“Hey, did you hear? That Han Family Private Kitchen is changing hands!”

“I heard about that ages ago. Hasn’t it been closed for over ten days already?”

“I knew that private kitchen wouldn’t last long. It just doesn’t fit the style of our street!”

“Haha! Too upscale?”

“Exactly! Our whole street sells snacks, and suddenly having a private kitchen really doesn’t fit in at all!”

“But who’s taking over the private kitchen’s shop? What are they going to do with it?”

“Don’t worry, I’ve inquired about it. They say the boss taking over isn’t opening a restaurant—he’s opening an antique shop!”

“Did I hear that right?”

“Yeah, you heard correctly. Even more upscale. Look, see those people? That’s who bought it.”

The chatting neighbors all turned their gazes toward the few people walking down the street. Among them was an old man everyone recognized—the owner of Han Family Private Kitchen. Accompanying him were two others: a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, and a young man in his early twenties.

The middle-aged man had ordinary features and average build, but his eyes were like a child’s—black and white distinctly separated, extremely clear. His head was completely bald, not a single hair, reflecting the sun’s rays like an oversized light bulb.

The young man, however, was strikingly handsome with an upright posture, wearing an eye-catching black Tang suit. On his right sleeve was embroidered a dark red dragon, winding and coiling up along his sleeve, its fierce mouth with bared fangs and claws pointing toward the collar. At first glance, this dragon looked alive, as if it were about to bite through his neck. The deep red pan-kou buttons embroidered on his chest lapels looked like drops of blood dripped onto black night. This eerie yet lifelike embroidery, combined with the handsome man wearing it, made it impossible to look away.

“Why is he dressed like a celebrity?” someone muttered quietly, and this conclusion gained agreement from others. With just one look, they could tell these two weren’t father and son. Rather, the middle-aged man hung back half a step, following behind the young man while conversing quietly with the Han family’s old man.

“Ah, I know that person—that middle-aged man. He’s been on TV before. Seems like he’s a master-level figure with a great reputation in the collecting world!” Someone recognized the middle-aged man and whispered excitedly.

“Then why would he choose this location to open an antique shop?” Someone began to find it puzzling.

“Tsk, what do you know! He’s not the one opening the shop—the real boss is that young man!” A well-informed person said this, causing another small stir of surprise among the crowd.

The discussion from the neighbors across the street reached the young boss’s ears without missing a word, but he paid no attention, quietly listening to the master and the shop owner chat.

Actually, he had no requirements about whether this shop was quiet or not, whether it leaked, whether it was safe—he didn’t much care about the price either. The master understood his temperament well, so this business deal went quite smoothly. After walking around the shop twice, the young boss gently nodded.

Seeing this, the master shook hands with the Han family’s old man, turned to call his assistant, and had him handle all the paperwork. The master’s all-capable assistant arrived within five minutes and went with the overjoyed Han family old man to sign contracts and handle transfers and related matters.

Only the master and young boss remained in the desolate shop. The master sniffed the room that still smelled of renovation and said with distaste, “Though this decoration is rather antique in style, it’s too crude. Let me find you a renovation company to redo it.”

“Alright, thank you.” The young boss smiled and didn’t refuse the master’s kind offer.

“The business license for the antique shop and other documents—after the house transfer is complete, I’ll have my assistant help you process them. Don’t worry, they’ll be ready when the renovation is finished.” The master’s attitude was extremely enthusiastic. No choice—his deceased grandfather’s ancestral instructions said to unconditionally help a man wearing a red dragon robe.

Of course, it wasn’t free help. The master thought of the greeting gift the young boss had given him, and his heart itched unbearably, wishing he could go home right now to examine it. “Boss, should I have my assistant book you a hotel? You can move in here after the renovation is finished and the smell has aired out.”

“No need. Didn’t they just give me the keys? I’ll stay here for now.” The young boss smiled faintly. “This place is very good. I like it very much.”

“If you like it, that’s good, that’s good.” The master didn’t know how else to persuade him. Watching the young boss turn his head slightly to look at the scenery outside, with sunset light filtering through the antique carved window lattice onto the boss’s refined profile, the master was instantly mesmerized.

He suddenly remembered black and white old photographs he’d seen at his grandfather’s when he was young—obviously secretly taken photos. The young man standing beside his grandfather in those pictures had a profile that seemed exactly the same as the person before him now.

Even the clothes seemed to be the same—a Zhongshan suit embroidered with dragons…

Well, if he was being strict about it, the position of the dragon embroidery on the young man’s clothes in that photograph wasn’t quite the same.

The master had a strong imagination. Thinking about how the young man before him needed help with various identity documents and antique shop permits, plus the fact that he casually produced priceless antiques, his mind suddenly expanded in directions even he didn’t believe. His horrified expression had just begun climbing onto his face when the young boss by the window seemed to sense something, slowly turning his head. A pair of deep, dark pupils looked straight over, sending chills through his heart.

The master forced two dry laughs, feeling the sun beginning to set. Being alone in one room with this eerily mysterious boss created pressure that simply broke through the sky. He pretended to be calm as he left his cell phone number, then hurried away with hurried steps, desperately making excuses.

