When Wei Shengnan saw the middle-aged man coming out of the back hall, she said directly, "Hello, sir. I am from China. I heard that an old friend of mine came here and I would like to inquire about his whereabouts."
Seeing Wei Shengnan's interaction with the middle-aged man, the monkey muttered to me, "So this woman actually knows what politeness is. I thought she always had that smug look on her face when talking to anyone!"
I held up my finger, gesturing for the monkey to be quiet, while simultaneously scrutinizing the middle-aged man.
The man was deathly pale and looked thinner than a monkey, giving the impression of a drug addict.
The middle-aged man looked at Wei Shengnan with a puzzled expression: "An old friend?"
Wei Shengnan replied, "The person I'm looking for is called Song Laosan, he is..."
Upon hearing the name, the middle-aged man's face darkened: "You've got the wrong person. I don't know him."
"Since I've managed to find this place, I'm naturally quite confident. The whereabouts of Song Laosan are very important to me, so please help me."
Wei Shengnan was rebuffed, but unlike her previous lack of anger towards me, she pleaded, "As long as you can help me find him, name your price, no matter how much it costs, we can meet it!"
The middle-aged man snapped impatiently, "I told you, I don't know this person! If you have nothing else to say, I won't see you off any further!"
"Hey! How dare you speak to my young lady like that?"
Seeing the middle-aged man's harsh attitude, Xu Hu stepped forward and said, "We're giving you face by calling you 'sir,' but if you don't know what's good for you, I'll smash up your underworld shop today!"
"Kid, watch your mouth!"
The middle-aged man, quick to anger, glared at Xu Hu with a menacing look: "This is New Delhi, not China. Don't try to scare me with your gangster act. If you want to cause trouble here, I guarantee you won't leave Tibetan Street!"
As soon as he finished speaking, six Indian youths rushed into the shop and pointed their rifles at us.
The monkey, with a gun pointed at it, instinctively took a half-step back: "Holy crap! Is this a movie shoot?"
I replied in a low voice, "India does not ban guns, and given the instability in the border areas, a lot of firearms have flowed into the country."
"Sir, please don't misunderstand. We didn't mean to bother you. Since you don't know Song Laosan's whereabouts, then let's just leave it at that!"
When Wei Shengnan saw the foreigners who had stormed in with guns, she stopped Xu Hu, who was about to lash out: "Let's go."
Seeing Pan Shengnan's discomfiture, I curled my lip slightly, turned around and followed behind, saying regretfully, "It's not a big deal to send us away, but it's a pity that once I leave, I'm afraid no one will be able to break through this second tribulation!"
"Wait!"
Upon hearing my words, the middle-aged man suddenly raised his voice: "Young man, please wait!"
I heard the middle-aged man's words and slowly turned around: "Are you calling me?"
The middle-aged man stared at me eagerly and asked excitedly, "Young man, I just heard you mention the Four Tribulations and Two Calamities. Do you know how to resolve them?"
"Hehe, did I bring it up?"
I scratched my head and laughed, "With so many guns pointed at me, my memory isn't what it used to be."
Seeing this, the middle-aged man dismissed the foreigners in Hindi, quickly walked out from behind the counter, clasped his hands above his head, and bowed deeply to me: "Zhou Zhicheng was blind and did not know that a great person had arrived. Please forgive him!"
Seeing that Zhou Zhicheng had suddenly become a different person, Wei Shengnan looked at me with some surprise. Her lips moved slightly, but she didn't say anything.
Seeing Wei Shengnan's discomfiture, the monkey secretly gave me a thumbs up and muttered, "Young Master Duan, awesome!"
I stepped forward and took Zhou Zhicheng's arm: "Mr. Zhou, you're too kind. Let's talk normally. In today's society, these formalities don't apply!"
"Young man, you can tell at a glance that my Zhou family is facing a calamity of four times two, you must be no ordinary person."
Zhou Zhicheng grasped my hands, looking at me as if I were a lottery winner, his emotions running high: "Please enlighten me and help my Zhou family overcome this calamity!"
I smiled and replied calmly, "Mr. Zhou, we're all adults, and you're a businessman. You should know that helping each other is mutual. Your decisive refusal before put me in a difficult position."
Zhou Zhicheng nodded repeatedly: "What you're saying is true, young man. Regarding that Song Laosan matter, I..."
Seeing Wei Shengnan staring at Zhou Zhicheng, I suddenly remembered how she treated me at the airport, and interrupted him: "Mr. Zhou, I've been standing here for a while and I'm a little thirsty. Would you mind if I asked you for a cup of tea in your back room? Is that alright?"
Zhou Zhicheng slapped his thigh, immediately turned to the side, and gestured to the counter: "Look at my memory, I was negligent, please come in, sir!"
I nodded slightly and walked over.
Seeing that Wei Shengnan was about to follow, I turned around and said in the same tone she used at the airport, "Ms. Wei, we're complete strangers. I need to have a private chat with Mr. Zhou. You don't need to follow me, do you?"
Upon hearing my response, Wei Shengnan's face flashed with anger: "What do you mean?!"
Zhou Zhicheng understood my intention and said coldly, "As I said, this is a private club. Please abide by my rules. Just a reminder, this is India, where the murder case clearance rate is pitifully low. I have to receive distinguished guests. Excuse me!"
I left with a victor's smile and walked into the back hall with the monkey.
Compared to the front hall, the back hall of Qiwufang was much more normal, just an antique-style room with a full set of solid wood furniture.
"Young man, please take a seat!"
Zhou Zhicheng invited me to take the seat of honor and asked solicitously, "We've been chatting for so long, and I still don't know your honorable name?"
Zhou Zhicheng and I each had our own needs, so I didn't make things difficult for him: "Mr. Zhou, you don't need to be so polite. My name is Duan Shenxing, you can just call me Xiao Duan."
"Mr. Duan, please have a seat!"
After I sat down, Zhou Zhicheng took out a can of tea from the cabinet next to him and started fiddling with the tea set.
"Strange, this thing is quite different from the ancient jade I've ever seen. It clearly has a tofu-like texture, but how come there's no jade inclusions at all?"
The restless monkey picked up a jade bowl from the nearby display shelf, examined it closely, and then held it to its mouth, saying, "It's too big to be called a cup, but if it's considered a bowl, isn't it a bit too small? What on earth is this thing?"
I reminded them, "That's not jade, it's a skull bowl, made from a child's skull, also known as a human head artifact, which belongs to the Tantric Buddhist ritual implements."
"A human skull?"
The monkey's greatest strength was its audacity. It held the bowl on its head, gestured with it, and then began spitting repeatedly: "Ptooey! What a damn bad luck! Was the person who made this bowl just bored?"
"This is not an everyday item; it is a ritual implement used by practitioners of Tantric Buddhism during initiation ceremonies. Holy water is placed in the initiation vessel, and wine is placed in the head vessel. The master sprinkles the holy water on the practitioner's head, makes him drink the wine, and then bestows the esoteric teachings. During the reign of Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty, Tibetan monks were favored by the emperor. Some shady characters in the capital once extensively dug up graves and coffins, making skull bowls from the skulls and selling them to Tibetan monks for use in their rituals."
I glanced at the items on the display shelves in the room and smiled at Zhou Zhicheng: "Mr. Zhou, the collection in your room is quite unusual."
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