Ke Xun, Wei Dong, Cao Youning, Fang Fei, Luo Yu, and Xin Chun, the five of them and their dog, arrived at the shops and market downstairs.
Ke Xun quickly divided them into two groups: "Fang Fei, Dongzi, and Cao Youning, you guys stay here at the market. Luo Bo and I will go to the shops over there. We'll meet here in about an hour."
Cao Youning said, "There's no time on my phone, how am I supposed to tell an hour?" He looked around, "This big square doesn't even have a clock."
Time was indeed a problem. Fang Fei said, "Each group should find out as soon as possible. The group that finishes the task first will wait here."
"Alright," Wei Dong looked around. "That's the only way. Oh, and let's buy lunch while we're at it, it should be noon."
The surrounding area was brightly lit, and the fog outside the window was thick with gray, making it impossible to determine the direction of the sun and therefore impossible to know the approximate time.
Cao Youning immediately nodded, "Let's buy lunch quickly, I'm starving!"
Everyone was a little hungry, and now they could only judge the time by how well their stomachs were digesting, more primitive than cavemen.
After dividing into groups, Ke Xun and Luo Jin headed towards the row of shops.
"Brother, did you bring any money?" Luo Jin followed behind Ke Xun, with Xin Chun trailing behind like a little tail.
"I took some money from my bag," Ke Xun said, touching his purse. "The currency here should be universal; the bill shows I spent some money at Denglv."
"A bill?! Brother, you keep track of your expenses?" Luo Jin was surprised, feeling this habit was completely out of character for Ke Xun.
"I never keep track of my expenses, but I have a simple bill in my purse, and it's in my handwriting." Ke Xun still couldn't understand this and planned to talk to Mu Yiran about it later. "When we get back, you should also carefully examine the things in your bag. I feel like Hua hasn't fully grasped everyone's habits."
The two walked and talked. Ahead was a tailor shop; they probably didn't have what they wanted to buy, but Ke Xun still went in to ask: "Boss, where can I buy a magnifying glass?"
"Only the caravans of the Brightness Brigade sell those rare goods." The old tailor, head down sewing, glanced at Ke Xun after a while, taking off his glasses. "This was bought from the merchants of those caravans."
Ke Xun himself was a member of the Brightness Brigade caravan, but unfortunately, his caravan only sold spices. "Master, when will those caravans selling magnifying glasses come again? Is it possible for our shops to get their supplies from them?"
After removing his glasses, the old tailor's eyes were somewhat sunken, with very obvious dark brown circles. At this moment, those eyes were fixed on Ke Xun, unblinking, his voice particularly gloomy: "When. When do you say when? Are you going to break a taboo? You've broken a taboo. You've broken a taboo."
Ke Xun didn't know which of his words had broken a taboo, and at this moment, he was forced to take two steps back by the old tailor's approaching steps.
Luo Tan was already terrified, but Xin Chun pretended to protect her master, making a few "woof woof woof" sounds.
The old tailor seemed to be awakened by the dog's bark. He took a breath, rubbed his eyes hard, and put his glasses back on. "Oh, young man, what did you just say?"
Ke Xun: I dare not say it now, I don't know which word I said was taboo...
The old tailor calmed himself down and thought for a moment. "Oh, oh, look at my memory, you mean magnifying glasses, right? Some shops in our Lantern Inn get their supplies from the merchants. There's a toy shop up ahead that seems to have magnifying glasses and telescopes. Go try your luck."
"Okay, thank you." Ke Xun and Luo Jin thanked him repeatedly and quickly went out.
"My God, brother, that scared me to death." Luo Jin's legs were weak.
Ke Xun was also startled, but quickly calmed down: "Tell me, what exactly did I say that was taboo? Was it the Light Brigade? But he clearly said 'Light Brigade' first."
Luo Jin, having only experienced one painting, was still shaken: "I remember Dong Ge telling me about those old NPCs. There was an old man who was like a broken record, who supposedly almost swallowed you all; another old man in a red vest in the mailroom; and a broadcasting old man who never showed himself, only an old voice saying: 'Don't pollute the colors!' Damn, I think that one is the scariest."
Ke Xun: That doesn't seem to be an old man...
Luo Jin: "I've experienced old NPCs before..."
Ke Xun felt somewhat relieved. The sudden mechanization of the NPCs made it seem that this painting wasn't as flawless as imagined. At least it made everyone understand the taboos of this world, which meant they weren't far from mastering the rules.
After walking past a few shops, they indeed saw a toy store, but the door was tightly closed.
The two had no choice but to ask their neighbor—a vendor selling mutton pies: "Boss, is the toy store next door closed?"
The mutton pie vendor replied, "Just closed, went back to sleep."
Luo Xun glanced at the flickering candlelight around him: "Going back to sleep?"
The mutton pie vendor said dismissively, "Just sleep when you're sleepy."
Ke Xun suddenly noticed that another shop next door was also preparing to close, and felt something was off: "Why are they all closing?"
"Just close when you want to sleep, there's no rule here that says we have to stay open all the time." The mutton pie vendor seemed a little annoyed that the two didn't seem to be interested in buying any mutton pies.
