Cultural Relics Are Not To Be Messed With

Chapter 3: How can this person be so childish!

“What happened?” The little man muttered.

“Something doesn’t feel quite right…” Before Qi Chen could even finish speaking, he was already being dragged by the little man to take a look at the commotion.

They stood amongst the crowd and tried to look in. A private car had been parked on the side of the road, and the owner seemed to have gotten off. He stood in front of the car, and it was evident that he felt rather exasperated, helplessly yelling at the middle-aged woman: “Do you just cross roads without looking at the traffic lights? Are the pedestrian lanes here painted for fun?! You really just went ahead and walked straight to the middle of the road, it was a good thing I reacted quickly without getting a heart attack, ah, otherwise you’d be hit in the head now! Is your luck bad or is my luck bad today? Can you really stand on your legs with no problem? Just a little wound? Good, good, I won’t be detained for this…”

“No… I didn’t mean to… I–… I don’t know how I got to the middle of the road.” The woman was obviously in shock as well, both of her hands clutching the strap of her shoulder bag, and her explanation almost sounded incoherent from how much she was stuttering.

The fabric of her tweed coat had been scraped, the lapels on the lower part of her knitwear around her legs were stained, and her socks that reached up to her knees were torn as well, but she was frozen, as though a wooden statue, not caring one bit about her appearance, continuously repeating those words over and over again.

A young woman helped support her, slowly leading her to the side of the road, and said: “Dajie, do you have a fellow family member’s phone number? Would you like to contact them so they can come and pick you up?”

(t/n: dajie = elder sister)

“My– my family? Yes, my family! I came here to eat, and I just planned to go down to this area to buy something, I had no intentions of crossing the road… I, I just felt a little nauseous, and then someone called by name, and then… then, it seemed like someone was pulling me along, and when I realized where I was, I– I’ve already been… I almost got hit, by then,” The woman was still frantically explaining.

Her face was pale and full of fear. After the young woman reminded her of her family, she hurriedly looked down and rummaged through her bag anxiously. Her hands were still shaking when she pulled out her phone, and because her hold wasn’t firm, the phone fell to the ground. Clack!

“Hey– you…” The owner of the car heard her explanation, and he looked at her with an odd expression, thinking that the woman was probably… not in her right mind. He picked up the phone and gave it to her, shaking his head. “I still have an urgent business to attend to. Are you sure your legs are okay? Then, I’ll go now. Don’t just stand here on the road, please call your family to come pick you up.” After saying that, he returned to his seat and drove away in his car.

As soon as the owner of the car left, a man, who they soon discovered was the woman’s husband, suddenly sprang through the scene in a hurry. He crossed the road, passed through the crowd, and went straight to the place where the woman was standing. He held her close as he took her bag, and he nodded to the young woman who had been assisting her. “We’re so sorry for the trouble… please, let me take care of this.”

“Eh?” The young woman looked a little surprised. “But we haven’t contacted anyone yet…”

“We were just eating in that restaurant, on the second floor.” The man turned around and pointed at the building across the road. “She told me that she would just go for a quick trip to the supermarket to buy something. After she left, I went to the bathroom for some time, and when I came out and saw that she hasn’t returned yet, I looked out of the window and saw all these people crowded around this area, so I went out in a hurry.”

The woman looked at her husband, who had just arrived, in a daze. Immediately, she grabbed the man’s sleeve and went into a fit, looking as though she was on the verge of crying as she told him in panic: “I, I did it again, what should I do? She, she called out to me again! It’s that voice! Really, I didn’t cross the road on my own accord! What should we do… what about Ah-Ming…”

(t/n: ah-, a prefix used as a term of endearment )

“It’ll be fine, it’ll be fine… let’s just go back and get a good amount of sleep. You must be tired after being occupied with the museum for the past two days.” The man comforted her with his words and then told the young woman: “Thank you. I’ll take care of her now.”

…

Qi Chen and the little man saw that there was no need for any more help from outsiders like them, so they turned back and went to find a place to eat.

