Chapter 18 – матрёшка 18
The appearance of Xu RenDong and Lian Qiao instantly changed the atmosphere in the room.
These two men were both taller than 1.85 meters tall and their looks were also outstanding. Standing side by side, they unexpectedly matched each other.
Xu RenDong was cool and handsome, elegant and self-contained. Even his shirt buttons were carefully buttoned up to the very top. There was a cold and abstinent air all about him which was very alluring. When a young and ignorant girl sees him, she will inevitably think that he is a high mountain flower that can only be seen from afar. However those with a little more experience will see at a glance that this seemingly powerful indifference is just the thin ice wall that he uses to protect his soft inner heart which is fragile and transparent. If he steps too close to the flame then this ice wall will melt. If you take an awl and knocked it, it will break. It’s just that this juxtaposition between strong and fragile was the most fascinating thing and made people unable to help thinking about him and wanting to abuse him. They wanted to test how much he can endure, but also at the same time wanted to spoil him, protect him and care for him. What kind of softness could he have hiding inside his heart?
Lian Qiao has a completely opposite temperament. He looked like a young child with curved eyes, gazing at the people in the room with undisguised curiosity. He wore comfortable and soft sportswear as if he had just returned from the basketball court, and was full of vigor and vitality. There is a youthful feeling about him and the corners of the eyebrows are slightly droopy so that even when he was not smiling, he looked gentle and kind, making people involuntarily want to get closer.
Several of the people in the audience were young girls. Seeing these two rare and beautiful young people come together on stage, the girls are so excited that they forget where they are. They could only look back and forth and blush quietly.
Men: “…” Oh women.
Not to mention the men, even the rabbit at the door noticed the strange atmosphere. It snorted unhappily and muttered: “You are really the worst players I have ever seen…”
Lian Qiao’s ears perked up, it keenly caught what the rabbit had said: “Players?”
The rabbit didn’t reply, just bowed his head to clean his beautiful little gold tuxedo and solemnly explained the task requirements. It was still the same sentence: Within the seven-day time limit, find the gifts and give it to him. After the mission was released, the rabbit was about to leave. Xu RenDong suddenly remembered the last round of doubts he and Lian Qiao had when they joined forces to kill the rabbit, so he asked: “What is the holiday festival in seven days?”
The rabbit showed the same weird smile as the previous time. He didn’t answer him and just jumped away.
After the rabbit left, everyone sat around the dining table and started discussing the next plan. Xu Hong screwed up her face and left as usual. Jiang Li and Wang Yuan trembled and shivered, pretending to be newcomers. Yuan XueMing continued to implement the ‘Big Brother setting’ and patiently explained the rules of the world to everyone. Everyone listened carefully. Xu RenDong was the only one thinking about these reincarnations and trying to piece together the clues.
He hadn’t paid much attention to the concept of the holiday festival before. If it hadn’t been for Lian Qiao mentioning it several times, coupled with the subtle reaction of the rabbit, he would probably only take this ‘festival’ as an excuse for the time limit. However, thinking about it now, there are many details that suggest that the festival does not seem to be that simple. But what holiday festival is it?
Xu RenDong’s first reaction was Christmas because it was winter and there was a statue of Jesus in the church. But what does Christmas have to do with Russian dolls?
Then he thought of Easter. Easter is also a Christian holiday to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus, and there is also a tradition of a bunny handing out eggs. But the question remains. What is the connection between Easter and the matryoshka?
Xu RenDong felt that his reasoning was missing a very important link but no matter how carefully he thought about it, he couldn’t find the key clue to fill the gap. When he came back to his senses, only Lian Qiao was left beside him. The others all went upstairs to rest after allocating rooms.
Lian Qiao asked him: “Brother RenDong, what are you thinking about?”
Xu RenDong recalled the locations of the dolls and casually lied: “I want to look for some supper.”
Lian Qiao was taken aback and turned towards the Leba on the table. “Isn’t it just this…”
Xu RenDong waved his hand: “I don’t want to eat that stuff. Look to see if there’s anything else to eat.” Then he walked straight to the cabinet, opened the cabinet door and calmly took out the second doll.
Lian Qiao: “…Fuck?! Is your luck so good? Just opening a cabinet and a task item appears?!”
Xu RenDong: “Suddenly I am not hungry anymore, let’s go to sleep.”
Lian Qiao: “…ok my idol, what you say goes.”
