This store that sells bathtub ducks has obviously been around for a while. You can tell from the layout of the windows that it is the oldest type of gift shop, so when you enter, you can see various shelves placed against the wall, and there is a large one in the middle.
The messy counter was filled with all kinds of gifts.
This kind of chaos should have been very exciting. Peter liked visiting gift shops like this very much, but in the past, when he visited such shops, he felt a bit like a thief, because he couldn't afford most of the gifts here, and it was very difficult to buy them.
I am worried that I will meet my classmates and be laughed at.
But today he felt a little more relieved, and even wanted to come over for a walk in a very excited mood, because behind him was Jason, who was stronger than Thompson.
Spider-Man secretly thought in his heart that if he met his classmates this time, they would definitely not dare to laugh at him for being a poor guy, at least not in front of him.
But this time when they entered the store, what caught their attention was not the pile of messy goods at all, but a person behind the messy goods counter.
The man was wearing a store clerk's apron and was half-kneeling on the ground sorting the products on the middle shelf. From the perspective of Spider-Man and Jason, he only had one head exposed, but this head alone was impossible to ignore. He really
So handsome.
Jason recognized this as the Batman of his universe at a glance. Although all Batmans looked similar, there were some subtle differences in the details. The Robins of each universe could also tell them apart very well.
, Jason can especially distinguish them. He feels that the Batman in his universe has more three-dimensional facial features than other Batmans.
The two of them shouted in unison, but the man didn't respond. He didn't even stand up the first time the two people rushed in, but was still fiddling with the goods on the shelves.
It wasn't until he heard the noise behind him that he turned around, stood up slowly, looked at the two of them with some confusion and said, "Batman? Are you looking for some new toy with a bat? Well, what do you think of that?"
Sample?"
The man pointed at the little yellow duck behind Jason. It was the Halloween-style little yellow duck that Jason had seen before. There was a bat on the top of his head and a pumpkin sitting under his butt. It looked a little funny.
Ridiculous, but that bat is cute.
Spider-Man and Jason looked at each other and both realized something was wrong. Why did Batman pretend not to recognize them? Is there an enemy watching here?
"Do you really think that looks good?" Spider-Man was a little shaken, and Jason immediately stared at him. Although the bathtub duck with the bat is very good-looking, is this the point?
But just when they were hesitating, the man wiped his hands on his apron, took a doll from the side and introduced: "What about this? How about this? This is also a Halloween-themed doll. Look, it's
The bow tie is a bat!"
Spider-Man saw that the man was holding a teddy bear in his hand. The teddy bear had a little wizard hat on its head, a full pumpkin bowl in his hand, and a bat bow tie. The overall shape was very cute.
Spider-Man took a step forward and reached out to touch the teddy bear's head. Jason immediately pulled him and said, "Don't touch it. There may be nano-monitors, nano-viruses, nano... Anyway, there must be a lot of them."
thing."
The man holding the bear and Spider-Man both looked at Jason with psychotic eyes.
"No, we don't have any gifts." The man shook his head and explained: "Because this is a discount model, a small Halloween limited edition pumpkin teddy bear, only $19."
Spider-Man immediately showed a troubled expression. He only had 20 dollars on hand now. If he bought this one, he would definitely not be able to afford the bathtub duck. That one would cost at least seven or eight dollars.
Compared with Europe, Americans have higher wages and lower basic commodity prices, but that depends on which city they live in. After all, Spider-Man lives in New York. Even if it is not the most expensive area of Manhattan, non-daily necessities such as gifts are still
Much more expensive than elsewhere.
The economic conditions of the Parker family are not very good. Even in high school, Peter only has 20 US dollars a week in pocket money. He is not yet an adult and cannot work, and his pocket money is often robbed by the school bullies. This is
It took him almost a month to save the 20 US dollars.
Jason's attention was now focused on Batman. He instinctively felt that something was wrong with Batman's eyes. If he had to describe it, Batman's eyes were a bit too clear.
Batman's beautiful blue eyes always contain lingering haze and storms. No one can see them all. Jason once thought that maybe Batman himself can't. His too heavy past is piled up in every moment.
The lines of an iris were woven into an airtight network, which prevented him from figuring out what he was thinking when he looked in the mirror.
If an enemy were peeping around now, even though Batman could pretend to be harmless, his eyes would never look like this.
Jason could even clearly read the eagerness in his eyes, as if he wanted to sell more products before Christmas, and Peter looked like the kind of kid who had money and nothing to spend it on, but he could
no.
"Why is this on discount?" Jason asked sharply.
