"Wuji Grocery Store? I haven't heard of it." The old man shook his head, "The bookstore used to be on Xuezhong Road. The bookstore moved several times. At that time, it was my grandfather's father, my great-grandfather, who went to school for my grandfather.
He opened a shop there."
He thought about it.
"Dongliu, yes, Dongliu Experimental Primary School and Experimental Junior High School were both attended by my grandfather. At that time, Dongliu was a well-known key school nearby."
When they heard the name Dongliu, their hearts immediately clicked.
Right!
That’s it!
"Why do you ask this?" the old man asked doubtfully.
"You all know Dongliu Experimental Primary School, how come you don't know about Wuji Grocery Store on Xuezhong Road?" Zhong Ying was a little anxious. The purpose of their search for fat boy Bai Feipeng was to find Wuji Grocery Store.
Because that slot machine was placed in front of Wu Ji Grocery Store.
Therefore, as long as they find this grocery store, they will definitely find the mysterious slot machine!
But now in this old man’s mouth, he actually said he didn’t know anything about Wuji Grocery Store??
"By the way! Are you talking about the Wu Laokan groceries?" The old man suddenly slapped his head and realized.
"Wu Laokan groceries?" Several people were slightly stunned.
"There are groceries in Wu Laokan, I remember. They sell everything, including snacks. I used to go there to buy food when I was a kid." The old man seemed to remember.
"Are you looking for Wu Laokan's house?"
"Yes, yes! Do you remember where Wu Laokan's family is now?" Zhong Yingqiao's face showed a hint of joy. They are all Wu, they must be the same.
"I don't know." The old man shook his head.
"Then do you still remember, did your grandfather Bai Feipeng ever say that when he was a child, he went to Wu Laokan Grocery to play slot machines?" Zhong Ying quickly asked casually.
"When I was a kid? What are you talking about?" The old man glanced at her inexplicably, "Where did my grandfather get Wu Laokan's groceries on the street when he was a kid? At that time, we relied on the Little Putao Supermarket to buy daily necessities. There was no grocery store at all."
"???" Several people were stunned when they heard this.
There wasn’t a grocery store when Little Fatty was a kid?
So, in Li Chengyi's memory flash, how could Bai Feipeng say that he knew Wu Ji Grocery Store??!
"And where are the Zhouji pastries?" Li Chengyi couldn't help it at this time and asked. "Did your grandfather steal anything from Zhouji Pastries when he was a child?"
These words were too horrible to watch... They really made me want to be beaten. The other people couldn't help but look away.
"What are you talking about??" the old man glared at him, "Where did Zhou Ji Pastry come from?? At that time, there was not even a pastry shop in the entire Xuezhong Road! We all relied on takeaways to buy sweets, or we went to a bakery five kilometers away.
Are you still stealing things in other neighborhoods? You dreamed of stealing, right?"
The old man was obviously a little angry.
But his answer made everyone present a little confused.
If what the old man said is true, then in the neighborhood where little fat boy Bai Feipeng lived when he was a child, there were not only no grocery stores, but also no pastry shops.
Then how did he appear in front of Li Chengyi?
The key is, can the little fat man still see Li Chengyi, see him running around on the street, and hear what he says?
"But Wu Ji Grocery Store and Zhou Ji Pastry?" The old man suddenly rubbed his forehead, lowered his head and began to think.
"I always feel like I heard it somewhere." He murmured in a low voice.
This change immediately gave everyone present new hope.
Several people did not dare to disturb him for fear of affecting the old man's memory.
"Boss, buy books! Today's complete collection of moving sounds! I want three copies!"
At this moment, a bespectacled boy carrying a schoolbag rushed in from outside the bookstore.
"The complete collection of moving sounds has arrived. It has arrived. It just arrived today. You are lucky enough to have arrived." When the old man saw the young man, he immediately stopped and took out a gaudy magazine from under the counter with a smile.
"But if you want three copies, I have to go to the warehouse at the back to look for them. You wait first."
But just like that, his memory was interrupted. The old man stood up and walked deeper into the store.
Snap!
Suddenly, Sindra waved her hand and slapped the glass counter at the door of the bookstore hard.
"Boss, please help us think about things first! He doesn't need three books!"
"But." The young man with glasses was about to speak, when suddenly a big red bill appeared in front of his eyes.
His eyes suddenly froze, and when he looked up, he saw Syndra winking at him.
The young man understood, took the big bill, turned around and ran away.
"No need, boss, just one copy is enough for me!"
Not long after, he had already run to the corner of the street and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"Come on, come on! Boss, think carefully, where did you see Wu Ji Grocery Store and Zhou Ji Pastry?" Zhong Ying took a step forward and asked delicately.
"I" the old man was a little dazed and didn't understand what this group of people was trying to do.
"Think carefully." Syndra took out a stack of large bills again and gently placed it on the counter. Her voice was magnetic. "Believe in yourself."
"Oh, I remembered!" The old man's eyes suddenly lit up when he saw the money.
