"Hello."
Zhou Jinru nodded towards him.
The thin young man was a little afraid of strangers, but he still stood up from outside the wall and asked in a low voice: "Do you really want to live here?"
"Is there something wrong here?"
While Zhou Jinru was talking, he reached out and picked up the teapot from the table. As expected, there was nothing in it, so he could only sigh: "I originally wanted to treat you to a cup of tea, but now there's not even tea."
"I don't drink tea, I can't get used to it."
The thin young man said a few words, no longer so timid, and his voice became normal.
"Well, the landlord really wants to charge you six hundred yuan in rent?"
"Yes, it can still be fake, and I won't accept a dollar less."
The young man was silent for a few seconds and said sincerely: "It's great to have money. When can I be as rich as you?"
Zhou Jinru smiled and didn't know whether to say that the young man in front of him lacked social experience or that he was quite innocent and did not continue the topic.
"I saw you are a painter, where do you supply your work?"
The thin young man looked embarrassed and shook his head quickly: "No, I am a freelancer now, but my manuscripts will definitely sell for a lot of money."
When Zhou Jinru heard this, he suddenly realized that he was originally a cartoonist, but he had not yet found his own development direction, so much so that he owed rent, and it was thanks to the landlord's stubbornness that he did not let him pack up and get out.
Moreover, the rooms on the third floor are spacious and bright, with excellent lighting. They are not as mixed as the first floor. The monthly rent of 250 yuan can be said to be a philanthropic one.
"Oh, when I walk this land, my code name is Mr. Four, so you call me that."
The thin young man didn't care what Zhou Jinru's name was, and said with a shy smile: "I'm very happy to have chatted with Mr. Fourth for so long. My name is Murata Shigeru, and I want to be a famous painter by profession."
"Are you from Dongguo?"
"yes."
Zhou Jinru exclaimed: "I can't hear the slightest bit of Dongguo's accent in your Longmen dialect."
"Because I have lived in Longmen since I was very young."
Murata Shigeru suddenly started talking. Zhou Jinru guessed that it was because he was creating alone, suffering from the inability to achieve success, and no one to talk to, so he was so enthusiastic.
The young man from Dongguo said sorry, ran out quickly, and came back not long after, holding a pile of drawings in his hands.
"Mr. Fourth, these are my creations. They can probably be bound into three volumes. Unfortunately, I haven't found a publisher in Longmen yet. Maybe I will never have the chance again."
Zhou Jinru flipped through two pages. The general content was a story about a ghost tribe from the Eastern Kingdom who went on adventures and made friends in order to prove himself.
There may be a market twenty years from now, but now Longmen is in urgent need of re-formulating its rules, and there are a lot of wavering local nobles. The financial crisis in Terra has begun to show signs of crisis, and it has not yet attracted the attention of other countries, and Longmen has not yet emerged. Later, the famous Longmen coin only had design drawings and samples, so Murata Shigeru's wish was probably difficult to realize.
"Murata, why do you say you have no chance?"
"I have been living in Longmen for a long time. I received a letter from my father some time ago. A family uncle will take me back to the Eastern Kingdom in the next few days."
The young man from Dongguo lowered his head in depression. Zhou Jinru felt that if there was wine here, he would definitely have the bitter wine go down his throat and feel pain in his heart.
"It's not a bad thing to go back. You said you live in Longmen. How long have you not seen your family?"
"That's right."
After seeing off Murata Shigeru, Zhou Jinru packed up his room, left the apartment building, and entered the downtown area through the night.
There was a big difference between Longmen in 1077 and twenty years later. It lacked a lot of modern infrastructure, but it had more human flavor.
The hot pot restaurant on the street facing the main road was packed with seats. The large pots filled with light mist were boiling with boiling water. The diners were holding chopsticks, sweating profusely while eating, and their mouths were filled with the aroma of spicy oil.
Zhou Jinru squeezed into the store and finally found a seat. Since he was alone, he shared a table with three other people.
"Have you heard? Today, the big guys from various societies were invited to drink tea by the police station. There are rumors that a Guards Bureau will be established. The people nominated are all experts with great skills, and Senior Brother Qin Han is also among them. .”
"Senior Brother Qin and Han is so famous. He can chain seven Ursus strongmen with a pair of fists. He is number one in Longmen. He must be here. Maybe it is the Guards Bureau established by Chief Wei in order to win over the martial arts association."
Zhou Jinru ate the meat in mouthfuls and tasted the special flavor. The three people sitting opposite him turned into critics and recounted the recent events in Longmen in detail, which was even more exciting than the listening and speaking books.
However, they also made many mistakes.
For example, the purpose of Wei Yanwu's establishment of the Guards Bureau was to consolidate his own dominance, rather than to win over the local clan forces in Longmen. The ambitious Chief Wei even regarded these local snakes as enemies that needed to be eradicated. The specific reason is also very simple, because quite a few of them When Yan Guo and Ursus were fighting for the dragon gate, they wavered between the two countries, completely forgetting that they were from Yan Guo.
