章 3: Blank Title
編集者: Tehrn
“I hope I can go back to 1968 whenever I want.” Huang Xuan looked into the future eagerly, but Rolin interrupted his fantasy by saying: “For now, I can only transmit things to random destinations.”
“For now? Then when will you be able to help me to go back to 1968?” asked Huang Xuan anxiously.
After about half a minute, Rolin replied: “You know, theoretically that would consume a lot of energy.”
“Well, that’s no problem!” Huang Xuan had no idea how much energy Rolin was talking about.
While they were talking, the white ring enlarged and in a flash, Huang Xuan was already standing on the ground.
It was around noon, as the sun was glaring and the shadows of the surrounding buildings seemed to be shorter. Huang Xuan stamped his feet to feel the solid ground and was relieved. In front of him was the end of a lane, the buildings were low but still looked completely different from those in the 70s. Recalling his weird experience in the past two days, Huang Xuan had an inexplicable thrill.
“Rolin, does it count as keeping your secret if I fill up the swimming pool?”
“Yes, it does.” This time Rolin replied immediately.
Afterward, no matter what Huang Xuan asked, Rolin just kept his mouth shut. Huang Xuan felt bored and went home in a cab.
At this moment the only thing going on in his home was complete madness. His mother had totally neglected what was happening in her company and called his uncle to come and help. The police were searching his house and the surrounding area thoroughly and blocked nearby roads. If they were not searching for a person, maybe the swimming pool would have already been dug through.
Huang Xuan’s father ran a lab at Nanjing University and was very busy. Plus Huang Xuan was a rebellious child. They were not close and often got into a fight after several words. But now that he was missing, his father was too worried to carry on the experiments and stayed at home to wait for news.
Roadblocks could be seen even 10 km away from his home. Huang Xuan didn’t expect such turmoil. The cab slowed down. The driver shifted gears and started to complain: “These cops are useless. You never see them when there is a car accident.”
Huang Xuan didn’t know that the police were looking for him. He was still holding the box, thinking about the stamps. He occasionally opened it and looked inside to check if they were in the best conditions. He didn’t respond to what the driver had said. The driver went on to talk about his laid-off family, the rocketing oil price, and how the traffic policemen just couldn’t leave taxi drivers alone for a single day…
“Your ID, sir.” a policeman stopped them with a salute. Huang Xuan was still deep in thought when the police officer suddenly opened the door and pointed at the driver. “You, get out.”
The driver was scared to death, thinking that what he had said about the police must have been heard. He explained right away: “You know what, I was talking nonsense.”
The policeman ignored the driver. He looked at the portrait in his hand and asked Huang Xuan: “Are you Huang Xuan?”
“Ah? Oh, yes.” Huang Xuan raised his head in confusion. The policeman checked the portrait a few more times. Seeing that even the clothes matched, he shouted in excitement: “Found him!”
In his house, Huang Xuan’s father, Huang Qunsheng was drinking tea while his mother was glaring at him. Only his uncle, Zhang Shuduan, was smiling at him. This scene, which happened every time he got his test marks back, or he got into trouble, was very familiar to Huang Xuan. He located his ally immediately and smirked at his uncle.
“Where have you been these two days?” His mother tapped on the base of her teacup.
“The 20th century.” Huang Xuan wanted to tell the truth but was afraid that his mother couldn’t bear it, so instead, he said: “I stayed at my classmate’s.”
His mother said sullenly: “I have called all of your classmates. Whose home did you stay at?”
This was a tricky question. Huang Xuan didn’t know how to respond, so he decided to play dumb and keep smiling.
His mother, Zhang Xinyi knew his son was a rebellious troublemaker with a lack of discipline, but she was always busy with her job. Although Huang Xuan’s father was home every day, he knew nothing about child education and couldn’t be counted upon in this respect. Huang Xuan’s disappearance made her realize that it was time for her to do something. She said to Huang Xuan: “You are grounded until the beginning of the next semester. Do you understand?”
Huang Xuan reluctantly agreed.
Before this “interrogation”, he had already hidden the box in his room before taking a shower. Now even being grounded couldn’t check his excitement. He rushed into his room.
He took out the stamps carefully with tweezers. Now looking at them again, he didn’t see stamps but a lot of money. He put those treasures in the stamp-album that he had had since childhood, then started contemplating how to sell them. He wasn’t fond of philately. He would rather have dozens of computers or motorbikes than collect stamps.
“Now you should start filling up the pool,” Having been silent for such a long time, Rolin interrupted Huang Xuan’s fantasy once again.
“All right,” Huang Xuan muttered, worrying that Rolin would take him back to the 70s anytime.
Filling up the pool was no big deal for him. There was already an indoor pool in their house. The new one was just for sunbathing in summer. Furthermore, his mother was indulgent with him. She had already punished and grounded him, and that meant she would be no longer angry about what he had done.
So when Huang Xuan said he hated building a pool beside the pavilion and wanted it to be filled up, his mother only criticized him a little bit and almost agreed immediately.
The construction team was the only one unhappy about it: first, the construction was shut down for two days for no good reason, and now they were asked to fill the pool up. But Huang Xuan couldn’t care less. He asked them to fill it up thoroughly and plant shrubs around it. As for the price, his mother would take care.
Rolin was satisfied and glad that Huang Xuan had fulfilled his promise so soon. He wouldn’t say anything, of course. Huang Xuan didn’t care because all he cared about at this moment was his stamps.
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