natural craftsman

Eight o'clock the next morning.

Xie Lang came to the school gate early and waited.

Not long after, Zhou Nan's car drove over, and she was quite punctual.

Xie Lang habitually sat in the passenger seat. After the car started, Xie Lang noticed that there was still a person sitting in the back seat.

"This is my father Zhou Liang, and this is Xie Lang." Zhou Nan introduced them.

It turned out to be Zhou Nan's father.Xie Lang took a closer look. Zhou Nan's father looked to be in his early forties, wearing a dark blue suit, neat and dignified, and full of arrogance.

Zhou Liang said very little, and after exchanging a few words with Xie Lang, he stopped talking.

Xie Lang vaguely felt that this uncle Zhou seemed a little repulsive or hostile towards him, but this was just a feeling.

Zhou Nan parked the car where it was yesterday, and then walked to the Chen Clan Academy with her father and Xie Lang.

Along the way, construction machinery roared, and real estate construction was going on everywhere in this area.

After walking a few steps, Xie Lang smelled a smell of fireworks.

"It's not good." Xie Lang said, quickening his pace.

After walking for a while, an unexpected scene appeared in front of my eyes: the century-old Chen Clan Ancestral Hall turned into ruins overnight, with only the ruins left after the fire, and a few wisps of green smoke drifting in the wind from time to time .

Zhou Nan and her father were also shocked, obviously they did not expect this accident to happen.

What about Shen Tie?

Xie Lang couldn't help worrying about Shen Tie's safety, and quickly looked around.

Although he only met Shen Tie once, Xie Lang really didn't want any accidents to happen to him, because Xie Lang felt that Shen Tie was someone who could be a friend.

Finally, at the edge of the ruins, Xie Lang found a simple shack, which was built with unburned wood and oilcloth, and there seemed to be a burnt black plaque hanging on the shack.

Xie Lang hurried to the side of the shack, and sure enough, he saw Shen Tie covered in ashes.

Shen Tie's face was indifferent, without anger or hatred, he was still forging iron.But when he saw Xie Lang, he smiled a little more on his face, stepped forward and said, "Brother Xie is here so soon, but the red iron you want hasn't been refined yet."

"Did those people do it yesterday?" Xie Lang thought of those little gangsters yesterday, and said with hatred: "These people really deserve to die!"

"Brother Xie, don't worry, it's just a few small fish, I'll just play with them." Shen Tie sneered, "They just want to drive me out of the Chen Clan Academy, but the fire isn't burning enough Wang, I didn’t even burn a single hair of Lao Tzu. Our Shen family has stayed here for more than 100 years, and no one can drive us away unless we are voluntary.”

There was a bit of arrogance in Shen Tie's tone, but Xie Lang knew that he had the capital of arrogance, just those few gangsters, if Shen Tie really wanted to deal with them, I'm afraid they would have been injured and disabled long ago.

Xie Lang knew that blacksmiths didn't necessarily only know how to forge iron, sometimes they were more powerful than forging iron.

"Since it's just a few small fishes, let's get rid of the matter earlier." Xie Lang persuaded, "But then again, Brother Shen, it doesn't make much sense for you to stay here. There used to be a Chen Clan Ancestral Hall, your business You can still do it, but in the future, this place will become a high-end elevator apartment. Do you think those white-collar workers and gold-collar workers will come to take care of your business? I also know that the things you make are easy to use, but they are made by your tempering method. Things are really not very pretty."

At this time, Zhou Nan and her father also came over, but their attention was more focused on the ruins of the Chen Family Ancestral Hall, and they were still looking for the whereabouts of the big stone turtle.

"Brother Xie, you don't know. If it's really for business, I don't want to stay here. I also know that people nowadays like good-looking high-end products. Who would use these rough copper and rotten iron? Oh , It’s not all useless, for example, the scarface who came yesterday, he likes to use my knife to slash and kill. But I can’t leave, our Shen family’s ancestral training is here, if you don’t complete the mission, You can't leave here."

"Ancestral teaching, mission?" Xie Lang said, "It's all the past, why should Brother Shen insist on it?"

"If it's something else, you don't have to insist on it. But this matter—" Shen Tie said, "This is actually a promise made by our Shen family to a person. That person was very kind to our family back then, so we must keep it." This promise, otherwise it would be really ungrateful."

"So that's how it is." Xie Lang said, "But Brother Shen, you must be careful. I think as long as you are here for a day, those people will come to harass you for a day. It is easy to hide the open spear, but difficult to guard against the hidden arrow. It is indeed a bit troublesome. .”

"Brother Xie, don't worry, if those people really piss me off—" Shen Tie's eyes flashed fiercely, "I want them to look good!"

At this time, Zhou Nanchong gestured to Xie Lang, signaling him to hurry over.

"Anyway, brother Shen had better be careful." Xie Lang reminded Shen Tiedao again, and then walked towards Zhou Nan.

"What are you talking about with the boy from the iron shop? I think he is quite pitiful. Such an old shop was destroyed by fire overnight." Zhou Nan sighed, and then said: "The big stone turtle was also buried. I don’t know where it was buried. But let’s ignore it for now, the stone tortoise on the bridge railing, you said you need to use the key, I asked my father to bring it over, you can see what to do.”

With a serious expression on his face, Zhou Liang reached into the shirt inside and took out an ancient key tied with a gold chain.

