Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 141: The East Wing
Dad has come back.
When the code isn’t cracked, it’s just a piece of paper with random numbers, but once it’s deciphered, it takes on endless meanings, and at the end of that extension, there lies a gloomy darkness.
My brother and I always played like this when we were kids.
Kuang Jinxin and Qian Ai both clearly remembered what Chi Yingxue said.
At that time, they really thought it was just “playing”, because Chi Yingxue said this with a natural expression, no different from usual.
But now they knew, this wasn’t a game. Even if Chi Yingxue wanted to cloak this memory in a veil of “play”, deep down, it was still a childhood hell.
Every time their father returned to the house, every message was the reopening of the gates of hell for the young Chi Yingxue.
Kuang Jinxin and Qian Ai remained silent for a long time.
They didn’t know what to say. What could they say? The tumultuous emotions inside them churned like boiling water, yet when it came to their lips, only silence remained.
A cold wind blew through the door cracks, making the coded letter tremble lightly.
Kuang Jinxin took a deep breath, putting the letter and the nursery rhyme book into his backpack. Once ready, he stood up and said to Qian Ai, “Let’s go.”
Qian Ai, still not fully recovered from the shock, asked blankly, “Go where?”
Kuang Jinxin said, “Find a way to the west wing.”
“The west wing? Isn’t the badge in the east wing?” Qian Ai thought he remembered wrong, and while speaking, he lifted his arm to recheck the badge manual, then realized his memory was correct.
“The badge is in the east wing, but Xiao Xue is in the west wing,” Kuang Jinxin said, noticing Qian Ai’s bewildered look. He quickly added, “Chi Zhuolin said so.”
“What else did he say? Can you share everything at once?” Qian Ai held his forehead, feeling like he was missing out on an entire world. Not entering the flower-pendant gate, he missed the secret code message and Chi Yingxue’s location.
Kuang Jinxin: “That’s all, I promise.”
“Alright.” Seeing Kuang Jinxin’s sincere eyes, Qian Ai chose to believe. Considering the situation, it was indeed difficult to look for both the badge and Chi Yingxue at the same time. Focusing on finding Chi Yingxue might even lead to meeting the captain and advisor in the west wing…
Wait a minute.
Qian Ai realized he had overlooked a problem. The east and west wings of the courtyard… shouldn’t they be together?
He shared this thought with Kuang Jinxin, who apparently had never considered it. “Together?”
“Of course.” Qian Ai, who had never lived in a courtyard house but had seen plenty on TV, immediately gestured with his hands. “For example, this is a courtyard. The main house faces south at the top. The left row is the west wing, and the right row is the east wing, facing each other across the air. If you throw foot washing water from this side, it could even splash on the curtain on the other side!”
Without delay and with a clear goal, the two immediately left the room to explore the surroundings and try to identify the inner courtyard’s direction to find the right path.
As soon as they left the room, Qian Ai was about to use his phone for light, but Kuang Jinxin stopped him. “There’s the moon. No need to waste batteries.”
“No worries.” Qian Ai wasn’t fussy. “When my phone’s dead, you can take over.”
Kuang Jinxin: “Mine’s already dead.”
“……” Qian Ai obediently turned off the flashlight and switched to low battery mode before pocketing it.
Kuang Jinxin turned around and gently closed the door.
Qian Ai stood at the door, his eyes slowly adjusting to the moonlight, and he saw the surroundings clearly.
It was a narrow courtyard, hardly deserving the name, for from the row of rooms behind him and down the steps, there was a wall soaring to the sky. A row of rooms and a wall, like the two long sides of a rectangle, while the short sides extended into a mass of darkness, making it impossible to see the end.
There was no need to search for a path. Either left or right, they had one of two choices.
As Qian Ai was pondering, he heard Kuang Jinxin calling him. “Qian Ge, look.”
Turning around, Qian Ai saw Kuang Jinxin staring at the door they just closed, looking up at a certain point on the doorframe.
He curiously followed the gaze and saw two small wooden plaques hanging in the center of the doorframe, one carved with [East Wing], the other with [Heaven].
“Is this the east wing?” Happiness came too suddenly for Qian Ai, unprepared for such a fortunate event of “thinking about finding a path, and the destination falls from the sky” in his life.
Kuang Jinxin wasn’t sure either.
The two looked along the row of rooms. There were four in total, excluding the one they just exited. The remaining ones were all closed, with frosted glass in latticed windows, obscuring any view inside. But without exception, two plaques hung above each door, one reading [East Wing], the other combining to read [Heaven] [Earth] [Man] [Harmony]*.
