Volume 1: Breaking Ground Chapter 9 The Lady in Red
When Mu Yiran put the red slippers back under the bed, Ke Xun looked at him with his hands in his pockets, "Are you worried about Qiu Lu like Sha Liu is? Are you afraid that I will make a scene out of fear? So you plan to hide the haunted incident last night?"
Mu Yiran put his slippers back and looked at Ke Xun with a slightly cold expression. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Ke Xun pick up his cold-style soap box from the table and said, "Go wash your hands."
“…”
After Mu Yiran left, Ke Xun squatted down and looked at the red slippers under the bed. Upon closer inspection, they were quite homely and even a bit familiar.
Ke Xun remembered that when he was little, his mother had a pair of red slippers, his father's pair was warm brown, and his own pair was sky blue. There was a bear pattern on each pair of shoes, which together formed the pattern of "Three Bears"...
Thinking of this, the strange atmosphere from before seemed to disappear. Ke Xun stood up and walked to the desk, stroking the deep word "Return" engraved on the table. He wondered who the owner of the red slippers was waiting for to come back.
Everyone spent the afternoon looking for seals.
Because there are no clear clues, everyone can only use the clumsy method of searching the building. Other neighbors' houses cannot be entered casually, and it is unlikely that the seal is hidden in someone else's house, so the current focus is on conducting a carpet search around corridors, stairs and public toilets.
As night fell, it was clear that no one had gained anything.
Several newcomers looked particularly disappointed, only Shouzhu said: "There are many poems written on the walls of the public toilet on the fourth floor, most of them are original."
No one bothered to pay attention to him, only Qiu Lu asked: "Are you talking about the public toilet on the west side next to 409?"
Shouzhu waved the folding fan in his hand: "Yes, that's right."
"The walls of the women's restroom there are also covered with poems!" Qiu Lu subconsciously looked at Sha Liu. Because this restroom was closest to 410, both of them were used to going there.
Sha Liu frowned. He had also seen those obscene poems, but Sha Liu didn't think there was any connection between poetry and seals. He also felt from the bottom of his heart that these poets were particularly useless.
The thin bamboo chanted without any hesitation: "Spring | is as invisible as water, as sharp as a knife blade, vast, crystal clear..."
"There's a similar poem in the women's restroom!" Qiu Lu interrupted Shou Zhu, "Could it be written by the same person?"
Shouzhu seemed to be thinking seriously about something for the first time, and closed the folding fan in his hand: "No wonder I think the font and style are more feminine."
"Even if it was written by the same person, what does that prove? A woman secretly ran to the men's room to write poetry?" Sha Liu thought this behavior was disgusting - but it just happened to satisfy the fantasy of a cultural hooligan like Shou Zhu.
"I think this is quite strange." Xinmiao's voice was very low.
Sha Liu didn't want to waste time on this matter: "What we are looking for is the seal."
Everyone was gathered at the entrance of the restaurant at this time. Some were listening carefully, some were thinking, and only Zhu Haowen was leaning against the wall and playing games on his mobile phone.
Ke Xun helped the fifth sister who was carrying a basket of vegetables to lift the bamboo door curtain of the restaurant: "Come in, let's talk while we eat."
It was a bit stuffy in the small restaurant, so the fifth sister planned to move the folding table to the yard: "Let's eat outside, it's cooler!"
"Good idea!" Ke Xun went in to help the fifth sister move the table, "I'll do it! The rest of you should not be idle either, each of you should move your own stools and sit out! Haowen, stop playing and move the stools!"
Zhu Haowen raised his eyes, looked at Ke Xun, and went into the restaurant to move a stool.
Qiu Lu and Xin Miao were still struggling with the poem in the toilet, and were very dissatisfied with Sha Liu's contemptuous attitude just now. Xin Miao walked directly to Mu Yiran and said, "Brother Mu, don't you think it's strange to write poetry? This person can go to the men's and women's toilets. Is this person a man or a woman? And he (she) lives on our fourth floor!"
