The shop owner waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "No, no, I only discovered it by accident. It's mainly the lock's fault. If I hadn't lost both keys to 303, I could have opened it with that one too..."
I held out my hand and said, "Give it to me."
The shop owner, looking worried, handed me the keys and said, "Please make sure you've come to the right place. A couple is staying in room 202 tonight; they should have just gone to bed and haven't gone to sleep yet..."
I weighed the key in my hand and asked, "Does your room door have a bolt or chain or anything like that?"
"They all are. But don't worry, I can guarantee they're all bad."
I put my hand on his shoulder, not knowing what to say, and finally patted him on the shoulder and said, "If you get this done, I'll give you credit!"
It's no wonder those two foreigners are in trouble; let them know what the realities of China are like.
We tiptoed up to the third floor. I took out my key and quietly went to the door of 302, slowly inserting it into the lock. Xiang Yu and the others stayed close behind me, ready to rush in at any moment.
This time, however, the shop owner's broken key got me into trouble. I'd only inserted it halfway when the rusty keyhole made a soft click. The person inside was unusually alert and immediately shouted, "Who goes there?" Judging from their accent, their Mandarin was quite good, but something still felt off; they were definitely a foreigner.
As we stood there stunned, we heard someone inside hurry towards the door. Suddenly, Li Shishi pushed us all aside, gently knocked on the door, and said in a sweet voice, "Would you like some service, sir?"
us:"……"
By this time, the man had reached the door and peered through the peephole. Having lived in China for a long time, he probably understood what Li Shishi had meant. He spoke in a lewd tone to the other person inside, saying, "SO HOT!" Then, with a lewd grin, he asked, "How much?"
We all felt a surge of excitement; there was a chance!
Li Shishi pouted and said to the cat's eyes, "Then it's up to you to see."
A few more laughs were heard from inside the room, followed by a voice saying, "Miss, could you leave your phone number? It's a bit inconvenient today, but I'll invite you to meet me at a five-star hotel another day..."
Upon hearing this, Xiang Yu realized that outsmarting the door was no longer an option. He slowly circled around from behind me to the side of the door, firmly grasped the doorknob, and gave it a sudden push. The lock on the door snapped open, and half of the door frame was smashed to pieces, collapsing limply to the ground.
The guy inside was grinning and groveling when, caught off guard, the door slammed shut, slamming him against the wall. Xiang Yu continued to apply pressure, squeezing the man between the door and the wall. He was rendered speechless, squealing and flailing his arms and legs, trying to pull out his gun, but he couldn't move an inch.
The moment the door opened, I could clearly see Baozi's phone on the table, but I couldn't see her.
I didn't have time to look around. I nervously spread my arms to block the people who were trying to rush forward, because another guy inside the house had already pulled out a gun and pointed it at us...
These two foreigners are the same two I met when I last saw Goodbai. I waved my hands wildly and said, "Don't shoot, don't shoot! We even smoked fake cigarettes together. Don't you remember me?"
This kid was clearly more nervous than we were. He held his gun level and shouted at Xiang Yu, "Release my friend!"
Xiang Yu leaned against the door with his arms crossed and said leisurely, "Never mind him for now, just take care of yourself."
The person inside the door struggled for a long time before gradually giving up—or perhaps they had run out of breath.
The foreigner with the gun gripped it with both hands, crouched down, and shouted, "Don't come any closer!"
I looked around the room and, not seeing Baozi, called out to him, "Where's my wife?"
The foreigner pointed the gun at me and shouted again, "Don't come any closer!"
Mulan stepped forward and stood in front of me, saying, "How many bullets do you have in your gun? Is it enough to kill us all? Your best option now is to put down your gun, or shoot me. It depends on whether you want to live or die."
Wu Sangui said unhappily, "How can you let a woman lead the charge? If you want to hit someone, hit me."
Mulan retorted angrily, "Why do you always look down on women? I'm going to block this bullet today, no matter what."
