Forbidden Land – CH 090

This was Zhang Chao’s first time committing robbery. Remembering he hadn’t managed to steal the camera from that bitch, but he’d taken the notebook, he felt a surge of pride. He’d completely forgotten the slap she’d given him. He quickly flipped to the first page and saw the title “Song of the Quishi Society.”

“Song of the Quishi Society?” Zhang Chao said. “What’s this Quishi Society? Never heard of it. Does the school even have such a club?”

Chen Rong shook her head. “Keep reading.”

The second line read. “Lyrics: Ma Yifu; Music: Ying Shangneng.”

Starting from the third row, the following was written:

• Great minds aren’t arrogant, like the ocean embracing rivers. (The Dao)
• Learning has no boundaries, reaching to the heavens and earth. (The Tool)
• The metaphysical is called the Dao; the physical is called the Tool. (Learning is the Tool; Enlightenment is the Dao.)
• Rituals emphasize differentiation, and music emphasizes harmony; knowing their unity, you’ll understand. (The so-called Yin and Yang, the meaning of the universe)
• The State has a national university, located on the banks of Zhejiang. (Zhejiang Riverside Teahouse)
• The ancients spoke of seeking truth, truly inspiring one to seek reality. (The Purpose)
• The Book of Changes teaches; wisdom and understanding revealed. (The Eight Trigrams arise from the universe.)
• Don’t claim to be right, and don’t claim to have achieved truth. (Maintain secrecy.)
• Nothing is without change, nothing is without new; how to innovate, to enlighten the people. (He Yixin, Lu Kaiwu, Chen Qianmin)
• Alas, you virtuous scholars, may you have something to say. (Remember)
• Remember the classics, think wisely and insightfully; possess both literary and practical qualities, encompass agriculture and industry. (Integration and mastery)
• Encompass all aspects, know the beginning and the end; achieve mastery through composition, like gold in the furnace. (Success isn’t easy.)
• May the fields prosper, may the clan be generous, may our nation be established, may the world be united. (Forever protecting the school.)

After reading this page, Zhang Chao asked curiously, “Isn’t this the Zhejiang University school song? Why is it also the anthem of the Seeking Truth Society?”

Chen Rong also found it strange. “What does she mean by using parentheses to annotate each line of the school song?”

It was one thing for the school song to be used as an anthem by a society called the Quishi Society, but it wasn’t unusual. What was strange was that each line of the school song was annotated with strange things in parentheses.

Like the first line, “Great minds aren’t arrogant, like the ocean embracing rivers,” why was the word “The Dao” written after it?

Even stranger, the phrase “國國成均，在浙之滨” originally meant that China had a university located on the coast of Zhejiang. She then added a note saying “浙滨茶楼” (Zhejiang Riverside Teahouse), which was completely nonsensical.

And then there was the following sentence, “何以新之，開物前民” (How to innovate, to enlighten the people), with parentheses listing He Yixin, Lu Kaiwu, and Chen Qianmin—it sounded like three names.

What did it all mean?

Zhang Chao asked suspiciously, “Do you know of a society called the Qiushi Society?”

Chen Rong shook her head. “Never heard of it.”

Zhang Chao turned another page in this notebook. The page simply read. “April 5th, no encounter with the woman in ancient costume.”

Their eyes lit up, and they exclaimed in unison, “Looking for the woman in ancient costume?”

A page next to it read. “April 7th, encountered the woman in ancient costume but didn’t apprehend her.”

The two were even more astonished; Zhang Chao’s eyes practically popped out. “Who is this woman? She dares to try to capture the woman in an ancient costume!”

Turning to the next page, it read. “April 10th, investigation on the sixth floor of the School of Medicine, no abnormalities found, but encountered the woman in an ancient costume, who escaped again.”

Flipping through the rest of the pages, they found only blank pages; no more text could be found.

Zhang Chao exclaimed in surprise, “It seems this woman in black clearly knows the woman in ancient costume’s identity! She’s after her!”

