C47 (1/2)
Nokia's recording system really isn't that great. Listening to my own voice, it sounds like the wailing of ghosts and the howling of wolves. Those who don't know me probably think I'm crying my heart out.
Shuyue looked at her watch. It was 3 in the morning.
”America happens to be in the afternoon. I have a junior who is studying linguistics in America. I'm sending it to him to hear what it is.”
Shuyue said as she turned on the computer. Then, she turned the recording into an MP3 on the computer and sent it over to the other party.
I couldn't sleep either, so I went to the fridge and got some leftovers to nibble on.
After a few minutes, Junior Brother Shuyue's MSN came online. In 2001, when MSN released its voice and video features, a deep and deep male voice was heard from the other side:
”You're finally willing to look for me?”
Shuyue rolled her eyes: ”Don't say that, have you heard the MP3 that I sent you?”
The other person did not reply, but instead asked, ”You returned to the United States?”
”Nope.” Shuyue lazily said: ”Where does this recording come from?”
”I'll tell you if you call me husband.” The other party's voice suddenly became very lecherous.
Puff. I couldn't help laughing.
Shuyue, this junior, should be over thirty years old. Such an old person can still brazenly pick on girls, he doesn't have a chance to seduce others anymore.
”Who are you with?” He didn't expect the other party to have such a strong counter detection ability.
”My husband!” Shuyue yelled out of boredom.
”I'm her niece!” I shouted into the microphone.
Shuyue fiercely kicked me.
”Can you do a video?” Since the other party was saying so, he paused for a moment. However, he was afraid that Shuyue would not agree to it, so he added, ”I have to see you first before I say it.”
Without waiting for Shuyue to reject, I grabbed the mouse and opened the video button.
Inside the screen was an uncle who looked very young. He was wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses and a Bluetooth headset with a microphone stuffed into his ear. He looked refined, and he actually looked a bit like Wu Yanzu.
I had always been a loyal member of the Appearance Association, so I suddenly felt that it was acceptable to be teased by such a handsome person. However, before I could say 'good day', he replied me with a tone that was neither hot nor cold.
”Is this your niece? ”It's not as beautiful as you …”
Alright, he actually isn't that handsome. I immediately dodged to the side.
”Go ahead.”
”IjustwannatellyouImissyou.”
When the handsome guy said those words, his eyes flashed with sincerity. I was almost moved by his words across the computer screen.
”Leave these words to your junior sister and student.” Shuyue didn't seem to appreciate it at all.
”Alright, back to the main topic. Where did you get this recording from?”
”Can you stop asking questions? Just say what you know! ” Shuyue frowned.
”I don't know where it came from, but I can't be 100% sure. After all, the recording is very blurry —” The handsome uncle pushed his glasses.
”This is an ancient language, but it should be Arabic, because there is a shaky tongue behind every sentence, which is not in Chinese or English. I presume it's ancient Hebrew. ”Like Chinese, the Hebrew language has evolved over thousands of years, and every pronunciation is very different. It's like the Qin dialect of the Qin Dynasty and the official language of the Song Dynasty to the vernacular of the Republic of China. Although the Chinese characters are similar, the pronunciation is far different …”
”Hebrew used to be the official language of Israel, but after the Jews were dispersed, Hebrew was no longer spoken, but was used only as a written language for religious rituals. Today, Hebrew is not the same as ancient Hebrew.”
Shuyue sighed: ”Then there's no hope.”
”Not necessarily. Although I can't understand it, I just separated every pronunciation of this recording. In modern Hebrew, the letters correspond to each other. I found out that from a grammatical perspective, this is a poem.”
”A poem?”
”Yes, because only the beginning and the end of a poem are symmetrical, especially in ancient Hebrew, and important words are repeated in a poem. So I used modern Hebrew to correspond to every word in the poem, and found that the most common word to appear was' Sodom '. ”
”Sodom City!” Shuyue screamed in shock.
”Well, it might have something to do with the Old Testament.” The handsome brother said.
Shuyue and I looked at each other.
Was it Sodom, the Sin City, that I saw through the door? But wasn't Sodom a mythical city?
When I was in primary school, Shuyue once bought me a set of illustrations of the Old Testament. It was said that because Sodom was full of sinners, who had chosen a way of life that God did not like and were always doing shameful things, God was angry, and the consequences were serious — God had destroyed the city in any case.
”Luo Chuan, do you know much about Sodom?” Shuyue asked.