It was already the morning of the next day when Herbert and the gas arrived at the southern shore of Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands.
This small town called Fort Augustus has only a few hundred households. A river passes through the town, and the other end of the river is connected to Loch Ness, where there are rumors of water monsters.
Perhaps it is because of this rumor that there are many tourists in this town. Wei Ran even saw a few Chinese aunts holding up silk scarves and taking photos with great interest at the river lock.
It was precisely by setting foot here that Wei Ran really understood that the joke about the British people’s mood for meeting and chatting is not an exaggeration. It is already mid-to-late June, but perhaps because of the dimension, the atmosphere in this place is not exaggerated. The temperature was no more than fourteen or fifteen degrees Celsius at most, and there was also a cool drizzle in the sky.
That’s not all. On the streets on both sides of the river, there are people wearing short-sleeved shorts, turtleneck sweaters, and some simply wrapped in down jackets. It perfectly expresses how each person feels about this place. index.
"Although I am French, I have to say that I hate the horrible weather here. In comparison, Volgograd is simply paradise."
Herbert is extremely Responding to the situation, he complained, "Even if there is really a water monster here, I don't want to live in such a ghost place. Before I even got out of the car, my knee joints started to hurt."
"It's really not that bad. "Comfortable"
Wei Ran zipped up his jacket. In his opinion, this cold weather was the best time to sleep in bed. Even opening the curtains would be an unforgivable sin.
"Let's go quickly, I hope Mr. Charlotte has lit the fireplace."
Herbert paid the fare, turned up the collar of his windbreaker, and pulled the suitcase , greeted Wei Ran and walked towards an old-looking house by the river.
The shape of this two-story house is not much different from the house that Wei Ran’s studio shares with the travel agency next door. It's just shorter in length, only about thirty meters, but it's also more beautiful. There are some sun umbrellas and solid wood tables and chairs in the space surrounded by the anchor chain at the door, separated by a small piece of extra-flat lawn. , which is a walking trail next to the river.
Although his English was like a scumbag, he could still understand that more than half of the house, including the outdoor area enclosed by the anchor chain, was used to run a bar. The remaining half is a souvenir shop that looks quite exquisite.
Follow Herbert into this store. The store, which is less than 40 square meters, is filled with all kinds of silverware, from English tea sets and tableware to various styles of silver pendants. There are a dazzling array of wine bottles, even candlesticks, jewelry boxes, or some small pendants in the shape of the Loch Ness Monster.
On the wall opposite the door, there is a man who looks about forty years old who is concentrating on carving something on a piece of silver.
Herbert took off his windbreaker and hung it on the hanger at the door, and put one of the suitcases against the wall.After that, I asked the other party something in English, and the man pointed upstairs without raising his head.
"Let's go up. It seems that Mr. Charlotte is already waiting for us." Herbert said in German.
"Mr. Charlotte has been living here?" Wei Yan put down his suitcase and followed him, walking upstairs on the creaking wooden stairs.
"Mr. Charlotte has been living here since his retirement."
Herbert smiled and explained, "He has two sons and a daughter. The younger daughter is in Edinburgh helped him run the jewelry store. His eldest son ran the souvenir shop downstairs, and his other son ran the bar next to it."
"It seems that he lived in his later years. Not bad." Wei Ran sighed with emotion, but couldn't help but think of his friends who would never be able to wait by the dry well.
"Of course not bad"
Herbert stopped and hammered his sore knees, then lowered his voice slightly and said, "He is also a well-known collector of ancient coins in the UK. , and a winemaker. Of course, he has always regarded himself as an explorer, even though he has never left England very much in his life." "A theoretical explorer?" Wei Ran also lowered his voice.
"You can think so." After saying this, Herbert blinked and continued walking, leading Wei Ran to the second floor.
Compared to the first floor which is less than 40 square meters in size and has a dazzling array of silver items that can withstand vampire attacks, the second floor is much more spacious, with just a living room as big as the one downstairs. .
In addition, various outdoor equipment can be seen almost everywhere. Even tables and chairs are foldable and portable models commonly used for outdoor camping.
But except for the large and beautifully shaped outdoor wood stove next to the window, which is burning red charcoal and has obvious signs of use, many other items have not even had their labels removed. Especially the various kerosene gas lamps, gasoline stoves and other objects neatly placed on the wooden shelf in the corner had an obvious layer of dust on them.