The expression of this man who looked exactly like Batman immediately showed a kind of embarrassment, as if he had been exposed. He swallowed a sound and then said: "This... okay, the label of this thing
It got caught in a vacuum cleaner and got damaged, so it has no tag and is being sold at a low price."
Jason crossed his arms and said: "Actually, you spent money to buy it because you broke the label, right? It's just that you think it's useless for you to hold this thing, and you want to find someone to take advantage of it and sell it to him.
Recover some losses."
The embarrassment on the man's face became even stronger. Jason narrowed his eyes and said, "I guess you won't buy it for more than 25 dollars. Are you only going to spend 6 dollars to pay for your mistake? Oh, I said it wrong.
…”
Just as the man was about to speak, Jason added: "19 is a very unique number. It is close to 20, but it starts with 1, so many stores like to start with it to hint to customers that this thing only costs more than ten yuan.
.”
"But these cunning businessmen will not let go of the money they can make. They will definitely mark the price to 19 yuan. This is no different from 20 yuan. They can still get 1 at the beginning. No matter how stupid the store is, they will not let it go.
This is 9 cents."
"If you say that the price of this toy is an integer of 19 yuan, it proves that this is not the price in the store, but perhaps more like a small concession that some people are willing to make for their trivial mistakes. 1 yuan is really
Is it enough to fill your conscience?”
The expression on the man's face had completely turned into embarrassment. Jason carefully observed the changes in his expression and found that this was really not a performance. Even if it was just for fun, Batman didn't have so many rich little expressions. How could this happen?
What's going on?
Jason immediately pulled Spider-Man and said: "Something's wrong, I think Batman might..."
As soon as he said this, he turned around and found that Spider-Man's eyes seemed to be glued to the teddy bear.
And Batman's eyes seemed to be glued to Spider-Man.
Jason sighed and said: "Don't think you can fool us. No one has to pay so much extra for your mistake. Since you have bought it, it is a second-hand item. It costs 10 US dollars. Give us another one."
A Christmas duck in the window."
"Impossible!" the man said in a louder voice: "The duck alone costs 8 yuan, how can this bear be worth only 2 yuan?"
"Please, it's not how much this bear is worth, but how much money we are willing to pay to slightly compensate for your losses. This is obviously out of humanitarian concern, not commodity trading. It's useless for you to keep this bear anyway, right?
?”
The man glanced at the bear in his hand hesitantly. He was unwilling to accept the price, so he could only counteroffer: "How about $15, bear plus duck?"
"No, that's too high. We don't need this bear in the first place." Jason stretched out his hand to block Spider-Man's longing gaze and said: "We just want to buy ducks. It only cost 8 yuan. It's you."
If you get into trouble and come to us for help, we are willing to spend an extra two dollars to help you solve the trouble."
In the end, the two bargained and decided to buy the bear and the Christmas bathtub duck for $12. In the process, Jason discovered a shocking fact: Batman didn't like bats.
If it were the real Batman, Jason would bet that even if the teddy bear with the Batman bow tie had no effect on Batman, he would not sell it. Even if Batman was not the richest man in the world, he would still be short of these two dollars.
, and he won’t sell it either.
Jason just learned about Batman's simple and fanatical love for bats not long ago. As a man in his late 30s, he received a bat doll that was about the same height as him at a birthday party. This incident brought great joy to him.
A huge mental impact.
He was directly confused by Batman's enthusiasm for bats, and finally understood a truth that he had never figured out before, why bats?
Why else? Batman just likes bats. The arguments that bats are Batman’s psychological shadows cannot be explained at all. Why is he obsessed with printing bat patterns on every piece of equipment? Who would imprint psychological shadows all over the world?
All?
Batman's new dollar bill has bats on it!
By the way, U.S. dollars. Jason immediately reached for Spider-Man's pocket. Spider-Man couldn't rob him. Jason snatched the banknotes out of his hand. It wasn't even whole money, but a lot of change.
.
Jason opened it and saw that there was no bat on the dollar, but Franklin, which meant that this was the era before Bruce Wayne became president.
No, it's not that real. This is a dream after all, and anything can happen. This guy might be Batman, or he might just be a passerby in the dream.
Jason decided to test it out. He held the money and ignored the longing look in the eyes of this strange Batman. He put one hand on his waist and leaned against the counter with the other side. He said, "Actually, I'm more curious about how you use the vacuum cleaner to clean the toys."
The label got caught in it, shouldn’t this thing be kept close to the ground for cleaning?”
The man's face showed an even more embarrassed expression.