Chapter 27: At a Loss for Words

  The old man rushed in and broke the awkward atmosphere on the scene, but soon he found that the one who was embarrassed was himself.

  "Cough, ah, I've brought the money," the old man said weakly, but the shock in his eyes was impossible to conceal. The old man was a local, and over the decades, he knew how mysterious and powerful this antique shop called Golden Eagle was. The treasures that came out of here were absolutely top-notch, and there had never been any counterfeit goods. This kind of reputation was unimaginable in the industry, and as for security, they had never made a mistake in all these years. It was said that the manager, Lone-Eyed Liu, was a martial arts master, and even the local underworld bosses called him "Liu Ge" with respect. Not to mention the boss's influence, which was unparalleled, so no one dared to cause trouble here. But today, Golden Eagle seemed to have been robbed... What was the background of these young people?

  "Bring the money and let's make a deal," I said coldly, giving an old man a glance, asking him to come closer. That one-eyed Liu is a mastermind, I've already figured it out, I don't dare get close to him.

  Everyone except the old man chose to remain silent, including one-eyed Liu, who still couldn't figure out what kind of background I and Lan sister had, and dared not to give Golden Eagle face. The old man was holding a password box, at a loss, after all, we had ruined the scene, if we were to trade again now, it would be slapping Golden Eagle in the face.

  "Here, one hand with the money and the other with the goods, we're even." Instead, Lan Jie took the initiative to walk up to the old man, take the password box from his hands, and then threw the jade chopsticks back at him. Lan Jie also figured it out - this store's background was not simple, and there must be a huge force behind it. Although she could fight, she couldn't beat hundreds of people, let alone that she didn't want to waste her mind on this anymore.

  "That, that, a land of blessings" The old man was intimidated by Lan's aura and only spoke hastily after the box in his hand was taken away. Everyone knew that the jade chopsticks were not worth that much money, what he valued was something behind the jade chopsticks.

  "Bang" Although it was a safe, the old man didn't scramble the password, so I opened the box with just one move. The box was filled with money, 10,000 yuan per stack, 100,000 yuan per bundle, and there were exactly ten bundles. Moreover, the money looked brand new, obviously just taken out of the bank. From earlier to now, less than half an hour, the old man could get so much cash, it seems his identity is not that simple either. Thinking carefully, here, the most miserable one is probably myself.

  "This is according to what we agreed on before, 5% commission, this 50,000 is an apology compensation." Lan sister took out a bundle of money and put it on the table, then hinted that I should leave quickly. I nodded my head, carrying the box and followed behind Lan sister.

  Youlan sister led the way and no one dared to block them, not even Liu Danyan, who only glared at Youlan with hatred but didn't dare to make a move, because he knew that he was no match for her.

  "Hey, old man, what Dōng Tiān Fú Dì needs is fate. With fate, anywhere can be a blessed place; without it, haha." I said as I was about to leave the door. Mount Sōng is a famous mountain that has been popular for thousands of years, but none of them have been able to enter Kòu Qiān's practice arena. What does this mean? It means they don't have fate, just like the old ghost at the entrance of the cave who has been lingering there for decades. I don't want to be another old ghost at the entrance of the cave, so I'm kindly reminding you, but it seems like it's unnecessary.

  As we stepped out of the door, we suddenly heard the sound of police sirens getting closer and closer. This made Lan's face change color. She had known Li Huaguang for many years and knew what would happen if they confronted the police, especially on someone else's turf. That was a very bad situation. So Lan pulled me to run away, but how could human legs outrun cars? At this rate, we would be caught soon. Want to hail a taxi?

  Damn it, where are the taxis at the door, and the motorcycles? Why can't I see any of them? No choice, I can only run, but it's too slow. Who made me carry a box full of money? 9 million in cash plus the password lockbox weighs around 30-40 kilograms, plus a backpack, making it very inconvenient to move. This makes Lan sister extremely anxious, her eyes darting around wildly, she had wanted to hijack a car for a long time.

  "Wait..." Just as Lan Jie was about to make a move on a small car, another car suddenly stopped in front of us. A head wearing sunglasses and a mask popped out and yelled at us, "Get in!"

  The voice was somewhat familiar, but I didn't have time to think about it. Lan Jie had already jumped into the passenger seat of the car, and I could only follow her. "Don't talk, drive," she said. After getting in the car, Lan Jie didn't trust this person at all, directly pulling out a gun and pointing it at his waist, threatening him.

  With a gun in hand, I have the world. The appearance of the handgun made that person tremble, and even the steering wheel couldn't be held steady. The whole car was shaking wildly, but it wasn't until Lan sister lent a helping hand that the car finally stabilized.

