July 10, 2023. Summer. Shuangqing City.
The heat was intense, with the outdoor temperature soaring above 40 degrees.
Li Daoxuan shut down his computer, shook his head, rubbed his temples hard, then slumped back in his chair, collapsing into a boneless heap.
The work was finally done! It was already completely dark outside, too.
Today was his birthday. He had wanted to take the day off to celebrate, but the client had mercilessly shattered that plan with a single sentence-"It must be finished today"-and he had spent it working overtime like mad.
Was a life like this really happy?
Only after slumping there for quite a while did he drag himself out of the chair and walk to the door.
A huge cardboard delivery box sat there. A courier had delivered it that afternoon, and the only thing written on the packaging was "Happy birthday." Nothing else.
He had no idea which friend had sent it. Thinking it over, he did not have many friends. Apart from his best friend Cai Xinzi, who else would send him a birthday present?
He had been too busy working during the day to open the package. Only now could he finally see what on earth his one and only birthday present was.
The delivery box was as big as a refrigerator. After laboriously removing the packaging, he found a huge Scenery Box inside, over three meters long and over a meter high and wide. Once he laid it flat on the floor, he could see a diorama of an "ancient village" through its glass.
The village looked dilapidated, with ramshackle houses and tattered thatched roofs. The land around it was barren, with yellow sand filling the air...
Li Daoxuan could not help complaining, "Most diorama boxes have pavilions, towers, waterfalls, and rock gardens-all sorts of pretty things. Why does this Scenery Box have a rundown village surrounded by blowing sand? Is it saying my taste only deserves this?"
Just then, the wooden plank door of one of the village's shabby houses suddenly creaked open.
A tiny plastic figure walked out of the house, standing less than a centimeter tall. The little figure even had long, flowing hair. It was a young girl.
Li Daoxuan jumped. A moving plastic figure? An electric toy? So lifelike? This Scenery Box is pretty interesting. Cai Xinzi really is a good friend. This thing must have cost a lot.
Looking more closely, he saw that the little plastic girl had delicate features and was quite pretty. The only pity was that she was extremely thin and looked somewhat malnourished.
She did not notice the "giant" watching her from outside the Scenery Box. Carrying a bamboo basket, she walked out of the village onto the sandy ground covered in yellow dust and began digging and scraping. Before long, she dug something up and carefully placed it in her basket.
She was so tiny, less than a centimeter tall from head to toe. The bamboo basket in her hand was even smaller, and whatever she had dug out of the ground was too small for Li Daoxuan to make out.
Li Daoxuan hurriedly rummaged through his drawers and cupboards and found a magnifying glass. Only after aiming it at the girl could he see that what she had dug up was a piece of grass root.
The girl searched desperately across the sandy ground, digging up a piece of grass root here, finding a dead tree there and stripping off a piece of bark. When she was lucky enough to find a few green leaves of wild vegetables, she put them happily into her basket as though she had found treasure.
The girl ran back into the village and carried her basket of bark and grass roots into the little house. Then cooking smoke rose from it.
Li Daoxuan aimed his magnifying glass at the window. Through it, he could actually see the girl and a middle-aged woman holding chipped bowls and making eating motions.
"Digging up bark, grass roots, and wild vegetables to eat?" Li Daoxuan understood at once. "This Scenery Box must depict a famine year during some historical dynasty, when poor commoners lived in hardship, to remind me that today's happy life didn't come easily."
Li Daoxuan could not resist taking out his phone and calling Cai Xinzi. "Cai, this birthday present of yours really is unusual. You even slipped in a little reminder to stay positive. Your buddy loves it. Thanks a lot."
Cai Xinzi's bewildered voice came from the other end. "What birthday present? Is today your birthday?"
Li Daoxuan: "!"
Just then, strange sounds suddenly came from the Scenery Box. Startled, Li Daoxuan lowered his phone and turned to look. A large crowd of little plastic figures suddenly charged toward the village from outside. They wore ragged cloth clothing and carried rusty swords, sabers, and spears. Some held pot lids as shields, while others wore battered wooden armor...
Clearly, these people were bandits!
They rushed into the village, shouting something.
But their voices were very quiet and mingled together. To Li Daoxuan, they sounded like the faint rustling of insects.
He hurriedly shut the doors and windows tight, blocking out all modern noise. Only then could he vaguely make out what the little bandits were shouting. "Listen up, everyone in the village! Bring me every bit of grain in your homes, or I'll cut you down one by one and slaughter the lot of you!"
Every door in the village remained tightly shut. Nobody came out.
Through the window, Li Daoxuan saw the girl who had been digging up bark and grass roots huddled together with the middle-aged woman inside their house, trembling.
"This Scenery Box is way too realistic," Li Daoxuan could not help marveling. "Even the details are incredible. Who on earth gave me such an amazing toy?"
At that moment, the little bandits began to act. They kicked open doors and dragged out the little villagers hiding inside. The villagers began to wail, and someone cried, "We don't have anything to eat either! Even if you kill me, I can't conjure up grain!"
"Squelch!" A little bandit raised his blade and chopped into that villager's neck. The little villager immediately fell flat and lay still. A spray of red medicinal liquid actually flowed from his neck.
Li Daoxuan shook his head, finding it rather hard to bear. Fortunately, these were plastic figures. If a scene like this had really happened in history, how tragic it would have been.
A little bandit walked up to the door of the mother and daughter who had been eating grass roots and kicked it open.
The mother and daughter began to cry out. For the first time, Li Daoxuan heard the girl's voice. "My lord, please spare us, my lord! We really don't have anything to eat. Look... we're eating grass roots. In this bowl... it's all grass roots..."
The girl's voice was thin and pleasant, but a little feeble. Perhaps because she had gone hungry for so long, her voice severely lacked strength.
The little bandit cursed, "Shit, a bunch of penniless wretches! I don't care whether you eat grass roots or tree bark. If you can't hand over grain, I'll chop you down and eat your flesh."
The girl burst into terrified sobs. The middle-aged woman rushed over, wrapped her arms around her, and cried, "Spare us, my lord!"
The little bandit chopped into the middle-aged woman's neck. Red medicinal liquid sprayed far out, and the woman fell to the ground and lay still.
The girl threw herself onto the middle-aged woman's body and wept aloud.
Unmoved, the little bandit coldly raised his blade again and swung it at the girl's neck...
At this, Li Daoxuan could stand it no longer. He lifted the lid of the Scenery Box, reached inside, curled his index finger, and flicked...
"Bang!"
His flick sent the little bandit flying a meter away, from the middle of the village onto the yellow sand outside. The figure hit the ground hard, his neck crooked, and lay motionless.
Li Daoxuan said, "Oops, I think I broke its electric mechanism."
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