Volume 9 – Chapter 30: Ontology

Tick.

A crisp sound came abruptly from the room, as if something had fallen on the concrete floor.

It was the sound of marbles… rolling.

A small marble was slowly rolling out from the dark room where the door was opened.

Tick – Multiple “ticks” haunted the room. Immediately, marbles in the color of green, blue, and even multi colored rolled out from the door crack. The scene made the marbles appear like eyeballs.

Some of them were even bouncing. Each of them rolled… and stopped at Luo Qiu’s feet.

Luo Qiu took a quick glance, then bent down and picked up one of the marbles in his hand. Then, he glanced at the crack of the door.

A face was staring at Luo Qiu at this time.

It was a very small face with thin hair tangled indiscriminately, like the dark green wakame growing by the sea. The eyes were huge but not symmetrical. The eyeball on the left had even peeled off, and just hung on the face. It almost broke off.

He couldn’t find a nose on this face at all. The cheek on the right was badly mutilated. The wound was seemingly afflicted by a scratch. There was something soft in the color of grey being squeezed out from the uneven wound.

Luo Qiu blinked and stretched out his hand to grab this little face directly. His palm was big enough that he could grasp the popped head with one hand.

The black door and the cracks in the room did not stop Luo Qiu’s next move after grabbing the head. Luo Qiu pulled it out directly, and placed it under the flashing light to look at it.

“So this thing is still there.”

Boss Luo grabbed it in his hand. It was just a rag doll that was so old that it could be thrown away as garbage.

Luo Qiu looked at the cracks in the room where there was no more movement, and casually said, “I went back here once when I was young. I lost this little one somewhere I didn’t know. My grandparents were still there at that time. I think they found it after I left.”

There was still no movement inside the room. Boss Luo squatted down and picked up the scattered marbles one by one. He suddenly said, “Are you not going to come out?”

A heavy and sharp voice suddenly sounded, “Aren’t you afraid?”

Luo Qiu said calmly, “This is also my house. What should I be afraid of…or, what are you afraid of? It’s not good to be scary like this.”

There was silence in the room for a long time before the voice sounded again, “I…I don’t know someone is coming back. I will stay here for a while. Don’t worry, I will absolutely not touch anything in this room. I…I will leave right now. But please don’t call the police! Please trust me!”

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Luo Qiu asked suddenly.

“What?”

“Well, I can’t actually cook at this moment. If you don’t mind, come and eat downstairs.” Luo Qiu smiled and said, “The smell is drifting in the air… Your instant noodles are probably burnt.”

The door of the room was suddenly opened, and then the lights were turned on. The person who actually hid, appeared naturally in front of Luo Qiu.

It was Wei Dazhe, a man about thirty-five or six years old, who was about the same size as Luo Qiu.

…

“You…you really will not call the police?”

Wei Dazhe didn’t really go downstairs.

He was sitting on a plastic stool in the utility room at this time, holding a bowl of Chief Kang Jarred Pickled Cabbage Instant Noodle. The noodles were already rolled up on the fork. He did not eat but looked at Luo Qiu in amazement.

Luo Qiu looked inside this room. A rectangular piece of paper was placed on the floor. Some clothing was placed next to it. There was a small bag next to it. Some garbage was placed in the bag.

There was a small kettle on the opposite side, with something like a car battery, and a few bottles of mineral water next to it.

There was an empty pot of Eight Treasures Porridge [1] on the ground, which was used to hold cigarette butts, and the curtain of the only window in the room was slightly drawn aside. A row of new houses could be seen across the village road.

Luo Qiu shook his head, “In fact, this is not necessary.”

Wei Dazhe was taken aback, and said unbelievably, “But I haven’t asked your family before I…”

Luo Qiu said calmly, “A house is meant to be lived in by humans. Apart from this, I can’t think of any function of the house. Besides, didn’t you mean that you haven’t moved anything here? You didn’t move anything here before I came back… You will do the same after I go back, right?”

Wei Dazhe raised his head and said in amazement, “You…do you really believe in me?”

Luo Qiu calmly said, “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have stayed in this utility room.”

Wei Dazhe didn’t say anything, but just lowered his head and gulped the instant noodles. After Wei Dazhe finished eating, he even finished the soup before wiping his mouth, “I’ve heard that there is only one child left in this house. He lives in a big city, and hasn’t come back for a long time. I thought there was no one, so I stayed for a while. Don’t worry, I’ll leave later.”

