Chapter 06
Now Yìngyuè has arrived at this man's house. Mister Duānmù, that's the name the building caretaker had used to call this man. At the restaurant, Yìngyuè gladly accepted the offer from this man to stay temporarily in his house. Naturally, she is afraid to be alone in a big, unfamiliar city. Somehow she feels this man is someone she can trust. Mister Duānmù sounds too formal, but Yìngyuè thought it's okay, although she prefers to call him Uncle Duānmù.
Before arriving at his home, Duānmù had already told Yìngyuè not to say anything when they arrive at home. Let him explain to his friends first, before Yìngyuè wants to tell them anything. Even though Yìngyuè finds it a bit odd, she is determined to obey him.
According to this man's guesses, they are all not home. But he is wrong. All his four friends are inside the house. As soon as Duānmù and Yìngyuè enter the house, the eyes of the four friends are directly fixing on Yìngyuè. This morning Yìngyuè heard this trustworthy uncle's words when he called home. He didn't say anything about Yìngyuè.
"Good afternoon, everyone," Duānmù greets them and waving his right hand.
"Let me introduce, this is Miss Lǘqiū. She will stay here with us for a while. I will tell the complete story later. Now we have to clean up first."
Without being asked, one of Duānmù's friends steps forward towards them. The person stretches out his hand to grab the backpack that Yìngyuè just put on the floor. He then picks up the backpack and walks following Duānmù and Yìngyuè. They walk towards Duānmù's bedroom. After they are already inside the room. That person put the backpack in one corner of the room. After that, he sits on the chair in front of the study table.
Then Duānmù wants to have a bath first. He tells Yìngyuè to wait in his room. He then asks his friend to stay in the room to help Yìngyuè until he finishes take shower.
While resting, Yìngyuè observes the situation in the room. There is nothing unusual in the room. There is a bed, a study table, a few chairs, a wardrobe, and a wooden box. Simple room walls without decoration, except for a wall clock that is not too big. On the table is an alarm clock as big as the palm of a grown man's hand. Next to the alarm is a notebook with the name Duānmù Shànquán on its cover.
She smiles when she reads the name.
"What is wrong?" asks Duānmù's friend.
"Never mind," replies Yìngyuè. But soon she continues her words.
"The name Shànquán truly makes me thinking again about the rain I got yesterday."
Duānmù's friend just dumbfounded. He doesn't understand what Yìngyuè means.
About twenty minutes later, Shànquán has finished showering. He sets foot in the room, already neatly dressed. He tells Yìngyuè to have a shower.
Yìngyuè have a shower just briefly. But, when she opens the bathroom door, she is dressed neatly. After putting the dirty clothes into a plastic bag and bringing it into Duānmù’s room, Yìngyuè instantly joins Duānmù and his four friends who are sitting in the living room. She stands in front of them.
In a loud voice, she says.
"Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Lǘqiū Yìngyuè. I just came to this city four days ago. In three days, I will meet my relatives who live in this city to live with them. I think Uncle has already Duānmù tell you what happened. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask."
They all take turns introducing themselves according to age order—Shànquán, Yìxióng, Zhèngyì, Yīrén and finally Xìnxiù. The girl is busy memorising their names. Duānmù Shànquán, Xīmén Yìxióng, Dōngfāng Zhèngyì, Nángōng Yīrén, and Běihǎi Xìnxiù.
It turns out that Duānmù Shànquán is the oldest occupant, also the boss here, therefore, his four friends called him Dage. Instead of Uncle Duānmù, he prefered Yìngyuè to call him Uncle Shànquán. Yìngyuè feels Shànquán sounds more casual and intimate than Duānmù, so maybe he is right. From now on she will address him as Shànquán.
For about half an hour, they were engaged in fluid questions and answers. Slowly but surely, their stiffness melts away. The five of them are single middle-aged men who decide to live under one roof while living in this city.
Yìngyuè finds that these five middle-aged men are unique. Very different from middle-aged men in general. They look so free. Not bound by the prevailing norms. Society expects men of their age to be stable and responsible for their families. But they seem to reverse that assumption. For the sake of their youth's desires, they simply didn't hesitate to leave their jobs and families.
