Mist

Chapter 69: Rubik's Cube

Everyone was tired. Although they said that they were going to take a twenty-minute break, the break ended up lasting for almost two hours.
Even Song Qinglan sat on the floor leaning against the wall with his eyes closed.

They couldn’t say that they weren’t tired. Song Qinglan’s mental state had been tense for a long time and, now that he had the chance to relax, he casually rested an arm on his knee and rested like a big cat entering a pseudo-asleep state.

Duan Wen simply laid down and fell asleep. He even started to snore slightly.
Lin Xinlan on the side fiddling with his dice. He similarly had his eyes closed.

The room became quiet.
Ji Yushi played his game console for a while. He seemed to be infected by this relaxed and seemingly hypnotic atmosphere and started to feel a little sleepy. He put away his black and white game console and his eyelids began to feel heavy. It wasn’t long before he fell into a dark and sweet dream.

It had been a long time since Ji Yushi had such a dream.
He returned to his younger years; it was when he hadn’t yet entered elementary school.

It was still raining outside. He moved a stool and stood on it to look for books to read from his father’s bookshelf. There was a book just out of reach from his small body. It was a book titled “Time Traveller”, a science fiction novel that stood out from the rest of his father’s academic books.
He had read this book many times. Although there were a lot of words in it that he didn’t recognise, the pictures were very attractive: It was a picture of a traverser passing through a wormhole and subsequently seeing numerous different worlds.
Just as his hand was about to reach the book, his body suddenly felt lighter and he found himself carried over to the sofa.

His father bent down in front of him and took out a box with a bow on top. He asked gently, “Jian Jian, guess what this is?”
He asked, “What is it?”

Every time his father went on a business trip, he would return with an antique he had never seen before. At times it was a tin frog that jumped with a press of a button and other times it was a small train that ran on batteries. There was also once where he brought back a wind-up music box.
What could it be this time?

He opened the gift expectantly and found a colourful cube inside.
His father told him, “This is a 3x3x3 Rubik’s Cube. A commemorative souvenir from my research.”

He took it out curiously and saw that it was bigger than his small hand, “Commemorative? Commemorate what?”
His father said, “To commemorate….something meaningful.”

His father randomly messed up the Rubik’s Cube and then quickly restored it back to its original appearance in less than ten seconds in front of him. He exclaimed in surprise.
His father rubbed his head, “Give it a try.”

He took the Rubik’s Cube and tried messing it up and then restoring it like his father did.
It was however much more difficult than he had imagined.
He played with it for a long time but was unable to return it back to its original appearance, let alone solve it in less than ten seconds. It was unknown how long he had played with it for but when his father returned to check on him again, his tone was a little helpless, “Sheng Han.”

On the sofa, the Rubik’s Cube had been completely disassembled.
He was starting from the centre block, piecing it together block by block.

“Look, you can put it back together like this too.” He held up the half complete cube and appeared to be a little pleased.
“Take it apart if you can’t restore it?” His father couldn’t help but laugh, “Why are you just like me when I was young?”
“Daddy was also a fool when you were young?” He asked.
“No.” His father said, “When I was young, I was very smart, just like Jian Jian.”