Chapter Twelve: The Golden Left Hand

  After the battle, the outside was in a mess. We had to go out and clean up the battlefield. Fortunately, there was Jin Chengwu. With a flick of his right hand, a dead zombie would be burned to ashes. Old Wu followed behind him. Every time Jin Chengwu incinerated a zombie, he would say: "May the deceased rest in peace, infinite respect."

  "I complained: 'Didn't you say that zombies wouldn't run towards crowded places? Why are there more and more of them?'"

  "I'm also unclear, it's indeed very strange."

  Old Wu said: "You say, will it be someone who is against us?"

  "Someone who can control zombies to attack others must be a master of evil cultivation. Have you offended someone like that?"

  Old Wu shook his head: "I've always been kind to others, and as the Tao Te Ching says, 'For only by not contending, can one have no opponents in the world.' Even if there are contradictions, I'll take a step back and let it go." I believe this about him, Old Wu is always smiling, I've never seen him lose his temper with anyone.

  Jin Chengwu asked Xiao Qian: "How about you?"

  Xiao Qian murmured: "My magical powers are weak, how could I have such a formidable opponent?"

  Jin Chengwu nodded: "That's right."

  Then the three of them looked at me together...

  I burst out: "How did I offend the zombies? When a group of people holding machetes and shouting 'Kill him' are my enemies!"

  Jin Chengwu comforted himself, "It's okay, with Old Wu here, we can just play Plants vs. Zombies a few more times. Next time, we'll plant some watermelons on the rooftop and with Xiaoxian's Wind Control technique, we can take down all the zombies from that mountain!"

  I added, "After freezing in the fridge for a while, it's just an ice-throwing hand. Don't mention zombies, even if the demolition office comes, we have the strength to be a nail household." I thought that Tencent didn't come up with a knockoff of Plants vs. Zombies Demolition Office, maybe it could be a big hit...

  After sweeping the battlefield, I picked a clean cucumber from the vegetable field and ate it, saying: "I'm going to sleep, you guys cultivate - don't get too obsessed!"

  Jin Chengwu's face turned red as he said, "I also need to hurry up, I found that I was playing too much in the past, otherwise my left hand would have been able to do without a glove long ago."

  I said, "What's wrong with being able to turn stones into gold? Didn't Lü Dongbin's finger almost make the kid want to go?" This is still a simulated exam essay question from when I was in high school. It said that Lü Dongbin saw a poor family's child living a very difficult life, so he turned two pieces of stone into gold and gave them to him. Seeing the child still looking unhappy, he asked what else he wanted. The result was the child pointing at Lü Dongbin's finger and saying: "I want your fingers." The teacher who made up the question asked us to write an essay praising the child for being self-reliant and not relying on others based on this story. I thought to myself, isn't this just pretending? This is obviously a kid who is shameless and has no qualms about asking for more! If I were Lü Dongbin, I would beat him up!

  Old Wu said: "What Old Jin meant was that it's convenient to be able to control things at will. Now if he has to take off his gloves and touch something for it to turn into gold, it's not very convenient."

  "Ah, yes. My left hand is still okay, but my right hand is even more exaggerated. I want to shake hands with people, it's like murder. Several times, because of this, when our donkey friends go out to play, I meet beautiful single female donkey friends, but nothing happens. How can a girl like a boyfriend who can't even hold hands?"

  I wickedly thought: Fortunately, nothing happened, and the key was not in my right hand. If Jin Chengwu really got intimate with a girl, wouldn't that part of the girl's body become golden at the critical moment? I even more wickedly thought: In fact, Jin Chengwu can't get intimate with girls, which is not the key point, the most pitiful thing is that he can't... You understand.

  Jin Chengwu saw me staring blankly and asked: "Little Dragon, what are you thinking about?"

  I hastily put on a serious face and said: "I just want to ask you one question."

  "What?"

  "What would happen if you applaud?" I find myself thinking about classical philosophical ideas lately, Lü Dongbin just raised his finger, and the paradoxical allusion that comes to mind is - is it the left hand turning the right hand into gold or the right hand dissolving the left hand...

  Jin Chengwu was taken aback and suddenly said: "What are you thinking? I am of course immune to myself!"