Indeed, suppose Yìngyuè is to use the prevailing norms as a reference. In that case, the five could not be considered good examples. But who cares? After all, no one gets hurt. Achieving what someone really wants is not a bad thing, either. Their families didn't seem to mind either. Yìngyuè feels that her decision to stay here temporarily is the right one.
While Yìngyuè is sitting in the living room with these five people, she does not feel uncomfortable at all. A young girl among middle-aged men usually feels uncomfortable. But Yìngyuè feels okay. Sometimes Yìngyuè is amazed at herself. There are things that are considered unnatural for others, those things are not a problem for her. On the other hand, there are things that are not a problem for others, but those things are unpleasant for her.
At that time, the five were talking about Sōngfēi. He is a friend of these middle-aged men. Shànquán had told her a little about Sōngfēi earlier. According to Shànquán, Sōngfēi was a very passionate young man. His love of detective stories and mysteries made him active in activities in this field. He often holds detective and mystery game shows. Shànquán and his friends are often invited to participate in these activities. Shànquán and his friends are not big fans of detective stories and mysteries. They are fans, but they do not reach the level of a detective or mystery club.
Shànquán said, when Sōngfēi was asking Shànquán to take his bag and keep it for a while, he sounded panicked. From the conversation between the five people, Yìngyuè can conclude that Sōngfēi is in danger. The items in the bag may hold clues as to what really happened.
Yìngyuè in reality wants to be involved further in the discussion, but she has doubts. She does not know who Sōngfēi is and what he has done. She fears that her presence will make some disruption to this seemingly important discussion. Therefore, she decides to leave this room for a moment.
Yìngyuè suddenly stands up and says.
"Can I look at the plants in your back garden?"
The house where the men live is indeed full of plants. There is a front garden and a back garden. The front garden is not wide. The backyard is huge for a house in the middle of the city. The land in the backyard is covered with plants. There are also plants growing in pots. The area of the backyard is about 200 metres. Its size is 20 metres long and about 10 metres wide. It is rare to find this kind of house in such an area in the middle of a city. Moreover, the location is very strategic.
Earlier in the bathroom, there was a small window that led to the backyard. So Yìngyuè knew that there was a garden in that backyard. And so it happened that Yìngyuè loves plants. So she took this opportunity to have a look at them.
"Oh yes, please!" say Shànquán and his friends.
Afterwards, Yìngyuè comes out to look at the backyard. The backyard is indeed very wide. Of course, for urban side sizes. All kinds of plants were growing there. The atmosphere looks very lush. In general, the plants grow well there. Most of the backyard is open without a roof. However, there are parts that are covered with a roof.
Potted plants are also scattered throughout the garden. There are potted plants that are placed in the open, but there are also potted plants that are in a part of the yard that is covered with a roof. Yìngyuè looks at the plants one by one. There are several plants, especially plants that standing in a part of the courtyard covered by a roof, with slightly yellowed leaves. It seems that these plants get less water.
Yìngyuè then looks for a water hose so that she can water the plants. But after looking for a while, she can't find it. Then she goes back to the house to ask those middle-aged men.
They are still sitting in the living room. On the table, there seem to be objects from the bag Shànquán brought from the Dàfēisī tower. Yìngyuè stands next to them and says.
"Looks like you forgot to water the plants with water, right? May I borrow a water hose? Let me water the plants for a while."
Shànquán turns to Xìnxiù.
"Isn't there a hose in the backyard?"
Xìnxiù seems to wake up from something.
"Oh yes. I forgot to tell you. Three days ago, our neighbour borrowed our water hose. So far he has not returned it yet. I will go there to take it back now."
"Which neighbours? The left-door neighbour or on the right-door neighbour?" asks Yìxióng.
"The left-door neighbour. We met and chatted to the left-door neighbour yesterday, so if he was the one who had borrowed it then he should talk about it." Xìnxiù replies.
