Old Domain Bizarre

Chapter 2 Steamed Buns
When the static and noise from the black-and-white television screen clung to his arm like liquid, and he felt a sudden numbness in his elbow, Zhang Wenda's mind went blank.

Almost instinctively, he swung his arm violently, frantically flinging those things away.

As the black and white specks disappeared into the air like starlight, Zhang Wenda had already taken several steps back and reached the doorway of the room, ready to escape at any moment.

When he saw that there was nothing unusual on the back of his hand, his heart, which had been in his throat, finally calmed down a little.

He pressed his back against the wall, quickly walked to his bedside, and skillfully pulled out an aluminum flashlight from under the bed. It was used to walk through the night to the public toilet when there were frequent power outages.

This is an old item, passed down from my grandfather. Back then, my grandfather used this only household appliance as a dowry to marry my grandmother.

The aluminum flashlight felt heavy in his hand, as if he were holding his grandfather's hand, bringing a little peace to his anxious heart.

With the weapon, he felt a little more at ease. He continued to look warily at the familiar yet eerie television. Standing in his old home where he had lived for ten years, the initial sense of relaxation vanished, replaced by a chilling feeling that made his scalp tingle and his hair stand on end.

The television in the distance was still making a constant rattling noise, continuously playing rapidly jumping static, as if everything that had just happened was an illusion.

"Is it fake? Did I really see it wrong?"

"What's going on? Is this still my childhood? Where am I?" Zhang Wenda's mind was in complete turmoil. He couldn't tell if the problem was with the environment or with his own mind.

He had seen similar news before, about a mentally ill person going crazy all over the streets, thinking that someone else was having problems, but actually it was his own brain that was having problems.

Just as he was anxiously trying to outwit the air with his flashlight, a familiar voice came from outside the window. "Mouse! Mouse! We're going to be late!"

"Fatty?!" Hearing that familiar voice, a round, chubby figure appeared in his mind—his childhood friend!

He grabbed a flashlight and rushed out the door. Standing in the passageway, he peered through the concrete fence at the familiar face and the small, round glasses sign below the red-brick tenement building.

"Mouse, what are you standing there for? Hurry up and put on your school uniform and go to school!" Pan Dongzi took a bite of his meat bun and shouted to Zhang Wenda on the third floor.

"Don't move! Stay there and don't move!!" Zhang Wenda stomped down the stairs and came to the chubby boy, scrutinizing him carefully.

It really is him! Even the mole on the corner of his mouth looks so familiar. It's been such a long time since I've seen him.

They used to be very good friends, playing together every day when they were kids. But later, his father got rich and sent him to a big city, and their relationship ended.

The familiar faces at that moment eased his mind a little.

"What are you doing? Changing your school uniform?! Look at the time!" The chubby boy raised his right hand, showing Zhang Wenda the plastic digital watch that was digging into his fat. "How about it? Isn't it nice? My dad bought it for me."

"He looks exactly the same, and his personality doesn't seem to have changed much either. He still has that same smug look. It really must be him," Zhang Wenda thought to himself.

"Fatty," he said, staring at the other person, "Fatty, my TV is broken, but I'm not sure if it's the TV or me. I need you to take a look."

"Time, time!" He shoved the digital watch almost into Zhang Wenda's face.

"Stop showing off your crappy watch, hurry up and take a look at it for me!" After saying that, he grabbed the guy and rushed home.

As soon as he pushed open the door with a creak, he rushed to the TV and grabbed the chubby boy, giving him another hard pat.

As he increased the force, some of the black and white noise on the television screen seemed to slosh out again, like water in a jar.

"Look!" Zhang Wenda excitedly pointed to the black and white noise on the ground that was disappearing rapidly and said to the little fat boy.

"What are you looking at? Isn't this just your TV? What's so great about a black and white TV? Mine has a color TV. Look at my watch, no, look at the time on my watch!" Pan Dongzi didn't seem surprised at all.
“Those black and white dots! Don’t you notice anything wrong?” As he spoke, Zhang Wenda patted it again, and some of the black and white noise inside shook out again.

