"What?!"
At that moment, Bradley almost suspected that he had heard wrongly and was hallucinating. He bent down and stared at the teller's face, his pupils shrinking: "Are you sure you're not mistaken? I'm talking about the number ST101."
"That's right, sir."
The teller leaned back with some fear, turned the book in his hand, and showed him the writing on it: "According to the record, just five minutes before you came. There was someone with authority to directly query the item information in the warehouse, and then selected it. it."
Damn it, someone got there first!
Bradley's face was livid, and he banged his fist on the table angrily.
"Where are the people! Where are the people! Where have they gone?! They must not have gone far yet..."
He lifted the teller's collar and asked solemnly. Soon, he realized his gaffe and quietly put a heavy money bag into the teller's hand:
"Sorry, I'm a little excited. Can you help me find out who the other party is?"
The teller weighed the weight of the wallet, relaxed his frown, and nodded with satisfaction. But soon, as he looked it up, his expression became confused.
"Sir, this is a cross-region exchange."
The teller was a little confused, "The other party sent the exchange request directly from the Holy City. Although I don't know why the other party asked for it directly, the request has been signed and confirmed by Mr. Administrator."
Bradley froze, his expression astonished.
Did you make a mistake somewhere
Generally, musicians tend to directly exchange for things in their local area, so that after inspection, they can at least identify whether the exchanged items match the description and are what they need.
Moreover, how could the other party know that this thing was not published in the redemption catalog at all, but only existed in the file records!
"It's actually in the Holy City?"
Bradley's expression was full of anger and confusion, and he murmured in a low voice: "Then how did he take away the Double Snake timepiece?!"
"Well, according to the message from the other party, this thing is temporarily stored here, and someone will come to pick it up."
Hearing him say this, Bradley's eyes lit up, and a hint of sinisterness flashed through him.
He leaned into the counter, thrust a money bag into the teller's arms again, and whispered in his ear: "Tell me his name. I believe that gentleman has given our family face."
The teller hesitated for a moment, but finally succumbed to the magic of money.
"Let me see, the other person's name is..."
He flipped through the records, was stunned for a moment, and read out the name with some stumbling:
"Ye Qingxuan?"
Edmund was also stunned: "What?"
He subconsciously looked around the hall, but out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of the back in front of another counter, the familiar, disgusting white hair...
He gritted his teeth and pulled Bradley's clothes:
"Uncle, look there!"
…
…
In the Musicians Guild, Ye Qingxuan and Charles looked around excitedly, marveling at the three stone tablets.
Today is already August 17th. According to the agreement between him and Langdi, the Rainmaker's bounty should have arrived by now. He can take it out by going to any church of the Order with the Holy Emblem.
According to his understanding of Wolf Flute, this product is sometimes not very reliable, and the money may be delayed by a day or two. But he didn't expect that this time Langdi would abide by the agreement and send the money several days in advance.
The amount was a huge three hundred thousand, which made Ciel stunned.
With such a large amount of money, if you find a reliable agent, you can almost buy a villa in the upper city. If he used it for his studies, he wouldn't have to worry about any tuition fees for five years. As a conservative estimate, three years should be no problem. After all, in addition to daily life, the various materials needed for a musician's practice and exploration are also valuable.
Even if Bai Xi is added, it can still last for two years. According to Ye Qingxuan's own plan, he did not rely entirely on Langdi's funding. He has calculated his progress. In two years, he will at least reach the rhythm level, be able to apply for off-campus internships, and take on various tasks by himself.
But he didn't expect that in addition to money, Langdi also mentioned the agreement between the two of them in the message: once he was admitted to the academy, he would give him a gift.
Ye Qingxuan originally forgot about this incident, but he didn't expect that he would still remember it. It happened to be not far from the Musicians Association, so he ran over to see what "mysterious surprise" the wolf flute had left for him.
Standing in front of the counter on the other side of the hall, he nodded to the old female teller: "Hello, madam, excuse me."
"First time here?"
The female teller looked up at the nervous young man and couldn't help but smile: "Relax, is there anything I can do for you?"
Not as serious as expected, Ye Qingxuan couldn't help but relax a little and smiled: "I'm here to pick up something. It should be stored here by a gentleman named Langdi."
"What is it?" The female teller opened the books in front of her and started searching.
"I don't know either." Ye Qingxuan was a little helpless: "Maybe it's a gift? It's mysterious..."
"Do you have any proof?"
"This should be okay, right?"
He handed over his ID and holy symbol. After a while, the female teller nodded, "No. ST101? It is indeed stored here. Let me go look for it for you."
After a while, she came back again, with a box sealed with fire paint in her hand, "Just check to see if there is any damage and just sign here. The first time the procedure was very troublesome, so I won't embarrass you." .”
Ye Qingxuan was stunned for a moment, then smiled sheepishly.