  "Keep an eye on him, don't let him move around, search his phone." After the car stabilized, Lan Jie took away the man's driving rights and drove herself. She handed me a gun and told me to watch him.

  "Haozi three, what the hell are you, how do you have a gun?" Holding the handgun, although I knew the bullets inside had been used up long ago, I was still preparing to use it to bluff, to scare this guy and get him to hand over his phone. But his one sentence scared me stiff again.

  Haozi three, what a familiar name! I lifted the mask and sunglasses of that person, and I was shocked. It's actually Lin Kaiquan, our dormitory leader for four years, who still managed to screw me over on the last day.

  "Haozi three, no, Lin big brother, you're my real brother, can you please take that thing away? I'm scared just looking at it" Lin Kai said with a trembling voice, damn it, that's a gun, a gun that can fire and kill people. At this moment, he wanted to slap himself twice, damn it for being so nosy and causing trouble.

  "Don't worry, the bullets are all used up, now it's empty. Say, how did you end up here?" I asked Lin Kaiquan with a smile, putting aside the shock in my heart. Although Lan Jie had already figured out from our conversation that we were acquaintances, she still kept her attention on us. In order to dispel Lan Jie's doubts and also to clarify why he happened to appear here so coincidentally, I had to ask clearly.

  "Used up, you, you won't be killing, killing, killing or something?" However, Lin Kaiyuan, who was shocked to the extreme, didn't notice the key point in my words at all. The phrase "used up" made him imagine all sorts of things, but this is also understandable. Although I knew that this guy was a rich second-generation kid with excellent skills in picking up girls, he had never been involved in anything illegal or disciplinary. At this moment, seeing the originally honest and upright (cough, this is also referring to myself) me holding a handgun, of course, his imagination ran wild.

  "Boss, that's not the point, the point is why you appeared here and coincidentally saved me. Besides, this gun of mine is fake, just to deceive people." I shook my head speechlessly, and in order to deceive him, I had to throw the handgun into the trunk, then said with a pretended calm tone.

  I saw me casually throwing away the gun, Lin Kaiquan finally let out a sigh of relief, and took a bottle of water from Lan's side to drink, and only after adjusting his thoughts did he say with a bitter face "Big brother, dear brother, I'm not doing this to save you, I want to make you turn back to the shore. Actually, as soon as you entered the Golden Eagle briefing meeting, I saw you, but at that time I was in the corner and you didn't see me. At first, I was going to give you a surprise, do you know how worried your brothers were for half a month without seeing your shadow?

  You little rascal, what kind of antique have you gotten yourself into again? You still bear the surname Kou, and it's your family heirloom, I thought to myself, oh no, you're done for. You must be the one who got ditched by us on graduation day and didn't make it to the company, so you joined a scamming organization, right? This is a crime, and of course, I have an obligation to save you from the fire pit. Especially when you scammed that old man Zhang, do you know what kind of identity he has here? You even dared to scam him, so when he went to get money, I also went to get a car, which is this second-hand broken car I rented, and spent almost 10,000 yuan on it. Just as I came back, I heard the sound of police sirens rushing towards us, and you guys are running away in a hurry again, so I came to save you.

  Lin Kaiquan explained the cause and effect, but I was the one who felt embarrassed. I didn't expect him to mean that. We almost misunderstood him. It seems that the recent series of events has made us too sensitive. If this continues, it won't be good. Who knows if we'll become neurotic.

  "Sorry, boss, we misunderstood you. But I want to emphasize that we are not scammers. Although the ancestral saying is fake, the thing is really genuine, it's a authentic antique." I have to emphasize that my brother is not a scammer, if I don't make it clear, what if this guy goes out and says I'm a scammer in the future? In college, they even said I was gay with Kang Cheng.

  "Antiques, Lin Hao, speak clearly. Where did you get the antiques? Your family has been poor farmers for ten generations, as you said yourself. The only thing passed down from your ancestors is a hoe. And what about recently? Why hasn't your phone been reachable since graduation day? It's either turned off or not answered. Nobody knows where you are. What have you done? Speak up, brother. If you're in trouble, I won't abandon you." Lin Kaiyuan's barrage of questions left me speechless.

  My recent experiences were truly unimaginable. The death of Kang Cheng, Li Mingxue's disappearance, the Wheel of Rebirth, being hunted down, Kou Qianzhi... and then there was the trip to Songshan. But how can I say it? Can I even say it? No, I don't want to harm him. Too many people are paying attention to the Wheel of Rebirth now. Knowing this secret is a disaster, not a blessing. Wanting to speak, but where do I even begin?

