Suppressing the impulse in his heart, Wang Xu gave up on the fantasy of going over to take a look tonight.
The night passed without incident, and in the blink of an eye, it was the next day.
Early in the morning, before dawn even broke, Wang Xu, who hadn't slept at all, took down the seemingly normal security door and placed it under his bed.
After finishing this task, he rummaged through his wallet, took the only three hundred or so yuan left inside, and hurriedly descended the mountain in a frantic rush.
A chick the size of a palm, a duckling the size of a palm, plus a three-meter-long nylon rope—these were the items Wang Xu needed to prepare.
The villagers living at the foot of the mountain had a habit of raising chickens and ducks, so accomplishing all this wasn't difficult.
Half an hour later, with the preparations complete, Wang Xu picked up the chicken and duck and rushed back without stopping.
"Chickens and ducks are living creatures too. If they can cross over, there's no reason I can't. Moreover, if this shuttle gate can be used, I can easily become a profiteer, casually moving supplies back and forth. It would be hard not to get rich!" The more Wang Xu thought about it, the happier he became. Looking at the other world before him, he seemed to see his own future.
Deciding to act immediately, he pulled out the security door, tied the prepared chicken and duck's feet with the nylon rope, and forcefully threw them toward the door.
Swish!!
A flash of blue light appeared. Under Wang Xu's witness, the chicken and duck effortlessly passed through, arriving in this era suspected to be the War of Resistance.
"Success!" Wang Xu was overjoyed and slammed his hand down hard.
If the chicken and duck could cross over, it meant living beings could pass through the shuttle gate—he could cross over too.
Next was the issue of round trips. Wang Xu pulled the rope hard, and the bound chicken and duck struggled fiercely, but under his dragging, they were still pulled back out through the door.
"Quack, quack, quack..." Because he had used considerable force, the little duckling, having been dragged back, flapped its wings and loudly protested.
Wang Xu picked up the chicken and duck, carefully examining them, and found that there was no change in them at all—they looked exactly the same when they returned as when they had left.
"Good, excellent!" With the chicken and duck having paved the way, Wang Xu could finally confirm whether the shuttle gate was usable.
But he still didn't rush. As the saying goes, sharpening the axe doesn't delay the cutting of firewood. Before entering, he had no intention of going over empty-handed.
"I need to calculate what things are cheap here but valuable there, and what things are cheap there but valuable here. Then, relying on the shuttle gate, I can exchange these things and make a fortune." Wang Xu took out a notebook and began writing and sketching, jotting down things he thought could make money if taken over.
First: artificial diamonds and jewelry.
Diamonds and jewelry are hot commodities everywhere. Artificial ones aren't valuable, but given the technological level during the War of Resistance period, modern-processed artificial jewelry should have a chance of passing as genuine.
But soon, Wang Xu abandoned this idea because he had no connections to buy high-quality imitation jewelry.
And low-quality fakes were too fake; he believed they wouldn't fool those jewelry merchants, and they'd be hard to sell even if taken over.
Having given up on artificial jewelry, Wang Xu's second idea turned to watches.
Off-brand stainless steel watches cost just a few dozen yuan each on a certain online platform, and there were as many as he wanted.
Similarly, items like watches were hot commodities even in the seventies and eighties. He believed that during the War of Resistance period, they could still cause a sensation.
More importantly, watches required small investments but promised big returns, perfectly suited for starting with insufficient capital and aiming for high gains with low stakes. Even if someone targeted him, he could hit and run—after all, the purchase price was cheap, and losses wouldn't matter much.
With a plan in place, all that remained was implementation.
Wang Xu logged into his account on a certain online platform, not seeking the best but the cheapest. Using the only eight hundred yuan in his bank card, he ordered twelve stainless steel watches (the kind without dates) and a black zhongshan suit in one go.
Two days later... wearing leather shoes and the zhongshan suit, carrying a leather bag with the twelve watches, Wang Xu began his first crossing.
The feeling of the first crossing was that there was no feeling at all.
No dizziness or vertigo, no ringing in the ears or blurred vision. Before Wang Xu could even react, the other world had arrived.
Looking back, his shuttle gate was embedded in a wall.
The passersby around seemed completely unaware of it. Apart from Wang Xu himself, others appeared unable to see this gate.
"Newspapers, newspapers! Commander-in-Chief of the 33rd Group Army, General Zhang Zizhong, heroically martyred!"
