Under Qin Ling's recommendation, Fei Ri only had to wait a few days before receiving the interview notice.
The five elderly geezers and grannies from the Cultural Relics Committee eyed Fei Ri up and down for a full ten minutes before they finally began their long-winded chatter. First they spoke of how their admiration for Murong Qing flowed endlessly like the waters of the Yangtze River. Then they reminisced about how their friendship with Murong Qing was evergreen like the pine and cypress. Finally, they expressed their high hopes for juniors of Fei Ri's generation…
Strange! These experts were supposedly so busy with research every day that they had no time even for meals or socializing—yet here they were, chatting away for two whole hours. Fei Ri patiently sat through their chatter for precisely two hours, twenty-one minutes, and thirty-seven seconds. Only then could he no longer hold back and finally brought up the matter of his interview.
"Interview?" The head of the group, old Mr. Chen Dan, took a sip of tea and said, "What interview are you talking about?"
Fei Ri nearly fainted. Gritting his teeth, he said, "The interview for the special librarian position at the National Library that I applied for."
The silver-haired old lady Ge Fanglin beside him, still cracking melon seeds, smiled and said, "Your grandmother informed us long ago, before she passed away, about your attainments in cultural relics. She even said that if we ever ran into any difficulties, we could ask you for help. The special librarian position is already beneath your talents—why bother with an interview?"
Fei Ri took a deep breath and asked, "Then why did you notify me to come for an interview today?"
"Because we old fossils haven't seen each other in ages, and we needed an excuse to get together."
"That's right! Each gathering is one fewer!"
"Besides, gathering under the name of an 'interview' means the tea and melon seeds are free."
"And we can even get our travel expenses reimbursed, right?"
"Come, come, chat with us—the proud grandson of old Mr. Murong, the highly recommended new star of the cultural relics world. The future belongs to you young people…"
Watching the behavior of these supposedly revered seniors, Fei Ri suddenly felt that he was actually the oldest and most mature person in the entire interview room. Fine, let's chat. If I don't tough this out, who will?
As the minute hand of the clock went round and round, the Cultural Relics Committee set a new record: all members, with an average age of seventy-seven, spent a full five hours interviewing a teenager applying for the special librarian position. Future generations would marvel at the astonishing diligence of these five committee members.
Finally managing to escape the interview room, Fei Ri let out a long sigh of relief. His lofty ideal—of becoming a librarian—had at last been realized!
The special librarian position was not as free as Fei Ri had imagined. Although he could freely enter the public stacks of the National Library and the professional level-2 to level-5 stacks and read whatever he wanted, he had no arbitrary access to the six level-1 stacks and the thirteen Unnamed Stacks under his own charge.
Every single book in the six level-1 stacks was a genuine "national treasure." Never mind the handwritten manuscripts and authentic works of scholars from every dynasty—just the rumored lost Han-dynasty Xungu Zongcheng, the Song-dynasty Taiping Yulan, the Ming-dynasty Yongle Dadian, and the Qing-dynasty Siku Quanshu were enough to tempt any ill-intentioned person into taking desperate risks. To prevent insider theft, therefore, a single special librarian was not allowed to enter the stacks alone. Only after the director's approval and under the supervision of two guards could he obtain the keys to organize and classify the collections.
Because of these strict rules, very few experts were qualified to borrow these books. Often ten days or half a month would pass before someone arrived with Qin Ling's approval slip to borrow something. Fei Ri didn't mind this at all. For him, the important thing was the content of the books; whether they were printed on straw paper or bound in gold and jade made little difference. Modern printed editions of Taiping Yulan and Siku Quanshu existed—why go to all that trouble?
