The woman lunged across the table like a demon possessed. With her arms pinned inside the straitjacket, her body could only twist and convulse violently, like a thrashing python under stress.
Her eyes were so bloodshot they looked ready to weep gore, her expression vicious enough to devour a person whole.
Outside the visitation room, everyone except Li Zhuiyuan was visibly shaken. Even Tan Yunlong proved no exception; to see such a sight was deeply unnerving to any ordinary person.
After all, she was human, one of their kind. Conditioned by long years of peace, most people naturally shrank from such bestial, uninhibited hysteria.
Li Zhuiyuan felt differently. Through the glass, amidst her screams and wild thrashing, he saw a form of release.
What seemed terrifying to ordinary eyes appeared to him as a sign that a benign phase in her cycle was about to begin.
There was no explaining this empathy. To draw a crude analogy, it was like a junkie wandering through city alleys knowing instinctively where to score, or an old whoremonger glancing at a storefront and knowing whether real action waited inside.
Certain people seemed equipped with radar in their skulls, sensing one another's presence—a case of birds of a feather flocking together, if of a rather foul sort.
Auntie Xu, evidently, did not understand. She began gathering the photographs on the table, assuming the interrogation was over and that nothing more could be coaxed from her.
Li Zhuiyuan suspected Li Lan had kept her as a secretary not for any exceptional capability, but simply because she was a fellow native from home who spoke the Nantong dialect, useful for placing calls to Li Lan's parents in the future.
Even if years had passed before that call was ever placed, it was precisely the sort of thing Li Lan would do.
"Brother Binbin, I know the lady in there. I don't want her knowing I'm here."
Those words were meant for more than just Tan Wenbin's ears.
With that, Li Zhuiyuan turned and slipped into the restroom down the hall.
The man beside Xu Wen pushed the door open for her. As she stepped out, she noticed the three people standing in the corridor.
"Who are you?" Xu Wen asked.
"I'm an officer from her registered hometown," Tan Yunlong replied. "Brought them to see her."
As he spoke, Tan Yunlong patted Tan Wenbin on the shoulder.
Tan Wenbin had sat at a dining table with dead-flippers, after all.
He lowered his head to prevent her from noticing the family resemblance between his brow and the "officer" behind him, then hunched his shoulders slightly.
A hint of guilt showed in Xu Wen's eyes; after all, she had triggered the woman's frenzy. She merely nodded and turned toward the exit, the accompanying man trailing in step.
When they reached the restroom, Xu Wen paused to wash her hands.
"Nothing came of it," the man said in a lowered voice.
Xu Wen had no such discretion. In an ordinary volume, she replied, "She probably never went down there. She was just severely traumatized by what happened to her husband. Where is the next crew member located?"
"Lianyungang."
"Then let's get moving."
"Are we visiting all of them?"
"What else? For him, I need him found alive or seen as a corpse."
"This is your hometown. Not going back for a visit?"
"I already brought my mother to the capital. There are no relatives back home worth visiting."
"I heard..."
"The Director's relatives? I wouldn't dare touch them. If the Director came back and found out..."
They left the washroom area and walked toward the exit, their remaining words fading out of earshot.
Li Zhuiyuan stepped out of the stall and turned on the tap to wash his hands.
Thanks to having been blind for nearly a month, his hearing had developed even further, allowing him to catch every word of their exchange.
Auntie Xu was searching for someone, but that person was not Li Lan; Xu Wen would never speak of Li Lan as someone she needed to find "alive or see as a corpse."
Evidently, the mission Li Lan was on was not in the area where Zheng Haiyang's parents had met disaster, though Li Lan had indeed not returned.
What kind of assignment could drag on for so long? It had already been two months.
Flicking the water from his hands, Li Zhuiyuan walked back. In the past, he would have approached Xu Wen with a warm greeting, affectionately calling her "Auntie Xu." Now, however, he shrank from any contact with Li Lan or those around her.
Given the choice, he would rather spend the rest of his life without ever crossing paths with Li Lan again, and he was certain Li Lan felt the exact same way.
Because whenever mother and son met, no matter what they did or said, they were tearing strips of flesh from each other.