The two went back to their room and got into their bed. Xu RenDong was still thinking about the holiday. Lian Qiao looked at his serious face and didn’t dare to talk casually, so he took out the doll he got from Brother Sledgehammer and played with it in his hands.
After playing for a while, he suddenly remembered something, and turned to ask: “Brother RenDong, can you show me your doll you just now?”
Xu RenDong gave him the doll. Lian Qiao said, “There is a seam in the middle of your matryoshka and it seems that it can be unscrewed.”
Xu RenDong remembered that this matryoshka was equipped with a compass, which was not dangerous so he said, “Unscrew it and take a look.”
Lian Qiao opened the matryoshka and was very pleasantly surprised after discovering the compass. He examined the small compass over and over again and it didn’t take long for him to say: “There seems to be a compartment under this.”
Xu RenDong was taken aback. In the previous reincarnation, the compass had been in Yuan XueMing’s hands and he had never looked at it carefully. At this time, looking along the place where Lian Qiao’s finger was, there was indeed a thin gap behind the back of the compass dial. However there are no buttons or buckles around this gap. To open it, they would have to forcibly pry it open with a blade. But after opening it, it was possible the dial might not fit back and the compass might become useless.
If there was something hidden in the compartment that would be good, however it could also be that there was nothing and they would waste a precious item in vain.
Xu RenDong said: “Don’t touch it for now and we will discuss it with the others tomorrow.”
Lian Qiao agreed. Soon he remembered something: “Why do you have items in your doll but my doll can’t be opened?”
Xu RenDong: “Yours is the smallest doll. The other dolls have seams that can be unscrewed to fit another doll inside. So how could the smallest doll still have a seam on its body?”
Lian Qiao mumbled unhappily: “Then don’t I lose out??”
Xu RenDong said, “It’s already good that there was nothing dangerous inside it.. It’s not easy to survive here. Don’t be greedy.”
Lian Qiao nodded obediently: “That makes sense, you’re right.”
“Go to sleep.” Xu RenDong said.
“Oh -” Lian Qiao was a little bit lost and stretched his tone. Two seconds later, he thought of something, “By the way, Brother RenDong…”
He turned his head and found that Xu RenDong was already asleep.
So fast!
Because Lian Qiao’s body clock hadn’t arrived at its sleeping time yet, he didn’t feel sleepy at all so he had to stare at the ceiling.
The room was quiet enough to hear the beating of their hearts. Lian Qiao turned his head and saw Xu RenDong’s eyes were closed and his thick eyelashes were black as crow feathers. He slept very deeply, the expression that always turned away thousands of miles away finally relaxed and his thin lips seemed to be softened.
However, this unsuspecting beautiful sleeping face struck Lian Qiao like a bolt of lightning, leaving only a word in his head.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so beautiful!
The thought that such a good-looking man is actually a fan of his made Lian Qiao’s heart ripple and his stomach began to bubble as though it were filled with coke, and even his breath became sweet and saccharine.
Although I’m not allowed to f*** a fan, Lian Qiao thought honestly, however I can still spoil a fan!
The next morning, the two went downstairs. Lian Qiao heated two cups of milk and put one in front of Xu RenDong. Unexpectedly Xu RenDong frowned and pushed the milk away.
Lian Qiao asked, “Don’t you want to drink milk?”
Xu RenDong, who has been drinking milk for more than ten days, said: “No. I feel sick when I smell it.”
Lian Qiao brought Leba again but this time even before he could speak, Xu RenDong got up and left the table evasively. He said with a strange expression: “I’ll just drink some plain water.”
Lian Qiao stopped with his hand in the air, feeling very embarrassed.
Xu RenDong poured a glass of boiling water and didn’t even return to the dining table. Instead, he walked to the window and stared at the snowy scenery outside. The graceful and upright figure is like a cold sculpture, with a sense of alienation that no one should come close.
When other people saw this scene, they didn’t dare to talk to him. They only thought that this man was beautiful but although he was beautiful, he was too cold and impossible to get close to.
However, some people seem to be noble and unpredictable on the surface, but as the days wore on, it would be clear it was just a facade and they were just the same as everyone else.
