Chapter 07
Shimen Yihshyong is four years younger than Shannchyuan. With a face and body similar to Shannchyuan, people are often fooled. From a distance, they look very similar. At night, when the light was dim, her neighbours often thought he was Shannchyuan.
Yihshyong has known Shannchyuan for a long time. Namely, when he was four years old. At that time, he got lost in a bustling city fair. They held it in a vast field. The site was not far from Yihshyong's residence. During that period, Yihshyong's parents worked in another city. They couldn't bring Yihshyong there. So, they entrusted Yihshyong in one of his uncles.
One day, it happened that Yihshyong's uncle and aunt had something so important to do outside the city. They have to leave home temporarily.
It is still clear in Yihshyong's memory. At that moment, he was under the care of his three cousins who were still in their teens. One night, some friends of Yihshyong's cousins came and asked Yihshyong's cousins to go with them to have fun at the city fair. Yihshyong was only four years old, and they thought they would not take Yihshyong away for fear that it would be problematic. So they left Yihshyong and one of the cousins at home.
Unknown to them, it turned out Yihshyong was secretly following behind. When Yihshyong arrived at the city fair, soon the crowd made him lost his cousin's track. As Yihshyong cried in fear, Shannchyuan appeared and calm him down. Shannchyuan then accompanied Yihshyong and helped him find his cousins.
The situation was actually more complicated because Shannchyuan himself was also lost. Shannchyuan attended the city fair with his parents and three younger sisters. On that occasion, Shannchyuan's mother and younger sister were in the women's room. Shannchyuan followed his father into the men's room. But a moment later, he came out alone while his father was still inside.
As soon as he left the restroom, Shannchyuan saw someone he thought was strange. It caught his attention. Somehow, Shannchyuan followed that person. The crowd in this place quickly made him lost that person's track. The field where the fair was held was vast. All the places look the same. It would make sense if Shannchyuan got lost. Later he met Yihshyong, who was also lost. The two little boys tried to find their families together.
Finally, Shannchyuan met his family, but they could not find Yihshyong's cousins. It turned out Yihshyong's cousins and friends did not stay there too long. One of the friends asked them to go to another place. They left just like that because from the beginning they did not know Yihshyong was following them. Until late at night, none of Yihshyong's family come to report to the security guard at the city fair. Shannchyuan family has no other choice but to bring Yihshyong to their home. Only four days later, Yihshyong's relatives found out about Yihshyong's whereabouts and picked him up.
After that, Shannchyuan met Yihshyong several times. But when Yihshyong's parents came and took him to live in another city, they lost contact. Only about 25 years later they meet again. Even after that, they rarely meet face to face because Yihshyong lived in another city. The only chances are when Yihshyong occasionally happened to visit Shannchyuan's city.
About twenty-four months ago, Shannchyuan gave the news that he would soon be doing indefinite travelling. Yihshyong was not surprised to hear that. For a long time, he knew.
Shannchyuan had always wanted to become an explorer. During his journey, Shannchyuan gave news every month. He enthusiastically told Yihshyong about the experiences he had had. After Yihshyong thought about it, he finally decided to try what Shannchyuan did. Therefore, nine months after Shannchyuan departures, Yihshyong followed in Shannchyuan's footsteps and started his journey. At first, he travelled alone. The solo trip only lasted two months, he joined Shannchyuan in this city.
Life in this city is full of colour. Very exciting. So different from the monotonous life Yihshyong experienced before. Surprise after surprise came to colour his life. The experiences are meaningful. The house they live in is has left a million impressions in their minds. There is a sense of unwillingness, but inevitably they must let it go. Yihshyong hopes that his new future residence will also contribute memorable things.
Right now, they are still talking in the living room. There may not be many opportunities for having a conversation here. There are important things to discuss, namely, regarding the Songfei problem.
There are still things that stuck in Yihshyong's mind. He is still thinking about the explosion of light at the shopping centre near the station that happened yesterday. He feels something is odd. However, he can not describe which part is strange. Then he ponders over the things he did yesterday at the shopping centre.
The building was a rectangle that extends inwards. The width was about 200 metres, while the length was 500 metres. So this building was very big, indeed. There were two entrances—namely, the north entrance and the south entrance. The entrances were in the middle of the north and south sides. There were other doors located at the left and right ends of the north and south sides for vehicles, respectively—the right end for entry and the left end for an exit. The entrance for vehicles leads directly underground. The vehicle entrance was underground. The gate was located in the middle of the west and east sides of the building. People on vehicles could also drive directly into the car parked on the second levelled and therefore underground. From there, people could find a lifted that leads to the visitor entrance gate in the middle of the west and east sides.
