Once We Lived in Nanjing

The plan to bury the time capsule was disrupted by the community security guard, and Bai Yang had a sleepless night, tossing and turning, quietly worrying. He had left the time capsule at the scene of the incident—undoubtedly it had been found, but it was unclear how the guard would deal with the capsule.

The next morning, when Bai Yang went downstairs to throw out the trash, he purposely took a detour around the square's lawn, only to notice that the grass had been seriously trampled, and bright yellow isolation tape was scattered along the nearby paths.

What happened?

Back home, Bai Yang asked his dad.

His dad was deeply engrossed in drinking soy milk, and when he looked up, he said, "You don't know? The homeowners' group chat exploded this morning, saying that something resembling an explosive was found downstairs during the night."

Bai Yang was in the middle of drinking his porridge, and he choked on it.

"Cough cough cough... What? An explosive?"

His dad nodded his head.

"They said it was the security guard who found it, and even the police were called."

"Something that happened this morning?" Bai Yang was dumbstruck.

"Something that happened this morning."

"And then... what happened?" Bai Yang asked.

"Then nothing much. The police came and checked it out, and said it wasn't a bomb," his dad said. "Probably some mischief. Someone buried a hunk of metal in the lawn and scared the property management pretty bad."

Bai Yang silently ate without speaking.

If he dared confess that this mess was his doing, his mom would sentence him to life imprisonment and eternal house arrest without hesitation.

On one hand, he felt fortunate to have been careful enough to avoid being caught on the security camera. Otherwise, he would have truly been socially dead.

Bai Yang could even imagine the police and community property management sitting in front of the surveillance earlier this dawn, wondering about the identity of the kid who flitted across the camera's field of view.

On the other hand, the time capsule he had prepared to send out was confiscated, and now he had no idea where it was, causing his plans to fall through—the Time Slow Delivery couldn't be sent, and it was truly an unexpected misfortune.

Alas, things do not always go as one wishes; one hardly confides his troubles to others.

What should he do next?

Prepare another time capsule to send to her?

It seemed that was the only option.

With many concerns, Bai Yang finished his meal and returned to his room, pulling out his cell phone to place the order again—from the time capsule to the tritium tube and then to the picture frame, he repurchased everything he had bought before.

Spending the money was a small matter, but the action plan inevitably had to be postponed. If he kept delaying, the National Day holiday would end in a couple of days.

Once back at school, the heavy workload would undoubtedly occupy much of his time and main effort. Bai Yang estimated in his mind that upon returning to school, there would be month-end exams lasting several days. Just thinking about it was distressing.

In that case, Time Slow Delivery could only be scheduled for next weekend at the earliest.

With that delay, it would be another week.

Just as Bai Yang thought that the delay was inevitable, a turning point occurred.

That afternoon, his mom sent him out to find a hardware store to buy a couple of socket fixtures—the power strip in the kitchen was malfunctioning and needed to be replaced. While cycling back, passing by the community gate's security booth, in the blink of an eye, a familiar stainless steel cylinder was spotted lying on the desk inside the booth.

Damn it!

He immediately braked, propping himself up with both feet, subconsciously stopping his bike.

"Bai?"

Inside was Cai Dong, an old security guard who had been with the community for many years, watching Bai Yang grow up, a familiar face to Bai Yang.

"Uncle Cai!"

"Where are you coming from?" Uncle Cai leaned out to ask.

"I'm buying power sockets for my mom; the one in the kitchen broke," Bai Yang lifted the bag in his hand, shaking it while responding to Uncle Cai's question, all the while secretly eyeing the time capsule inside the security booth.

It's like heaven is helping me!

If the time capsule was taken away by the police, then Bai Yang would have definitely lost it forever, only to spend time preparing a new one.

But it wasn't taken away.

If it had been another security guard on duty now, it would also have been difficult for Bai Yang to retrieve it. But as luck would have it, the one on duty in the guardhouse at this moment was Uncle Cai.

"Uncle Cai, what's that thing?"

Bai Yang pointed at the time capsule with his chin.

"This? You're talking about this?" Uncle Cai picked up the time capsule and shook it, "I don't know what it is either. It was found by Old Liu last night. He thought it was a bomb, scared the daylights out of him, and even called the police... Old Liu has always been scatterbrained, he'll have dementia sooner or later. But then the police came, saw it wasn't a bomb at all, and said it was a container for things, with miscellaneous items like cold medicine inside. Nothing serious, just left it here for the owner to claim."

"I know what it is." Bai Yang said.

"You know, Little Yang?" Uncle Cai was astonished, "Then tell me, what is this thing?"

"It's a time capsule."

"A time capsule?"

"A time capsule—you put stuff inside, then bury it in the ground for many years, and dig it out later," Bai Yang replied, "and when you open it up, you can take out the things inside."

"Why would you bury stuff in the ground? Will it give birth to little ones?"

Uncle Cai clearly couldn't comprehend what this was all about.

"Oh come on, it's a keepsake, you know what a keepsake is, right?" Bai Yang explained, "Like when you were young, Uncle Cai, if you hid your love letters and dug them up many years later, wouldn't that be interesting? It's a way to reminisce about your bygone youth."

"Then my wife would fight with me, causing trouble at this old age."

"Uncle Cai, let me return it to the owner for you." Bai Yang said, "I know who left it behind."

"You know whose it is?"

"The old brother in building number ten likes to dabble with this kind of odd stuff, I recognize him," Bai Yang casually pointed, "Give it to me, I'll return it to the owner for you."

"Oh, oh, oh, that would be great, that would be great!" Uncle Cai was elated upon hearing this, "The property manager has posted several notices in the owners' group chat, and no one has come to claim it. I've been worrying about how to deal with this thing. It's not a solution to just keep it here."

The security uncle handed the time capsule over to Bai Yang.

"Make sure it gets to the owner, alright?" Uncle Cai reminded him.

"Leave it to me." Bai Yang patted his chest, "Don't you trust me to get the job done?"

"Trust you! Trust you!" Uncle Cai heartily patted Bai Yang's shoulder with his rough hands and laughed, "You little rascal."

Just like that, Bai Yang got the time capsule back. He described this successful operation as: "Through cunning and suave deception, the young Bai Yang swindles Uncle Cai Dong."

That very evening, Bai Yang, undeterred and unwavering, committed the offense again.

He learned from his prior missteps.

The pitfalls he stumbled into during his previous attempts to bury the time capsule, he wouldn't fall for them this time. He opened the time capsule, carefully checked that the interior medications, letters, and time markers were all intact, then he resealed it and prepared to act! Before going downstairs, Bai Yang stepped seven paces forward, backward, left, and right; pointing one hand to the sky and the other to the ground, he muttered: Heaven and earth above, I shall dig no more pits!

With the firm determination of a Buddhist ascetic to resist the urge to dig out the capsule again, at this moment he was Adam, and anyone tempting him to dig out the capsule again was a devil. The moment he dug out the capsule, he would be expelled from The Garden of Eden! And lose the chance to frolic nakedly with Eve!

Bai Yang felt that the mental preparation he had done for himself was as high as the Burj Khalifa. He strapped on his gear and stealthily went downstairs.

He avoided cameras along the way, paying close attention to his surroundings, evading the patrolling security guards, and picking the predetermined spot.

After much toil and breaking a sweat, Bai Yang finally managed to bury the capsule.

Then he excitedly came back to notify BG4MSR that she could go dig up the capsule now.

And the final outcome of this operation—

As expected, it failed.