Thinking of Little Soldier Zhang Ga and that Special Commissioner Shi, Wang Xu's mind began to wander.
Ga Zi's appearance carried too much meaning; it meant that this world wasn't a single world formed by the TV series lurk, but a fusion of at least two, or even multiple, war-themed dramas.
If things went that way, Li Yunlong from Drawing Swords and Yang Zhihua from God of Artillery—these big-shot military drama protagonists—might also be active in this world.
But then, Wang Xu felt discouraged; the more worlds fused together, the more the original plot would be affected by other storylines, becoming shattered and fragmented.
Little Soldier Zhang Ga was the best example; in the TV series lurk, there was no plot where Yu Zecheng met Little Soldier Zhang Ga.
With things like this, Wang Xu could no longer be certain how the story would develop in the future.
"It really is a turbulent time. Fortunately, I'm only doing business and don't have the great ambition to join the revolution; otherwise, my head would be spinning!" Wang Xu thought with some relief. Before long, he arrived at Qingyu Street.
Qingyu Street was a residential area with many alleys, and there was a girls' school not far away.
Wang Xu got off here and looked at the shuttle gate that only he could see, his brow furrowing slightly.
The location where the shuttle gate had descended overlapped with the courtyard wall of a household, looking as if a new door had been opened.
This door faced Qingyu Street directly. Wang Xu had originally planned to buy this house and then expand outward to enclose the shuttle gate within an inner courtyard.
But looking at the layout of the buildings, the courtyard wall couldn't be expanded outward at all; any further and it would occupy the street.
What should he do? Was he going to come out of the house and travel through the gate on the street next time? That wouldn't be safe.
"This isn't safe. If only the shuttle gate could be carried with me!" Wang Xu spoke from the heart, and as soon as he finished, a blue light flashed on the shuttle gate.
Whoosh!!
Before Wang Xu's wide eyes, the shuttle gate instantly flew over, turned into a blue light, and merged into his wrist, forming a tattoo of the character "Gate."
Wang Xu was stunned; this was too sci-fi.
But on second thought, it made sense. Since time travel could happen, why couldn't the shuttle gate connecting two worlds turn into a tattoo and hide on his hand?
Wang Xu quickly accepted the fact that the shuttle gate could turn into a tattoo.
In the Great Thousand World, nothing is too strange. Anyway, the shuttle gate was his; things he couldn't understand now, he would understand sooner or later.
"Come out!" he shouted at the tattoo, and like a projector, a blue gate was projected out.
Wang Xu was beaming with joy. Being able to carry the shuttle gate with him meant he could open it at any time and return to the modern era whenever he wanted.
Don't underestimate this simple attachment function; it increased Wang Xu's safety by more than a hundred thousand times.
If the shuttle gate were immovable, he would have to find it first whenever he wanted to return to the modern era, and often that time could be a matter of life and death.
"Come back!" Wang Xu beckoned to the shuttle gate, and it attached itself to his wrist once more, turning back into a tattoo.
After trying it several times, the people passing by started to murmur: "This young man isn't old and is dressed quite well, but I didn't expect him to be a lunatic! Shouting 'Come out' and 'Come back' at the air—isn't he sick in the head?"
Others couldn't see the shuttle gate; they only saw Wang Xu talking happily to the air.
Hearing these words, Wang Xu finally realized that now was not the time for excitement. If he were caught and treated as a mental patient, he would have no tears left to cry.
"The shuttle gate can be carried with me now, but I still need to buy the house. I need a place to stay." Wang Xu was in a great mood. Instead of wandering elsewhere, he knocked on the door of the household where the shuttle gate had previously been attached.
Knock, knock, knock... The sound of knocking rang out as Wang Xu waited outside.
After two minutes, no one came to open the door. He clearly heard footsteps; there was no way no one was inside.
"Is anyone there?" He knocked a few more times, but there was still no answer. Wang Xu peered through the crack in the door.
He saw a busty woman clutching a shoulder pole with one hand and pulling a little girl with the other, staring warily at the door.