In contrast, Lian Qiao who wore his heart on his sleeve was much more likable. After being inexplicably rejected by Xu RenDong, he gnawed the bread sullenly, as depressed as a puppy drenched in rain. The two young girls who had an initial good impression of Xu RenDong now turned their attention to Lian Qiao and greeted him one after the other. The other men sneered at the situation, complaining that girls are all face-cons and hated that they didn’t have good enough ‘skin’ to compete.
Yuan XueMing came by and saw these subtle expressions of everyone in his eyes. Although he didn’t say anything, he sighed in his heart: This group of newcomers are really relaxed, there was no sense of tension at all.
Lian Qiao didn’t intend to hook up with the little girls and after eating two bites of bread, he lost interest and went back upstairs.
Only when hearing Lian Qiao’s heavy footsteps, did Xu RenDong realize that he seemed a little unhappy. He was surprised but just as he was thinking about this, he heard Lian Qiao’s tragic cry erupt from upstairs. “Ahhhhhhhhh!”
Everyone’s faces changed and they ran upstairs. They saw Lian Qiao stumbling back down from the second floor, his face pale, and he said: “Something’s wrong, hic, on the second floor it looks like, hic, someone died!”
As soon as Xu RenDong saw Lian Qiao hiccuping, he knew what had happened upstairs. Everyone else was shocked. Yuan XueMing said solemnly: “Let’s go up and take a look.”
Xu RenDong said “En”, picked up two slices of bread and walked towards the stairs.
Everyone: You’re still thinking about eating at a time like this?!
Unexpectedly, Xu RenDong took the bread and went over to the shivering Lian Qiao. He stuffed the bread into his mouth and successfully blocked a hiccup that was coming out.
Everyone:? ? ? What kind of move is this?
Lian Qiao:? ? ? It seems like… it works?
He was frightened into hiccuping first by the corpse on the ground and now his mouth was suddenly stuffed with bread. He got another shock. Two negatives turned into a positive and the hiccups actually stopped.
Lian Qiao’s mouth was filled with bread, and he couldn’t help reflecting on his life. He looked like a philosophical hamster. Yuan XueMing looked at the two people who were still fooling around and couldn’t help but have the same thoughts as the rabbit in his heart: You are really the worst newcomers I have ever seen!
***
The author has something to say:
No matter how many times they come back, face-cons will fall for the trap of beauty.
***
Chapter 18 – матрёшка 18
The appearance of Xu RenDong and Lian Qiao instantly changed the atmosphere in the room.
These two men were both taller than 1.85 meters tall and their looks were also outstanding. Standing side by side, they unexpectedly matched each other.
Xu RenDong was cool and handsome, elegant and self-contained. Even his shirt buttons were carefully buttoned up to the very top. There was a cold and abstinent air all about him which was very alluring. When a young and ignorant girl sees him, she will inevitably think that he is a high mountain flower that can only be seen from afar. However those with a little more experience will see at a glance that this seemingly powerful indifference is just the thin ice wall that he uses to protect his soft inner heart which is fragile and transparent. If he steps too close to the flame then this ice wall will melt. If you take an awl and knocked it, it will break. It’s just that this juxtaposition between strong and fragile was the most fascinating thing and made people unable to help thinking about him and wanting to abuse him. They wanted to test how much he can endure, but also at the same time wanted to spoil him, protect him and care for him. What kind of softness could he have hiding inside his heart?
Lian Qiao has a completely opposite temperament. He looked like a young child with curved eyes, gazing at the people in the room with undisguised curiosity. He wore comfortable and soft sportswear as if he had just returned from the basketball court, and was full of vigor and vitality. There is a youthful feeling about him and the corners of the eyebrows are slightly droopy so that even when he was not smiling, he looked gentle and kind, making people involuntarily want to get closer.
Several of the people in the audience were young girls. Seeing these two rare and beautiful young people come together on stage, the girls are so excited that they forget where they are. They could only look back and forth and blush quietly.
Men: “…” Oh women.
Not to mention the men, even the rabbit at the door noticed the strange atmosphere. It snorted unhappily and muttered: “You are really the worst players I have ever seen…”
Lian Qiao’s ears perked up, it keenly caught what the rabbit had said: “Players?”
The rabbit didn’t reply, just bowed his head to clean his beautiful little gold tuxedo and solemnly explained the task requirements. It was still the same sentence: Within the seven-day time limit, find the gifts and give it to him. After the mission was released, the rabbit was about to leave. Xu RenDong suddenly remembered the last round of doubts he and Lian Qiao had when they joined forces to kill the rabbit, so he asked: “What is the holiday festival in seven days?”
