After coming down from the small bar on the second floor of Gubi Jingyi Restaurant, Wei Ran walked to the door and looked at the worn canvas bag and skateboard on the bench again. After hesitating for a moment Said, "Monica, and Matthew, I'm going to rent this place, let's talk about the rent now."
"Mr. Nicholas, before you plan to rent this place, You need to hear our conditions first," the little guy named Matthew said seriously.
"What conditions?" Wei Ran asked as he squatted down, keeping himself at the same height as the other party.
Matthew looked up at Monica who was standing aside, and then said, "First of all, the first condition is that when you plan to rent the restaurant on the first floor, you must also rent the second floor. "Bar."
"Aren't these two one?" Wei Ran asked in surprise.
Matthew explained inconsistently, "It is indeed one, but the bar upstairs is the property of Uncle Tassie and is just left to me to take care of."
" Who is Uncle Tassie?"
"The owner of the bar upstairs" Matthew gave a flawless answer.
"Okay, whether it's a bar or a restaurant, I will rent it together." Wei Ran said indifferently. Anyway, the rent will be included in the survey fee paid by Charlotte, and he doesn't care how much it costs. Rent the lower floor.
"The second condition"
Matthew stretched out his two white little fingers and gestured like scissors, "After you rent this place, in addition to replacing the ones that are burned out, The layout of the upstairs and downstairs cannot be changed except for the items. Even if the burned items are repaired, they must be consistent with the original layout."
"Why is this?" Wei Ran? He couldn't help but look at Monica who was standing aside. He now suspected that this little kid named Matthew was amusing himself.
"This is a non-negotiable condition" Monica's voice was not loud, but she was extremely determined.
At this point, Wei Ran finally understood why such a good store in this location could not be rented out. Suppressing his growing curiosity, Wei Ran continued to ask, "Are there any other requests?"
"If you can agree to the above conditions, after the opening, the bar upstairs will open every week. It must be opened for at least three days, and the categories and prices of alcoholic beverages cannot be changed," Matthew said in a coquettish voice, eyeing the last nail in the coffin of this store rental business.
"These conditions of yours are a bit strange. Can I know the reason?" Wei Ran asked kindly.
"No"
Matthew shook his head simply, "The rent is 36,500 euros per year, and you need to pay the rent for at least one year in one go. If you want to rent it, you can rent it with us tomorrow. Let's sign a rental agreement with the owner of the bar."
"Can I meet the owner of the bar first?" Wei Ran asked patiently.
"Uncle Tassie won't see you unless you plan to rent it and pay for the restaurant downstairsof rent. "Matthew said, thinking about it for a while, "Uncle Tassie may be willing to meet you only then. "
What is all this? Wei Ran looked at the siblings with a strange expression... No, there seems to be a generation gap between them.
" It seems that you are not interested in renting here either."
Child Matthew looked like he was used to it. He stretched out his little arm and pointed in the direction, "Mr. Nicholas, maybe you can go to that street and have a look. , we passed by there when we came here and saw that there were also shops for rent, and the rent should be about the same as our restaurant. "
"You're the only one who can rent it out like this."
Wei Ran muttered to himself, thought for a while and said, "Okay, Matthew, I was upstairs just now. I saw a lot of interesting old photos in the bar. If you can tell me the stories in those photos, maybe I would be willing to rent this place on your terms. ”
This super editor’s question was obviously beyond the range of questions that Matthew could answer. The little guy, who was acting like an adult just a moment ago, immediately looked at Monica next to him with a look of help.
p>The latter sighed in distress, and asked reluctantly, "What do you want to know? ”
“How about a group photo behind the bar on the second floor? "Wei Ran asked tentatively.
"Matthew, has Taxi told you? "Monica whispered to Matthew standing next to her.
"No" Matthew shook his head with a grimace, "What should we do? "
"Or give Tassie a call? "
"He locked himself in the studio today. Unless someone comes in, he will definitely not go out to answer the phone. Matthew said into Monica's ear, "It's rare for a weirdo to be willing to rent this place. How about we take him directly to ask Uncle Tassie?" "
"No, no, he will go crazy, and then we will definitely have to help him clean the room again. "Monica seemed to have thought of something terrible, and her little face with some freckles became a little distorted.
