The waiter in the restaurant cleaned up the table, and even the tablecloth was replaced with a new one.

Looking at the delicious lobster and red wine, Xia Lei had no appetite. Long Bing's eyes looked at him made him a little uncomfortable, Long Bing's eyes were very special, as if they would penetrate his body and discover all his secrets.

"Aren't you Kyoto, why are you back in Haizhu again?" Xia Lei broke the silence between the two.

"I'm coming back to you. Long Bing said.

"Something?" Xia Lei seemed to be influenced by her, and his speech was concise and to the point.

Long Bing picked up the wine glass, touched it with Xia Lei, and drank a sip of red wine with Xia Lei before saying, "You welded the key to the Ming Dynasty, and then you helped Jiang Ruyi solve the murder case of Professor Zhang Boqing, right?"

Xia Lei was stunned on the spot, he was sure that Long Bing was not present in either of these things, but what she said now was as if she was watching from the sidelines, and she knew all the details well!

Long Bing opened the handbag, took out a small red cloth bag from it, and then pushed it from the dining table to Xia Lei, "Take a look." ”

Xia Lei hesitated, "What is it?"

"Open it. Long Bing didn't have any extra words.

Xia Lei opened the red cloth packet, and was stunned when he saw it, the thing wrapped in the red cloth packet was the key of the Ming Dynasty that he had welded!

"Did you weld it?" Long Bing looked straight at Xia Lei.

Xia Lei nodded, "I welded it, but ...... How could it be with you?"

Long Bing said: "I've actually been keeping an eye on you, and I know what you're doing. ”

Xia Lei's brows suddenly furrowed, "You're spying on me?"

Long Bing did not admit or deny it, but changed the topic, "The police in Haizhu City arrested the two criminals who killed Professor Zhang Boqing and also recovered the key. Some experts have seen your soldered keys and called them miracles. He said that even a welding engineer with 10 years of experience could not do it. How did you do that?"

"Did you come to ask me how I soldered this key?" Xia Lei was a little surprised.

"This question may seem naïve, but I do want to know the answer. I'm getting more and more curious about everything about you. Long Bing's eyes were a little sharp, and there was some suspicion.

Xia Lei couldn't help but laugh, "Okay, I'm getting more and more curious about you, you tell me your true identity, and I'll tell you how I did it." You can't be the only one asking questions, right?"

Long Bing said: "Now is not the time to let you know, you don't want to mention this question in the future, when you should let you know, I will let you know." ”

"It's insincere. Xia Lei had long known that she would say this, and he was not surprised at all, "However, although you did not answer my question, I am willing to answer your question." I welded this key with welding tongs and cast iron electrodes. ”

Long Bing was slightly stunned for a moment, and then showed an unprecedented smile, "Do you think I am a child?"

Xia Lei said: "I don't mean to deceive you in the slightest, there are no welding tongs and welding rods, how can I weld this key?" After a pause, he said again: "Actually, you smile quite well, but we have met a few times, and this is the first time I have seen you smile." Why don't you smile more?"

Long Bing suddenly put away that smile again, "Don't make such jokes with me, I don't like it." ”

Xia Lei stopped talking, and reached out to pour her a glass of wine.

Long Bing said again: "Actually, the real purpose of my coming here is to ask you to do me a favor. ”

"What do you want me to do?"

"It's still related to Professor Zhang Boqing's case. Long Bing said: "Archaeologists have found the wreck and found an iron cabin from the wreck. They used this key to open the iron cabin, and there was no fine porcelain, gold and silver treasures as they had imagined, only a compass. ”

"A compass?"

"Well, a compass, a very strange compass. Long Bing described: "It's actually a very sophisticated instrument, just like a clock. There is a pointer on the compass, but it does not work because some parts of the compass are broken. I'd like to ask you to help weld the broken parts, rework the parts that can't be repaired, and fix the compass. ”

Xia Lei said with a smile: "I am not a watchmaker, and the welded parts will add weight, which will affect the correctness of the compass. If you use a lathe to make new parts, will they be able to merge with other parts from hundreds of years ago? And you just trust me and want to give me such an important artifact to restore?"

Long Bing said: "I don't want excuses, I just need answers." Just give me an answer, to help or not to help?"

She's always been so domineering. Xia Lei thought for a moment, and finally nodded, "Okay, you believe in me so much, it seems a little inappropriate if I refuse you." Where is that compass? I'm going to see it first. ”

Long Bing stood up, "Then let's go." ”

Xia Lei got up and followed Long Bing to the front desk of the restaurant, and he hurriedly settled the bill. Eating more than a thousand pieces in this meal made him feel a faint pain in his heart. Inadvertently, he saw Jiang Ruyi eating at another table, and Jiang Ruyi glared at him fiercely.