*The text combines into (天地人和) which is a Chinese philosophy that suggests the ideal of harmony between heaven, earth, and humanity, emphasizing the importance of living in harmony with nature and adhering to natural law and moral principles.
Kuang Jinxin: “It should be, right?”
Qian Ai: “Should be.”
One came through a tunnel, the other followed Chi Yingxue’s father, neither having paid attention to their surroundings. The two friends returned uncertainly to the [Heaven] room’s door, concluding tentatively.
“Anyway, there are just four rooms.” Qian Ai opened the door they had just closed. “Search for it!”
They knew this room well, from the floor tiles to the sofa, from the tunnel to the closet. In a short time, they had searched everything, even carefully inspecting the ceiling while standing on stools, but found nothing.
Throughout, there was no glimmer of the badge.
They were prepared for this result, having stayed in the room so long in the dark; if there had been any glimmer, they would have noticed earlier. The reason for searching again was just to be absolutely sure.
The two left the room, closing the door for the second time.
Qian Ai moved to the second room, [Earth], but at the door, he realized Kuang Jinxin hadn’t followed. Turning back, he saw his teammate staring at the towering wall below the steps.
“What’s up?” Qian Ai asked.
Kuang Jinxin was pondering. “Qian Ge, you said the east and west wings must face each other, right? If this side is the east wing, then behind that wall…”
“Is the west wing!” Qian Ai understood what he was thinking. If the other side was indeed the west wing, it meant Xiao Xue was behind the wall!
“So what now? Continue searching for the badge, or push the wall?” Qian Ai, eager and ready for physical effort, looked as if he was about to undertake a major task.
This startled Kuang Jinxin, who quickly said, “Find the badge first. If we’re wrong and Chi Yingxue isn’t on the other side, we’ll end up empty-handed.”
“Alright.” Qian Ai dropped his fists, reluctantly taking one last look at the wall.
Kuang Jinxin hurriedly walked a few steps to join Qian Ai, facing the door of the [Earth] room together, returning to “badge searching mode”.
The door was tightly shut, with no sound from inside.
Moonlight passed through the carved latticework, casting a mysterious chill on the frosted glass.
“I’ll push.” Qian Ai gave Kuang Jinxin a look.
Kuang Jinxin nodded. There might be danger inside, or maybe nothing, but either way, he was ready.
Qian Ai gently pushed, and the door opened.
Qian Ai was startled himself, as if the door wasn’t tightly closed but rather slightly ajar.
As soon as the door opened, a voice floated through the crack. It was the singing of a child, clear and youthful, half humming, half singing.
“Throw, throw, throw the handkerchief quietly behind the child~~ Don’t tell him~~*”
*Lyrics from a classic children’s song that later became a game called Drop Handkerchief (Duck, duck, goose).
The door kept opening with inertia, and the crack widened, making the singing clearer.
“Hurry, hurry, catch him~~ Hurry, hurry, catch him~~”
Moonlight streamed through the wide-open door, casting the shadow of a small, crouching figure in the center of the room.
The room was empty, like a cold box, with the figure squatting on the ground, hugging its knees, and softly humming the game song.
Kuang Jinxin and Qian Ai couldn’t see his face clearly. It was odd, as if the moonlight deliberately avoided his face, not even sparing a glimpse of his facial features. All they could make out was that he was a child, and then nothing more.
“Throw, throw, throw the handkerchief…” The child mechanically repeated the game song, then suddenly looked to the side. There was nothing there, but he looked intently, and the song abruptly jumped to the next part, urgent and cheerful. “Hurry, hurry, catch him~~ Hurry, hurry, catch him~~”
He sang earnestly, watching intently, even turning his gaze as if there was really another child next to him, picking up the handkerchief, and happily chasing someone else.
Drop handkerchief is a game that requires at least three or more children.
In the center of the room, there was only him.
Kuang Jinxin and Qian Ai stood at the doorway, torn by two completely unrelated emotions—one was eerie, the other suffocating. They couldn’t tell which was more overwhelming.
“Are you Chi Yingxue?” Kuang Jinxin asked softly.
The singing in the room stopped.
The child slowly raised his head and looked over. His face was still blurry.
Kuang Jinxin and Qian Ai couldn’t see his appearance, his expression, or even meet his gaze.
The clouds and fog had already dimmed the moonlight, but the child was even darker.
“Pat, pat.”
He suddenly patted the ground next to him twice.
Qian Ai almost stopped breathing, clutching his wildly beating chest and looking at Kuang Jinxin with sorrowful eyes.
Kuang Jinxin looked at the figure in the room and the ground he patted, and probably understood.
Two minutes later.