Ke Xun looked at the large mutton pie the vendor was baking, layered with fresh, grilled minced mutton, topped with pepper and fermented black beans—it looked incredibly tempting.
"How about we get this for lunch?" Ke Xun suggested.
Luo Xun was starving, and the aroma of the mutton pie was incredibly tempting: "Okay, this is it! I've never seen such a big mutton pie before!"
"Our Gulouzi is a famous dish of the Fourth Brigade! Everyone who comes to the Lantern Brigade has to try it!" The owner quickly became enthusiastic again. "This big one is enough for three men. How many do you two want? I'll cut them for you!"
Ke Xun did the math: "Four will do first."
"Alright!!" The owner's voice was incredibly loud; he hadn't expected to encounter such a big customer.
Ke Xun further smiled and said, "We're quite casual about opening and closing here. If we come back to buy from you again, will we be able to buy anything?"
After pondering all the way, Ke Xun seemed to vaguely understand what that 'taboo' really was.
Luo Jin hurriedly said, "Yes, boss, if it's delicious, we'll
eat your pancakes for dinner..." Ke Xun slapped Luo Jin hard, telling him to shut up immediately, and then said with a smile, "If it's delicious, we'll eat your pancakes every meal!"
The boss was very happy to hear this, "Don't worry about that, our shop only closes when the lights go out. As soon as the lights come on, we immediately start preparing to open! My brothers and I run the shop, and we take turns making pancakes, so it's not too tiring."
The boss was very efficient, and had already cut four large mutton pancakes with a knife. They were golden in color, with meat filling showing through, and looked very delicious.
Ke Xun thought for a moment, and then asked carefully, "We're new here, is it almost time for the lights to go out?"
The boss stopped what he was doing, holding the knife in his right hand and the pancakes on the counter with his left, his face full of blankness, as if he had suddenly lost his memory.
Luo Jin's heart skipped a beat, and he pulled Ke Xun back a few steps, afraid that the NPC would suddenly go berserk.
About half a minute later, the shopkeeper seemed to snap out of his daze: "Look at me, what are you daydreaming about? The mutton pies won't taste good if they get cold! Hurry up and pack them for you!"
Ke Xun didn't say anything more, took the large paper bag of mutton pies the shopkeeper handed him, paid, and then asked, "By the way, where can I buy a magnifying glass?"
The shopkeeper thought for a moment: "The toy store next door has them, and if there are any vendors from the Bright Brigade at the market, you might be able to buy one!" As the shopkeeper spoke, he looked at the cotton robe Ke Xun was wearing, "You're from the Bright Brigade, aren't you? You never lack those strange gadgets."
Ke Xun smiled: "I probably lost it somewhere and can't find it. I'll look for it again when I get back."
Luo Cheng followed Ke Xun out of the shop: "My God, what taboo did we just say? That shopkeeper almost..."
"It's time," Ke Xun said softly. At this moment, the surroundings were relatively quiet, and there weren't many people around.
"Time?"
"Yes, the first time I broke the taboo was by asking, 'When will the caravan selling magnifying glasses come again?' That's a relatively specific time, and the old tailor even emphasized the word 'when' later. The second time I almost broke the taboo was by asking, 'Is it almost time to turn off the lights?' That's another time, but maybe I asked it too casually, so it didn't elicit a strong reaction from the NPC." Ke Xun shared his analysis.
Luo Yi thought about it carefully and agreed: "But people inevitably talk about time in everyday conversation, like 'What time is it now?', 'When are you coming?', 'Is it almost time to turn off the lights?', 'How come you just fall asleep like that? When did you fall asleep?'..."
"So, we'd better avoid talking to NPCs. If we absolutely have to, we must be careful about using taboo words." Ke Xun hadn't expected this world to be so complicated, with so many taboos when communicating with NPCs.
When the two returned to the meeting point, Wei Dong and the others were already waiting there.
Cao Youning ran over excitedly, "Did you buy something delicious?!"
Luo Jin replied, "You're even more greedy than I am! You were jumping around like that, I thought you'd bought a magnifying glass."
Cao Youning rubbed her hands excitedly when she saw the mutton pie, and complained to Luo Jin, "There's nothing to buy at the market, just needles and thread, pigs, sheep, dogs, and rabbits."
"Why pigs, sheep, dogs, and rabbits?"
"Yes, they sell live animals," Cao Youning nodded, "Those sheep bleating so annoyingly!" She glanced at the mutton pie in Ke Xun's hand, as if eating it was for revenge. Wei
Dong, who was waiting there, chimed in, "Besides pigs and sheep, the other animals don't make any noise."
"Others? What else?" Luo Jin asked.
"Rabbits."
"Rabbits don't make noise, okay?"
"Dogs, like Xin Chun, are mute," Wei Dong said.
Fang Fei also said, "And the chickens, those roosters don't seem to crow."
Luo Yi: Could they be the legendary egg-laying roosters, the fighting roosters among roosters?
Wei Dong shrugged: "We thought it was strange, so we asked. The owner said that's how chickens crow, cluck cluck cluck, roosters crow like that too. The more we asked, the more the owner got impatient and almost lost his temper on the spot."