The doctor stepped out and was speaking with Tan Yunlong.
"The patient's emotional state is extremely volatile right now. She really isn't fit for more visitors."
Tan Yunlong pointed at Li Zhuiyuan as he returned. "Just let the boy go in alone for a look. The poor child has suffered so much."
The doctor looked down at Li Zhuiyuan and, after some hesitation, nodded. "All right. Just him alone. The rest of you wait outside—no one else comes in."
Tan Yunlong bent down, appearing to whisper an instruction into Li Zhuiyuan's ear: "That man was a soldier. Seen combat."
Li Zhuiyuan nodded. "Thank you, Uncle Tan."
Tan Yunlong smiled and sat back on the corridor bench.
Li Zhuiyuan was let into the visitation room.
He sat down across from the woman. She was no longer as frenzied as before, though she still breathed in ragged gasps, the crimson in her eyes terrifying as ever.
Li Zhuiyuan simply sat there, saying nothing.
He had come purely out of "curiosity," nothing to do with schoolmate sentimentality, so he had no intention of bringing up Zheng Haiyang as a conversational opening.
He did not even bother scheming or maneuvering to steer the conversation, though he was thoroughly adept at it.
With Xu Wen's methods fresh before him, he found the prospect distasteful. He had no wish to build his amusement on tearing down and manipulating innocent people.
Curiously enough, once he resolved to treat Li Lan as an answer key of what never to do, doing the exact opposite of her methods turned out to be the very thing preserving his humanity.
Outside, watching through the glass, Tan Wenbin asked Runsheng in confusion, "Why isn't Brother Yuan saying anything?"
Runsheng shook his head. "If Xiao Yuan isn't speaking, it means he doesn't need to speak."
Tan Wenbin chewed on that for a moment, then muttered, "What kind of nonsense is that supposed to be?"
Yet a turning point soon arrived.
The woman quieted down. She began speaking of her own accord—no shrieking, no madness. She merely sat there, recounting her story in an ordinary voice.
Unfortunately, her voice was so ordinary that those outside could hear nothing.
Tan Wenbin scratched his ears and clawed his cheeks in frustration, itching to burst in and listen.
Runsheng asked, puzzled, "What are you in such a hurry about?"
"How can I not be? If I went in now, I'd hear it firsthand! By the time Brother Yuan comes out to tell us, it'll all be condensed and summarized!"
"Isn't that good?"
"My fault. Why am I even debating this with you?"
Inside the visitation room, the woman's countenance had returned to normal.
Li Zhuiyuan knew his "empathy" had not steered him wrong. He had reaped the fruit.
Xu Wen had successfully pushed the woman into an emotional collapse and then walked away, leaving a far better opening for him.
Had Li Lan been here, she would never have made such an amateur blunder.
"I tried to talk him out of it, told him not to go down with them, but he wouldn't listen. In the end, he even talked me into going down with him."
"You went down?"
"Yes, I went down. I shouldn't have gone down."
"I'm curious. What's down there?"
"A place... a vast, enormous place. Inside, there's a sun, a moon, and stars."
"You mean at the bottom of the sea?"
"You don't believe me?"
"I believe you."
"Outside that place, there are many shipwrecks."
"Then there must be a lot of treasure."
"There is, but it's hard to find. Those ships are all shattered, except for a few unusual ones."
"How are they unusual?"
"Most are wooden, though a few aren't. They're buried under sea sand with only fragments poking out. The area is caught in turbulent currents, impossible to excavate. After so many years, whatever was on them has either been swept away or buried deep."
"What a pity. So you went inside?"
"Yes, we went inside. Once inside, you could take off your oxygen mask. There was dry ground, a place where you could breach the water's surface, where you could see the sun and stars."
The sun and stars...
Li Zhuiyuan knew the woman was lucid right now, so such a counterintuitive juxtaposition of sun and stars likely carried a specific meaning.
Constrained by his lack of relevant scientific knowledge, Li Zhuiyuan could not determine whether such a place beneath the sea floor could truly exist, but he sensed she was not lying.
He really did need to go to university.
"That wasn't your first time in there, was it?"
