Chapter 9 It's so hot here, take me outside (Part 2) The moon sets and crows cry all the time...
After getting ready, Xia Zhu followed the crowd downstairs to the factory courtyard.
It was a cloudy day, with low-hanging gray clouds overhead. The entire factory consisted of only three buildings, their exteriors faded and peeling, revealing the brickwork beneath in some places. Stepping out of the two-story dormitory building, the female workers hurried along, no longer chatting and laughing. The world outside seemed to absorb all vibrant colors, even the girls' bright clothes, all veiled under their uniform gray-blue work clothes.
Xia Zhu felt a little breathless, perhaps because the atmosphere around her was somber and gloomy.
She looked around and saw that, apart from the staff dormitory, the workers were now pouring into a three-story building. The building was square and spacious, which should be where the workshop was located. However, from the outside, all the windows of the building were covered by dense protective netting, making it hard to breathe, which made her feel even more choked up.
Next to the main gate of the park, there is a small two-story building that looks much quieter and more exquisite, with tiles on the exterior walls.
As the crowd slowly moved into the workshop building, she noticed that the entire factory was almost entirely populated by women, with very few male workers in sight. The building entrance was surprisingly narrow, with an iron gate that allowed only three or four people to pass side-by-side, causing a congestion in the flow of people.
Squeezed in there, you can hear complaints rising and falling all around you.
"It's so crowded, can you move a little faster up ahead?"
"It's so crowded! What are you all doing?!"
"It's so hot! Hurry up!"
Xia Zhu found it strange. Although it was a bit suffocating to be squeezed in the crowd, the weather was cool and not too hot. However, she noticed that some people had beads of sweat on their foreheads, and everyone was pushing and shoving each other as if they could not bear the stuffiness.
"It's so hot."
"It's so hot!"
"It's so hot..."
As soon as she stepped through the gate and onto the stairs, the complaints grew louder and louder. Xia Zhu felt the oxygen level drop sharply and even felt dizzy. The crowd swayed along with her perspective.
In a daze, everything around her quieted down. The light in the hallway was so dim that she could hardly see the path under her feet. It was as if her vision had returned to the real world. Xia Zhu, who had lost her glasses, was almost blind, and this feeling frightened her.
The invisible air around her seemed to solidify, pressing down into her throat and trachea, or like being enveloped by layers of invisible, dense foam. Just as she was about to faint, a hand patted her shoulder.
"Xia! You're pretty fast, you're actually ahead of us!"
It is He Yujiao.
Xia Zhu came to her senses and found herself on the second floor. Her vision had returned, and the feeling of not being able to breathe had weakened considerably. He Yujiao was affectionately holding her arm beside her, complaining about how crowded the cafeteria was and how she hadn't managed to get a meat bun this morning.
Xia Zhu noticed that she had a particularly exquisite pearl hair clip in her hair.
Then I thought of the jewelry box in my drawer.
The second floor is also a workshop, but her and He Yujiao's name tags say 302, so it seems they are on the third floor.
It's better to have He Yujiao holding my arm than to try to figure it out on my own and give myself away.
Entering the factory on the third floor, she passed the painting and coloring workshop. The smell was pungent and the air was stuffy. She heard several girls coughing.
The neatly arranged semi-finished products on the assembly line look like some kind of toy doll.
It looks like this is a toy factory.
He Yujiao led Xia Zhu into workshop 302, where all the female workers were dressed in blue, some sitting and some standing.
"Sit down, Xia! Why is our workshop's model worker always spacing out today?" He Yujiao had already taken her seat, and Xia Zhu hesitated for a moment before sitting down on the stool next to her.
Fortunately, He Yujiao appeared normal and showed no signs of distress.
The toy dolls on the production line in front of them were already taking shape. They were brightly colored, cute, and had two little braids, resembling little girls.
Xia Zhu picked one up; it was made of cotton cloth and seemed to be stuffed with sponge inside. In front of her was a basket of shiny pink plastic bows adorned with red satin, and a hot glue gun.
He Yujiao, who was next to me, had already started working. She picked up the glue gun, squeezed out a little glue on the side of the toy's head, quickly took a bow, aligned it with the position and pressed it on, pressed it firmly with her fingers, and then put the toy into the finished product basket at her feet. She immediately picked up the next one, her movements were skilled and efficient.
Xia Zhu noticed a small tag on the doll's chest that read "Giocare." It didn't sound like English; it sounded more like Italian. Xia Zhu had read Boccaccio's Decameron in her second year of high school, though it was a translation, and she vaguely knew that Italian verbs often ended in "are."
This was a foreign-owned factory, and she couldn't help but think of the key in her pocket that had "Mr. Wang" written on it.
I need to find a chance to figure out which lock this key opens.
Following the example of the people around her, Xia Zhu connected the hot glue gun and started working, one or two at a time, repeating endlessly.
The building has only three floors, and their workshop is on the top floor. The factory floor is much higher than that of ordinary housing, and even the windows are located so high that you have to stand on tiptoe to touch the windowsill.
For some unknown reason, all the windows here are covered with protective netting, making them visually somewhat stuffy. A few rays of sunlight peek through the gray sky and, after being filtered through the netting, pitifully fall onto the mechanically repetitive workbench. The girls' fingers, covered with adhesive tape, gently flick the thin sunlight again and again.
The assembly workshop was relatively quiet, with occasional hushed conversations. Xia Zhu didn't know how long they had been working when she noticed a man in the truck, also wearing work clothes but with an armband on his arm. He walked back and forth between the workbenches, occasionally tapping the baskets that weren't quickly filled with finished products with a wooden stick, and then tapping the arm of a female worker next to the basket.
