Chapter 24 Making the First Promise in Life
Qin Tian went to the Cultural Relics Management Committee that afternoon. The import and export methods for the British Museum's thirteen artifacts were somewhat shady. Although the matter was closed, the necessary procedures still needed to be completed.
Things went smoothly, and she finished by four in the afternoon. Normally, she might have gone back into the museum, but today she wasn't planning on going in again. She and Tong Zhongyuan had already said goodbye, and for some reason, she felt it would be awkward to see him again.
Bored, she walked from the Bund on Sichuan North Road to the Bund on Nanjing East Road. The crowds of pedestrians continued. Small vendors on either side blared recordings, each trying to outdo the other. A giant, elegant, deep blue OMEGE advertisement screen nestled in the Daimaru Department Store's antique-style gray-and-white stone arches. The elegant watches slowly and quietly flipped, like silent planets in the universe.
By the time she came to her senses, she was already on Henan Road. The English-style building, with its red brick facade and pointed tower, still stood in the setting sun, gleaming with a golden, vintage luster. She looked up, gazing at it from afar, reminiscing about it, as the sticky summer wind, carrying the scent of the Huangpu River, blew across her face.
She turned around, hungry and ready for dinner.
She had thought she could just eat and go home. But the summer storm came unexpectedly. Lightning ripped through the night sky, and thunder rumbled from the sky, rolling down violently. The girl at the table next to her exclaimed, "Oh my god, which immortal is going through a tribulation again!"
Her cell phone rang. It was an unknown number. There was a loud male voice on the other end of the line.
"Hello! Are you Qin Yunjie's family?"
She was stunned for a moment: "Yes, he is my father."
"Come here quickly and take your father away. It's raining so hard, and the old man is running around everywhere." There was obvious accusation in the man's tone.
"Boom" another thunder struck.
"Where are you? Where is my dad?"
"I'm a police officer. Your father lives in Zhonghui Building, No. 16 Henan Middle Road. Do you know him? It's the old museum. How long will it take you to get here? We tried to persuade him to leave, but he refused."
Qin Tian looked out the window with a pale face. Another flash of lightning spread like a spider web in the night sky, illuminating the red brick pointed-roof British-style building brightly.
She ran through the pouring rain. It soaked her to the skin in minutes. She reached Henan Middle Road, where a red light blocked her path. The Zhonghui Building was just across the street, and several figures appeared in the drizzle. They were wearing police ponchos, and the thin, elderly man in the middle, soaked by the rain, was her father, Qin Yunjie.
The rain was pouring down on her and she could barely open her eyes.
"Dad! Dad!" she yelled across the street, drowned out by the sound of rain, thunder, and the throbbing traffic.
After the red light finally turned green, she ran across the crosswalk, came in front of him, and grabbed his arm.
"Dad! What are you doing!!" she almost yelled.
Qin Yunjie saw her. His glasses were wet with rain and it was impossible to see anything clearly. But he recognized her.
"Yi Zhang, why are you here?" he murmured.
"Dad! What are you doing!!" She screamed with all her might, fighting against the white noise of the heavy rain.
"What are you doing here! What on earth do you want to do!" Her voice sounded almost crying.
He felt in his pocket and pulled out a handful of commemorative coins: "I'm here to return something."
Qin Tian stared at him with red eyes and took a step back involuntarily.
He raised his hand and showed her the commemorative coins in his palm.
"I'm here to return something."
The commemorative coins lay in his wet palms. The rain kept hitting the coins, popping out silver-white flowers.
"I'm just borrowing it and I'll return it when I'm done," he explained.
Lightning descended like a net, Qin Tian bit his lip, his face pale. She stood frozen in the rain, like a lifeless puppet. Suddenly, she struck his hand, sending the coin soaring into the air and tumbling to the ground.
Qin Yunjie panicked. He bent down and searched for the commemorative coins on the ground where the heavy rain had formed a river.
"Yi Zhang, what are you doing? These are the copper coins I want to return to Shangbo. I've already used them all up."
Qin Tian looked at him, the rain falling into her eyes and mouth, salty and bitter. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She waded through the stream, her feet deep and her feet shallow, towards him, hugged him in her arms, and cried loudly in his ear.
"Dad! You paid it off a long time ago!"
"Dad! You paid it off twenty years ago!"
Her cries drowned out the sound of the wind, rain, and thunder, and echoed for a long time at the foot of the English-style building in the wind and rain.
Across the street, across the crosswalk, the traffic light flickered green, then red, then red, then green again. Under the shallow shelter of the bus stop, trapped in his old spot by a sudden downpour, he watched the scene unfold and took a step forward.
