The community security guard had disrupted his plan to bury the time capsule. Bai Yang spent a sleepless night tossing and turning, secretly worried. He’d left the time capsule at the scene of the incident, and it had undoubtedly been discovered—he just didn’t know how the security guard would handle it.
The next morning, when Bai Yang went downstairs to take out the trash, he deliberately took a detour around the plaza lawn and noticed the grass had been severely trampled, with yellow caution tape scattered along the surrounding paths.
What happened here?
Back home, Bai Yang asked his dad.
Dad was focused on drinking his soy milk when he looked up and said, “Let me tell you something crazy—the residents’ WeChat group exploded this morning, saying they found a suspected explosive device downstairs last night.”
Bai Yang was drinking congee and choked on it.
“Cough cough cough… What? Explosive device?”
Dad nodded.
“They say security found it and called the police. The police came and everything.”
“This morning?” Bai Yang stared in disbelief.
“This morning.”
“Then… then what happened?” Bai Yang asked.
“Nothing serious. The police came and said it wasn’t a bomb,” Dad said. “Probably just a prank. Someone buried some metal thing in the lawn—scared the property management half to death.”
Bai Yang silently ate his meal without a word.
If he dared admit he was responsible for this mess, his mom would sentence him to life imprisonment without parole, confined to his room forever.
On one hand, he was grateful he’d been careful enough to avoid being caught on surveillance cameras, or he really would have died of shame.
Bai Yang could imagine the police officers and property management staff sitting in front of the security footage early this morning, wondering about the identity of that kid who had flashed briefly through the camera’s view.
On the other hand, the time capsule he’d prepared to send had been confiscated, and now he didn’t know where it was. The plan had naturally failed—the time delivery couldn’t be sent. Truly, the ways of heaven are beyond prediction.
Ah, eight or nine times out of ten things don’t go as wished, and of those troubles, only two or three can be shared with others.
What should he do next?
Prepare another time capsule to send to her.
That seemed to be the only option.
Bai Yang finished his meal with a heavy heart, returned to his room, took out his phone, and placed another order—from the time capsule to the tritium tubes to the photo frame, buying everything again that he’d bought before.
Spending the money wasn’t a big deal, but the action plan would inevitably be delayed, and in two more days the National Day holiday would be over.
Once back at school, the upcoming heavy coursework would undoubtedly occupy most of his time and energy. Bai Yang estimated in his mind that returning to school meant monthly exams, and several days of testing in a row—just thinking about it gave him a headache.
The time delivery would have to wait until next weekend at the earliest.
This delay meant a whole week.
Just when Bai Yang thought the delay was inevitable, a turning point occurred.
That afternoon, Bai Yang’s mom sent him to find a hardware store to buy two fixed power outlets—the power strip in the kitchen had poor contact and needed replacing. As he was riding his bicycle back, passing the security booth at the community entrance, he caught a fleeting glimpse of a familiar stainless steel cylinder lying on the table inside the booth.
Holy crap!
He immediately hit the brakes, feet on the ground, instinctively stopping his bike.
“Little Yang?”
Sitting inside was Cai Dong, a long-time security guard who had watched Bai Yang grow up—an old acquaintance.
“Uncle Cai!”
“Where are you coming from?” Uncle Cai stuck his head out to ask.
“Buying power outlets for my mom, the kitchen outlet broke.” Bai Yang waved the bag in his hand, answering Uncle Cai’s question while secretly eyeing the time capsule in the guard booth.
Heaven was truly helping him!
If the police had taken the time capsule, Bai Yang would never have found it and would have had to spend time preparing a new one.
But it hadn’t been taken away.
If any other security guard had been on duty, it would have been very difficult for Bai Yang to get it back, but as luck would have it, Uncle Cai was the one in the booth.
“Uncle Cai, what’s that?”
Bai Yang nodded toward the time capsule.
“This? You mean this?” Uncle Cai picked up the time capsule and shook it. “I don’t know what it is either. Old Liu found it last night and thought it was a bomb. Scared him half to death—he even called the police… Old Liu’s always confused, he’ll get dementia sooner or later. Anyway, the police came and looked at it—wasn’t a bomb at all. Police said it was just a container with cold medicine and stuff inside. Nothing serious. It’s just here waiting for the owner to claim it.”
“I know what that is,” Bai Yang said.
“You know, Little Yang?” Uncle Cai was startled. “Then tell me what this thing is?”
“It’s a time capsule.”
“A time capsule?”
“A time capsule—you put things inside, bury it in the ground for many years, then dig it up,” Bai Yang answered. “Finally, you open it and take out what’s inside.”
“Why bury things in the ground? Will it reproduce?”
Uncle Cai clearly couldn’t understand the purpose.
“Oh, it’s for mementos, you know what mementos are, right?” Bai Yang explained. “Like if you, Uncle Cai, took love letters you wrote when you were young and hid them away, then dug them up many years later—wouldn’t that be interesting? You could reminisce about your lost youth.”
“My wife would fight with me if I did that—causing trouble at my age.”
“Uncle Cai, let me return it to the owner,” Bai Yang said. “I know who lost it.”
“You know whose it is?”
“There’s this guy in Building 10 who likes doing weird stuff like this, I know him,” Bai Yang pointed casually. “Give it to me, I’ll help return it to the owner.”
“Oh oh oh, that’s perfect, that’s perfect!” Uncle Cai was delighted to hear this. “The property manager posted so many notices in the residents’ group, but no one came to claim it. I was worried about how to handle this thing—can’t just keep it here forever.”
The security guard handed the time capsule to Bai Yang.
“Make sure it gets to the owner, okay?” Uncle Cai reminded him.
“Leave it to me,” Bai Yang patted his chest. “Don’t you trust me to handle it?”
“Of course! Of course!” Uncle Cai laughed heartily, patting Bai Yang’s shoulder with his rough hand. “This little rascal.”
And so, Bai Yang retrieved the time capsule. He called this successful operation: “Employing Clever Words and Careful Planning to Outsmart the Old Comrade; Fighting Without Honor, Little Bai Yang Deceives Uncle Cai Dong.”
That night, Bai Yang, undaunted and resolute, committed the crime again.
He learned from his mistakes once more.
The pitfalls he’d stepped into during the first two-time capsule burials—this time he wouldn’t repeat them. He opened the time capsule, confirming that the medicine, letter, and time markers inside were all still intact, then sealed it again, ready for action! Before going downstairs, Bai Yang first walked seven steps forward, backward, left, and right, one hand pointing to heaven, one hand pointing to earth, silently chanting: “Heaven above and earth below, I will not dig up the hole!”
Like Buddha in his ascetic practice, he was determined to resist the urge to dig up the capsule again. At this moment, he was Adam, and anyone tempting him to dig up the capsule again was the devil. If he dug up the capsule, he would be expelled from Eden! Losing the chance to run naked happily with Eve!
Bai Yang felt his psychological fortification was as tall as the Burj Khalifa now, and he quietly went downstairs with his equipment.
He avoided cameras all the way, while observing his surroundings, dodging the night patrol security guards, and selecting the predetermined location.
After all this trouble, sweating profusely, Bai Yang finally managed to bury the capsule.
Then he excitedly returned to notify BG4MSR that she could go dig up the capsule.
And the final result of this attempt—
As expected, it failed.