By the riverside, Shuizhai Town was a beautiful old Hakka town. There was an old street, with mottled bluestone slabs spreading along the street, polished clean and moist by time and footsteps. However, few people know about this old street now, let alone such a locksmith shop in the depths of the old street.

Since the popularity of low-soldier hook locks and bullet locks, the old lock shop has become increasingly deserted.

One morning in March, the old locksmith was drinking tea at the door as usual. At this time, a young man came to the entrance of the alley and stopped when passing by the locksmith's shop.

"Sir, do you also like to collect ancient locks?" the young man asked tentatively.

The old man put down the old cigarette bag in his hand, looked up at the young man and said, "I make locks." When the young man heard that, he became excited: "I will visit your lock shop, okay?"

The old man's face showed a hint of embarrassment, sitting there without speaking.

"To tell you the truth, I like to collect ancient locks, and it is fate to meet you today."

Unable to resist the young man's soft grinding, they walked into the dusty lock shop.

I saw six or seven copper stoves in the old house. Although the ashes had already cooled, the walls, pliers, and files were all wiped clean. There were all kinds of locks hanging on the black walls, including round locks, semicircular locks, rectangular locks, and octagonal copper carved locks, which were homophonic to "Fulu" gourd locks. Each lock was a handicraft, showing the exquisite lock-making skills of the old man, and the young people were dizzy and gave thumbs up.

There was a flash of light in the old man's eyes. Just as he was about to introduce the ancient lock making process to the visitor, the young man suddenly had an inspiration.

"These locks are all locked, right? I should be able to unlock them all without a key," the young man said softly, but obviously he believed in his unlocking skills. The old man just smiled lightly and said, "I've been making locks all my life, and I've never made a lock that can be unlocked without a key."

"Then let's make a bet. If I can unlock it today, you can give me these locks. If I can't, I will worship you as my teacher."

The old locksmith was worried that no one would continue this skill. Today, a good apprentice came to the door like this, and the young man's words were in his favor.

"Okay, then you can try it." The old locksmith smiled indifferently.

The young man untied the burden, took out a pen-like thing from a small sleeve and put it into the keyhole. The pen rang for a while, and the young man gritted his teeth and frowned, but the ancient lock was still unlocked.

"Pa!"  The old locksmith's beloved fish-shaped gilt lock was actually opened. Immediately after, one or two locks on the wall... were all unlocked.

The young man was not polite. He unlocked it and threw it into the bag. After a while, the ancient lock that had been unlocked was about to fill the young man's bag.

Willing to admit defeat in gambling, the old man lowered his head and said to himself, "Take them all away, take them all away, don't keep any of them..."

Suddenly, a hurried cell phone rang, and the sound of a noisy police car came from the young man's phone. It turned out that there was a gas leak in a house in the county seat, and breaking the door directly might cause an explosion, so he needed his help to unlock it.

When the young man heard that it was urgent, he hurried out.

The old locksmith stopped the young man, saying that he had relatives in the county and wanted to hitch a ride with him. Looking at the lost old locksmith, the young man felt a little guilty and did not refuse, and got into the car parked at the entrance of the alley with the old man.

In the car, the old locksmith realized that the young man was a new Hakka who picked locks as a profession, and his skills were among the best in the city. The old man's heart was a little relieved. The accident happened in an old residential area, and you could smell the pungent smell of gas as you walked through the corridor, and the smell of the door of the room where the gas leak occurred was even more pungent, as if it could explode at any time.

The young man nervously took out the lock-picking tool for fear of a spark. He pressed his ear to the edge of the lock, and beads of sweat kept falling to the ground, but the lock seemed welded, motionless…

As time passed, the smell of gas became stronger and stronger, and the young man's hands trembled more and more violently. He was no longer as calm as when the old man had locked the shop, but the lock was still motionless. He could see in his eyes that he was about to give up.

"Let me try," the old locksmith said lightly.

Although the young man had some doubts, he still moved away from the lock of the door like he had grabbed a life-saving straw.

The old locksmith squatted down, held his breath, took out a steel wire from the keychain hanging from his waist, and gently poked it into the keyhole. His eyes were fixed on the keyhole, and he gently fiddled with the steel wire. Time and air seemed to have frozen, making everyone feel very depressed.

After a while, the pungent smell of gas made it difficult for people to breathe.

"Click," a crisp sound, the lock was opened!

The young man stood there stunned.

The old locksmith let out a long breath, patted the young man on the shoulder, smiled and said, "This is the first lock I opened."

After that, people found that there was a young man in the locksmith shop on Shuizhai Ancient Street. It didn't take long for a new lock to be added to the market. The lock type was quaint and atmospheric, and the lock cylinder was fashionable and precise, making it a new favorite of customers for a while.