Chapter 4: Strange Sounds 1. Meet Xiaoxue again
Wu Yu was awakened by a series of tiny noises. He opened his eyes and looked into the room. He saw a ray of light coming in from the screen window. The room was filled with a warm atmosphere from the Republic of China. He saw Yunyun painting in the light and shadow that leaked in. He felt that Yunyun was very gentle. He stood up and hugged Yunyun from behind, looking at the palace maids she was painting. They were two beautiful palace maids from the Qing Dynasty. Their figures and faces were already painted.
"Does it look good, Yu?" Yunyun turned her head to look at Wu Yu and said with a smile.
Wu Yu stared at one of the palace maids and felt that the maid's eyes seemed familiar, as if he had seen her before. He was startled, but did not answer Yunyun's question. Wu Yu suddenly remembered Su Wei. Wu Yu felt that he had to go to Zhejiang today to find Officer Zhong who witnessed Su Wei's death. He said to Yunyun, "Yun, I'm going to Zhejiang. You stay in the room and paint. We must solve the truth of Su Wei's death as soon as possible so that we can return to Guangzhou." After hearing this, Yunyun said calmly, "Go ahead. I will take care of three meals a day."
A few minutes later, Wu Yu came out of the room, and ten minutes later, he went out to the street. Wu Yu remembered that they were getting off at the station, so he hurriedly bought bread at the breakfast stall and went to the station to wait for the bus.
There was a signboard on the platform, which had faded and had spots on it, with the words "Wuzhen - Zhejiang" blurred on it. There were only a few people waiting for the train on the platform, and a soft, silky drizzle was falling.
When Wu Yu came out, he brought the Xishi umbrella with him. The people waiting for the bus next to him looked at the Xishi umbrella with surprise . Wu Yu thought that they might know the legend of the ancient house, or that no one held an oil-paper umbrella now, so how could they not be curious. Wu Yu waited for a long time but the bus didn't come. He remembered that he should call Officer Zhong, so he dialed the number. But the prompt tone said that it was temporarily unavailable. He called several times and it was the same. Wu Yu was even more confused. It seemed that he could only find him to know the truth.
The bus finally arrived, and a group of tourists got off the bus, both men and women, all around 20 years old, looking young and energetic, and could be seen at a glance that they were students. As soon as they got off the bus, they walked towards the town with laughter. Wu Yu was busy getting on the bus and didn't look at them much. Wu Yu found a seat on the bus and sat down. Then a girl came over to buy tickets. Wu Yu heard the voice seemed familiar, and looked up. "It's you--" He and the girl selling tickets shouted almost in surprise, and it was obvious that they recognized each other.
"This big brother is still in Wuzhen. Yes, why don't I see that beautiful sister? " Xiaoxue was referring to Yunyun.
"She's in town. I'm going out of Zhejiang for some business." Wu Yu thought of going to the police station, so he continued to say to Xiaoxue, "Xiaoxue, I want to ask you how to get to the police station."
Xiaoxue looked surprised when she heard this and said, "What happened? We need to go there."
Wu Yu felt that it was inconvenient to mention Su Wei to her, so he said perfunctorily: "Nothing, I just went to visit an old classmate I haven't seen for many years."
Xiaoxue nodded, not wanting to ask anything else. Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly saw Wu Yu's umbrella dripping with water, so she said to Wu Yu, "Put the umbrella in front." Then she leaned over and picked it up. She picked it up and glanced at the umbrella casually, and felt that it looked familiar. Her beautiful eyes widened. She suddenly opened the umbrella, took a closer look, and then put it away. With a look of surprise, she said to Wu Yu, "Where did you get this umbrella?"
Wu Yu was not curious about Xiaoxue's surprise, because many people had the same look when they saw the umbrella, so he said, "I bought it from a store called Xishi Umbrella in town."
"The one looking after the store is a very pretty girl, not much different from my age."
"How do you know?" Wu Yu showed confusion on his face, and suddenly remembered that Xiaoxue grew up in Wuzhen. How could she not know that there was a girl there?
"My sister is the one who runs the stall. This stall was actually opened by my grandmother. My grandmother had kept this Xishi umbrella, but after my grandmother became ill, my sister thought it was unlucky to keep an umbrella that belonged to a dead person, so she put it in the store with other umbrellas. Her intention was to sell it to someone who liked it, no matter how much it cost."
After hearing this, Wu Yu couldn't believe that things were so strange and coincidental. He suddenly laughed and said, "Then your sister is very good at business."
Xiaoxue seemed to understand what Wu Yu meant, and smiled shyly, "She has been very smart since she was a child."
While they were talking, the car started moving. Xiaoxue was busy collecting money and selling tickets, so she smiled at Wu Yu and walked away.