Well of Mystery

At the end of the dark passage is a large courtyard; in other words, it is a concrete open space of hundreds of square meters, surrounded by four tall buildings in the east, west, north, south.

Five or six rows of drying racks stood on the nearby ground.Behind the drying rack, on the east side of the building is a row of bicycle sheds made of fiberglass tiles, with rusty bicycles that can only be called scraps lying here and there.

To the west of the carport, there is a broken fountain in the middle of the square.It was the turn of spring and summer, and there was a lot of rainfall in S City, and the spring pool was filled with black-green stagnant water, and moss had crawled to the ground.

After passing this fountain, there is a piece of barren grass with a few old trees with crooked necks.To the north of the tree is a parking lot.There were actually a few cars parked there.

Bai Xiuqi asked: "The entrance is so small, how did the car get in?"

"There's a back door."

Le Yaochun pointed to the junction of the east building and the north building: "It was hit by a fire and a big truck before, so it was left open as a driveway."

Bai Xiuqi looked over there, and suddenly found a big black hole on the first floor of the East Building.

The skeleton of this house is also really strange, with such a big hole in the bottom, it can still stand still.Moreover, according to Le Yaochun, this house is still an old building in the early years of the Republic of China, and several bullet holes can be seen on the front wall, which is really a conscientious project.

After looking at the compound, the next and most important thing is the main building of Xuanjing Apartment.

From a distance, it looks like a simple "matchbox" building. If you take an aerial view, it is actually in the shape of a "mouth". The shapes of the four buildings in the east, west, north, south, and north are basically the same, and they are all old-fashioned tube buildings.

The corridors of modern tube buildings are usually narrow to allow sunlight to shine into the house.But here it is very different: thick inverted conical concrete pillars support the wide corridor, even the midday sunlight is difficult to penetrate, standing in the yard can not see the room at all, it is just a mass of darkness.

And the weirdest thing is the place where the buildings connect with each other.There is not a simple 90-degree corner, but a group of stairs and bridges connecting each other. It is almost impossible to distinguish the exact spatial relationship from the appearance alone, which makes people dizzy.

It's very gloomy, and it doesn't seem like it's used to live in people.

In fact, when he first walked in, Bai Xiuqi felt that there was a "yin energy" in Xuanjing's apartment.In fact, the temperature of many old buildings and construction site ruins is lower than that of the outside world, but the "yin" of Xuanjing has some psychological factors.

So he tentatively asked, "This has always been an apartment before?"

"No." Le Yaochun shook his head: "I heard that he worked as a slaughterhouse for a while after liberation? You have to ask Xiaojiang for details."

As he spoke, he led him towards the east building of the apartment.

According to Le Yaochun, there are more than a dozen tenants in front of Xuanjing Apartment, most of whom live on the first and second floors of the east, west and south buildings.Because the north building is close to the hill, it is more humid and dark, so no one lives there.

The house of administrator Xiao Jiang is on the second floor of the East Building.When he reached the first floor, Le Yaochun put the garbage bag in his hand back on the ground, and a few steps ahead of him was the room on the first floor.

Due to the light, it was so dark that it looked like a cave. The entrance of the room was installed with a security door. Through the fence, you can see that the furnishings inside are like an office, and an LCD screen is on.

"This is where I work, Huaiguxuan Taobao shop." Le Yaochun introduced.

How did the network cable get in when the Taobao store was opened in such a remote place?Although Bai Xiuqi had doubts, she didn't bother to meddle in these nosy matters.He almost urged Le Yaochun to lead him upstairs.

There is a staircase on the north and south sides of the east building, which looks like a twisted twist from a distance.When I got closer, I found out that there are really two—one is a step, and the other is a slide.

What does it mean?

Bai Xiuqi reached out and touched the slideway curiously. It was as delicate and smooth as the outer wall, and it seemed that there was little friction.

"This was repaired later in the slaughterhouse. Dismembered animals slide down from here." Le Yaochun explained very intimately: "Water and blood for lubrication."

Bai Xiuqi suddenly withdrew her hand.

The slides and stairs rise upwards in a structure similar to the DNA double helix, interlacing with the bridge connecting the south building to form a complex three-dimensional space.Walking in it, Bai Xiuqi suddenly had the illusion of walking on the flying buttresses of a Gothic church.

Le Yaochun, who was walking in front, didn't understand his complicated emotions, and instead introduced the facilities of the apartment like a tour guide.

"Look at this! Guess what's in there?"

Between the spiraling staircase and the slideway stands a thick square column with a roughly estimated cross-section of four to five square meters.

"I don't know." Bai Xiuqi didn't argue with him.

Le Yaochun asked and answered proudly: "There is an elevator inside. The elevator in the Republic of China era, it's terrible, right?!"

"Excellent, are you still using it?"

"Uh, that's not true, it's already broken."

Just as they were talking, they had already climbed up to the second floor, and when they looked up, they could smell a tangy fragrance.

"Wow, it's stewing meat."

Le Yaochun swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and was immediately attracted by the fragrance and ran forward.Bai Xiuqi followed behind him, frowning and looking at the surrounding environment.

Dust everywhere, debris everywhere.

The spacious corridor has become a storage room for old goods. Cardboard boxes, chests of drawers, flower pots and more dilapidated things that cannot be named are piled up in a big way, and they are connected with each other by spider webs.

Is this also where people live?

Although there was a big question mark in his heart, Bai Xiuqi continued to move forward.

