Once We Lived in Nanjing

Ban Xia took off her headphones, turned her head, and under the pitch-black night, her eyes shone like a cat's.

"Mr. Weasel— why are you running here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"

The girl got off her chair.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping..."

She suddenly remembered that weasels are nocturnal.

They just don't sleep at night.

Mr. Weasel squeezed in through the door gap and trotted all the way to stand by the girl's feet. This old weasel had been around since the teacher moved with Ban Xia into building 11, and the teacher said a weasel's lifespan was at most a dozen or so years; Ban Xia had known it for seven years already and didn't know how much longer it could live. Over the years, Mr. Weasel's fur was no longer glossy and its teeth no longer sharp; the girl actually doubted whether it could still catch mice on its own.

At least recently it always came to her for food.

"Mr. Weasel!" Ban Xia squatted in front of it, the weasel raised its head, its pitch-black little eyes fixated on the girl, like two buttons.

"Want something to eat?" She extended her index finger, tapped it on Mr. Weasel's forehead, pushing the little creature back a step, "Come on, call me daddy! Call me daddy and I'll give you food."

Mr. Weasel whimpered sorrowfully, pitifully curling its tail.

Recently, Ban Xia had let Mr. Weasel come upstairs to chase mice, which was very effective. Although Mr. Weasel was old, deaf, and nearly blind, as a natural predator of rodents, its aura was still present, bestowed by nature itself—an old tiger is still a tiger, not a cat.

It just sits there, and all Schuch and Beta would walk around it.

Zheng Yuanjie coming wouldn't make a difference!

Ban Xia looked at Mr. Weasel's moist little nose, thinking they were all just mice.

Mr. Weasel was also a mouse.

It was a yellow sausage mouse.

But why must a mouse trouble another mouse?

"Okay, okay, no need to keep calling, I'll get you some food." Ban Xia scratched Mr. Weasel's fur, got up and walked barefoot into the living room.

Mr. Weasel huddled motionless on the floor.

A few minutes later, the girl came back with food, placed it in front of Mr. Weasel, but the latter wasn't interested in the food; even when Ban Xia brought the jerky to its mouth, it remained indifferent. Mr. Weasel was still huddled, moving closer to Ban Xia's slippers.

Ban Xia was a bit surprised.

"Hmm? Are you not eating? It's your favorite jerky, isn't it?"

She poked the jerky against Mr. Weasel's face, once, twice.

Mr. Weasel didn't give a second glance at the food, it closed its eyes and turned its face away, curling up at Ban Xia's feet, trembling slightly.

What was happening to it?

The girl gently touched its ears, and from the ears down to its spine, the weasel quietly huddled on the floor. As Ban Xia's fingers parted its thick fur to reach its warm body, Mr. Weasel trembled vigorously, and the girl extracted a flea from its fur and crushed it between her nails, then frowned.

Mr. Weasel was scared, it had come to her not for food, but for protection.

It was not afraid of her.

Ban Xia looked up at the ceiling and then turned to look outside the dark window.

So, what exactly was it afraid of?

·

·

·

The next day.

First thing in the morning, Ban Xia set off and found that pile of time capsules at the designated location. Surprisingly, she had seen these rusty tin cans before when passing by Crescent Lake; the capsules half-buried in the dried mud were not initially identifiable until today, when the girl arrived again at the shores of Crescent Lake and dug them out, finally realizing that these were indeed time capsules.

What was inside the capsules?

Ban Xia used a small trailer to haul back all five capsules, and then eagerly opened them.

"Dad—! Mom—! Big discoveries today!"

She took out the items one by one.

Gauze.

Bandages.

Syringes.

Tape.

Scissors.

Pipe wrench.

Knife.

Awl.

And a bottle containing medical alcohol which had been kept for twenty full years in a dark brown plastic bottle, unopened, tightly sealed, with a label stating net content 500ml, 95% concentration, produced by Yangzhou City Ninety Medical Equipment Co., Ltd., with a manufacturing date of May 17, 2019, and a shelf life of two years.