"Can't we just let him stay in our car and communicate on his mobile phone? ? "Matthew seemed very happy that he had thought of this good method, and his voice couldn't help but grow louder, "Or let Uncle Tassie come out. "
"It seems that this is the only way"
Monica straightened up, looked at Wei Ran and asked again, "Are you really planning to rent this place? The requirements we just mentioned will be written into the agreement. ”
“If there are any interesting stories behind those photos in the bar, maybe I will rent this place. "Wei Ran said without missing a beat, "But no matter what the final result is, I will pay 100 euros, at least I won't make your trip in vain. "
"Enough for us to buy new games and enough snacks," Matthew said happily.
Monica sighed and said reluctantly, “We’ll take you to the bar owner and ask. ”
After saying that, Monica locked theThe rolling shutter door of the restaurant and the anti-theft iron fence of the floor-to-ceiling windows, while Matthew had already taken the skateboard and backpack on the bench, led Weiran to a convertible Fiat 500 in the parking lot opposite the intersection, and skillfully moved the passenger seat up He pushed forward and then got into the rear compartment.
After he fastened his seat belt, Weiran pushed the passenger seat back to its original position, but before he could sit down, Matthew said, "Mr. Nicholas, You'd better find a taxi and follow us."
"Why?" Wei Ran asked in confusion, his butt already touching the seat.
"Monica doesn't like strangers getting too close to her"
Matthew whispered seriously, "She will be very upset, really, I won't lie to you, She mustered up a lot of courage to meet you today."
"Social phobia?" Wei Ran asked subconsciously.
Matthew spread his hands and said, "Please, Mr. Nicholas, please find a taxi yourself!"
"Okay"
< p> Seeing Monica standing on the opposite side of the road, Wei Ran reluctantly got out of the small car, waited for a while on the roadside, and stopped a taxi.Following the Fiat bubble car driven by Monica and leaving the city, the road ahead was far beyond Weiran’s expectation. The two cars took more than an hour until they saw the foot of the Alps on the outskirts of Turin. They stopped at the gate of a farm backed by the foot of the mountain and surrounded by dense woods on both sides.
Almost half of this large farm is planted with grapes. In addition to two exquisite wooden houses, the remaining half of the farm has a Nice flower beds and a small pond.
Following the other party’s car and parked under the shadow of the thick oak tree not far from the wooden house, Wei Ran handed the taxi a 50-euro note, “Your tip, wait for me here. "I will go back to Turin soon."
"It doesn't matter if it gets dark." The taxi took the money in surprise and made a chicken paw gesture.
After getting out of the car, Wei Ran let Matthew pull her into the passenger seat of the Fiat car, while Monica had already entered the house one step ahead.
"Mr. Nicholas, please wait for me here." After Matthew finished speaking, he ran into another house with his calves.
Soon after, he took back a mobile phone and handed it to Wei Ran who was sitting in the car, "Uncle Taxi is holding the other mobile phone. I will make a video call when I get in." , you can ask whatever you want after getting through."
"Can we only communicate by mobile phone?" Wei Ran asked in confusion, he became more and more curious about what this weird family is. Condition.
Not to mention the Monica just now and the Tassie who didn’t want to meet and could only rely on mobile phones to communicate. Even this over-mature little guy Matthew looked a little arrogant. .
"It's not that Uncle Tassie doesn't want to see you, it's just that he has very, very, very serious obsessive-compulsive disorder and mysophobia"
Matthew explained happily, "If you are invited into his house, what will happen next?" We have to help him disinfect and clean the house for a week. If he is allowed to come out of the house, he may soak himself in disinfectant water, and we may even need to hire a psychiatrist for him. So please ask Nicholas. Sir, just use the phone to communicate, okay? I’ll treat you to Monica’s pizza later.”
“Matthew, where are your parents? Or your uncle Tassie’s family. What? Can't they come forward?" Wei Ran took advantage of Monica's absence and asked.
"Not here"
Mathew gestured with a small chicken paw and explained, "My parents both work at the Antarctic scientific research station. Usually only my aunt Taking care of me. But actually I am taking care of her and Uncle Tassie."
"Where is Tassie's family?"
"Matthew died two years ago. He explained sadly, "The fire in the restaurant took them away."
The expression on Wei Ran's face became a little stunned. After he came to his senses, he immediately took out a 100 card from his pocket. Ou handed the banknotes to Matthew, "I know, I'll be here waiting for you to call me."
"You are a generous gentleman"
Ma Xiu politely took the banknote and stuffed it into the pocket of his jeans, then ran towards the wooden house just now. This time, Wei Ran even saw him taking off his shoes at the door and putting on a new pair of socks before opening the door.
After waiting for a full ten minutes, the cell phone that Matthew had just delivered remembered the ringtone. Wei Ran quickly pressed the answer button, and then saw a man in a white coat with his head on the screen. Wearing a dust-free hat, a young man who looked about the same age as himself was sitting behind a table.
