Pandora’s Box

Chapter 1 Chapter 1

Owing to the murder here, the tenants in the rental house either died or moved, and only Murong Sixuan stayed here. The news of the murder quickly spread by word of mouth. Therefore, no new tenants dared to come in here. After the murder, Sixuan had been living in the deserted rental house for more than a month, until one day, the appearance of a girl broke into his boring life.

That girl was a new tenant.

That afternoon, when the owner brought the girl in, Sixuan was reading in the room. When he walked out of the hall and saw the girl, he froze in his tracks.

The girl's face was pale, completely bloodless! That was the first impression Sixuan had of this girl. When he came to his senses, he took a closer look at the girl. She was about twenty years old, and had exquisite facial features and a natural manner of grace and beauty.

Except for a backpack on her back and a box in her hand, the girl had no other baggage.

The owner said, "Mr. Murong, this is a new tenant. Her surname is Lin. Miss Lin, he is a tenant here, just like you, and his surname is Murong."

The girl, Miss Lin, whispered in a low voice, "Em . . ." She had a very cold expression. She seemed to be exhausted and breathed softly. After she carefully put the box on the table, she then put the backpack on the floor.

The owner pointed to the door of one of the suites and said to Miss Lin, "Miss Lin, this is your room."

The room was opposite Sixuan's room. The person who lived there beforehand was a man named Wei Shaonan.

"Well." Miss Lin nodded. "Now I know, thank you."

Sixuan felt a bit strange and thought, She seems to be here for the very first time. Before she decided to rent a room here, didn't she go to see the rental house first? Or is she eager to find a place to settle down? Does this mean that, as soon as she saw the opportunity of renting downstairs, she decided to stay here and immediately paid the deposit, and then let the owner bring her in?

"Let me help you with your baggage," the owner said as he was going to take the box Miss Lin had put on the table.

Miss Lin's expression changed at once, and she shouted, "Freeze!"

The owner was shocked and stunned.

Sixuan frowned and carefully looked at the box.

It was a box made of cardboard. It was slightly higher than ordinary shoeboxes and could basically be seen as a cube. The box was the entirely black and looked so mysterious.

What's in the box? Sixuan thought, Why did she flip out?

At that moment, Miss Lin had eased a little, and she picked up her backpack and gently picked up the box. She said to the owner, "I can handle it myself." Then she walked into her room and closed the door before the homeowner had a chance to reply.

The owner felt a little embarrassed. He looked at Sixuan and said, "Well, I am going to leave now. I think you two will get along well. Goodbye."

After the owner left, Sixuan lost his mind with curiosity. He still thought about the black box that Miss Lin had brought into the house. What on earth is in the box? he thought as he looked at the table. He suddenly discovered the spot where the box had been placed on the table had actually left a puddle of water.

Was there water in the box? Why? Was there some marine life in the box?

"I must unlock the secret of the box." Sixuan was a very curious person and he would not give up until he let the cat out of the bag.

Lin Jing'er

Cold moonlight,

Cold night,

In the dark moonlight night,

I miss you.

At 2:00 a.m.,

The phone rang.

"Divide a half of your sorrow to me."

You said it before,

And you promised that calls would not end.

Nevertheless, can you keep your promise?

You said that we would live together,

You said that we would be together forever,

Being together forever is the agreement between us,

And I will never forget it until my death.

Tonight,

The phone rang again.

But at the other end of the phone,

You did not even say a word.

Is it you?

I know,

Yes.

You said nothing,

But I heard your words.

"Do you miss me?"

You used to ask me like this a lot beforehand.

I do.

I miss you so much. . .

I am not lonely,

You are always by my side.

…

I had not finished my poem yet. But I was kind of thirsty, so I put down the pen, opened the refrigerator, and took out a bottle of black tea and took a drop.

My precious box was in the refrigerator.

The box reminded me of him, Jing Haozhi, the one I both loved and hated.

One deep night half a year ago, I lost sleep. At two a.m., I picked up my phone and dialed a random number. Unexpectedly, the call was put through. And a few seconds later, someone at the other end of the line answered.

"Hello?"

It was a man's voice, which was low, cold, and kind of mysterious.

I was stunned a little bit, and then I answered in a soft tone, "I lost sleep."

A few seconds later, the man said, "Me, too."

He did not even ask me who was I. Such a weird guy!

Weird? Was not I a weird person also?  

I was an introverted and even isolated person. I was an orphan and had no relatives or friends. Since childhood, I had been living in my own world. I always thought that the world was gray and dark, and there was nothing worth cherishing.

We kept silent for several seconds before the man spoke again.

"Why did you lose sleep?"

"No reason," I replied coldly.

"Are you upset?" the man asked in a frosty voice.

"I have never been happy," I said.

"Em?" The man paused for a while, and then said, "Then divide a half of your sorrow to give to me."

"Why?" I asked with curiosity.

"No reason." The man repeated my words from earlier.

"Then . . . " I took a breath and said, "I will divide a half of my sorrow to you, and you should divide a half of your happiness for me."

I heard the man breathe softly, and he said a few seconds later, "I have never been happy, either."

We talked about some things normal people considered nonsense until five a.m. before we hung up.

At two a.m. on the second night, my phone rang. It was the man who chatted with me the night before that called me.

"Hello?" I said.

"Did you lose sleep again?" he asked.

"I am waiting for your call," I replied.

"If I did not call you, would you just stay up late?"

I paused for a moment and said in a low voice, "I am sure that you would call me eventually."

"Correct. I will call you every night as long as you like," the man said.

We ended our dialog at five a.m. again.

On the third night, my phone rang again.

"May I have your name?" he asked.

"Lin Jing'er."

"Em . . . "

"And yours?"

"My name is . . ." The man took a breath before he replied, "Jing Haozhi."

On the seventh night . . .

"I think we have the same personality," I said.

"Right." Jing Haozhi said, "I feel like you are just another me." Then, he suddenly said, "I want to marry you."

And I replied, "I want to marry you, too."

After saying that, my cold heart actually moved slightly.

He said softly, "It just like I will be living with another me."

On the thirtieth night . . .

"That night I just dialed a random number and I met you. If at that time I had dialed another number, then we would never have met each other," I said with deep feeling.

"No," he said. "In the midst of it, everything has been predetermined. Even if you didn't dial my phone that night, we would still meet each other, at another time, in another way."

"You are so good."

"Life, it is very mysterious."

The 100th night . . .

"If you die, I won't live alone," I said.

forever."

"Before I met you, my world was gray and dark. Because of you, I realized that there are things in the world that are worth cherishing." After I said it, I paused for a moment, and then added, "You and I, being together forever is the agreement between us, and I will never forget it until my death."

Such calls had lasted for half a year and never stopped. Chatting with Jing Haozhi every night had already become a part of my life. Before two a.m., I couldn't sleep at all, and until five a.m., after I hung up, I could sleep peacefully. If, one day, my phone no longer rang, would I never fall asleep again until my death?

Last month, we almost said in unison, "I want to see you."

So, the next day, I met Jing Haozhi for the first time in a cafe near his house.