"Nana, do you know how to open your dad's study?"
"You're in my dad's room? The study? Dad never lets us into the study, not even Mom. He seems to have a special key, a key we've never seen. He keeps it in a place we can't find. Even when he's in the study, he locks the door from the inside. We don't know what he does in there."
I was completely stunned. A room that even his closest family couldn't enter, what major secrets could it hold? The more it was like this, the more curious I became about this room. Perhaps I could find something valuable inside. Da Feng Novel Network.
Since she said the key was hidden in the room, it definitely wasn't on him. I decided to look for it. I stood at the doorway, surveying the entire living room, contemplating where he might have placed it.
The living room was simply furnished with a sofa, coffee table, and a wine cabinet. Back then, televisions were still a rarity, so there was no TV cabinet. On a stand, there was a stereo cassette recorder and a set of speakers. I went over and plugged in the cassette recorder and the stereo, inserted a tape, and pressed play. Melodious music filled the air, a sentimental song sung by a male vocalist with a Hong Kong/Taiwanese accent.
I have to say, this stereo system had quite good sound quality. The bass was rich, the treble penetrating, and it was pleasant to the ear, as if I were at a live concert. I shook my head. Rich people certainly knew how to enjoy themselves. In an era when others could only listen to the radio, they were already enjoying concerts in the comfort of their homes.
I examined the stereo system. There were no signs of use on it, clearly indicating that very few people ever touched this machine. I moved the left speaker. It was heavy, made of solid wood, about fifty to sixty centimeters tall, and well-covered at the back. It seemed unlikely that the key would be hidden here. I looked at the other speaker; it was similar to this one, with no place to hide anything. The only thing left was the cassette recorder. I turned off the machine, moved the recorder slightly, ensuring nothing was under it, and then looked at the back cover.
This was a dual-purpose AC/DC machine that could be powered by mains electricity or batteries. I had just plugged it into the AC power source to turn it on, so the battery compartment should be empty. If there was no DC power, there could be two reasons: either the batteries were dead, or there were no batteries installed at all. Dry batteries have a lifespan. Even if not used, they would lose power after some time. Moreover, in the past, discharged dry batteries easily leaked battery fluid. The strong alkaline liquid could cause corrosion, damaging components or furniture. It was highly probable that no batteries were installed.
The battery compartment? An empty battery compartment would have a lot of space. It wasn't impossible to hide something like a key inside. Nana Xie and the others, even if they listened to music, wouldn't casually move the machines to inspect them. After all, they weren't boys who were curious about machines and liked to do destructive things. Mrs. Xie would be even less likely to do so. She wouldn't dare to casually touch her husband's precious audio equipment.
I unlatched the battery compartment, but nothing fell out as I expected. There was nothing inside, and it was very clean, clearly indicating that no batteries had ever been installed. This battery compartment was indeed large. Judging by its appearance, it could hold at least eight size D batteries. The compartment cover took up half the space, with the other half inside the machine. I reached my hand inside and felt something blocking my hand, making a slight noise. I froze. There was indeed an object inside. The entire compartment should have been empty. Anything inside would interfere with the placement of batteries.
I tried to reach further in to see what it was, but my fingers were not long enough. I simply withdrew my hand, picked up the cassette recorder, and tilted it to see if I could shake the object out. As the machine was tilted more steeply, a small plastic bag slid out from inside. The bag was very small, about as thick as an adult's middle finger and five to six centimeters long. The bag was exquisite, made of thick, pale yellow plastic, and had a line of text on the outside, unlike anything produced locally. I glanced at it. It was English abbreviations, not full words, so I couldn't translate it. If I could have typed the letters into a search engine like I do now, I would have known what they meant, but this was the era of pagers, and such convenient and useful tools hadn't appeared yet.
I looked repeatedly at the plastic bag in my hand, squeezing it. Inside was a cylindrical object, very hard. I shook it and could hear a metallic sound. I suspected that this might contain the key. With this deduction, I opened the bag from one end, and indeed, there was an exquisite, small golden-yellow metal cylinder inside. This cylinder was also very delicate, with the same letters on its surface as on the bag. I unscrewed the top cover, and inside were three keys of the same color as the cylinder.
It was indeed a key, but I didn't understand why there were three. These three keys were the same length, only the teeth had slight differences. The handles of the keys also bore the same letters. It seemed certain that these keys were for the door lock, but I really couldn't understand why there were three. As the saying goes, one key opens one lock. What kind of operation was it to have three keys for one lock?
I was puzzled. I held the keys in my hand, turning them over and over. I walked to the locked door and tried to insert one of them into the lock cylinder. It slid in smoothly, confirming that this key did indeed fit the door lock. However, no matter how I twisted it, the lock cylinder wouldn't budge. I looked at the lock with confusion. This was truly bizarre. I took out the second key. After inserting it, there was a slight movement, but just a tiny bit, and then, like the first one, it became completely still. I tried the third key, and it also showed no signs of opening the lock.
Fearing that I might damage the keys with too much force, I simply pulled them out. I calmed myself down and started thinking about what was going on here. Based on my understanding, three keys opening one lock was inherently illogical. Other keys might be for other places in the room, but the fact that none of them could open the lock made it rather perplexing.
I estimated that enough time had passed and that my seniors would arrive soon. I had no choice but to temporarily put the keys back into the cylinder, put them in the plastic bag, and hide them for now. I would make plans after settling my seniors. As expected, just as I had closed the battery compartment and put the cassette recorder back in place, I heard footsteps from outside. I quickly went out and confirmed that it was my seniors. Like me, they hadn't taken a car but had walked over. I hurried out and waved at them. They were looking around in the courtyard. Seeing me beckoning them, they quickly walked towards me.
I was a little surprised. Senior brought his several Taoist juniors with him, but they hadn't spotted Zhou Yingying. Had she changed her mind and decided not to cooperate with us?