What truly interested Fei Ri were the thirteen Unnamed Stacks. These housed fragmentary chapters and remnants left over from successive dynasties. Because of their great age or other reasons, their content and value could not be determined, so they were all classified as "unnamed." Of course, with ongoing archaeological discoveries, some materials occasionally found their proper place and had their value confirmed. For example, ten years earlier, a handwritten ancient book with only five pages remaining—and no related reference materials—had been stored in Unnamed Stack No. 3 because no one could judge its worth. Then, during the renovation of Longting Park in Kaifeng, Henan, half a stele was unearthed at the site of the original Song imperial palace beneath it. The text on the stele matched one page of the book exactly, and the reverse side bore the inscription "Ink rubbing of Emperor Taizu of Song's personal handwriting." After Murong Qing's verification, it was confirmed that the five pages were the secret family precepts personally written by Emperor Taizu of Song and stored in the Imperial Ancestral Temple—an event that caused a sensation in the archaeological world. Similarly, every year across the country, inexplicable textual materials discovered during archaeological work, when their nature could not be confirmed, were submitted to the National Library and stored in the Unnamed Stacks, awaiting the attention of relevant experts.
Fei Ri's plan was simple: if he wanted free access to the six level-1 stacks and the thirteen Unnamed Stacks, he had to obtain special authorization from the Cultural Relics Committee. So—time to get to work!
He was not worried about Qin Ling. When Murong Qing had taken Fei Ri in, it had been right at the beginning of Qin Ling's own apprenticeship. Fei Ri's growth had therefore accompanied Qin Ling's entire learning process. Moreover, because Murong Qing was advanced in years, Fei Ri was sometimes left in Qin Ling's care. In a sense, Qin Ling was half a father to him.
But what about the five old geezers and grannies on the Cultural Relics Committee?
Although they usually laughed and joked with Fei Ri whenever they met, on matters of principle they would not yield an inch. When Fei Ri proposed obtaining special authorization, the head, old Mr. Chen Dan, burst out laughing. "Special librarian plus special authorization—that's basically a special reading pass, isn't it? Kid, your little schemes are getting more and more numerous."
Fei Ri knew he couldn't fool this old fox. He pouted and said, "It's not the same. The permissions might look identical, but the reputation is completely different. In today's China, besides you, Grandpa Chen Dan, who else is worthy of holding a special reading pass?"
"You little rascal, stop buttering up your grandpa! To be honest, compared to your grandmother and Mr. Li Qi's level, Grandpa is still far behind!" With eighty-plus years of life experience, Chen Dan was not someone Fei Ri's small flattery could handle. "Unless you, little devil, can produce some real, convincing achievements."
Anyone who judged Fei Ri's life experience solely by his fifteen years of age would be gravely mistaken. Years of voracious reading had given him a depth of experience no ordinary person could imagine—far richer, in fact, than the self-proclaimed "old and refined" Chen Dan before him. Fei Ri nodded and said, "Yesterday I happened to sort through Grandma's collection and found a scroll of the Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies. It's not the Tang copy held by the British Museum. Grandma noted beside it that it may be Yan Liben's authentic work, pending further verification. Since Grandpa Chen wants real achievements, I'll have to go home and spend a few years authenticating it. Once I have solid evidence of its genuineness, I'll bring it for you to see."
"Admonitions of the Instructress? Suspected authentic?" Chen Dan suddenly looked sixty years younger. He practically leapt three feet into the air, grabbed Fei Ri's hand, and said, "Quick, show Grandpa!"
Fei Ri shook his head. "No can do! I'm counting on this scroll to give me some truly convincing achievements. How can I show it to anyone before its authenticity is confirmed?"
"But… but…" Now it was Chen Dan's turn to pace in circles.
Fei Ri said calmly, "Grandpa Chen, at my level, it would normally take me eight or ten years to produce conclusive evidence. If you live as long as Grandma did…"
"Don't! Don't!" Chen Dan finally couldn't take it. "Grandpa is already in his eighties. If something happens to me, that's fine—life ends when it ends. But knowing an authentic Admonitions of the Instructress exists and never getting to see it… how could Grandpa ever forgive himself? Little devil, you want special authorization? Grandpa will sign it right now!"