The rabbit showed the same weird smile as the previous time. He didn’t answer him and just jumped away.
After the rabbit left, everyone sat around the dining table and started discussing the next plan. Xu Hong screwed up her face and left as usual. Jiang Li and Wang Yuan trembled and shivered, pretending to be newcomers. Yuan XueMing continued to implement the ‘Big Brother setting’ and patiently explained the rules of the world to everyone. Everyone listened carefully. Xu RenDong was the only one thinking about these reincarnations and trying to piece together the clues.
He hadn’t paid much attention to the concept of the holiday festival before. If it hadn’t been for Lian Qiao mentioning it several times, coupled with the subtle reaction of the rabbit, he would probably only take this ‘festival’ as an excuse for the time limit. However, thinking about it now, there are many details that suggest that the festival does not seem to be that simple. But what holiday festival is it?
Xu RenDong’s first reaction was Christmas because it was winter and there was a statue of Jesus in the church. But what does Christmas have to do with Russian dolls?
Then he thought of Easter. Easter is also a Christian holiday to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus, and there is also a tradition of a bunny handing out eggs. But the question remains. What is the connection between Easter and the matryoshka?
Xu RenDong felt that his reasoning was missing a very important link but no matter how carefully he thought about it, he couldn’t find the key clue to fill the gap. When he came back to his senses, only Lian Qiao was left beside him. The others all went upstairs to rest after allocating rooms.
Lian Qiao asked him: “Brother RenDong, what are you thinking about?”
Xu RenDong recalled the locations of the dolls and casually lied: “I want to look for some supper.”
Lian Qiao was taken aback and turned towards the Leba on the table. “Isn’t it just this…”
Xu RenDong waved his hand: “I don’t want to eat that stuff. Look to see if there’s anything else to eat.” Then he walked straight to the cabinet, opened the cabinet door and calmly took out the second doll.
Lian Qiao: “…Fuck?! Is your luck so good? Just opening a cabinet and a task item appears?!”
Xu RenDong: “Suddenly I am not hungry anymore, let’s go to sleep.”
Lian Qiao: “…ok my idol, what you say goes.”
The two went back to their room and got into their bed. Xu RenDong was still thinking about the holiday. Lian Qiao looked at his serious face and didn’t dare to talk casually, so he took out the doll he got from Brother Sledgehammer and played with it in his hands.
After playing for a while, he suddenly remembered something, and turned to ask: “Brother RenDong, can you show me your doll you just now?”
Xu RenDong gave him the doll. Lian Qiao said, “There is a seam in the middle of your matryoshka and it seems that it can be unscrewed.”
Xu RenDong remembered that this matryoshka was equipped with a compass, which was not dangerous so he said, “Unscrew it and take a look.”
Lian Qiao opened the matryoshka and was very pleasantly surprised after discovering the compass. He examined the small compass over and over again and it didn’t take long for him to say: “There seems to be a compartment under this.”
Xu RenDong was taken aback. In the previous reincarnation, the compass had been in Yuan XueMing’s hands and he had never looked at it carefully. At this time, looking along the place where Lian Qiao’s finger was, there was indeed a thin gap behind the back of the compass dial. However there are no buttons or buckles around this gap. To open it, they would have to forcibly pry it open with a blade. But after opening it, it was possible the dial might not fit back and the compass might become useless.
If there was something hidden in the compartment that would be good, however it could also be that there was nothing and they would waste a precious item in vain.
Xu RenDong said: “Don’t touch it for now and we will discuss it with the others tomorrow.”
Lian Qiao agreed. Soon he remembered something: “Why do you have items in your doll but my doll can’t be opened?”
Xu RenDong: “Yours is the smallest doll. The other dolls have seams that can be unscrewed to fit another doll inside. So how could the smallest doll still have a seam on its body?”
Lian Qiao mumbled unhappily: “Then don’t I lose out??”
Xu RenDong said, “It’s already good that there was nothing dangerous inside it.. It’s not easy to survive here. Don’t be greedy.”
Lian Qiao nodded obediently: “That makes sense, you’re right.”
“Go to sleep.” Xu RenDong said.
“Oh -” Lian Qiao was a little bit lost and stretched his tone. Two seconds later, he thought of something, “By the way, Brother RenDong…”
He turned his head and found that Xu RenDong was already asleep.