Passing through a curtain hanging from the roof, painted with dirty and weird symbols, the smell of pork became more intense. In fact, he could almost see white steam wafting from the room not far away.

It was that house, where Jiangcheng Lu lived.

Le Yaochun had a loud voice, and he started yelling before he reached the door.After a few seconds, the door was opened, and a man in a light blue apron poked his head out.

At this moment, Bai Xiuqi temporarily forgot his words, he stared blankly at the man in front of him, and completed the comparison with his memory in just a few seconds.

It was Jiang Chenglu, the man who once kissed passionately in the dream...

Although rationality declared over and over again that this was just the first official meeting between two strangers, it couldn't stop the throbbing of a long-lost reunion spreading in Bai Xiuqi's heart.

Maybe because of the dream... definitely because of the dream.

But is that really just a dream?

Jiang Chenglu also turned his head and saw Bai Xiuqi.Different from Bai Xiuqi's inner astonishment, Jiang Chenglu looked very calm, with a polite smile on his face.

"Who is this……"

Before he could ask, Bai Xiuqi took two steps forward, came to him and asked in a low voice, "You...know me?"

Jiang Chenglu was obviously a little confused, he tilted his head while maintaining a smiling expression, and then shook his head.

"Have we met?"

"……never mind."

Bai Xiuqi had to admit that she was a little bit lost.But looking back, Jiang Chenglu really had no reason to know himself.

He introduced himself and took out the land certificate.Sure enough, Jiang Chenglu also recognized the item, so he greeted him with a smile again.

Temporarily putting aside the complicated emotions, Bai Xiuqi asked the key question straight to the point: "Are you the administrator here?"

"Yes." Jiang Chenglu nodded.

"Who asked you to manage here?"

"Mr. Bai." Jiang Chenglu smiled, wiped his hands on the apron and made a "please" gesture: "Come in and sit."

Le Yaochun still had things to do, so he turned around and went downstairs.Bai Xiuqi followed Jiang Chenglu into the house.

The room is very small, or it is basically a one-bedroom dwelling.After entering the door, there is a sink and a simple gas stove first, a wooden table and two chairs are placed after a few steps, and a single bed and a wardrobe are next to the window.

It was shabby enough.

Bai Xiuqi still remembered that the man in the dream was wearing a white jade finger ring, with a spot of red in the center like the sun rising in the snow, one could tell it was worth a lot at first glance.How is it possible to live such a life at the bottom of society?

A dream is still a dream.

Bai Xiuqi sighed secretly and sat down.By the way, I put the catty of cherries I just bought on the table as a gift.

The meat was tumbling in the pot, giving off a tempting aroma. Jiang Chenglu lowered the heat and lifted a corner of the lid, then turned around and poured a cup of tea for Bai Xiuqi.

"Old Mr. Bai mentioned you, but this should be your first time here."

Bai Xiuqi blew away the tea powder floating on the water surface, took a sip, and then nodded: "I have lived in school since junior high school, and grandpa rarely told me about him."

"Is that so?" Jiang Chenglu smiled: "It seems that I may really be his old man's illegitimate child."

……what? !

Bai Xiuqi was startled, and looked up at the man in front of him while holding the tea.

Maybe it was because his eyes were too shocked, Jiang Chenglu laughed again: "Don't take it seriously, there is no such possibility."

Bai Xiuqi realized that he was being teased, he was silent for a moment, and then asked: "Your name is Jiang Cheng Road, and the road at the door is also called Jiang Cheng Road, is this a coincidence?"

"It's not a coincidence, I copied it."

Jiang Chenglu answered very simply: "The road at the gate was originally a river. After the river dried up, it became a dirt road, so it was always called Jiangcheng Road. Later, it was strengthened and turned into an asphalt road, and it was renamed Hangduo Road. But everyone disagreed. I bought it, so I changed the name back. When I first arrived at Xuanjing Apartment, my head was injured a little, and I couldn't even remember the name, so I simply pointed to the road and changed the name."

"Have you lost your memory?"

This was the first time Bai Xiuqi met someone who had lost his memory, so he couldn't help being curious: "What's going on?"

"It's all in the past, so don't mention it." Jiang Chenglu shook his head.

It is not convenient to dig into the root of the problem when it involves other people's privacy.Bai Xiuqi changed the subject: "You are the administrator here, which means that all residents need to submit rent, right?"

"Uh, in fact..." Jiang Chenglu's expression suddenly became a little strange: "All the rent is only submitted to me, but Mr. Bai doesn't want it. He said that it will be used as my living expenses."

There is such a thing?Bai Xiuqi raised his eyebrows.

In fact, he didn't care about that little rent, but he just wanted to ask out of curiosity: "Then what do you do as the administrator here?"

"Collect electricity and water fees, maintain public facilities." Jiang Chenglu snapped his fingers: "And provide food for residents in need."

Having said that, he paused for a moment, then turned around and returned to the stove, lifted the lid of the pot to see what was going on inside, and then threw in more ingredients.

The smell of meat echoed in the room, stirring up Bai Xiuqi's sense of smell.But at this time, Jiang Chenglu picked up a piece of meat to lure him.

"The dishes I cook are delicious. You haven't eaten yet, have you? Would you like to stay and have a taste?"

"...No."

Bai Xiuqi forced not to imagine the taste of that piece of meat: "Actually, I would like to ask you to take me around Xuanjing's apartment."

"Yes." Jiang Chenglu conveniently turned the gas stove to a low heat to simmer, wiped his hands and took off his apron: "Let's go."