"I want to be able to go back to the previous place anytime I want," Huang Xuan said, drooling at the thought of his future.
Lorin quickly interrupted his fantasy, saying, "I can currently only teleport targets to random locations."
"Currently? So when will it be possible?" Huang Xuan's drool continued to flow as he responded eagerly.
About half a minute later, Lorin replied, "In theory, it would require an enormous amount of energy."
"That's easy to solve, that's easy to solve," Huang Xuan, not understanding the true magnitude of Lorin's "enormous," responded quickly, his excitement making his smile grow wider.
As they spoke, the white circle expanded again, and in a flash, Huang Xuan's feet touched solid ground.
It was midday, and the sunlight was slightly dazzling. The shadows of the surrounding buildings were short. Huang Xuan stomped his feet, feeling the firm ground beneath him, and felt a sense of security return to his heart.
He was standing at the end of an alleyway. Although there were no tall buildings nearby, the appearance alone was vastly different from the 1970s. Recalling the incredible experiences of the past two days, Huang Xuan felt an inexplicable excitement.
As he walked, he muttered, "Lorin, does filling up the swimming pool count as keeping your secret?"
"It does." This time, Lorin responded quickly.
After that, no matter what Huang Xuan asked, Lorin remained silent. Feeling bored, Huang Xuan eventually flagged down a taxi and headed home.
The Huang residence was in chaos. Huang's mother, needless to say, had not only put her company affairs aside but had also brought in Huang Xuan's uncle and a group of police officers to turn the house and its surroundings upside down. They had even set up roadblocks on nearby highways. If their goal hadn't been to find someone, the swimming pool might have been dug through by now.
Huang's father, who usually didn't concern himself much with Huang Xuan, was the head of a laboratory at Nanjing University and was generally very busy. Huang Xuan's rebellious nature meant that whenever he and his father talked, they often ended up arguing. But now that his son was missing, Huang's father had put his experimental work on hold and stayed home all day, waiting for news.
Huang Xuan had anticipated some level of chaos, but not this much. As soon as he left the city, he encountered a roadblock about 10 kilometers from home. This was the main road leading to the villa area, and although the traffic police were polite, the car's speed dropped immediately. The driver, a little annoyed, shifted gears and muttered, "These days, the police have nothing better to do. But when there's a car accident, they're nowhere to be seen."
Huang Xuan had no idea that the traffic police were looking for him. Holding the small box in his arms, he was in high spirits, occasionally opening the box to take a look, without engaging in the driver's complaints about the government, police, rising fuel prices, and more.
"Sir, please show your ID," the traffic officer said as they reached the roadblock, saluting smartly. This was, after all, a prestigious residential area, so formalities were important.
Huang Xuan was still lost in his fantasies when the traffic officer froze in place, suddenly yanked the car door open, and pointed at the driver, "You, get out."
The driver was frightened, thinking the officer had heard his complaints. He quickly got out of the car, explaining, "I was just chatting to pass the time."
But the officer ignored him, glancing at a photo and then at Huang Xuan, cautiously asking, "Are you Huang Xuan?"
"Huh? Oh, yes." Huang Xuan looked up in surprise. The officer glanced at the photo again and, seeing that the clothes matched the description, shouted excitedly, "We found him!"
Huang Residence.
Huang Qunsheng was sipping tea, slurping noisily, while Huang's mother glared at Huang Xuan. Only his uncle, Zhang Shuduan, smiled at him.
This kind of situation usually occurred after an exam or when he got into trouble. The battle-tested Huang Xuan quickly identified his temporary "ally" and gave his uncle a goofy grin.
"Where have you been these past two days?" His mother tapped the base of her teacup with her fingers.
"I went to the 20th century," Huang Xuan thought about telling the truth but was worried his mother wouldn't handle it well, so he scratched his head and said, "I stayed at a classmate's house for two days."
His mother's face remained stern. "I called all your classmates' homes. Whose house did you stay at?"
This was a tough question. Huang Xuan could only play dumb, smiling sheepishly.
Zhang Xinyi knew her son was mischievous and was going through a rebellious phase. Her work kept her busy, and although Huang's father came home every day, he didn't know how to discipline the boy. Seeing Huang Xuan lazing around all day and even "running away from home" today, she felt it was time to take it seriously. She said, "From now until school starts, you are not allowed to go out. Understood?"
Huang Xuan opened his mouth but had no choice but to agree.
Before the "interrogation" began, Huang Xuan had taken advantage of a bath to hide the stamps he had been carrying in his room. Although he was now grounded, he was too excited to care and dashed into his room.
Carefully, he used tweezers to extract the stamps from the box. Now, they didn't feel like stamps anymore—they were money. Huang Xuan began calculating how many years of pocket money it would take to equal this windfall.
After carefully placing the "golden goose" into his childhood stamp album, Huang Xuan began drooling at the thought of selling them. He wasn't a stamp collector—he'd rather have dozens of computers in his room or a few motorcycles to play with.
"If you're done, you should go fill in your swimming pool now," Lorin's voice interrupted Huang Xuan's daydream.
"I know." Remembering that Lorin could send him back to the '70s at any moment, Huang Xuan grumbled as he sat up straight.
Filling in the swimming pool was a simple task. The Huang residence already had an indoor pool, and the new one was just for sunbathing in the summer. Since Zhang Xinyi had already punished Huang Xuan, she felt relieved. So when Huang Xuan asked to fill in the pool because he disliked having it near the pavilion, she scolded him briefly but agreed, thinking to herself that he was just going through a rebellious phase.
The only ones who weren't happy were the construction crew. After two days of suspension, they now had to fill in the pool. But Huang Xuan didn't care. Wielding his newfound authority, he ordered them to fill it solidly and even had a landscaping company plant a row of small shrubs around it. The cost? That was his mother's problem.
Lorin was satisfied with this and pleased that Huang Xuan had fulfilled his promise so quickly. But that was all—Lorin wouldn't offer anything more. Huang Xuan didn't mind; his mind was entirely focused on those stamps.