Yihshyong entered through the north door. Once inside the building, he saw a lot of visitors hanging around. Yihshyong and his friends have visited this shopping centre many times. They already know their way around this shopping centre. Like thousands of other shopping centres in this city, this one had complete facilities. Apart from a shopping centre itself, there was also a small indoor theme parked. So hasn't been surprised if it was very busy every time.
Not long after he was inside, he suddenly saw Shannchyuan there too. His friend looks like he was looking for something. Yihshyong was just watching him from a distance. He knew that Shannchyuan sometimes really enjoyed being alone.
Under such circumstances, Shannchyuan usually felt uncomfortable when other people tried to talk to him. Yihshyong saw Shannchyuan was walking in circles. He senses that his friend was looking for someone.
Maybe Dahge actually had an appointment with someone in this building!
Suddenly Yihshyong heard the sound of a child crying. Yihshyong looked back. There was a small boy, about five years old, sitting on the floor and crying. It seems that he was separated from his parents or relatives who were taking care of him. Yihshyong remembered what had happened to him. He walked closer to the boy. But there were people who came running from his left side. One of them picked up the little boy and carried him. They turned out to be his parents. Yihshyong then turned back to where he had been standing earlier.
Shannchyuan was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he had found the person he was looking for. Or maybe he had gone out of the mall. That's because he couldn't find what or who he was looking for. Yihshyong then descends to the ground floor. He decided to continue his journey to find a new house.
Once at the ground floor, Yihshyong saw Shannchyuan in the crowd. There were a lot of people.
Apparently, Dahge was still here!
This time Yihshyong wanted to walk towards him. But when he started to walk closer, Shannchyuan suddenly walked very fast towards the exit. Yihshyong tried to catch up with him. However, his fast-paced was hindered by numerous people around him. Shannchyuan seemed to have quickly arrived at the shopping centre's exit and quickly disappeared behind the door. By the time Yihshyong arrived at the exit and walked through the door, Shannchyuan was already out of sight. There was no figure to be seen at all.
Where has Dahge gone? Why was he running so fast? Or maybe I saw it wrong!
Yihshyong looked around outside the shopping centre. There was really no sign of Shannchyuan. After thinking about it, he wanted to go to one of the well-known places for cheap flat rentals. He could use the bus to get there.
There was a bus stop in front of the shopping centre. Several bus lines go through the major street in front of the shopping centre. Without wasting much time, Yihshyong walked towards the bus stop straight away.
There were only three people, including himself, waiting for the bus. It wasn't long before the bus belonged to the line Yihshyong wanted to take, came. The five passengers got off at the bus stop. They then walked quickly to the north entrance of the shopping centre that Yihshyong had just left. Yihshyong instantly got on the bus. It turned out that he was the only passenger who got on at the bus stop. The other two were waiting for a bus from another line.
At that point, the bus was not full at all. No passengers were standing. The seat was filled only less than half. Yihshyong straight away sat down in the seat at the front, right behind the driver.
The bus started to move away from the stop when suddenly the people sitting at the back started shouting. Yihshyong looks to the back and saw the passengers, especially those sitting at the very back, shouting while pointing towards the shopping centre entrance.
Yihshyong turned his gaze to the shopping centre's door, which was still visible from where he sat. The visitors who looked in panicked were running out of the mall door. Several people had fallen. There were even people who had been kicked by people running around uncontrollably. The situation indeed was chaotic.
Something terrible happened in the shopping centre!
The bus moved forward. Yihshyong got up from his seat and walked to the left side of the bus. He wanted to be able to see better.
"Maybe a bomb!" said one of the passengers.
"There was no explosives sound. No smoke or anything either. So it's definitely not a bomb," said another passenger.
The bus was already about 50 metres from the stop, so it was impossible to stop. Furthermore, the bus was not allowed to stop in such a situation. The bus driver was responsible for the condition of the bus and the safety of the bus passengers. It was possible that a disaster had occurred outside, threatening the safety of many people. It was natural that people wanted to help other people who were outside. But everything had a procedure. For the bus driver and crew, the safety of the bus passengers was a priority. So his decision to continue was in accordance with the rules.
Even though he didn’t stop the bus, the bus driver immediately turned on the radio and reported the incident. Yihshyong hoped that the police, ambulance, fire brigade and other officers would come to the scene at once to help those people.