So fast!
Because Lian Qiao’s body clock hadn’t arrived at its sleeping time yet, he didn’t feel sleepy at all so he had to stare at the ceiling.
The room was quiet enough to hear the beating of their hearts. Lian Qiao turned his head and saw Xu RenDong’s eyes were closed and his thick eyelashes were black as crow feathers. He slept very deeply, the expression that always turned away thousands of miles away finally relaxed and his thin lips seemed to be softened.
However, this unsuspecting beautiful sleeping face struck Lian Qiao like a bolt of lightning, leaving only a word in his head.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so beautiful!
The thought that such a good-looking man is actually a fan of his made Lian Qiao’s heart ripple and his stomach began to bubble as though it were filled with coke, and even his breath became sweet and saccharine.
Although I’m not allowed to f*** a fan, Lian Qiao thought honestly, however I can still spoil a fan!
The next morning, the two went downstairs. Lian Qiao heated two cups of milk and put one in front of Xu RenDong. Unexpectedly Xu RenDong frowned and pushed the milk away.
Lian Qiao asked, “Don’t you want to drink milk?”
Xu RenDong, who has been drinking milk for more than ten days, said: “No. I feel sick when I smell it.”
Lian Qiao brought Leba again but this time even before he could speak, Xu RenDong got up and left the table evasively. He said with a strange expression: “I’ll just drink some plain water.”
Lian Qiao stopped with his hand in the air, feeling very embarrassed.
Xu RenDong poured a glass of boiling water and didn’t even return to the dining table. Instead, he walked to the window and stared at the snowy scenery outside. The graceful and upright figure is like a cold sculpture, with a sense of alienation that no one should come close.
When other people saw this scene, they didn’t dare to talk to him. They only thought that this man was beautiful but although he was beautiful, he was too cold and impossible to get close to.
However, some people seem to be noble and unpredictable on the surface, but as the days wore on, it would be clear it was just a facade and they were just the same as everyone else.
In contrast, Lian Qiao who wore his heart on his sleeve was much more likable. After being inexplicably rejected by Xu RenDong, he gnawed the bread sullenly, as depressed as a puppy drenched in rain. The two young girls who had an initial good impression of Xu RenDong now turned their attention to Lian Qiao and greeted him one after the other. The other men sneered at the situation, complaining that girls are all face-cons and hated that they didn’t have good enough ‘skin’ to compete.
Yuan XueMing came by and saw these subtle expressions of everyone in his eyes. Although he didn’t say anything, he sighed in his heart: This group of newcomers are really relaxed, there was no sense of tension at all.
Lian Qiao didn’t intend to hook up with the little girls and after eating two bites of bread, he lost interest and went back upstairs.
Only when hearing Lian Qiao’s heavy footsteps, did Xu RenDong realize that he seemed a little unhappy. He was surprised but just as he was thinking about this, he heard Lian Qiao’s tragic cry erupt from upstairs. “Ahhhhhhhhh!”
Everyone’s faces changed and they ran upstairs. They saw Lian Qiao stumbling back down from the second floor, his face pale, and he said: “Something’s wrong, hic, on the second floor it looks like, hic, someone died!”
As soon as Xu RenDong saw Lian Qiao hiccuping, he knew what had happened upstairs. Everyone else was shocked. Yuan XueMing said solemnly: “Let’s go up and take a look.”
Xu RenDong said “En”, picked up two slices of bread and walked towards the stairs.
Everyone: You’re still thinking about eating at a time like this?!
Unexpectedly, Xu RenDong took the bread and went over to the shivering Lian Qiao. He stuffed the bread into his mouth and successfully blocked a hiccup that was coming out.
Everyone:? ? ? What kind of move is this?
Lian Qiao:? ? ? It seems like… it works?
He was frightened into hiccuping first by the corpse on the ground and now his mouth was suddenly stuffed with bread. He got another shock. Two negatives turned into a positive and the hiccups actually stopped.
Lian Qiao’s mouth was filled with bread, and he couldn’t help reflecting on his life. He looked like a philosophical hamster. Yuan XueMing looked at the two people who were still fooling around and couldn’t help but have the same thoughts as the rabbit in his heart: You are really the worst newcomers I have ever seen!
***
The author has something to say:
No matter how many times they come back, face-cons will fall for the trap of beauty.
***
