Mr. Wei pointed to the chair and said, "Xiao Zhou, sit down and talk!"
One person sat on each side. The people in the cabin had already started the yacht, and it wasn't going very fast. Zhou Xuan didn't feel dizzy at all, which was much better than riding in Mr. Wei's fast car earlier.
Mr. Wei smiled and said, "Xiao Zhou, my name is Wei Haihong. You don't need to call me Mr. Wei anymore. Just call me Brother Hong. Mr. Wei sounds too old. I'm not even forty yet!"
Zhou Xuan indeed had a good impression of Mr. Wei, both for his magnanimity and personal charm. He nodded and said, "Brother Hong!"
Wei Haihong chuckled and said, "Okay, calling me Brother Hong sounds much better, haha... Let's talk about your six-sided diamond. To be honest, I don't know if it's because I've been in this industry for too long, but I don't admire any of these young people anymore, until I met Brother Zhou. Maybe to others, Brother Zhou isn't very educated and does things in a rustic way, but to me..."
Wei Haihong stared at Zhou Xuan and slowly said, "In my opinion, that's the rarest kind of simplicity these days. Not greedy, and willing to learn what you don't know. Who is born knowing everything? Hehe, of course I don't want your half. Just consider it as making a worthwhile friend. As for your diamond, I'll handle it for you. You don't need to worry about anything else. But don't rush it. If you need cash, just tell me. Thirty or twenty million is no problem. However, it's difficult to gather the full price of your six-sided diamond all at once. Most of what I hold is invested in various projects, and I don't have that much cash all at once!"
Zhou Xuan hurriedly waved his hand and said, "Brother Hong, I've already troubled you a lot, how can I let you rush things? Just take your time, I'm not short of money, hehe, I have several million in the bank, even if I need it, I have enough money of my own!"
Wei Haihong chuckled, shook his head, and changed the subject, pointing ahead and saying, "Let's not talk about it anymore, haha. Brother Hong is just showing you around today. Have you ever gambled before?"
"Gambling?" Zhou Xuan asked curiously. "Of course I've played. Back in my hometown, I used to play cards all the time. I played all kinds of games, like Dou Dizhu, Texas Hold'em, and Mahjong. But I haven't played since I left home!"
Hearing Wei Haihong say this, Zhou Xuan was very puzzled. There were only a few of them on the boat. Did they really want to gamble with his four men? What was so eye-opening about this?
Wei Haihong smiled, turned around and gestured to his subordinate in the cabin. The subordinate nodded through the glass window, and with a quick acceleration, the yacht sped up, splashing water high on both sides.
Zhou Xuan felt a stinging pain on his face from the sea breeze. Wei Haihong shouted, "Little Zhou, we're only 300 nautical miles from Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. Today, the Neptune will be only 60 nautical miles from here. We can go aboard the Neptune and have some fun!"
"What is Neptune?" Zhou Xuan had never heard of it before. "I do know about Neptune, one of the nine planets in our solar system!"
Wei Haihong chuckled and said, "Hehe, I just like your simplicity, unlike other people who pretend to know what they don't!"
He paused, then continued, "The Neptune is a luxury cruise ship with five-star facilities. The term 'gambling ship on the high seas' usually refers to the Neptune!"
"Gambling ships on the high seas?" Zhou Xuan said, "I've heard of them before, I've seen them in Hong Kong movies, but I don't know if they're really like that. Hehe, things like that are just too far removed from ordinary people like me!"
"Hehe, you really don't know!" Wei Haihong said with a laugh, "The Neptune cruise ship's itinerary is always two days long. Passengers on the Neptune cruise ship all need to apply for exit permits because the cruise ship spends part of its time in international waters. International waters, do you understand?"
Zhou Xuan nodded and said, "I know. The high seas do not belong to any country. In the movies, the high seas are described as places where there is no law to regulate murder and arson!"
Wei Haihong nodded, "That's roughly the idea. The programs the Neptune operates on the high seas are basically gambling, because the high seas are places where there are no legal restrictions!"
Zhou Xuan looked around. At this point, there was no trace of the coastline. To get to the Neptune, you need to get an exit permit. Where can Mr. Wei get one now?
After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Brother Hong, you said that you need an exit permit to board the Shanghai Wangxing ship. Since you need these permits, I suppose you won't be allowed to board from other ships on the high seas?"
Wei Haihong chuckled and said, "Those rules apply to ordinary people. I have a very close friend who is one of the major shareholders of the Neptune. When the boss's friends go out to play, there aren't so many rules to follow."