He returned to his seat.
Fortunately, Dahge has already left the building!
"Friends, I think now is the right time for us to discuss the Songfei problem," Shannchyuan says with a serious face.
Shannchyuan's firm voice interrupts Yihshyong's reverie. He regains his senses. He still doesn’t know what was odd in his memories about yesterday. But now he is ready to take part in this very important discussion.
Yinqyueh suddenly stands up and says,
"Can I go outside to look at the plants in your back garden?"
Yihshyong thought Yinqyueh is thrilled to chat with them. But this time, they are about to have a serious conversation. It's about the fate of their friend. Yinqyueh definitely knows nothing about Songfei. Maybe she is afraid her presence would only interfere with their discussion. Of course, maybe Yinqyueh just wants to take a look at their back garden right now.
The house they live in is indeed full of plants. There are a front garden and back garden. The front garden is small. Amazingly, the backyard is covered with plants. Some plants grow in pots. The land area there is about 200 meters. Its size is about 20 meters long and 10 meters wide. It was rare to find a house in such a spot in the middle of a city. Moreover, the location is very strategic.
Those middle-aged guys stare at Yinqyueh. Then Yinqyueh says.
"It happened that I love plants. Because I will not be here for such a long time, I want to take this opportunity to take a look."
"Oh yes, please!" says Shannchyuan. Those other men nod their head.
Yinqyueh hurries to leave the living room. Now they continue talking.
"Haven’t you already opened this bag?" Yihshyong asks Shannchyuan.
"Yes. But I only took out the iron handcuffs. I did not have the chance to examine the other items there," Shannchyuan replies.
Then they start to open Songfei's bag. They take items in the bag out one by one and line up on the floor. Apart from the iron handcuffs that Shannchyuan used to bang the side of the lift, there are several items inside. They found pieces of clothing, a moustache razor, a toothbrush, a towel, a notebook and a large brown envelope.
They observe the objects for some time. Shannchyuan takes the notebook and the brown envelope and put them on the table. While Yihshyong put the pile of clothes, whiskers, razor and towels back into the bag, Shannchyuan opens the notebook. He pauses and stares at the pages in the book. Iren sits right next to him so he could see clearly the contents of the pages.
"What letters are these?" Iren asks with a puzzled face.
The sheets in the notebook contained writings they do not understand. They cannot read the letters. Shannchyuan looks at Jenqyih while handing him the book.
"Look at this writing. Can you recognise it?"
Jenqyih is an expert in ancient languages. He knows many languages and characters. After observing the writing in the book, Jenqyih shakes his head and says:
"I have never seen a script like this before. It's like a cursive version of the Etruscan script. But it's not an Etruscan script. It's just that some parts look a bit similar."
"Why does Songfei write notes with such letters?" asks Shinnshiow.
Humming a sigh, Shannchyuan says.
"First, we know that Songfei likes mysterious and secret things. It is possible he used secret letters to record personal things. Although I have never seen Songfei write in such foreign scripts."
"Secondly, we don't know exactly who this notebook belongs to. Songfei could have found this book and then kept it."
"What if we ask Songfei's friends?" asks Shinnshiow.
"What friends?" asks Iren.
"His friends from the club. The detective and mystery club" says Shinnshiow.
"Do we know the addresses or phone numbers of those Songfei's friends?" asks Iren.
They all fall silent. Yihsyong feels the question is rhetorical. That is true. Until now, Songfei often invites them to take part in his activities. There they met people who had the same interests as Songfei. But outside of these activities, they never met Songfei's friends from the Detective and Mystery Club. Even they do not know the full identity of Songfei's comrades.
"What if we go to Songfei's residence to ask the people there?" asks Shinnshiow.
Iren looks at Shinnshiow. He says, "Three months ago Songfei moved away from that place. Back then, he promised to take us to his new house. Until our last meeting with him two months ago, he had not told me his address at all. "
They only realise Songfei is more mysterious than they initially thought. So far, they only ever visited Songfei's house once. The place is far away. Close to this city's border with other towns in the west. Their meetings with Songfei usually took place in the following sites. Dahfeisy Tower, which is the place where Songfei was used as a venue for mystery games. And public places where he often went when planning things, such as restaurants, cafes, city parks and so on.
"Talking about Songfei, I remember Tsaehorng. He asked about Songfei when we met two days ago," says Iren.
"Yes. Without the Songfei's event, we will never meet Tsaehorng," Yihshyong says.
