flstandardbreds Chapter 271 Beef Bone
Chapter 271 Beef Bone
When Yan Xun returned to the market, he spotted Shu Fan carrying a rabbit.
Yan Xun glanced at the plump rabbit, about half an arm's length long, then looked at Shu Fan, "Are you doing this for the food or...?"
"Eat." Shu Fan said succinctly.
Yan Xun gave a thumbs up.
"Did you see any stalls selling pet supplies at the market?"
"Does your goldfish need pet supplies?" Shu Fan asked, puzzled. "We're only staying in this instance for 15 days."
"No, I'm planning to buy some dog treats so I can find something to talk about with the neighbor who's walking his dog," Yan Xun explained his motive directly.
Shu Fan nodded and pointed in a certain direction, "I remember there was a pet supplies stall over there."
After thanking him, Yan Xun prepared to leave, but then he saw Shu Fan following him.
"Let's keep it alive before we eat it," Shu Fan said, carrying the iron cage containing the giant rabbit. She then said to Yan Xun, "I won it by tossing rings."
She followed Yan Xun, saying, "This market really has everything."
"Your uncle didn't come with you?"
"There are a lot of people here, and the roads are narrow, so it's not very convenient to move around." Yan Xun looked at the stalls. "I just took him back."
"What about you?" Yan Xun looked at her. "You didn't participate in any activities with Duan Songen."
“We didn’t know each other before,” Shu Fan said. “We just happened to be assigned to the same family.”
Therefore, it is normal for them to act separately now.
"And you?" she asked. "Have you and Lou Yanchuan known each other for a long time?"
"I feel that you two have a great understanding."
"Us?" Yan Xun wanted to ask her where she saw the tacit understanding between herself and Lou Yanchuan, but she was afraid of hearing the answer "I can see the tacit understanding between you two with both eyes", so she could only answer her other question, "No, I only met him in the dungeon before last".
“The previous dungeon.” Shu Fan calculated the number of times Yan Xun had cleared the dungeon, “That’s the third dungeon.”
She assessed Lou Yanchuan's strength in her mind. Since he was the third one she encountered in the dungeon, he shouldn't be too strong.
Duan Songen had previously discussed with her the possibility that Lou Yanchuan's inability to walk might be due to character design or for balance in the game.
She hadn't paid attention to it before, but since she happened to be walking with Yan Xun at the moment, she asked about it.
Hearing Yan Xun say that they met during their third instance of the game, Shu Fan felt a little relieved.
Yan Xun naturally noticed Shu Fan's subtle emotional change. After thinking for a moment, he immediately understood what the other was thinking—he felt that Shu Fan's worries were completely understandable—if he didn't know Lou Yanchuan and was assigned to the same instance with him, he would also be wary of this person.
“We plan to visit Lin Wen this afternoon,” Shu Fan said.
"When I ran into them just now, I told Lin Wen again."
"Do you think she suspects you?" Yan Xun asked.
“I’m not sure either,” Shu Fan said.
After all, the characteristic of an NPC going out to work is quite obvious, and she was unsure whether Fang Shuo's lack of reaction was feigned or if he genuinely hadn't noticed.
As the two were talking, they arrived at the pet supplies stall.
On the shopkeeper's recommendation, Yan Xun bought some dog treats and said goodbye to Shu Fan before preparing to leave... but then he noticed Du Yun secretly waving at him from the corner.
Yan Xun: "?"
He looked back but didn't see any other players.
Pointing to himself, he asked, "Me?"
"Yes, yes, it's you." Du Yun whispered and waved vigorously.
Yan Xun approached Du Yun with a plastic bag of snacks. "What is it?"
"Look over there." Du Yun pulled Yan Xun to her side, making him hide a little.
Although Yan Xun didn't understand why Du Yun suddenly wanted to play hide-and-seek, he still hid behind Du Yun and watched as Du Yun pointed to Fang Shuo and Lin Wen, who were shopping over there.
"What do you mean?" Yan Xun asked.
"I just remembered, don't you think Lin Wen's profession is a bit off?" Du Yun said, somewhat slowly.
“We players are all homebodies, but Lin Wen is someone who goes outdoors every day.”
“Look at Zhugan, he also goes out to work every day.”
"That muscular guy is probably an NPC too."
Du Yun nervously said to Yan Xun, "Lin Wen is probably an NPC."
After he finished speaking, he immediately waited for Yan Xun's reaction.
Yan Xun... didn't react.
Du Yun was shocked. "Aren't you surprised!"
"I called you over because I heard that Shu Fan and the others are going to Lin Wen's house this afternoon."
"Then why didn't you tell Shu Fan?" Yan Xun asked, puzzled.
