BSI Chapter 2 The sky has fallen!
Chapter 2 The sky has fallen!
July 2025, Chengdu, China, Berlin Cottage.
Lin Fan, who had just returned home from out of town, was carefully cleaning the room. Since his parents decided to return to the countryside to run a farm stay a year ago, the huge room in the city had been completely empty. In just over a year without anyone living there, the room was covered in dust.
"I've never felt sorry for my mom before! I never imagined that doing all this housework would be so tiring. My delicate back, which has never experienced the hardships of life, is actually struggling to keep up!"
After working for an hour and a half, Lin Fan was so tired that his mouth was dry. He finally managed to clean the living room and bedroom. Now he was standing in the middle of the living room, holding his back and looking at the results of his work.
After resting for a few minutes, Lin Fan took a few gulps of the half-full bottle of mineral water and felt his throat was no longer so sore. He then turned his gaze to the storage room next to him. That was just his personality; as a near-perfectionist, he didn't like to drag things out when he did things.
As for what a near-perfectionist is, it simply means that doing everything perfectly has always been Lin Fan's motto. Of course, when perfection is truly impossible, Lin Fan has only four words left: "Screw it!"
A moment later, a series of crashing sounds rang out. Several small wooden crates in the storage room had been accidentally knocked over by him. Startled, Lin Fan patted his chest and thought to himself, "Luckily, it's not too late! Otherwise, the downstairs neighbors would probably complain about me."
Looking at the wooden crates, Lin Fan fell into deep thought. These were the crates his father, Lin Daoyou, had brought out to store things when he was young and became obsessed with collecting antiques.
Because of antiques, his mother, Cao Xueqing, often argued with his father. Every time Lin's father bought something, the final appraisal result was that it was a piece of junk or a fake, not to mention that it cost a lot of money.
At its worst, the couple almost got divorced because of this, but it ended with Lin's father bowing his head, admitting his mistake, and vowing never to collect antiques again.
Recalling those past moments, Lin Fan couldn't help but laugh. He took out his phone, opened the Green Bubble app, and made a video call.
"A warm spring breeze blows in my face, and peach blossoms are in full bloom..."
After about ten seconds, seeing the message on my phone that the video call had been disconnected, I thought, "What the hell? Why did they disconnect my video call?"
Unconvinced, Lin Fan dialed the number again.
The familiar music started playing again, and Lin Fan found that these old songs actually had a certain charm.
Just as Lin Fan was getting impatient, the video call finally connected.
"Hey, Claw, don't you know I'm busy with something big? Three...!" A loud voice came from the other end of the phone.
Sure enough, Lin Fan rubbed his forehead; his unreliable father was playing mahjong again!
"Dad, do you still want that treasure you kept in the storage room?"
"Five...why are they all police officers? Huh? What kind of treasure is this? Don't talk nonsense, your mother is my only treasure!" His father's neurotic nature, mixed with Sichuan dialect, made Lin Fan's forehead crease with black lines!
"All those antique treasures you bought before! Do you still want them? Give me a straight answer! If you don't, I'll throw them away!" Lin Fan said irritably.
"Hey, wait a minute, I want to try my luck with 50,000! Six... those are all fake, you just see if there's anything you like, if not, just throw it away!"
Seeing his father so busy with work, Lin Fan lost interest in further conversation: "Alright, but don't come looking for me again later! I can't afford to pay for it..."
"Haha, 80,000, won! All hands are self-drawn, every player is fully topped up..." The video call was immediately disconnected.
Putting away his phone, Lin Fan looked at the boxes. Although he already knew they were fake antiques, he still couldn't help but be curious. There was no way around it; most men were completely powerless against antiques, fishing, or fantasizing about writing novels.
With a creak, the first box was opened, revealing a whole bunch of copper and silver coins, including Kaiyuan Tongbao, Jianguo Tongbao, and Daoguang Tongbao. The remaining silver coins were all Yuan Datou, but without exception, they were all counterfeit. Lin Fan instantly lost the desire to look any further.
Opening the second box, several ancient bronze mirrors and a few bronze wine cups came into view, just like those in ancient TV dramas. Lin Fan shook his head in disappointment: "Mom was right after all. My dad really can't even compare to a junk collector!"
After closing the second box, Lin Fan realized that the third box was even smaller and more worn out. He wasn't interested in opening it at first, but then he thought that since he had already taken it out, there was no harm in opening it and taking a look.
