"Madam, I'll head back to my place now that you're settled in. Call me if you need anything."
I heard Ah Hong's voice from downstairs and leaned over the second-floor railing to look down. I saw him speaking to my mother in the living room after helping us with our luggage.
My mother pondered for a moment and said, "You're still planning to go back there? Why not just stay and help me?"
Ah Hong bowed respectfully to my mother and said in a low voice, "I can't leave there for the time being. Besides, with just you and the young master living here, it wouldn't be convenient for me, a man, to be around. Your car will be air freighted over in a few days. You can find me if you need anything."
My mother sighed. I rarely saw her look slightly disappointed. She stared at Ah Hong for a while and said, "About that matter, investigate it slowly. There's no rush. Be careful and don't get into trouble."
Ah Hong remained expressionless, just said "Yes" in a flat tone, bowed to my mother again, and then turned and left.
Their voices were low, and I couldn't hear everything clearly. Seeing Ah Hong leave, I hurried downstairs and said to my mother, "Mom! Has Uncle Ah Hong left?"
Seeing me run down, my mother said with a smile, "Mmm, he still has work to do and can't stay with us."
I said with a grin, "Then Mom, does that mean it's just the two of us now!"
Mom shot me an annoyed, playful glare. I was about to nuzzle into her arms for a while longer when suddenly, with a "clatter," a package fell out of my clothes pocket.
I looked down. It was the oilcloth package Dad had given me. I had almost forgotten about it. Inside was a very old, mirror-like object and an iron key, now scattered on the floor.
"What's this?" Mom asked in surprise, walking over to pick it up.
My heart sank. Crap, I thought, how did I let that fall out? I had no choice but to brace myself and lean against Mom, opening the oilcloth package with her.
The key inside was nothing special. It didn't look new, but it wasn't very rusty either, so it probably wasn't from a very distant era. I figured it must be the key to the villa's basement. The bronze mirror, on the other hand, looked very ancient. Mom and I examined it closely. This "treasure," as Dad had called it, had carvings of dragons and phoenixes around its edge, but they were badly worn. The mirror's surface was covered in a bluish-green copper rust. Although I could vaguely see our reflections, the surface was so unclear that our images looked even more fragmented. At the very top of the mirror was a Taiji Bagua symbol, but it was encircled by a continuous, intertwined pattern of flying dragons and phoenixes. I had never seen this symbol anywhere else; it looked very unique.
"Xiao Bin, what is this? Where did it come from?" Mom asked, looking at the mirror with a puzzled expression.
Remembering Dad's stern warning, I stammered, "This... this, I found it by chance in a corner at school!"
"Found it?" Mom looked at my face, her expression full of doubt. I must have looked so unconvincing that I probably didn't even believe myself.
"Yeah, yeah, that's right. It... it looked like a piece of scrap iron or an antique, and I just happened to see it in the woods, so I picked it up."
Mom looked at me, still unconvinced, and then began to examine the mirror more carefully. She turned it over a few times, but the old mirror didn't seem to have anything special about it. It was covered in dust and copper rust. On the back, there seemed to be a groove where a finger could fit. Mom slid her fair, white finger into it, getting it covered in dust.
She then looked at the key. The iron key was of a more modern style and didn't seem to be from the same era as the bronze mirror.
"It's probably nothing," I said in a low voice. "I think since I found it, maybe it's meant for me..."
Mom then rewrapped the bronze mirror in the oilcloth, tucked the key inside, and handed it back to me. "Alright then, you'd better keep it safe."
I quickly took the package back. Mom's beautiful face wore a meaningful expression as she looked at me, making me feel incredibly guilty.
That evening, Mom cooked herself, preparing several of my favorite dishes. We mother and son had a wonderful time together. I told her about my years at school, and she listened with a warm smile, occasionally asking about fun details. The living room light shone on her lovely face, making it look exceptionally radiant and charming.
On our first night in the villa, I had trouble sleeping in a new bed. I tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. The house felt too big, and with only Mom and me living there, I actually felt a bit uneasy.
I checked the time; it was already past 2 a.m., and I was still wide awake. I decided to just sit up, turn on the light, get dressed, and open the package again to see what was so special about that bronze mirror.
I looked around my room for my backpack but couldn't find it. Then I remembered I had left it in the living room and hadn't brought it in.