  Lao Wu and Xiao Qian burst out laughing.

  I rushed upstairs to sleep, so to speak, Jin Chengwu is not pitiful either, at least he can... you know what I mean.

  ……

  The next morning, someone was knocking on my door again, accompanied by angry shouts: "Long Yangyang, do you want to starve me to death?"

  It's Gao Xiaowei, she basically didn't eat well all day yesterday, and this woke her up from hunger.

  "I yawned and said: 'You go downstairs first, I'll wash my face and then take you out for breakfast.'"

  After I finished washing up and went downstairs, apart from Gao Xiaowei, those three were all there. Gao Xiaowei was already dressed neatly, carrying her originally bulging but now empty backpack: "I don't have any snacks left, after eating breakfast you must accompany me to the supermarket."

  I asked those three: "Does anyone of you have something to buy?"

  Old Wu shook his head and then said: "You have fruits that you like to eat, buy some back and I'll help you plant them."

  "Come on, let's go together! I'm sick of eating instant noodles!"

  I asked Xiao Qian: "How about you?"

  Xiao Qian asked timidly: "What is a supermarket?"

  Before she finished speaking, Gao Xiaowei said with a big smile: "Of course Little Qian will go with us."

  Jin Chengwu patted Lao Wu and said: "It's boring for one person to stay alone, let's go together."

  Old Wu hesitated, "If I go, there's really nothing I need to buy. I don't need anything for food, drink or daily expenses..." Finally, he made up his mind and said, "I'll go with you guys after all. It's been years since I last entered the city."

  "How can so many people walk?"

  I said: "This definitely can't be hailed as a taxi, take the bus."

  Gao Xiaowei pouted and was the first to leave.

  Go north for 500 meters, that is the terminal of bus No. 24, which is also the route I was struck by lightning, and even now when I see the "24" on the front of the bus, I still feel a little pain...

  Because it was the starting station, we all sat down and I turned around to tell Old Wu and the others: "The train ticket money was all paid by me, remember to settle accounts when we get back."

  Old Wu smiled and said: "Wait for me to sell the dishes and I'll return it to you."

  Xiao Qian stared blankly out of the window, it was her first time taking a bus.

  "Quickly move out of his hotel, have you ever seen such a stingy person?!"

  ……

  It was already past 10 o'clock when the car entered the city center, and most of the breakfast stalls had withdrawn. After getting off the bus, we only found a shop selling meat pie noodles, and Gao Xiaowei saw a piece of meat pie as if she had seen her mother, excitedly shouting: "Give me two!"

  Except for Old Wu, each of us ate two meat pies and drank two bowls of noodle soup. With our chests out and bellies full, we walked out. Gao Xiaowei patted her belly contentedly and said, "How come I never knew meat pies were so delicious?"

  "Let's go shopping." Right across is a Jia Le Fu supermarket.

  Jin Chengwu suddenly said: "Wait a minute, is there a gold shop nearby?"

  "What are you doing?"

  "I'll make some money."

  Old Wu pointed out: "Isn't there a gold store under the supermarket?" It turned out that under Jialefu was a jewelry store, which is one of our local well-known Jin Yang, and it's also a chain store.

  I whispered: "You don't want to rob me, do you?"

  Jin Chengwu hehe smiled: "Do I still need to rob? I want them to obediently give me the money." As he said, he lowered his head and searched around.

  "What are you looking for?"

  "Find a suitable one... got it!" Jin Chengwu said, picking up a brick on the roadside. I was shocked and said, "You're not really going to use this to rush in and rob, are you?"

  Gao Xiao and Wei had already crossed the road, turned back impatiently and said: "What are you dawdling for? Hurry up!"

  I wiped the sweat and said, "You go with Xiaoxian to the 2nd floor first." I pulled Jin Chengwu back, "You must calm down, it's not those years anymore. There are cameras everywhere, if you rob me, won't you be finished?"

  Jin Chengwu ignored me, weighing the brick in his hand, seemingly deep in thought. "This is indeed a bit exaggerated," he said, knocking off more than half of it on the ground. Only then did he nod in satisfaction, "This is about right, let's go."

