Chapter Thirty Next to the Car Door

  After the two men and Zhao Weiguo reached an agreement, they began to raise funds. Returning to their farmhouse, the two of them checked their bank deposits, which totaled 620,000 yuan. This was money earned from driving cars and collecting high-interest loans over the past period of time. High-quality coal sold on the street for around 230 yuan per ton, while the wholesale price would not exceed 170 yuan. With this amount of money, they could buy back more than 300 tons of coal at the very least.

  "Heizi said excitedly: 'Xiao Fei, tomorrow we'll take the money and leave. As long as we can get through this road, it's no problem to earn tens of millions for the winter.'"

  Xiao Fei nodded repeatedly and said: "Alright, let's do it this way. The several of us will be able to turn our fortunes around and be liberated within a year."

  Two men were discussing something, and Er Cheng pushed open the door and came in: "Hei Ge, I've brought you the money we made over the past few days."

  Hei Zi let Er Cheng sit down, then Er Cheng took out a stack of money from his pocket and said: "Hei Ge, it's a total of 8,300 yuan, please count it."

  "Heizi didn't take the money and said, 'Ergeng, you keep this money first. The sports car needs gas and repair fees. What if something happens and you guys don't have any money?'"

  He didn't expect Hei Zi to trust him so much, he hesitated for a moment and put the money in his pocket, saying: "It's also good this way, Hei Ge, I'll go back and make an account book, write down all the income and expenses."

  "Hei Zi nodded and said, 'That's fine too. We two brothers are going to Xishan Province for a few days. The car racing matter will be handed over to you and Yin Le. You're in charge of the money, and Yin Le is responsible for safety.'"

  "Black brother, don't worry, I'll definitely be able to handle it."

  Hei Zi gave Er Cheng a detailed account of the situation, and for now, they wouldn't open the station. They just needed to get the cars running smoothly. Hei Zi had given Er Cheng a lot of authority, even letting him handle the end-of-month salaries for several drivers and ticket sellers.

  The next day, Zhu Xiao Fei went to the bank to withdraw money. Hei Zi handed over the accounts and funds to Er Cheng, who didn't have any objections.

  In the afternoon, Hei Zi and Zhu Xiao Fei arrived in the county town by car. Both of them were dressed in a rustic manner. Hei Zi was carrying a black travel bag that was rarely seen on the streets, while Zhu Xiao Fei was carrying a canvas sack containing food they had prepared to eat on the train.

  The two went to the train station and saw that the 11 pm train would arrive in Tongdashi at 6 am the next day. Tongdashi was a major coal-producing city in Huaxia, and the two were planning to search for high-quality coal from this city.

  There were still a few hours before boarding the train, Hei Zi and Zhu Xiao Fei found a small bar near the train station to drink.

  A bottle of old white dry wine, both people drank a bit high, the arrival time was almost here, and the two slowly came out of the small tavern and walked towards the train station.

  There weren't many people in the rear car, everyone was sitting on their chairs doing their own thing, most of them were dozing off.

  The two entered the waiting room and found a place to sit down. Hei Zi habitually scanned his surroundings, observing the environment, which was a habit he had developed as a scout. As his instructor would say: "The environment holds the life of a scout in its hands; a scout who cannot observe the environment will not be able to survive on the battlefield."

  The people in the waiting room were very quiet, in the corner of the waiting room, there were several beggars lying on tattered quilts, the station staff all hid in the office, although the waiting room had heating, but because the space was too large, it was a bit cold.

  A few young men who had just entered the waiting room caught Hei Zi's attention. They were all wearing the same kind of fur hat, and wore different styles of leather jackets. Some of them had a rolled-up newspaper in their hands, while others had nothing in their hands.

  These people didn't seem like travelers or station staff. They went into the waiting room and wandered around, looking everywhere as if they were searching for something.

  Xiao Fei leaned against the back of his chair and dozed off, Hei Zi also closed his eyes and pretended to sleep, but his gaze followed those few people.

  After a while, the loudspeaker announced the ticket inspection notice, and people started to stand up, gather their belongings and rush towards the ticket gate. Hei Zi found that those few people also walked towards the ticket gate with the crowd.

  Xiao Fei was about to get up and leave when Heizi grabbed him and said, "Don't be in a hurry, let's wait until there are fewer people before we go."

  The ticket checking started. Hei Zi and Zhu Xiao Fei didn't squeeze into the crowd, which was discovered by Hei Zi. The crowd was a bit chaotic because those people were pushing around.

