My father once went to an antique shop and stayed there for a long time. When he came back, he was holding a cannonball. Then he solemnly placed the thing in the best position on the antique shelf and wiped it carefully every now and then.
Every time she thought of this, Heidi became very worried about the mental health of her father at home.
"I'm telling you the truth. You don't know how weird it looks." The psychiatrist couldn't help but sigh again. "He treated it like a treasure. He said it was a very, very special antique. He would wipe it with the shell every day before washing his face. My mother didn't care about anything. When I said something, she would say, 'This is your father's only hobby of collecting. Don't bother him.'"
Vanna didn't know how to comment on this matter. After all, she knew nothing about antiques. The most impressive close contact she had with antiques in her life was when she was a child, she practiced jumping and slashing with a toy sword and smashed her uncle's vase. She still remembered the beating she received. So she held it in for a long time and could only say dryly, "...Mr. Morris is a respected historian and collector. I think his collection must have a special vision."
"I've never heard of anyone holding a cannonball as a treasure - even if the cannonball is real," Heidi sighed, "the cannonball must be real, at least it's solid and very heavy."
Vanna didn't speak for a while, she seemed to be thinking about something, and after a while she suddenly said, "Let's talk about the amulet. Did Mr. Morris get you another identical amulet
"Yes, not that one," Vanna nodded, reaching out to pull out the "crystal" pendant from her clothes on her chest, "You've seen it. I had an identical one before, but it was destroyed in the disaster. The monk who registered it for me at the time said that it might be an item that was accidentally contaminated with extraordinary power, but usually concealed its ordinary nature..."
Heidi looked at the "crystal" pendant that Vanna took out with a thoughtful expression.
"Do you think something is right?" Vanna couldn't help but ask.
"... After the disaster, the cathedral was short-handed, but we still sent people to investigate the antique shop. The result was that everything was abnormal. There was no problem from the store's purchase channels to the identity and background of the owner. It was clear in the city archives that the pendant incident seemed to be just a coincidence," Heidi said slowly, her eyes always on the pendant, "but I always feel a little concerned... Vanna, do you remember that I went to this antique shop with you?"
"It's the postman," the wife handed over a letter, "for you."
Having said that, she turned and went to the entrance. A brief conversation came from the direction of the gate. After a while, he returned to Bu Heyuan.
As soon as the words fell, the room fell silent. Morris stopped what he was doing.
The first thing Bu Heyuan did when he returned home was to hug and kiss his wife, and the second thing was to carefully wipe the cannonball placed on the antique shelf.
What Captain Duncan said was right, and what Captain Duncan did was normal.
This incredible ghost captain always conveys his goodwill in various strange ways, including but not limited to soup stewed with deep-sea offspring, cannonballs with steel stamps from a century ago, and tutoring the less educated among his relatives to learn to read. Morris thought it was a bit strange at first, but now he has adjusted his mentality perfectly.
"But this isn't a normal 'antique, Mary," Morris turned and smiled at his wife. "That's part of the miracle."
The old woman raised her head and examined the two ordinary collections on the antique shelf - a dagger and a cannonball. After a moment, she suddenly spoke: "Will you tell your daughter some truth before? About that 'miracle', about...his new identity?"
Maintaining this mentality, Morris feels that he has not yet fully adapted to the atmosphere of the new team.
Although he felt a little strange when he brought this thing back, he knew that the seemingly strange "collection" had its own extraordinary meaning.
"She must be dead," Morris said suddenly. "She died in a shipwreck three years ago.
In an accident.
Heidi didn't answer anything, but thought for a moment and then stretched out her hand: "Can you show it to me?"
So after getting the captain's permission, Morris told his wife about the Lost Homeland, but he did not tell Vanna.
"I am paying attention, not just being able to see it. I always feel that there is something wrong with this antique shop, but I don't look at it with the same attitude as an inquisitor looks at heretics," Vanna said, returning the pendant to her friend, "But you are right, I may be a little nervous.
Just then, the doorbell suddenly rang, interrupting the conversation between Morris and his wife.
Heidi frowned and recalled, and quickly found the corresponding memory: "The captain of the White Oak? I remember his name was Lawrence... Is he in trouble?"
Vanna didn't think much about it and took off the pendant and handed it over: "Of course, here you go."
"You've polished it so well that you can even see a person's reflection in it," the elegant old lady smiled, looking at her husband, "Didn't I tell you before that antiques shouldn't be polished too often?"
"Yes, it's just a special amulet, and it's even made of glass," Vanna said, and then looked at her friend in front of her seriously, "Heidi, I'm a little too persistent. You know this is my occupational disease as an inquisitor, but you think... This shop owner is really a good person, you should believe me."
It represents the connection between himself and the Lost Homeland, and also represents Captain Duncan's "goodwill" towards his family.
"Well, good luck with your work."
"Frost? That's a very far place," the wife said, recalling for a moment and then said uncertainly, "I remember he had a friend in Frost, named Brown or Brun?"
"I have to go," Vanna said as she stood up and picked up the large suitcase that had been placed next to her. "I have another appointment this morning - with the captain who has been under quarantine at the cathedral for several days."
Morris was silent for two seconds, then said loudly, "...Frost."
Without looking back, Morris knew it was his wife.
Vanna put the pendant back on and glanced at the mechanical clock hanging next to her: "Ah, it's this time already?!" Footsteps sounded from behind her. This was inevitable.
"A letter to you?" Morris was a little surprised. He noticed the large-denomination stamps and several official stamps on the envelope at first glance, and couldn't help but frowned. "I have written letters to a few friends far away, but I don't think they will reply so quickly... huh?"
Vanna took the crystal pendant, which still had a trace of body temperature, and looked at it in the sunlight. After a long while, she spoke as if talking to herself: "There is no extraordinary aura."
"Brown Scott," he said slowly. His tone became particularly low and serious for some reason, and his movements of opening the envelope with the letter opener became particularly hesitant. "Like me, he is a scholar of history and is also fascinated by the field of mysticism."
As a product of a broken "warp prayer", his wife had been lying in bed in the form of human-shaped ashes for eleven years, and he himself was very vague about this. Now that he has survived due to the influence of the Lost Homeland, he naturally has doubts about his own survival.
He suddenly stopped opening the letter, his eyes fell on the first stamp on the envelope representing the place of origin, with a strange look on his face.
"Where did it come from?" my wife's curious voice sounded beside me.
"Of course I remember," he nodded. "To be honest, I have some connection with this store. The owner saved my life in the museum. His niece was one of my father's students. And the pendant I got just happened to come from this store... But he also said that the church conducted a secret investigation and found nothing wrong."
"It is normal for a captain who is traveling on the vast sea and is of this age to need the help of a psychiatrist," Vanna said, as if she had thought of something, with a slightly complicated expression, but soon shook her head, "But compared to most captains of the same age, Mr. Lawrence is actually in a good condition. I don't know more, this is the patient's
privacy."
There are some "miracles" that can deceive others but cannot deceive the people who have witnessed the miracle.
"... It's not necessary now," he said, "Vanna still has to get involved in this matter, and whether to tell it or not... depends on the captain's opinion."
"Are you leaving now?"
Just as the old scholar was about to open the door, his wife stopped him with a smile: "I'll go. I haven't walked for many years. I need more exercise now."
"Oh, yes, Brown Scott, I remember him as a fat man, giving people a meticulous feeling," the wife suddenly realized, "Are you still in touch with him? I remember that he moved to Frost many years ago, but before he moved, I had a good relationship with him...