Immediately afterwards, Zhang Wenda saw the other party very casually adjust the two telescopic antennas on the top of the TV. "Hey, you can't film like that. Today is the 6th. On the 6th, you have to hang a piece of meat on the TV."

As he spoke, he took a meat bun out of the plastic bag, pulled out a thread from the bag, and hung it directly on the retractable antenna on the left side. Then he looked up at the time and realized it was almost eight o'clock, so he immediately reached out and gently tapped the left side of the TV four times.

With a sizzling sound, the flickering black and white noise vanished in an instant, and the next second, two elderly men in long robes were performing a crosstalk routine.

"Hey~ Have you eaten yet?"

Zhang Wenda stared in disbelief at the other person's incredible move, his mouth agape. "Holy crap?!"

"Wait, 8 o'clock?!" Pan Dongzi glanced at his watch, hurriedly stuffed the remaining buns into his mouth, and ran out, mumbling incoherently. "You want to be late, but I don't. It'll be terrible if you're late."

"Hey! Hey hey hey! I haven't finished asking yet!" Zhang Wenda chased after him and saw the other person run away in a flash, carrying the green Ultraman backpack and rushing towards the fork in the road ahead.

"How...how did he do that? Why would he do that?" Completely bewildered, Zhang Wenda went to the television and turned it on and off.

With a steamed bun hanging on the antenna, the TV is now back to normal, and all four channels are now available and the picture is very clear.

Although the television was working properly, Zhang Wenda's mind was even more confused at this moment, as there were simply too many things he couldn't understand.

However, through the fat man, he has now figured out one thing. First, he is not mentally ill, and this situation is not something only he can see; it is all true.

Secondly, the fat guy wasn't surprised by this situation, and he even knew how to adjust the TV! This means that this kind of situation also exists in his family, and it's a very common thing in this world.

Otherwise, given his personality, if he encountered something so bizarre, he would have already run up to me and shown it off countless times.

"Is this common? Is this really common? Is there something wrong with me? Or is there something wrong with the world?" Zhang Wenda turned the television on and off repeatedly.

At first glance, this place looks exactly the same as when I was a child, but there is clearly something wrong with it. However, it wouldn't be quite right to say that it's completely different, since the people here haven't changed at all.

"A parallel world? Another Earth? Did I get separated into different worlds when I traveled back?" Zhang Wenda continued to speculate wildly.

After sitting on the sofa for a while, he finally calmed down a bit. Although what had happened was very strange, thankfully, nothing was abnormal except for the television.

No monster suddenly appeared and devoured him; this world, though strange, was not dangerous.

Perhaps there is another set of rules in this world, but as long as you follow these rules, life is no different.

After all, whether or not a steamed bun is hung on the TV, as long as we can still watch TV, that's fine.

Staring intently at the steamed buns on the TV screen, Zhang Wenda found himself getting hungry.

"Damn it, you fatso, you didn't even leave me any more buns. You're so unfilial."

Zhang Wenda took the slightly cooled bun from the antenna, put it in his mouth, and the rich meat juice instantly gushed out, filling his mouth. The delicious soup, with the mellow aroma of pork and the spiciness of scallions and ginger, was incredibly fragrant with every bite.

"That fatso still eats like that." He wasn't in a hurry anymore; things had already come to this point, and there was no use in rushing.

While eating his steamed bun, he pondered the matter, "When that guy gets out of school, I'm going to corner him and ask him what exactly happened."

The steamed bun was delicious, but unfortunately there was only one. Eating it made me even hungrier.

A half-grown boy can eat his father alive; this age is exactly when he's growing, so this little bit of food is even less than enough.

He started rummaging through drawers and cabinets, looking for money or snacks. "Strange, I remember hiding some cookies here..."

Just as he was almost halfway buried in the wardrobe, he heard a clatter behind him. When he turned around, he saw the pencil case with the multiplication tables engraved on it had fallen to the ground, and mechanical pencils and pencils rolled out and scattered all over the floor.

(End of this chapter)