Le mystère du journal K

Chapitre 14

Desperate, I could only make up a story, saying I was a relative of Han Xiaofeng and wanted to take her belongings away. But the teacher said that Han Xiaofeng's belongings had already been sorted and handed over to her family.

Xiaoqian and I walked out of the girls' dormitory disappointed when we suddenly encountered a few girls holding the magazine "Mengya". I quickly and shamelessly called out to them, telling them that I was the author of the novel "The Deserted Village" and that I wanted to ask them about Han Xiaofeng.

Unexpectedly, they all really liked the novel "The Deserted Village" and immediately surrounded me, talking a lot, leaving Xiaoqian standing to the side. However, when I asked about Han Xiaofeng, they all became frightened, and no one dared to continue.

But just as I was about to leave, a girl suddenly called out to me: "I remember now, Han Xiaofeng has a storage box. I'll take you there."

Xiaoqian and I followed the girl out of the dormitory area and into the lobby of a building. Along a wide corridor were many storage boxes, about the size of mailboxes. The girl immediately recognized Han Xiaofeng's box because it had his name on it.

Then, the girl quietly left.

Looking at Han Xiaofeng's name on the box, I murmured, "But what do we do without the key?"

But Xiaoqian simply reached out and pulled on the box door, actually opening the small storage box.

However, I still shook my head and said, "After Han Xiaofeng died, the school must have opened this box. It seems we won't find anything else."

"Let me take a look."

Xiaoqian reached into the box but only pulled out a large wad of old newspapers; it seemed all the valuables had been taken. Undeterred, she continued searching the innermost part of the box. Suddenly, her brow furrowed slightly, and she pulled out a photograph.

She gasped for breath and said, "It's stuck on top of the innermost layer."

"No wonder the school didn't find out."

I took the photo from Xiaoqian and found that it was an old black and white photo with a yellowish tinge. It felt brittle to the touch and seemed like it would break easily.

The photo is a family portrait, with five people in total. In the front row sits an elderly couple, both appearing to be over seventy. The old man is lean and wiry, wearing a long gown, with a long beard and long hair, giving him a somewhat antique look. The old woman wears a cheongsam, her face heavily powdered, deathly pale like a zombie. In the back row is presumably a young couple. The man, around twenty-seven or twenty-eight, wears a sharp suit, elegant and refined, like a young master from the TV series "The Story of a Noble Family." The woman, only in her early twenties, holds an infant in her arms. She wears a short-sleeved cheongsam popular in the Republican era, revealing her fair and delicate arms. Her face is slender and beautiful, her eyes carrying a hint of melancholy, unlike...

She has the appearance of a plump young mother.

Xiaoqian and I were both stunned. It was as if the people in the photo still possessed some kind of life, staring at us, especially the young woman holding the baby. Her strange gaze seemed to pierce through the light of the old photograph. I couldn't help but mutter to myself, "Strange, why do I feel this way?"

Looking more closely at the background of the photo, it appears to be in a spacious living room, with what seems to be a piano in the background, a large fireplace on the wall, and several wall lamps.

A house with a fireplace must be an old-fashioned Western-style house, but there's no way there could be such a house in a deserted village.

Suddenly, Xiaoqian flipped the photo over, and I noticed writing on the back, seemingly done with some kind of black ink.

Photographed on April 5, 1948, at the abandoned apartment in Shanghai.

I read the sentence aloud softly, and halfway through, I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine.

Xiaoqian's eyes widened, and she said in a daze, "My God, maybe we really have discovered something."

"Wait a minute, let's calm down first—the 37th year of the Republic of China? That's 1948 in the Gregorian calendar. The Republic of China used the Gregorian calendar, so April 5th should be Qingming Festival."

Was this photo taken on Qingming Festival in 1948?

I nodded, but then frowned: "But—what exactly is this 'Shanghai Abandoned Village Apartment'?"

"At least in Shanghai."

"Chunyu said this is a photo of an abandoned village, so it must be more than just the four words 'abandoned village apartment.' This photo must have been found in the old mansion of the Jinshi Mansion in the abandoned village, and then Han Xiaofeng kept it. She brought the photo back to Shanghai and carefully hid it in this storage box."

Xiaoqian seemed to understand immediately: "So, the five people in this family photo must be—the Ouyang family?"

"That's right, this should be the Ouyang family photo taken in Shanghai. I never would have guessed that the Ouyang family from that deserted village actually lived in Shanghai."

“And there’s also an abandoned apartment building in Shanghai,” Xiaoqian added.

I felt another headache coming on, and looking at the old black and white photograph, I had an inexplicable, strange feeling. So I put the photo away, carefully tucked it into my notebook, and then put it in my bag.