Chen Rong nodded. “It seems this person’s identity isn’t simple.”

Zhang Chao said, “One thing is certain: the woman in ancient costume definitely exists. But is she a human or a ghost, and why does she want to capture her? Right, she just said we ruined her plans?”

Chen Rong nodded. “I think she said that. Could she be referring to her capturing the woman in an ancient costume?”

Zhang Chao said, “Also, she always tells us not to come here at night, yet she comes here to capture the woman in an ancient costume. These things are so strange; I really can’t figure them out.”

Chen Rong sighed and said, “Forget it, let’s go back first.”

“Okay,” Zhang Chao nodded helplessly. “We can’t figure this out just by thinking about it. It seems we definitely can’t let this woman in black get away next time.”

With that, the two prepared to go downstairs. Just then, a slow footstep came from down the stairs.

…

As the two were about to go downstairs, suddenly, footsteps sounded again from below.

They exchanged a glance, unsure what to do. Zhang Chao, thinking that always waiting to be startled was too cowardly, decided to strike first this time. So he coughed and called down, “Who is it? What are you doing so late!”

At that moment, the footsteps below suddenly quickened, and Zhang Chao and Chen Rong seemed uneasy.

Shortly afterward, light came on in the stairwell, and an old man with a flashlight came up.

It was the same old man who had chased them away last time!

The old man glared at them and snapped, “It’s you two again! Didn’t I tell you before that you’re not allowed here at night?! What are you doing sneaking around here?! Are you trying to steal something? I’ll have to call security!”

Zhang Chao said, “The school doesn’t say we can’t come here. We are just wandering around; is that a problem?”

The old man scolded, “Don’t you know how many valuables are in the School of Medicine? No school rules? There are plenty of places the school doesn’t have rules for; do you think I’d list them all for you? Get down here, and you’re not allowed to come here again!”

Zhang Chao wanted to argue further, but Chen Rong pulled his hand and said softly, “Let’s go back first; don’t say anything more.”

Zhang Chao frowned, reluctantly following Chen Rong downstairs. Once downstairs, he complained, “Why didn’t you let me ask him something?”

Chen Rong frowned slightly and said, “This teacher is a bit strange.”

Zhang Chao said, “Yeah, so strange, and you won’t even let me ask?”

Chen Rong said, “I’m thinking this professor knows something about what’s going on here; otherwise, we wouldn’t have run into him twice.”

Zhang Chao said, “Then why didn’t you ask?”

Chen Rong said, “Judging from his demeanor, do you think he’d tell us what he knows? We need to think about this all over again, and then go find him if necessary.”

Zhang Chao said, “How? Where? We can’t just wait here every day for him to reappear, can we?”

Chen Rong laughed. “I’ve usually seen professors from the School of Medicine. But I’ve never seen him before, so I suspect he isn’t a professor from the School of Medicine. I saw his undershirt earlier; it said ‘School of Humanities,’ so this professor should be from the humanities. We can just search online or ask humanities students; we’ll be able to find out his identity.”

Zhang Chao laughed. “So you had this planned all along! You really are a PhD student; your IQ is way higher than mine.”

Chen Rong smiled smugly. Just then, a security guard on an electric scooter slowly turned onto the road in front of them.

Zhang Chao saw this and quickly ran up to him, stopping him. “Brother security guard!”

The guard stopped, looked at them, and replied in a northern accent, “What’s up, students?”

Zhang Chao quickly took out a cigarette and offered it to him, saying, “Brother security guard, we have something we’d like to ask you.”

The guard shook his head awkwardly, indicating he couldn’t accept it.

Zhang Chao insisted on giving it to him, even lighting it for him, and said with a smile, “Brother security guard, do you patrol here often?”

The guard replied, “Yes, I work the night shift, so I patrol here every day. You’re students, right?”

Chen Rong smiled and nodded, saying, “Security guard, we are students. We heard that a woman in white often appears here at night, and we don’t know if it’s true or not, so we wanted to come and see. By the way, have you seen her?”

