Start with a red name

Chapter 9: Riding through the busy city

What Chen Rongshan handed to Geng Xuan was a very ordinary item.

A door bolt.

Last night, Wu Youren broke into the house and broke the door bolt.

As Geng Xuan was cleaning the house, he felt that the door bolt that was broken by external force was somewhat of a flaw, so he removed it and buried it deep in the cave along with other debris.

The broken bolt was removed, but a new bolt could not be found for a while. Such details are difficult for outsiders to notice, and even if they are found, most people just feel a little strange.

But as a neighbor, Chen Rongshan had a close relationship with his predecessor's father and was much more familiar with the family situation than others.

There was no bolt on the door, a detail that was overlooked by Li Fangzhu, but he discovered it.

But he said nothing at that time. Only after he parted with Master Li did he take the initiative to deliver a door bolt.

Looking at the bolt in his hand, Geng Xuan suddenly felt a headache.

"What on earth are you trying to do?"

"What do you mean?"

Even if he noticed the detail that there was no bolt on the door, he didn't have to say anything.

By doing this now, he is exposing himself.

From this perspective, they are really helping themselves.

In the end, Geng Xuan decided to let himself go and installed the bolt in his hand on the door.

After installing it, I tried it and it fit perfectly, no different from the original one.

As he was trying, his movements suddenly froze.

Did the dog thief who broke into the house when he was away notice that there was no bolt on the door?

That's absolutely certain!

Geng Xuan could even imagine the other party's stunned expression at that time.

It's like a thief who is determined to break into a door and pick the lock, only to find that the door opens with a slight push.

Even though he did not link it to the Wu Youren incident at the time, Geng Xuan believed that it was only a matter of time.

It's really not difficult.

Realizing this, Geng Xuan's heartstrings, which had originally relaxed a little, tensed up again.

"Is this the power of Black Luck Six?"

Feeling pressured, Geng Xuan couldn't help but think so in his heart.

Of course he understood that the pressure did not come from here, but it did not stop him from using it as a mockery.

Chen Rongshan's attitude is inexplicable, Li Fangzhu seems to be concerned about the test, and the "dog thief" may "visit" again at any time...

All this made Geng Xuan realize that he was sinking into a quagmire bit by bit. Any "fact-based" response would only exacerbate his "sinking".

The only effective way is to move forward, upward, and quickly upward.

"It seems that some unconventional methods must be used."

Thinking this in his mind, Geng Xuan glanced at the package he brought back, threw it in a corner of the house, and didn't bother with it anymore.

After drinking two liang of tiger bone, deer ginseng wine, he placed the dissection knife under his pillow, lay down on the bed with his clothes on, closed his eyes and fell asleep.

He hardly slept last night, tossing and turning all night, and today he was out and busy all day, relying on his excited spirit to sustain himself until now.

When he let go of his worries and just closed his eyes, his breath changed and he fell asleep quietly.

Geng Xuan was awakened by a strange noise.

He immediately turned over and sat up, holding the cutting knife in his hand.

Seeing that there was nothing unusual in the house, he quickly rushed out of the house, only to see Chen Xiaoyu standing at the gate with an angry look on her face, holding the food box with both hands.

The dilapidated gate in front of her was even worse than yesterday, completely collapsed to the ground.

Geng Xuan said: "You did it on purpose!"

"Humph!"

"Your butt is blooming?"

"Humph!"

"Oh, this rice smells so good!"

"Humph!"

"..."

"Humph!"

As Chen Xiaoyu groaned, Geng Xuan quickly emptied the food in the lunch box. What was even worse was that he was too lazy to even wash the dishes today. After eating, he just put them back in the lunch box and said to Chen Xiaoyu:
"If you can give me some egg custard tomorrow, I won't sue you anymore. How about that?"

"You...are not lying?" Chen Xiaoyu finally had a different reaction.

"I'm not lying to you." Geng Xuan nodded seriously.

