"Are you heading out?"
Su Jinxiu walked over as Liu Nanfeng picked up his helmet.
Su Jinxiu's hair was tied up high, with wisps of hair falling around her temples, accentuating her slender neck. The silk pajamas couldn't hide her delicate collarbone and her well-endowed figure. Perhaps it was because she had just woken up, but she exuded a lazy and alluring charm.
"That's right, I believe in doing one job and loving it," Liu Nanfeng said with a smile.
Su Jinxiu reached out and straightened his collar.
"Just accept orders normally. Don't rush for them. You're delivering food, not supporting a family, so there's no need to overexert yourself. I'll save dinner for you and wait for you to come back and eat," Su Jinxiu instructed.
"You don't have to wait for me."
Liu Nanfeng leaned in and pecked her on the corner of her mouth, then grabbed the electric scooter keys and left.
"Hexuanyuan Community, Building 4, Unit 603."
Looking at the address on his phone, Liu Nanfeng let out a heavy sigh.
Communities with "Yuan" in their names were usually resettlement housing.
If it were an older community, it would typically be six or seven stories high, with no elevators at all.
He was quite familiar with this community, having delivered meals there a few times.
Because it was an older community, many of the public facilities were quite run-down, but the greenery was still quite good. It was now early April, and many trees were sprouting new green buds.
Liu Nanfeng parked his electric scooter, picked up the food, and walked into the dim and narrow stairwell.
Even though the stairwell was kept relatively clean, it was still filled with a faint smell of mildew.
Cobweb-like wiring on the corner walls.
Peeling paint on the mottled stair railings.
Advertisements for unclogging drains and locksmith services were everywhere.
Shoe racks, garbage, and clutter were placed in the hallways.
Liu Nanfeng weaved through the space, and the surrounding sounds seemed to disappear, leaving only the sound of his own footsteps.
"Dada da..."
"Dada da..."
Liu Nanfeng, who hadn't been paying attention, vaguely felt that something was not quite right, but he couldn't quite place it.
He stopped, and the "dada da" sound ceased.
He was just scaring himself.
Liu Nanfeng found it a bit amusing as he thought about it and continued climbing the stairs.
Just then, he suddenly heard a few meows.
Liu Nanfeng followed the sound and saw a black cat lying on top of a pile of杂物 at the corner. Its blue eyes stared at him coldly.
Liu Nanfeng bared his teeth at it. The black cat silently turned around, showed him its backside, and wagged its tail.
This left Liu Nanfeng bewildered.
Glancing at the delivery time, he ignored the black cat and hurried upstairs.
"Is anyone home?"
Looking at the slightly ajar door of unit 603, Liu Nanfeng knocked gently.
"Come in," an old voice came from inside.
Liu Nanfeng opened the door and saw an elderly woman with white hair sitting in the center of the living room. Her face was full of wrinkles, her eyes were cloudy, and she looked as if she was on her last legs.
"I'm sorry, I have trouble with my legs. Could you help me place it on the table?" the old woman said.
Liu Nanfeng then noticed she was in a wheelchair and quickly nodded, preparing to take off his shoes to enter.
"No need to take them off. You can wear your shoes."
"It's fine."
Liu Nanfeng still took off his shoes and walked in.
The interior furnishings were simple and old-fashioned, completely reflecting the decor of the 1980s.
A shrunken foam sofa, a big-screen television, a green refrigerator, a tin box with pictures of the Grand View Garden...
Several photo frames hung on the wall, and most of the pictures inside were black and white.
"Young man, thank you. Could you help me with one more thing?" the old woman asked with a smile.
"Auntie, what is it?"
"My Moyu ran out and hasn't come back yet. Can you help me find it?"
"Moyu?"
"It's a black cat, and it looks like this." The old woman pointed to a photo on the wall.
In it, there was a picture of a woman in a qipao sitting on a chair, with a black cat curled up on her lap.
This black cat was the one he had seen on the pile of雜物 on his way up.
"Sure, I saw it on my way up. I'll help you catch it," Liu Nanfeng said with a smile.