"It was my first time, but not my husband's. It was his second."
"Does a mariner's work include that sort of thing?"
"It depends on how you look at it. It was just a job, and work isn't the whole of life. Our pay was actually quite good, but we never got much of a cut from the smuggling. My husband got greedy. He wanted to make a fast fortune and never go out to sea again. I felt the same way."
"I see. How many of you went down in total?"
"I can't remember clearly. A dozen or more, probably."
"That many?"
"Because we were only guides."
"Who hired you to guide them?"
"Two groups, I think. Both operated under the guise of marine conservation organizations. The leader of one group was named Honda, and the leader of the other was Ashley, an Englishman."
"You think?"
"There was another new sailor named Zhu Changyong. He got along well with my husband, but my husband said he was probably here for that place as well."
"So three factions hired you as guides. How was the take split?"
"The guide fee alone was substantial, and there was a cut promised afterward."
"Go on about what happened after you entered. I'd like to hear what was inside."
"Inside stood a wall, and in the wall was an enormous gate. But it couldn't be opened. Honda said it was purely decorative—the interior was solid and sealed off, never meant to be reopened to outsiders from the day it was built."
"Then how did you get in?"
"There was a gap between the top of the wall and the cavern ceiling. It might have been seamless at first, but over time it separated from the rock. We climbed up and squeezed through the gap. Once inside, I saw..."
Pain and anguish surfaced on her face.
Li Zhuiyuan paused his questioning and waited patiently.
After a moment, the woman steadied herself and continued with a shudder, "Once through, we found ourselves right back where we started."
Li Zhuiyuan frowned slightly. "How long did it take to crawl through?"
"Ten minutes. It was so narrow that with our gear, we could only crawl on our bellies."
"That is a long crawl. But what were you afraid of, even if you crawled right back to where you began?"
"It was the place where we started."
"Yes, you mentioned that."
The woman stared at Li Zhuiyuan and pronounced each word distinctly: "And at that starting point, we were still there."
Li Zhuiyuan straightened his back instinctively.
He understood now why she was terrified.
"And... then?"
"They fought."
"They?"
"I was the last to crawl through. According to Honda and Ashley's orders, my husband and I had to be separated—one at the front, one at the back. By the time I crawled out, they were already descending via rope ladders."
"Rope ladders?"
Li Zhuiyuan began piecing together the scene in his mind from her sparse descriptions, striving not to miss a single detail.
"Zhu Changyong hung the ladders."
"Was there another Zhu Changyong on the other side, too?"
Li Zhuiyuan suspected the person Xu Wen was looking for was certainly neither Honda nor Ashley's men; in all likelihood, it was this Zhu Changyong.
"Yes. When I emerged, they were already down the ladder, talking. My husband was among them—two husbands. When the two of them stood side by side, even I, his wife, couldn't tell which was real."
"And what about you? Did you see another you?"
A smile curled the corners of the woman's lips, spreading wider and wider, her eyes brimming with eerie significance.
She did not answer directly, countering with a question of her own: "What do you think?"
Li Zhuiyuan leaned slightly to the side and asked, "You said they fought afterward?"
"Yes, they fought. Many died, lying on the ground in mangled heaps of blood and flesh."
"Who died?"
"I can't remember. In the end, whoever was left standing alive was the only one."
"Was there one of you lying on the ground, too?"
"What do you think?"
Li Zhuiyuan straightened back up, looked down at his fingers, and asked, "Was there only one Zhu Changyong left as well?"
"Mm."
"What happened next?"
"Then we went inside again."
"Through the same hole?"
"No, through the gate this time. The surviving Honda discovered that the gate could now be opened. Not fully, but enough to pry open a slit wide enough for a person to slide through sideways."
"You formed a team again?"
"Mm."
Li Zhuiyuan desperately wanted to ask: How could you tell which of the survivors were from the group that went in with you, and which were the ones you encountered?
And the gate that could not be breached from the outside could now be entered.
So had you gone inside, or had you come out?
Yet he dared not probe too deeply; he had already noticed her emotional state beginning to waver again.
