Chapter Ten: Smuggling Across the Sea

  My uncle said halfway through and stopped here, I found that my uncle gave a wink to Uncle Huo, I didn't understand what was going on.

  I thought it was just a casual remark, but the glance at Uncle Ho meant "I can't think of anything else to say, you take over", asking Uncle Ho to continue the conversation.

  "Exactly," Old Huo picked up where my uncle left off, and I couldn't help but feel a great deal of confidence in my judgment. "What your uncle said is just one aspect, the other aspect of the problem that exists here is even more pressing."

  He paused for a moment, swallowed the food in his mouth that he had just bitten into and hadn't chewed yet, and continued to say: "Not to mention whether that bald guy you hit is dead or not, just the fact that you beat him up and ran away means the police will definitely come to your family's home to ask about the situation. They'll find your aunt in no more than half a day. Do you think we can bring you back to Harbin from Zhejiang and then send you to Russia?"

  I didn't even bother to ask what goods they were hauling after hearing Uncle Huo's words, my mind suddenly became a mess. "Yeah, how can I still have the chance to go to Russia? Even if Guangtou doesn't die from his injuries, this is already considered a serious injury and escape!"

  He looked at me and shook his head, one hand helplessly rubbing my messy, multicolored hair that had been a nest in the driver's cabin all night, looking like a chicken coop. The two of us exchanged a smile.

  "Don't worry, when a car reaches the foot of a mountain, there will be a road; when a boat reaches the bridgehead, it will naturally go straight. There will be a way out. If all else fails, aren't there still me and your uncle?"

  He started the car, glanced at the rearview mirrors on both sides, and comforted me with a sentence, "Let's go."

  The car crossed the river and drove forward for a while, then got back on the highway. During this time, both I and Uncle Huo made a bottle of "Fanta". On the highway, we drove smoothly for a short while before arriving in Dalian.

  As soon as I got off the highway, I asked my uncle to pull over in a secluded spot under the overpass. After the car stabilized, I pushed open the sunroof, took the tissue from my uncle, opened the door and jumped out, rushing into the green belt by the side of the road.

  For a moment, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled. By the time I pulled up my pants and turned back to walk away, I really felt like I was floating on clouds, my body feeling light and airy.

  As soon as I got on the car, I couldn't help but be teased by Uncle Huo and my uncle again. Uncle Huo drove the car towards Dalian Dagang, and from what I heard from my uncle, they were going to take a ship from Dalian Dagang to Yantai Ferry Terminal.

  On the way, we passed by a large supermarket. My uncle got off to buy some things, and I stayed in the car with He Shu chatting nonsense. Half an hour later, my uncle came back carrying two big bags of things. Before he reached the front of the car, I leaned forward and opened the passenger door. He Shu crawled over and took the two big bags from my uncle's hands.

  As soon as my uncle got on the bus and closed the door, He Shu, who was smiling and tidying up the two big packages in his hands, suddenly turned around and stared at me from head to toe, seemingly pondering something in his mind. He looked at me for about half a minute, making me feel uneasy.

  Suddenly turned around and continued to tidy up the things in his hand, taking them out one by one and categorizing them, while seemingly unintentionally asking me: "Xiao Hua, are you 20 years old yet?"

  He was asking a rhetorical question, which didn't require my answer. "You shouldn't be afraid of the dark anymore, right?" Another rhetorical question, I didn't understand what Uncle Ho meant by asking me this, so I just replied that I wasn't afraid.

  Huo Shu listened to my answer, neither affirming nor denying it. He took out a smaller bag and carefully selected some items to put inside. After glancing at my uncle, he continued to ask me in his low, husky voice, "What do you think is the most important thing for a person?"

  "Are you seasick?" I was a bit surprised again. "No, what's up?" Hehe smiled and handed me the smaller plastic bag in his hand.

  I hadn't had time to see what they were when my uncle also turned around and looked at me, so I put the bag aside and looked at my uncle.

  "Alas! According to our original plan, we should have boarded the ship last night and should be in Yantai by now." I still didn't understand what was going on, so I gestured for my uncle to continue.

  "Actually, we should have taken the boat at night, but in order to save time, we boarded the boat right after lunch."

  My uncle looked at me as if he still didn't understand, and continued to say: "In this way, you will finish lunch and go down to the government agency. Don't come out until I call you, probably for a whole afternoon and half of the night."

  I only understood what it means to be afraid of the dark, afraid of seasickness, and I have to hide in the car while these two old guys are on the boat. Okay, who made me a fugitive murderer anyway?

  It turns out that my heart is really too big, I thought it was a tour all the way, hiding under the flap when passing through customs, I felt like shooting a movie, it's just a fun game, experiencing young and healthy and stronger body, in my heart, I never took crime seriously.

  After finishing the simple meal, I remembered that small bag. When I opened it and took a look inside, there was a flashlight, a bottle of anti-emetic medicine, a dozen vomiting bags, a bottle of mineral water, and a small bottle of pure oxygen. Suddenly, I understood - I must have been poisoned.

  The car headed towards Dalian Port, I grabbed those things and hid in the compartment. At first it was okay, but as I thought about having to stay alone in this small space for so long, my heart couldn't help but feel a chill run down my spine.

  Suddenly I remembered that I had an mp3, which was some relaxing music that Chuan Shan Jia specially found for me to help me fall asleep when I first started practicing sports in 07 and always felt too excited to sleep at night due to the large amount of exercise.

  In the darkness, I felt for that MP3 player and inserted two earbuds into my ears. As I turned on the music, slowly but surely, I actually fell asleep without realizing it.

  In a violent jolt, I bumped my head against the overhead luggage rack. "I finally know why there are cushions on both sides of this compartment."

  There are thick sponge pads installed in both directions on the top and bottom of this box, I feel like being tied to a pirate ship in an amusement park, swaying back and forth, dizzying in just a few swings.

  The worst part is that the things Uncle Huo gave me were rolling all over the place with the movement, and I couldn't grab anything at all. My head was even hit by a rolling oxygen tank, and I felt dizzy and passed out, which saved me from suffering.

  I didn't know at the time that the vehicles on the ferry were placed in a special hold for cars, aligned with the direction of the ship. I was lying horizontally under the rear seat, and as the ferry rocked from side to side, it felt like it was rocking up and down to me, which was really unbearable.

  Luckily I fainted and didn't suffer from the most terrifying torture of claustrophobia in that narrow enclosed space.