"Big sister, I see you. Open the door, I'm not a bad person..." Wang Xu shouted twice. The door remained closed, but the more he looked at the young woman, the more familiar she felt.
After thinking for a moment, he peered through the crack again and finally realized why she looked familiar—it was because this woman looked like Gong Li.
"Hey, young man, what are you doing there?" The person who looked like Gong Li didn't open the door for him, but a burly man walked out from the neighboring house.
Seeing someone come out, Wang Xu suppressed his surprise at seeing Gong Li and told the burly man about his intention to buy a house.
Unexpectedly, the burly man was overjoyed upon hearing this. He grabbed him and asked, "I want to sell my house. How much are you offering? I'll just sell it to you."
"And you are?" Wang Xu then noticed that although the burly man wasn't wearing a shirt, he was wearing military boots.
The burly man didn't hesitate. He pointed to his own front door and replied, "I'm Meng Sanyuan, a company commander in the Second Company of the Third Regiment of the New Republic of China Government. Our unit is being transferred to Jinan, so I'm in a hurry to sell this house! Of course, even though I'm in a hurry, the price can't be low; otherwise, I'd rather not sell."
"So it's Brother Meng. We can talk about the price. First, let me ask you, this household is..." Wang Xu shifted the conversation and pointed to the house of the Gong Li look-alike.
Wang Xu was certain this person who looked like Gong Li wasn't actually Gong Li, but a character from some TV series or movie.
However, Gong Li didn't seem to have acted in any war dramas, so it could only be a movie. This left Wang Xu guessing for a while.
"Oh, you mean that family!" Meng Sanyuan hesitated for a moment before saying, "That's Wealthy's home. In '37, when the garrison retreated from Tianjin, they were pressing men into service as they left. They took Xu Fugui away, leaving behind only a widow and her child."
"Xu Fugui!" Wang Xu frowned slightly and asked, "What is his wife's name?"},{
"Xu Jiazhen..."
Wang Xu muttered the two names. They felt familiar, but the impression wasn't very deep.
After thinking for a while and coming up with nothing, Wang Xu temporarily set the question aside and began discussing the house purchase with Meng Sanyuan.
The unit Meng Sanyuan belonged to was part of the Puppet Army, and they were ordered to Jinan for a change of station. He didn't know if they would ever return. Therefore, he was leaving in a hurry this time, taking everything he could and planning to sell everything he couldn't.
When asked the price, it was sixty Silver Dollars.
Wang Xu went inside to take a look. There were two main rooms, two side rooms, and a courtyard.
Such a price wasn't expensive, but it wasn't cheap either.
After all, Tianjin was now a Japanese-occupied area. Food prices were soaring while property prices were plummeting; one only heard of people selling houses, but very few were buying.
After some bargaining, Wang Xu settled the deal with Meng Sanyuan for 50 Silver Dollars.
Before parting, Meng Sanyuan also pulled Wang Xu aside and whispered, "Brother, you've made a great deal this time. With that widow and child next door... Hehe!"
Seeing Meng Sanyuan's sleazy grin, Wang Xu asked in return, "You didn't get a taste of any sweetness?"
Hearing this, Meng Sanyuan looked very embarrassed, with a lingering sense of fear in his eyes. Clearly, he hadn't gained any advantage.
Wang Xu chuckled inwardly. It seemed this widow and child weren't easy targets; even a Puppet Army company commander like Meng Sanyuan hadn't succeeded.
Of course, one could also see from this that although Meng Sanyuan was in the Puppet Army, his character wasn't bad. Otherwise, if a Puppet Army company commander really wanted to make a move, a widow like Wealthy's wife wouldn't be able to do anything no matter how much she resisted.
"Gong Li!" After seeing Meng Sanyuan off, Wang Xu stood at the door. To say he had no thoughts at all would definitely be a lie.
Just as Wang Xu was returning to the house, he suddenly noticed a stunningly beautiful face peering over the top of the wall, secretly watching him.