The fleeting composure achieved through frantic release was like drinking poison to quench a thirst. It was only because the incident was recent that she had this much clarity; barring a miracle, her mental condition would only deteriorate.
In time, whatever occasional moments of lucidity she still had would be drowned out completely.
In other words, he was likely the last person who would ever glean any intelligence from her.
Li Zhuiyuan could not help criticizing Xu Wen silently once more. If he had not come along today, this entire chain of information would have been buried forever. No wonder Li Lan hadn't brought her secretary along on that project.
"After going through the gate, did the surroundings change?"
"Yes. It was vast and bright. The sun, the moon, and the stars were all overhead."
"What specifically was there? I mean underfoot."
"Underfoot was pit after pit. Beside each pit stood a stone sculpture. There was water in the pits, and bronze chains were lashed to the sculptures, stretching down into the adjacent pits."
"How many were there?"
"Countless. All the way forward, up to that... house."
"A house? There was a house there? How big was it?"
"Huge. Very, very huge."
"Wouldn't that be a palace?"
"Not a palace. Just a house. It had two horns, long whiskers, and a terrifying maw."
"An animal? A gigantic beast?"
"Not an animal. A house."
Li Zhuiyuan sighed inwardly. Her condition was slipping, her speech growing halting and fragmented; he could no longer form a clear mental picture of the environment.
"Did you enter the house?"
"I didn't. I was left behind. My husband and the others went in, into that house."
"Who do you mean by your husband and the others?"
"Honda, Ashley, Zhu Changyong."
"And who stayed behind with you?"
"Four or five people, maybe."
"Why did you separate?"
"Because we had to hold the ropes."
Her account was losing any progressive logic.
"Hold ropes? What happened to the path ahead—the way leading to that house?"
"The water rose."
"Wasn't the ground dry? Where did the water come from?"
"The water in the pits gradually overflowed. They tied ropes around themselves and pushed forward."
As the woman spoke, she rose to her feet, her body trembling.
"And after that?"
Li Zhuiyuan knew he could wait no longer; he had to obtain the outcome now.
"Then black... black... everything turned black. The thing inside the house woke up! The sun, moon, and stars overhead vanished! All you could see was a ring of red, like eyes—huge, enormous eyes! It woke up, it was enraged, and they all crawled out of the pits! So many, so many, countless..."
"What were they?"
"So many... everywhere... The rope snapped! The rope tied to my husband snapped! They were swallowed by the house! Ahhh!"
Li Zhuiyuan stood up. "What about you? What about the ones left behind?"
The woman clutched her head. "I ran! We were all running! We squeezed out through the gate—the crack was only wide enough for one person, and they kept shoving! One of them used a pickaxe to smash two of the others dead, then shoved his way through first, and I went after him! I abandoned my husband! I left him behind!"
"You couldn't have saved him. It wasn't your fault."
"Really...?" Hearing those words, her emotions settled slightly.
Li Zhuiyuan was not offering hollow comfort. In such a bizarre environment, far outside the realm of conventional danger, ordinary human rationality had little place.
"How many of you made it out in the end?"
"Two. Me and him."
"Did he make it out as well? I mean back to the ship."
"No. Where we entered, I saw the diving gear we left behind. His gear was still there."
"What about the others' gear?"
"All still there. In the end, the only one who took the gear and returned was me."
"You... killed him."
The woman's gaze locked, her expression turning solemn, but soon the left corner of her mouth curved into a smile.
It was, apparently, a tacit admission.
"Why did you kill him?"
"Because I suspected he wasn't from our group."
"So in the end, you were the only one who returned."
"Yes."
"What happened on the ship after you got back?"
"On the return voyage, everyone started acting very strange."
"How strange?"
"Like they went mad."
"Like you are now?"
"Yes."
Li Zhuiyuan exhaled. He had asked all he needed.
And the woman seemed to have finally held on long enough to finish speaking.
Though disjointed, riddled with missing details, and contradictory in several places, the narrative arc at least had a beginning and an end.
What lay most deeply obscured and was hardest to detail was how the remaining group—assembled after two identical parties slaughtered each other—schemed against and guarded against one another.