“Eh, by the way…” When Qi Chen arrived at the food court, he suddenly remembered something, so he faced the little man and patted him, asking, “What did you say to me back then?”

Xiao Hei Pi asked with an innocent face: “What I said back then?”

(t/n: xiao hei pi: little black-skinned guy)

Qi Chen: “Just before the woman cried out, I mean. What were you about to ask me? I was distracted and I didn’t clearly hear it.”

Xiao Hei Pi glanced at Qi Chen and innocently replied: “The interruption was so sudden, I can’t remember what I asked anymore.”

Qi Chen: “…” Are you a goldfish?

In turn, what happened that noon was considered no more than a small incident. It soon dissipated into obscurity, and no one took it to heart.

Qi Chen thought that he was about to spend the rest of his afternoon being in the same room as that bad-tempered Executive Team Leader Long, but upon arriving at the office, he didn’t see him at all. His desk was still relatively empty, with the rebooted computer and the empty coffee cup being the only signs that showed any indications of the desk owner’s earlier presence.

Before he joined the company, the company had just finished working on a rather major project, and these past two days had been that project’s closing phase. Compared to the team members, the team leaders were much busier. Most of the time, aside from Qi Chen, there weren’t even that many people who stayed inside the office room.

“Long– Eh?” Logistics Team Leader Hong Ming stomped inside the room with her dozen-centimeter high heels. “Are you alone here, Xiao Chen? Shouldn’t Team Leader Long be back by now? Have you seen him?”

“Ming-jie,” Qi Chen greeted her. “When I came out to eat, I saw Team Leader Long come in the office with some coffee, but when I returned, I didn’t see anyone at all.”

“Well, what about you guys? Did you see where Team Leader Long headed to?” Hong Ming asked, turning her head and asking the other group members who were sitting outside.

One person said: “I saw him and Team Leader Hu go to Building B. They probably went to the supervision office.”

“He just returned and he’s already gone to the supervision room?” Hong Ming was surprised.  “Aiyou, so now he’s consuming his rat poison at noon? Just when did he become so disciplined!”

(t/n: aiyou = an interjection of surprise, usually like oh!)

Qi Chen: “…”

“Xiao Chen, are you busy?” Hong Ming patted on the stack of documents she had in her hand. “I still have to go somewhere, so would you mind helping me deliver something to Building B? Do you know where the supervision office is? It’s in the corridor past the second room to the west.”

Qi Chen’s innocent face asked: “West is… left or right?”

Hong Ming gave him a face that looked as though she had just been taken for granted. “Up is north, down is south, left is west, and right is east. West is obviously left.”

t/n: 

Qi Chen: “…” You’re making so much sense right now. 

“Ask Team Leader Long to sign these documents. You can just put them on my desk once he’s done.” Hong Ming explained, and after a few more words, she gave the documents to Qi Chen and then turned around to walk away, her high heels clicking on the floor and her long, curly hair almost hitting Qi Chen’s face.

After finishing the remaining tasks that he had on hand, Qi Chen took the small stack of documents and left the office.

The offices, meeting rooms, reception rooms, and such were all located in Guanghe Company’s Building A, whereas the archive rooms, supervision rooms, and everything involving the company’s internal affairs were located in Building B. The two buildings were connected by an indoor walkway located on their second floors.

As Qi Chen was walking along the corridor going to the other side, he looked down and casually flipped through the papers that had to be signed by Team Leader Long–

–Only to see that the first few sheets that had been stapled together were just normal A4 printing paper. The front page contained the company letterhead, and the bottom right corner of the paper had the company seal stamped on it. However, despite the text content in the last few pages being the same as that in the previous pages, the papers that were used here were slightly different. They were a light yellow color, almost slightly astringent to touch, and they were also thin and transparent.

To say that the text content in the last few pages and the first pages were the same would have to be an overstatement. It contained a seal that didn’t look like Guanghe Company’s at all; it was more like a seal you often found in totem patterns. It wasn’t an ordinary round seal – it was square, and the text on the paper had been written in Zhuan Ti. 

t/n:

He was about to try to understand what the characters that were written there meant when he heard the low voice of a man from in front of him. “What are you standing there for? Blocking the path, are you a crab?”