He slapped his forehead and quickly put away the money.
"You guys come with me!"
He turned around and walked towards the depths of the store very quickly.
Several people followed in and soon arrived at the innermost part of the bookstore.
There are no books placed on the innermost side, but paintings with rich colors and somewhat twisted lines are hung.
"Here!" The old man quickly walked to a dark frame in the corner, stretched out his hand and pointed to the upper corner.
"Look, this should be the Wu Ji Grocery Store and Zhou Ji Pastry you are looking for."
Everyone followed the direction of his hand and immediately discovered that two shops were clearly painted on the corner of the painting.
On the left is Wu Ji Grocery Store, and on the right, a few shops away, is Zhou Ji Pastry!
This? What kind of number is this??
"Wait, what is that!?"
Suddenly Zhong Ying raised her hand and pointed to a location in the painting.
Several people focused their attention on it.
Before they had time to be surprised that the two shops were in the painting, a few people saw at a glance the colorful fruit slot machine placed in front of Wu Ji Grocery Store.
This mysterious slot machine was found under such circumstances!!?
".Where in the painting is this?" Sindra was the first to come to her senses and asked in a deep voice.
"Which position?" The old man smiled strangely, "This is a scene from a comic book that my grandfather used to like the most. After he learned to draw by himself, he drew this scene. I said, I heard it before
What Wu Ji Grocery Store are you talking about? Zhou Ji Pastry sounds familiar to you, take a look."
His finger is at a corner of the painting.
That's where Zhou Ji Pastry's store is.
Li Chengyi took a quick look and saw that the store was illuminated by a soft yellow light. Two clerks were busy arranging something with their heads down. There were wooden drawers in front of the store, and various newly made pastries were placed in the drawers.
This scene is exactly the same as what he saw before!
He also saw a fat little man with three slits for his eyes and mouth, standing in front of the shop, turning his head and seeming to be looking out of the painting.
The little fat man was very white. Compared with the surrounding streets shrouded in mist, his flesh was so white that his face was extremely white.
Although those eyes were small, when Li Chengyi looked carefully, he seemed to feel that the little fat man was really looking at himself standing outside the painting.
The little fat man had a smile on his face, a little mischievous, but the light in his eyes was completely emotionless.
Cold and fresh.
Snap.
"Don't stare." The old man suddenly stretched out his hand to block the little fat man. He looked at Li Chengyi seriously and said.
"Many people have seen this painting and feel that there is something wrong with the little fat man painted by my grandfather. If you look into his eyes too much, you will have nightmares."
"Isn't this little fat guy your grandfather himself?" Li Chengyi also felt a little uncomfortable. At this time, he was blocked and his heart suddenly relaxed.
"Yes and no." The old man shook his head. "My grandfather was already in his fifties when he painted this painting. At that time, he had just finished the painting and we hadn't seen the little fat man yet. Then, one day, the painting
There was this little fat guy on the bed. Then we asked him if he had made up for it, because this little fat guy had a completely different style from the ones around him.”
The old man paused and saw that everyone around him was paying attention to him, then he continued with a smile.
"My grandfather replied, yes and no."
"What do you mean?" Zhong Ying couldn't help but ask. "This is what he drew. How could you give this answer?"
"Hey, that's what I asked at the time. I was still young and outspoken at that time." The old man smiled, "But my grandfather's answer surprised everyone."
He stopped here and exhaled, seeming to be lost in the memories of that year.
Several people were waiting for his answer, but the old man seemed to have forgotten and just stopped talking.
"What happened next?" Sima Gui asked impatiently.
"Later, cough, cough, cough." The old man coughed a few times, "I can't remember clearly."
Whoosh!
Sindra once again put down a stack of banknotes in his hand and placed them on the wooden shelf beside him.
"Ah, I remember." The old man immediately showed a look of surprise and patted his head.
"My grandfather replied that there was originally nothing in that position. But one day, when he was moving the picture frame, he accidentally dropped a drop of white ink on it.
So, in order to cover up this drop of white ink, he simply expanded a little fat man in that position.
This little fat guy drew what he looked like when he was a child. But after he drew it, he always felt that it didn’t look like him. He didn’t know why.”
The comic strip, the scene in the painting, the accidental appearance of a little fat man... There seem to be too many variables.
"So, which comic book is this painting from? Where is the street in the painting?" Li Chengyi asked again, thinking about the original address of the street.
"I can't remember it for a long time, but the street in the painting?" The old man laughed, "That's a scene that the author just imagined. Where can you find the original address? Isn't that funny?"
"I remember reading that comic book. It was about a weird fruit machine on a street. The machine could fulfill people's wishes, but every time you played it, you had to pay a certain price as a bet. Later. Then.
There was a fire in the street, and the grocery store and the fruit machine were all burned down. Then the story ended." The old man told the story in his memory slowly and slowly.
Fire!?
Several people present were shocked, and they instantly thought of the fire in the middle school.