"What is she staring at me for? Xia Lei's heart was so strange.

Leaving the restaurant, Xia Lei got into Long Bing's car and came to the Haizhu Archaeological Bureau. It is an old government compound with a four-storey brick and concrete structure and a bungalow.

When he entered the office building, Xia Lei couldn't help but ask out loud with curiosity in his heart: "Miss Long, Professor Zhang's case has been solved, and the nature of this matter has become archaeology, why do you still care about this matter?"

Long Bing gave him the impression that she was a person who worked in a hail of bullets, and he had guessed that her identity was a very high-level agent or something. How could she ask him to weld a compass for such a character? Even if someone wanted to ask him to help, it should be someone from the Archaeological Bureau, not her.

Long Bing said: "This case is more complicated than you imagined, but you are not from the police, nor are you from ours, so I can't tell you too much." Don't ask about anything related to the case, help me fix that compass. ”

Xia Lei shrugged his shoulders with a wry smile, "Okay, take me to have a look." ”

Long Bing took Xia Lei to a showroom.

There was an old man, a woman about a young woman in the showroom. The old man was about sixty years old, with gray sideburns and colorless glasses, and had the demeanor of a scholar. The woman is in her twenties, tall and thin, with a melon seed face, and a pair of colorless glasses, looking delicate.

The old man and the young woman were discussing something, and a cast-iron compass sat on a display table next to them, along with several broken parts.

Xia Lei's gaze fell to the compass, and he was immediately attracted. The compass placed on the display table looks like an enlarged clock, which is very complex. With the manufacturing process of the Ming Dynasty, it is really a miracle that this compass can be made. He couldn't help but have a question in his heart, what is this compass for?

Long Bing walked over, "Professor Huang, Dr. Ning, hello, I brought the technician who repaired the compass. ”

Only then did the old man and the young woman notice that someone had come in, and their eyes both moved to Long Bing and Xia Lei. Long Bing and they must have known each other, but when they saw that the "technician" brought by Long Bing was so young, both of them showed a look of surprise on their faces.

Long Bing said: "Let me introduce to you, this is Professor Huang Weiguo Huang, an authoritative professor in the field of archaeology in China. This is Dr. Jing Ningning, who was a proud disciple of the late Professor Zhang Boqing. Then she pointed at Xia Lei and said, "This is Xia Lei who has been repaired, the owner of Lei Ma Studio. ”

Such an introduction made Xia Lei a little embarrassed. He's not a technician, in fact, he's just a worker with a welder's certificate. His Reimaa studio is also a small street shop that he just opened, and he doesn't even have a reputation at all. Long Bing introduced him like this, but he really meant to deliberately raise his value.

However, Xia Lei also calmed down, and he said very politely: "Professor Huang, Hello Dr. Ning. ”

Professor Huang Weiguo took the initiative to shake Xia Lei's hand, and said with a smile: "Master Lei, I wanted to meet you after seeing the key you welded, before you came, I thought you were about forty or fifty years old, but I didn't expect you to be so young, it's really terrifying." ”

Xia Lei smiled, "Professor Huang is polite, polite. ”

Jing Jing, who was standing beside Huang Weiguo, said with a smile: "I said you guys are welcome, let's talk about business." ”

Tranquil looks quiet and sweet, and her voice is soft and good. She has a gentle and lovely temperament that is unique to intellectual women.

Whether it was Huang Weiguo or Tranquility, Xia Lei had a good impression, and he was not restrained, and went straight to the display table to observe the compass placed on the table.

At this time, Tranquility came to Long Bing's side, "Miss Long, he is so young, is it really that he welded the key?"

"Dr. Ning, you're about the same age as him, haven't you also become an important figure in the archaeological community?" Long Bing said.

Tranquility lowered her voice, "My situation is different from his, you have to have many years of work experience to do his job." ”

Long Bing stopped talking to her.

Although the voice of the conversation between Tranquility and Long Bing was small, Xia Lei still heard it. Serenity's questioning, however, did not resent him. He believed that it was just her curiosity, and if it were him, he would have doubted it too. He didn't take it to heart, but his mind was gathered on the compass.

The compass is about the same size as the feng shui compass used by Taoist monks today, but it is divided into three layers, upper, middle and lower, and looks like a round sandwich biscuit. On the surface of the compass there is a gold-looking hand that has stopped turning. The surface of the compass has peculiar patterns, they are perfectly symmetrical, but it is not clear that they have any special meaning.

Xia Lei's left eye twitched slightly, and the situation on the middle layer of the compass entered his line of sight without concealment. In the middle layer of the compass there are hundreds of gears of different sizes, rotating shafts, and some of the gears have some invisible mud and sand in the gaps. Finally he looked at the underside of the compass, and he saw four Chinese characters - Yongle the Great.