Xu Xiaolin shook her head and then replied, "I don't know what happened, the light is not working."
Wang Shen shone his flashlight on the switch and saw that Xu Xiaolin was repeatedly turning it on and off, but the light didn't turn on at all. After watching for a while, Wang Shen asked, "Are there any other lights in the room?"
Xu Xiaolin nodded. "Yes." After saying that, Xu Xiaolin walked towards the other side of the wall.
Wang Shen followed behind Xu Xiaolin, providing light for her. Xu Xiaolin walked to the switch on the other side and repeated her actions. However, after pressing the switch several times, the light still didn't turn on.
Even Xu Xiaolin frowned at this point. She tried a third light switch, repeating the same steps as before. After failing, Xu Xiaolin turned to Wang Shen with a slightly disappointed look and said, "It seems the electrical circuit in the house is broken."
Wang Shen saw everything that happened, then nodded and comforted Xu Xiaolin, saying, "It's common for wiring to be old in old houses. It's alright, the light from your phone's flashlight should be enough."
Xu Xiaolin nodded gently.
“But,” Wang Shen’s tone suddenly shifted, “do you remember where you put your diary?”
"Of course," Xu Xiaolin replied without hesitation as soon as she heard Wang Shen's words.
Wang Shen nodded, then shone the flashlight beam into the darkness ahead. "I'll keep watch for you from behind. Let's get the diary and leave now. I'll find someone to check out what the problem is when it's light tomorrow."
Xu Xiaolin didn't speak, only nodded in response. Then, using Wang Shen's flashlight beam, she took a few steps forward. The walls inside the room weren't tiled; they were covered in old-fashioned wall plaster. The plaster was supposed to be white, but the flashlight beam revealed stains of varying shades.
Xu Xiaolin stopped walking, glanced at Wang Shen, and then ran her hand over the stains of varying shades on the wall. After a while, Xu Xiaolin slowly said, "These dirty marks were made by my sister and me when we were playing around as children. We got a beating from our mother for it. I remember it clearly; she was hitting us while scolding us for not understanding our family's situation. You know, my family has never been well-off."
Wang Shen saw the sadness in Xu Xiaolin's eyes and wanted to offer some words of comfort. Unexpectedly, Xu Xiaolin turned to Wang Shen, smiled, and said, "But everything is fine now. I'm much richer than you. These wall paints will never appear in my life again."
Seeing Xu Xiaolin's expression, Wang Shen could only chuckle twice in agreement.
After laughing, Xu Xiaolin turned around and continued walking into the darkness. After a few steps, she led Wang Shen to the stairwell. Wang Shen raised the angle of his flashlight slightly, illuminating the entire stairwell.
The old house's staircase was quite steep and long. Made of concrete, it seemed even more likely to disappear into the deep darkness. Without the flashlight's beam, the long, narrow staircase could have been rather eerie.
Xu Xiaolin glanced at the stairs before her for a moment, then stepped onto the first step. Wearing high heels, the sound of their heels striking the concrete floor was crisp and clear. In the pitch-black room, apart from the faint breathing of Wang Shen and Xu Xiaolin, the clattering of her heels was exceptionally distinct, each sound like a blow to the heart.
Wang Shen followed behind Xu Xiaolin. The stairs weren't many, and they soon reached the end. At the top of the stairs were two closed wooden doors on either side. Xu Xiaolin stood in front of the door on the right, turned the doorknob, and gently pushed the door open.
Wooden doors are clearly more resistant to the test of time than iron doors. Xu Xiaolin didn't hear much resistance from the wooden door when she pushed it open. Xu Xiaolin entered the room behind the wooden door, and Wang Shen followed her up the last step of the stairs and into the room.
"This is my sister's and my room when we were little." Xu Xiaolin said as she took out her phone and turned on the flashlight, shining it over the entire room.
By the light from Xu Xiaolin's phone, Wang Shen could see a desk and a row of cabinets by the window. On the other side of the wall, there were two narrow beds, piled almost side by side.
Xu Xiaolin walked to one of the beds, touched the bare wooden plank on it, and then sat down on the edge. Wang Shen knew that Xu Xiaolin was once again lost in her memories. Wang Shen was in no hurry and did not disturb Xu Xiaolin, but simply waited for her to wake up from her reverie.
Not long after, Xu Xiaolin finally got out of bed and slowly walked to the row of cabinets. Xu Xiaolin opened the top cabinet door, then stood on tiptoe and rummaged through the cabinet for a while.
Time ticked by, but Xu Xiaolin's hands didn't stop moving an inch. Wang Shen realized something seemed wrong, but he couldn't rashly ask Xu Xiaolin. Since Xu Xiaolin had already agreed to give Han Mo's diary to Wang Shen, she certainly wouldn't go to any trouble or try any tricks.
Just as Wang Shen was deep in thought, Xu Xiaolin finally stopped what she was doing. She paused for a moment, then turned to look at Wang Shen. An expression of disbelief appeared on her face as she said, "The diary isn't here."
"What do you mean the diary isn't here?" Wang Shen asked rhetorically.
“I kept my diary in this cabinet, but it’s gone now.” Xu Xiaolin’s eyes were filled with confusion, and her expression became somewhat blank.
After listening to Xu Xiaolin's words, Wang Shen walked to the cabinet, shone the flashlight into it with one hand, and searched through it several times with the other. Just as Xu Xiaolin had said, there were no diaries in the cabinet except for some discarded items.
"Do you really remember putting the diary here?" Wang Shen turned to Xu Xiaolin and asked.
Xu Xiaolin's gaze remained fixed on the cabinet, and after hearing Wang Shen's words, she nodded affirmatively.
"Besides you, who else knows that the diary is kept here?" Wang Shen pressed.
Xu Xiaolin shook her head after listening to Wang Shen's words.
"Besides you, who else has a key to this house?"
“Only my sister and I have the key to this house. The key you have now is the one we found at my sister’s house.” Xu Xiaolin said, shaking her head again.
Before Wang Shen could figure out the reason, he suddenly heard a loud crash in the corridor. Wang Shen's actions were faster than his thoughts. He dashed to the stairwell and saw a dark figure flicker and disappear on the first floor.
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