I know the origin of the name of the old tavern.
When I was in school, I was not interested in mathematics and chemistry, but I loved languages and history.
I remember very clearly that in the Analects of Confucius, there is this phrase - if you seek benevolence and get it, what is the complaint.
To seek benevolence and receive benevolence literally means to seek benevolence and receive benevolence, which is a metaphor for the realization of ideals and wishes.
The old tavern with this name, is trying to express come here, come here to drink, you can achieve the wish?
Hu Mei lying on the door of the tavern, looking in through the glass.
She shouted excitedly.
"Chen Jiu, come and see! The decoration of this tavern is so atmospheric!"
I came forward and through the dark glass, I was able to see the very luxurious decoration inside the tavern.
I've never been to a bar before, but I've seen it on TV. Nowadays, bars are either quiet bars with light music, or nightclubs where young people indulge in disco, all in a modern style.
And this seek Ren tavern in front of me, inside is the board board, eight long benches, date wood-colored wine cabinet, cabinet grid horizontal and vertical, like a product of the Republic of China.
Hu Mei's eyes are drooling with greed.
"If we can rent this tavern, we can definitely make a lot of money!"
I do not deny Hu Mei's judgment, but the newsstand owner said the pub has been closed for eighteen years, how can I contact the landlord?
Besides, even if I could get in touch, I wouldn't have the money to rent out such a lavish tavern.
Just as I was about to persuade Hu Mei to leave, Hu Mei had already run to the convenience store next door.
"I'll ask around!"
Ten minutes later, Hu Mei walked back with an ice cream in his hand.
I asked her in amazement.
"I have the money, how did you get the ice cream?"
Hu Mei smiled flirtatiously.
"The little handsome guy at the convenience store is buying."
I am a little helpless, perhaps this is the advantage of a good-looking face.
Hu Mei ate the ice cream with only the crunchy cone left and shoved it into my hand.
"I asked, the tavern is indeed rented out, but the landlord is a strange man, when the tavern closed, he once let slip that the key to the tavern is left on the door, who can find, the tavern will be rented to whoever.
Over the past eighteen years, many people have come looking for the key and ended up returning empty-handed."
Find the key and you can rent the tavern? I got interested and approached the door of the tavern to take a closer look.
Perhaps it was because I hadn't had ice cream in a while, and I subconsciously took a bite of the crunchy cone in my hand.
Hu Mei's red lips came to my ear, exhaled gently and murmured.
"Do we count this as an indirect kiss?"
I pretended to be calm and ignored her, but my ears were rolling.
Hu Mei covered snickers, like a child who has succeeded in his mischief.
I know I will surely provoke her ridicule if I throw away the crunchy cone now, so I simply eat it all in two bites.
Ten minutes later, Hu Mei and I, have checked the tavern door carefully.
Hu Mei is a little discouraged.
"This is an ordinary door, no mechanism, no hidden compartment, where can the key be hidden?
Chen Jiu, do you think it could be a prank of the landlord, who deliberately put out a fake news in order to see us fools laugh?"
Hu Mei's words have some truth, but I do not agree.
With the decoration and location of the tavern, even if you can't make money every day, you can still make a small profit.
Eighteen years without opening, how much money must be lost? Even if the landlord is rich and powerful, it is impossible to see a joke in order to close the tavern so far.
I kept looking and then made a new discovery.
On the top edge of the door, I found a round ball-shaped object hanging, and judging from the color, it looked like it was made of bronze.
"What is this?"
Hu Mei took a look.
"It looks like an oddly shaped bell, could it be used to alert the shopkeeper of a visitor?"
Hu Mei seems to have some sense, the door is pulled, the bell is bound to ring, and the people in the tavern will know that guests have come.
But I always feel that this oddly shaped bell, another purpose.
I checked the hinges of the door and found that the door was pushed inward, and opening the door would not touch this odd bell.
This means that Hu Mei's guess is not correct.
"Go to the convenience store and borrow a chair for me, I want to take this bell off."
Hu Mei said yes, and a short while later, she came over with a young guy holding a chair.
The young man followed behind Hu Mei, farting around, full of flattery.
I stepped on the chair, line of sight and the bell flush, close to me to find that the bell is set in the door beam, can not take down.
The bell was hollowed out, and I put my eyes on it and was surprised to find that instead of an iron ball for sounding, a key was placed inside the bell.
Found the key!
At this time, I have a question in my heart, the shape of the bell is a sphere, how the key is put in?
Could it be that ... has an organ?
I reached out a finger and gently flicked the bell, and then was surprised to find that the bell's shell, to my surprise, could turn.
I looked closely and found that the shell was divided into a total of six parts, each of which could be rotated independently.
I understood that the bell was like a shaped Rubik's cube, and only by spelling out a specific pattern could it be opened.
I started to try over and over again, and it was an hour of spelling.
The convenience store guy looked for a while and went back to look at the store, Hu Mei tilted his neck and kept staring at me.
She complained.
"How much longer, my neck is getting sore."
I ignored her and concentrated on cracking the mechanism.
I've had a good memory since I was a kid, and the pattern that just failed, I have it all in my head, now I just have to do the elimination.
This method is stupid, but it definitely works.
Sure enough, after I don't know how many hundreds of attempts, the bell "clicked" a sound, which indicates that the bell inside the mechanism lock, has been unlocked.
However, looking at the final spelling pattern, I was in a bit of a trance.
The pattern on the bell is an uppercase number - nine.
My name is Chen Jiu and the word spelled out by the bell is also Jiu. Is it a mere coincidence between the two, or is there another reason?
I couldn't figure it out and decided to leave it behind for now.
I twisted the bell, the key fell in the palm, the key is very cool, obviously made of bronze, but it is smooth to the touch, like touching an ancient jade.
"Chen Jiu, you really got the key!"
Hu Mei was so happy that he told me to hurry up and open the door.
I jumped out of my chair, walked to the main door of the tavern and inserted the key into the lock hole...
I gave it a twist and the lock was opened.
I pushed the door of the tavern open and a chilly wind that hit me in the face.
The wind carried a smell of wine, and for some reason, I had an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
The ancient tavern, reflected in my eyes, I have some unspeakable emotions inside me, so that I never step into the pavilion.
Hu Mei pushed me from behind, urging.
"What are you standing there for? Go inside and take a look!"
I came back to my senses and finally did lift my feet and step into the tavern.