Chapter Thirty: Danger in the City

  Li Guoting got on a horse-drawn carriage to Chongqing in the city after leaving Ma Fei and Zhao Erhu that morning, gave the owner of the horse-drawn carriage a silver dollar, and let the horse-drawn carriage take himself to Chongqing.

  Li Guoting, who had never left the Qinba Mountains in his life, came to such a big city for the first time. Looking at the bustling streets and the crowds coming and going, he really felt a little nervous. After leaving Ma Fei and Zhao Erhu, Li Guoting indeed felt a bit helpless.

  Standing in the bustling main street of Chongqing, I see the streets lit up with neon lights, crowded with people flowing to and fro, and on both sides of the street are rows upon rows of shops of all sizes.

  Li Guoting was at a loss, this unfamiliar city that looked a bit scary made him lose his direction. At this time, he thought of his two sworn brothers Ma Fei and Zhao Erhu. If they were by his side at this time, it would be great, he wouldn't feel so lost and fearful facing this unfamiliar city.

  Unfortunately, they parted ways and it's unknown whether Ma Fei and Zhao Erhu also entered Chongqing City like Li Guoting. Perhaps they have found a place to stay, or maybe they even went out for a stroll on the streets.

  But now, where should Li Guoting go? Where is that Chao Tian Men dock that Ma Fei talked about?

  "Big brother, is the road just below your nose? Can't you ask and find out?" Just then, Li Guoting's ears rang with what Ma Fei had said when they parted ways.

  Yes, I don't know, can we ask? A living person can still be asked for directions. Li Guoting thought of this and began to look around the roadside with both eyes, wanting to find someone to ask for directions, where is the Tianmen Wharf, how to get there.

  Just then, two young and beautifully dressed women walked by from the opposite direction, hand in hand, chatting and laughing as they strolled along.

  Li Guoting plucked up the courage to walk forward, but before he could ask for directions, his face turned red. He had never spoken to a city woman before and felt nervous. So, he hesitated and his feet involuntarily retreated.

  Those two fashionable women also saw Li Guoting. When they saw Li Guoting wanting to advance and retreat, looking at the long gown and horse jacket he was wearing, as well as the black top hat on his head, the two women were a little afraid, suspecting that he was a local underworld figure, so they involuntarily stopped in their tracks, shrill voices suddenly shouting out.

  Their movements startled Li Guoting, "Oh no. Did they recognize me as the kidnapper?" Li Guoting immediately thought of the wanted poster he saw in Guang'an with his and Zhao Erhu's pictures on it. Without asking for directions anymore, he turned around and ran away.

  Just then, three patrolling police officers turned around at the intersection in front of them. The three police officers were carrying guns on their backs, and the one in the middle was also holding a black leather whip. When Li Guoting turned around to run towards another street, he happened to meet these three police officers.

  "Halt, what are you doing?" The three policemen almost shouted in unison.

  Li Guoting heard the police shouting at him, and his heart became even more panicked. He couldn't care about anything else anymore, and he only had one thought in mind: don't let the police catch me. Thinking this, his two legs quickened their pace, and he ran forward with all his might.

  He is unfamiliar with the road conditions here, like a headless fly, crashing around on the streets at night.

  Behind him, the three policemen also stepped forward and chased after him closely.

  "Halt! Halt! If you don't halt, we'll shoot!" The police shouted from behind, followed by the sound of guns being cocked.

  Li Guoting had already run into a narrow alley. The alley twisted and turned towards the mountain slope, the road surface was a slippery stone road, Li Guoting didn't notice, his feet slipped on the wet stone road, his whole body fell forward, and he fell to the ground.

  Before he could get up from the ground, the three policemen who were chasing him from behind surrounded him.

  "Halt, raise your hands." One of the policemen pointed his gun at Li Guoting's head and shouted.

  Li Guoting struggled to get up from the ground and raised his hands above his head.

  Another policeman reached out and knocked off the bowler hat on Li Guoting's head, took a closer look at him, and asked with wide eyes: "Where are you from? What do you do?"

  "I - I am from Guang'an." said Li Guoting.

  "What brings you to Chongqing from Guang'an?" The leading policeman swung the leather whip in his hand and asked.

  "Do business." Li Guoting replied.

  "What's your business? What's your name? Where do you live?" The leading policeman asked again.

  "My name is Wu Dacheng. I live in Anbei Village."

  "Is that Wu Dacheng?" The policeman seemed to doubt Li Guoting's words, he circled around Li Guoting twice, his eyes rolled over, and asked again: "Then why did you run just now."

  "I just saw someone being robbed, so... I was afraid of being robbed too, so... I ran away."

  "Somebody robbed something, you little liar. I was patrolling there all along, how come I didn't see anything." A policeman kicked Li Guoting and said.

  "I didn't lie, there was someone snatching a woman's bag, the woman shouted, I was afraid they would snatch mine too, so I ran." Li Guoting said seriously.