Mu Yiran: "We will go back and check after dinner. If we are sure that it is the same person's handwriting, we will go back to our respective rooms to see if there is any similar handwriting. Maybe we can find some clues."
Sha Liu looked at Mu Yiran, took off his glasses and wiped them with the corner of his clothes.
Wu Mei turned on the lights in front of the restaurant, and the courtyard was bright. No one talked much, and many people couldn't eat. After all, night was about to fall again.
"Eat a little so you will have energy after a meal." Elder Li Taiyong advised everyone.
"Grandpa, you are right," Ke Xun picked up a piece of shredded radish mixed with vinegar and chewed it with a chopstick, "We have to conserve our energy so that we can run away!"
When everyone heard this, they all thought it made sense and started eating again.
Mu was delighted to see Ke Xun's familiarity and couldn't help but look at him a few more times - this kind of innate , such as this kind of street-like friendliness, was very rare in his own living environment.
Old man Li Taiyong smiled, and he particularly liked Ke Xun: "Just now when you went upstairs to look for something, I played a few games of chess with Lao Zhang."
"Old Zhang? You mean the doorman?" Only then did Ke Xun know that the man's surname was Zhang.
"Yes, and I also asked about this dormitory." Old man Li Taiyong said slowly.
Sha Liu was a little excited after hearing this: "Have you heard about the murders that happened in this building?"
Elder Li Taiyong smiled and shook his head: "You can't chat like that, you have to proceed step by step."
Sha Liu lowered her head and broke the flower roll in her hand: "So, what are you looking for?"
Everyone chewed their food slowly and listened carefully to what old man Li Taiyong said.
"This building is an old one, built in the early 1980s. It belongs to the factory's assets, or to put it bluntly, the factory-run dormitory." Although Li Taiyong is old, he speaks slowly and clearly, "Two years ago, the factory implemented a shareholding system, and Director Liao held the majority of the shares. He discussed with several shareholders about selling the land for the Chunsun dormitory."
"Sold it? Then aren't all these neighbors living well now?" Wei Dong couldn't help asking.
"It is said that before the dormitories were sold, the factory started to evict people. Those who had houses or were particularly honest moved out, but most people stubbornly refused to move. The factory director simply put up a sign called Spring Bamboo Shoots Apartment and rented it out publicly for a year or two. Later, he negotiated with a Hong Kong developer and directly signed a contract to sell the land."
Qin Ci couldn't help but say, "If these residents are still employees of the factory, then the factory should provide them with accommodation."
"The factory has also provided a solution, allowing people to buy new houses built by the factory. Once they buy them, they are their own. However, the location is good and the price is expensive. The whole house costs nearly 100,000 yuan. The factory has been in recession for many years, and many people cannot afford this money."
Indeed, in that era there were no concepts such as down payment and installment payment. If you wanted to buy a house, you had to pay in full.
"Later, the factory manager and the developer teamed up to kick people out. It was illegal to chase people out of their houses, so they came up with a bad idea. They built a high concrete wall outside the tube building, about four stories high, and then put a big iron gate outside the concrete wall, trapping all the people on the first floor inside. They could only come out at fixed times and places."
Everyone frowned after hearing this. These people were really vicious.
Ke Xun suddenly understood who wrote those hideous red words "There is a ghost" on the outer wall. It must have been done by the factory owners and developers.
"As a result, Chunsun Apartment became what it is today." After saying this, old man Li Taiyong picked up the bowl in front of him and drank a mouthful of rice porridge.
"I think this incident is the general background of Chunsun Apartment, and may be related to the theme of the entire painting." Qin Ci said.
From the barbershop next to the restaurant, a beautiful female owner in a red dress came out. She walked towards the table with a slight smile and placed a box of Marlboro in front of Shouzhu: "These are the cigarettes you asked for."
Shouzhu has always been powerless against beautiful women, and now his whole face was full of smiles: "Thank you for your help! Has Xiaosang eaten yet? I'll order two more dishes, and we can drink together?"
Zhitiao nudged his companion with his elbow, thinking that now was not the time to pick up girls.