By now, the woman was no longer agitated; a blank glaze had settled over her eyes. This meant her condition was even more severe than Li Zhuiyuan had anticipated. A violent, excitable reaction was, to some degree, evidence of active self-awareness. Now she began swaying her head, humming a nursery rhyme. She had chosen flight: destroying that memory, destroying her own life. From beginning to end, she had not asked a single word about her child.
Li Zhuiyuan said, "Thank you for your story. Take care of yourself."
The woman ignored him, humming on. Soon, perhaps, she would be freed from the straitjacket and changed into loose patient scrubs. Li Zhuiyuan took a few steps toward the door, then paused. Turning back to face her, he asked, "The you who came out—are you the you who went in?"
The woman froze noticeably for an instant, then resumed shaking her head and humming.
Li Zhuiyuan pulled a talisman he had drawn from his pocket, strode around the table to her side, and pressed the yellow slip to her forehead.
Slap!
The bright yellow paper detached the instant it touched her skin, fluttering to the floor.
The woman hummed on, oblivious.
Li Zhuiyuan bent down and picked up the talisman.
The slip had turned pitch black.
After Li Zhuiyuan stepped out of the visitation room, the doctor emerged from behind an adjoining door and led the woman away.
Tan Yunlong uncrossed his legs and asked, "All done?"
"Yes."
"Well? Satisfied your curiosity?"
"No. I'm only more curious now."
Given the chance, he would have loved to visit that place right now to see what sort of bizarre world it truly was. Perhaps he might even encounter an identical version of himself. Would he fight "himself"? Li Zhuiyuan could understand why, in such an environment, choosing to kill one's counterpart was the most natural reaction. But for him, if that "self" was truly identical, why not join hands to explore the secrets within together? He was often troubled by mental exhaustion; how wonderful would it be to have a spare brain? Unfortunately, it was only a daydream for now. He lacked both the external and internal prerequisites for such a journey. Externally, he would need to wait until college or even graduation for such an opportunity; internally... he had to at least grow up.
On the ride back in the market seafood truck, Li Zhuiyuan recounted the woman's tale, making no secret of it before Tan Yunlong. After all, the man had facilitated this storytelling session, so it was only right to share. Besides, like father, like son... Looking at Tan Wenbin, Tan Yunlong likely harbored similar fascinations deep down.
After listening, Tan Yunlong drove as he spoke: "This world truly holds too many mysteries. It's a good thing—it's waiting for you kids to grow up and explore, so life won't feel dull."
Tan Wenbin teased, "Dad, since when did you start philosophizing?"
"Just speaking from the heart. At my age, you sometimes realize that no matter how much money you make or how high you climb, what you see and live through is always the same. But those scientists—a single glance through a microscope shows them a whole new world most ordinary people will never touch in a lifetime."
"Dad, where's your money? Where's your high position?"
"You little bastard!"
Li Zhuiyuan, however, resonated with Tan Yunlong's words. Wasn't what he was currently learning and encountering a brand-new realm? In a sense, Li Lan seemed to have chosen this path as well. Since Xu Wen had come to investigate this incident, it proved Li Lan was by no means the conventional archaeologist of his past impressions. Only the unknown, mysterious domains could make mother and son feel human.
"Xiao Yuan, who is that woman to you?"
"Uncle Tan, I'm not trying to deceive you on purpose, I just prefer not to say."
"Mm, that's fine. Uncle understands. So are you heading home now, or to school?"
"Back to school. We have class this afternoon."
"Binbin, look at Xiao Yuan, then look at yourself! His grades are already so good, yet he's still eager for class."
"Dad, I'm going to attend class; he's going to teach class."
Tan Yunlong caught on. "Who is Xiao Yuan teaching?"
"The school's Math Olympiad training class," Tan Wenbin replied.
"Can you get in? I hear winning an award in that gives a big boost on the college entrance exams."
"Dad."
"Yeah?"
"My genetics aren't up to it."
Vroom!
The pickup truck accelerated violently.
After being dropped off at the school gates, Li Zhuiyuan looked at Tan Wenbin. "Brother Binbin, aren't you afraid Uncle will thrash you when you get home, talking like that?"
