Chapter 146: The Pier

By the same logic, if Liu Sanshui’s body wasn’t inside the tomb, there was a high probability that he had survived or been swept away by the sea. Many things could happen in the ocean, so I didn’t dare to make any arbitrary guesses on that point.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fourth Brother starting to walk back toward the car. I quickly gave He Yu a hard kick, telling him to pack up.

“Hurry up! Don’t let Fourth Brother see these things. If he catches you, he’ll definitely confiscate them.”

“What’s the rush? The old man walks slowly. He’s still a hundred thousand miles away from us. Take it easy.”

At first, I was slowly and carefully gathering the papers without looking up. After two minutes, I raised my head and suddenly saw that Fourth Brother had somehow already nearly reached the car. I immediately panicked, my hands moving in a frantic blur as I slapped He Yu’s shoulder. “Crap! He’s here! Move it!”

“What can you actually do right? I ask you to keep watch and you can’t even do that!” He Yu cursed.

I grabbed every piece of paper I could reach and stuffed them into He Yu’s bag. He Yu’s mouth twitched, but he no longer cared whether his antique papers got wrinkled or not as he started stuffing them in with me.

A second before Fourth Brother and Lu A’yao opened the car door, I swung my legs over and lowered my waist, flipping into the second row of seats. I pretended to be staring pensively out the window, though in reality, I was panting like a dog.

Fourth Brother gave us both a strange look and then came over to question me. My heart instantly leaped into my throat, worrying that in our haste to clean up, we might have left a few pages on the floor.

“Gan Ji, are you feeling unwell again? It’s not even hot today, so why is your forehead covered in sweat?” Fourth Brother asked as he buckled his seatbelt.

I touched my forehead at his remark and my hand came away wet. I felt a bit guilty. Lu A’yao also turned to look at me, so I forced a laugh. “No, I’m not unwell. It just got a bit stuffy in the car and I didn’t notice. I’ll just wipe it off with a towel. Right, He Yu?”

Taking my hint, He Yu quickly and cleverly handed me a towel. He leaned half his body over my seat and waved at Fourth Brother. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry, Fourth Brother, I’ve been keeping an eye on him for you. Little Yao, isn’t it time for your medicine?”

I put on an expression of sudden realization. “Right, thanks for reminding me.”

Fourth Brother didn’t see through the act and naturally began to scold me from the front. “Gan Ji, pay more attention. You’ve been away at school for years, don’t always rely on others to remind you to take your medicine.”

Lu A’yao could tell something fishy was going on between us, but he didn’t expose us. He just watched our performance calmly from the side. Hearing me say I needed medicine, he reached out and produced a thermos from somewhere, handing it to He Yu.

He Yu gave me a look and poured a capful of the prepared medicine, placing it in my hand. “Exactly. Look at you, needing a prompt for everything. You’re far too old for this.”

I brought the cap to my lips and whispered to He Yu, “Is everything hidden?”

He Yu gave me a subtle “OK” sign. The tension in my heart snapped, and I gulped down the entire capful of medicine as if it were water. The moment it hit my tongue, the bitterness nearly made me spit it all out. Seeing me about to gag, He Yu immediately reached out to steady the cap, forcing me to swallow it down.

After finishing the medicine, I felt like I was about to ascend to heaven. Every corner of my mouth was filled with bitterness. He Yu burst out laughing at my scrunched-up face, and Lu A’yao couldn’t help but smile from across from me. He handed me a bottle of mineral water. I glared at them both, fuming, suddenly feeling like I had been played again.

We drove on the highway for three or four days, finally reaching a pier. This place was completely unfamiliar to me. It wasn’t a major port, nor was it the kind of scenic spot suitable for taking photos and idling away the time. There was nothing but rocks and sand around, no scenery to speak of. It was a pier purely for fishermen to head out to sea.

The moment my feet hit the ground, the sea breeze hit me full in the face, making my skin feel stiff. The last lingering glow of the sun remained on the horizon, a fiery red ribbon staining the edge of the sky. Several freighter ships and ferries swayed with the wind on the sea. On the tidal flats below, many shellfish were churned up by the waves only to be pulled back into the water.

People were coming and going at the pier. Workers came over to help move boxes of all sizes from the car onto a speedboat, busily ferrying them back and forth to the research vessel.

He Yu and I were like two rookie laborers, wrapping our jackets tight as we followed not far behind Fourth Brother. Liu Wan’s car had arrived before ours. She was standing at the pier, handing a cigarette to the ship’s captain and chatting while keeping an eye on the cargo.