"Thank you, Grandpa. I'll bring the scroll over tomorrow."
"Good! No—I want it today."
"Then… I'll go home right now and fetch it!"
"No! I'll go with you and look at it at your house." Chen Dan was not one to be patient. "But little devil, I really want to see how you get the other four old fellows to sign."
Fei Ri gave a mysterious smile. "This humble mountain dweller has his own brilliant scheme—this tactic is unrivaled under heaven."
Sure enough, by the time Chen Dan had been staring at the painting from noon until dark—mouth drooling, voice hoarse, groaning "Divine masterpiece! Divine masterpiece! Authentic! Authentic!"—Fei Ri had already employed his grand inducement tactic combined with his spoiled-grandson method and secured the signatures of the other four. Seeing Chen Dan's dazed state in his own home, Fei Ri leaned close to his ear and shouted, "Grandpa! You've been looking at this painting for six full hours without even changing your posture. Aren't you tired?"
"Tired?" Chen Dan finally snapped back to reality. His whole body suddenly went limp; he collapsed into the chair and said feebly, "This old man has no regrets left in this life anymore! Little devil, I'll spend the night at your house today, all right?"
Fei Ri replied casually, "As you like! But I won't be home!"
"Where are you going?"
"I can't wait any longer," Fei Ri said, waving the signed special-authorization document. "I'm heading straight to the National Library to collect that set of highest-authority keys."
The so-called highest-authority keys were kept in Director Qin Ling's safe. They could independently open the six level-1 stacks and thirteen Unnamed Stacks that the special administrator was responsible for. Normally Fei Ri carried keys too, but each was only one-third of a complete set and could only be used together with two supervisors. Every time he entered the stacks to organize materials, he had felt extremely uncomfortable. Now things would be different.
When Fei Ri handed the signed authorization to Qin Ling, a smile spread from his heart all the way to his face. Qin Ling asked with some curiosity, "Fei Ri, exactly what method did you use to get those five old fossils to sign?"
Fei Ri stared at the keys in Qin Ling's hand and answered nonchalantly, "Learned it from the Americans—carrot-and-stick policy. Plus a little psychological suggestion from hypnosis and some Legalist power tactics."
"You even used hypnosis?" Qin Ling shook his head. "You really know a bit of everything. But signatures obtained that way are invalid, you know."
Fei Ri smiled bitterly. "Hypnosis alone wouldn't have worked. Those five old fossils may be physically near the grave, but their minds are as hard as granite—I had no opening to exploit. This afternoon I used five of the eight treasured items Grandma left me, smiled until my face hurt, and said every nice thing imaginable. When they finally signed, they were all wide awake. If you don't believe me, call and ask!"
"I believe you!" Qin Ling handed over the keys. "I've known since you were little that you're clever and mischievous, but you'd never deliberately deceive friends."
Fei Ri quickly took the keys. "You really understand me! Huh?"
"Something wrong?"
"Six level-1 stacks and thirteen Unnamed Stacks—that should be nineteen keys total. Why are there twenty?"
"Because there is one additional secret room that lies outside the special librarian position but within the scope of special authorization."
"A secret room? Then why have I never heard of it even with my special reading pass?"
"That's precisely why it's called a secret room. It does not appear on the library's construction drawings, is not mentioned in any descriptions, and is unknown to the outside world. Only the true holder of the special reading pass—which represents the highest borrowing authority—knows of its existence. Let me add: the true holder, not someone borrowing the tiger's might."
"So my grandmother knew about it?"
"She did."
"Did she ever go inside?"
"Twenty years ago, right after she received her special reading pass, she went once."
Fei Ri tilted his head and thought for a long while before saying, "Why make it so mysterious? If there were really something amazing inside, wouldn't Grandma have stayed in there every day? What's the point of a place you visit once and never return to?"
Qin Ling pondered for a long time, then finally made up his mind and said, "All right! I'll tell you why the secret room is a secret room!"
"My ears are all yours!"