I yelled, "Bullshit! How did you get in? Was the lock pried open?"
"No. I only discovered it had been burgled after I came in; the windows were all open."
The pawnshop's windows are all on the second floor, and they're separate units with no other balconies nearby to climb onto. Have you ever seen a kid jump four meters high and climb to the second floor? So I'm completely hopeless about Baozi's intelligence. Of course, this is related to her thinking there's no real loss; if the thousand or so yuan she hid in her worn-out shoe had been lost, she would have gone berserk long ago.
It's not the theft itself that's scary, it's the thief's eye on it. But I can't imagine what an outsider could possibly want from my place. In fact, even when no one was watching the shop downstairs, I always left the door wide open, and nothing ever happened. Besides, an ordinary thief wouldn't be this skilled—the Jing Ke sword was hidden in the potato pile, and my clothes were folded and placed at the bottom of the cabinet. Even if an ordinary thief found them, they'd only check for money. The Overlord Armor looked like nothing more than a piece of metal. The fact that these things are missing means this thief knew my secrets and came prepared. Someone who knows my secrets also has no secrets from me, meaning this person can't be someone I know.
There are two possibilities. One is that he's a sophisticated thief, perhaps from a scholarly family, studying archaeology at a top university. He became cynical and resentful after his childhood sweetheart ran off with an old man driving a BMW, leading him to become a notorious thief. He always carries a tulip in his polyester jacket pocket, has melancholic eyes, and messy hair. He often stands on the sixth-floor rooftop late at night, shouting at the moon: "You ruined my chance to be a good person..."
The second possibility is that it's related to the appearance of the Eight Heavenly Kings. I, Xiaoqiang, have an enemy!
What I fear most is not that those things will disappear forever, but that they will reappear. Each of them cannot be described simply as priceless: a Qin Dynasty short sword without a trace of oxidation, a perfectly intact Han Dynasty imperial robe, a golden armor with exquisite details... Each one is more than just archaeological value; they are like heavy bombs, and if just one of them explodes, it will take many lives, including mine, of course.
What's infuriating is that Baozi cleaned the house so thoroughly that it was spotless, and now even if Shi Qian were called in, there would be no clues to follow.
Just as I was feeling completely lost, the phone rang. I looked at the screen and saw it was Liu Bang's mistress, the Black Widow, calling. What could she possibly want from me? But I had a good impression of this woman. Although she was a fake empress, she was incredibly loyal to Liu Bang and quite righteous. When Xiang Yu borrowed her chariot for so long, she didn't say a word, and she even helped me a lot.
I answered with a laugh: "Hey, Sister Guo, what did you do to my Brother Liu? Even if you squeeze him dry, you still have to let us see each other one more time, right?"
Black Widow Guo Tianfeng ignored my joke and said in a fairly calm voice, "Xiaoqiang, Liu Ji is in a bit of trouble."
"What's wrong?"
"He lost money gambling and was detained."
When I heard it was such a trivial matter, I immediately said, "Hey, Sister Guo, he's practically your man, what's wrong with you lending him a little money?"
Guo Tianfeng said, "...It's not a small amount of money; they want 1 million."
It was only then that I realized she was speaking to me with a forced, suppressed tone, and my heart jumped: "What's going on?"
A man on the other end of the line snatched the phone from Guo Tianfeng and said in a roguish tone, "Brother Qiang, is this you? Your friend surnamed Liu lost 1 million to me and can't pay me back, so I had no choice but to come to you."
Who are you?
"Don't worry about who I am. Take the money and come to Xiangji. You have half an hour. If we don't see you by then, we'll have to follow the rules." Before I could say anything more, he quickly gave me an address and hung up.
I know that Liu Bang has been neglecting his duties since he arrived and loves gambling, but he only gambles a few hundred dollars at a time. How could he have lost a million? I feel that this is not a simple matter. I have to go there as soon as possible. Judging from the tone of the other party, he is definitely not a good person. Liu Bang is my client after all, and we have gotten along quite well through our subsequent interactions.
But who can I send with me? The heroes have their own troubles to deal with, and by the time they get here from that far away, it'll be too late. 300 is also too far to be of any use. As for Xiang Yu, forget about him; even if he were here, he would never bother with a few rascals for Liu Bang's sake. It seems like only Er Sha is left. Er Sha has been with me through recruitment, so he has plenty of experience settling things. The only thing I don't know is how good he is; all I see him doing every day is him and Zhao Bailian wildly fighting with brooms. But I have no choice—is it my style to really take 1 million to ransom someone? No!