As I walked over, she spotted me and bypassed Fourth Brother to pat my shoulder. “I heard you ran circles around that Qiao guy in Yunnan. He’s hunting for you all over the world now. To be able to make him look that pathetic, you’ve got some real talent!”

I couldn’t bring myself to smile, because to me, this wasn’t something to show off. Only those who had personally experienced those events in Yunnan would know how dangerous the situation truly was. Recalling it now brought nothing but lingering fear.

Fourth Brother touched Liu Wan’s wrist, and she naturally moved aside. I could sense an atmosphere between them that was different from ordinary friends, but from the start of the trip until now, they hadn’t done anything that crossed the line of friendship, not even holding hands.

I didn’t understand it, and the small flame of gossip was nearly bursting out of my brain.

Fourth Brother said to us, “There are many people on the ship. I’ll introduce you to some new friends later. We’ll be out at sea for at least a week starting tomorrow. Pack your things and prepare to board.”

“Fourth Brother, where is Lu A’yao?” I looked around but couldn’t find him, so I simply asked.

Fourth Brother puffed on his cigarette. “He’s already gone on board.”

I felt a sudden flash of irritation. For some reason, my temper seemed to be getting worse lately. He Yu had gone back to the car earlier to pack my backpack. In the short time I spent by the sea calming my nerves, he had already brought all the bags from the car.

I took one of the backpacks and slung it over my shoulder. The group of us boarded a boat and headed straight for the research vessel bathed in the sunset’s glow.

The crew was waiting for us on the ship, consisting of people from the Liu Family and Fourth Brother’s subordinates. This time, they were all familiar faces. Someone hauled me up onto the ship, and I nearly tripped over a thick hemp rope on the deck. Fortunately, the person was reliable and quickly grabbed me to help me keep my balance.

I looked up, about to say thank you, only to see Xiao Wu grinning at me. “Young Master, it’s been a long time!”

I reacted instantly, lunging forward to give him a bear hug. “Xiao Wu! Why did Fourth Brother bring you along? Weren’t you still next door keeping tabs on me?”

It had been a while since we last met, and Xiao Wu had tanned significantly and lost a lot of weight. He sighed and whispered to me, “I stopped living next door to you ages ago. The day I failed to keep an eye on you and let you slip away to Yunnan, the Master gave me a real earful. Then I was immediately ‘exiled to the frontier.'”

I instinctively wanted to comfort him, but then I realized I was the culprit behind his miserable situation. Suddenly, I didn’t know what to say.

Xiao Wu seemed like he wanted to keep chatting, but once he saw Fourth Brother boarding the ship in the distance, he became so intimidated that he didn’t utter another word. The first thing Fourth Brother did upon coming aboard was sling an arm around my shoulder. The busy workers instinctively cleared a path for him, and the noisy environment fell silent almost instantly.

Everyone on the ship stopped their work to stare at Fourth Brother. Even the Liu Family Members showed him respect. The sheer scale of this display intimidated me, and I wanted to flee immediately, but Fourth Brother held my shoulder in a firm grip. There was nowhere to run. I could only brace myself and stand there under those sharp, piercing gazes.

Fourth Brother patted me to tell me to relax. He said, “These men are all from our Ying Gan Hall. You might not recognize all of them, but they all know you.”

A large, portly man at the bow, holding a pair of pliers, laughed and shouted at me, “The Young Master has grown up! The Master mentions you all the time! Do you have a girlfriend yet?”

“Young Master, do you still remember me? I’m the one who’s always polishing the bottles in the shop!”

“Young Master, Young Master, I’m from the shop too!”

The workers scrambled to greet me. Their enthusiasm was a bit overwhelming, so I did my best to return their greetings while trying to remember every face and name. This atmosphere brought me a sense of joy I’d never felt before, because I realized that Fourth Brother’s men were completely different from Qiao Sangui’s thugs.

I suddenly realized that compared to living a stable life like an ordinary person, I might actually prefer this kind of lifestyle.

After Fourth Brother took me around the deck to meet everyone, he hooked his arm around my neck and led me down into the cabin. However, as soon as he pulled back the curtain, the smile on my face froze, and my footsteps slowly came to a halt.

Fourth Brother stepped forward and introduced him to me. “This is the helper I’ve invited, White Immortal. Xiao Ji, you’ve only just recovered, so if you feel unwell while we’re at sea, you can go to him.”

White Immortal gave me a toothy grin. “Young Master Gan, we meet again!”