Strange auction

On Isbel Street in the small town of Horston, there is a laundromat called "Dinah". The owner of the shop, Mrs. Henry, is a 72-year-old old man. Her husband, Mr. Henry, has just left, leaving her alone in a room of loneliness.

　　The business has long since ceased, but the sign of the "Dinah" laundry has been hanging high. The laundry is located in an area where every inch of land is expensive, but the old man has been reluctant to sell or lease the shop. After recovering from a serious illness, Mrs. Henry seemed to realize that she had few days to come, and finally posted an advertisement entrusting the auction house to auction the property. What is puzzling is that there is also an ordinary pocket watch tied to the auction with the property, but the old man has set its reserve price much higher than the house price. The advertisement also specifically stated: Who can say the origin of this pocket watch will give away the property rights of the house for free.

　　This seductive advertisement has attracted many people who want to hit the big luck. The auction preview hall was crowded and the phone kept ringing, but no one could say where the pocket watch came from.

　　Mrs. Henry stood by the phone with a dignified look, how she wished she had fulfilled her last wish before she died.

　　It turned out that the pocket watch had an extraordinary meaning to her. More than fifty years ago, shortly after Mrs. Henry married Mr. Henry, she opened a laundromat under her name "Dinah", and the business has been very good. One evening, when she was about to close the door and go home, a young man came in. Just a few days ago, she had met the young man at the door of the laundromat. The young man was very surprised when he saw her outside the store that day, as if there was something hidden. It was raining lightly at the time, so Mrs. Henry took the initiative to invite him into the store to take shelter from the rain, and learned that the young man's name was Robert, an unemployed young man. Looking at his poor and destitute appearance, Mrs. Henry gave him 10 yuan before leaving, and gave him her umbrella to cover the rain. Robert came to return the umbrella that day, and left a piece of clothing, saying that she should wash it and pick it up in three days. After Robert left, she habitually checked the clothes to see if the customers had carelessly forgotten anything in their pockets. Her hand suddenly touched a metal object, took it out and saw that it was a pocket watch, and then touched a letter in her pocket. She opened the case curiously, was stunned all of a sudden, and opened her mouth in surprise: there was a beautiful photo of a girl in the case, and the girl with a smile was clearly her younger self! She shouted out loud: "Smith!" Tears flowed down.

　　Smith was Mrs. Henry's first love, and she and Smith were engaged in 1950, and the pocket watch was their love affair. Soon after, the Korean War broke out, and Smith was sent to Korea to fight as a captain and company commander in the Royal British Army. Although she kept praying for Smith every day, the unfortunate news came that all Smith's company was killed. But she couldn't believe this cruel fact, because Smith had promised her that she would come back alive to marry her. With the last glimmer of hope, she endured until the end of the war in 1953, but Smith was never seen from the repatriated prisoners of war. After a serious illness, she obeyed her family's arrangement, hurriedly married Henry, and set up a laundry on a side street.

　　She never thought that God would bless her so much, and let her see the love between her and Smith again. After a moment of surprise, she was suspicious again: Who is Robert then? How could he have this pocket watch? Was it returned on purpose, or was it a coincidence? With doubts, she hurriedly opened the letter. However, she was extremely disappointed. The letter had nothing to do with the pocket watch. It was a letter from a man named Webb asking Robert for help. The letter said that Webb was seriously ill and needed a sum of money to save his life. I hope Robert can send £1,000 for the sake of a friend...

　　Mrs. Henry kept the pocket watch carefully, just waiting for Robert to ask when he came to pick up the clothes. But three days passed, a month passed, and Robert evaporated from her eyes like a mist.

　　She thought of Webb, who was seriously ill and in urgent need of help, and her heart became uneasy. Robert never returned, and she, as an insider of the matter, felt that it would be a sin to sit idly by and watch a seriously ill person ask for help. So she sent Webb £1,000, all her property before marriage, to the address on the letter. At the same time, a letter was sent explaining the whole story and telling Webb that if he saw Robert, he must ask him to come to the laundromat to pick up his belongings.

　　However, there was no news of the money or letter sent. But she still didn't give up, and traveled thousands of miles to the countryside to find Wei Bo, but the news she heard surprised her. The villagers said that Wei Bo was an orphan, loitering all day and not doing his job properly. No one knew his whereabouts, and they never heard that he was seriously ill... Her heart suddenly cooled, and she even suspected that she had been trapped by others. Fortunately, the pocket watch was still there, giving her a glimmer of hope and great comfort.