A constant stream of cars raced past Tong Zhongyuan, riding the wind and waves. The river-like rain pushed them apart layer by layer, reflecting the headlights. He was soaked to the skin, standing in the surging traffic, in the raging storm, letting the turbulent waves of memories swallow him up.
"Is there really a dragon?" Qin Yizhang carefully looked through the gap in the wooden door.
"Of course. When have I ever lied to you?" Tong Zhongyuan said.
"Perhaps the grapevines on the second-floor balcony attracted a small snake, which hid in this door and kept dealing with cultural relics. It became spiritual and turned into a dragon." Qin Yizhang reasoned.
"Fool, how can a British building have a Chinese dragon? I'm talking about the evil dragon of the West."
"Impossible!" Qin Yizhang shouted, "How could such a huge dragon be here?"
"You don't understand. Do you know what this building was originally used for?" Tong Zhongyuan said mysteriously.
Qin Yizhang shook his head.
"My mom said this building was a British bank before liberation. It has many secret passages and a vault underground. These small doors that can't be opened are the entrances to the secret passages. The vault underground is so big that it could accommodate ten, not just one."
"Why would the dragon live here?" Qin Yizhang felt that he was talking nonsense.
"Haven't you heard that dragons love gold and silver treasures the most? Dragons used to guard the vaults in the West. Wasn't Gringotts guarded by dragons in Harry Potter?"
"Isn't that a novel? It's not true." Qin Yizhang was skeptical.
Tong Zhongyuan's eyes widened, staring at her in disbelief. "You don't believe in Harry Potter? London, King's Station, these are real places. Every year, someone receives an admission letter from Hogwarts."
Qin Yizhang felt that what he said made some sense. If Hogwarts didn't exist, how could it be described so realistically?
"Even if it is, there is no treasure down there now, so how could the dragon still be guarding this place?"
Tong Zhongyuan glanced at her sideways, as if to say what's good about her.
"Cultural relics are not treasures! Those golden Buddha heads and the emperor's jewels are not a hundred times more valuable than ordinary treasures!"
Qin Yizhang believed it. Strangely enough, whenever she played with Tong Zhongyuan, no matter what game it was, she would always listen to him in the end.
"So, what are we going to do this time?" Qin Yizhang asked.
"I want to lure this dragon out."
"You're crazy! You'll draw it out and burn us all!"
"No, we just want to get it to move so we can hear its voice. The secret passage is very narrow, and it can't get out with its big body."
"What are you going to do?" Qin Yizhang asked.
Tong Zhongyuan took out a handful of coins from his pocket.
"Use this. Put a coin through the crack in the small door. You'll hear the coin tumbling down. The dragon should be interested."
Qin Yizhang felt that Tong Zhongyuan was very smart and he never fought an unprepared battle.
"Shall we try it now?"
"There's a problem," Tong Zhongyuan said. "All my coins are one-yuan and fifty-cent coins. They're worthless. I actually put one in my pocket the day before yesterday, but there was no reaction. Maybe these ordinary coins aren't enough to attract it."
Qin Yizhang felt that he had thought it through very thoroughly. He nodded and said, "I have an idea."
"What?"
"My dad likes to collect commemorative coins. There are commemorative coins for the Year of the Tiger, the Year of the Monkey, and the Panda commemorative coins. Do you think the Dragon would like them?"
Tong Zhongyuan was overjoyed: "It's possible."
"Then I'll get it."
Qin Yizhang trotted over to Qin Yunjie's desk, but he wasn't there. She expertly opened his drawer. On the left was a small box containing his commemorative coins. She flipped through them, selecting a Panda coin and a Year of the Monkey coin. She'd heard from her father that those two years were more valuable. She took the coins and hurried back to rejoin Tong Zhongyuan. She showed him her palm.
"How's that? Is it okay?"
Tong Zhongyuan flipped through it and said, "I think it's okay."
"Here you go." Qin Yizhang handed him the commemorative coin, "You throw it."
Tong Zhongyuan took the coin, took a deep breath, and stuffed it into the gap of the secret door. They leaned against the door together and listened to the crisp sound of it rolling down.
Later, Qin Yunjie severely scolded Qin Yizhang in the tea room. Qin Yizhang cried and apologized to his father.
"I was wrong, Dad," she sobbed. "I thought there was a dragon, so I threw the commemorative coin in there. I'm sorry, I won't do it again."
That day was the same, he looked at her silently through the door, and she never said it was his idea.
After Qin Yunjie left, he handed her a bottle of Coke. This was the only thing he could do for her now.
"Qin Yizhang, believe me, one day, I will open this door, defeat the dragon, and take back our commemorative coins."
He squatted in front of her, looked up, and made the first promise of his life.
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