"Slow down, there's a threshold here." Li Juxiang's voice came from outside; she had gone out to greet them upon hearing the calling.
"Okay, no problem, no problem."
Li Zhiyuan looked towards the main entrance of the hall and saw Li Juxiang helping an old man step over the threshold and enter.
The old man leaned forward, hunched over, his hands clasped behind his lower back; he was a hunchback.
It also seemed like... he was carrying an invisible person.
"Is this your child?" the old man asked with a smile, looking at the two children.
"The girl is mine, the boy is my sister's. My mother is waiting for you, just go through the front door and turn right until the end."
"Good, good, I'm going right now, can't keep Nanny Liu waiting." The old man continued walking inside.
Standing behind, Li Zhiyuan's gaze remained fixed on the man's hunchback.
As the old man entered the inner door of the hall and turned right, he should have continued walking inward, but suddenly his figure halted.
Since he was hunching forward, his shoulders and above were now obscured by the wall, leaving only the hunchback visible.
his hands, clasped behind his waist, unconsciously lifted slightly; his left arm pressed down, his right arm swung up, his buttocks shifted inward, and his shoulders turned outward, his face now against the wall.
Li Zhiyuan watched his empty back and at this moment, he felt as though there was someone there, pushing their body up against the back, "looking" toward him.
Li Juxiang asked, "What's wrong?"
The old man's originally robust voice suddenly mixed with a bit of a shrill raspiness, saying:
"This little child..."
Li Zhiyuan felt a touch of nervousness as he clasped his hands tightly. He suddenly recalled a time when his mother had led him to view a mural, asking why there was a large empty space not painted on, and his mother answered:
Xiao Yuan, that is a blank space left for you to use your imagination, which actually produces a better effect.
He was somewhat puzzled back then, but now, it seemed he understood a little.
"Hurry up, my mom is waiting for you inside."
Li Juxiang urged again, truly unaware of why this man had stopped; however, she didn't find his posture odd, after all, he was a hunchback, and even standing still would look peculiar.
"Yeah." The old man replied, but suddenly squatted down, his body leaning slightly backward, his hands bracing against the ground.
Li Juxiang reached out to help, but although frail, the downward force from the old man was too heavy for her to lift. Fortunately, he maintained balance by bracing his hands, merely leaning back as he squatted, and did not fall.
Seeing this, Li Zhiyuan staggered back two steps.
This posture, it greatly resembled the action of setting down someone from the back.
Outside, sunlight shone into the hall; the old patterned porcelain tiles on the ground didn't reflect much luster, only showing slight variations in light and dark.
Li Zhiyuan's gaze shifted downward; near the inner door, there seemed to be an area about the size of two footprints that got slightly darker.
Very slight, so insubstantial that Li Zhiyuan thought it was just his eyes playing tricks, that he was overthinking.
But then, another new area briefly darkened and then restored its color, but its distance from him was getting closer.
Finally, the areas that had darkened appeared directly before him on the porcelain tiles and didn't vanish.
A cold breeze blew through, and Li Zhiyuan felt his face, chest, and limbs start to chill, yet he was facing inside the building—where could such a breeze be coming from in here?
The darkened areas behind faded, while those in the front intensified; the chill in front of him grew stronger.
Li Zhiyuan swallowed, his gaze flickering and shifting; an instinct made him reluctant to look straight ahead, as if in the unseen space before him stood a gaunt old woman, leaning forward with her face coming ever closer.
Li Zhiyuan bit his lip hard.
Suddenly, the chill on his left cheek deepened as if a piece of ice had affixed itself there, and his scalp also began to tingle, that kind of stroking sensation.
The old man squatting on the ground turned his head toward him, continuing the sentence he hadn't finished before:
"This little child is really cute."