Seeing that I spoke as if it were the truth, he said awkwardly, "Hehe, it would be a real shame if something so valuable were to break. In the past, we could have found a skilled craftsman to repair it, but now it's hard to find people with that kind of craft."
After seeing him off, I found it quite amusing. They could easily pocket 2 million from a mere "listening bottle" sold to anyone in the industry; yet now, during this unusual time, they pawned a well-run bar to me for a total of 2.4 million, even earning the reputation of being a petty scoundrel. What was the Chen family up to? And I started to get curious about these two Chen men I'd dealt with. They were cunning, but not insidious; they could discuss the pros and cons openly. It was hard to say whether they were gentlemen or villains. Judging from their spending, they were extremely wealthy, but why they repeatedly transacted with a small pawnshop manager like me was hard to understand.
Also, Assistant Chen's last words reminded me: "Jin Dajian, the jade-armed craftsman, might be able to restore that Listening Wind Bottle?"
I ran upstairs in a huff and asked Li Shishi, who was reading a book, "Where are the fragments of that Wind Listening Bottle from last time?"
Li Shishi pointed to the valuable box in the corner of the living room sofa: "I put it there." Thank goodness! Just as I was about to leave, Li Shishi handed me a few wads of scrap paper. I didn't understand what she meant, and Li Shishi said curiously, "Aren't you going to take out the trash? Take this with you..."
"Trash? Have you ever seen trash worth 2 million? Watch your cousin turn it into something useful, make some money to buy you flowers..." I ran over, picked up the box, opened it, and my heart sank even further. There's an old story about a broken mirror being mended, where a couple each received half. And look at this bottle of mine—it's so broken it's practically been given out at a mass wedding, even the newlyweds' families got a share. If I'm going to fix this bottle, I might as well just grind it all up and mold it into a new one.
I was just thinking of finding some time to visit 300 and the others when Lai Zi called. He said to me, "Brother Qiang, your students miss you. I'll have Team Leader Xu talk to you." Then there was a long silence. I could still hear Lai Zi instructing me on the other end of the phone, "Speak up, Brother Qiang is listening—" After another long while, I finally heard Xu Delong timidly say, "Hello?"
I said, "Is this Team Leader Xu? This is Qiangzi. What's up?" He didn't speak for a while. If I wasn't mistaken, Xu Delong was looking around with the phone in his hand. He was probably not used to hearing such a calm voice but not seeing the person.
"...Sir Xiao?"
"Yes, it's me. Is there something you need?"
"..."
They're looking for me again.
In the end, all I could say was, "Team Leader Xu, I'll come over to see you in a bit. We can talk about it then, okay?"
After taking the phone, Lai Zi smiled wryly and said to me, "Brother Qiang, is your team leader a shill for the mobile company? Or do you two have some kind of affair and just want to hear each other's breathing..."
After hanging up the phone, I quickly assembled the five-man group. I knew Xu Delong must have called me because something had happened, and I needed to make arrangements for them first. It turned out Liu Bang had already gone out to play cards. I pulled out a wad of cash and handed out ten bills to each person, saying, "1000 yuan each. You've been here for quite a while now, and you know how to handle certain situations. Lunch is up to you—Brother Ying, don't spend this money by the bill; ask before you pay, and then get your change." Ever since playing with Jin Shaoyan a few times, Qin Shihuang has developed a bad habit: buying a lollipop, giving a 100-yuan bill, and leaving.
Qin Shi Huang chuckled and said, "I'm so hungry and lazy."
"Okay, then I'll give all the money to Kezi. Anyway, you two are together most of the time, so you can ask him to buy you whatever you want to eat."
Is that okay?
It's surprising that there are actually people in this world who don't want money. Perhaps Qin Shi Huang was used to being high above others; emperors like Kangxi and Qianlong, who frequently traveled incognito, would have known to keep it in their pockets.
After I handed out the money, I looked at them and thought about what else I needed to settle down with. Then it suddenly occurred to me: "Oh right, don't tell Baozi about this. Also, don't tell Liu Bang where the money came from unless he asks you where it came from."
Then the differences between them immediately became apparent. Li Shishi calmly made a phone call: "Hello, is this the pizza shop? Can you deliver one to..."
Xiang Yu wanted to emulate Li Shishi, but didn't know who to approach. Finally, he used the cleverest method: he told Li Shishi, "Order me a roasted lamb leg..."
Jing Ke and Qin Shi Huang were quite amused. Whenever Qin Shi Huang went out, he would buy whatever he saw. Jing Ke, however, was cunning. He put Qin Shi Huang's money in another pocket and said to him, "This is your money. Once you've spent it all, I won't care about you anymore." Who said he was foolish?
However, in my eyes he is indeed a bit... If I were him, I would put a few of Fatty Ying's money into my pocket.
After settling them all in, I carried the box containing the wind-listening bottle onto my 1955 sidecar motorcycle. Where to put the box was a problem; carrying it in my arms made it impossible to drive, and throwing it in the bed would be too bumpy. Then I thought, oh well, bumpy is fine, it's already completely broken anyway, so there's no real difference between 200 and 300 yuan.