　　Years have passed, and the person who solved the puzzle still hasn't appeared. Suddenly one day, she received a remittance slip for £2,000, and since then, she has received such remittances from time to time every year. The remittance and address are constantly changing, leaving you with nowhere to look. Those remittances became Mrs. Henry's biggest heart disease, and she didn't know what to do with it. She had to guard the laundromat, fantasizing that one day the man named Robert would come down from the sky to solve all the doubts for her. Decades passed like this, and seeing her body decline day by day, she finally decided to use this strange auction method to let the "invisible person" behind the scenes appear, so that the money and pocket watch have a final landing.

　　Towards the end of the preview, an old gentleman came. After he looked at the pocket watch carefully, he burst into tears and wanted to see the client who auctioned the pocket watch, and said that the pocket watch was originally his.

　　Mrs. Henry hurriedly asked someone to invite the old gentleman over. At the moment of seeing Mrs. Henry, the old gentleman blurted out: "Dinah? Are you really the Dinah in the pocket watch photo?" Mrs. Henry was also stunned. The name "Dinah" has not been known for many years. Almost at the same time, the two asked: "How do you know my name?" "How did you get this pocket watch?"

　　The old man choked and said that his name was Brian. In order to find this pocket watch, he spent most of his life and savings running around auction houses and collections all over the world. Unexpectedly, the pocket watch that he was looking for had already been returned to its original owner. After the old man calmed down a little, he said slowly: Back then, he went to the Korean battlefield as a "United Nations Army" and became a prisoner in a battle. In the prisoner of war camp, he met Smith, who was seriously injured and suffering from pneumonia. Smith knew that his days were short, so he gave him the pocket watch, entrusted him to a girl named Dinah after returning to China, and asked him to tell Dinah. Na said he was sorry for her and couldn't spend his life with her.

　　Hearing this, Mrs. Henry burst into tears. After so many years, she finally knew the exact information of Smith. She wiped her tears and asked again, "What happened after that?"

　　"Then, one night, two Chinese military doctors came and carried Smith away, saying that he would be treated in isolation. Smith waved goodbye to me with tears in his eyes, and repeatedly begged me to find Dinah. I haven't seen Smith since. After returning to China, I took the watch to the girl named Dinah, but I never imagined that the pocket watch on the train would be stolen. I was stunned at the time, that was the great trust of the old man! Since then, I have been looking for this watch for decades. Over the years, that pocket watch has become a piece of my heart. It was not until today that I saw this pocket watch and you that my heart settled down. "

　　Mrs. Henry suddenly remembered the remittances and hurriedly asked, "Did you send the money?"

　　"Money?" Brian shook his head. "All these years, I've been looking for this pocket watch, and I don't have any savings at all! I also want to ask you, how did you get this watch?"

　　Mrs. Henry was about to tell Brian about the adventure of the pocket watch when the phone suddenly rang. There was a young man's voice on the phone, and the man said, "There's a man named Robert, you must remember, don't you?" When Mrs. Henry heard the name "Robert", she was so nervous that her heart almost jumped out. She said hastily: "Yes, of course I remember! Is he okay?" The man added: "He is my father and has passed away. Before he died, he asked me to remember to repay you that you once saved him."

　　"You must be mistaken, I saved your father? No!" Mrs. Henry looked confused.

　　"That's right, it's you, ma'am," the young man added. "My father was called Webb when he was young, and he did a lot of bad things. My father told me that one day he met you at the laundromat, and my father was stunned because you were exactly like the girl in the picture in the pocket watch case. The pocket watch was something he stole to sell. On that rainy day, you asked your father to shelter from the rain in the store, gave your father 10 yuan, and finally gave your father an umbrella. Father said that was the first time he felt respect and warmth, and he decided to give the watch to you. But at that time, my father was poor and destitute, so he left a'letter of help 'in his pocket. I didn't expect you to send £1,000 to that'Webb' kindly. After receiving the money, my father was very moved and vowed to reform himself. Since then, my father has changed his name to Robert, and has been waiting for 2,000 pounds to be saved and sent to you. It's just that my father left too suddenly. At that time, I vowed that one day when I became prosperous, I would stand in front of you with dignity and repent for my father. Today, seeing the auction advertisement you put in the newspaper, I know that the person you are looking for must be my father. Please accept my belated apology and thank you again for your help to my father. "