First Sketch
Written on a plain but supple napkin, the ballpoint pen lines hastily sketch a scene from a street corner. The lines are simple, like a cartoon, yet they vividly capture the busy expression of the breakfast vendor. Even the plump fried dough sticks seem particularly lively. Especially striking is the figure of a tall customer beside the stall, carrying breakfast in one hand and paying with his phone in the other. The wrinkles in his sweatpants are natural and relaxed, and the way his sneakers and feet are positioned gives the impression of someone with exceptional athletic ability; if this person were to walk, he would surely be incredibly energetic.
*——*——*——*——*
Daylight broke.
Carrying the fried dough sticks he had just bought, Ke Xun walked through the familiar neighborhood. He subconsciously glanced at the window of the 13th-floor apartment above his neighbor's—the window of the lazy man who used to hang funeral couplets. Wow, this window was now sparkling clean, adorned with a pair of large red "double happiness" paper-cuts. The lazy man had actually gotten married!
Ke Xun couldn't help but smile, watching a teddy bear running towards him. He stretched out his leg and gave it a little shove: "I don't have time for you, my fried dough sticks will get soggy soon."
The sunlight warmed his head, and the unique aroma of fried dough sticks filled his nostrils. Ke Xun was utterly captivated by this real and comforting world, and quickened his pace. Mu Yiran should be awake by now.
Mu Yiran was indeed awake. Her phone rang twice before she answered. It was a WeChat video call. Mu Yiran wasn't used to being "face-to-face" with Wei Dong so early in the morning, so she turned her back to the phone and casually placed it in a corner, talking to him: "He went to buy breakfast, he probably didn't hear me... Come over and make dumplings at noon? Okay."
"Wu You came to Z City the day before yesterday. Yesterday, she went to the suburbs to dig for wild vegetables with Fang Fei, Gu Qingqing, and my mom. How about we have shepherd's purse and pork today?" Wei Dong chattered on and on. "Boss, can you give me a proper look? Even a toe would be fine. You're pointing the camera at the air conditioner, I feel like I'm talking to an air conditioner NPC..."
The camera shifted from the air conditioner to the window.
"Alright, now it's time to talk to the Green Ivy NPC... I think I saw a Doraemon mask when the camera panned... Are you two playing the mask temptation game? But Doraemon's face is too... too big." "
...Okay, you guys come over at ten to make dumplings, goodbye."
Mu Yiran hung up the phone, looking at the "Doraemon Mu" mask that Ke Xun had specially bought to educate him on on the windowsill. It was a blue-skinned, round-faced cat that was said to be able to pull out endless treasures from its pocket.
Mask temptation? What are you thinking?
#Second sketch Drawn
on the back of a postcard with a marker, the style is rough coconut trees, and a thick line of a bay separates the beach from the sea. Some black dots are probably meant to represent people, some playing in the sea, and some sunbathing on the beach.
Soon, some light watercolors were added. The coconut trees are a somewhat tragic green, the seawater is a semi-transparent gradient from baby blue to sapphire blue, and the beach is an uneven shade of camel white and ochre. The people are still cute black dots.
*——*——*——*——*
"Just staying here like this is really nice," Luo Yu said.
"Not thinking about anything, not doing anything, just staying here and enjoying the sunshine of this low-dimensional world," Wei Dong said.
The two lay lazily on the beach. Luo Jin closed his eyes, feeling the warm sun basking in his eyelids: "My current visual color is a full coat of Givenchy 304."
"I might have more energy than you," Wei Dong rolled over, letting the sun shine on his sand-covered left side, "What I see is definitely Lancôme Ultra Matte 196."
"Brother Dong, I strongly suspect you secretly gave Sister Fa a pair of 196."
"I wouldn't dare give it to her..."
"Brother Dong, we're people who've taken life and death lightly..."
"Don't count me in, I'd rather live a life of quiet desperation in a lower-dimensional world."
Luo Jin: ...
Wei Dong, with his eyes closed, reached for his sunglasses, intending to put them on and look for the girls endlessly taking pictures on the beach, but when he opened his eyes, he found four more legs next to his and Luo Jin's four legs.
Wei Dong didn't even look up. Judging from the distribution of leg hair and the development of muscles, these were two men, probably two energetic young men.
On a public beach, there weren't designated areas like parking spaces; whoever lay down there got to do it.
Wei Dong picked up his half-finished coconut juice and clinked glasses with Luo Jin's half-eaten coconut: "Those guys have so much energy. Right now, I just want to lie down, drink cold drinks; lie down, sunbathe; lie down, eat seafood."