After Xìnxiù finishes his sentence. He comes out straight away and goes to the house next door to ask for the return of the water hose.
While Yìngyuè waits for Xìnxiù to return, she sits in the living room. Her gaze wanders over some of the objects that are there. Then she bends closer to the photo on the table. The photo looks like an old photo, but the image is still clear. There are seven people in the photo. Yìngyuè looks at the faces of the people in the photo. Shànquán is sitting beside her. He shifts his body closer to her. Yìngyuè realises Shànquán is waiting for her to give him another surprise.
"That person," Yìngyuè says, pointing to a face in the photo.
Shànquán and friends follow Yìngyuè's index finger to one of the faces there.
Yìngyuè continues her words.
"This is the woman who was kidnapped yesterday!"
Everyone present in the living room turns to Yìngyuè.
"Is she the woman in the car?" asks Shànquán to make Yìngyuè's point.
"That is correct. This is the woman in the car," Yìngyuè says confidently.
"Maybe we should go to the Dàfēisī tower to find other clues that Sōngfēi may have kept. He may not have realised that he had something important to hold. These notebooks, photos, and maps are not enough to start an investigation," Shànquán says.
"Besides, the place shown on this map is most likely not far from the Dàfēisī Tower," Yìxióng says.
"When Sōngfēi called me yesterday, he seemed to have gone into hiding. I mean, he doesn't have the freedom to go anywhere. So if he is hiding, nothing bad will happen to him in the near future," Shànquán says.
"What if the criminals find his hiding place before we can find him?" asks Yìxióng.
"About that, we can only hope that the criminals won't find him so quickly," Shànquán replies. Then he continues his words.
"Tomorrow morning we will go to the Dàfēisī tower to see if there are any other clues scattered around the unit rented by Sōngfēi."
All present agree with Shànquán's decision.
About ten minutes later, Xìnxiù returns with a water hose. The hose, about thirty metres long, is dark blue. Then Xìnxiù and Yìngyuè go to the back garden to water the plants. Xìnxiù explains to Yìngyuè about the plants in the back garden. Yìngyuè looks thrilled. Then she waters the plants by singing. Xìnxiù then goes back into the house.
Yìngyuè is in the back garden for almost an hour. It just like a playing ground. After it satisfies her, she directly returns to the house. It turns out that only Shànquán, Yīrén, and Yìxióng were in the house. Just then, Xìnxiù and Zhèngyì left to move their stuff into the lockers at the station. Including today, they only have seven days to pack and move things. After washing his hands, Yìngyuè sits in the living room to watch TV. Shànquán is also sitting there reading a magazine.
"Tomorrow morning, shall we all go to the Dàfēisī Tower?" asks Yìngyuè.
After Shànquán hears Yìngyuè's question, he stops reading. Instead of answering the question, he calls Yìxióng and Yīrén to sit together in the living room. Once they are all in the living room, Shànquán asks.
"Who is willing to stay tomorrow to take care of the house?"
In such a serious situation, someone at home must, of course, be on standby.
Yīrén and Yìxióng look at each other. It is clear to them that Shànquán wants one of them to stay at home. Shànquán is willing to take Zhèngyì, who is the tallest, and Xìnxiù, who is the youngest, to Dàfēisī Tower in the morning.
After a few seconds of contemplation. Because no one gave in, they finally did rock-paper-scissors. Yīrén lost, so he has to stay at home tomorrow.
"Okay, you stay at home with her tomorrow," Shànquán says.
"I have to be at home too?" asks Yìngyuè.
"When you are here, then you are my responsibility. For security reasons, I dare not take any risks," Shànquán says.
"Hmmmmm...,” Yìngyuè murmurs. "All right. Tomorrow I'll just work in the garden."
"Ah," Yīrén suddenly gasped. "I forgot to tell you something."
"Something like what?" asks Shànquán.
"Qiūzhēn called this morning. The company pulled him back to work at headquarters. So he's leaving for here tomorrow morning. He probably arrived at our house after 10 pm."
"Oh," says Shànquán. "Does he know anything about the Sōngfēi matter yet?"
