Once We Lived in Nanjing

On the first day back to school after the 2019 National Day holiday, Bai Yang returned to take the first monthly exam of the semester.

The first test was, as usual, Chinese Language.

The bell for the exam preparation rang, and the invigilator stepped into the classroom with the papers, standing at the lectern to unpack the test papers.

"Now get ready to start the exam, please don't whisper to each other or look around, and if you brought cell phones, please place them on the lectern."

Bai Yang sat in his seat, holding a black pen, slowly pushing the cap up with his thumb and letting it fall back down, his body was in the examination hall, but his mind was elsewhere.

He was thinking about that time capsule.

Would the plan succeed?

Would the BG4MSR find the time capsule?

The invigilator walked down the aisle, distributing the papers one by one, placing the Chinese test paper and answer sheet on Bai Yang's desk—her slender, powerful fingers lightly pressing the edge of the paper to prevent it from being blown away by the wind before moving to the next student. Bai Yang stared blankly, noticing chalk dust on the teacher's fingertips, the test paper emitting a faint smell of ink.

All the students who received their papers started looking at the questions, except Bai Yang, who was still lost in thought.

After distributing the papers, the teacher stepped onto the lectern, and as the bell rang, she cleared her throat:

"Class, you may now begin writing!"

As her words ended, the rustling of flipping papers filled the entire examination hall. Bai Yang's wandering thoughts snapped back to his body, and he subconsciously flipped the pen and began to read the questions.

But the black characters on the paper imprinted on his retina and then flew out from the top of his head, elusive no matter how he tried to grasp them. Bai Yang thought to himself, isn't he doomed to fail this exam with such a state of mind? He tried to force himself to concentrate, reading the header of the Chinese Language paper over and over, but he could only remember phrases like "Nanjing City," "Senior Year Three," and "Learning Situation Survey."

Were there any other flaws in his plan?

Would the time capsule encounter any interference?

These questions popped into his mind incessantly, uncontrollable like playing a game of whac-a-mole.

Yesterday afternoon, he had Yan Ge help him take the capsule to Crescent Lake and hide it—BG4MSR once said that Crescent Lake Park remained intact and the landscape had not suffered large-scale destruction, so the probability of the stainless steel capsule hiding in the lake and surviving the next twenty years should be quite high.

If this operation fails again, then he would be out of options.

As a mere high school student, Bai Yang did the best he could with his plans.

Bai Yang turned his head towards the window, where a row of pigeons perched on the rooftops of the distant teaching buildings, the sky azure and cloudless. What was that girl doing at this moment?

—That girl was sprinting.

Ban Xia ran faster than ever, as if the ground was scorching, her toes bouncing off the ground the moment they touched it, having eaten breakfast upon waking she then sprinted all the way to Crescent Lake, not even having time to change her clothes, still in a white nightdress. Because Crescent Lake was too far and leaving her residence at night was too unsafe, Ban Xia could only set out early the next day.

The girl panted to a stop in front of the ruins of Night Shanghai Hotel's banquet hall, bent over to wipe the sweat, plucking grass and leaves stuck to her hair and clothes.

Where was that capsule?

Ban Xia dropped her backpack and took off her shoes to step into the lake. She hadn't expected BG4MXH to hide the time capsule here, beneath the ruins of the Night Shanghai Hotel's banquet hall; it was surprising to her because she was familiar with this location, often digging for lotus roots and water chestnuts here.

Pillars.

The third pillar counting from the inside out!

The girl bent her knees, submerged up to them in the lake water, and slowly felt her way there.

In recent years, the lake water of Crescent Lake had been gradually drying up. Today's water level would certainly be shallower than it was twenty years ago. Ban Xia estimated that when BG4MXH buried the time capsule, the water under the platform of the Night Shanghai banquet hall could submerge to the thigh, but it was only below the knee now.

Shallow water is a good thing.

Shallow water has more turtles, no lack of food…

Pah.

It's easier to find capsules in shallow water.

Ban Xia's hands sank into the silt, digging bit by bit forward, but she also had some doubts.

She was no stranger to the waters of the banquet hall ruins, with its abundance of lotuses and seedpods—Ban Xia often foraged here, and even had her preferred spot on the shore for entering the water.

However, having come here so many times, why had she never found the time capsule?

She searched around the designated pillar, digging deep, finding no time capsule, and then shifted towards the other pillars, feeling her way through, crawling under the platform and checking each pillar until Ban Xia was too tired to continue, her back and waist aching, so she emerged on the other side of the platform, stood up straight, and stretched her body.

The girl raised her hand to brush the hair beside her ear and wiped the sweat from her cheeks, gazing out over the lake.

Why was this?

The Chinese literature exam included another test on "Tengwang Pavilion Preface."

Bai Yang, without thinking, picked up his pen only to find himself at a loss for words.

Doomed.

How to write the character "眄" (mian) in "穷睇眄于中天"?

The examination hall was quiet except for occasional coughs and the sound of flipping test papers. The Chinese exam had been underway for ninety minutes—an exam that lasted for two and a half hours—by this point, most people had finished answering the basic questions and were starting to tackle the essay.