"He'd be thrashing Binbin. What does that have to do with me, Zhuangzhuang?"
"I'm hungry. Let's go eat at the dining hall."
"You know, Xiao Yuan, ever since my grades improved, I feel remarkably powerful. In the past, I knew that if I botched the gaokao, I'd have to rely on my parents to drift through life, including getting married and having kids. I'd have to live in their shadow forever. Eating their food, using their things, taking from them—you'd have to endure them picking apart every detail of your life. Now, I feel like my wings are finally stiffening up."
"Brother Binbin, that doesn't really count as a shadow."
"It's poetic exaggeration! What parents actually want to cast a huge shadow over their kid on purpose?"
"Mm, fair point."
Fourth period had not ended yet, so the cafeteria was empty. Tan Wenbin went to fetch rice and dishes, while Li Zhuiyuan got bowls of the free soup. Anyone could take as much soup as they liked, and many students survived by dipping dry provisions brought from home into it. By the time they finished eating, the dismissal bell rang. Tan Wenbin ambled lazily toward his classroom, while Li Zhuiyuan walked into the small classroom alone.
To his surprise, quite a few people were already seated inside. Some students were chewing on steamed buns, while others had skipped lunch altogether, dashing straight in clutching their textbooks the moment class let out. They all treasured this competition opportunity; it was a chance to change their lives.
Li Zhuiyuan felt a momentary daze. This was probably what it meant: what was effortless for him was something others could only dream of. The reverse was true as well—he envied their good health.
At Li Zhuiyuan's arrival, appreciative smiles broke out across their faces. Word had spread that the child prodigy had taken leave and wasn't in class that morning. One student, bun still clamped between his teeth, rushed forward to carry a stool over, while another stood ready to support him.
Li Zhuiyuan stepped up, picked up a piece of chalk, and began writing out step-by-step solutions for the unchecked problems on the blackboard. Those below watched while discussing in rapid, urgent whispers. The municipal competition was this weekend, and by rights, several more people would still be eliminated.
Once he finished writing the solutions, a tall classmate stepped up to wipe the blackboard, and Li Zhuiyuan continued writing new problems. Having finished, he clapped the chalk dust from his hands, and a classmate handed him a damp cloth.
Teacher Yan and several other math teachers were sitting in the back. As Li Zhuiyuan stepped down, Teacher Yan stood up and began handing out test papers: "Once you've copied down the problems on the board, work on this test paper. You have two hours. You may turn it in early; don't worry about afternoon classes."
They were determining the final competition roster by ranking.
Seeing that he hadn't been handed an exam paper, Li Zhuiyuan said his goodbyes to the teachers, left the small classroom, and headed to the principal's office.
Zheng Haiyang was eating lunch in the principal's office, seated across the desk from Wu Xinhan, sharing stir-fried dishes from the cafeteria. The funeral had just concluded, and he had returned to school immediately; after all, since no body had been recovered, there had been few complicated rituals to manage.
"Xiao Yuan, have you eaten?" Wu Xinhan asked with a warm smile.
"Yes, Principal Grandpa, I've eaten."
Zheng Haiyang stood up awkwardly, at a loss for words. He was grateful that the principal had sought him out that morning to invite him for lunch and a chat, but he still couldn't feel comfortable in such an environment—most students would feel deeply ill at ease. Viewed from another angle, though, for a principal to go to such lengths was already commendable.
"Brother Binbin is back too," Li Zhuiyuan said to Zheng Haiyang with a smile. Then he slipped behind the partition curtain, lay down on the spring cot, closed his eyes, and began his midday nap.
He soon drifted off and fell into a dream. In the dream, he was standing on a deck. He seemed taller, as tall as Binbin was now. He was holding Ah Li by the hand, with Cuicui standing at his side. Farther off stood Runsheng and Tan Wenbin, and behind them loomed numerous other silhouettes whose faces could not be made out clearly.
The ship dropped anchor and came to a stop in a stretch of water.
In the dream, he rested a foot against the gunwale and pointed downward: "This is the spot. Get ready, we're going down!"
