Deep Sea Embers

The old gentleman walked into this antique shop and looked at the surrounding furnishings curiously. The old windows, cheap iron shelves and almost random "antiques" almost perfectly reflected the positioning of this shop:

In the whole store, apart from the fact that the money collected is real, there is nothing fake.

But even so, this old gentleman, who was not dressed like an ordinary citizen in the lower city, was still looking at the things in the shop with great interest, until Duncan's voice came from the direction of the counter, and he finally turned his eyes.

"It's a very interesting statement," the old man laughed. "Take away the things you are destined for... Leaving things aside, this is a beautiful sentence in itself."

"Actually, fate alone is not enough, you also need to have money," Duncan also smiled back, "Fortunately, things here are not expensive—is there anything you want?"

"Um... I'm not here to buy things," the old man opened his mouth, "Actually..."

As a result, before he finished speaking, Duncan continued enthusiastically, "Whether you buy it or not, it's good to have a look. Maybe something catches your eye?"

The old man couldn't help showing a trace of helplessness on his face: "You... everything is fake."

"That's right." Duncan took it for granted, "Can the real thing be placed here? My store doesn't even have a security door, and the reason is that the thief can't get back the money."

The old man's face twitched obviously. He probably didn't expect that the antique store manager who sold fake goods in front of him could have such a calm attitude. He choked for a few seconds before opening his mouth: "...then..."

"Those who are good at convincing themselves, take my place as an antique shop, to seek self-satisfaction, and those who are realistic, use my place as a grocery store, to find high-quality and cheap goods, and those who recognize reality and want to lie to themselves , I congratulate him for finding gold bricks in the garbage dump, and he came across one genuine item in the whole store, which is very lucky—anyway, the main reason for spending thirty or fifty dollars is to have fun, you are just doing it No matter how big I get here, I can only get more than a hundred, and I can still get a crystallization of modern industry. Think about it, is it a good deal?"

The old gentleman listened to Duncan's heresy in a daze. He probably didn't have any social experience in this area, so he couldn't react at once. Then, his eyes suddenly fell on a corner next to the counter. , the expression on his face changed slightly.

Duncan was seriously immersed in the joy of doing business. At this time, he noticed the change in the old man's eyes and his heart moved. Then he suddenly remembered something, but before he had time to speak, he saw the old man stretching out his hand towards the corner. Go: "This thing..."

Among a pile of sundries, he found an ancient dagger that was extremely well preserved.

He took out the dagger.

It was an old piece from the Lost Home that Duncan had hidden in the clutter—one of only two real pieces in the whole antique shop.

The other was a cast-iron cannonball placed further down the debris pile.

Duncan wanted to divert the old man's attention at first, but then he noticed the change in the other's expression and his professional demeanor when he checked the pattern of the dagger scabbard, and immediately realized one thing:

The old gentleman may be a "professional".

Duncan frowned and glanced at the dagger.

It’s actually not a big deal—this thing is not a supernatural item, and it doesn’t carry curses, pollution, or other “sea specialties”. no difference.

An ordinary item, if he reacted too much, something would be wrong.

"This thing..." the old man repeated again. He raised his head and looked at Duncan with some surprise. "Is it also a 'commodity' in the store?"

The gentleman's words were very tactful, but the implication was quite obvious: How did you mix the real thing with your bunch of fakes? What's wrong with work?

Duncan guessed from the other party's reaction that he was a knowledgeable person. At this time, it would be wrong to pretend to be stupid and ignorant. Instead, he should admit it just right, so he restrained his smile, and turned to a hint of inscrutability: "Look, isn't this meeting something destined?"

Immediately afterwards, he cleared his throat and looked serious: "Most of the products in the store are discounted, except for a few, such as the one in your hand."

The old man immediately looked back at those shelves, and glanced at the "modern handicrafts" with a price tag of hundreds of thousands and a discount of tens of thousands. He didn't know what he had imagined. The shop became mysterious and interesting. He carefully placed the dagger on the counter, as if he was about to ask the price, but at this moment, a bell rang suddenly from the door, interrupting his actions.

Duncan looked up at the door of the store, and saw Nina.

"Uncle Duncan, I'm back!" Nina shouted in the direction of the counter without raising her head as soon as she entered the door, "Is Mr. Morris here?"

"I didn't see it," Duncan glanced inside the shop, "I'm serving..."

Before he finished speaking, he saw the old gentleman in front of him cough dryly twice, then raised his finger and pointed at himself: "My name is Morris."

Duncan: "...?"

"Mr. Morris!" Nina also saw the old gentleman in front of the counter at this time, and suddenly shouted in surprise, and then she became visibly nervous like every student who ran into the teacher after school, and stood up suddenly Straight, "Good afternoon!"

Duncan looked at Nina and then at the old man in front of him, his eyes turned back and forth twice, feeling that the atmosphere finally became awkward.

"I wanted to introduce myself from the beginning," the old man spread his hands helplessly, "I was interrupted by you before I opened my mouth, and then you started to introduce me the things in the store..."

Nina also realized what happened at this time, and immediately noticed the dusty-looking dagger on the counter, and hurried forward two steps: "Teacher, don't buy it! Everything in my store is full of Fake!"

Duncan gave the girl a strange look, thinking how the child was so honest, he sold his family details in less than a second in front of the teacher—although with the level of goods in this store and Morris, a history expert It doesn't matter if she sells it or not...

On the other side, Mr. Morris shook his head after hearing Nina's words, and pointed to the dagger on the counter: "This one is real."

Nina was taken aback: "...Huh?"

"This dagger should have come from a century ago, and it was one of the favorite tool daggers of sailors in central city-states such as Purland and Lunza at that time. Very few, and most are in dire condition..."

As Morris said, he carefully picked up the dagger on the counter, pulled out a section of the blade, and continued with an amazed tone: "I... I have never seen such a well-preserved condition, it is almost like It was still being used normally not long ago, the blade is so sharp that it can slide the paper, and there is no flaw on the whole body..."

"It still has an original scabbard," Duncan added, "and if you look closely, you'll find that even the buckle on the back of the scabbard is original."

When Morris heard this, he quickly checked the scabbard and accessories of the dagger carefully, and the surprise in his eyes was even greater: "This... I really didn't pay attention to it just now... My God! This thing looks like it just came out of a century. I took it out of the sailor’s pocket before! If I didn’t have enough confidence in my eyesight, I would even suspect that this is an amazing imitation... But even the pattern at the handle joint and a special place at the end of the handle The flaws are all..."

Speaking of this, he was suddenly puzzled, looked up at Duncan, and then at Nina next to him. The history expert was not confident: "It's really not a fake?"

Nina quickly waved her hands when she heard this: "Uncle can't imitate such a real thing..."

Duncan's eyes twitched and he looked at his niece: "Go upstairs and do your homework!"

Nina froze for a moment: "I don't have homework today..."

"Then read a book!"

Nina stuck out her tongue, and walked towards the stairs in small steps, but after taking two steps, she looked back at her history teacher: "Mr. Morris, don't forget that you are here to visit..."

"Of course, I have a lot of things to talk to Mr. Duncan," Morris said with a smile on his face, and the old gentleman looked radiant, "You go upstairs and read first—don't worry, I won't sue myself for being a student behind my back .”

Nina looked at Uncle Duncan and her teacher suspiciously—she didn't seem to expect that this "home visit" would start in this way.

But at the next moment, she suddenly showed a smile for some reason.

The girl ran briskly up the stairs.