The other is the true influence of the Qin and Han eldest brothers. Li Nan's status in the world was extremely prosperous for a while, and he was recognized as the number one in Longmen. However, in front of the real ruler Wei Yanwu, he was just a gangster, and it was even more impossible to enter the Guards Bureau. , the so-called invitation is actually more of a beating.
In fact, Li Nan's strength is higher than Chen Huijie's.
In the past, Zhou Jinru didn't know enough about personal strength and had a vague understanding of senior operators, but today, he can basically figure out where the boundaries are.
That year at the Longmen Penguin Logistics transfer station, Huaihu almost lost the battle against two members of the Deep Sea Council. Mostema easily suppressed them with the advantage of Origin Stone skills. Li Nan killed one of them in two rounds with a spear. , and the other was killed by the Rat King during his escape.
Such a beautiful record cannot be achieved by Chen Huijie.
But Chen Huijie joined the Guards Bureau as an inspector right out of school. She was also the boss of the veteran Xing Xiong and had wronged Sir Xing. She was willing to work as her deputy and work hard without complaint.
Later he was promoted to Chief of the Guards, and it was Old Wei who single-handedly helped him. The position of Chief of the Guards originally belonged to Old Wei. This move was from the left hand to the right hand, and had nothing to do with the grades Chen Huijie handed in.
It's not that Chen Huijie is inferior to her colleagues, it's just that she flies too fast, faster than a rocket, but her own strength cannot keep up, so she will inevitably be criticized.
After spitting out the bones in his mouth, Zhou Jinru wiped his mouth with satisfaction. It was already past nine o'clock in the evening when he left the hot pot restaurant.
When I returned to my residence, the lights on the third floor were on. It seemed that Murata was still struggling.
When Zhou Jinru walked to the door of his house, he passed by a man of medium height. Due to the lack of light, he could not see the other person's face clearly. But when he took out the key to unlock the door, the two men turned around almost at the same time. , under the dim light, the other party was also staring at his face.
"Did I read that correctly?"
"I don't think so."
"Oh my God, it's really you!"
"where's your wife?"
The man of medium height took two steps closer and said helplessly: "You guy, can you stop greeting other people's wives as soon as you meet them?"
"Don't get me wrong, this is Yan Guo's special way of greeting..."
"I'm also half Yanguo, do you think I'm a fool?!"
Whoosh!
A slipper flew from the depths of darkness and hit the wall between the two people. Then the landlord's voice came: "What are you doing if you don't sleep at night?!"
Zhou Jinru held his chin, opened the door, and happily invited his old friend in. He took out a water glass and poured him a cup of tea.
"Xiao Lin, we haven't seen each other for many years, right?"
The medium-sized man sitting opposite is Xiaolin Zongxin. He looks very different from the one Zhou Jinru saw in 1996. First of all, his long flowing hair has been cut short, and his beard has been neatly trimmed. The whole person looks very capable.
The most important thing is that he didn't bring the long knife.
"Mr. Fourth had a hard time hiding it from us. He was playing riddles with Kelsey. Linlang said you looked familiar. I didn't believe it. I didn't expect it was really you."
"The circumstances were special at that time, and I had no choice but to do so. Xiaolin, why did you appear in Longmen?"
"how about you?"
Zhou Jinru said seriously: "I'm here for fun, I can come and go as I please."
Xiao Lin Zongxin said with envy: "I am not as carefree as you."
"Why, I remember Linlang said that you are a ranger and are at home all over the world, but now you are not free?"
"The civil war in the East has been going on for many years. It has been more than ten years since the war was finally quelled. Now the confrontation between the North and the South is becoming increasingly tense. Linlang and I built a school in the East to take in orphans who lost their parents due to the war. We couldn't get away from it. I came to Longmen this time to seek some help in educational resources.”
When he said this, Xiaolin Zongxin paused and pointed behind him: "Another purpose is to bring back my nephew who is living abroad."
When Zhou Jinru saw Xiao Lin, he had been speculating about his relationship with Murata Shigeru. This was confirmed without any surprise. After all, there was only one Dongguo native living on the third floor. Xiao Lin had no reason to show up except to come to him.
"So that's it. I thought people like you didn't care about blood ties for a long time."
Xiao Lin Zongxin sighed: "Human beings are not grass and trees. Even after a hundred years, we still cannot forget them."
He raised the cup and drank it all in one gulp. After exhaling, he asked, "Mr. Fourth, is there anything important happening recently?"
There is obviously something in Xiaolin's words.
Zhou Jinru put down the cup in his hand and narrowed his eyes:
"It's okay. If you have something to say, just tell me. No need to be polite."
"Help me protect a person and never let her get hurt in the slightest. This matter is no small matter, but the incoming enemy is not clear yet and it is quite difficult. I don't worry about finding anyone else. If you are here, I can rest easy."
Zhou Jinru suddenly became interested and lowered his voice: "Who is the person you want to protect?"
"Princess Wenyue."