"Not yet. I haven't told him anything. He just called for a while. Long-distance charges are expensive. Besides, about this matter, this morning, I myself didn't know clearly yet," Yīrén says.
At this time, Yìngyuè changes the TV channel to a news programme. The news broadcast is an interview with several mall visitors who experienced a strange incident yesterday in the form of a light explosion. They called it an explosion because it was like a bomb, but only light, so no metal shards, flakes, or anything was released in the blast. It turned out that several dozen people were injured. Although no one was seriously injured, still they were victims of this incident.
"Where did this explosion of light happen?" asks Shànquán.
"Inside the shopping centre near the underground station nearby," Yīrén says.
"When did it happen?"
"Yesterday, as soon as you left the shopping centre?" says Yìxióng.
"Yesterday? When I left the mall, it was very quiet. There were hardly any people. How could there be so many victims?"
"How quiet was it? I saw the shopping centre was full of visitors!" Says Yìxióng.
"It was true. When I entered the building, it was crowded, but when I came out, it was very quiet," Shànquán says. Then he stares at Yìxióng.
"How do you know I visited that shopping centre yesterday?"
"Yesterday he saw you went inside that shopping centre," Yìxióng says, pointing at Yīrén.
Yīrén does not want to budge, he also talks to Shànquán while pointing at Yìxióng.
"He was there too. He saw you inside the building. He said you were looking for someone or something, then you walked out of the mall. Right after that he also came out of the mall to find you, but he failed," Yīrén says.
"When did you see me?" asks Shànquán to Yìxióng.
Yìxióng replied, "I wasn't at the mall very long. So it's still around ten in the morning."
Shànquán straightens his back. He says firmly.
"That's impossible. When I left the mall, it was probably almost two o'clock."
Shànquán then told everyone present what happened to him yesterday afternoon.
"It was not yet noon when I entered the shopping centre. After a few minutes, I want to pee. Then I went to the toilet near the food court on the ground floor. Because there were so many people in the toilet, I went to the toilet which is on the right side of the building. It's the one that far at the back. "
"You mean the hidden toilet," Yīrén cuts in.
"Right, that toilet. Then, because there was no water flowing in the urinal, I entered one of the latrine stalls in the toilet. When I wanted to get out, I suddenly felt weak and fell towards the door. After that, I fainted. I don't know how long I was out. After regaining consciousness, I immediately went home. I just realised that I fainted for a few hours after I got home. I saw all the clocks show two o'clock in the afternoon.”
The three look at each other in surprise.
Shànquán says to Yīrén: "I think it was me who you saw entering the shipping centre."
Then he turns to Yìxióng and says, "The person you saw looking for something or someone in the shopping centre was probably me. But who you saw coming out of the shopping centre was definitely not me. Because I was most likely still inside the toilet at the time of that bizarre incident."
Yìngyuè has been listening to their conversation. The incident was strange. It just like hearing some horror stories.
"Not long after the light exploded, didn't the bomb squad and the fire brigade inspect the place? Didn't they find you inside the toilet?" Yìngyuè asks Shànquán.
"I put an under repair sign on the door handle of the toilet. So maybe they thought no one was inside," Shànquán replies.
"Maybe they thought no one was in the toilet. But they must have gone inside to look for explosives or something like that. And if they had gone to the toilet, it would be impossible for them not to find you," Yīrén tells Shànquán.
"What if this had happened?" Yìxióng raises his right hand to the level of his head. Yīrén, Shànquán, and Yìngyuè wait for Yìxióng to continue.
"After Dàgē fainted. Then he got up, but still in a state of unconsciousness. It became a kind of sleepwalking. In this state, Dàgē walked out of the toilet and then out of the shopping centre. After a few hours outside the mall, he then came back, still in a state of sleep. went into the mall, then back into the toilet. After that, he truly regained consciousness and went home. "
The theory Yìxióng just put forward sounds strange and absurd. After staring at Yìxióng for three seconds, Shànquán laughs out loud at it.
ns 15.158.61.21da2