When everyone heard Shouzhu inviting outsiders to join, they felt a little disgusted.
Xiao Sang was quite perceptive. He hooked his finger at Shou Zhu and said, "Let's go to my place. The house next door just moved out. It's been empty for many days. We plan to have a party there!"
Qiu Lu's face looked very unhappy. She raised her chin slightly and wiped her mouth with the handkerchief she carried with her.
"Okay, okay!" Shouzhu couldn't resist the temptation and hurriedly followed Xiaosang.
Zhitiao shouted anxiously, "You must be back home before ten o'clock! Don't wait until the lights go out!"
Shouzhu waved his hands, fanning himself with a folding fan, and chatted and laughed with Xiaosang...
After finishing their meal, everyone went to check the toilet on the west side of the fourth floor. It was the first time for most people to enter this toilet, so their expressions were very subtle.
Wei Dong stared with his mouth open in amazement: "These hooligans...their poems are too explicit!"
Ke Xun concluded directly: "This was written by a woman."
"Ke'er is also studying women's poetry?"
"Look with your eyes." Ke Xun pointed to one of the sentences - written in red chalk: My hole is waiting to drown you...
After comparing the handwriting in the men's and women's restrooms, it was determined that they were from the same person, but the handwriting was different from that found in their respective rooms.
Qiu Lu was a little panicked: "I think it might be related to our house. Although there is no handwriting in the house, but... the explicit passages in those romance novels were highlighted with red pen."
Everyone: “…”
Sha Liu also felt that something was wrong: "Let's be more careful tonight, sleep next to the door, and run to the corridor to call for help if there is any movement."
"Okay." Qiu Lu nodded nervously.
It was already past ten o'clock, and Zhitiao went to the disco downstairs to pull Shouzhu out, and everyone went back to their rooms to rest.
The lights were soon turned off and the entire building became dark, with only the public toilets in the four corners emitting a dim light.
"Do you think she will look for shoes again tonight?" Ke Xun lay on the bed, staring at the dark ceiling.
The shoes have been returned, so there is no need to look for them again. The question is, what will this person do after putting on the slippers?
"Go to bed early and deal with the situation as it arises." Mu Yiran was already feeling a little sleepy as he hadn't slept for most of the night.
Ke Xun suddenly turned over and tried to reach out with one arm, but Mu Yiran grabbed Ke Xun's wrist with one hand and held his arm in the air.
"Ouch, my nerves are pinched!" Ke Xun struggled for a long time, "I'll go get the fan from your side! The big fan is next to your pillow!"
Mu Yiran loosened his fingers, turned over, and threw the palm-leaf fan to Ke Xun.
Ke Xun took it deftly and started fanning it vigorously. The cool breeze blew over the two of them, and Mu Yiran also felt very comfortable.
Unexpectedly, the other party's voice came with the cool breeze, and the words were clear and loud: "In the middle of the summer night, the cool breeze brings a refreshing feeling~"
Mu Yiran fell asleep directly.
Ke Xun fanned himself for a while, thought about the day's events, and felt a little sleepy. Just as he closed his eyes, he heard slow footsteps coming from the corridor outside.
This is the sound unique to high heels. The steps are so slow that they even form a rhythm - pause after a few steps, and then continue walking.
None of the girls in the team wore high heels, so who was this woman in the corridor? A neighbor?
Mu Yiran had also woken up and said softly, "On the fourth floor."
Both of them tried to hold their breathing down until the sound of high heels faded away.
"Let's go and take a look?" Ke Xun pointed to the small window connecting to the corridor.
Mu Yiran nodded, and the two men got off the bed quietly, occupied both sides of the small window, and looked out through the gap in the curtains.
There was indeed a person walking in the corridor on the fourth floor. It was a woman in a red dress. Judging from her hairstyle, she was clearly Xiao Sang from the barber shop.
Xiao Sang paced leisurely, stopping briefly every time he passed a door and then walking forward.
The red dress is very eye-catching in the dark night.
Finally she stopped in front of a door and knocked on it.
