Long Ze, the owner of the bicycle shop, died. He was just over forty years old.
“It seems that he was riding a bicycle to chase a thief who stole a bicycle in the shop, and he fell into the lake and drowned.” Said the town policeman Kawaguchi.
I feel sorry for Long Ze, but I can do nothing but pray. For all people, this is just a simple unfortunate accident. But he didn’t expect Long Ze’s death to be just the beginning.
Let’s first talk about the road in the town, which surrounds the oval town surrounded by mountains, and there are several fork roads to the lake in the middle of the town. From a bird’s eye view from above, you will find that the combination of this town and the highway is a beautiful geometric figure. Most of the population in the town is the elderly, and most of the young people who stay here have not finished their studies, otherwise they have inherited the family forestry like me and live on the forests around the road.
I have a very good bicycle, which is a top-quality seven-speed bicycle. In fact, every resident in a town has his own bicycle. Unless he wants to go to another town, the car and motorcycle are useless.
Of course, including me, these bicycles are purchased and repaired from Longze’s store, because that is the only bicycle shop in this town.
Although it looks such a simple and simple town, it still has the character of “thief”, especially a few years ago when colleges were built in the town, and some other places came After the students, there are more thieves.
I have heard about the theft of bicycles from time to time, which makes Longze’s business much better than before, because residents are used to bicycles. Once the bicycles are gone, they will still buy from Longze. .
I once shamelessly thought, these thieves are not with Long Ze, right? But this is impossible, because Long Ze is really a very kind person. He even donates ten brand new bicycles with good performance to the orphanage in the town every year. He said that because he died and his wife had no children, probably because of his longing for the family, he wanted to do something for the orphans. He even thought about adopting a boy and inheriting the bicycle shop in the future.
Such a person will not do the dirty things I imagined.
After Long Ze died, it was only a short period of grief for the people in the town, but the serious problem was later.
This first appeared when Mrs. Fujiwara’s bicycle broke down, and the brakes broke completely. This was fine. Mrs. Fujiwara, who had to ride a bicycle to work, buy vegetables, and pick up children, immediately fell into trouble. Because of the intense helplessness, Longze died. Of course, no one can provide equipment and repair techniques. Although it is possible to buy a new bicycle from a neighboring town two hours away by car, it is not something that can be achieved in a short time.
Next, everyone’s bicycles gradually became more and more incompetent. Either the tires were flat or the parts were rotten. Because of the lack of Longze’s care, no one could take over Longze’s storefront, residents. We started to panic.
What’s more serious is that the theft of bicycles is happening all the time, and because of Longze’s death, there are fewer and fewer bicycles that can be stolen, because people simply cannot buy new ones in time. Bicycle.
I am a person who cherishes bicycles. I am not sloppy in maintenance. I always thought that I could hold my bicycle for a long time, but I didn’t expect me to fall into it. In the dilemma.
My bicycle was stolen.
“Oda, did you suffer too?” My police friend Kawaguchi came to my office while patrolling on his bicycle.
“I just parked the bicycle on the side of the road for less than five minutes to check the growth of the fir, and went back to the roadside to see that the bicycle was gone.”
“Now everyone should tie their bicycles to their waists to be guaranteed?” Kawaguchi lit a cigarette. “It’s not safe to even park at home.”
“How to say?”
“Yoshimura, you know? His bicycle was kept at home, but it was stolen. The door lock was cut open, and it was still very Professional hydraulic scissors.” Kawaguchi made a scissors gesture.
“Huh?” This is too exaggerated.
“I think everyone’s bicycles were stolen at the beginning, probably because the little guys from Yamaha High School were making trouble, but after Ryuze died, everyone could become a thief.”
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“Nonsense! It’s all those ignorant teenagers who did it.” I said angrily, “Maybe Long Ze just wanted The little devil would accidentally fall into the lake.”
“Yoshimura’s bicycle was found later.” Kawaguchi squeezed out his cigarette with a smug expression.
“Who is the thief? Those kids must have done it?”
“It’s the woodworker in Yoshimura, Guchuan.”
“Why? He also has a bicycle, doesn’t he?”
Kawaguchi smiled and approached his bicycle. “Because Guchuan’s bicycle was stolen, he stole Yoshimura.”
I was surprised and speechless, because Guchuan is an honest person, no matter how you look at it. It’s not like a guy who can do this kind of thing.
“So, Oda, that’s what I just said.” Kawaguchi rode on his bicycle, speaking earnestly.
“After Long Ze is dead, if no one continues to run a bicycle shop, gradually everyone will become a thief.”
“Not so. Bad?” I said, but I knew I was not sure.
“I hope it won’t be so bad, anyway, Oda.” Kawaguchi glanced at me, “If you want to steal someone else’s bicycle, don’t let me know.”
Kawaguchi rode his bicycle away, but left words that made me uncomfortable. What? It’s just a bicycle. Why should I steal it? But within two days, I gradually became impatient.
Although this town is not big, it’s too far to walk for everyone to reach a certain place. It’s very convenient if there is a bicycle, especially me, I often I have to go back and forth between Lin Yuan and the office, and sometimes I have to go home to get information. Gradually, I have lost patience with walking.
