. "Don't you plan on speaking?" I let out a soft breath, "Were you infected by the atmosphere at that time, or do you like me?"