These notes contained very few words, mostly conveying meaning through drawings. One has to admire the artistic talent of these two individuals; with just a few strokes, they sketched lifelike images, simply imbuing these figures with emotions.
For example, one drawing depicted a boy wearing glasses standing in front of the cafeteria, a clock beside him pointing to 11:40, essentially saying: "I'll be waiting for you at the cafeteria entrance at 11:40."
Another drawing showed two girls, one with long flowing hair, the other with short, chic hair, labeled A and B, seemingly asking: "Do I look better with long hair or short hair? I have to choose one!"
And what has become of these two protagonists now? Has the boy flown back from across the ocean? Can their lives, separated for so many years, still be as sweetly intertwined as before? It inevitably evokes a few sighs.
Below the notes were some children's doodles, particularly childlike lines depicting ducks, dinosaurs, and monsters; it seems the mother had preserved some of her child's childhood sketches.
What a thoughtful mother.
Mu Yiran picked up one of the drawings, which depicted a very complex mechanical skeleton, seemingly from aliens or high technology. Many tiny humans came to admire it, some inhuman, and judging from their figures, if their skin were removed, they would be indistinguishable from the mechanical skeleton.
This could be considered magical realism, Mu Yiran thought, when suddenly Ke Xun raised his voice: "Holy crap, we have a clue! It was hidden here!"
At this moment, the old man Li Taiyong was also sitting on the sofa in the living room waiting for news. Hearing Ke Xun's words, he couldn't help but look over.
Ke Xun turned the magical realism drawing over and showed everyone the back. On it, a string of words was written in pencil: Mom, I went to 616 to draw. I've had lunch.
"So 616 and 411 are the same family!" Ke Xun exclaimed excitedly. "And this whole family is involved in painting!"
Mu Yiran looked at the words above repeatedly: "If I'm not mistaken, 616 should be the studio they rent."
"No wonder you said 616 was unfurnished before. If it really was a studio, it would definitely be empty and sparsely furnished." Old man Li Taiyong was about to stand up when he suddenly noticed the ground shaking.
The world, which was gradually darkening, darkened even faster. Ke Xun opened the door and rushed out, only to find that the courtyard opening had shrunk to the size of a sewer manhole cover.
"It's probably their actions at the courtyard entrance that sped up the excavation," Mu Yiran helped the elderly Li Taiyong up. "Let's go to 616 now; the seal or signature must be there."
The elderly Li Taiyong waved his hand, "I'm slow, you two hurry up!"
Ke Xun had already entered the house, bent down with his back to the old man, intending to carry him on his back: "Come on, it'll be faster this way."
"This…" The elderly Li Taiyong didn't hesitate any longer and simply let the seemingly strong young man carry him on his back, running up to the sixth floor.
The entire tenement building began to tremble slightly; one could even feel an upward force, as if it were trying to break through some boundary.
When the three arrived at the door of 616, Wei Dong and the others had just come out of the door: "No, it's impossible to stand up there; I almost slipped!"
Clearly, the group had just climbed in through the window, and Wei Dong was about to sweep up the broken glass from the window.
"A clue: the seal is in room 616!" Ke Xun, supporting himself against the almost warped doorframe, put the old man down from his back.
Mu Yiran had already entered the room and began searching.
Zhu Haowen, however, was somewhat skeptical: "I've searched this room from top to bottom; there's no way I could have missed anything, unless you pry open the floorboards."
Mu Yiran seemed not to hear him, still searching everywhere, and Qin Ci quickly joined in the search.
"I think Haowen is a meticulous child," the old man Li Taiyong said, struggling to enter the room through the warped doorframe, "If the seal is in 616, it must be somewhere you've never looked before."
Mu Yiran didn't stop, but his eyes were constantly scanning the surroundings. They were just one thin layer of paper away from solving the problem, but sometimes people just can't seem to get past that one crucial detail.
Ke Xun walked to the radiator encased in printed wooden latticework, ignoring the pain, and clenched his fist, smashing it a few times before tearing off the outer wooden panels with his bare hands: "These areas should be ones that haven't been searched."
Xin Miao had also arrived at 616 at some point, looking at everyone curiously, but not daring to speak.
The floor shook violently again, and the room almost became dark; everyone felt a terrifying sense of suffocation.
Only Xin Miao remained calm.
Mu Yiran adjusted his breathing, coldly scrutinizing the entire room, his gaze falling on the wallpaper on the wall: "Tear off all the wallpaper!"
Everyone worked together, but due to the suffocation, almost no one could exert any strength. They barely managed to tear off the wallpaper in the living room, and everyone gasped for breath like dying fish.