"I saw them when we were eating seafood," said the young man sitting next to him, let's call him Young Man H.
Young Man R over there: "It's no use just because you like them; they're not on the same wavelength at all."
"Look at that guy's energy, I think so," Young Man H said confidently.
"That guy's such a hypocrite, I thought you were talking about another repressed pervert."
Luo Jin squinted, looking in the direction the young men were pointing. He saw Boss Shao posing seductively on the beach, and Zhu Haowen sitting cross-legged on an inflatable mat, engrossed in a game.
Luo Jin was about to whisper something to Wei Dong when he noticed Wei Dong's head was already following the swimsuit-clad beauties on the beach.
"Look at those beauties, they just happened to walk past them." Young man H thought this was the best way to tell if someone was gay or not.
"And a few handsome guys, they also just happened to walk past them." Young man R thought this was the best way to tell if someone was gay or not.
After observing from multiple angles, the two young men came to their final conclusion: one was the legendary insulator, and the other was the legendary mixed-gender.
The two left somewhat disappointed.
Wearing sunglasses, Wei Dong shrugged. "I thought gay people were all very observant, but it seems I was wrong."
"Because you've witnessed my brother and brother-in-law, the two strongest gay couples in history."
"Yeah, yeah, the two Rakshasa heroes walking on the edge of dimensions." Wei Dong sipped his coconut juice when he saw four people in wetsuits and flippers walking towards him.
"No way, Fa Fa, you actually convinced Sister Cen to go diving with you?" Wei Dong sat up, looking at one of the people who was doing warm-up exercises.
Fang Fei gave Wei Dong a cold look: "Bia, that's called 'wa'."
Yue Cen smiled at Wei Dong through her diving mask: "My leg has fully healed. I used to be a diving enthusiast too."
Wu You said mysteriously: "I just saw some strange, shadowy things on the seabed. We're planning to go down and take a look."
Wei Dong and Luo Tan both looked serious upon hearing this, and said in unison: "Don't go."
Wei Dong added: "We're not suited for adventures for the rest of our lives."
Luo Tan: "What if there's an art museum on the seabed?! Bia, let's go!!"
Fang Fei, Wu You, Yue Cen, Gu Qingqing: ...
#Third sketch
This is a page from a sketchbook, filled with drawings of tombstones near and far. The unique shadows of pencil drawings make these tombstones appear exceptionally realistic, cold, and solemn. Qin Ci placed a bouquet of white roses before the tombstone. The tombstone adjacent to this one was also adorned with white roses. Li Yaqing had written on Weibo
that her favorite flower was the white rose, and that her ideal wedding would feature white roses as the main floral element. Qin Ci's gaze lingered on the tombstone before him: Luo Wei's Grave. Ke Xun stood beside Qin Ci, poured a glass of wine, and placed it in front of the tombstone: "Buddy, it's all over. You said last time that we'd get drunk together after it's all over." Qin Ci sighed softly, and slowly squatted down like Ke Xun, his tone gentle, as if catching up with an old friend: "Mother Luo is doing well, she lives in the sanatorium next to our hospital. Recently, she's become obsessed with playing mahjong, and she's good at it, always winning. Sometimes she thinks I'm Luo Wei, saying that being a doctor is good, you can treat family members; sometimes she thinks Ke Xun is Luo Wei, thinking he shouldn't be getting too close to men behind Ya Qing's back; and sometimes she thinks Hao Wen is Luo Wei, always complaining that he plays on his phone too much, it's bad for his eyes... Anyway, we're all Luo Wei, living in this world for you, while you live in the painting for us..." Zhu Haowen came over and patted Qin Ci's back: "Luo Wei, I'm sorry to have made you laugh, Dr. Qin rarely drinks, he gets drunk easily." Zhu Haowen didn't say the rest aloud, but thought to himself: Buddy, do you remember that night we talked about Yohji Yamamoto? Whether he referred to 'himself' or 'self,' I think we all understand and have found it. Mu Yiran walked last, placing the white rose in her hand before the grave. Looking at the photo on the tombstone, it was a picture of Luo Wei from his student days, with a buzz cut and a look of intelligence and clarity in his eyes. Wei Dong softly asked Ke Xun, "We've already seen Grandpa Li Taiyong, Luo Wei, and Ya Qing. Where to next?" Ke Xun replied, "Let's go see Zhao Yanbao and Chi Lei first. Yiran has already found out the graves of Mai Peng, Du Lingyu, and Lu Heng. Fang Fei and the others went to that city today; we'll go tomorrow." It was already noo
n, but the sky was overcast, thick with leaden clouds, as if a heavy rain was imminent.