Chapter 138: 18 North Bookstore Street

Bookstore Street is a relatively bustling commercial district in Kaifeng’s old city. I’m not someone who likes going out; in modern terms, I’m a bit of a homebody. I prefer staying in my room tinkering with things. Coming to Kaifeng was purely for school, and I don’t like wandering around aimlessly. So, I’ve never been to this North Bookstore Street on the address and don’t know anything about it.

I had no classes in the afternoon, so I put on my glasses and fiddled with my phone and maps at home, hoping to gather some information about the area mentioned in the address. I discovered that this area should be full of old, immovable buildings, some from the Republican era and some more recent, but they are all classified as dangerous structures and can no longer be inhabited.

Arranging a meeting in a place like this, full of condemned buildings where no one lives anymore, doesn’t seem like someone genuinely wanting to buy a painting. It feels more like someone preparing to kill and rob at any moment. But deep down, I wasn’t really that scared. Liang Zicheng is actually a very timid person; he probably wouldn’t be capable of murder.

But I couldn’t be so sure about the boss he mentioned.

“Is this safe? Do you want me to go with you?” Lu A’yao asked, walking over after seeing me sprawled over the coffee table in the living room all afternoon.

So, this guy was eavesdropping at lunch. But he didn’t ask about it on the way back, so I thought he wasn’t particularly concerned about the matter and didn’t plan to get involved. It seems now he does care about whether his landlord lives or dies.

I took off my glasses, wiped the lenses with a tissue, and shook my head. “You sleep. I’ll go by myself after dinner tonight. I can handle this level on my own.”

Lu A’yao sat down on the sofa behind me and added, “That place isn’t very populated.”

I turned my head and gave him a smile. “I know. I just checked. But I still have to go alone. Didn’t you tell me before that I’m already being watched? Liang Zicheng suddenly came to me with this today. My gut feeling is that the boss behind this might be the same group of people who are watching me. So, what he told me at noon is most likely false. Their goal is to lure me to this address.”

“I want to fish. So I’ll go alone. That way, I won’t scare the snake in the grass. They’re very cautious. If you come along, they might not show up at all. If I’m wrong, and the boss sincerely wants to buy the painting, then doing this business isn’t a loss for me either.”

Hearing me say this, Lu A’yao, for once, sat on the sofa and thought for a while before finally saying, “Whether you let me follow or not, I probably won’t be sleeping much tonight. Charge your phone fully. If you feel anything is off, call me immediately.”

“Alright,” I shrugged, turned back, folded the map on the table and put it away, plugged in my phone to charge, picked up the remote, and started watching TV.

Three hours later, I arrived at North Bookstore Street at the originally agreed-upon time. By nine o’clock, the street where I was headed was already pretty empty. With my bag slung over one shoulder, I started going door-to-door, looking for the “Number 18” address written on the note.

The further I walked along the street, the fewer people there were around. Eventually, the empty street was left with only a few streetlights for illumination. Finally, I completely left the bustling section behind and entered those narrow alleys built with bricks.

This area was basically uninhabited. At night, it was pitch black. The surroundings were all old buildings from the Republican era, with some partially demolished dangerous structures mixed in. The buildings were packed quite close together, giving off a rather ancient and dilapidated feel. The glass windows were broken, and the atmosphere was gloomy and eerie.

Using my phone as a flashlight, I searched for a long time and finally found the doorplate marked “17.” I quickened my pace and walked forward, reaching another doorway. But that building was half-demolished. I squinted and looked closely. The old, worn doorplate clearly read “19.”

What was going on? Did I walk too fast and miss number 18?

So, I went back to look. I discovered that after door number 17, the next one was indeed number 19. The doorplate was pitch black, and I could barely make it out with my phone’s light. At that moment, I only regretted not bringing my glasses.

Standing between the two old doorways, scratching my head, I could see there was indeed a significant gap in the wall between them. But it really was just a wall—no door, not even a window. I went up and knocked on it. It was solid as hell.

By this point, I had basically completely ruled out the possibility of any legitimate painting-buying boss. Only a ghost would come here to look at a painting.

This wall looked shaky and didn’t seem like it was made of very sturdy stone. Just as I was hesitating, wondering if I should find something to chisel a hole in the wall and climb through, someone came running towards me from the mouth of the alley, waving at me as he ran.

“Gan Ji! Gan Ji, over here!” Liang Zicheng ran over, grabbed my wrist, and started pulling me in another direction, deeper into the alley. “I’ve been looking for you forever! What are you doing here? This building faces a different direction than the others. The door is over here!”