Suddenly, one wall of the room collapsed. Ke Xun reacted the fastest, instantly pushing Mu Yiran, who was against the wall, away, but his own leg couldn't be pulled away in time and was trapped under the brick wall.
Mu Yiran and Wei Dong rushed over to help Ke Xun pull his leg out. Wei Dong was almost crying with anxiety: "Ke'er, can you still move your leg?"
"Stop talking nonsense, just tear it!" Ke Xun didn't want to talk anymore; talking too much would cause oxygen deprivation. Plus, he was already very sensitive to this overwhelming oppression, and now he was practically a patient needing emergency oxygen.
"Daughter, help your brothers with the work!" Old man Li Taiyong urged Xin Miao—this girl was currently the one with the most energy.
Xin Miao seemed quite obedient, skipping and hopping towards the bedroom. She lifted a corner of the wallpaper that had curled up and ripped it open with a "whoosh."
A huge picture was revealed, and as Xin Miao continued to tear, the picture became more and more complete.
Although the picture was distorted and warped due to the deformation of the room, it didn't prevent people from imagining what it originally looked like
—a huge, exaggerated bamboo shoot that almost covered the entire wall, covered with small windows, resembling an abstract representation of a tenement building!
Beside the bamboo shoot were large, somewhat childish words: I'm going to lead you out! Our Bamboo Shoot Dormitory will soar to the sky! Break free from the cage! Head towards the universe!
Xinmiao crouched down and tore off the bottom strip of wallpaper. The lower half of the bamboo shoot was actually drawn with a rocket-like fiery tail, truly giving the feeling of about to burst into space.
The artist's signature was written below the bamboo shoot: Luo Bin, drawn at age 11.
All eyes were focused on the boy's signature, and instantly a faint golden light shone, revealing a picture frame, almost deformed from being squeezed, faintly visible on the twisted wall.
"It's a success..." several people said excitedly, but their voices were very weak.
Now the entire room was almost completely dark, in an environment where you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, illuminated only by the glowing signature.
The ground trembled violently again, one corner of the picture frame almost collapsed, and the entire frame was twisted into a parallelogram.
"Quick, let's go." Zhu Haowen was the first to step into the picture frame, disappearing inside in the blink of an eye.
Everything before our eyes happened in an instant; a single collapse could completely destroy the precious exit.
"Hurry!" Old man Li Taiyong's voice rang out. Somehow, the old man had already propped up a corner of the almost broken picture frame. "Hurry up!"
At Old Man Li Taiyong's anxious shout, Qin Ci also bent down and stepped out of the picture frame.
"Grandpa Li..." Ke Xun's words were cut short as Mu Yiran carried her on her back, struggling to squeeze into the deformed picture frame, now only a meter high.
"Daughter, come too. What if she can be healed if we get out!" Old Man Li Taiyong could barely hold on any longer. He squatted down, straining to lift a corner of the picture frame. The force was so great that veins bulged on his temples. "Take her out!"
Wei Dong gritted his teeth, pulling Xin Miao along as they crawled out. The instant they were out, they heard a deafening crash behind them...
Light filled the air, and all the nightmares vanished.
Ke Xun was still on Mu Yiran's back, her legs almost numb. She didn't even know when tears had streamed down her face, soaking Mu Yiran's back.
Everyone stood silently in the exhibition hall. When they finally mustered the courage to look at the painting before them, they discovered it was incredibly warm and bright:
"Breaking Ground Series No. 5"—a work by artist Luo Bin, 2016.
The scene depicted was the courtyard of the Chunsun Apartment, as if every corner was bathed in sunlight. Although it was a scene from an older era, the colors were vibrant and comforting.
The courtyard was filled with warmth and liveliness: children were playing jump rope, housewives were picking vegetables and washing clothes, and a little boy sat in a corner, drawing on his easel. He was drawing a large bamboo shoot, adding windows to it.
In the painting, two elderly people were playing chess: one was the gatekeeper, Grandpa Zhang, and the other was the kind-faced Li Taiyong. Beside the two men was Xinmiao, doing ballet moves with a sweet smile.
Wei Dong looked down at his right palm. He had used his right hand to pull Xin Miao out of the house. As the space expanded, they stood up and started running, but as they ran, he felt the person in his arms getting lighter and lighter until they were finally out, and the girl had disappeared.
Now, all that remained in his palm was a small blue bow hair clip, the one Xin Miao always wore.
"They were happy in the painting," Mu Yiran said. Ke
Xun remained silent.
Qin Ci's expression was grave, but he could only say, "Let's take Xiao Ke to the hospital first; his leg might be broken."