A chorus of replies rose behind him, and everyone began donning diving gear. Li Zhuiyuan put on a suit of his own. After pulling the mask over his face, his vision blurred slightly.
Some descended via the ship's ladder, while others simply leaped overboard. Li Zhuiyuan chose the latter, throwing himself over the edge.
Splash!
The moment he hit the water, he sat bolt upright, awake.
The curtain parted. Wu Xinhan looked in with a kindly face. "Having a dream?"
"Mm."
"If you're tired, rest more. You've had it tough—the school has placed too heavy a burden on your shoulders."
"Not at all..."
Li Zhuiyuan was genuinely embarrassed to claim he was tired, given that he spent class time either sleeping or reading non-academic books.
"Xiao Yuan, this is the scholarship and subsidy from the school. The detailed itemization is inside, along with the cash. Take it home and give it to your guardians."
"Thank you, Principal Grandpa."
"And, um, this is..." Wu Xinhan fished a banknote from his pocket. "This is pocket money from me personally, as your grandpa."
"I can't take this."
"Take it. Good luck in this weekend's competition. I've already ordered the congratulatory banners! Um, don't blame Grandpa for putting pressure on you."
"Thank you, Grandpa."
Li Zhuiyuan took the money. He didn't feel any pressure. Even if other schools entered genius students, he had no worries; in his past life, his entire class had been geniuses.
"It's Grandpa who should thank you."
Wu Xinhan exhaled a long breath. He gave this money gladly out of his own pocket; all he wanted was to relish tossing sarcastic barbs at meetings.
"Principal Grandpa, I'll head back to class."
"Well, I don't think that'll be necessary. The bell for fourth period is about to ring."
Li Zhuiyuan was startled. Had he really slept through the entire afternoon?
The consequence of sleeping through the whole afternoon was that he couldn't sleep that night at home, so he and Ah Li painted together late into the night. Ah Li sat there modeling for him while he painted her portrait. But as he worked, he remained dissatisfied, crumpling and tearing up sheet after sheet.
This left Ah Li feeling uneasy and guilty, her gaze turning toward Li Zhuiyuan with an inquiring look: had she done something wrong?
"Ah Li, it really is your fault. You're too pretty, and your temperament is too refined. My skill is simply too poor; I can't capture it."
The girl furrowed her brow and pursed her lips in a slight pout, glaring at him playfully.
"Hehehe..." Li Zhuiyuan chuckled. Ah Li could now catch playful sarcasm and compliments. In truth, it was accurate: pretty things were relatively easy to depict, but capturing such an aura was another matter entirely. Part of Ah Li's unique bearing was innate, and part had been cultivated by Liu Yumei.
In this era, people blindly adopted Western aesthetics from lifestyle to dress without caring whether it suited them or not; those wearing traditional ancient attire were a tiny minority, seen almost exclusively on stage.
Li Zhuiyuan gave a helpless sigh. Painting Ah Li right now was indeed too difficult. Yet even as his brushwork improved, Ah Li would grow, developing another demeanor and style altogether—likely making her even harder to paint.
Maybe he should switch to another subject to practice first?
Escorting Ah Li downstairs to the east room, Liu Yumei opened the door in a white nightgown and asked, "Where is the painting?"
"Couldn't finish it."
"Our Ah Li is just too beautiful."
"She is."
Back in his room, Li Zhuiyuan was in no rush to sleep. Spreading out fresh paper and mixing his paints, he took up the brush and began to paint once more.
This time, he painted—Little Oriole.
Halfway through, weariness finally washed over him, so he set down the brush and went to bed.
The night breeze filtered through the screen door, fluttering the drawing paper and gently curling one corner, as though someone were standing before the desk, admiring it intently.
...
The day of the municipal Math Olympiad arrived. Unlike the hurried, low-profile trips of previous years, Shigang Middle School had secured a coach bus this time. Banners hung across both sides, and a massive red ribbon rosette was fastened to the front grille. In short: gaudy, rustic, and utterly boastful.
Besides the accompanying teachers, Principal Wu led the team in person. Once aboard, he gave an invigorating pep talk and distributed fruit, bread, and drinks.
The test center was Pingchao Middle School, a sprawling and stately campus.