“It’s okay.” Luo Qiu shook his head and said, “I’ll stay for a few days, and then I have to go back. If you don’t move anywhere here, it doesn’t matter if you live here… Also, do you want to take a shower when the power is returned”

Wei Dazhe looked at a young guy in his early twenties incredulously, completely unclear about what he was thinking in his mind. How could he be so courteous when facing an unclear stranger who broke into his house?

“You feel uncomfortable, don’t you?” Luo Qiu smiled and said, “Don’t you feel uncomfortable after working for a whole day?”

Wei Dazhe stood up all of a sudden, “How do you know that I have worked for a whole day?”

“Your body is stained, what did you do if you didn’t work?” Luo Qiu shook his head and said, “Don’t worry. They know that I’m back. It’s not weird to lighten up and take a shower, and make any noise now. ”

“What kind of person are you?” Wei Dazhe looked at him silently.

It had been a long time since he met someone who could speak to him so politely.

“What about you?” Luo Qiu asked, “Have you heard about my family, that is to say, you are also a villager here.”

Wei Dazhe glanced at the small gap in the curtains before sighing, “My name is Wei Dazhe… I think you should call me a brother-in-law back then.”

“Luo Zheng told me about you.” Luo Qiu nodded, “He mentioned it when he picked me up today.”

“It turns out that the guest he picked up is you…” Wei Dazhe was taken aback.

He had already met this young guy before, but they didn’t see each other’s face… Wei Dazhe moved his lips, and finally smiled bitterly, “Then you know me. Luo Zheng must have said it… about me.”

“I’ve been roughly told,” said Luo Qiu. “However, could it be said that it is impossible that you can’t find a place to live no matter what? You have a job.”

Wei Dazhe lowered his head, took out the crumpled soft pack of cigarettes. He took a look at Luo Qiu when a cigarette was halfly taken out.

“It’s okay.” Luo Qiu opened the window directly.

Wei Dazhe thought for a while, and stuffed the cigarette case into his pocket.

“I don’t actually come here often.” Wei Dazhe looked at the lights of a row of new houses outside the window, “I just came to see the child. My wife… My ex-wife will bring the child to sleep over here every weekend for a day or two. I’ll usually be here for these two days.”

Because of what had happened to Grandma Xiaochun, Luo Qiu’s cousin took a leave, and came back with the child.

The elder’s time had come. The children and grandchildren of the elder were coming back one after another.

“I’ll see if the appliance for boiling water can be used or not.” Luo Qiu suddenly smiled and said, “Go prepare yourself. The ones who come are guests. As the host, I will naturally entertain you.”

“You do not need……”

But Wei Dazhe seemed to be unable to stop this young man’s action, so Luo Qiu left the utility room and went downstairs… Or it could be said that he suddenly wanted to be treated like this.

“The visitors are guests…” Wei Dazhe looked out the window silently.

He shook his head suddenly, and muttered to himself, “This guy, he is more courageous than me when I was young… Why didn’t he scare me?”

He then took out the cigarette box again, lit up one cigarette, and then found a cheap telescope that could be bought with merely ten yuan from the pile of clothes. He leaned against the windowsill, and didn’t totally expose himself. He leaned forward and stared blankly at the figure in the house opposite.

After a while, Wei Dazhe’s phone vibrated suddenly after a while. He glanced down at the caller ID on the phone… The words “Big Head” were shown.

Wei Dazhe frowned, and quickly threw the phone directly into the pile of clothes.

But he seemed to feel that this was not enough, so he grabbed another handful of clothes and covered it on the phone cruelly.

…

The gas tank was used in the past in this kind of old house. The water heater was naturally run with the petrochemical gas.

After so many years, naturally there was no gas available.

But there was a big stove in the kitchen, and the big iron pot on the rack could be used to boil water.

Some of the wood piled here before was still usable. Boss Luo started to boil water after he made a fire.

When the sticks were burning in the fire, they made a crackling sound… A shadow outside the small window of the kitchen floated towards here at this moment.

A pale and stiff face was watching motionlessly.

What a peaceful village.

[1] Rice congee made with red beans, lotus seeds, longan, red dates, nuts