167: Chapter 167 Lin Feng Makes a Microscope

The cat has a telescope to see far away. Lin Feng didn't have a telescope, but he had eyes. He squatted by the tree pit, watching the ants on the ground, feeling that the ants were already very far away—not in terms of distance, but because they were too small. He wanted to see clearly how many hairs were on an ant's antennae and what an ant's mouth looked like. He remembered something called a microscope that could magnify tiny things. He didn't know how to make a microscope, but he could learn.

He went to Molly for materials. Molly rummaged through the storage room and found a small magnifying glass, a glass medicine bottle, a sheet of black paper, a roll of tape, and a flashlight. Lin Feng moved the things under the tree, squatted on the ground, and began his research. He taped the magnifying glass to the bottom of the medicine bottle and looked through the mouth of the bottle, but he couldn't see anything. He rolled the black paper into a tube, stuffed it into the bottle's mouth, and looked again; it was brighter, but the magnification wasn't enough. He replaced the magnifying glass with the small piece of glass he had removed from the telescope; the magnification was higher, but he still couldn't see the ant's antennae clearly. After thinking for a moment, he turned the medicine bottle sideways, taped the magnifying glass to one side of the bottle, and taped the flashlight to the other side. When he turned on the flashlight, the light passed through the water in the medicine bottle and projected the object opposite the magnifying glass onto a white sheet of paper. The ant was magnified, but it was blurry, like a dark shadow.

He tried all afternoon while the cat squatted beside him, tilting its head to watch him fiddle with the bottles and jars. Lin Feng's fingers were sticky with glue; the cat leaned in to sniff them and sneezed. Lin Feng assembled his final design: one magnifying glass fixed on a stand, a sheet of white paper placed below, and another magnifying glass on top. With the two magnifying glasses stacked, the object in the middle was magnified several times. He placed a leaf underneath, aligned the light, and adjusted the focus; the veins on the leaf became crystal clear, like rivers. He smiled. He then placed a grain of sand; its facets looked like diamonds, sparkling brightly. He placed a strand of cat hair; the scales on the hair were like fish scales, layered one over another. The cat leaned in, looked at the magnified cat hair, and was stunned. It reached out a paw and poked its own fur, as if checking to see if a strand had fallen out. Lin Feng looked at the cat. "It's yours. It fell in the tree pit." The cat didn't answer; it squatted nearby, staring at the hair under the microscope, the tip of its tail twitching slightly.

Lin Feng moved the microscope to the entrance of the church and placed it on the steps. Squatting beside it, he began magnifying all sorts of things. First, he placed a piece of moss; the moss looked like a forest, with dense sporangia resembling little trees. Then he placed a grain of soil dug from an ant hole; inside the soil were tiny pebbles, dried leaf debris, and an even smaller bug, too small to be seen with the naked eye. The bug had six legs, a segmented body, and two antennae on its head. The cat leaned in to look and was startled by the magnified bug, backing away two steps before leaning back in to watch for a long time. Lin Feng took out a piece of paper and began to draw while squatting on the ground. He drew the moss forest, the bug in the soil, and the ant's antennae—he had specifically caught an ant to put under the microscope; the ant's antennae had over a dozen fine hairs, like small brushes. The ant's eyes were compound eyes, made of countless tiny squares like a mosaic. He drew very slowly, checking every detail several times. The cat squatted beside him, looking at the drawing and then at the ant under the microscope, as if comparing them.

After finishing the drawings, Lin Feng taped the paper to the wall next to the letters. He took a step back and looked at his work. The ant in the drawing was dozens of times larger than a real ant, with every hair on its antennae clearly visible. He squatted in front of the wall, waiting for people to come. The first to arrive was Margaret. She was carrying a plate of mushrooms and had intended to find Lin Feng by the tree pit, but seeing him squatted at the church entrance, she walked over. "What are you looking at?" Lin Feng pointed to the drawings on the wall. "I drew them." Margaret leaned in to look. "Is this an ant?" Lin Feng nodded. "I saw it through the microscope. There are hairs on the antennae, and the eyes are compound eyes." Margaret squatted down and looked for a long time. "When did you learn to draw?" Lin Feng said, "I didn't. I just drew what I saw. I draw whatever I see." Margaret looked for a while longer, then stood up and left. She hadn't taken the mushroom plate; it was still where it had been. Lin Feng carried the mushroom plate and followed behind her.