“I was worried that she wouldn’t be able to control her facial expressions and would immediately give away the fact that we knew Lin Wen was an NPC.”
Yan Xun: "..."
"Aren't you being a little too confident?" He looked at Du Yun. "Perhaps Shu Fan already knew about this."
Shu Fan was just buying supplies for raising rabbits when he turned around and saw Yan Xun and Du Yun whispering to each other in a corner of the market.
Seeing that she was looking over, Yan Xun waved to her, signaling her to come over.
Shu Fan walked over—
"He discovered that Lin Wen was an NPC." Yan Xun stated succinctly, getting to the point.
Du Yun was about to stop him, but seeing that Yan Xun had already spoken, he could only show a look of regret.
"You noticed it too?" Shu Fan asked, looking at Du Yun.
"…………?" Du Yun's expression stiffened. "You knew all along?"
Shu Fan then realized that Du Yun hadn't originally planned to tell her this. "Why are you keeping this information a secret?"
"You didn't say anything either!" Du Yun said. "If you knew in the first place, why didn't you tell us?"
Shu Fan watched as Du Yun pulled Yan Xun over, and she understood that Du Yun wanted to curry favor with Yan Xun. She found it increasingly ridiculous—didn't he even consider that Yan Xun didn't need him to curry favor?
It's understandable that Du Yun would bring up something he already knew and revisit it again and again.
“I’m worried that Big Mouth will inevitably go around telling everyone,” Shu Fan said. “I was originally planning to find out some information, but once Big Mouth starts talking, people will become wary.”
"I think so too."
"Do you think Fang Shuo knows?" Yan Xun interrupted the two of them and suddenly spoke up.
Shu Fan glanced at Fang Shuo, who was still happily shopping, and asked, "You probably don't know, right?"
"Otherwise, I feel I could compete for the Best Actor award."
“I think so too,” Du Yun agreed.
"If he knew and still went along with it, then I would really admire him."
"So now only Cun Tou and Fang Shuo don't know that Lin Wen is an NPC?" Du Yun asked.
“It should be.” Shu Fan nodded. “I tested the buzz cut guy, and he doesn’t seem to have realized that Lin Wen is an NPC.”
"But I have some doubts about the shirt."
"It's strange, why do some of our homes have NPCs while others don't?" Du Yun wondered. "I can understand it if I live alone, but I really don't have the space to arrange NPCs."
"Shouldn't one of you or Duan Songen be an NPC too?" He looked at Shu Fan, somewhat doubtful.
"But Yan Xun's family has three NPCs too," Shu Fan retorted. "Couldn't he have split the cost among us?"
"Do you think buying a house involves splitting the cost equally?"
"Aren't we just buying a house?"
Du Yun: "..."
Yan Xun: "..."
Shu Fan: "..."
The three exchanged a glance, and Yan Xun coughed. "I'm going to the neighbor's house where they walk their dog." He looked at the other two, "Are you going to Lin Wen's house or..."
“Then I’ll go with you to walk the dog at our neighbor’s house,” Du Yun said. “We both live in houses with black roofs, so I’ll go see if we have anything in common.”
Shu Fan proceeded with the original plan: "I'm going to Lin Wen's house."
The three of them were about to disperse when they reached this point, but perhaps because their target was somewhat conspicuous, Fang Shuo and Lin Wen still noticed the three people in the corner.
Fang Shuo waved his arms and greeted them, then came to this corner with Lin Wen. "Where did this rabbit come from?" Fang Shuo immediately saw the big fat rabbit that Shu Fan was carrying, as well as a plastic bag of hay and so on.
"I won it by ring toss," Shu Fan said.
Fang Shuo nodded, then noticed that Yan Xun also had a similar plastic bag, which looked to be from the same store as Shu Fan's.
He assumed it was fish food that Yan Xun had bought and didn't intend to ask any further questions. Lin Wen, however, looked at the plastic bag with interest. "Is this all fish food?"
"No." Yan Xun looked at her and opened the plastic bag. "Some dog treats."
Just as Fang Shuo was about to ask, Yan Xun explained why he bought the snacks.
“That’s a good idea,” Fang Shuo nodded. “I just don’t know what the other neighbors like, or if we can find topics to start conversations with.”
His words received no response from the others, and Du Yun even looked away somewhat guiltily.
Yan Xun could tell at a glance that Shu Fan and Du Yun had already figured out how to strike up a conversation with their neighbor, which was why they hadn't said anything.
Fang Shuo seemed to have noticed this as well, and didn't dwell on the topic any further.
They simply said they had finished browsing the market and were preparing to go home, asking Yan Xun and the others about their next plans.
