My esoteric uncle Jules

Chapter 20 Strange Antique Shop

The coachman whipped his horse and drove off, splashing mud that formed an almost amber bead curtain in the morning mist.

This villa, strangled by wisteria, is chewing up the sunlight with its cracked Roman columns, and each diamond-shaped stained glass window is flowing with the twilight of a different era - canary yellow on the left and burgundy on the right.

Each color does not seem to be mixed, but rather a color drawn from history.

However, in contrast to this splendor are the overgrown weeds in the garden outside the door and the dense spider webs on the railings.

Jules looked back and forth at the scenery here, and felt that there was a sense of weirdness everywhere.

"Forget it, no matter what, knock on the door first. We have to give it a try."

He stepped forward with courage.

Even if the person who opened the door in the villa was a monster, he would still knock on the door and ask.

What made him feel a little strange was that there were no steps in front of the villa, but a wide road that was unobstructed. Even the gate was grounded, and there seemed to be no such thing as a threshold.

When Jules stood in front of the door, he could see much more clearly.

The wooden door finally showed a hint of life - there was no dirt or dust, and the smooth water stains on it showed that someone had wiped it not long ago.

He wanted to knock on the door, but found that the door was not locked, but just ajar and opened with a slight push.

When the door opened, what came out was not air, but agarwood pickled by time, mixed with the smell of moldy parchment.

"What a strange place..."

Jules sniffed and subconsciously began to look around the environment inside.

In the walnut display case at the entrance, a brass astrolabe is showing a lunar eclipse from the seventh century BC, and an ivory-carved lamprey is wrapped around the finger bones of a pope. These inconspicuous objects bury generations of history.

He was watching intently when suddenly a gentle greeting sounded:
"Good day, you who peek into history."

Behind the spiderweb curtain hanging down the spiral staircase, a girl and a wheelchair emerged from the shadows one after another, and behind her was an old woman pushing the wheelchair.

The sound of the wheelchair rolling over the teak floor was as harsh as the sound of butterfly wings being torn, but when I think back, the only feedback from my memory is deathly silence.

And the doll in the wheelchair, no, the creature wrapped in deep black velvet, was smiling at Jules with its texture like ice-cracked porcelain.

"You're five minutes early."

Her voice is clear and pleasant, but it always gives people a feeling of exhaustion.

Jules had experienced two lives after all, so he wouldn't be so stunned by the sight of a beautiful woman. Moreover, he had other purposes in this trip, and one could even say he had "ulterior motives." Therefore, he just said in a somewhat strange tone:

"You...are the owner?"

If it weren't for the coachman's previous words and the girl's extraordinary words and deeds, he would definitely have thought that the old woman dressed as a maid behind the girl was the owner of this shop.

The girl nodded and said:

"Yes, if you have anything you would like to buy, please wait five minutes."

Jules scratched his head:

"Is it not open yet? Or is the lady behind you... going to clean the place?"

The old maid shook her head, pointed to the sky behind Yule, and said:

"Miss is just biding her time."

Jules looked at it in confusion, and saw an exquisite hanging clock hanging there, which was incompatible with the atmosphere of the antique shop. The delicate gears and machinery were intertwined, and a unique mechanical sound was ticking.

Looking at the time, the fourth hour of today is about to pass.

He opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but when the words came to his lips, no word came out.

In the end, his countless questions condensed into one sentence:

"Uh...are there any chairs?"

"Yes." The girl turned and whispered something to the old maid, who nodded and turned into the room behind her.

After a series of scuffling sounds, the old maid brought out an old chair, dusted it off briefly, and said, "Please sit down."

Yule sat down with a strange look on his face and said:
"You guys...even the chairs are antiques?"

The old maid smiled helplessly:
"Hey, it's because those who come here have to act like gentlemen. When they see our young lady sitting, they would rather stand until their legs hurt than sit."

The corner of Jules' mouth twitched - was this a compliment to his true nature, or a subtle criticism of his lack of gentlemanly manners?
Forget it, the most important thing is to be comfortable. He lay down on the chair and closed his eyes to rest.

……

Jules was already a little sleepy after getting up early in the morning, and he almost fell asleep while leaning on the chair.

Suddenly, a heavy bell sounded in his ears, knocking him out of his half-asleep state.

"Is it time yet?"

He turned his head in confusion, only to see that the time above had just reached the end of the fourth hour and the beginning of the fifth hour.

The girl seemed to have stopped waiting, which seemed meaningless to Yule, and turned around and said:
"What do you need, sir?"

Jules pondered for a moment and said:

"Do you have any ancient gold coins or maps from that time? I'm very interested in the history of this period and would like to study it."

He always felt that the atmosphere here was a little weird, so he was careful with his words, trying not to leave any traces.

The girl didn't seem surprised by Jules's request, and just said:

"Let me take you to see it."

Hearing this, the old maid loosened her hand, looked at Jules, and motioned him to follow the girl.

Jules was stunned for a moment, and said as gentlemanly as possible:

"Miss, it should be okay for you to act alone, right?"

"rest assured."

The girl's wheelchair was obviously specially designed, and its mechanical structure was so sophisticated that to Yule, a "modern man", it could even be called a work of art.

However, after he realized that the Steam Church was not as simple as it seemed, but a genuine group of extraordinary people, he felt relieved.

We have Gundam in modern times, but they have magic!
With a creaking sound, the old wooden door in front of the girl was pushed open by Jules.

The girl glanced at Jules, who had opened the door, with some surprise, but she just glanced at him quickly and her eyes returned to calm.

"Thank you."

She pushed the wheelchair and led Yu Le into the room.

The more Jules looked at the mansion, the more amazed he was and the more heartbroken he felt.

Why does such a luxurious mansion look so dilapidated?

Although it seems to have been converted into an antique shop, its owner, the girl in front of you, seems to have her aesthetic taste assimilated by antiques, making the villa full of a sense of age.

Soon, the two arrived in a fairly large room.

There were no luxurious furnishings in the room, but it faithfully fulfilled its duties as an antique shop, with a large number of antique display cabinets arranged in rows.

The girl was obviously quite familiar with all of this. She wheeled her wheelchair to a dusty display case, picked up a feather duster nearby, dusted it off, and said calmly:

"Here are ancient gold coins that are at least a thousand years old. If you buy the ancient gold coins, I can draw a map of that era for you as a gift."

Draw a map? Jules found that he had underestimated the other party's professionalism.

"No, no, no. As a researcher loyal to history, I only want paintings from that era." He waved his hand and politely declined.

Are you kidding? He wants ritual materials, not modern fakes or inferior products.

The girl frowned slightly, was silent for a moment, and said:
"It's not impossible, but...it might be scary."

(End of this chapter)