In the afternoon, Old Zhou came to deliver mail. He parked his bike at the church entrance, saw the drawings on the wall, and was taken aback. He squatted down, looking at the magnified ant. "Did you draw this?" Lin Feng nodded. "I saw it through the microscope." Old Zhou asked what a microscope was, and Lin Feng pointed to the bottles and jars on the steps. "That. It can magnify very small things." Old Zhou squatted in front of the microscope and pressed his eye to it, but he couldn't see anything. Lin Feng helped him adjust the focus, and he saw the moss forest, his eyes widening. "This is moss?" Lin Feng nodded. Old Zhou looked for a bit longer, then stood up, rummaged through his bag for a letter, and handed it to Lin Feng. "Yours." Lin Feng opened it; there was only one sheet of paper inside with a single line of text: "Lin Feng, can a microscope see bacteria?" There was no signature. Lin Feng took out a pen and paper and wrote a reply. "No. The magnification isn't high enough. But I can see an ant's antennae. There are hairs on the antennae, like brushes." He taped the letter to the wall and walked back. Old Zhou was still squatted in front of the microscope, looking at the moss again. He looked very slowly, his head perfectly still, as if he were looking at a treasure. Lin Feng squatted beside him. "What do you see?" Old Zhou said, "A tree. The moss looks like a tree. I never imagined moss looked like this." Lin Feng said, "Many things look one way when you can't see them, but once you do, they're different." Old Zhou stood up and brushed off his pants. "I'm heading back." He got on his bike, the chain clinking as he rode away. Lin Feng squatted in front of the microscope and continued looking. He looked at a speck of dust; inside the dust were tiny fibers, glass fragments, and unknown particles. He drew a picture of the dust and taped it to the wall. He looked at a drop of water; there were microorganisms swimming around, round with tails. He drew the bugs in the water and taped them to the wall. He looked at a grain of pollen; the surface of the pollen was bumpy, like a small potato. He drew the pollen and taped it to the wall. More and more drawings appeared on the wall. Someone passing by stopped to look for a long time. A child squatted down and asked Lin Feng, "What is this?" Lin Feng said, "Pollen." The child asked again, "Why is the pollen so big?" Lin Feng said, "It was magnified with the microscope." The child looked at the drawing, reached out, and traced the outline of the pollen. "It looks like a potato." Lin Feng said, "Yeah. Like a little potato."

The cat jumped down from the canopy, walked to the microscope, squatted down, and stared at the lens barrel. Lin Feng placed a piece of dried fish under the microscope; the cat leaned in to look and saw the magnified texture of the fish meat, dense and interconnected like a net. The cat reached out a paw and poked the dried fish; the fish moved, and the texture moved with it. It poked again, flipping the dried fish over, and the texture changed. It seemed to be studying the fish. Lin Feng picked up the dried fish and put it in the cat's bowl. The cat lowered its head to eat, eating very slowly, as if savoring the texture it had just seen. Lin Feng looked at the cat. "From now on, are you going to look at everything before you eat it?" The cat didn't answer; it finished the dried fish, licked its lips, jumped onto the canopy, squatted in front of the telescope, and began looking into the distance.

