Chapter Eight: The Silver Guest
After the Bright Line Electroplating Workshop hung up the sign "South Port Old Industrial Craft Demonstration Site," business didn't take off like A-Jie said it would. Plenty of people came to watch the excitement, but few placed orders. Andy wasn't anxious either; he still opened the tanks at six every morning and at night wrote the day's process records into the notebook his father had left behind.
Lily's changes were more obvious than the business's. She learned to cook porridge, though the first three times it was either as thin as water or so thick you could stand a chopstick up in it; she learned to scan a QR code with her phone to buy groceries, and would haggle with a vendor at the market for ages over two yuan; she also learned to stand at the workshop door and call Andy home for dinner when he worked late.
That afternoon, an old man in a gray Zhongshan suit came in, carrying an old jewelry box in his arms. The box was silver, its corners worn shiny, but right in the middle was a round dent, as if something had burned it.
"Master, could you re-plate this box for me?" The old man set the box on the table. "I picked it up at the old No. 2 Factory site. They're demolishing it next month."
Before Andy could speak, Lily came out from the back room, and her footsteps suddenly stopped.
She stared at the box, her face going paler bit by bit.
"What's wrong?" Andy asked.
Lily didn't answer. She reached out, and the moment her fingertip touched the lid, she jerked back as if shocked by electricity. The box fell to the floor, the lid sprang open—empty inside, with only a layer of darkened silver.
"She's calling me." Lily's voice was very soft, as if coming from far away.
Andy caught hold of her at once. Her hand was frighteningly cold.
The old man was stunned too: "Miss, are you all right? This box... is something wrong with it?"
Lily looked up, and in her eyes was a light Andy had never seen before. It wasn't the silver-white of Tank No. 3, but a colder, harder brightness, like chrome.
"No. 2 Factory," she said. "Is there another tank there?"