I sat up slowly from the bed, feeling as if everything was utterly unbelievable.
I looked at Song Bing, and saw a trace of surprise in his eyes as well.
"How was it?" Fatty asked. "I didn't lie to you, did I? Brother Xiang, you slept so comfortably."
I noticed that the sky outside the window had already darkened, and the light bulb in the room seemed a little harsh.
"I fell asleep?" I asked Song Bing, looking at him.
He nodded and said, "You slept for three hours."
I was stunned and turned to look at the pillow on the bed, not quite daring to believe it.
Could this thing really be the You Xian Pillow?!
To be honest, I was profoundly shocked at that moment.
I asked Song Bing again how long it took me to fall asleep after lying down. He said it was less than a minute.
I took a deep breath. This pillow was truly a bit uncanny!
Fatty asked me with a smile, "Brother Xiang, you must have dreamed just now, right? What did you dream about?"
Reminded by his question, I finally recalled the dream I had.
To tell you the truth, I had never dreamed of Sister Ying before; this was the first time.
In the dream, her figure was so vivid, it almost didn't feel like a dream.
I stared at the You Xian Pillow and pondered, "Where did you get this pillow?"
"What? Are you interested?" Fatty rubbed his hands together. "It's still the same price as before. As long as you're willing to pay, you can take the pillow, and I'll tell you everything I know."
I took a deep breath and said, "Alright! I want this pillow."
Fatty's eyes lit up. "Brother Xiang, you're truly straightforward! How do you plan to pay?"
I said, "Tell me the origin of the pillow first, and then I'll accompany you to transfer the money."
Fatty said, "Deal!"
According to him, he acquired this wooden pillow from a "dirt scraper" at Panjiayuan. He didn't mention the exact price.
The reason he was drawn to the pillow at the time was its patina, not because it was some so-called You Xian Pillow.
After acquiring it, he tried to sell it everywhere, but couldn't get rid of it.
Apart from the patina, there was nothing else on the wooden pillow, making it impossible to ascertain its dynasty or origin, hence no one bought it.
Later, Fatty left the pillow at home. One evening, on a whim, he placed the wooden pillow on his bed and leaned back against it.
Originally, he intended to use it himself. However, the moment he leaned back, he fell asleep and had many strange dreams.
This discovery left Fatty somewhat dumbfounded. He slept with the wooden pillow for more than half a month.
During this period, he dreamed almost every night, and they were all peculiar dreams.
In his dreams, he felt as if he had gone to a place he had never been to, where there were many people, but he couldn't see their faces clearly.
That's how dreams are; you rarely see the faces of people in your dreams clearly.
"That noon..." Fatty pursed his lips. "I had just returned from my stall at Panjiayuan and was thinking of taking a nap. When I lay down, guess what happened?"
"What happened?" I asked.
"I slept for three days and three nights!" Fatty exclaimed. "I clearly felt like I had only slept for a while, but when I woke up, I had no strength in my body at all, as if I were completely drained. After I finally recovered my senses, I glanced at my watch and realized I had slept for three days and three nights..."
As he spoke, Fatty looked terrified. "Since that day, I've never dared to sleep with this pillow again. I'm afraid that one day, if I fall asleep like this, I'll go straight to the Underworld."
After listening to his unbelievable experience, for some reason, the pillow gave me a particularly uncanny feeling.
I took the wooden pillow and touched it with my hand. I couldn't tell what kind of wood it was made from; the grain was very peculiar.
"Brother Xiang, stop studying it. You can study it properly after you pay and take it back," Fatty said, taking the wooden pillow from my hand.
I stood up and let Fatty hold the pillow, deciding to transfer the money to him right away.
Since the bank had already closed, I could only transfer fifty thousand to him via an ATM, and the remaining ten thousand was in cash.
After the transaction was complete, Fatty insisted on driving us to the hotel, and then he shamelessly came up to my room.
I asked him what he really wanted.
Fatty licked his lips and said, "Brother Xiang, be honest with me, what exactly do you do?"
"Does it matter to you what I do?" I replied.
Fatty said, "You buy such a wooden pillow as if it's nothing, without even batting an eye. And earlier, the card you used for the transfer... it was a gold card..."
Hearing him say this, I finally realized that this wily Fatty probably saw that I was wealthy and wanted to curry favor with me.
The card I used to transfer money to him was one that Wu Tingxiu had given me.
I had checked the card before and found a hundred thousand yuan in it. I had to admit, Wu Tingxiu was indeed a generous woman.
The reason I used her card to buy this wooden pillow was that she had mentioned Yang Hanxue was interested in peculiar antiques. Since that was the case, there was no need for me to use my own money.
To be honest, I wasn't sure if this wooden pillow would succeed in luring out Yang Hanxue.
However, the item was indeed quite extraordinary. Even if it proved useless, I could just give the wooden pillow to Wu Tingxiu.
"Fatty, do you want to earn some more money?" I asked.
Fatty's eyes lit up. "Of course I do! Just tell me what you want me to do, Brother Xiang!"
"I'm very interested in such peculiar antiques. Can you help me inquire if anyone in Panjiayuan, or even in the entire Yanjing, has such items in their possession?"
"You've come to the right person for this!" Fatty smiled. "Consider it done, but..."
Seeing his greedy look, I said, "If you find any items I'm interested in, my finder's fee will be five thousand per trip."
"Deal! It's a deal!" Fatty agreed immediately.
Looking at him, I suddenly wondered if I was offering too much.
But then again, since it wasn't my money, it didn't matter.
The next day, Bai Hanyan came to find me at the hotel, and I told her about the wooden pillow.
After listening to me, she was as disbelieving as I was at first. However, she tried it and slept for over two hours on my bed.
During that time, I couldn't wake her up no matter how much I called her.
This time, I truly witnessed the power of the "You Xian Pillow."
When she woke up, she found it incredible, saying, "This wooden pillow is too magical!"
I asked, "Could you trouble Auntie to help authenticate it?"
"Of course, let's go find her now!"
Bai Hanyan was inherently impatient; she acted on her thoughts as soon as they occurred.
We took the pillow and went directly to her mother's workplace: the Yanjing Archaeological Research Institute.
Just as we got out of the car and were about to go in, Fatty called me, telling me to hurry and find him, that something had happened on his end...