Finally, Xiaoqian and I left, making our way out of the campus before dark. Although we had found this photo, we were both unusually downcast. Perhaps every new discovery meant that there was still an even more arduous road ahead between us and the secrets of the deserted village.

Where exactly is this "abandoned village apartment"?

Part Three, Day Thirteen, Section 25, Day Sixteen (1)

Today is the sixteenth day of this story, and from this day forward you will discover that the story has entered a new labyrinth.

The weather is getting hotter and hotter. Yesterday, after rushing from the mental hospital to the subway bookstore and then to the university, I changed all my clothes, feeling drenched in sweat. Suddenly, I felt something hard in my pocket, and my heart skipped a beat. I quickly reached into my pocket and pulled out the green jade ring.

This is a jade ring from a secret underground chamber in a deserted village. Whose finger should it be worn?

Why was Chunyu wearing it around her neck in the mental hospital yesterday? I hadn't intended to take it with me, but now it's in my hands. Perhaps this is its destiny.

I examined the jade ring closely. The crimson stain on the side looked like some kind of brand, embedded in the green jade. I suddenly felt a chill, as if the jade ring was drawing away my body heat. I immediately put the jade ring down, placed it in a small box, and locked it in a drawer.

Yesterday was really tiring. I said goodbye to Xiaoqian after leaving the university at dusk and took a taxi home by myself. Before I could even catch my breath when I got home, I called Ye Xiao and told him everything I knew that day, especially that last question.

Now, that photo is pasted in my notebook. I stare blankly at the people in the photo, and the feeling is hard to describe in words.

The phone suddenly rang. I immediately answered it and heard Ye Xiao's voice—

"I've found an apartment in an abandoned village."

At first, I didn't react, but a few seconds later, the words "abandoned village apartment" hit me like a bullet. I shouted, "How did you find it?"

“Last night, you said that Huangcun Apartment should be an old-style Western-style house built before 1949. This morning, I checked all the place name information in old Shanghai through the internal archives of the Public Security Bureau and finally found the name Huangcun Apartment.”

I eagerly pressed on, "Where is it?"

No. 13 Anxi Road.

Ye Xiao slowly uttered these words, and I was stunned—Anxi Road, is there such a road in Shanghai? I hurriedly asked, "No. 13 Anxi Road? I didn't hear wrong, did I? I've never heard of such a road before."

"That's right, this is the place. Do you remember the back road where we used to play when we were kids?"

"When I was a child?" Memories immediately began to spin rapidly, and a quiet, gloomy little street vaguely appeared before my eyes. "Yes, I remember now, the nameless little street behind our house."

That road is called the Road of Rest.

"Thank you, Ye Xiao."

Ye Xiao seemed to want to tell me something, but I had already hung up the phone in a hurry.

Because I also need to call someone else—Nie Xiaoqian.

In the subsequent phone call, I told her the news I had just received. Xiaoqian also seemed very excited and immediately wanted to go to the abandoned village apartment to take a look. I agreed to meet her at the entrance of No. 13 Anxi Road in half an hour.

With that old photograph in hand, I hurried toward the Road to Anxi.

Ye Xiao's phone call just now brought back memories of my childhood. It was our old house, surrounded by narrow streets and lined with old-fashioned lane houses. But since we moved when I was ten, I haven't been back to that place, and the remaining memories have gradually faded.

Half an hour later, I arrived at my home from over a decade ago, only to find it had become a construction site; the original house had long been demolished. Looking at the ruins of the construction site, a sudden pang of sadness struck me. Is this what the passage of time is like?

There was no time for reflection. I quickly crossed a side street and came to the small road behind it. Sure enough, I saw the street sign—Anxi Road.

This is it. Looking at this quiet little street, childhood memories play out like scenes from a movie, leading me slowly forward. I naturally recall how Ye Xiao often brought me here to play when I was little. Back then, rows of old houses lined both sides of the street, nestled among lush green trees, filling us children with a mixture of curiosity and fear. You hardly ever see a car here, and even pedestrians are extremely rare. You can cross the narrow, winding street at will; sometimes the quiet is almost eerie, as if just across the street lies another world.

But now all of that has changed, and my eyes are stung by the sight—the houses along the roadside have all been demolished, some reduced to rubble, others just crumbling walls. Several bulldozers are working in the ruins, and some construction workers are erecting temporary shelters—Anxi Road has become a huge construction site.

My heart immediately jumped. What if the abandoned apartment building in the deserted village was also reduced to ruins? If that were the case, wouldn't all my efforts have been in vain? I prayed silently in my heart as I ran forward, scanning both sides of the road with my eyes fixed on them.