They remember the first time they meet Tsaehorng. On that occasion, they were taking part in one of Songfei's mystery and detective game shows.
The small forest in the north of the city is perfect for such a game. Besides indoor, Songfei sometimes designs outdoor games. In the middle of the game, while exploring the woods, they found a small hut. There they found Tsaehorng tied up and hungry. Of course, Songfei then stopped the game because everyone had to take Tsaehorng to the nearest hospital.
Back in the day, Tsaehorng joined a group of delinquents. Tsaehorng felt unsuitable and wanted to leave the group. His intention made the group members angry. Then they kidnapped Tsaehorng and took him to a hut in the middle of the forest. Tied him up and then left him without food or drink. Fortunately, Jenqyih and friends came to help him. If not, perhaps Tsaerhorng may not be alive now. Songfei has a significant role because he is the one who was insisted on playing the game in the forest.
"We must not involve Tsaehorng in this matter. He has already helped us get a locker. It feels inappropriate for us to ask for help with anything else," says Shinnshiow.
"I don't think we can call this as anything else. Tsaehorng also knows Songfei. In fact, he feels indebted to him," Jenqyih replies.
"Maybe we should tell Tsaehorng. Regarding the matter of whether he wants to help or not, let him decide for himself. I think Tsaehorng also has the right to know about this matter," Iren says.
"But if we tell him about it, he may have no choice but to help. If we are in his position and know what happened, we would feel bad if we don't help," says Yihshyong.
"This is indeed a delicate matter. We must think carefully before we decide," Shannchyuan tries to intervene. Then he continues.
"But of course we all have to meet with Tsaehorng to say thank you. We will continue to talk about it. Now let's continue the discussion about the items inside this Songfei bag."
They all agree with Shannchyuan's words. The priority now is to analyse the objects that are on their living room table.
Their attention then turns to the large brown envelope. This is an ordinary envelope containing documents the size of folio paper. This envelope is not empty. Shannchyuan opens the envelope and peers inside.
"Hmm," Shannchyuan says curtly.
Then he takes out the contents one by one. It contains a piece of paper, a photo and a card. The piece of paper is full of handwriting. The writing on the paper is in red ink. Usually, people write in black or blue ink. People only use red ink in certain situations. For example, when a teacher gives bad grades to the student. It is impossible to write letters or documents in red ink.
Shannchyuan reads the scribbles on the paper seriously. The writing is irregular. It is clearly not an essay or a statement that intentionally written for others to read. It is more like a personal note to remind themselves. The irregular form indicates that the scribbles were not written at the same time. So it most likely refers to different things.
They often see the notes Songfei made. When planning and developing a mystery game, Songfei usually pays careful attention to everything he thinks of. The scribbles on the paper are not Songfei's writing at all. But if it isn't Songfei's writing, why don't they find any of Songfei's notes in the bag? Isn't this bag supposed to belong to Songfei?
Then they turn their attention to another object, namely a map. This map is actually just a white sheet of paper the folio's size drawn in black, blue and red ink. It doesn't really look like a map, but everyone agrees that thing seems almost like a map.
Then Yinqyueh, who has been looking at the plants in the back garden, suddenly go back inside. She says,
"Looks like you forget to water the plants! May I borrow a water hose? Let me water the plants for a while."
Shannchyuan turns to Shinnshiow.
"Is there no hose at the back garden?"
Shinnshiow seems to wake up from something.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Three days ago, the neighbour borrowed our water hose. So far, he has not returned it yet. Now I will go there for a while to take it back.."
"The left-door neighbour or the right-door neighbour?" asks Yihshyong. The left-door neighbour is the one who received the parcel.
"The right one," Shinnshiow replies.
Shinnshiow hurries to stand up. He directly comes out and walks to the next house to ask for their water hose's return.
While Yinqyueh waits for Shinnshiow to return, she sits in the living room. Her gaze wanders over some of the objects. She bends closer to the photo on the table. The picture looks like an old photograph, but the image is still clear. There are seven people in the photo. Yinqyueh looks at the faces of the people in the picture. Yihshyong notices that Shannchyuan watches what Yinqyueh is doing. Maybe he hopes the girl somehow will give them a surprise him.
"That person," Yinqyueh says, pointing to one of the faces in the photo.
Shannchyuan and friends follow Yinqyueh's finger to one of the faces there.
Yinqyueh continues her words.
"This is the woman who was kidnapped yesterday!"
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