Chapter 6: The Mysterious Esperanto

  Just like Bao Si who never smiled, King You of Zhou lit the beacon fire to amuse her; just like Mona Lisa who never smiled, Da Vinci brought in a band to paint her smile. A woman's smile is enchanting; a woman who never smiles suddenly smiling can be fatal. I was staring with wide eyes.

  Seeing me like this, Mingying put away her smile.

  I only just reacted to one thing, and painfully asked: "From your tone, isn't stealing the corpse yesterday not considered a test, but today's this, is actually the real test?"

  She straightened up and nodded, "Before coming here last night, Old Master Yin told me that if you mention that painting, I should respond with a cold tone, then the painting will naturally fall into our hands without any effort."

  As soon as I heard this, I broke out in a cold sweat and my head went blank. This old lady named Yunru was indeed formidable. Not only did she come up with a second test, but she also quickly saw through my character: thinking I'm a bit clever, considering myself superior, and unable to bear others doubting my abilities. With just a little provocation, she could make me obedient and turn me into someone else's tool and puppet without me even realizing it.

  Mingying said coldly: "How was it? Being used and feeling very unhappy?"

  I smiled wryly and shook my head, saying no. But Grandma Yun pointed out the big flaw in my character - this is a disease that needs to be treated. What's next?

  Mingying took a sip of coffee and said, "Wait a minute, let's go to my place and discuss this painting."

  I don't know why, but her words were like sunshine and rain to the desire that Yu Xin had stirred up in me, making my desire sprout and grow rapidly. I couldn't help but stare at the white flesh on her chest for a moment.

  She noticed my gaze and subconsciously covered her chest, saying: "There's also another guest invited by Master Yin who will be joining the discussion. Let's go."

  Two cups of drinks were left on the table after only a few sips, and I couldn't help but look back at them with reluctance. Alas, they were indeed bought with my hard-earned money, yet not treasured at all.

  As Mingying walked, she went down to the underground parking garage. Speaking of which, this Changning Long Dream is also a high-end shopping mall, how did I not know that her broken electric car that can shock people could still be parked in the underground parking garage?

  She walked in front, I followed behind, the roads we passed by were all lined with cars. I thought to myself what kind of rhythm is this, could it be that this electric bike riding woman also has a broken Santana?

  She pulled out a car key from her bag, pressed it, and the car in front of her beeped twice, with its turn signal lights flashing twice. I was taken aback, what's up with this remote control key, which has two blue and two white blocks, like a pizza logo?

  Walked up to the car, took a deep breath, and it was actually a BMW Z4.

  Is this the rhythm of a rich and beautiful woman? I was just heartbroken over two cups of drinks, still thinking about her broken electric bike, this idea is too loser-like. Now she suddenly changes to a BMW Z4, what's wrong with me?

  Mingying opened the car door and said coldly, "Get in."

  I licked my lips, made a hissing sound, opened the car door, and got in carefully.

  She didn't even look at me, started the car by lightly pressing the start button, and said: "What's wrong with you, hurry up."

  "This isn't because you're afraid of damaging the car, is it......" I muttered, "What about your electric bike?"

  She gave me a white eye and said: "What's wrong with you? Do you want to go back and spray paint for you?"

  I was so angry and frustrated, but I could only choose to remain silent.

  "Electric cars are just tools. If they break, they break. As long as they get the job done, what's the big deal?" She said suddenly after a moment of silence.

  Although I agree with this in my heart, at this age, there are few people who have good cars and don't show off. She used to push corpses in the morgue, but now she has a BMW Z4 in her hand, which is probably assigned to her by the organization. She said she joined the organization during the investigation of Chen Ziqi, which was at most a month ago. At this rate, maybe the organization will assign me a Porsche or something too...

  Mingying glanced at me with a slanted gaze, as if she had seen through my thoughts, pointed to the glove box and said: "Open that, take out what's inside."

  I did as I was told, but it turned out to be a key with another BMW logo on it.

  "Don't think too much, this is also the key to this car. Since we're cooperating, if you need it, you can use this car too."

  Although I was a bit disappointed that the organization didn't assign me a car, it's better than nothing. When she said this, I couldn't help but want to switch places with her right now, step on the gas, and experience the thrill of speed. However, considering that I haven't driven in three years since getting my driver's license, having a driver's license is practically a murder weapon in my hands, so I suppressed this idea.

  "I asked: 'But why are we going to look for Xi Shi's tomb?'"

  Mingying stared ahead, without looking at me, and only said: "How did Wang Yongshun fake the corpse, do you know?"

  "Mmm... Mummy and corpse wax."

  Yuan Lao heard that Chen Ziqi wanted to buy this painting, and thought he was going to use the same trick to restore Xi Shi's corpse.

  I took a deep breath, this Chen Ziqi is really reckless and daring to think of anything and do anything. Having so many beautiful corpses wasn't enough, he actually wants to restore the bodies of the four great beauties of ancient times? He's truly a necrophiliac patient who has gone crazy to the extreme! I asked again: "Why does that organization want to stop him?"