Wang Xu arrived in the morning. There weren't many people on the street, but a seven- or eight-year-old newspaper boy was shouting energetically.
Hearing the newspaper boy's call, Wang Xu quickly walked over. He had no money to buy a newspaper, so he just stood behind the boy and stole a few glances.
At first glance, the date on the newspaper read "May 16, 1940." The front-page headline was about General Zhang Zizhong's heroic martyrdom.
"1940!" Seeing this news, Wang Xu felt a heaviness in his heart, realizing for the first time that he was no longer in an era of peace.
But then, something even more shocking happened. A bespectacled middle-aged man in his thirties walked toward him and cheerfully said, "Kid, give me a newspaper."
"Sun Honglei!" With just one glance, Wang Xu was stunned. How could he see Sun Honglei in 1940?
Could it be a different person? Impossible. Back when Wang Xu watched "lurk," he was deeply engrossed and had an extremely vivid impression of Sun Honglei in the series. There was no way he could mistake him.
"Brother, are you calling me?" Sun Honglei smiled very amiably, with a certain kind of Honest, and said, "You've mistaken me for someone else. My name is Yu Zecheng, not Sun Honglei!"
"Yu... Yu Zecheng!" Watching Yu Zecheng take the newspaper and turn to leave, Wang Xu's mind exploded.
Yu Zecheng was a TV drama character, a composite based on Wu Shi, Right Envoy, and Liu Qingshi, not a real person.
But now, in 1940 Tianjin, he had seen Yu Zecheng from "lurk," bearing the appearance of Sun Honglei.
What was going on? Could it be that this wasn't a parallel world but a fictionalized world from the TV drama "lurk"?
"If I've really come to the TV drama 'lurk,' then Yu Zecheng at this time should have already joined the Underground Party, right?" Watching Yu Zecheng's retreating figure, Wang Xu thought absentmindedly.
But soon, he calmed down. No matter where this was or what Yu Zecheng's identity was, his plan still had to proceed.
Cultivate oneself, regulate the family, govern the state, bring peace to the world—this was a progressive game of layers.
Wang Xu's primary purpose in coming to this world was to regulate the family and get rich. If possible, he was willing to help Yu Zecheng, but that would be when he was about to leave, not now.
"Kid, uncle wants to ask you, are there any trading companies or pawnshops nearby?" Wang Xu regained his composure and asked the newspaper boy.
The newspaper boy was a local and knew the area very well. Without thinking, he said, "Yes, go to the end of this street, then turn north. There's a Rongsheng Trading Company. The shopkeeper is quite decent; he often gives porridge to refugees."
"Quite decent" meant quite good. In this dog-eat-dog society, such merchants were relatively rare.
Wang Xu nodded and headed straight for Rongsheng Trading Company with his watches.
Rongsheng Trading Company was quite large—a three-sectioned big shop, with attendants offering tea and water right at the entrance.
After stating his purpose, Wang Xu met the shop's Manager Zhou, a plump, wealthy merchant in his forties.
Hearing Wang Xu's purpose, Manager Zhou was still somewhat skeptical, not quite believing that Wang Xu had high-end goods like watches.
When Wang Xu opened his leather bag, revealing a row of watches all coated with reflective film, Manager Zhou's skepticism quickly turned into eager swallowing.
"Manager Zhou, these are Swiss goods. Not even Chinese people have seen them, let alone the Japanese." Wang Xu mentioned the Japanese not out of worship for foreign things, but because in Tianjin at that time, the Japanese were synonymous with having money but being foolish.
Hearing such words, a cunning merchant would definitely pick faults to drive down the price.
But Manager Zhou nodded in agreement and said straightforwardly, "I've seen watches before, but such high-end watches—this is my first time!"
"Since they're good goods, Manager Zhou, name a price." Wang Xu sat on the chair, didn't drink the tea the attendant brought, and acted as if he was in a hurry to leave.
Manager Zhou was a man who had seen the world. He picked up a watch, examined it again and again, and then whispered, "Fifty Silver Dollars per watch. How about that price?"
Before coming over, Wang Xu had specifically checked the prices. A small gold bar weighing one liang was worth about thirty Silver Dollars.
A watch that cost just a few dozen yuan in the future could sell for nearly two small gold bars. This deal was absolutely not a loss. With just this one transaction, for twelve watches, Wang Xu stood to make at least several hundred thousand, and that was with limited goods.