The third box had a lock on it. Lin Fan picked it up and examined it closely: "This thing looks pretty well-made. I can take it off and use it as a pendant!"
After a lot of effort, Lin Fan opened the box and found it contained all sorts of jade pendants, including ornaments and decorative pieces.
"Hehehe, if everything in here is real, my Lin family will be rolling in money!"
Lin Fan picked up one of the jade pendants and played with it. He didn't know much about jade, and after looking at it for a long time, he still couldn't figure out what it was.
Suddenly, Lin Fan's gaze was drawn to a fish-shaped jade pendant in the corner of the box. He put down the box, picked up the jade pendant, and looked at the pendant, which was no bigger than half a palm, and began to examine it carefully under the light.
"The fish scales are carved so well! The details are so well done! Hmm!" Lin Fan wondered if it was just his imagination, but he felt like a flash of light had just passed through the jade pendant!
Lin Fan, still not believing it, stared at it for a long time, until his eyes were sore, but he still didn't see anything unusual.
"What was that just now? Could I have been seeing things?"
Lin Fan put the peculiar jade pendant into his pocket, rubbed his eyes, and then stretched his neck, which he had been tilting back for a long time.
Half an hour later, the storage room was finally cleaned up. Lin Fan put all the trash at the door, and temporarily left the three boxes in the storage room.
After working for several hours, enduring hunger and exhaustion, Lin Fan took a refreshing hot shower. Although it was a hot summer day, the air conditioning was on in the room, and a hot shower would help relieve his fatigue.
After all that fuss, it was already 8:30 p.m. Lin Fan was starving and didn't want to move around anymore. He ate a bowl of instant noodles, lay on the sofa, scrolled through his phone for a while, and then fell into a deep sleep.
The jade pendant that he had taken out separately was casually placed on the coffee table next to him.
..............
Inside Princess Jinyang's palace, Princess Changle had already returned to her own palace. The little princess was sitting on a small stool, her two short legs swinging back and forth because she couldn't reach the ground, and she was playing with the fish-shaped jade pendant that her mother had given her.
"Your Highness, it's already 7 PM, time to retire for the night," Mingyue said softly, squatting down beside the little princess.
"Oh dear! I can't sleep for half the night." The little princess looked at the jade pendant in her hand, which was already covered with sweat stains.
"But it's already too late. If Your Highness doesn't go to sleep soon, it will affect your growth! I'll fan Your Highness later, and you won't be hot anymore."
"Okay, I want to grow cake." Hearing this, Qiuxia, who was standing to the side, prepared to reach out to the little princess.
"I'm coming." The little princess refused the hug, holding the jade pendant in one hand and the small stool in the other. She slid down, her toes touching the ground, and landed steadily. Then, she took short, shuffling steps towards the bed.
The bed was much higher than a stool, and the little princess struggled to climb up the edge of the bed for a while but couldn't manage it. Seeing this, Mingyue quickly reached out and lifted her little bottom to help her.
"I'm so tired! I'll definitely have to climb up here again." The little princess looked unconvinced.
"Yes, our little prince is the best! You can definitely do it next time!" Qiu Xia cheered from the side.
The two played around by the bed for a while. It has to be said that children fall asleep very quickly. The little princess, who was full of energy just a moment ago, started yawning as soon as she touched the bed. Even though she was almost asleep, she still held the jade pendant tightly in her hand.
At Mingyue's suggestion, Qiuxia went to rest on the other side. They took turns resting and watching over the little princess at night.
Mingyue gently patted the little princess's chest with one hand and waved a round fan with the other, bringing a touch of coolness to the sweltering night. After an unknown amount of time, seeing that the little princess had fallen asleep, a wave of drowsiness slowly washed over her. Since there had never been any danger before, the little princess rarely woke up at night. Mingyue stretched her head with one hand and slowly drifted off to sleep.
In the middle of the night, Qiuxia woke up groggily, only to find that the little princess was no longer on the bed. Her heart skipped a beat, and she quickly shook Mingyue awake beside her: "Sister Mingyue! Where is the little princess? Why is the little princess gone!"
Mingyue woke up instantly, looked around, and found the bed empty. Apart from the dressing table, a screen, and two wardrobes, there was no sign of the little princess in the entire hall.
Mingyue rushed to the gate and woke up the guard on duty, but the guard said he hadn't seen the little princess go out. Mingyue and Qiuxia felt weak and murmured, "It's over, the sky... has fallen."