  I wanted to say something else, but Old Wu just chuckled and pulled me along, saying nothing, and followed Jin Chengwu into the gold shop.

  In the gold shop, apart from a few female employees, there was also a male manager wearing glasses. Seeing us three big men walking in, and not looking like rich people, he lazily greeted: "Everyone take a look around?"

  Jin Chengwu smiled and said, "I'm selling something." He put the half brick on the counter, and I quickly pulled down my collar and lowered my head - the camera was right in front of me.

  The leader slowly adjusted his glasses and said, "You sell..." Then his eyes suddenly bulged out of their sockets, staring blankly at the brick.

  At some point, that brick had turned into a glittering gold block - a gold brick!

  Old Wu then smiled and whispered to me: "Have you forgotten Old Jin's golden left hand?"

  I suddenly realized that I had forgotten all about it in my hurry earlier! I quickly put down the collar and said with a flourish, "We're in a rush, can you weigh it for me?"

  The leader still had an eye for it, hastily putting on white gloves, carefully picking up the brick and exclaiming: "Gold brick..."

  I chuckled: "This is a genuine gold brick!"

  The leader held the brick and was stunned for a while, then quickly took out a blowtorch and pressed out a deep blue flame, turning the brick over and over again to roast it tirelessly. His eyes also became brighter: "Qian Zu Jin!"

  Jin Xiang Wudao: "Can't I still cheat you?"

  "But this isn't something our store made, is it?"

  "I said: 'Nonsense, your store isn't a brick kiln.'"

  The leader locked his neck and said to Jin Chengwu: "The quality is not bad, but... why is there only half a brick? Where's the other half?" This brick was casually knocked off by Jin Chengwu. At first glance, it looked like a mess of dog teeth overlapping each other, and at a glance, you could tell that it was originally an integral whole.

  Jin Chengwu casually said: "That half, throw it away."

  The leader's eyes widened even more, I really wanted to tell him that half of it was just outside the door...

  Jin Chengwu knocked on the table and said: "If there's no problem, let's settle the bill. I'm waiting to spend money."

  The leader humbly said: "Alright, this will do." On the other hand, he muttered to himself, "Such a good thing, how can it be so rough?"

  It weighs 421.2 grams, almost a kilogram!

  "The price of our gold is 275 per gram, your gold brick weighs 421.2 grams, so that's... " The manager pressed the calculator and finally announced the result, "One million five thousand eight hundred thirty!"

  Those female shop assistants looked at Jin Chengwu with eyes full of adoration...

  Jin Chengwu stretched out his hand: "Give me money."

  The leader started using a bill counter to count the money one by one, and I habitually thought of inserting a business card into that pile of money...

  When the leader handed over a dozen bundles of money, Jin Chengwu casually threw them into his bag and waved his hand: "Let's go."

  The female shop assistants saw each other off with red hearts.

  As I walked to the entrance of the store, I saw the leader carefully shaking off the gold powder stuck on his gloves onto a piece of paper - probably worth over a hundred dollars.

  "Alright, let's just say today was all on me!" Jin Chengwu patted his bag and said as he walked out the door.

  I clenched my fists and exclaimed, "It's too damn exciting! I'm more than willing to hang out with you guys!" Although I'm not poor, I'm also not rich enough to pick up a brick and get a book bag full of money! I have a tiny stake in the BaoHua Group, and every year the dividend is about as much as a small white-collar worker in the city would make. That's still thanks to Aunt Meng being generous, if my dad hadn't gone in back then, I wouldn't have had a single cent.

  "Come on, let's go shopping!" he said with a smile, asking me "What do you want?"

  I stammered: "I want your left hand."

  ……

  Division line

  Forget it, this time I really used a calculator, and it's absolutely right!

  Re-divide and re-split

  Thank you for your votes and rewards, Xiaohua is clumsy with words, won't say cheesy things, only more or less to say, currently writing very smoothly. Originally, after finishing the demon book, I felt that I had reached a bottleneck period of not being able to connect with readers, it was all of you who warmed me up again, but the side effect is that speaking and doing things has started to be out of tune again... those days, I was steady and serious...

  Still divided still separated

  There's still one more thing at night, dinner!