Chapter 3: A Diary Half a Century Ago

  Although it was early in the morning, I was still startled and suddenly opened my eyes to see a face full of wildness.

  Her face was radiant and white, with sharp features that exuded a cold elegance; her deep, dark eyes sparkled with an enchanting color; those dense eyebrows, high nose, and perfect lip shape all seemed to be flaunting a wildness, as if they contained infinite explosive power, and in the next instant would pounce on me and beat me up.

  Who is he? This is a question that pops up in my mind. How can he appear near the mysterious small wooden house in our old mansion? Is it him who was inside with the lights on last night? I got up with some trepidation and retreated a step back in fear.

  "Who are you?" I asked, "Are you from this garden?" He didn't answer.

  He walked past me and picked up a flower that I accidentally touched on the lawn. Seeing his serious look, my face suddenly turned red.

  "Don't you know that trampling on someone else's flowers requires an apology?" He poked at the flower with his toe, his eyes glaring at me upside down.

  What the...! Is this my home or yours? How dare you speak to me like that... He said that, and I was so angry that I started trembling. The guilt I felt for bumping into that flower just disappeared. I shouted: "I think you, an illegal trespasser, don't have the right to say such things?"

  "Are you going into the civilian's house?" He turned around to look at me, seeing my expression was both amused and angry: "I haven't even asked how you got into Old Shen's

  "This is your family's old house, and you're actually turning it into a mess..."

  I saw the expression on his face was not fake. What's wrong with this world, I'm the legitimate master and yet I'm being interrogated by some unknown guy!

  I let out a cold laugh: "You still know that this old house belongs to Old Man Shen? What am I to Old Man Shen, do you know?"

  This young man, who looked about the same age as me, was stopped by my question and looked at me with a glance, saying: "You... you... are you Shen Lao Ye's grandson?"

  "It's true, I am indeed the grandson of the late Mr. Shen, the super invincible great general Shen Shangyu."

  The young man's face suddenly turned red, walked to my front, stretched out that muddy right hand: "Young master, I'm Shen Lan, my grandfather used to be the gardener of your family."

  I hesitated and grasped his hand, the feeling in my heart was still strange. His grandfather was my grandfather's florist? He is a descendant of the florist, then how can he come and go freely in this garden...

  It seemed that Shen Lan had seen the doubt in my heart, and explained: "Young master, it's like this. Before my grandfather Shen Chenghao passed away, he instructed me and my father to take good care of the flowers and plants in your family's old mansion. This was his last will, and for over ten years, my father and I have been secretly entering your family's garden to tend to the flowers and plants. Don't you think the flowers and plants in the garden are growing very luxuriantly?

  This guy said it, and I noticed that the flowers and grasses in this garden are indeed growing in a staggered manner.

  Wow, so devoted! I should say something grateful.

  Just as I was about to speak, Shen Lan said: "Young master, now that you're back, we don't need to take care of you anymore. From now on, you can serve yourself..." After finishing speaking, he turned around and left.

  Such a big garden, how can one person take care of it? I furrowed my brow and came up with an idea, calling out to him: "Shen Lan, stop right there, I have something to say to you."

  Shen Lan stopped in his tracks and asked me: "Young Master, what did you say?"

  I said: "Shen Lan, I'm very grateful to you and your father for taking care of our old house all these years. How about this, there are so many rooms in this old house, I alone can't occupy them all, why don't you move in with me and keep me company?... And from now on, don't call me Young Master anymore, it's not the old society anymore, it's not allowed to be called that way. You're younger than me, just call me Yu Ge."

  "Uh...alright, I'll go ask Dad and get back to you."

  After finishing walking towards the innermost part of the garden, I called out: "Shen Lan, it seems you've taken a wrong turn, the gate is this way."

  "I know, it's been over a decade. My old man and I have never left through the main gate, always taking this path. There's a hole here that leads to the outside of the garden. I'm leaving, Jade Brother."

  Is there a hole leading outside? My heart sank and I had a bad feeling. Suddenly, a voice came from outside the yard: "Hey, is Young Master Shen inside?"

  It turned out to be Tian Dabang, the boss of the Tianjia restaurant, who had arrived. I remembered that yesterday I asked him to help me find someone to clean up.

  I hastily opened the iron gate, but saw only Tian Dabang standing alone outside the house.

  I was surprised and asked: "Old Tian, how is it you? Where's the person who helps with cleaning that I asked you to find for me?"

  Tian Da Bang's face didn't look very good, he wanted to speak but hesitated, and stuttered: "Ah, Young Master Shen, sorry about that. Nowadays, all the young people in the town have gone out to work, I've been searching for half a day and couldn't find anyone... That's why I dared to come over and give you an answer..."

  I was stunned as soon as I heard it, won't be, such a big town can't find one person? I quickly said: "Old Tian, are you worried that I won't give you money or give you less money? Don't worry about this, I will only give more labor fees and not less. Can you look again?"

  Tian Dabang's hands shook wildly: "Young Master Shen, you misunderstood, it's not about the money, really not about the money... can't find anyone, indeed can't find anyone...... I'm leaving, you figure it out yourself!"

  Tian Da Bang's words had barely fallen when the person was already two zhang away.

  I was stunned at once, damn it, it's not a matter of money, what is the problem. I'm relying on myself to take action now.

  The whole day, I only ate two breads brought back from Shenzhen and a bottle of juice. I was cleaning the house alone, thinking to myself, my old friend Shen's social connections in this mountain town shouldn't be so bad that he can't even find someone to help with the cleaning.

  When it got dark, I finally cleaned up the whole house and looked at the bright and clean windows in the hall, but I was exhausted.

  Back in the room, I turned on the light and lay down on the bed, exhausted, feeling like I'd fallen apart.

  I want to call the old man and report to him that I have cleaned up the hygiene of the old house.

  The phone call connected and the old man was in a meeting at the company. He excitedly told me on the phone that Shen's enterprise is about to enter the foreign market in these two days.

  Geez, old man, when can you care about me? I hung up the phone in frustration.

  I slammed down the phone and looked at the luxurious decorations in the house, feeling extremely bored.

  I thought of that strange notebook, that mysterious Wu and Xie. I've been busy all day and actually forgot about this matter.

  I pulled out that strange notebook from the bookshelf again.

  "Take a look, something from half a century ago shouldn't be considered an invasion... these past few days I've felt a sense of fear closing in on me..."

  After skipping the first page, I saw a sentence like this: "Fear is approaching me, what kind of fear is it?" My back was a little chilly, but I couldn't help my curiosity.

  The whole house was extremely quiet, I turned on the phonograph and sat by the window to look at it again.

  "When will this life come to an end and how can I continue like this? When will these emotions finally subside? I'm terrified, afraid, but there's no turning back. I've reached the depths of despair, with a vast ocean ahead, unsure whether to sink in or retreat... Perhaps one day I'll die, death is already closing in on me with fear. But what if I really disappear, what will you do? What should you do?"

  I gently closed the booklet, feeling the chill on my back gradually receding, replaced by a heavy sense of doubt in my heart. Who was this woman after all, and what kind of experience had she gone through? Her life, her emotions were all pinned on this man called Xie... What did it mean for death to be accompanied by fear to be closing in?

  I slightly got up and picked up the brandy on the bedside table, looking out of the window.

  I didn't expect to see the faint light flashing in that small wooden house again. This time I didn't hesitate and rushed out of the room, ran downstairs, out of the hall, and sprinted towards the lake.

  I am a police officer about to go on duty and I must solve this riddle.