The key seemed to be made of brass, and it seemed to be at least tens of hundreds of years old, but the key didn't look old at all, it was even shiny and spotless.In this situation, Xie Lang could tell at a glance that Zhou Liang must have carried the key with him, never leaving it, and rubbed it with his hands every day to polish the brass key so brightly.It can be seen from this that Zhou Liang regards this key as precious.

But what really surprised Xie Lang was the shape of the key.The body of the key is just a thin copper pipe, about the thickness of a drinking straw, but there are no teeth on the copper pipe. It is hard to imagine what kind of lock this key is designed for.

Xie Lang came to the stone turtle on the bridge and said to Zhou Liang, "Uncle, take your key down."

Hearing Xie Lang's words, it was as if Zhou Liang's nerve was touched. A fierce light flashed in his eyes immediately, but he calmed down again, and finally carefully took the key off his neck. Handed it to Xie Lang.

This action and demeanor are really a bit like the legendary miser handing over his treasury key.

Xie Lang looked at the key in his hand, and praised: "It turns out to be a wishful key. With this key, there will be no lock that cannot be opened."

As he spoke, Xie Lang stretched out his hand and patted the stone turtle's back a few times, and the stone turtle's teeth shrank in with a "click~", revealing a hole the size of a fist.

"The mechanism is in the turtle's belly. Put the key in and you can open it, but I don't know what will happen after it is opened." Xie Lang said realistically.

So far, Xie Lang still has no clue as to where these things are hidden, so he can only take one step at a time.

"Throw it into the turtle's belly, what if the key disappears?" Zhou Liang said anxiously.For Xie Lang, he was not very relieved, not to mention that this key was as precious as his "lifeblood".

"Don't worry, it won't fall off." Xie Lang said, and he didn't know how he moved. Six tiny metal legs suddenly protruded from the body of the key, three on each side, crawling from the mouth of the stone turtle like an insect. went in.

Zhou Nan and her father looked at each other, they couldn't figure out how Xie Lang did it. The two of them had researched this key hundreds of times, but they never thought that this key could stretch out their "legs" to walk by themselves.

"What on earth does he do?" Zhou Nan couldn't help but doubt Xie Lang's identity.

In Zhou Liang's mind, it was more than simply curiosity. Although he wanted to see the "treasure" more than anyone else, it didn't mean that he was unsuspecting of Xie Lang. On the contrary, he was always on guard against Xie Lang.The daughter suddenly found out that this helper seemed capable, but the more capable the other party was, the more Zhou Liang suspected that his motives were impure.

A few seconds later, Xie Lang heard a crisp "click~" sound from inside the stone tortoise, and he immediately understood that the wishful key had opened the mechanism inside, so Xie Lang's expression could not help but become serious.

"Boom!~"

Underground, there was a huge bang suddenly, and the whole ground couldn't help shaking under the sound.

The sound came from under the ruins of the Chen Clan Academy, as if something was struggling under the ruins and was about to break out of the ground.

"Xie Lang, stop!" Shen Tie's anxious voice came over.

This scene also shocked Xie Lang, hearing Shen Tie's words, he quickly took the wishful key back into his hand.

It turned out that there was a gold thread on the handle of the Ruyi key. As long as you gently pulled the gold thread, the key would come back naturally.

The bang stopped abruptly.

If it weren't for the many mechanical noises on the surrounding construction sites, I don't know how many curious people would be attracted by this bang.

Zhou Liang's reaction was extremely quick, as soon as the wishful key returned to Xie Lang's hands, he took it back.

Shen Tie had already rushed over at this time, with both surprise and joy on his face, he said to Xie Lang: "Brother Xie, it turns out that you are the person our Shen family has been waiting for. , we can’t open this mechanism yet, otherwise the movement will be too loud and cause unnecessary trouble. Well, it’s best to choose to start work at night—”

"Wait—" Xie Lang interrupted the excited Shen Tie, "You said just now that I am the person your Shen family is waiting for, what do you mean by that?" [17K Literature Network, Great]

"The people of our Shen family stay here just to wait for the person who will open this mechanism." Shen Tie said with a smile, "It's been more than 100 years, and now it's finally here. The roar just now came from the big stone turtle in the Chen Clan Temple. It came out, the stone tortoise has hidden organs, it is said that it can crawl and walk, but it must be cut off the red copper shackles on the stone tortoise. The red copper shackles were cast by the ancestors of my Shen family with refined copper. Now we need the members of our Shen family to cut it off, this is the mission of our Shen family."

"So why did Nuwa cut off the tortoise's feet, it means to cut off the shackles on the tortoise's feet." Xie Lang suddenly said, "In this way, I seem to understand a little bit, there is a mechanism inside the big stone tortoise in the ancestral hall. ?”

"According to our ancestors, this stone tortoise is indeed related to a group of very important things, but none of us in the Shen family know what it is." Shen Tie said, "But no matter what it is, it's my I finally waited until I thank you, brother."

"Brother Shen——" Zhou Liang listened to the conversation between Xie Lang and Shen Tie. Although he didn't understand some things, he felt that it was necessary to clarify some things, "Brother Shen, I hear what you mean. In order to keep one person's promise, he has been guarding the treasures here, right? If I'm not wrong, that person should be surnamed Zhou, right?"

【Your flowers and VIP tickets have always warmed my heart】