"Hurry up and finish the chicken feet." Xia Zhu frowned when she heard the man say that.
"Look, don't I look like a doll?" The girl sitting next to her lowered her voice and, taking advantage of the patrolling man's absence, picked up a plastic bow and held it in her hair, saying to her companion.
"Alright, stop showing off, or you'll get caught and have your pay docked!"
"Hmph, once I've saved enough money, I'll set up a stall in the city to sell small commodities! It's better than being stuck in this stuffy, sweaty factory." The girl muttered, reaching up to fan herself by pinching her collar.
"It's so hot. It's so much cooler in the countryside. I want to go home..." she said, fanning herself.
"Stop talking, or you'll fall behind."
The girl shut her mouth.
Xia Zhu worked quickly, and the baskets around her were almost full. But even with such diligence, she couldn't leave the dream. She thought about finding an opportunity to look around.
Soft singing drifted from the quiet workshop; taking advantage of the absence of the guards, the girls briefly regained their youthful energy.
"The moon sets and crows cry, a testament to a thousand years of wind and frost..."
"The sound of the waves remains, but the night of yesteryear is gone..."
For some reason, the girl's singing made Xia Zhu feel inexplicably depressed; the voice floated and drifted but could not escape the densely covered workshop windows.
As the morning passed, Xia Zhu made an excuse to go to the restroom and left the workshop, but the restroom was in a corner on this floor. When she passed the stairwell, she found that even there, men wearing armbands were guarding it. Xia Zhu felt like she was in prison, not working. She had no choice but to return empty-handed and continue working at her seat.
Unable to know where to begin analyzing and investigating, the only clues she had were the jewelry box and "Mr. Wang's" key. Thinking of this, Xia Zhu leaned closer to He Yujiao and whispered, "Your hair clip is really pretty, did someone give it to you?"
He Yujiao's eyes flickered after hearing this, and she whispered, "It was given to me by Zhou Xiaoli."
"Zhou Xiaoli?"
“Yes.” He Yujiao’s voice became very soft, “Zhou Xiaoli, who sleeps in the bunk above me in our dormitory.”
Xia Zhu's breath hitched, and she continued, "Then where did Zhou Xiaoli go?"
He Yujiao lifted her face from the toy doll, slowly turned her head to face Xia Zhu, and laughed, "She's dead. Didn't you hear her cry?"
"What else could it be but a ghost that cries every night without a trace of human presence?" He Yujiao said with a sweet smile, then turned away and went back to sticking on the ribbons, repeating the process mechanically.
A fragrance wafted through the air, and Xia Zhu raised her head to identify the source of the scent.
Suddenly, a bell rang over the loudspeaker, and all the girls stopped what they were doing. He Yujiao stood up with a smile, while Xia Zhu remained sitting blankly in her seat.
"Xia, aren't you going to eat?"
It turned out to be the lunch bell.
"Are we having barbecue for lunch...?" Xia Zhu asked unconsciously, smelling the aroma.
"Barbecue?" He Yujiao burst into laughter. "Xia, are you possessed? It's good enough that the cafeteria has meat. Are you going or not? If not, I'm leaving first."
Xia Zhu thought now was a good time to move around, so she shook her head and said she wasn't feeling well and wouldn't eat, letting He Yujiao go first.
After most people had left, she got up and left as well. She wandered around the workshop on the third floor and found nothing unusual, except that all the windows were covered with security bars.
If there was nothing on the third floor, then go to the second floor. Xia Zhu went down the stairs to the second floor, and found that the second floor was also an operating workshop, just like the third floor. Apart from the different job types, there was no difference.
As she walked, she thought about what He Yujiao had said, trying to piece together the few clues she had.
First, it's obvious that the crying at night belongs to Zhou Xiaoli, and this crying is frequent; the others in the dormitory are used to it. He Yujiao even clearly stated that Zhou Xiaoli is dead. This can only be explained as a dream where the existence of a ghost is rationalized. Now, Xia Zhu needs to find out who Zhou Xiaoli is and what caused her death.
Secondly, He Yujiao said her pearl hair clip was a gift from Zhou Xiaoli. Judging from its material, the hair clip must have been expensive. Girls who choose to work in a factory are unlikely to own such an expensive hair clip. So where did Zhou Xiaoli get it? Furthermore, if the hair clip belongs to Zhou Xiaoli, is it related to the jewelry box in Xia Zhu's drawer? Could they be a set? And what is the connection between the key with "Mr. Wang" on it in the jewelry box and the other girls in the dormitory?
Third, who is this Mr. Wang, and which door or lock can the key open?
Fourth, why is there always a strange smell in the air? Xia Zhu felt that this strange smell was unusual and must be the key to exiting the dream.
Completely clueless, based on the above clues, she still couldn't deduce who the spirit was or who had the dream. According to Feng Feng, the dream existed because of the dreamer's obsession or desire.
What exactly are these so-called obsessions and desires? Could they be related to Zhou Xiaoli's death?
Could the person who dies in a dream be the dreamer? There are hundreds of people in the factory; how can we find the key person?
Just then, two girls walking upstairs brushed past her, and Xia Zhu heard them saying something like, "Manager Wang... I knew it... their relationship is unusual..."
"Manager Wang?" Xia Zhu stopped in front of the iron gate on the first floor. From here, she could see the small tiled building next to the factory's main gate. The building was obviously not for the factory employees. She reached into her pocket and touched the key.
Perhaps this key can open a door in that building.
A note from the author:
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