Chapter 01
Chapter 02
Chapter 03
Chapter 04
Chapter 05
Chapter 06
Characters
Chapter 04


This figure turns out to be the girl who has been stuck with him inside the lift. She even appears in his dream. She smiles at the man and then sits down on a chair. She said nothing, just sits and read a magazine on the table in front of the chair.

The man then sits down on another chair next to him. They both silent. About two minutes later, the girl stops reading and turns to look at the man.

"Please choose the sweets you like."

Just a brief sentence and then she goes back to read the magazine.

"But I don't want to eat sweets," the man replies.

Again, the girl stops reading. And then says, "What do you need now?"

"I am hungry. Is there any food here?"

The girl looks deeply at the man.

"What would you like to eat?"

"Everything is fine," the man answers quickly.

"I think I still have the meals left this afternoon. I'll check first. " Then the girl stands up and walks towards the door that separated this room from the back room. A few moments later, she comes out from behind the door.

"Do you eat horse meat?"

The man winces at the question the girl just asked.

Eh? Horse meat? Does this girl eat horse meat? I guess horse meat is typical food here.

The man has never eaten horse meat before. But when people are as hungry as he is now, that is no problem.

"After eating horse meat, the body feels a little hot. Mutton, lamb or goat meat will make your body temperature rises. But horse meat will make you feel much hotter." The girl kindly explains.

The man nods in response.

But the current temperature is already hot enough!

The man mutters inwardly. But then he is laughing.

"Okay. It sounds good to me."

The girl straight away goes back inside and comes out with the full tray. The man stares at it.

This is not meat lunch leftover. It's a jumbo portion!

The man becomes excited when he saw the dish that has just arrived. With joy, he instantly devours the food. While he is eating the horse meat, he suddenly feels his teeth biting on something very solid!

Abruptly the man wakes up and finds he is chewing on the large sash lying next to him. His gums feel a little sore because his teeth are biting on the tip of the iron sling.

Luckily, I chew the things I brought with me myself. If I have eaten this girl's backpack, or worse, that would have been a big problem!

The hunger that set in got worse and worse. He doesn't know what time it is. He hopes now it is already morning. Then he wouldn't have to wait too long to go out and look for food. The man looks at the girl, who is still fast asleep.

Suddenly a voice comes from next door. Apparently, someone is going up using lift number three, which is next to this lift. The man in a flash stands up and walks towards the side of the lift where the girl is leaning. With his remaining strength, he hits the lift side. Hopefully, whoever is using the lift next door can hear these extraordinarily loud sounds.

Judging by the noise, the lift reached the 8th floor. Then it continues upwards. The man opens the bag he is carrying. He looks for a tool that could make a loud noise when he bangs it against the lift side. Unexpectedly, he finds an iron handcuff.

Iron handcuffs? Ah, of course, my friend likes to play detective. Of course, there are such tools. Under these circumstances, there is no time for prejudice!

With the handcuffs in his hand, the man hits the lift side. By this time, the girl already wakes up. When she realised what the man is doing, the girl quickly opens her backpack, takes a big spanner, and follows the man hitting the lift side.

Once again, the man is surprised.

Spanner? This girl brought a spanner in her bag? What a girl! Always full of surprises!

The two hit the side of the lift violently. The next lift seems to go down but then goes up again. Then it goes down again. It appears that the person next door is trying to find the source of the sound of the banging on the wall.

Soon the lift next door stops making a sound. There is a knock on the lift door. Supposedly, the person next door is got out of the lift. And now that person is in front of the lift where they are trapped.

"Is there anyone in there?"

The girl and the man could clearly hear the voices from the outside.

"Please! Please help us! We're trapped here! "

The girl and the man together scream so loud to ask for help.

"Please wait a moment! I will try to turn the lift on first!"

For a moment they can not hear any sound from the person outside.

"He opens the panel on the outside to activate this lift," the man explains to the girl.

"Yesterday, I think you did the same thing. When I press the button in front of lift number four downstairs, the light doesn't come on at all. But when I was on the 12th floor, it suddenly turned on."