  Three policemen were half-believing and half-doubting Li Guoting's words, but just now they heard the screams of the two women and ran over. Seeing Li Guoting turn around and run, they chased after him. They didn't see what had happened earlier either.

  "Search this kid for me and see if he's got anything on him," said the leading policeman to his companion.

  The other two policemen slung their guns over their shoulders and began to search Li Guoting's body. Before long, they found the nineteen silver dollars that Li Guoting had on him.

  "Captain, this little guy actually has so much silver on him." A policeman said, holding up the silver coins found on Li Guoting's body.

  "Hey, where did these silver dollars come from? Were they stolen?" The leading policeman suddenly pulled out a handgun from his waist and aimed it at Li Guoting, shouting loudly.

  "No, it's the money I do business with." Li Guoting felt a little sorry for those silver dollars. It was hard to get some silver dollars, and now they were searched away by those black dogs. Fortunately, the silver dollar given by Yanhong girl was still hidden in her pants, and wasn't found by them.

  "Money from doing business? What kind of business are you in, it's clearly stolen." The leading policeman's two eyes were almost on Li Guoting's face.

  "No, I didn't steal, it's just my business." Li Guoting insisted.

  "Damn it, you're still tough, take him to the police station." The leading policeman said, taking the silver coins found on Li Guoting's body from another policeman and counting them.

  The other two policemen pushed Li Guoting out of the alley.

  As soon as he left the alley, Li Guoting heard the three policemen behind him whispering to each other about how to divide up the silver dollars they had confiscated from him. Li Guoting thought to himself, "These sons of bitches are just like that, taking advantage of ordinary people and embezzling the money they confiscate."

  Li Guoting carefully turned his head to take a peek and found that the three policemen had let their guard down, stopped, and were counting the silver coins, dividing them among themselves.

  A good opportunity has arrived. Li Guoting thought to himself, he absolutely cannot let them take him to the police station, once inside the police station, everything will be over, very soon those police will investigate his identity, and then can he still live? No way, even if it means death, he must run. Thinking of this, Li Guoting took advantage of the opportunity when the three police officers were privately dividing the silver coins they had searched from him, and ran away immediately.

  Those three policemen were bowing their heads to count the silver coins, discussing how to divide them. Suddenly, they saw Li Guoting rushing forward desperately. One of them took the gun off his shoulder and was about to chase after him. At this time, the leading policeman stretched out his hand to stop him: "Let him go. He's just a small thief, catch him and he'll be released in a few days. If he goes into the police station, these silver coins will have to be handed over one by one, you and I brothers won't get a share."

  "Yes, yes, the captain is right. We're just doing our job for a few bucks. Let's just let that kid off cheap." The three policemen put the silver coins they had received into their own pockets and no longer cared what Li Guoting was up to as he escaped. They turned around and continued patrolling the streets.

  Li Guoting ran desperately for a while, only to find that no one was chasing him. He felt strange and stopped in his tracks, turning around to look back. The three policemen were nowhere to be seen, only the dim light of the street lamps casting a gloomy glow on the wet road surface. Passersby hurried by without noticing him.

  That night, the silver dollars that Li Guoting had on him were unfortunately taken away by those three policemen. Except for the silver dollar with a flower pattern that Yan Hong's daughter had given him and which he had never been willing to part with, he was left penniless once again.

  Without money, he couldn't stay in the hotel, so Li Guoting had to ask passersby where Chao Tian Men Wharf was. A kind old lady told him and then Li Guoting walked towards the direction of Chao Tian Men Wharf.

  Arriving at the dock, it was still bustling like daytime. There were still many passengers getting on and off the boat. Li Guoting took a look, now it's still early before dawn, so he found a place in a sheltered corner of the dock, where several vagrant beggars had already gathered, wrapped in tattered clothes, huddled in the dark corner. Li Guoting sat down a little further away from them, he was ready to spend the night, and tomorrow morning at the dock, meet up with Ma Fei and Zhao Erhu, and go to Hankou together.

  It was not easy to get through the difficult night. As soon as it dawned, Li Guoting walked out of the dark corner where the stinky vagrants gathered at the dock. He turned around the dock and didn't see any shadow of Ma Fei and Zhao Erhu, so he turned back and walked along the high steps to the city gate, still not seeing Ma Fei and Zhao Erhu, and couldn't help but feel anxious in his heart. "These two kids, where did they run off to? We agreed to meet at Chao Tian Men Dock, it's already dawn, why haven't they come yet?" Li Guoting thought, and then walked back along the stone steps to the dock again.

  After waiting for a while on the dock, still no sign of Ma Fei and Zhao Erhu. Looking at the passenger ship moored at the dock, many people had already started boarding, Li Guoting became more anxious, he cursed Ma Fei and Zhao Erhu in his mouth, and his feet moved towards the stone steps outside the dock leading to the city gate.

  Just then, he suddenly saw a person rushing over quickly from the crowd walking down the stone steps. Upon closer inspection, the person running over was none other than his sworn brother Ma Fei. His heart filled with surprise and delight, he stepped forward to greet him, shouting: "Second Brother, I'm here!"