Shu Fan was naturally going to visit Fang Shuo and Lin Wen's home. "I'll let Song En know," she said to Fang Shuo and Lin Wen. "See you in an hour."
Du Yun then decided to go with Yan Xun to the man's house where he was walking his dog.
Yan Xun didn't mind Du Yun following him—he just wanted to observe the characteristics of the residents with black roofs.
The group parted ways decisively.
Yan Xun and Du Yun walked together toward the exit of the market.
Yan Xun remembered the location of the house the man walking the dog pointed to. When Du Yun passed by a house with a black roof, he said, "This is my home."
Yan Xun glanced at it and noticed that the house with the black roof was smaller than the other houses.
“The house with the black roof looks even smaller,” Yan Xun said.
“Yes, it’s smaller,” Du Yun said. “Shu Fan’s kitchen is bigger than my living room.”
"She's a food blogger, so it's normal for her to be in the kitchen."
The man walking the dog lived not far from Du Yun's house. After walking for another 5 minutes, the two arrived at the black house.
Yan Xun rang the video doorbell next to the main gate.
After waiting for about ten seconds, the call was quickly answered, and the dog-walking man's voice came through the microphone to the two of them.
"Are you new neighbors...?" He hesitated, seemingly not understanding why Yan Xun and Du Yun were in front of his house.
“Yes,” Yan Xun said. “After he saw your puppy yesterday, he kept saying how cute it was.” He pointed to Du Yun beside him. “But he felt embarrassed to come alone and wanted me to come with him.”
“These are some snacks we bought,” Yan Xun said. “We bought them at the market.”
The man walking the dog didn't say anything for a moment, probably because he rarely saw such an abrupt neighbor. After a long while, he finally said, "Bengbeng is already very happy that you came to play with it."
He opened the iron gate outside, saying, "Come in first."
Yan Xun carried the plastic bag and walked into the dog walker's yard. Du Yun followed behind him, still looking like she was in a dream.
He had initially thought Yan Xun was incapable of speaking properly because he rarely spoke and often had a blank expression, with the occasional expression being a mocking one.
Unexpectedly, Yan Xun changed his personality as soon as he started doing a mission, and he could make up lies with ease. He could come up with a long string of reasons without having to think much.
He couldn't help but move closer to Yan Xun, "What did you do for a living before?"
"?" Yan Xun turned to look at him, then returned to his expressionless state. "Is this related to our mission?"
"It's okay, I'm just curious," Du Yun said. "Did you used to work in telemarketing?"
"Or are they selling cards?"
“I slaughter pigs,” Yan Xun said.
"Hmm?" Du Yun asked in surprise, "It doesn't look like it."
“What’s not like it?” Yan Xun retorted. “Those big, squealing pigs that I can slit in the throat with a single stroke.” He made a throat-slitting gesture as he spoke. “Like this, understand?”
Du Yun knew immediately that Yan Xun was mocking him, but he wasn't annoyed and chuckled, "Well, you've got quite a personality."
He now believes that Yan Xun must have some skills.
He understands that masters are often eccentric.
As the two were talking, the gate of the mansion opened, and the man walking the dog was already standing at the door with Bengbeng in his arms.
Yan Xun stepped forward and handed the plastic bag in his hand to the man walking the dog. "I bought it at the market. I don't know how it tastes."
The man walking the dog opened the package and glanced at it. "Bengbeng will definitely like it," he said, looking down at Bengbeng. "Right?"
Beng Beng responded with a few howls.
He accepted the snacks Yan Xun offered, thanked him profusely, and then invited the two of them into the room.
He put Bengbeng down, and Bengbeng immediately jumped onto the sofa and found a spot to settle down. Yan Xun and Du Yun walked a little slower, and Du Yun whispered to Yan Xun, "The living room is about the same size as my house."
"This house seems to be about the same size as my house."
The man walking his dog told them to sit wherever they wanted and offered them some drinks.
Yan Xun and Du Yun sat down next to Beng Beng, while Beng Beng nestled in a corner of the sofa, gnawing on a beef leg bone—the bone looked bigger than Beng Beng himself, and Du Yun couldn't help but take out her phone to take a picture.
Yan Xun also took out his phone and took a picture.
When the man walking his dog came out with drinks, he saw Yan Xun and his companion taking pictures.
Du Yun quickly said, "It's so cute! I couldn't resist taking a picture."
The dog walker nodded understandingly, "Actually, it's hard for Bengbeng to chew on, but it just likes such big bones."
Yan Xun leaned back on the sofa, zooming in on the footage he had just taken.
There were some dark red marks on one end of the bone, but because they overlapped with the dried muscles on the bone, they were not very noticeable, as if the marks were already there on the bone itself.