The young boss smiled indifferently. He preferred quiet anyway. Being alone here, even in this dust-covered humble room, brought him contentment.

The next day, the neighbors on the commercial street saw that the shop that used to be the private kitchen had been surrounded by green curtains. Occasionally they could hear the ding-dong-dang sounds of renovation from inside, but this didn’t cause much confusion. After all, when a shop changes owners, of course it needs renovation before opening, especially when even its original purpose had changed—from restaurant to antique shop. There were probably many places that needed renovation, and it wouldn’t be finished in less than several months.

So that stunningly handsome boss from that day didn’t appear often and didn’t attract their attention. In their view, that young boss clearly looked like a pampered young master who probably had too much money burning a hole in his pocket. Just the little bit that leaked through his fingers was enough to open an antique shop—nothing too strange about that. Look how the property transfer and renovation speed was beyond ordinary people! If it were a regular family, they couldn’t get it done in ten days to half a month!

Over time, regular customers to the commercial street also got used to this patch of green curtain. Occasionally curious people would ask the neighboring shops about it, but after learning it was going to be an antique shop, they lost interest.

To find that photograph from his memory, the master specially returned to his hometown to visit his old father. When he found that black and white photograph, he became even more horrified.

What do you mean “looks exactly the same”! It was the same person entirely!

Though his father was nearly seventy, his memory hadn’t deteriorated. He told the master about what happened back then—from meeting his grandfather during the Republican era to helping their family through those difficult years forty years ago. The more he spoke, the more it made the master’s hair stand on end. Even after returning to Hangzhou, he tried hard to hypnotize himself into forgetting this matter. Though this was rather difficult, fortunately several conferences invited him to attend. After the master finished his busy schedule, he discovered it was already over a month later. His assistant told him the antique shop’s renovation was mostly complete and payment had been settled. If he didn’t go take a look, it would really be inexcusable.

The master chose to go in the afternoon when there weren’t many people on the commercial street. This was also why the shop owners on the commercial street couldn’t understand why an antique shop would open here. Because this commercial street mainly featured small restaurants, with some clothing stores and coffee and tea shops as supplements. The white-collar workers from surrounding office buildings or students from schools only came here to eat and shop after dark. But antique shops followed the trade rule of “no examining colors under lamplight”—they opened very early during the day and had to close when the sun set. So antique shop streets basically became ghost streets at night.

This antique shop’s daily operating hours were during the commercial street’s most desolate period, so everyone found this wastrel-like behavior incomprehensible. The master vaguely realized that the boss’s insistence on choosing this location meant he didn’t want many people disturbing him.

The green curtain had a gap that could be pulled open. The master stood outside hesitating for a while, spent ten minutes building up his psychological preparation, took a deep breath, pulled open the green curtain, and ducked inside.

The renovation that appeared before him immediately shocked him—those antique eaves, delicate and elegant doors, that carving, that solid wood fragrance… it was truly worth the large sum he’d paid the renovation company.

The master looked with fascination for a while and could see the craftsmanship. Based on the wood’s quality, color, grain, and polishing, this was probably aged timber. Even if he’d given the renovation company twice as much money, they couldn’t have created just this storefront.

It seemed the boss had contributed his own good materials.

The master couldn’t help but reach out to caress that carved door, touching and smelling it for quite a while before reluctantly lifting his leg to walk inside. But honestly, even though he knew the boss had many good things, he didn’t dare come often. After all, that was a… supposedly very old monster who had lived many years. Best to avoid unnecessary contact!

Entering the shop, the master discovered the main hall was much more spacious because the surrounding antique display shelves were all empty—apparently nothing had been arranged yet. He scanned around and habitually looked up to analyze the beam structure, only then noticing that this main hall had somehow been changed to a double-eaved hip roof!

The double-eaved hip roof was the most prestigious form in ancient Chinese architecture, usually only used for palace main halls or Buddhist temples. A hip roof has four sloped sides that curve slightly inward, with four ridges on the left and right sides that meet at each end of the main ridge, with five ridges on the upper level. Double-eaved means there’s a short eave below this, with one short vertical ridge at each of the four corners, totaling nine ridges.

Fortunately, the shop here wasn’t large, so this type of architecture didn’t attract attention. But now the master would never believe this was something any renovation company could accomplish in just over a month.

With large drops of cold sweat beading on his back, the master had no leisure to observe the decoration and furnishings inside the mute house. He hastily greeted the boss who emerged from the inner room, reminded him he could come find him if anything came up—especially repairing antiques, which was his specialty—anyway, a bunch of polite words. Without even drinking a cup of tea, he stumbled out with his left foot tripping his right foot.

The young boss raised an eyebrow but didn’t take the master’s attitude to heart. Holding an ancient brocade box in his hands, he leisurely turned and walked back to the courtyard. Standing in the center of the courtyard, he could take in the entire double-eaved hip roof. If the master had stood here, he would definitely have known what was wrong with this renovation.

Because on top of this double-eaved hip roof, there were actually no ridge beasts.

The boss looked down at the lacquered box in his hands and sighed softly.

This old friend… it too had slept for a very long time…