In the area that can be seen on the screen, all the parts of a disassembled watch are neatly placed on the table in front of the young man, and behind him, there seem to be several more. Equipment like a small lathe that looks extra clean.
"Hello, I'm Tassie. I heard from Matthew that you want to ask about that restaurant?" The man wearing a dust hat asked enthusiastically from the other side of the screen.
"Hello Taxi, I'm Nicholas."
Wei Ran introduced himself first, and then asked, "Child Matthew, I should tell you After that, I'm interested in renting the weird restaurant and bar upstairs and running them with those weird requirements, but I'd like to know why, especially the story of the photos in the bar, which might be a good selling point."
"Completely understand!"
Taxi nodded happily and explained to Wei Ran enthusiastically, "Gubijing Pasta Restaurant and Gubijing Friendship Bar are my The business was run jointly by Matthew's grandfather and Matthew's great-grandfather. As long as World War II ended, that store has a long history.. "
"That bar looks very special. Is it only open to military personnel? "Wei Ran asked in an insinuating way. To his relief, this Taxi was at least relatively normal for now.
"No, no, no, he is only open to peace-loving anti-war factions. ”
Tasi proudly explained, “This is a decision jointly made by the founder of this bar, my grandfather Mr. Trento, and Matthew’s great-grandfather Mr. Pierre. rule. "
"That's right," Wei Ran muttered to himself, and then asked deliberately, "So the photos inside are all staged? ”
“It is true that some of them were staged”
Tassie was extraordinarily candid, “But at least the two precious group photos behind the bar were not, they were taken during World War II. , personal experience in the North African desert. If you are interested, you can look for it on the small bookshelf on the left side of the bar. At least when I went there a year ago, there were also memoirs written by my grandfather and his comrades, which were very detailed. "
Weiran wisely ended the topic, changed the direction and asked tentatively, "Can we talk about those unique requirements now? "
"There's no need to talk about that"
Tassie was as straightforward as Matthew and Monica, "Mr. Nicholas, we are not short of money and are willing to rent it out." I just don’t want it to be in panic all the time. At the same time, due to some special reasons, we are unable to operate it ourselves. So if you are willing to rent, the rent can be slightly cheaper. ”
“How much cheaper?” "Wei Ran, as if he really wanted to rent the restaurant, kept talking about the price.
"Matthew, how much do you quote? "Taxi didn't shy away from Wei Ran at all, and turned directly to the little guy standing aside and asked.
Hearing this, he was wearing a small dustproof suit, and even had protective goggles and a mask on his face. Matthew came over and replied in a coquettish voice, "The annual rent is 36,500 euros."
"How about 36,000 euros a year?" "Tasi asked, staring at the camera, the expectation in her eyes could not be concealed at all.
"How about I pay more and cancel those special requirements? "
"No! ”
“Fifty thousand euros a year? "Weiran deliberately quoted a high price.
"Not even half a million a year."
Taxi said very seriously, "That restaurant is very important to Matthew and I." It has a very important commemorative significance, and we are really not short of money. ”
“Really not short of money? "Wei Ran deliberately provoked the other party's bottom line, and his purpose was nothing more than to collapse the business.
He has already obtained the result he wanted, and he already knew from Matthew's words just now that they Life is actually pretty good, at least it’s not as tight as she thought.
“Well...there’s really no shortage of money”
Taxi is quite distressed.Said, "But if I have this income, I can change to a lathe with higher precision, and Monica can also change to a laptop with better configuration. But even so, those requirements cannot make any difference. "Concession."
"What do you need a lathe for?" Wei Ran rambled but took the topic further and further.
"I am a watchmaker"
Tasi proudly introduced his other identity, then picked up his mobile phone, switched the camera, and took the sanitary ignition device outside the house. Visited his studio. Matthew, who was waiting aside in protective clothing, stretched out his small hands with rubber gloves to cover the protective goggles on his face.
According to past experience, no matter who it is, when chatting with Taxi about these things in the studio, they can't even think of ending the topic for an hour or two.
Soon, Wei Ran outside the room also realized this problem, because Taxi, who was still somewhat normal just now, actually began to introduce in detail the working principles of the processing equipment that he did not recognize at all and what they could achieve. accuracy range. Even with just a perfunctory casual question from Wei Ran, he began to talk enthusiastically about the conversion units between microns and millimeters, and how difficult it is to process precision to the micron level.