Based on the label, the alcohol was certainly expired, but fortunately, since medical alcohol was not a complex medication, the only cause of ineffectiveness was evaporation; Ban Xia forcefully twisted the cap open and smelled it, as it was kept sealed underground and away from light, the evaporation was minimal.

The girl spread out an array of shining silver weapons—swords, guns, axes, and an assortment of eighteen different types of ancient Chinese weapons—across the floor, then stood with her hands on her hips, examining them.

Well, hello there, did he send himself a whole set of orthopedic surgical instruments?

Is he planning to perform a craniotomy on himself?

There is also a strange painting, Ban Xia picked it up and took a closer look; it depicted a little bearded man in a red hat and blue overalls standing on a tall podium.

And a pack of colorless, transparent crystals.

What is this?

White sugar?

Salt?

MSG?

Ban Xia dipped her finger and licked it.

"Ptui ptui ptui ptui ptui!"

The girl's face scrunched up.

On the other end.

The trio of Bai Zhen, Wang Ning, and Zhao Bowen had been waiting at Bai Yang's house early. Zhao Bowen took leave from the academy and arrived by 4 PM, Wang Ning also took personal leave and arrived by 6 PM. This time, they absolutely needed to determine if the words spoken by BG4MSR were true or false.

The three were restlessly waiting until after 10 PM when Bai Yang returned from his evening self-study, and they immediately followed him into his room.

"What's the rush?"

"Hey, hey, I can do it myself... I can do it! Don't just shove it in!"

"Take it slow! Be gentle!"

"One at a time!"

Before Bai Yang could put down his backpack, they began fiddling with the radio. These three old men, notorious for abandoning the old for the new, had long since abandoned the old and decaying Icom725 without mercy, relegating it to oblivion. Yet, tonight, these three scoundrels reunited here for it, fiercely fighting to claim it as their own. What kind of Mary-Sue scenario was this?

The story of three old toads and an old radio—

Twenty years ago, it was cutting-edge and fresh, the darling supported by all, and the three youths fell in love with it at first sight.

Twenty years later, it was in disrepair, a relic of an old era, and the three HAMs disregarded it.

Until one night, it acquired mysterious power, shining with unparalleled glory.

The three scoundrels suddenly repented, pulling themselves back from the brink, and in a prodigal son's return, they abandoned WeChat, threw away QQ, and started a grand chase!

It ran, they chased, and it found no escape.

Bai Yang thought to himself; he sure could imagine things.

By 11 PM, he connected with BG4MSR.

"...A painting? I saw it." A crisp voice came through the headset, "A bearded uncle in a red hat and blue pants standing on a podium, BG4MXH, what is this painting?"

"The name of that painting is 'Penguin and Mickey in Court,' OVER." Bai Yang responded.

"Oh... so the little guy's name is Penguin and Mickey?"

"No, that little guy's name is Mario, OVER." Bai Yang said.

"Then where are Penguin and Mickey?" Ban Xia asked, "Where are they?"

"They are in the court."

Ban Xia listed all the items from the time capsule, and the usual verification method for the tritium tube also passed. Then, Wang Ning tapped Bai Yang's shoulder, asking him to inquire if there were any other items found besides the medical supplies and the painting.

"BG4MSR, Uncle Wang asked me to ask you, besides the pliers, scissors, syringes, medical alcohol, and other medical instruments and that painting, did you find anything else, OVER?"

"Anything else?" The other side thought for a moment, "No."

Wang Ning let Bai Yang confirm again whether BG4MSR had received all five capsules.

"Did you find all five capsules? OVER."

"Found them all..."

Upon hearing this, Wang Ning felt he had caught a flaw.

"Wait, BG4MXH, there is another strange thing," the girl suddenly said.

Wang Ning's heart sank abruptly.

"What is it?" Bai Yang asked.

"A pack of something, looks a bit like sugar, but it's not edible," Ban Xia said, "Wasn't it you guys who put it in?"

"Xiao Yang, ask her about the color," Wang Ning said nervously.

"BG4MSR, what color is that thing?"

Without hesitation.

"White, or rather, colorless transparent!"