"Yes, you are right! My friend taught me that trick," the man replies.

A moment later, the light in the lift comes on. The lift shakes quite a lot. The felt that the girl seems a little anxious. But nothing wrong happens after that. Then the lift door opens. They see someone in a blue uniform is standing in front of them.

"It turns out that you are still here, Mr Duānmù," the man says.

"Thank you, Hànróng. Thank goodness you came quickly," says the man who has been with the girl all night.

Hànróng, the caretaker of the building, is a young man in his late twenties. He is tall and well-built. But from his facial expression, he looks a little less smart. There is a girl standing next to the man. It is surprising Hànróng the caretaker. He turns to the man.

"It's a long story," the man says. "Now, let's go down first." Then the three of them get to the ground floor using lift number four.

Once at the ground floor, the man, who is called Mr. Duānmù by the caretaker, speedily runs towards the toilet. He stops briefly and turns to the girl. At first the girl seems confuse. The man points downwards so that the girl then understands what he means. The man knows that the girl wants to go to the loo too. Then the girl runs after the man.

After they finished their toilet matter, they gather in a room on the ground floor. Hànróng gives them hot tea. While drink tea, The girl and the man take turn telling Hànróng their stories.

"Yesterday, I went out for a while. I didn't lock it because I thought it was just for a moment. For some reason, it turned out that my business took a long time. When I came back, those people were still here. When I asked what they were doing, they said no words and just left. I saw three people in this building. But there was an SUV parked in front of the gate of this building. Inside the vehicle, there seemed to be three people as well. So I think there are six people in all. Following that, I straightway locked up and went home.”

"Didn't the night watchman come?" asks the girl.

"When I came home, he wasn't there yet. When I came this morning, he wasn't there. So I don't know what time he comes and goes. I don't even know if he comes or not," Hànróng replies.

Hànróng then looks at them. With a slow pace, he says,

"Something like this…"

The man who he called Duānmù understands what Hànróng meant. Criminal acts are the law enforcer's things. So as good citizens, it is obviously their duty to report the incident.

However, Duānmù also understands that this matter would cause difficulties for Hànróng. His absence at the time would probably make him get a sanction.

"As far as this matter is concerned. We also don't know whether or not those people have actually committed crimes. So we will postpone reporting to the authorities for the time being," Duānmù continues.

He does not tell Hànróng about a call from his friend. He doesn't want to burden Hànróng with these things. Besides, he knows that Hànróng's brain capacity is a bit below average. He is worried that the information would make Hànróng depressed.

"Thank you, Sir," Hànróng replies.

"Well, the important thing is that we are fine." The man said with a relief face. He shows Hànróng the bag.

"This bag belongs to Mr Gōngyáng. I shall take it home. "

"Oh, please, sir. Are there still many of his belongings up there?" Hànróng asks.

"There are still many," the man replies. "But he only asked me to get this bag."

"Apart from him, there are still some people whose belongings are still here. I don't know when this building will actually close down." Hànróng explains.

The man and the girl nod their head.

"Thank you. I think we have to go now. "

The man and the girl at once stand up and prepare to leave the room.

"Don't you both need to go upstairs to clean your body first?"

Hànróng advises them.

"Ah, no need. We have to hurry," the man says. Suddenly he taps his forehead because he remembers something.

"Can I use the phone for a while?" the man says.

"Please, sir," says Hànróng. Then the man walks to the table where the telephone is. The phone is connected to a box that had to be filled with coins for the phone to switch on. The man does not use the phone for long because he only calls home to tell that he is fine. After that, the girl and the man soon left the building.

For safety purposes, this time, they exit through the back door of the building. The back garden of the building is roughly the same size as the front garden. From the back door, they walk towards the small door that is on the back fence wall. Behind the door is an alley that leads to the station.

"Where are we going to now, sir?"

"I am hungry. How about we have breakfast at one of the stalls at the station first? "

The man knows that the girl is thrilled to hear his answer.

© Lin Musen [ 林木森 ],
книга «When The Wind Blows Tenderly».
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