“Throw, throw, throw the handkerchief…” Qian Ai sang the song, feeling embarrassed. Why did he end up playing drop handkerchief with a ghostly shadow in a nightmare? He still didn’t understand.
Now, Kuang Jinxin and the little shadow—let’s call it that, for even face-to-face, his face was still hidden in darkness, Qian Ai couldn’t look closely as looking too long made him uneasy—were squatting face to face, with Qian Ai holding the handkerchief, happily hopping around the outside, humming and circling, and also considering whom to give the handkerchief to.
From beginning to end, the little shadow didn’t say a word.
This made Qian Ai even more uneasy, always feeling that the other might have some trick up his sleeve, and if he really gave him the handkerchief, the consequences of being caught were too terrifying to think about…
Thinking this, Qian Ai decisively put the handkerchief behind Kuang Jinxin.
The moment the handkerchief was placed down, the little shadow’s body stiffened for half a second, then switched the lyrics, singing “hurry, catch him.”
Kuang Jinxin felt it when Qian Ai bent down. A gust of wind unavoidably blew behind him, making it hard not to notice.
Likewise, he noticed the child’s moment of stiffness.
Somehow, his heart inexplicably soured a bit.
Picking up the handkerchief, he immediately chased after Qian Ai, who was quite engaged. He ran fast, eventually squatting down in place with a face of pride, saying, “I’m good, right?”
The game song started again.
Kuang Jinxin walked leisurely, circling twice, ignoring Qian Ai’s frequent glances, and put the handkerchief behind the child.
After half a circle, the child finally noticed. He turned around in disbelief, then immediately picked up the handkerchief and excitedly chased Kuang Jinxin.
Even though his face was unclear, let alone his expressions—the child’s astonishment and joy—all his emotional changes seemed to permeate the air, easily felt with each breath.
“Don’t let him catch you—” Seeing the child’s hand about to touch Kuang Jinxin’s clothes, Qian Ai got anxious, no longer singing the game song, genuinely worried for his teammate.
Kuang Jinxin was also very engaged, running for real, not holding back, and finally squatting down before the child could catch him.
The child wasn’t annoyed, humming the song again, and soon put the handkerchief back behind Kuang Jinxin.
Qian Ai watched, feeling a complex sense of isolation.
Kuang Jinxin picked up the handkerchief; this time it was his turn to chase the child. He was tall and took long strides, catching the child’s arm with one step!
It was cool to the touch.
Kuang Jinxin only had time to register this sensation before the figure dispersed without warning, like a puff of sand, turning into tiny particles floating in the air.
They basked in the moonlight, floating in mid-air, like tiny fireflies.
Suddenly, a warm glow arose in the room.
Kuang Jinxin and Qian Ai were stunned, looking towards the light source.
In a corner of the wall, a candle had been lit at some unknown time.
This was the first time they had seen a light other than the moon or a phone since entering this house. The yellow-red candle flame couldn’t brighten the room like daylight, but it was a long-missed warmth.
……
“There’s still nothing.” Qian Ai sighed dejectedly and turned to close the door of the [East Wing] [Ground] room.
This empty room, apart from the floor tiles, didn’t need to be searched anywhere else. Especially with the candlelight, everything was clearly visible.
“Don’t lose heart, Qian Ge. Look at it from another angle. Luckily, there are only four rooms. Haven’t we just eliminated 50% of them in a short while?” Kuang Jinxin looked towards the remaining [Person] and [Harmony]. “Imagine if there were forty rooms…”
“Don’t,” Qian Ai quickly interrupted. “This is a world of consciousness. What if Xiao Xue hears your creative ideas and adds more drama for us? Then we really would have no way out.”
“……” Kuang Jinxin was convinced by his peculiar way of thinking.
“Do you think,” Qian Ai looked at the door that had been closed and asked faintly, “Was that Xiao Xue just now?”
Kuang Jinxin shook his head. “I don’t know.”
The candlelight was still burning, casting a goose-yellow halo on the frosted glass from the inside.
“I hope it wasn’t,” he said quietly.
In front of the [East Wing] [Person] room.
Qian Ai touched the door panel, once hesitant, now more familiar, pushing it forward with just the right amount of force.
Like the [Ground] room, the door opened easily without any obstruction.
Another empty room.
Another thin figure with an unclear face.
The only difference this time was that he was kneeling in the center of the room, with no cheerful ballads. There was only the sound of him slapping himself.
Over and over.
He slapped fiercely, as if he wasn’t hitting himself.
While slapping, he repeated over and over with a crying voice, “I was wrong, I was wrong, I was wrong…”
His back was straight, but his whole body was trembling.
It wasn’t stubbornness, but fear.
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