The journey was quite an ordeal. While sidecar motorcycles weren't explicitly prohibited, the problem was that I was riding one without license plates. Several times, near red lights, I saw traffic police catch me out of the corner of their eyes, so I hid behind a bus. Not only could the police not see me, but I could also ride in the bus lane, infuriating the cars behind me who grumbled but dared not honk. Once, while waiting at a red light, a guy in the next lane driving an Alto rolled down his window and said, "Dude, that's pretty cool. Want to trade my bike for yours?"
I said, "Let's wait until you grow up and become a BMW owner before we talk about it."
Chapter Fifty-Four: Reconnaissance
When we arrived, I casually jumped off the motorcycle, hoping to make a good impression on the patrolling soldiers. However, I tripped over a small pebble and twisted my ankle. The younger boy chuckled, while the older one gave him a hard slap as punishment, then turned away, shaking his shoulders vigorously.
I limped over, embarrassed and dejected, and two people rushed over to help me. I pointed behind me and said, "Take the box." The young soldier picked up the box, shook it hard a couple of times, and there was a rattling sound inside. He was just like a child, and then he used it as a sand shaker, shaking it all the way.
After passing the cluster of tents, all 300 members of Yue Fei's army sat down on the ground. Yan Jingsheng gathered a large pile of scrap bricks and built a small platform, placing his self-made blackboard on top—it looked like a tombstone. The blackboard read: "Jim and Lilei are friends."
Xu Delong sat to the side of the "podium," acting as both class monitor and discipline committee member. Yan Jingsheng was having Wei Tiezhu and Li Jingshui practice conversation. Li Jingshui stared straight at Wei Tiezhu and said, "What's your name?" Wei Tiezhu scratched his head, looking around with pleading eyes. Yan Jingsheng patiently prompted him, "My name is—" Wei Tiezhu said uncertainly, "Wei Tiezhu?"
Yan Jingsheng chuckled and said, "Very good, which means you can understand now, but our goal is—" This time he was addressing all 300 people, and I was really afraid of hearing "no cavities."
300 answered forcefully, using the hurried, vague, and rapid-fire speech pattern characteristic of the military: "Not only can they listen, but they can also speak!" I quickly seized the opportunity to signal to Xu Delong, who immediately raised his hand and said, "Reporting..."
Yan Jingsheng immediately and gently reprimanded him: "Shouldn't you say that in English class?"
Several "classmates" secretly gave Xu Delong hints. After looking at it for a while, Xu Delong mustered up his courage and said, "Excuse me?" Yan Jingsheng said with satisfaction, "Okay, we'll take a 10-minute break. The next class is Ideological and Political Education."
I noticed that Yan Jingsheng had gotten a new pair of glasses, so I went over to him and started a conversation, saying, "Teacher Yan, I think we should teach the children more basic knowledge and traditional culture first? They probably won't need foreign languages in their lives. When I brought them here, I found that these students' foundation was too weak. Many of them couldn't tell the difference between men and women when they went to the toilet. Luckily, it was the middle of the night, or I would have really thought that these students had some kind of character problem..."
“It’s all resolved—I’ve also noticed the situation you mentioned, but I’ve also discovered that these students are all very bright. Most of them have simply never received an education because of their impoverished backgrounds. They’ve already mastered pinyin, and in a few days I plan to add a few more courses, including algebra, geometry, and calculus. The biggest problem now is the lack of textbooks. I have a college classmate who works at the Education Bureau, and it seems he’s specifically in charge of the Hope Project office. I’ll try to contact him to see if he can help us resolve the textbook issue.”
I quickly said, "Don't embarrass me. Just make a list of what you need. This is Yucai Martial Arts School, not Hope Primary School."
Teacher Yan smiled broadly and grabbed my hand, saying, "Director Xiao, what a kind person!"
I said sourly, "No matter how poor we are, we can't skimp on education; no matter how hard life is, we can't let our children suffer." I thought to myself that these 300 students are really unlucky, having to endure cramming education for just one year. What if Yan Jingsheng had some wild idea and let them take the college entrance exam? That would be even more hilarious. It's July now, and the college entrance exam has been moved to June every year, so they can just barely get through it before it's over.
This is also very helpful in resolving the hatred of 300. I have already seen some soldiers become like the dull-witted students of today after being taught by Yan Jingsheng. Yan Jingsheng is much more capable than a monk who can chant sutras.
I left Yan Jingsheng behind and pulled Xu Delong aside to ask him what had happened. Xu Delong followed me to a secluded corner before whispering, "Someone scouted the camp last night!"
"Investigate the camp? What do you mean?"
“He seemed to have ill intentions,” Xu Delong said, pointing east. “He ran away after we discovered him. He was very fast and usually traveled at night, so he must be a very professional spy.”
I didn't take it seriously, thinking Xu Delong was being overly paranoid. I asked him, "Do you think they're the same recruiters who had conflicts with us before?"
Xu Delong shook his head resolutely and said, "That person is definitely professionally trained and experienced."
I chuckled and said, "You have no idea what those thugs are capable of. When they're desperate, they can run faster than rabbits."
Xu Delong, however, was in no mood for jokes. He shook his head slightly and pondered, "In my opinion, that person's habit of concealment and hiding is more like that of people from our time."