"Thank you for taking the time."
"It's nothing." Liu Nanfeng put on his shoes and went out.
If it were a typical delivery person, they might not have helped with this request, as everyone was racing against time.
But Liu Nanfeng was an exception. He delivered food not to earn money to support a family.
He was originally a web writer. Due to prolonged sitting and lack of exercise, he felt his body becoming weaker.
So, after his previous book was finished, he decided to work as a delivery driver for a while. On one hand, it was to clear his head and accumulate material.
On the other hand, it was to exercise.
Liu Nanfeng went down the stairs, and at this moment, he faintly felt that sense of something not being quite right again.
Fortunately, he saw the black cat Moyu still lying on the pile of雜物, its rear facing the stairs, peering out through the gaps in the patterned tiles. He temporarily put his unease aside, crept over, and then scooped it up.
"Meow meow..."
Moyu didn't struggle as much as he expected. It just looked back at him and meowed twice.
"What are you looking at?"
Liu Nanfeng glanced in the direction Moyu had been looking through the patterned tiles.
Then he was startled. A white snake was coiled in the grass outside. It stood upright, flicking its tongue, and was looking in this direction.
"There's a snake in the community? But a white snake is rare. Is it someone's pet?"
Thinking this, he hurried back upstairs.
"Auntie, your cat I found..."
Liu Nanfeng opened the door and bent down to place Moyu down, but was then surprised to see that the wheelchair in the center of the living room was empty. There was no one there.
"Auntie?" Liu Nanfeng called out again tentatively.
"I'm here," the auntie's voice came from the room.
Liu Nanfeng breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing her.
"Did you find Moyu?"
Before Liu Nanfeng could answer, the black cat meowed and ran into the room.
"Moyu, where did you wander off to again? Hurry up and come here."
"Auntie, I'm leaving. I'll close the door for you."
"Young man, thank you. Could you also take the trash from the doorway downstairs for me?"
"Okay."
It was a simple favor, especially for an elderly person with mobility issues.
He looked down at the corner and indeed saw a trash bag, a bag full of garbage.
Liu Nanfeng directly carried the trash bag downstairs.
The wind was gentle and the sun was bright outside. The sounds of car horns, commotion, and music instantly flooded his ears, a stark contrast to the quiet inside the building, as if it were a different world.
Liu Nanfeng glanced back at the dark, gaping maw of the stairwell.
Liu Nanfeng felt a shiver down his spine and didn't dare to delay. As he was about to throw the trash into the nearby bin, he noticed a long, scroll-like object inside, resembling a painting or calligraphy.
Because he worked in a field related to writing, he had always been interested in calligraphy and painting and couldn't resist admiring good pieces whenever he encountered them.
So he directly pulled out the scroll. It felt slightly heavy, indicating the scroll rod was made of sturdy material.
The two ends were of equal size, suggesting it was a horizontal scroll, called a "meigan."
There were also vertical scrolls, which consisted of a "tiangan" and a "diguan," the former thinner and the latter thicker, with specific considerations.
Liu Nanfeng noticed the scroll ends. They were shaped like strange animals, none of which he recognized. However, they were severely chipped and showed signs of age.
He unrolled the scroll and was stunned for a moment because the entire scroll was just a piece of white paper. Only towards the right side were there three large characters.
Liu Nanfeng was absolutely certain he had never seen this font before, yet he somehow recognized it.
"Guanshanhai"
Upon closer inspection, the scroll didn't seem to be plain white paper. There was a faint, majestic landscape of mountains and rivers, but it was enveloped in a layer of white mist, making it impossible to see clearly no matter how hard he looked.
Just then, Liu Nanfeng, who was crouching on the ground, suddenly felt dizzy and almost fell. When he came to his senses, the scroll that had been spread out on the ground had vanished without a trace.
Liu Nanfeng stood up filled with confusion. The events of the day felt truly strange. He had a nagging feeling that something was amiss, but he couldn't quite pinpoint what it was.
Feeling a sense of unease, he lost the mood to deliver any more food. Since this was his last order anyway, he exited the delivery app and headed home.