  In the crowded train station, passengers were passing through the ticket gates one after another and entering the platform. Those few people with fur coats also followed them in. Hei Zi didn't see them checking their tickets, it seemed like the staff at the train station knew them.

  After the crowd dispersed, Hei Zi and Zhu Xiao Fei walked over. When they were checking their tickets, Hei Zi asked the ticket inspector: "Sister, what about those few people who just went in with fur coats?"

  The staff was a plump woman in her thirties who looked Hei Zi up and down and said, "Mind your own business, what's the point of asking about that?"

  Hei Zi smiled and stopped talking, then walked in. Now Hei Zi can confirm that these people often hang out at the station, and the staff here know them, possibly not daring to say more.

  As soon as I got on the platform, the train arrived in no time. For passing trains, seats are not sold, and whoever occupies them first gets to keep them. As soon as the doors opened, everyone rushed in like a swarm of bees. The staff on the train kept shouting: "Don't squeeze, come in order."

  Xiao Fei saw Heizi and didn't rush, he pulled Heizi and squeezed towards the car door.

  A few people with sable hats scattered to each car door and squeezed hard, Hei Zi found out that these people were just squeezing and didn't plan to get on the bus at all.

  Hei Zi held the bag tightly to his chest and just as he was about to squeeze through, he felt someone tugging at his bag. Out of the corner of his eye, Hei Zi saw a young man with a carved wooden accessory pulling on his bag, while another accomplice was making an effort to squeeze him, trying to pull the bag out of his arms.

  Hei Zi finally understood, these people were thieves, they took advantage of the crowded train to commit crimes.

  Hei Zi is a rascal but he doesn't steal or rob, the education he received in the army is always etched in his mind, these people are not even as good as hoodlums in his eyes.

  Hei Zi used one arm to hold onto his bag and with the other arm, he suddenly struck back.

  The person who was holding the package had no defense, and with a loud crash, Hei Zi's elbow hit him in the face. Suddenly, he found himself seeing a vast expanse of golden stars scattered across the dark night sky.

  "How did you hit me?" the man shouted loudly.

  "You damn hit someone! Do you know that?" Along with the shout, several people with fur-lined hoods ran over and surrounded Hei Zi.

  Xiao Fei had just squeezed onto the bus when he heard a commotion behind him. He turned around to see five or six people surrounding Hei Zi, apparently something had happened, and Xiao Fei squeezed back down.

  "What's going on? Looking for trouble is not good." Zhuo Xiao Fei pushed aside a young man wearing a sable hat and stood beside Hei Zi.

  The train stopped at the county station for only ten minutes, and Hei Zi and Zhu Xiao Fei didn't have much time. Hei Zi shouted: "No nonsense, let's get to work."

  Wishing Xiaofei and Heizi to cooperate very tacitly, as soon as Heizi said to take action, one punch was thrown at the face of a man wearing a sable hat in front of him. The sable hat flew off, and the person who was hit was punched so hard that he almost fell over with his head thrown back.

  "Beat them up." someone shouted.

  Hei Zi held a bag in one hand and punched fiercely with the other, causing the three people surrounding him to be unable to get close. The plastic bag that Zhuo Xiao Fei was holding was knocked flying, and the things inside were scattered all over the ground. Enraged, Zhuo Xiao Fei lifted his foot and kicked violently, sending the two people surrounding him fleeing in fear of him.

  A sweet voice came from the loudspeaker: The train is about to depart, passengers who have not boarded yet please hurry up and get on board.

  Hei Zi kicked one person, just as he was attacking the other, his back was kicked and he fell towards the train door. The kick was very heavy, if not for the train blocking him, he would have been kicked onto the platform.

  Hei Zi got on the bus and shouted: "Xiao Fei, hurry up, the bus is about to leave."

  Zhu Xiaofei, who hadn't yet gotten used to it, let out two loud shouts and turned around to jump onto the train. The conductor saw them coming and hastily closed the doors, causing several of the men wearing raccoon hats to drop their hats, revealing their bald heads, and standing on the platform shouting loudly.

  The train slowly started moving, and the conductor looked at Hei Zi and Zhu Xiao Fei and said: "How did you provoke them? These people by the door are not easy to mess with."

  Hei Zi and Zhu Xiao Fei inquired about it and found out that these people were thieves who mixed with the crowd at the train station, specializing in stealing passengers' belongings during the rush to board the train.