So Chen Xiaoyu went back happily carrying a box of dishes to be washed. …

After straightening the dilapidated courtyard gate and barely fixing it on the door frame, which only served as a decoration, Geng Xuan waved to Chen Xiaoyu who was peeking in his yard and walked towards the market outside Changpingfang.

He met many people along the way, and they all nodded and greeted Geng Xuan, and some even chatted with him with a smile.

"Going to the market?"

"Ah."

"It's good to go shopping." / "Remember to come back early." / "Don't go to places where there are few people."

Apart from the friendly smiles and intimate conversations, Geng Xuan's greatest interest was to look at the thickness and size of the "red names" above each of their heads, so as to guess the number of lives they had taken.

This made Geng Xuan feel very incredible.

Although not everyone has a red name on their head, at least two-thirds of them have a red name on their heads.

Among the remaining one-third of the "clean" people, more than half were still immature children and frail women.

This made Geng Xuan suspect that the Changpingfang where he lived was actually a den of thieves.

It was not until he entered the market and saw the "grand scene" of almost everyone having a red name on their head that he realized he had been making a fuss out of nothing.

Weird.

When Geng Xuan arrived at the gate of Changpingfang, several old men who were chatting at a tea stall nearby all looked at him.

One of them was sitting on the inside, facing the road, and the old man nodded to him.

This was an old man who was at least 70 years old, with almost all his teeth and hair gone. His smile was kind and funny, especially when he showed his teeth, which could be counted on one palm.

But Geng Xuan did not dare to underestimate him at all. This man had the most and the largest number of red names among all the people he had seen in Changpingfang.

Master Li Fang, whom he had just met last night, could only come in second place in front of him.

"Ah Xuan, are you going to the market?"

"Ah."

"go Go."

There was nothing special about Geng Xuan's communication with them, and he had already walked out of the gate of Changpingfang while talking.

After Geng Xuan left, the group of old people sat for a while, until the old man sitting on the inner side, whose teeth and hair had mostly fallen out, slowly drank a cup of tea. Then everyone slowly got up, patted their butts, and prepared to go home.

"Wait." the old man shouted.

Because he had lost too many teeth, his speech was soft and slurred.

But several people stopped and turned to look at him.

The old man said, "The Geng family kid is being targeted by someone. Tell someone to keep their eyes open when you go back, and don't let outsiders in casually."

A few people nodded and soon dispersed.

……

After leaving Changpingfang, the market was right in front of us.

Suddenly a series of scolding came from a distance.

"Get out of the way!"

"go away!"

"Don't you have eyes?"

There were five or six wicked young men in bright clothes riding on horseback, swinging their whips, leaving afterimages, shouting and sprinting at full speed, with no intention of slowing down because of the dense crowd around them.

Some people dodged too late, leaving a bloody whip mark on their bodies. Even if they hated it secretly, they dared not vent it, and could only move away quickly.

The crowds themselves seemed to be part of the fun these bad boys had in riding through the busy streets.

Seeing people dodging in panic and all kinds of chaos, they let out meaningless howls, and when they saw someone "accidentally" getting whipped, they laughed in unison.

On one side there was chaos and turmoil, while on the other side things were going crazy.

Geng Xuan saw this scene from a relatively far distance, and then watched them go away. However, he was thinking about a similar scene he saw yesterday at about the same time.

"The time and place are about the same...well, the number of people has changed, there are two more."

……

A group of wicked young men rode their horses through the downtown area and went away with wanton laughter, but they left the streets in a mess.

A man with tattered clothes and a bloody whip mark running through most of his back staggered past Geng Xuan, cursing under his breath as he walked.

"A bunch of short-lived kids, are you rushing to reincarnate? Sooner or later, you will die on horseback!"

Another victim nearby echoed: "It would be better if he fell to death!"

"It would be better if I were trampled to death by a horse's hoof!"

"..."

Geng Xuan stood nearby, marveling at their imagination.

(End of this chapter)