However, as Taxi explained, Wei Ran was distracted and remembered another thing. He was hesitating whether he could ask the other party to help him process some high-precision bullets for the anti-tank gun. The warhead comes out.
Compared to Alexander, this obsessive-compulsive or mysophobic named Tassie may not know much about bullets, but judging from the almost paranoid pursuit of processing accuracy in the other person’s tone, the finished product must be enough to achieve own requirements.
And the most important thing is that for such a person who doesn't even want to go out of his house, and who is almost a chance encounter, the confidentiality is undoubtedly much higher.
Thinking of this, he simply endured and listened carefully to the other party carefully introducing all the extremely clean equipment in the studio. At the same time, he also learned about it from a few words. Something else.
According to Tassie, he and Monica received long-term treatment from the same psychiatrist for psychological problems about ten years ago.
It was also during that time that Matthew's father, who was responsible for sending him to the doctor every week, met Monica's sister. And within a short time, the two held a wedding, and just a few years later, they had the little guy Matthew.
In addition, he also learned from this seemingly unscrupulous obsessive-compulsive person that his current job was basically customized by Monica from the Internet.
Even in some small circles, he is still a well-known but never seen watch repairman and watchmaker. From this point of view, he is more and more in line with Wei Ran's expectations. .
Patiently waiting until the other party finished introducing the last piece of equipment, Weiran took the initiative and said, "Mr. Taxi, we mayMaybe another deal can be concluded. ”
“Do you also need a customized watch? "
Tasi asked as expected, "But my order has been scheduled for next Christmas. If you can wait, maybe you can tell me your requirements. "
"No, no, no"
Wei Ran shook his head and denied the other party's speculation, "What I want to process is not something as complicated as a watch, but some toy models, which are very accurate. A very demanding, but probably not difficult model for you. ”
“Model? "When Taxi heard this, his expression turned out to be a little disappointed.
"If you are willing to take over this business, maybe I can rent the restaurant now. "
Wei Ran continued to seduce, "The shape and structure of those models are not complicated, and the number is not large. If you are interested, I will send you samples tomorrow. "
"I need to see the samples tomorrow before I can make a decision," Tassie said cautiously.
"No problem, I will come over tomorrow with enough cash. "Wei Ran said simply, "Of course, when it comes to confidentiality issues, I hope not many people know about this transaction. ”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Nicholas”
Tasi said mockingly, “I rarely leave this farm, and I don’t like to go online as much as Monica.” I quarrel with others, and no one except Matthew has the time to listen to me introduce my studio like you. ”
“Those equipments are very interesting, I couldn’t help but go in and take a look. "Wei Ran comforted the other person, and after a smile appeared on the other person's face, he said, "It's getting late, and I have to go back to Turin to make preparations for our meeting tomorrow. Finally, I wish you good luck in your work. Pleasant, Mr. Tassie. ”
“I also wish you a happy work. " Taxi responded politely.
After hanging up the phone and placing the nearly dead mobile phone on the dashboard, Wei Ran didn't wait for Matthew, the child in charge of contact, to come out, let alone eat him. After agreeing to his pizza, he opened the door and got into the taxi that had been waiting for more than an hour. He simply left the farm and drove towards the city.
It took more than an hour to return. At the hotel, after eating and drinking, Wei Ran returned to the room and took out the food box in the metal book, and took out a warhead in a plastic sealed bag.
He had already set off for the UK. Before that, he had prepared and dismantled a 20mm high-explosive bomb, and carefully removed any dangerous items such as high-explosives and fuses in the warhead.
It turned out that he was. He was going to ask Alexander for help to see if he could make some high-quality goods based on this warhead, but he didn't expect that Alexander had returned to Russia early and met a weirdo like Tassie in Italy.
< p>But no matter who it is, as long as they make a suitable warhead, the rest of the bullet reloading work will no longer be difficult. After all, compared to the warhead that he has no way of making himself, he can accurately load the same amount of propellant into the cartridge case.It has become an extremely simple task.As for whether Taxi can, or whether he is willing to process what he needs according to his own requirements, Wei Ran doesn't care. Even if the other party sees something and chooses to refuse, you are just wasting a bullet and an irrelevant fake identity.
After carefully checking the bullet sample in the plastic sealed bag, he compared the content found on the Internet and wrote down some key size information, and then began to think about how to give this bullet Make up a reasonable use.
At the same time, in the farm far away in the suburbs, after carefully and tediously cleaning up her personal hygiene, Taxi began to scroll through the screen to find herself amid the faint smell of disinfectant. New equipment is about to be affordable.