…
"What exactly is it?" Charles, who had been waiting for a long time, was even more excited than Ye Qingxuan: "Now is the time to smash the eggs, don't hesitate, junior brother!"
"Let me take a look." Ye Qingxuan cut the paint with a borrowed paper knife and carefully opened the iron box.
The palm-sized iron box has a thick layer of sponge on both sides, and a piece of white silk in the middle, as if it contains some luxurious jewelry.
But there was no jewelry inside, just a plain pocket watch.
The iron-gray pocket watch looks old, and it feels heavy in your hand. It is not inlaid with the recently popular gemstones and broken diamonds, but is instead engraved with a detailed relief.
In the silence, two snakes were coiled like a ring, one was cold, the other was frantic, entangled and fighting with each other. The relief patterns carry a shocking tension that makes people hold their breath.
"You can tell it's a good thing just by looking at the decoration on it." Charles sighed: "Come on, let me play with you..."
"It's a beautiful thought."
Ye Qingxuan flashed his hand. Following what he learned in the watch shop, he skillfully popped open the watch cover and looked at the roulette wheel inside. The hands on the dial were still moving steadily. Ye Qingxuan looked up at the clock in the distance and found that the time was exactly the same as the standard time.
He originally thought that someone from the association had adjusted it, but he soon discovered that there was no knob left on this pocket watch for people to adjust the time. If he wanted to adjust the time, he could only disassemble it and adjust it directly from the watch core. .
But the seams are still tight, and it can be seen that they have never been disassembled. Even the dust cannot fall into the small gaps. Ye Qingxuan can only observe its existence through reflection.
In other words, its time has never been adjusted since it was manufactured, and it remains absolutely synchronized with standard time.
"What an amazing precision." Ye Qingxuan held the pocket watch tightly, feeling a faint tremor in his palm, and couldn't imagine how the movement inside worked.
"I'm afraid it's more than that."
Charles touched the pocket watch with one finger, and his expression became clear: "There is something inside..."
At this moment, a voice sounded from the side.
"Sir, could you please lend me a moment to speak?"
A well-dressed middle-aged man appeared beside them at some point, looking at Ye Qingxuan with a warm smile and a deep voice. But not far behind him, Edmund's expression didn't look very good.
Seeing Edmund, Ye Qingxuan frowned and didn't seem to pay him any attention.
"Sorry, I'm busy and in a hurry." He glanced at Bradley: "What's the matter?"
Feeling that the other party did not want to pay attention to him, Bradley's expression was still gentle, with a bit of warmth, and he apologized with his chest: "Sorry to disturb you. That's it, the double snake timepiece in your hand is a piece of cake to me. It’s a very important thing, can you part with it?”
Bradley took a look at him, and his eyes became clear when he saw the old coat on his body. He took out his checkbook: "I am willing to pay fifty thousand pounds to buy what you have..."
"Puch! Did you miss a zero?"
Beside him, Charles couldn't help laughing. He pushed the young man on the shoulder, "Junior brother, sell it to me. I'll pay you 60,000!"
"You!" A fierce light flashed in Bradley's eyes, and soon disappeared.
"Is it called the Double Snake Timepiece? It sounds good." Ye Qingxuan looked at the pocket watch in his hand, "Also, sir, is your estimate a little low?"
"Fifty thousand pounds is enough to buy you a broken pocket watch." Edmund said coldly, "If you have more money, think of it as charity from us."
As soon as he finished speaking, he noticed his uncle's glare, his expression changed, and he shut up obediently.
"Haha, really?"
Ye Qingxuan smiled when he heard the words and raised his palm: "The shell looks like iron, but in fact the material is ancient silver. The most obvious feature is this rare spot. The mining of ancient silver and other associated minerals of lapis lazuli has always been very difficult. Less. The current exchange price of one gram should be about 700 pounds. The case of this watch uses about 50 grams, and the price is 35,000 pounds. Although I have not inspected it, it is equipped with a watch movement made of ancient silver. , at least the work of some of the top mechanics in the West is priced at 20,000 yuan for the time being."
Ye Qingxuan's index finger held the watch chain. After the pocket watch turned beautifully on his wrist, he slapped it into his palm, pressed it down with his index finger, and opened the watch cover.
He stretched out his hand to fumble, and finally stopped his finger on the edge of the watch cover. His smile froze, and then turned mocking: "It must be more than ninety years old. Regardless of other things, considering the degree of wear and tear on it, it must be an antique." . Referring to the prices of other items at the Holy City auction in the same period, there is no problem in asking for at least 100,000... If the signature on the internal movement is that of a famous craftsman, the price will still have room to soar."
With the young man's low words, Bradley's face became more and more ugly. In the end, Ye Qingxuan raised his head and asked calmly:
"Are you sure the price of fifty thousand pounds isn't a joke?"