  "You don't need to ask more about this. All I can say is that Xi Shi and the organization have some connection, so we cannot let her body be insulted."

  "Now the painting has been stolen back, and Chen Ziqi can't find Xi Shi's tomb either," I shifted my body a bit, as I was too careful and tense when I got on the car, the sitting posture was very uncomfortable, and continued to ask, "Is it still necessary for us to go find Xi Shi's tomb?"

  "Nonsense. How do you know he didn't take any photos? Didn't leave any backups? In short, finding Xi Shi's body and putting it under the organization's protection is the safest approach."

  Well, well, well, it seems I'm not getting out of this adventure trip after all.

  She drove a BMW Z4, looking very cool and proud. I didn't expect her place to be in an old public housing district, just like mine. We entered the second-floor middle unit, and she showed no hesitation or shyness about letting a man into her room, opening the door with ease as I followed her inside.

  This room doesn't look like a girl's bedroom at all. The furniture is very simple, probably from IKEA, with clean lines and minimal decor. There are no photos on the wall, no stickers, just a dartboard with all the darts clustered in the bullseye. On the floor, there are bowls of instant noodles and empty milk cartons scattered around - if I didn't know she was a girl, I'd think I'd walked into a messy boy's room. There's a pile of travel magazines on the desk, and I pick up one that looks well-thumbed, shaking it by the spine before opening it and asking, "So, you're also interested in the Caribbean like Wang Yongshun?"

  "Nonsense, this one and the one on his desk are from the same period, exactly the same."

  "Do you think there's something mysterious about this?"

  "I didn't know that. Oh, right, Old Yin saw the photos you took in that room and said the strange language on the wall is Esperanto."

  Esperanto?

  This language is very niche, although some enthusiastic people are promoting it, such as celebrities like Ba Jin, but not many people know about it. According to legend, when God first created humans, everyone spoke the same language, and at that time human power was great, establishing a high civilization, even rivaling God's status. So people built a Tower of Babel, wanting to reach heaven. God got angry, destroyed the Tower of Babel, scattered humans in different places, and confused their languages. From then on, people who didn't speak the same language couldn't understand each other, so they launched wars against each other, killing each other, and no longer had the power to rival God.

  So, many linguists have tried to establish a universal language that everyone can learn to speak, eliminate people's estrangement, promote communication and understanding, and reunite the strength of all humanity. Polish ophthalmologist Zamenhof did 10 years of creative work and established the basis of this language in 1887. However, until today, there are only about 1,000 native speakers of Esperanto in the world. The number of people who can use it fluently is estimated to be between 1 million and 2 million, which is not even as many as the population of an ordinary county-level city in China.

  However, according to Mingying, for some reason, Old Lady Yin was very fluent in reading and writing Esperanto. According to the old lady's translation, the Esperanto on that wall translates to Chinese as:

  Beautiful night

  Naked (space) VI day non-nude beauty

  It's easy for women to get facials and amikino

  Vivo is empty because it has no life

  This appears to be a lyrical poem, and the author is undoubtedly the person who played with the female corpse in that secret room. The content written is the environment and mentality when playing with the female corpse. However, due to limited ink (actually blood), it was written very briefly and obscurely.

  After listening to Mingying's translation and explanation, I said: "It seems that this poem is just a record of the situation at that time, without any special meaning or function."

  Mingying nodded and asked me how those powders and cigarette butts were tested.

  "I replied, 'I've already given it to a friend of mine. He has a buddy at the judicial appraisal center who can help me out with some small favors and analyze it for me. To be honest, your organization's capabilities are so vast that this task should be a piece of cake for you guys. Why would you want me to do it?'"

  Mingying shrugged and didn't answer.

  I reckon she hadn't recommended me to the organization at that time, so it wasn't convenient for her to tell me about the organization's situation, nor could she tell me that she was a member of the organization. So she just dumped this thankless task on me.

  "No matter what, since the cigarette butt was found there, my inference can't be wrong." I said, clearing a spot on the sofa piled with towels and blankets to sit down.

  Just as they were talking, there was a knock at the door.

  He was the one that Mingying had invited. He was a thin and somewhat tired-looking man, wearing an unmatched casual outfit with cloth shoes on his feet, looking like a typical intellectual who had read too many books. I took a look at his hands, they were very clean, not matching the age he should be. A person's palm is more accurate than their face when it comes to guessing their age. It seemed that his real age was around 35 years old.

  "This is Professor Li Yubo, and this is Lin You." Mingying introduced us two people to each other.

  I shook hands with Professor Li Yubo, his palm was warm and soft, giving people a feeling of gentle and introverted personality, not flashy.

  "Professor Li has come especially to give us a lecture on the history of Cannes."

  I beckoned him to sit down and said, "Listen carefully."

  Professor Li spoke up, his voice thick and rich, getting straight to the point: "Kangcheng was originally called Yunjian."