"Damn it!" Wei Dong threw the ticket on the ground and stomped on it several times. "Can't you tear it up and burn it?! Can't you?!"
Dr. Qin shook his head: "The consequence of damage is death in the real world, a death that is invariably gruesome or unbearably painful."
Wei Dong bent down to pick up the ticket and chuckled, his laughter filled with despair and helplessness.
Ke Xun put the ticket back in his pocket and looked up at Mu Yiran.
Then he noticed that this big shot was wearing a sharp, elegant suit jacket on top and only a pair of boxer briefs on the bottom.
Ke Xun: "..." He had pulled down the guy's pants before leaving the painting.
No wonder he was glaring at him with a look that seemed to want to devour him alive.
"Ahem," Ke Xun quickly went over, "Big shot, I was wrong. Take off your outer clothes to cover your lower body first. I'll call a taxi and park it at the back door, then Dongzi and I will escort you to the car. Are you from this city?"
Big shot Mu continued to look at him with a gaze that seemed to want to devour him alive.
"Not from this city? Then how about this, you go to my house first, it's very close by. Wear one of my clothes, okay?" Ke Xun said, winking at Wei Dong.
Wei Dong nodded quickly, "Yeah, yeah, you can't just go to a hotel like this, there are people everywhere. It's not convenient to go to my house either, my parents are here. Ke'er lives alone, there's no one else at home, so we don't have to worry about being seen. It's also convenient to do whatever we want... cough, I mean, take a shower, change clothes, it's all very convenient. We've been in the painting for so long, crawling around every day, we're all filthy. You look like a clean person, do you really think you can stand having to go home to shower and change?"
This probably hit Mu Yiran's sore spot, and sure enough, he frowned but didn't object.
Ke Xun breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Dr. Qin: "What are your plans? Why don't you come to my house first?"
Dr. Qin smiled and shook his head: "No, I think I should go back first. My home isn't in this city either. I can still buy a ticket and get home before tonight. Goodbye then. Anyway, we'll see each other again soon. Take care."
With that, he walked wearily and left the exhibition hall first.
The pancake stall owner and Ma Zhenhua were still slumped on the ground, both of them reeking of urine.
"Hey boss, now that things have come to this, try to look on the bright side," Wei Dong stepped forward and helped the pancake stall owner up. "Go back and wash up and rest properly. Don't do anything stupid. We're lucky this time. Maybe we can escape safely next time. It's all about human effort, right? Hurry up and go back."
The pancake stall owner was like a puppet, listening to whatever others said, and left the exhibition hall in a daze.
No one paid any attention to Ma Zhenhua. Ke Xun tried to grab Mu Yiran's arm, but he shook him off, coldly taking off his suit jacket and using it as a shield.
Ke Xun told Wei Dong to call a taxi, and the three of them discreetly left through the back door of the art museum.
As soon as they stepped outside, they saw it was raining. Wei Dong couldn't help but feel strange: "It was raining when we entered the painting, why is it still raining now? Driver, has it been raining non-stop for the past few days?"
The driver was even more puzzled than him: "Are you from out of town, buddy? It's only rained here today."
"Huh?" Wei Dong was about to retort when Ke Xun reached out and pressed him down, and he quickly shut up.
Ke Xun took out his phone from his pocket and saw that the signal, which had been missing for a long time, had returned. The date and time of the connection clearly showed the time before the two entered the painting.
Ke Xun asked Mu Yiran in a low voice: "Is the time that passed when we were inside the painting unrelated to reality?"
Mu Yiran ignored him.
Ke Xun nodded knowingly: "In other words, no matter how long we stay inside the painting, time in the real world remains at the point before we entered."
He then pulled out the ticket from his pocket and looked at the time printed on it again.
The next time he could enter the painting was in 13 days.
Ke Xun lived in a new apartment he bought in the city center after selling the house his parents left him, in a newly built residential area that had only been under construction for two years.
Ke Xun lived on the top floor. The apartment wasn't small, but it wasn't furnished much. The largest piece of furniture was the double bed in the bedroom, a metallic blue three-piece bedding set, the blankets unmade and haphazardly piled at the foot of the bed.
Ke Xun took out a set of clothes from the closet and handed them to Mu Yiran: "Just make do with these. Mine are all casual and sporty styles, I don't have any formal wear."
Fortunately, Mu Yiran didn't show any disdain. He took the clothes expressionlessly and coldly said, "Get out."
"Do you want to take a shower before changing?" Ke Xun asked him.
Mu Yiran paused, and indeed went to the bathroom first.
Hearing the bathroom door slam shut, Ke Xun scratched his head and stretched.
Looking around his empty, simple apartment, Ke Xun felt everything still seemed incredibly unreal.
In fact, ever since he went from being a child in an ordinary but loving family to a solitary orphan, he felt like he'd stepped into an unreal dream.
Everything in this dream, like the apartment he now lived in, was pale, empty, monotonous, and cold.
Ke Xun smiled and turned to go into the kitchen.
Mu Yiran came out of the bathroom and found his half-shirt hanging outside was gone, even his boxer shorts were missing. His brow furrowed, and veins throbbed on his forehead.
Suppressing his anger, he reluctantly put on the clothes Ke Xun had given him: a white T-shirt and light gray sweatpants. They were comfortable and loose, the length just right, but when he looked in the mirror, he felt slightly uncomfortable.
Mu Yiran never wore clothes like this. Looking at herself in the mirror, she felt like someone else, inexplicably lacking some of her self-control and sharpness, and possessing a more relaxed, almost unkempt appearance.
She ran her fingers through her wet hair and glanced at herself in the mirror a few more times.