(t/n: you know how crabs walk sideways/horizontally? and because they walk/stand sideways they also block vertical paths)

The sound of that person’s voice was very elegant, but coupled with the speaker’s tone…

Haha.

Qi Chen didn’t have to look up to know who this person was, but how could this person walk so silently? Did he have paws for shoes? The boss is such an expert at pretending to be a ghost!

He flipped the documents back to their proper arrangement in his hands and handed it in front of the person who was supposed to receive them: “Team Leader Long, I was looking for you. These documents need your signature.”

Team Leader Long, who didn’t even look at the document, but glared only at Qi Chen who was carrying them: “No time for it!”

Qi Chen: “…” How can this person be so childish!

Seeing him look away with an expression that made him seem like he had no plans of taking the documents, Qi Chen said in a deadpanned voice: “Oh.” Without changing his tone, he said, “Ming-jie said that this contained all the subsidies declared in your name for your recent business trip. If you don’t sign it, you won’t be able to submit it. Ah, she also said that your suggestions had been included in it. Are you sure you don’t want to sign? Are you sure? Then, I’ll take it back and I’ll tell Ming-jie that–”

“Wait a minute!” Team Leader Long finally turned his head and snatched the pile of documents from Qi Chen, still glaring at him in the process. He turned around, took two steps away so he could place the documents against the wall to sign them. Feeling around for a pen and a stamp, he first planned to sign the last page at the end that had those ghost-like symbols, reading through them, and then roughly tapped on the seal at the second-to-the-last page of the documents.

Qi Chen respectfully reached out his hand, waiting for the documents to be signed to be returned to his hands, feeling very much like a small eunuch serving his lord.

Because of this, after Team Leader Long accepted the documents, he glanced at him twice and soon walked around him to go back to the office with the papers. He might as well have told him, ‘You kneel there and wait,’ it couldn’t have made a difference.

Qi Chen: “…”

Just yesterday, he felt that he and Team Leader Long wouldn’t bump too much into each other, being in different teams in the company, so there shouldn’t have been a situation where Qi Chen may provoke him. Thinking about it now, it really… these past few events… it really becomes more and more of wishful thinking than the truth…

Guanghe Company goes by the standard clock-in-at-nine (morning), clock-out-at-five (late afternoon) work schedule. According to Xiao Hei Pi, it was common to work overtime, and it was also not unusual for business trips to depart at night. No one was left to idle about in their work – once they were done, not a minute will be delayed spent getting off work.

When it was five o’clock, everyone in the office packed up their things, turned off their computers, and was ready to leave work.

Qi Chen wasn’t in a hurry, so he first sent his friend a quick WeChat message. He put on his coat, took the navy blue scarf he was wearing earlier in his hands, and walked out. The little man he ate with earlier walked next to him with his shoulder bag and invited him out for dinner.

“I already made plans with my roommate back in university. He accompanied me in two trips to help move my luggage and tidy up my dorm here at work, so I’ll be treating him to dinner today.” Qi Chen apologetically declined the little man’s invitation.

The other man nodded understandingly. “Oh, of course, of course, you can go ahead. I’ll head to the cafeteria to eat now, then.” After he said this, he then went on to the crowd of people on their way to the basement floor of the building.

Qi Chen thought at first that the workplace canteen must have an employee discount, so even if the food there was a monstrosity, many people would still go here to eat. However, Xiao Hei Pi, the little man, said that there weren’t any discounts at all, and the meals here were much pricier than those outside. Qi Chen doesn’t know why his colleagues still choose to eat in this cafeteria every day, and thought, maybe they’re all masochists?

Ceylon Square in the east of Jiayang District has opened a brand new self-service barbeque restaurant. Rumor has it that the meat and vegetables there were fresh, and the sauces were full of fragrance and flavor. Qi Chen and his college roommate, Xu Liang, decided to eat out here, since it was close to Xu Liang’s workplace, and was only one bus stop away from Guanghe Company.