The sky grew increasingly dark, and suddenly some raindrops began to fall, making me feel more and more uneasy.

As I was about to reach the end of Anxi Road, I suddenly noticed a green house standing amidst a pile of ruins.

It was a three-story English-style house, its exterior walls covered in green vines that tightly enveloped the entire structure. The raindrops grew heavier, and under the gloomy sky, the green building stood alone, surrounded by a vast expanse of ruins. The scene struck me as reminiscent of ancient ruins on the English moors, sending a chill down my spine.

The raindrops pelted my face more and more intensely, and I could only run towards the green house, stepping over the rubble and ruins.

Suddenly, I noticed a young woman standing downstairs, looking up at the roof of the building. She was wearing a white dress but hadn't brought an umbrella. The raindrops gradually soaked her, making the dress cling tightly to her body. From the back, her figure was truly captivating.

I finally rushed downstairs and immediately called out her name: "Xiaoqian".

Her expression seemed rather unpleasant. She turned her head blankly and said, "You're late."

"Excuse me, why are you standing here? Be careful not to catch a cold from the rain." As I spoke, I realized that I was also soaked by the rain and looked even more disheveled than her.

Xiaoqian didn't pay attention to what I said. She kept staring at the building and said, "This is the abandoned village apartment."

"Abandoned village apartment?"

These four words sent a shiver down my spine. Only then did I notice the house number hanging at the bottom of the building—No. 13 Anxi Road.

Yes, this is the place Ye Xiao was talking about. I couldn't contain my excitement, so I grabbed Xiaoqian's hand and rushed into the house.

The moment I grasped her hand, I felt a slight warmth in my heart. Her skin was smooth and cool, still damp with rainwater. That slippery and slippery feeling made me suddenly feel a little embarrassed.

But she waved her hand and said, "No, this house feels strange, we shouldn't barge in."

Do you want to get soaked to the bone in the rain?

I grabbed her hand tightly and rushed to the front door of the building. The eaves sheltered us from the rain. I knocked hard on the door, but there was no response. I peered through the window, but it was too dark inside.

In a moment of panic, we went to the back of the house and found an inconspicuous back door that seemed to be ajar. I tried to push it gently, and to my surprise, the door opened. I immediately pulled Xiaoqian inside.

I entered the deserted village apartment.

Upon entering, there was a long corridor piled with a lot of messy old furniture and garbage. The dim light made my eyes uncomfortable. As we walked in, a thick layer of dust flew up, and I quickly covered my mouth and nose with my hands.

Only then did Xiaoqian free her hand from my grasp. She rubbed her wrist and said, "You're the one who barged in here."

The dust had gradually settled, and I breathed a sigh of relief, saying, "Didn't you say on the phone earlier that you really wanted to see the abandoned village apartment? Why are you scared now?"

“I don’t know why.” Xiaoqian wiped her rain-soaked hair with a handkerchief, her eyes looking blank. “When I stood under this building and looked up at the window on the third floor, I suddenly had a strange feeling. I can’t describe it in words, but I did feel fear, fear of this building.”

Hearing her soft, gloomy voice made me a little uneasy, but I still comforted her, "No, that's just your imagination."

But she still shook her head, and began wiping her wet dress with her handkerchief again.

I asked somewhat awkwardly, "You're soaked, are you alright? Or should I go back with you?"

"Forget it, since we're already here, let's take a look around first."

Xiaoqian finally raised her head. She had dried herself off a bit and stared blankly at the end of the corridor, where everything was shrouded in darkness.

I walked cautiously ahead, each step kicking up dust. I kept brushing the dust away with my hands, feeling as if I were walking through some underground tunnel. This reminded me of the abandoned village underground palace that Su Tianping had described.

Suddenly, a room appeared next to the corridor. In the dim light, it was vaguely discernible that this was an entrance hall, and the door I had just knocked on must have been this one.

The back foyer was empty. I looked up and examined the walls and ceiling closely. The house was decorated quite nicely, in a British style. However, the walls were covered in dust and years of stains, and much of the ceiling surface was peeling off, giving it a frightening, mottled appearance.

Further inside was another large hall. My eyes had adjusted to the light, and I found the hall to be very spacious—enough for a dozen people to dance in. There was also a spiral staircase on the inner side of the hall. I walked to the staircase, looked up, hesitated for a long time, but still didn't dare to go up. Perhaps because it had been vacant for too long, the house exuded a musty smell, making anyone who entered feel a tightness in their chest.

Part Three, Day Thirteen, Section 26, Day Sixteen (2)