Know Yourself in the Dragon World

Chapter 422: The Secret Chamber of the Past (2)

Lu Mingfei grabbed the padlock and exerted force.

Chu Zihang came back to his senses as the lock broke. The sound seemed to be in his heart.

His face was still frosty, and Lu Mingfei knew that this was his senior brother, not the fifteen-year-old boy who died in Nibelungen.

"There are no stairs! There is only a steel pipe." Lu Mingfei shone the flashlight inside and then slid down the steel pipe.

As soon as he landed, Chu Zihang jumped down directly.

Zero followed closely behind, landing gracefully without getting his hands dirty.

“I feel embarrassed if you do this…” Lu Mingfei felt that he should climb up, so he followed suit and jumped down.

Ling grabbed Lu Mingfei's wrist, looked at his palm, and said, "It's all dust."

Vacuum Queen, my wrists aren't that clean either! Lu Mingfei tried hard to hold back his inner thoughts.

He shone the flashlight around. The space of this secret room was large enough, equivalent to a bedroom and a living room on the surface.

The layout of the secret room made Lu Mingfei stunned, while Chu Zihang and Ling were silent.

"Brother...can I say bad things?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"Speak." Chu Zihang was ready.

"Your father's hobbies are quite high-end..." Lu Mingfei said half and kept the other half.

The remaining half said: Brother, you should learn from your father.

Judging from the furnishings in the secret room, Chu Tianjiao is indeed different from Chu Zihang, completely different.

There are neatly stacked vinyl records, neatly arranged cigars, a wine cabinet covering half of the wall and filled with wine bottles. In the corner there is a full set of photo developing equipment, plus a whole cabinet of vintage cameras.

My senior brother would not be interested in cigars and records, let alone alcohol and photography, but it is true that he has some knowledge about these things.

Lu Mingfei didn’t know what his senior brothers hadn’t studied.

Ling paced in front of the wine cabinet, "The strongest island whiskey, it can be collected."

Chu Zihang checked the cigars, picking one up and smelling it from time to time, "Made in Cuba, very authentic."

Lu Mingfei was observing those cameras. He didn’t know much about photography, but was just curious. “Brother, your father is very rich…”

Even if he didn't understand, Lu Mingfei could feel that everything in this secret room was of great value.

"Yeah." Chu Zihang paced back and forth in the secret room, trying to figure out the man's image in his mind.

A completely different image from what I had imagined.

He was not a nagging man, nor was he a poor man or a loser.

He understands music, especially the most popular jazz, and to appreciate this music one needs the best records and the best equipment.

He is also a senior cigar smoker who doesn't like inferior brands and must smoke authentic Cuban cigars.

He is also very picky about drinks, and strong liquor is a pleasure for him.

He likes photography and is a veteran photographer. Photography is a record of the world and a testimony to the beauty of things.

"Brother, your father must be very handsome." Lu Mingfei sat on the bed in the middle.

The big bed doesn't look special, but once you sit on it you can feel its softness and impeccable comfort.

Lu Mingfei had never enjoyed such a comfortable bed and couldn't help but reach out and touch it.

"Yeah." Chu Zihang stopped beside the sink where photos were developed, where the workbench was placed.

There was a wooden board standing in front of the workbench, with photos pinned to it with thumbtacks.

The people in the photos are the same, women and children, but the scenes are different, and the beauty they show is different.

Amusement parks, shopping malls, restaurants...

The woman was Su Xiaoyan when she was young. Chu Zihang knew that his mother was very beautiful when she was young and was the mainstay of the dance troupe, but what was shown in the photo was beyond his understanding.

It is so beautiful that it cannot be described in words, and its beauty is ever-changing.

Laughter, sadness, excitement... She is a mother, a wife, and a girl who is still as young as ever.

Photography is something that requires love. Chu Zihang can feel the photographer’s love for the women and children in the photos.

He didn't remember when he took these photos, but he remembered these places because his mother took him there, and Chu Tianjiao was not there.

Chu Tianjiao had no right to be there, as most of the photos were taken when 'Dad' took Chu Zihang after his mother remarried.

It turned out that the man was not absent, but was hiding in a deserted place to admire. Most likely, he was concerned and did not take a picture of the guy who replaced him, Chu Zihang's stepfather, Su Xiaoyan's new husband.

The years were marked in red pen on the corners of the photos, and there were words left by the man on the back of the photos.

Some soliloquy, with a bit of prayer and bitterness.

Words like “I still miss you guys.”

Chu Zihang wanted to read the words behind each photo, but he felt that the photos were becoming heavier and heavier.

The next one was always heavier than the previous one, so heavy that he began to feel tired and gradually became exhausted.

As if his body was filled with lead, his movements began to slow down.

It was as if those photos were smeared with toxins, and he had been deeply poisoned and the poison was taking effect.

Superb reasoning ability has lost its meaning at this moment. What kind of truth should we explore?

The man was completely presented in front of her, without any obstructions. It was true that he had many faces, but each of them contained love.

Love is indeed an accident, and it is indeed impossible to let go.

His carefree and elegant demeanor completely disappeared in front of the woman and the child, and the many sides of Chu Tianjiao in this city finally converged into one side.

Chu Zihang's eyes appeared the image of the man busy in the secret room. He put on a record and started working to the music, while developing the newly taken photos with a cigar in his mouth. During the process, he also sipped a glass of whiskey and watched the photos slowly dry.

Finally, he picked up the developed photos drunkenly, muttered to himself to the woman and child in the photos, and wrote the date and what he wanted to say with a pen.

It would be lonely and powerless...

“Senior Brother…” Lu Mingfei remained silent.

Chu Zihang put the photo down, turned around and looked at Lu Mingfei without saying a word.

"There's another floor below..." Lu Mingfei lifted the bed and found another secret door, the lock of which had been opened by him.

"Let's take a break first." Chu Zihang sat on the chair, half hunched over, "I want to be quiet, you guys go down first."

"Okay... Senior Brother." Lu Mingfei mustered up the courage to comfort Chu Zihang: "Senior Brother, sometimes crying can make you feel better."

After saying this, Lu Mingfei regretted it. Senior Brother was a robot that couldn't cry. What was the point of giving such advice and comforting him? Instead, he told Senior Brother: We can see that you are so sad. When we leave, you can cry and we won't tell anyone.

"Brother...that..." Lu Mingfei wanted to slap himself in the face. Wouldn't it be better to just keep quiet?

Just like Zero, just don't talk.

"Well, it's okay." Chu Zihang said.

Lu Mingfei didn’t know whether his senior brother heard what he said, but it was likely that he didn’t.

Zero placed his flashlight beside the bed and jumped into the next floor.

Lu Mingfei looked at his senior brother again and jumped down as well.

The light from the flashlight cast Chu Zihang's figure sitting alone on the wall; his shadow was elongated and he looked sad.