I walked to Jing Ke's door and said to him, "Kezi, come with me."
"Where are you going?" Jing Ke and Zhao Bailian were lying on the bed, head to head, listening to the radio.
I glanced at Baozi and said, "Go play."
Zhao Bailian jumped off the bed first and said, "I'll go too."
I said, "You can't go."
Ersha said, "If he can't go, I won't go either."
I:"……"
Now I understand, what's more terrifying than facing one idiot is facing two idiots. It seems the second idiot's intelligence has regressed quite a bit.
I didn't have time to say much, and led the two of them downstairs. When we got to the top of the stairs, Baozi suddenly said, "Qiangzi, take the bag—come back early."
I put the bag containing the brick inside on my shoulder, glanced at the steamed bun, and said, "Liu Ji is in trouble."
Baozi said, "I heard everything. Be careful, if you can't beat them, run away and think of another way."
...
When we got to the car, I said to Zhao Bailian, "Xiao Zhao, you go back first. We're not going to play; we're going to fight someone."
Zhao Bailian was already in the car, saying expressionlessly, "War is good—"
I hesitated for a moment, then realized I didn't have time to waste any more words and could only drag the two idiots to the place they had mentioned. Just like last time, I still harbored a glimmer of hope, thinking that even if we got there, a fight might not break out.
The place was a chaotic cluster of houses, and the locals were quite rugged. Men, shirtless and wearing shorts, leisurely blocked the road carrying soy sauce bottles; a group of young men at a watermelon stand by the roadside were playing cards, and chopping watermelon knives on a rough wooden table. They reminded me of my happy childhood—I instantly fell in love with this place; how come I never knew it before?
I slowed down and looked around, but there was only one wonton shop called Xiangji. I got out of the car, carrying my bag, with two idiots behind me. I went into the shop, and before I could even speak, a young man wearing an apron looked at me sideways and asked, "Are you Qiangzi?" He didn't even call me "brother" anymore.
After confirming, he led the way, taking us out through the back door. As soon as I stepped outside, I was stunned: it was a backyard the size of three basketball courts, with seventeen or eighteen men standing and sitting around. In the middle of the yard, a table was set up, and four or five people were playing Texas Hold'em. In a corner, Black Widow stood with her arms crossed; having been through some things, she remained relatively calm. Beside her, Liu Bang sat casually on a long wooden bench, one foot propped on the seat, munching on a slice of watermelon. He even flicked the rind at me when he saw me. I was furious. He never seemed to want to suffer any loss; anyone who didn't know better would think he was the local gang leader. I never imagined that behind this wonton shop was an underground casino.
At the middle table, there was a guy about my age who was probably exhausted from playing cards all year round. He had a full head of white hair despite his young age. He glanced at me, threw down his cards, and lazily said, "Did you bring the money?" The other people at the table heard this and stood up on both sides.
I walked over and sat down opposite the young man with the white hair, slamming my bag on the table. His eyes lit up immediately. From that, I concluded that they really were a bunch of thugs. No matter how bulging the bag was, it couldn't possibly hold a million yuan. It seemed they just wanted to extort a few people.
I asked, "What should I call you?"
The young man with prematurely white hair said casually, "Just call me Sixth Brother."
I cursed inwardly. I'm allergic to things like "six" and "Liu" now. I said, "What did my friend do to offend you?"
Xiao Liu shrugged: "I didn't offend anyone, I just lost money gambling and don't have the money to pay back. Do you have any money with you?"
I turned to Liu Bang and asked, "What games do you play that can result in losing a million?"
Liu Bang tossed aside the melon rind and said, "We agreed on 5 yuan per hand of blackjack, and after I just lost one hand, they're demanding 1 million. I've already given them over 2,000 yuan, and it still won't work." He wiped his hands, speaking cryptically, "These guys are usually pretty good friends, but something's up inside today—"
Seeing that I only had Jing Ke with me, Liu Bang spoke in a neither too soft nor too hard tone. But the matter was already quite clear. I guessed that Liu Bang had won a lot of money from them before, so these scoundrels just found an excuse to extort it back.
I asked Liu Bang, "How much money did you win from them in total?"
"It's around 2000."