Ji Yongtao was woken up by someone while he was sleeping soundly at night.
There were mosquitoes in the living room and he couldn't sleep. There was only one mosquito net in the house.
He had originally planned to light mosquito coils, but one time the family dog foolishly licked the small red spot and burned its tongue. It couldn't eat for several days. And it was said that mosquito coils were not good for dogs,
so he didn't light it. Ji Yongtao wondered whether to move Xu Fei's bed to the storage room so that he could hang the mosquito net. The person refused, saying that there was no socket in the storage room and the electric fan couldn't be turned on.
Chu Jiajun hugged the quilt, his eyes cold because he couldn't sleep well: "I can't sleep at home, I might as well go out and sleep in a high-end hotel."
Ji Yongtao: "How about booking a nightclub for the night?" The dream really had everything.
The unit allocated housing, the furniture inside was a set, and the bedrooms all had big beds.
So they all slept on the same big bed. On summer nights, the rusty iron windows were wide open and the electric fan whirred loudly. A refreshing, clean breeze blew through the yellowed white mosquito net.
The radio was tuned to the storytelling channel, listening to Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Chu Jiajun was engrossed, her hand reaching under her pillow for Ji Yongtao's magazine. Halfway through the page, she paused, lost in thought.
Chu Jiajun: Who's stronger, Guan Yu or Lü Bu?
Ji Yongtao: Definitely Guan Yu.
Chu Jiajun: Then who's stronger, Guan Yu or Dian Wei?
Ji Yongtao: Definitely Guan Yu...
He was already getting a little sleepy, but the man kept asking one question after another, eager to compare the Wei, Shu, and Wu dynasties.
Chu Jiajun: How could Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang have checked the weather forecast back then?
Ji Yongtao: The newspaper...
Chu Jiajun: Did they even have newspapers back then?
Ji Yongtao: Who knows...
He fell asleep again. The man sat cross-legged beside her, cradling a small radio and fanning himself with the magazine...
After a while, Ji Yongtao was woken again.
Chu Jiajun: Brother Yong, the battery's out.
Ji Yongtao:... What time is it?
Chu Jiajun squinted at the clock: "Oh, it's three o'clock!" That storyteller is really talkative!
It seems some of the nighttime shows are recordings. That version of the Three Kingdoms storytelling has been aired before. Ji Yongtao yawned: "I can even tell you a story."
Chu Jiajun: "Then I want to hear about the Empty City Strategy!
" Ji Yongtao: "The Empty City Strategy... The Empty City Strategy is... Sima Yi leads his men to attack Zhuge Liang... and then this and that..."
Chu Jiajun: "Then why didn't Sima Yi just have someone shoot Zhuge Liang from the top of the city wall from a distance?
" Ji Yongtao: "Zhuge Liang was clever, maybe he invented the ancient bulletproof vest...
" Chu Jiajun: "Aim for the head.
" Ji Yongtao: "...Do you still want to hear it?
" Chu Jiajun: "Yes, yes, yes.
" ...
Ji Yongtao couldn't remember what he said out of sleep, but he actually dreamed about the Empty City Strategy. A man who looked like a military strategist sat on the top of the city wall, surrounded by people below. One of them was Xu Fei, and he was surrounded by a group of bespectacled men who looked like college students. Chu Jiajun pointed at the man: Aim for the head!
Ji Yongtao roared: No! This is the Empty City Strategy! No messing around!
Chu Jiajun held him down, sat on him, and continued to point at the man: Aim for the head!
Ji Yongtao was so angry that he woke up, his chest was stuffy. He saw a thigh across his chest, which was Chu Jiajun's messy sleeping posture.
He moved the man's legs away and wanted to turn over and continue sleeping, but he ended up on the edge of the bed. When he turned over, he rolled down, and the mosquito net draped over the bed was pulled down with him. There was a rustling sound, and the mosquito net was torn.
Ji Yongtao took Chu Jiajun to the textile market to pick out mosquito nets. Chu Jiajun said to everyone he met: Do you know how my mosquito net was torn? It was torn when my brother rolled down...
Buy a new mosquito net and hang it up at home. In the evening, he put the batteries in the radio and continued to listen to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Hearing the battery was out, Ji Yongtao was asked to orally describe Bowangpo and Baimenlou... He continued to ramble until he fell asleep.
The next day, he woke up again, still suffocated, this time with the man's head pressing against his chest. Ji Yongtao pushed his brother away, only to lose his balance and fall off the bed. The mosquito net ripped with a crackling sound, and fluttered down on them both.