Near the window, an old man wearing old-fashioned adventure clothes, desert boots, and a khaki helmet on his head, who looked to be in his sixties or seventies, was sitting on a canvas chair. He was smoking a pipe, and lying at his feet was a Doberman pinscher that was obviously lacking in exercise and was as fat as an inflatable dachshund.
"This is Mr. Charlotte"
After Herbert said hello in English first, he introduced Wei Ran to the man who kept a decent figure. Nice old gentleman.
Due to the language barrier, Wei Ran could only shake hands with the other party, and muttered the phrase "Nestutumiteyo" that he learned in junior high school.
Contrary to Wei Ran's expectation, Mr. Charlotte, who was nearly 70 years old, also managed to hold back a seriously off-key "Ni Hao", which invisibly narrowed the distance between the two.
Under Herbert’s translation,After the two parties exchanged a few simple greetings, the topic turned to the so-called treasure.
When Herbert placed the oil drum in the suitcase on the aluminum alloy folding table between the three of them, and took out the translated secret message and handed it to Charlotte, Wei Ran then left. He took out a file bag from the backpack at his feet and placed it on the oil drum.
Charlotte curiously picked up the file bag and opened it, and then saw the hand-drawn map sandwiched in Pell's code book.
After a brief moment of silence, Charlotte stood up in surprise, put the map in her pocket, and spoke very quickly, staring at Wei with a pair of old eyes. Burn.
"Mr. Charlotte asked where this map came from." Herbert asked suppressing his surprise.
"Found it together with the code book" Weiran responded in German.
"Can you tell me who you got it from?" Herbert translated Charlotte's question.
Wei Ran shook his head pretending to be regretful, "The other party didn't want to reveal his identity."
After listening to Herbert’s translation, Charlotte sighed, stood up and walked to the writing desk not far away.
While Wei Ran and Herbert were puzzled, the old gentleman took out a photo album from the drawer of his desk. Instructing Herbert to put the oil drum aside first, the old man Charlotte opened the photo album and found a black and white photo taken by Wei Ran himself.
In this group photo, Per and Pierre each wear a birthday crown folded from pornographic magazines. They are surrounded by Carlo, Harry, Panettone, Trento and others were holding a plate of pasta in one hand, various glasses of red wine in the other, and sitting under their buttocks was a wooden box originally used to hold ammunition.
Behind these people, there is the Italian CL39 truck on one side and a three-wheeled motorcycle on the other. At the corner, half of the outline of the well can be vaguely seen, as well as the endless horizon in the distance. of desert.
"Carlo, Panettone, Trento, Pierre, Pell,"
Charlotte pointed to the people in the photo and called them one by one. name, and then pointed at Harry with his head wrapped in gauze in the photo, and said in English that Weiran could understand, "My father, Harry, Harry Burton."
Listening to Charlotte’s rich and mellow Italian pronunciation when she read the first few names of Pell, Wei Ran hesitated for a moment, looked at the other person and asked in Italian, "Mr. Charlotte, are you Do you speak Italian?"
This sudden question made Herbert, who didn't understand at all, look confused, while Charlotte, who was about to ask something, nodded in surprise. Proficient in Italian, he replied, "I do know Italian. My mother taught it to me. It is almost my second mother tongue. I always thought that in the Scottish Highlands, except for the occasional Italian tourists, there was no need to speak Italian." Come on."
Before Wei Ran could say anything, the old man turned to look at the confused Herbert.English said something, and then saw Herbert standing up helplessly, reluctantly walking towards the stairs leading to the first floor.
Only when the souvenir shop's glass door and the pleasant sound of wind chimes were heard from downstairs did Charlotte pick up the already closed photo album and said, "Young man, come and sit with me in the study. ?"
"Herbert..."
"Let him go to the bar next door for a drink first, so as not to make money from me again" Charlotte said in Italian. Yu made a joke, got up and walked towards a wooden door connected to the living room.
Hearing this, Wei Ran burst into laughter, stood up happily, followed the other person through the wooden door, and walked into a room where the walls and even the floor were filled with various books.
Putting down the photo album in her hand, Charlotte emptied a chair filled with books. After asking Wei Ran to sit down, he also sat on another chair across the desk. .
"Okay Victor, let's talk about this treasure again now, shall we?"
While Charlotte was speaking, she opened the drawer and took out two clean cup, then took out a box of ice cubes from the small refrigerator behind him, and finally took down a bottle of whiskey from the wine rack.
"Where do you want to start?" Wei Ran asked as he took the cup.
"How about starting with this map?" Charlotte asked while pouring herself a drink.