“Ah…” the security guard opened his mouth, then said, “It’s getting late; you should go home, students.”

Zhang Chao smiled and said, “Brother, judging from your expression, you must know what’s going on. Are you busy right now? Could you talk to us? If you are, how about we have a meal together tomorrow?”

The security guard was quite nice, and he looked younger than the two of them. Seeing how polite they were and how they kept calling him “brother,” he felt embarrassed and said, “Students, why are you asking about this?”

Zhang Chao said, “Brother, I saw some people talking about this online, and we are quite curious too. We are quite interested in these kinds of things, so could you tell us what you know?”

Chen Rong also said, “Yes, brother, please tell us. We looked around here earlier, but didn’t see you. We’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”

Seeing their question, the security guard took a drag of his cigarette and said, “Hey guys, I can’t just blurt this out, or our student leader will yell at me.”

Zhang Chao quickly handed over the whole pack of cigarettes, grinning. “Brother, we wouldn’t betray our comrades, brother. We are really curious; just give us a hint. I knew you knew from the start, hehe. Here, here, don’t be shy.”

As the saying goes, “He who takes a bribe is bound to be obliging,” and the cigarettes were practically shoved into the security guard’s hand. The guard, feeling embarrassed to remain silent, thought for a moment and said, “Then I’ll tell you, but you mustn’t tell anyone it was me who told you.”

Zhang Chao raised his hand. “Brother, we definitely won’t tell anyone, don’t worry. Besides, some people online have already seen it. We just want to know what really happened. If word gets out, we are fucking bastards.”

The security guard took a puff of his cigarette and said, “What you’re talking about, it’s true; it’s really quite eerie. You know those swampy fields over there, right?” He pointed west, where undeveloped swampy paddy fields were overgrown with weeds and trees.

Zhang Chao said, “Of course, I know.”

The security guard said, “Several nights I’ve passed by here and seen a woman in white walk into that area. To be honest, it’s a little unsettling for me to think about it. What kind of place is that swampy field? How could she get in there? I really can’t figure it out.”

Zhang Chao and Chen Rong exchanged a glance. It seemed there really was something strange about the swampy fields. Zhang Chao asked again, “Brother, did you ever see what the woman looked like? Was she a student or someone mentally ill?”

The security guard shook his head. “I’ve never seen her clearly. I’m always far away. Once, the woman was just over there in the swampy field, and when I rode my electric bike over to check, she immediately hid inside. I guess it’s probably some crazy person, a scavenger, who made their home over there. It’s across the water, so we can’t get there. Anyway, that lunatic hasn’t come out to scare anyone, so we haven’t really bothered with her.”

Zhang Chao thought for a moment and said, “Brother, has this lunatic ever gone into the School of Medicine’s Teaching Building area?”

The security guard thought for a moment and said, “I haven’t encountered her directly, but I heard from my team that they’ve seen a woman in white standing in the Teaching Building a few times on the security cameras. We were worried she’d frighten the students, so we paged the nearest security guard, and they went to look for her several times, but each time, she was already gone. We couldn’t find her. The security cameras are on the north side, and she always appears at the south stairwell, so the footage isn’t clear. But we haven’t heard of any students being frightened by her, so our team leaders haven’t paid much attention to it. Our main job is catching bicycle thieves and preventing people from climbing into the dorms.”

After learning about the woman in ancient costume, Zhang Chao asked, “Brother, did you see any large wild animals during your patrol, like monkeys or wild boars?”

The security guard smiled. “Monkeys and wild boars are unlikely, but there are rabbits and such. What’s wrong?”

Zhang Chao said, “Nothing, last time I saw an animal that looked like a monkey.”

The security guard said, “Maybe a dog. There are quite a few dogs and cats here.”

After chatting casually for a few more minutes, Zhang Chao and Chen Rong thanked the security guard and then went back, still full of questions.

T/N: I didn’t edit the “song” to much to create a rhythm or flow.
I was feeling a bit lazy hehe. Besides, I don’t know how the song sounded. *excuses*