At the second transit point, nothing happened. Along the way, Shanquan's mind was filled with questions. Linghu Weideng's explanation only confirmed that Songfei was really in trouble. This was not part of the games he often designed. But the essence of the problem Songfei was facing was still a mystery. Shanquan hoped his visit to Dafeisi Tower would shed some light.
The next trip, he passed smoothly, without any significant obstacles. Without realizing it, Shanquan had arrived at the station he was going to. It was 5:45 PM when Shanquan walked out of the station exit. Unusually, this time, Shanquan walked casually. According to his calculations, he would arrive at the building in thirty-thirty five minutes.
Halfway through, Shanquan suddenly felt a drop of water hit his face. He looked up. The sky was still bright, but there were drops of water falling from the sky. Shanquan hoped that the drizzle wouldn't become a downpour. However, it didn't come true. The drizzle quickly turned into heavy rain. Shanquan sped up his pace as he looked right and left for shelter. Not long after running, he saw an eggplant-colored public phone booth. Immediately, he lunged into that phone booth.
Less than two minutes after Shanquan entered the phone booth, the phone booth door suddenly opened. A girl ran inside. Her clothes were soaking wet. The phone booth sides were not transparent, so people outside could not see whether or not anyone was inside.
Shanquan shrieked in surprise. He really did not know what to do. The atmosphere became awkward.
"Sorry, sir. It's raining. I have to take shelter." The girl said to Shanquan with a pitiful face.
"It's okay," replied Shanquan curtly. "I am also taking shelter here," Shanquan continued his words. He was smiling.
People considered the box measuring one and a half meters by one and a half meters wide for a phone booth, but that did not apply to two strangers standing close to each other. Under these conditions, Shanquan was sure they both agreed that the place was tiny.
Shanquan looked at the girl who had just arrived. He intended to calm the girl, who looked cold. "I do hope the rain will stop soon." He knew his words sounded cliché. But that was all he could say. He really didn't know the right way to calm a girl down.
Looking at the girl, Shanquan thought back to his old job before he decided to venture out. Throughout his life, Shanquan met many young women. Most of them were the same age as the girl before him. This girl looked very young. Maybe not yet twenty. Her skin was neither dark nor bright, roughly the same as Shanquan’s.
For a few minutes, the two of them were just silent. Busy with their own thoughts. Many things were running through Shanquan's mind. Starting from finding the best way to get a decent place to live as soon as possible, the possibility of him suffering from a severe or even chronic illness and finally to the things he should do if the worst happened to Songfei.
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I wish I have a magic lamp!
"Do you live around here?" Suddenly the girl spoke. The daydreaming Shanquan, at first, didn't pay attention to the girl's words. Fortunately, he soon realized that he was being questioned.
"What are you asking?" Shanquan asked the girl to repeat her question. He guessed she was trying girl tried to break the ice and lighten the mood by asking a simple question.
After that, there was a conversation between them. It turned out that the girl was an orphan. Her father had died before she was born, while her mother passed away when she was two years old. Her relatives took turns to take care of her. She never stayed long in a place because she had to change places of residence according to the home of the relatives who took the turn to care for her. Right now, it was the turn of the relatives living in this city. She had just arrived three days ago and planned to take a four-day walk before seeing his relatives. Because the girl asked about her job, Shanquan then briefly shared that he currently had no job but previously had worked in a bookstore as a part-time employee.
It rained for about fifteen minutes. After the rain stopped, the girl excused herself and immediately left. Shanquan continued his journey. At 6:40 PM, he arrived at Dafeisi Tower. Inside the building, he met Hanrong, the custodian of the building. Hanrong said two weeks ago, Songfei had also told him that one or two of the six dragons would come to pick up his stuff. Songfei called Shanquan and the people who lived with him as six dragons.
Hanrong let Shanquan go up to the tenth floor alone. He said he probably couldn't wait until the Shanquan business was over. That night Hanrong had important business. After Shanquan said he had the key to the fence and the key to the main front door, Hanrong looked relieved. If Shanquan did not see Hanrong by the time Shanquan had finished doing his business, then Hanrong asked Shanquan to lock the front door of the building and the gate outside the building. According to Hanrong, today, the night watchman might not come. Even if he came, he might as well be just standing guard outside. Although Shanquan felt a little strange when he heard that there was a possibility that the building would not have a night watchman tonight, he did not inquire further about it.
Apart from the two service elevators that had not been in service for a long time, there were four elevators. However, only two elevators worked, namely the third and fourth elevators. Shanquan went up to the tenth floor using the third elevator. He quickly entered unit 1008 on the tenth floor. There were several rooms in this unit. Songfei had provided clear directions in the package so that Shanquan could easily find what he needed to pick up.
After finishing the job, Shanquan sat on the couch in the unit's living room and rested for a while. This time, he really didn't want to push himself. Many of his childhood friends already had severe health problems. Shanquan realized he was no longer young. Walking was not a challenging physical activity, but people still needed to rest after walking. After Shanquan rested in that place for a few minutes, he felt it was time to return home. He grabbed the bag he wanted to carry and then left the unit.
In front of the elevator, Shanquan saw the third elevator going down. Apparently, someone wanted to go upstairs. Shanquan suspected Hanrong had something to ask him. So he waited for Hanrong to get to the 10th floor, where he was now. The indicator, in front of the elevator, showed the elevator was descending to the ground floor. Someone got on the elevator, and the elevator went upstairs. But the elevator didn't stop on the 10th floor. It continued to move upward. Shanquan concluded that the elevator passenger, Hanrong or whoever he was, had no intention of meeting him. Shanquan intended to go down using the fourth elevator.