  I took a deep breath, relaxed my mood, and then said "My situation is a bit complicated, I'll tell you after I'm done with some things, but first explain why you ditched me on graduation day. We agreed to send off our junior sister together, why did I wait for so long at the playground and no one showed up? And in the end, when I was about to leave, you still stood me up, what's the point of that?"

  When I said that, I just wanted to change the subject, but Lin Kaiyuan furrowed his brow and said, "Haozi, actually we didn't cheat you, it was fake that your school sister sent you off, but we did notify your good buddy and your goddess to send you off, how come they didn't show up? Damn it, it was all Lao Er's stupid idea, he said he wanted to see if you liked boys or girls, so let's join forces to cheat you once.

  Buddy, goddess, buddy doesn't need to be said, of course it's Kang Cheng. He and I have a good relationship, always rumored to be my buddy. That goddess is Li Mingxue, after all, there is such a childhood friend as a schoolmate, has always been my idol. In addition, the relationship between me and Li Mingxue is indeed somewhat ambiguous. To outsiders, I also call Li Mingxue "goddess", but this raises another question.

  At that time, Li Mingxue and Kang Cheng didn't privately tell me to come see me off. On the contrary, Kang Cheng might have been killed at that time, and Li Mingxue, what was she up to? All of this is a mystery.

  The more I think about it, the more confused I become. Countless bad thoughts make me frown, and I really want to ask, what the hell is going on?

  "Haozi, don't lie to me, something must have happened to you. What's going on? Tell me, brother, I'll help if I can. We've been brothers for four years, and you don't trust me?" Seeing my furrowed brow, Lin Kaiyuan shouted again. After being together for four years, we couldn't say we were familiar with each other's every move, but basic expressions could still be understood. My worried look was impossible to hide from Lin Kaiyuan.

  "I, I don't know what to say, but you can't help me with my matters, they're beyond your imagination. Let's switch cars later and get rid of this broken one too. Go back to your hometown Fengcheng, and don't come back to Antique Street for a year. Once the storm passes, you'll be fine." Lin Kaiquan's words warmed my heart, but the more he spoke, the more I couldn't bear to implicate him, so I had to swallow my pride and say...

  "It's impossible that nothing is wrong, think about how you can escape" Lin Kaiquan hadn't spoken yet, when Lan Jie's voice came over, I raised my head to glance at Lan Jie, who nodded towards the outside of the car, and I looked out to see several cars following us, with the drivers staring at me with fierce eyes.

  "What to do, Lan Jie?" I asked anxiously. It was only then that I realized Lan Jie's car speed had become extremely fast. However, because this car is too crappy, we can't shake off the cars following us no matter what. Those cars don't dare to crash into ours like in TV shows, as even a slight collision at this speed would be a disastrous accident. Now that they have more people, they think they've got us cornered and won't risk mutual destruction.

  "If you can't get rid of it, then fight it." Lan's gaze flashed with a hint of ruthlessness. She hadn't intended to cause trouble, so when she left, she only left 50,000 yuan as a gesture of compromise. But these people still wouldn't let them go, so don't blame her for being heartless and ruthless.

  "Stop, Haozi, don't fight, these people are from the Golden Eagle Gang. I know that guy, he's a local thug, must be hired by the boss of Golden Eagle Gang. You can't beat so many people." I remained silent, fighting and killing had become a part of my life for some time now, another fight didn't mean much to me. But Lin Kaiyuan yelled loudly after seeing the people outside.

  "Huh, how are you so familiar with this place? Isn't your hometown Fengcheng?" I didn't expect Lin Kaiquan to know people outside, which surprised me a bit.

  "I told you before, my family is in business. My old man opened up a market here over a year ago and now more than half of our business is here," Lin Kaiyuan explained with a smirk, having been stuck here since graduation, supposedly to take over the family business, but only he knew the bitterness behind it.

  "Really? Then you put on the mask and sunglasses, pretending to be our hostage. We don't want to harm you." I said hastily, if this gets him involved, that would be unforgivable to a friend.

  "It's not necessary, with their power, it would only take a minute to investigate your relationship. Lin Hao, as long as we win against them, your friend will be fine, because they wouldn't dare to provoke him and risk being retaliated against by force. This is the benefit of having real power." Lan Jie said calmly, but at the same time she stepped on the brakes hard, causing the car to come to an abrupt stop.

  "The benefits of strength" I gazed at the truck parked horizontally in front of the car window, a special flavor spreading in my heart.