Taking his seat in the classroom, Li Zhuiyuan gazed out the window at a stand of ginkgo trees; they were beautiful.
When the exam papers were distributed, he was still reluctant to look away. The proctor strolled over and tapped lightly on the desk as a reminder.
Li Zhuiyuan lowered his gaze, picked up his pen, wrote his name, rapidly answered the questions, and turned in his paper.
Leaving the classroom, he stood beneath the ginkgo trees for a long time. Yet when he walked out of the testing area, he was still the first to exit, at astonishing speed.
The shuttle buses from each school were parked around the athletic field, and the teachers congregated in clusters, smoking and chatting—seemingly polite on the surface, but trading barbed thrusts underneath. The examination hall was a battlefield for students, but even more so for the teachers. To a degree, young students often failed to appreciate the stakes, while the teachers were deeply invested in the fight.
When Li Zhuiyuan emerged, Teacher Yan hurried over with water and snacks. Wu Xinhan wasn't there; he was ensconced in the host school principal's office, enduring the man's passive-aggressive digs while stockpiling his own ammunition to fire back.
The teachers from other schools stared in shock at the small boy walking out, an ominous premonition rising in their chests. Either Shigang Middle School's faculty had given up entirely and brought the principal's grandson along just for the experience, or this boy had a formidable pedigree and was extraordinary.
Naturally, no one was foolish enough to believe the former. Having worked in education for years, even if they hadn't eaten pork, they'd certainly seen a pig run; even if they hadn't taught a child prodigy, who hadn't heard the legends?
At the same time, they were baffled: how could such a child end up at a rural township middle school?
Immediately, they began cozying up to Teacher Yan, fishing for the boy's background. Their tone was genuinely courteous and respectful, not feigned. What a joke—when the other side rolled out a secret weapon, putting on airs now would just be offering one's face on a silver platter to be slapped once the results came out!
Teacher Yan was overjoyed, thrilled to the core, and secretly glad Principal Wu wasn't around, allowing him to bask in the center of attention all by himself. Having previously been a transparent nonentity present merely for participation and accompaniment, if Principal Wu had rehearsed his retorts, Old Yan couldn't very well lag behind without a prepared speech of his own—math teachers had literary flair too!
"Oh, come now, you flatter us too much, really! It's nothing special. It's just a municipal competition, hardly worth getting excited about. There are still provincial and national rounds ahead—now those will be worth celebrating a little!"
Li Zhuiyuan rested on the bus for quite a while before the final bell rang. A few others had turned in their papers early, but very few; most students waited until the final minute. The Shigang students, in particular, had been strictly forbidden by Teacher Yan and Principal Wu from submitting early!
Of course, Xiao Yuan was an exception, since he was the teaching assistant.
On the ride back, Teacher Yan and Principal Wu began questioning the other students about the exam, and the feedback was largely positive. After all, they were the school's top math talents and had undergone targeted simulations, so performing well was only natural.
Principal Wu was thrilled, even leading the singing on the bus: "The sun sets behind the western hills, red clouds fly, the soldiers shoot on the range and return to camp, return to camp..."
It was already afternoon by the time they returned to school. With a wave of his hand, Principal Wu dismissed the test-takers early for the day.
Li Zhuiyuan still returned to his classroom, waiting until regular dismissal before walking out the front gate with Tan Wenbin.
At the gate, they spotted Tan Yunlong seated on his motorcycle.
Tan Wenbin panicked instantly, quickly ducking behind Xiao Yuan and shoving him forward as a shield.
Tan Yunlong dismounted, pointed at his son, and then pointed at a distant trash can.
Tan Wenbin gave a crisp salute and scrambled away.
"Uncle Tan, did something happen?"
"Zheng Haiyang's mother died in the psychiatric hospital. Suicide."
"How could that be?"
Li Zhuiyuan couldn't believe it. She was mad, and it was a madness she had embraced willingly. For her, the only goal left was to cling to survival.
"There was a visitor log from yesterday. In the story you recounted, this name came up many times. According to her story, he should have remained at the bottom of the sea."
"Who was it?"
"Zhu Changyong."
Chapter 53