But because of Kawaguchi’s remarks, I was reluctant to succumb to “I want to steal someone else’s bicycle”.
Yes, I did think about stealing someone else’s bicycle. Even if the bicycle looks worn out, as long as the performance is acceptable, my mind will be moved around, even if it’s locked. On a telephone pole or a tree trunk, I want to use brute force to pull it away.
But I didn’t steal anyone’s bicycle after all.
There were more and more bicycle theft cases in the town, and in the end, even the police gave up the pursuit.
“There will always be an end.” Kawaguchi came to me again. He was much more emaciated than when I saw him last time. This time he came to see me on foot.
Because his bicycle was also stolen.
“Huh, I think you want to steal other people’s bicycles, so you want to turn a blind eye.” I said jokingly.
But I didn’t expect Kawaguchi to not speak, looking at me solemnly.
“Oda, I can honestly say that since the day my bicycle was stolen, I wanted to take someone else’s bicycle every day.”
We are all silent, because I think so too.
“No one wants to open another bicycle shop?” I asked after smoking a cigarette silently.
This is really a powerful business opportunity. Everyone in the town is caught in the theft of bicycles and panic of corruption. When should we not open a shop at this time?
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Kawaguchi shook his head, “I didn’t know until later that Longze’s store was operating at a loss.”
“How come?”(Uncle Ghost: http://www.guidaye.com/ please keep the reprint!)
“Think about it, Oda, his bicycles are so cheap that they are so cheap. Repairs are free, and his shop is often stolen.”
“Often stolen?” I have never heard of this.
“Long Ze doesn’t want us to talk about it, because he is not short of money, he does these things with a service mentality, but in fact he wants to open a bicycle shop in our town. Saying it’s a loss-making business, you say, you are going to open a shop?”
The conclusion is that there will be no new bicycle shops in the town in a short time, and the shipping cost to and from neighboring towns is high. The price of a bicycle makes everyone prefer to be a thief.
In short, the theft of bicycles has become the norm when the police station is gradually ignoring things.
The police station did not get busy until something happened.
The first thing is that a boy from Yamaha High School was found drowning in the lake where Ryuze died, along with a bicycle. The cause of death was not drowning, but dehydration and hunger.
According to the school and the family, the child has been missing for three days. He did not go to school and did not go home. Unexpectedly, he was found in a lake in the middle of the town.
But some people say that in the past three days, I have seen this boy riding the bicycle swaying around. Where did he go missing?
The strange thing is that the bicycle that followed the boy drowning in the lake was the brand new bicycle that was stolen from the Longze store. In other words, it was probably this boy who caused Longze to fall into the lake and die.
The day after the boy’s body was found, another boy’s body was found, also equipped with a bicycle, which belonged to Mr. Ohara.
As the days pass, more and more people are missing in the town, and the lake in the middle of the town has become a lake of death. Every day there are several people and several stolen bicycles. Sinking in the lake.
Everyone’s death is caused by dehydration and hunger, and every bicycle is a stolen bicycle.
This also includes the bicycles between me and Kawaguchi, which have completely deformed, and the tires, brakes, and hinges are all out of service. But there are too many corpses that keep appearing. In this bad situation, I don’t want to investigate who stole my bicycle.
Even more terrible rumors have begun. According to many witnesses, there will be a group of people riding bicycles at dusk every day, like a group activity, this team Everyone has a bloodless face, and they are all familiar faces.
Residents were also horrified to find that those bicycles were their stolen bicycles, and the people riding the bicycles were all from the town.
In short, as long as another bicycle is stolen, someone will appear in this convoy riding the stolen bicycle the next day.
But the caravan did not expand, because every day someone died of dehydration and hunger and sank at the bottom of the lake.
One evening I walked down from the forest garden and was about to walk home along the road. I ran into this legendary motorcade. I was scared to wonder if I should hide. Open, but saw Kawaguchi.
“That’s it?”
Kawaguchi is riding a bicycle, but it is not the one I am familiar with. He also stole someone else’s bicycle.
“Kawaguchi! Stop!” I shouted, but Kawaguchi ignored me.
I ran up with the convoy, and gradually realized that the people in the convoy were really like the rumors. They were all the people in the town who had recently disappeared. Mrs. Fujiwara, Mr. Suzuki, so many people… and the policeman at the police station, who is also my good friend, Kawaguchi!
They were all sweating, panting, and pale faces. Their mouths were closed but there was no sound, but their mouths seemed to be calling for “help.”
They kept on their bicycles, and kept moving around the road, keeping on going…
Until they were about to die from dehydration and hunger, He fell into the lake in the middle of the town.
Gradually, the town was so quiet that it couldn’t be quieter. There were silent mourning halls everywhere. The garbage dump was a mountain of bicycles, all of which were picked up from the lake.
The theft of bicycles has also stopped, on the one hand because of terrible rumors, and on the other hand because there are no bicycles to steal.
One month later, I sold my Shanlingen Office at a low price and opened Longze’s bicycle store again.
After I opened my business, even though I started a few more theft cases, I never heard of anyone sinking into a lake on a stolen bicycle.