Qi Chen didn’t have to wait for a while before Xu Liang arrived.

“It’s a good thing you got off work early today. I saw that everyone outside had started lining up for a table here.” Xu Liang said as he set his coat and scarf aside. He rolled up his sleeves, pouring himself some warm water, and wiped his cups and plates.

“You’re pretty early yourself, too. Why is that? That new batch in your museum’s all sorted out now?” Qi Chen had already ordered a few plates of meat, and after the waiter brought over the oil for the grill, he began to grill them piece by piece.

Xu Liang works at the museum across Ceylon Square, just around the corner, and was the only one in their dormitory aside from Qi Chen to stay in Jiangshi. The two of them had originally gotten along well with each other, so after this, they naturally got closer, texting on WeChat almost every day.

Qi Chen previously heard that a tomb had been dug up in a village called Baihe River, located on the western outskirts of Jiangshi, and a small batch of the objects buried with it was sent to the museum that Xu Liang worked at. The previous two days had been their finalization period for finishing the arrangement of these funerary relics in their exhibition area.

“En. It’s all done now, and the exhibition will open this week. A few of them were really beautiful. I took some photos when we were setting them up, I’ll send them to you later. I’ll just go pick out some sauce first, I’m starving to death.” Xu Liang said, and he got up to go to the sauce station.

The thin slices of meat that Qi Chen had been cooking were now ready to be eaten, sizzling on the grill. The aroma of the barbeque was enticing him to just eat in.

Qi Chen crinkled his nose, convincing himself that Xu Liang was Xu Liang, he was himself, and Xu Liang would understand, being friends Additionally, he thought that, with being friends, there was no need for politeness between them, so the sneaky Qi Chen stretched out his paws and moved his chopsticks to pick up the slices of meat. 

Xu Liang picked his sauces according to his preferences and took a few more dishes of meat and vegetables. When he returned to his seat, he saw Qi Chen sandwiching the meat slices coated with a thick layer of sauce in the crisp lettuce leaves, taking a big bite, and then looked at Xu Liang with his puffed cheeks and a face that said he was innocent.

The plate of meat slices on the table was empty, and a new batch of meat slices had already been placed again on the grill.

Xu Liang: “…”

Seeing him eat made Xu Liang’s stomach rumble even more… so he took out his phone, scrolled through his photo album, clicked on the latest photos he took, and then placed it in front of Qi Chen. “You glutton! Go look at the photos first, this batch of meat belongs to me!”

Since bright light can damage the relics, the lights in the museum were always very dim, and turning on your camera’s flash wasn’t allowed, so the photos that Xu Liang took weren’t very good. Although the main focus in the photos could obviously be identified as the relics in the display case, they weren’t very close to the camera, and the occasional staff members entering and exiting could also be seen in the background.

“Check out that bronze mirror, and that jade bracelet…” Xu Lian pointed out as he ate.

Qi Chen let out an “en,” his slender fingers sliding through the photos in the phone’s gallery. “Bracelet with gold and jade engraved on it? But I remember that these burial goods that were found weren’t from a distinguished nobleman… this craft style looks a lot like those relics made in the earlier times that were unearthed in Hejia Village– Eh?”

His sentence was interrupted when he slid to the next photo, and he froze the moment he saw what was in it. “This woman works in your museum?”

“Which one?” Xu Liang looked at the phone handed over by Qi Chen with a puzzled expression. Qi Chen pointed at the woman in an elegant red knitted outfit behind the relics display case.

“Ah–you mean Qin-jie? She’s from one of our office branches. Why? Do you know her?”

Qi Chen shook his head. “Not really. At noon today, around lunchtime, I happened to see her on the roadside. She was almost hit by a car while standing in the middle of the road and got a bit scratched in the process, but she kept saying that she had no idea how she ended up there. She felt like… she’s not in the healthiest state of mind right now, and was later picked up by her husband.”