Zhou Xuan was taken aback. He could guess Wei Haihong's background, but the Neptune was a Hong Kong cruise ship. He had heard Chen Sanyan say that Wei Haihong was from the north. How could he be connected to people from the south? But he didn't think about it anymore. Anyway, it had nothing to do with him. His world and Wei Haihong's world were completely different. He was just taking him on a trip. He shouldn't think of himself as different. When he returned to Chongkou, he would still be the same person he was before!
The yacht they were on had a top speed of 70 knots. Sailing on the open sea felt to Zhou Xuan like being in space, with no boundaries and just rushing around aimlessly, unlike a car where you have to be highly vigilant at all times, lest you fall off the edge or into a ditch.
At this moment, the yacht suddenly slowed down. After it slowed down, one of Wei Haihong's men came out of the cabin. Zhou Xuan guessed that the thing he was holding was probably a satellite phone or something like that, since there was no cell phone signal on the high seas.
"Brother Hong, we've already made contact with Mr. Chen. He should be arriving at this area in about ten minutes!" Wei Haihong's subordinate reported to him.
Wei Haihong smiled at Zhou Xuan and said, "Brother, I've never seen anyone with better luck than you. Hehe, go up and try your luck, and maybe you can dominate the battlefield!"
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Volume One: The First Signs of Growth, Chapter Twenty-Three: Neptune (Part Two)
Zhou Xuan, who had never been on a large cruise ship before, was amazed by the magnificent Neptune cruise ship when he saw it, which was nine stories high!
I've ridden small boats before, and after coming from the south, I took a ferry from the Pearl River Wharf, but that's nothing compared to this Neptune!
Wei Haihong's men made another contact via satellite phone, and the Neptune stopped two hundred meters away. A rubber dinghy was launched from the ship and pulled up alongside the small yacht a few minutes later.
Wei Haihong said, "Achang, you come with me. The rest of you wait for us on the yacht. Keep in touch with Achang by phone!" Then he turned to Zhou Xuan and said, "Little brother, let's go!"
As they descended the ladder from the yacht onto the inflatable boat, the two men on the boat respectfully greeted Wei Haihong, "Brother Hong!"
Wei Haihong nodded without saying a word, and the two men started paddling the rubber boat. When they got to the Neptune, they lowered a rope ladder down from it.
After boarding the Neptune, a man and a woman were waiting. The man was in his thirties and the woman was in her mid-twenties. They were wearing uniforms and were quite pretty, but their makeup was too heavy.
The man greeted Wei Haihong with a smile and extended his hand, saying, "Brother Hong, what brings you here to play?"
Wei Haihong shook hands with him and then said casually, "I just brought my little brother here to have some fun, nothing else!"
The man then took notice of Zhou Xuan. He knew Wei Haihong's identity, but he had never seen him bring any brothers out. This man looked to be only twenty-five or twenty-six, so he must be from their circle. Judging from Wei Haihong's tone, which showed a lot of respect, the man didn't dare to be negligent and quickly shook hands with Zhou Xuan again, saying warmly, "What is your surname, sir? I am Yang Li, the deputy manager of Neptune Casino. It's a pleasure to meet you!"
Seeing that Wei Haihong didn't say anything special, Zhou Xuan shook hands with Yang Li and said, "My surname is Zhou, Zhou Xuan!"
Yang Li then introduced the woman beside him: "Miss Lü Yang, the manager of the entertainment venue. Hehe, Brother Hong, I have to be busy for a while. Miss Lü will accompany you to stroll around for a bit first!"
Wei Haihong waved his hand, signaling him to go about his business.
As soon as Yang Li left, Lü Yang asked enthusiastically, "Brother Hong, Mr. Zhou, would you like to rest in the guest room first, or go to the restaurant? Or the karaoke bar?"
Wei Haihong looked at Zhou Xuan and laughed, "Brother, what do you want to play? Tell me!"
Zhou Xuan blushed. He had never played any of these games before, so what was he supposed to say? He quickly replied, "We can play anything. How about we check out the gambling first? It's a gambling ship after all!"
Lu Yang said with a smile, "Oh, not now, because we're not in international waters yet, so we can't gamble!"
Wei Haihong's brother wasn't on the Neptune, so he didn't want to ask anyone else to come along. Looking at Zhou Xuan, he found it amusing; the kid really didn't know anything and was very naive!
Zhou Xuan simply stopped saying and asking anything, since whatever he said would just be a joke anyway.
Lü Yang said, "How about we go to a karaoke bar to listen to some songs and have some drinks?"
While drinking cold drinks and listening to music in the karaoke bar, Wei Haihong's subordinate, A-Chang, would occasionally go outside to contact his brothers on the yacht.