Chapter 17: Ming Dynasty Jingtai Blue and White Ladies Jar with Pickled Salted Fish
After the call ended, Banxia immediately took out an old and yellowed map from the drawer. This was a 2020 edition of the Nanjing transportation and tourism map, left by her teacher. It was a twenty-year-old map that had been through so many people's hands that it was folded and tattered.
She spread the map on the bed, then holding a small desk lamp, leaned closer and pointed at the words on the map, searching bit by bit.
She wants to find a place where there is enough evidence to prove that she lives in 2040.
On the map, the area filled with light pink is Qinhuai District, which is an irregular quadrilateral. The large green oval to the north of Qinhuai District is Purple Mountain, and the blue diamond to the west of Purple Mountain is Xuanwu Lake. Banxia first found where she lived - No. 66 Alfalfa Garden Street, Plum Blossom Villa.
On the map with a scale of 1:100000, the Meihua Villa community is just a tiny area as big as a fingernail. Meihua Villa is next to a one millimeter wide and five centimeters long north-south straight road, which is Alfalfa Garden Street. Further north, Alfalfa Garden Street intersects with Zhongshanmen Street. Zhongshanmen Street is a thick main road, two millimeters wide, filled with light yellow, and winding across half of the Nanjing map.
Banxia's finger slowly moved on the map, starting from Plum Blossom Villa and heading north along the main road, recognizing the place names one by one:
Jiangsu Chinese Culture Institute.
What is this place? It doesn't look like I can help. Next one.
Sea Moon Garden.
No, this is a residential area that has been almost burned down, with only broken walls and ruins left. It is now occupied by a large group of monkeys.
Southeast Eye Hospital.
wrong.
Alfalfa Garden subway station?
wrong.
Weiqiao New Village.
wrong.
Xiamafang Ruins Park.
wrong.
Provincial Seismological Bureau? Will there be evidence in the Seismological Bureau?
Still not right.
The girl knelt on the bed. She was tired of lying there, so she stood up to rest for a while and blinked her eyes hard.
The room was dimly lit. The only sources of light were the small energy-saving lamp hanging above the desk and the small desk lamp in her hand. The small desk lamp had a blue plastic shell and a small solar panel on the base. It could be fully charged by placing it on the balcony for a day. It was a gadget the teacher had found from the garbage dump, and since it was still usable, she had kept it. This thing had a circle of LED bulbs, a total of six, but only half of them could be lit. It was very difficult to recognize words under such light conditions, especially the small words on the map, which were only as big as mosquito legs and were not easy to see clearly.
Banxia decided to change the route.
Starting from Meihua Villa, walk south to Crescent Lake.
Then go to Jun'an East Garden.
Next is Minghu Restaurant.
Finally arrive at Guanghua Road.
Nothing was found.
Banxia breathed a sigh of relief. In such a huge city like Nanjing, there must be some place with enough evidence to prove that she lived in 2040. Unfortunately, Nanjing was too big, so big that many places were out of reach. Relying on a pair of legs and a broken bicycle, Banxia could only go 20 kilometers away from her residence at most. If she went further, there was no way she could guarantee a round trip within a day. She didn't dare to spend the night outside as it was very dangerous.
If only there were cars, maybe there were one or two working cars in some corner of Qinhuai District? There would always be cars that escaped my and my teacher's search and whose batteries had not been taken away.
Banxia thought silently.
But even if she had a car, she wouldn't be able to drive.
The world had gone through a period of chaos. She was very young at that time, so she didn't have a deep impression. Now, looking back, Banxia only vaguely remembers the scarlet night sky. Under the moonlight, huge black shadows were wandering on the earth like spiders. Her teacher took her to hide from place to place, and she saw fewer and fewer humans, until finally there were none left.
"Where on earth can I find the evidence?"
Banxia then lay down and opened her eyes wide.
The main road on the map is the girl’s main movement route. For safety reasons, Banxia can only move along the main road and cannot go deep into alleys or residential areas.
Depart from Plum Blossom Villa!
Clover Garden Street!
Zhongshanmen Street!
Nanjing Museum!
Will there be evidence in the Nanjing Museum? After all, it is full of antiques. When there were no tableware, the teacher once went to the Nanjing Museum to look for pots, pans, and bowls. If the pottery and porcelain in the glass cabinets were usable, the teacher would move them all back. For example, there is a "Jingtai Blue and White Ladies Outing Jar from the Ming Dynasty", which is now placed in the kitchen for pickling salted fish, and a "Hongwu Underglaze Red Plum Vase with Three Friends of Winter", which is now used to store smoked meat.
There was also a jade burial suit with silver threads. The teacher also wanted to move it away at first, saying that it was a shame to leave the treasure there for mice to gnaw on. But she didn't know what to do with it, so she had to find a glass cabinet to put it in, and then set it up at the gate of the Nanjing Museum as a door god, hoping to scare away any animals that broke in.
But as things stand now, the motionless silver jade burial suit cannot scare away animals. Animals only treat it as a sculpture unless it can walk.
But when it walked, Banxia was scared.
Do these things prove that she is in 2040?
I'm afraid not, because they also exist in 2019.
Next.
"The Ming Palace."
no.
Next one.
"Zhongshan Hotel."
Zhongshan Hotel? Banxia thought about it carefully.
Oh, it turns out that charred foundation was the Zhongshan Hotel.
Nanjing General Hospital.
Xi'an Gate.
Pilu Temple.
Banxia's eyes were dizzy, but she couldn't find any place that could help.
What kind of place would contain a large amount of evidence?
First, there must be a clear time mark, and secondly, there must be a clear record of events, and then the time and events must correspond one by one. Only in this way can it be convincing evidence to prove that she lived in 2040 - only a sufficient number of magazines, yearbooks and newspapers can prove that what Banxia said is true.
Where can I find a large collection of magazines and newspapers? Bookstores? No, bookstores don't keep a large collection of old newspapers from many years ago. Bookstores only have junk novels.
Banxia's gaze moved slowly along the khaki main road on the map. That was Zhongshan East Road. She was very familiar with it. Banxia often sat on the steps in front of the Ming Palace, watching the buffaloes and deer passing by Zhongshan East Road.
"Do you want to read a book? Reading more books is good for you." The teacher's words echoed in my mind again, "We have magazines and newspapers and other things. If you want to read them, we can bring some back..."
Banxia suddenly saw it, a line of small black Song Dynasty characters. It was quietly hiding in the complicated map, inconspicuous, but Banxia knew she had found it.
presidential palace.
No, underneath it.
“Nanjing Library.”
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(Author’s aside: A classmate asked me a question about filling out college applications in the book: I like literature, but my family asked me to fill out science and engineering applications. How should I choose?
The author can only share a little bit of personal experience here for reference only:
If you love writing, then choosing any major will not affect your writing skills. On the contrary, literature majors in universities do not cultivate writers. They cultivate literary researchers, connoisseurs, and critics. The author himself has a science background, and there are many science students among online writers.
If you simply love literature, such as literary theory, comparative literature, etc., you have to study systematically in the literature major, and you have to communicate well with your parents and family. But one thing is certain: you will not be happy if you study a major you don’t like.)
(End of this chapter)
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