I was suspicious, but I followed him anyway, wanting to see what trick this kid was really up to.

We went around that section of buildings, and behind it was a half-demolished, abandoned construction site, with stone fragments scattered everywhere. I followed him as he climbed over the rubble, passing through the debris. Hidden among the ruins, I found a very low, arched doorway. A black plaque was hung on the building’s wall, which read: “Kaifeng Immovable Cultural Relic, Serial Number 001, Xinchang Bank Vault.”

I glanced at the locked doorway and asked him, “Where’s the boss you mentioned?”

Hearing the coldness in my tone, Liang Zicheng was slightly taken aback. Then he started stammering, “Uh, this… this… I’m not really sure either. He definitely said to bring you here. I don’t know why there’s no one here. That guy is pretty strange. Hey, do you think… could he be inside?”

As he spoke, his hand naturally pointed towards the dark doorway. I glanced at the doorway, while my peripheral vision caught Liang Zicheng not looking at it but instead carefully watching me. I instantly realized he was deliberately trying to guide my attention to the doorway, forcing me to focus on what he was pointing at.

I remained calm, swung my bag back, and actually bent down to peer into the doorway. I touched the door—it was covered in dust. A large lock hung from it.

At that moment, I heard a rush of wind behind me. My body reacted instantly, sidestepping and taking a quick backward step. With a dull clang, Liang Zicheng, who had swung a wooden club at me, missed completely and rammed headfirst into the big padlock on the door. He grimaced in pain, hissing through his teeth.

I stood to the side, shrugged off my backpack, and casually picked up a club of similar size from the rubble. I hefted it a couple of times, then grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him out to an open area in the ruins. He was hauled along the ground for over ten meters, yelping and moaning the whole way.

“Goddamn it, you tricked me, didn’t you?” I seized Liang Zicheng by the front of his shirt, slammed him onto the ground, and threw a punch straight at his face.

The blow instantly bloodied his nose. He was so stunned he forgot to fight back, just frantically covering his face with his hands. We weren’t in a tomb anymore, and I was afraid of actually injuring him and getting sued for medical bills, so I held back my strength. Still, I managed to give him a proper black eye and a swollen face.

My own knuckles were scraped raw. I hauled him up from the ground again and threatened him with the club.

“Talk. Who sent you? Sneak attacking me from behind, huh? What, didn’t realize you little shit actually wanted to kill me?”

He dodged the tip of the club, snot and tears streaming down his face, apologizing profusely. “No, no, big brother, I was wrong! I just… I just wanted to knock you out. I didn’t expect you to react so fast!”

I moved the club a little closer to him.

“I-I-I… I was wrong, I lied to you! I’ll tell you everything, just stop hitting me! It was me… I stole a few of your finished paintings from the studio a while back and sold them. I posted them online and someone bought them for a high price.”

I had noticed a few of my paintings missing, but I hadn’t paid it much mind. The studio could get pretty crowded sometimes, and easels and drawers were often shared. I figured a classmate might have taken them by mistake; it wasn’t unheard of.

So it was this bastard who stole and sold them?!

Suppressing my anger, I jabbed the club towards his face. “Keep talking.”

Liang Zicheng’s words tumbled out faster. “Then… then that person said he had a bigger deal he could do with me, that he wanted my help. He said he knew you, knew I stole things and sold your paintings. He said as long as I helped him, he wouldn’t expose me. Those paintings sold for way too much… if I got sued, I’d have a criminal record! I… I didn’t want that!”

“And then? What did he tell you to do?” I asked.

Liang Zicheng wailed, “He told me to call you out here at this specific time! Then… then I was supposed to knock you out and drag you into number 18 North Bookstore Street. He said he’d give me a hundred thousand yuan after it was done. I thought… I thought you two had some grudge! You’re always acting pretty cocky anyway, so I figured he just wanted to teach you a lesson! That’s why I agreed! How was I supposed to know you’d react so fast?!”

Frustration completely consumed me at that moment. I let him go. Liang Zicheng’s legs gave way, and he crumpled to the ground right in front of me.

I stood there, pointing the club at him and cursing. “Are you fucking insane?! Are you actually insane?! Do you have no brain? Didn’t you think for a second? The door in that archway is locked! There is one and only one door! Even if you had knocked me out, how the hell were you supposed to drag me inside with the door still locked?!”

“He was using you! With your measly strength, you can’t even hold something steady. He never thought you could actually knock me out. His whole purpose in using you was to lure me here! He probably even wanted me to go into that damn archway!”

I was practically going insane from the sheer stupidity of this guy’s thought process.