I put on my slippers and tiptoed out of the bedroom. It was pitch black outside. Mom's room, of course, was dark too. I looked left and right, then crept down the stairs on my tiptoes to the living room. I shone my phone's light and, sure enough, my backpack was on the sofa.
I'm such an idiot, I scolded myself, how could I forget that? I walked over, opened the backpack, and took out the package. Using my phone's flashlight, I took out the bronze mirror and the key. I stared at the mirror, and under the bright phone light, my own blurry reflection in the mirror seemed to twist slightly, looking unlike me and bearing a strange smile. I was so startled I almost dropped the mirror.
I quickly thought to myself how old and sinister this thing was. What kind of "treasure" was it? Had Dad, in his old age and after suffering so many blows, started having hallucinations? Maybe he bought something from an antique market and just imagined it was a family heirloom.
But then I remembered his frantic, desperate appearance. He didn't seem like a man with a mental problem, his words had been very clear.
I put the mirror in my pocket, holding the key. I figured I wouldn't have a chance during the day, and I had to avoid Mom, so I had to go down to the basement now to see what was going on.
The thought of the villa's basement, Dad had said it was the second sub-level, made me nervous. In the middle of the night, it wouldn't be haunted, would it?
After debating with myself for a while, my curiosity won out. I checked that my phone still had plenty of battery and headed down to the basement. I had been down here once during the day. It was a finished space with a recreation room, a home theater, a billiards room, and other areas. It was quite large, and Mom and I had looked around.
I went down to the basement and closed the door. I turned on the lights in every room. The brightness gave me a lot more confidence; at least I wouldn't be exploring some creepy underground dungeon in the dark.
I remembered Dad said it was in the northeast corner. The northeast corner was a storage room, completely empty now. I went in and turned on the light. It looked like it had once held food and daily necessities, as there were still some traces, but now it was cleared out, making the room seem quite spacious.
I went to the northeast corner. It looked like some wooden barrels had been there as there were still circular marks on the floor.
I ran my hands along the wall and, sure enough, found a small tile whose pattern and color were completely different from the surrounding ones. Because the wall was paved with multicolored, patterned tiles, you really wouldn't notice it unless you looked carefully.
I pressed on the tile and heard a "click." The tile sank into the wall, and then I heard the sound of a clockwork mechanism from within a larger, neatly fitted tile next to it. Soon, that tile also recessed into the wall, revealing a keyhole.
To think there was actually a secret mechanism in the villa! Only then did I start to believe that Dad probably wasn't crazy. It seemed our Zhou family really did have a "secret."
I quickly took out the iron key and inserted it into the keyhole. I had thought that even if the key was right, it would be hard to turn after not being used for so long, but to my surprise, the key slid in smoothly. I turned it to the right, and the sound of a clockwork mechanism came from within again.
Then, with a series of "rumbling" sounds, a section of the wall that looked just like the rest of it started to rotate!
It became a revolving door with a central axis. The door's pattern was hidden within the tile pattern, and its edges and latches matched the surrounding design perfectly. It was a truly ingenious design.
The noise from the door opening was quite loud, but Mom was sleeping on the second floor, two floors up, so it probably wouldn't wake her. I shone my phone's light behind the revolving door and saw a staircase leading down.
The staircase had a bare concrete floor, with no finishing at all. It looked completely out of place compared to the lavishly decorated first sub-level. Inside, it was pitch black, which was particularly eerie.
Although I was scared, I thought to myself that I had already come this far, how could I chicken out now? Besides, I was the rightful head of the Zhou family now. I had to know my own family's secrets. So, gritting my teeth, I turned my phone's flashlight to its brightest setting and walked in.
I was afraid the revolving door would close behind me as soon as I entered, but I stood at the entrance for a while and nothing happened. It seemed it wouldn't do that. Then again, it made sense, this wasn't a trap designed to imprison people.
I walked down the stairs. After a few steps, they became a spiral staircase continuing downward. The surrounding walls were also bare concrete. I held onto the wall as I went down. Since the walls probably hadn't been exposed to the outside air for years, there wasn't much dust.
I soon reached the bottom. I shone my phone's light around. Below was a small room. The walls were all bare concrete. Right in the middle of the room, there was a table, and behind the table stood a stone statue.
I almost jumped out of my skin, thinking there was a person in there. Fortunately, the stone statue was carved very crudely, just a rough human shape with no facial features, so it didn't look too scary. Even so, in the pitch black surroundings, it was still frightening.