Xiang Yu pressed down on the door with one hand and pulled the two men behind him with the other, saying to the foreigner, "If your marksmanship isn't very good, you'd better shoot me first."
At that moment, Zhang Bing suddenly leaped in front of Xiang Yu, resolutely declaring, "I don't care about anyone else, but if you dare harm my king, I'll bite you to death!" She wasn't short, but standing before Xiang Yu, she looked like a toy doll, yet her tone revealed boundless determination. At that moment, regardless of what she had done or said before, we completely understood her. All of this was for Xiang Yu; Zhang Bing's unwavering sincerity was evident to all.
Liu Bang peeked out from behind us and said, "Since everyone is so enthusiastic, I won't join in. But if he really dares to fire, I will definitely tear him to pieces to avenge you."
The foreigner kept pointing his gun at this person and that person, and seeing us all looking at him like we were vying for a professional title, he shouted, "Don't move! Don't try to play games with me. I don't believe there are any people in this world who aren't afraid of death."
Suddenly, Ersha, who had been observing coldly, walked over to the foreigner and said leisurely, "Stop arguing, I should go." We all knew what he meant. He was the first one to arrive among these people, so he had the shortest remaining time. From that perspective, it was indeed his turn to go.
The foreigner's gun barrel and voice trembled as he yelled, "Don't move! I'll really shoot if you go any further!" He was clearly very agitated, on the verge of a breakdown. I held onto Ersha tightly. Although he was truly fearless, could I really let him go in like this?
While pulling Ersha along, I asked anxiously, "Where's my wife?"
The foreigner ignored him and kept stomping his feet, saying, "Stay away from me, or I'll shoot!"
Outside the window, Shi Qian was pressed against the glass, slowly prying open the latch with a knife. We were taken aback, and the foreigner also noticed something was wrong, but he didn't know what it was. He was facing us, so he couldn't see Shi Qian, but the one squeezed inside the door saw him clearly. Helpless and speechless, he struggled desperately, making muffled noises.
The foreigner with the gun couldn't help but turn his head, but Liu Bang suddenly shouted, "There's someone outside the window!"
Upon hearing this, the foreigner with the gun immediately straightened his stance and sneered, "I don't appreciate your Eastern humor at all; it's always so pale and empty."
We all nodded in agreement: "That's right, that's right."
So we remained in this stalemate, waiting for Shi Qian. But this time, the task was proving difficult. First, we couldn't make any noise, and most importantly, this run-down hotel had two panes of glass. I had no idea how long it would take for him to break through the window.
Just then, we saw the door of a room diagonally behind the foreigner with the gun silently open a crack, then gradually widen, and Baozi peeked out, half her head peeking out. She looked at us, then at the foreigner with the gun, and slowly walked out of the room. She picked up a water glass from a table, shook her head, put it down, and tried a thermos, but still felt it wasn't right. Finally, she picked up a square ashtray, nodded, and then, like a Japanese woman, took small, quick steps to move behind the foreigner with the gun…
The foreigner, squeezed inside the door, began to struggle violently like never before, but Xiang Yu exerted a little force and then fell silent.
Just then, Baozi stood behind him, gesturing back and forth to indicate the distance, the ashtray slowly moving in front of and behind the foreigner's head. The foreigner was completely oblivious, staring at us without blinking. Seeing this, Shi Qian outside the window simply stopped what he was doing and sat on the windowsill, looking inside.
I put on a smiling face and said to the foreigner with the gun, "You're about to be in trouble."
The foreigner, not forgetting to demonstrate his Western-style humor, shrugged and said, "I didn't feel that way at all?"
I said with a smile, "You're about to be in trouble!"
At this point, we all put aside our airs and looked at him with smiles. The foreigner felt a little uneasy under our scrutiny, and several times he wanted to turn around but didn't dare. Finally, he snorted and concluded, "You all have quite a talent for acting."
I said, "When I count to three, you're going to be in trouble. One...two..."