In the evening, Margaret came out of the Restaurant and saw more and more drawings on the church wall. She looked through them one by one: the ant, dust, water bugs, pollen, cat hair, and moss. After she finished looking, she walked back and squatted next to Lin Feng. "Have you been drawing all day?" Lin Feng said, "All day. There's still so much I haven't drawn. There's too much in the dust; I can't finish it all." Margaret looked at him. "How long do you plan to keep drawing?" Lin Feng thought for a moment. "Until I can't see anymore." Margaret smiled. "How can you draw things you can't see?" Lin Feng said, "I use the microscope to see. If I see it, I draw it. If I don't see it, I don't draw it." Margaret stood up and went into the church to look at the drawings. She looked for a long time, and by the time she came out, it was almost dark. Lin Feng was still squatted in front of the microscope, head down, one hand adjusting the focus and the other drawing. Margaret squatted beside him. "Aren't you tired?" Lin Feng said, "Not tired. Looking at things isn't tiring." Margaret placed the mushroom plate on the ground and squatted to watch him draw. He was drawing the cat's paw; the cat had just run a lap on the canopy and scraped off a small piece of skin. Lin Feng had placed that small piece of skin under the microscope; the cells at the edge of the skin flakes looked like bricks. He drew very slowly, coloring in every brick. Margaret looked at the bricks. "The cat's skin looks like a wall." Lin Feng said, "Yeah. Walls are built of bricks. So is the cat's skin. Different materials, same structure." Margaret reached out and touched the cat's paw; the cat flinched slightly but then extended it again. She touched the spot where the skin had been scraped off; it was rough, like sandpaper. "Doesn't it hurt?" Lin Feng said, "It doesn't hurt. Only a tiny piece fell off. The microscope magnifies it so it looks big, but it's actually very small. Smaller than a sesame seed." Margaret smiled. "You even know about sesame seeds." Lin Feng said, "I've looked at sesame seeds too. There are patterns on them, like a labyrinth." He pulled a tiny sesame seed from his pocket and placed it under the microscope. Margaret leaned in to look; the patterns on the surface of the sesame seed were winding and dense, like a miniature kingdom. She looked for a long time, then raised her head. "This world is much bigger than what you see while squatted down." Lin Feng said, "Yeah. Squatting only lets you see the big things. The microscope lets you see the small things. Both the big and the small are the world."

In the evening, Lin Feng sat on the steps at the entrance of the Restaurant. He wasn't squatting; he was sitting. Margaret came out carrying a plate of mushrooms and sat beside him. The two of them sat there, looking at the sky. The stars lit up one by one, just like yesterday. The cat jumped down from the canopy, walked to their feet, squatted down, and looked up at the stars. It watched for a long time, then closed its eyes, curled into a ball, and began to purr. Margaret looked at the cat. "It didn't look through the telescope today." Lin Feng said, "It did. It looked all afternoon. It only came down before dinner." Margaret asked him, "Will you still be drawing tomorrow?" Lin Feng nodded. "Yes. There are still many things I haven't seen. The underside of leaves, mushroom spores, ant eggs." Margaret smiled. "You're more serious than a scientist." Lin Feng said, "Scientists have microscopes. I have one too. They look at theirs, and I look at mine." The wind blew, carrying the faint scent of paper pulp, the coolness of glass lenses, the aroma of coffee, and the light sweetness of mushrooms. Lin Feng closed his eyes and took a sniff. He opened his eyes, stood up, and brushed off his pants. "I'm going to sleep." Margaret also stood up. "Tomorrow when you draw, I'll help you post them up." Lin Feng nodded. "Okay." He turned and walked into the Restaurant, with Margaret following behind him. The door closed, and the lights went out. The cat jumped down from the steps, walked back into the tent, jumped onto the rocking chair, curled up on the blue cloth, and closed its eyes. The rocking chair swayed slowly, the windmill turned slowly, and the microscope stood at the church entrance, its barrel pointed at the night sky. The moon emerged from behind the clouds, casting the shadow of the microscope onto the ground like a tiny observatory. The wind blew, and the shadow wavered, but it did not dissipate. Lin Feng stood in the Restaurant, looking out the window. He saw the shadow of the microscope, the shadow of the telescope, and the shadow of the windmill. He watched for a long time, then pulled the curtains and went to sleep.

[Chapter 167 End]