Something still felt off.
Was it because this white T-shirt made her look like an innocent college student?
Mu Yiran deepened her gaze.
No, it still wasn't right.
She frowned, staring at herself in the mirror.
After a long while, she finally found the reason.
On the white T-shirt in the mirror, a string of deafening English letters was printed in black, bold lettering: HT?id A mA I. A
small vein on her forehead popped with a "crack."
Mu Yiran walked out of the bathroom, her face covered in a thick layer of frost. Her gaze swept across the empty living room, seeing nothing but a few beanbag chairs sprawled on the white wooden floor, much like their owners.
A few noises came from the kitchen. Mu Yiran walked over and, through the black titanium-framed glass door, saw Ke Xun stirring something in a pot with one hand in his pocket and the other holding a ladle.
This guy can cook?
As if sensing something, Ke Xun turned around, paused for a moment, then smiled: "Dressed so youthfully with such an icy, deadpan face, isn't that just too cute?"
Seeing Mu Yiran's displeased expression, Ke Xun wisely put on a serious face, ran over, opened the door, and smiled innocently: "Hungry? I'll make some coconut curry fried rice, it'll be ready soon. You can rest for a bit. The water in the water dispenser was freshly changed yesterday, so don't worry about drinking it."
Seeing that Mu Yiran still had a deadpan expression on his face, Ke Xun thought for a moment and added, "If you don't like plain water, there's instant coffee and bagged milk tea under the water dispenser, and cola and green tea in the fridge. If all else fails, I can go downstairs to the convenience store and buy you a nutritional drink."
Mu Yiran's forehead veins throbbed again.
Ke Xun, sensing his expression, quickly reached out to close the glass door: "The kitchen is smoky, go sit in the living room."
"Clothes," Mu Yiran coldly squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth.
"Oh, I put your clothes in your pocket. Take them to the dry cleaners later. You've been wearing them in the painting for days, a wash will get rid of the bad luck." Ke Xun closed the door and went back to the stove to continue stirring the rice in the pot.
Mu Yiran didn't want to waste any more words with him and turned to go to his bedroom.
Opening the white built-in closet, he saw clothes of various colors hanging inside. He flipped through the styles and found that they were all casual and relaxed, mostly T-shirts, sweatshirts, and sweatpants.
Mu Yiran picked out a white T-shirt with only a brand logo on the chest and changed back into it. He hung the new one inside and was about to close the closet when he noticed a dozen or so photos crookedly pasted on the inner wall.
A quick glance revealed that most of the photos featured Ke Xun.
There were pictures of him as a flamboyant teenager, as a handsome young boy, and as an innocent and adorable child.
The other photos were of his parents, family, friends, or even his cats and dogs. Each photo was brimming with the warmth of everyday life, each scene radiating carefree happiness.
It was a world apart from the house he currently lived in.
Mu Yiran lingered on the photo of Ke Xun's parents.
Ke Xun's appearance was a combination of all his parents' best features: bright eyes, well-defined features, adorable as a child, handsome as a teenager, and dashing as a young adult.
Seemingly to match this assessment, Mu Yiran noticed a photo of Ke Xun grinning foolishly with a medal around his neck, with a line of words written in ballpoint pen: "I am who I am, the handsome young man who won a gold medal—Ke Xun Ti."
"..." Mu Yiran closed his eyes, which had been blinded by the spiciness.
Just before closing the cabinet door, he unfortunately glimpsed another photo of Ke Xun training in a horse-riding stance, with a line of words: "The world is truly amazing, creating this handsome guy—Ke Xun Ti."
When the handsome Ke Xun came out of the kitchen carrying two plates of coconut curry fried rice, he saw Mu Yiran standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window looking out.
The city sky was beautifully overcast, with golden light filtering through the gray, three-dimensional clouds. The rain was still falling, but a rainbow had already appeared in the distance. The white and gray buildings, high and low, had a rather refreshing feel under the filter of the drizzle.
"Nice view, isn't it?" Ke Xun stretched out his leg and hooked out the low table that was hidden behind the beanbag chair, placing the food on it. "I chose this high-rise apartment here precisely because I wanted to stand tall and see far. Come on, let's eat." He then pulled out two bottles of green tea from under his arm and placed them on the table as well.
Mu Yiran turned to look at him.
Afraid that he would continue holding the food, Ke Xun pointed at the fried rice: "Every grain is hard-earned; if you don't eat it, I'll have to throw it all away."
Mu Yiran walked over expressionlessly, and the moment his butt touched the sofa, he was unexpectedly slumped in, instantly transforming from a sitting posture to a reclining one—a perfect example of the Beijing slouch.
Mu Yiran: "..."
Seeing the big shot's face turn icy again, Ke Xun quickly smiled ingratiatingly: "It's just that I rarely have guests here. My buddies all act like they've suddenly been paralyzed from the waist down when they come in. They practically want to lie down and use the toilet as soon as they arrive. So I didn't get a proper sofa. Please make do with this for now. If it were just me, I wouldn't even sit on the sofa; I'd just sit on the floor."
Mu Yiran endured it again and again, finally managing to sit down on the sofa. With a gloomy face, he picked up the ladle from his bowl.
Shrimp, cod, scallops, green peppers, red peppers, mixed with a golden coconut curry sauce, thickly mixed with rice—a feast for the eyes and the palate.
"How is it? Is it good?" Ke Xun, sitting opposite him, smiled and squinted at him.
After a long while, Mu Yiran hummed in agreement.
Author's Note:
HT id A mA I is a reflection in a mirror; the original sentence should be read backwards (^x^)