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 be too quick to jump to conclusions on that point.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fourth Brother starting to walk back toward the car, so I frantically kicked He Yu to tell 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 took my time carefully gathering the papers without looking up. Two minutes later, when I finally raised my head, I suddenly saw that Fourth Brother was somehow almost at the car. Panic seized me, and I frantically slapped He Yu’s shoulder. “Holy shit! He’s here! Hurry!”

“Can you do anything right? I tell you to keep watch and you can’t even do that!” He Yu cursed.

I grabbed every sheet of paper I could get my hands on and started stuffing them into He Yu’s bag. He Yu’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t care whether his antique paper got wrinkled anymore and started stuffing them in alongside me.

A second before Fourth Brother and Lu Ayao opened the car door, I swung my legs over, slouched, and flipped straight into the second row of seats. I pretended to stare pensively out the window, but in reality, I was panting like a dog.

Fourth Brother gave us both a strange look and came over to ask me something. My heart leaped into my throat—damn it, in our hurry to clean up, we hadn’t even checked if any pages were left on the floor.

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

Prompted by his words, I reached up and felt my forehead, only for my hand to come away dripping wet, making me feel a bit guilty. Lu Ayao also turned around to look at me, so I chuckled awkwardly. “N-No, I’m fine. It just got a bit stuffy in the car and I didn’t notice. I’ll be fine once I wipe it with a towel. Right, He Yu?”

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

I feigned sudden realization. “Right, thanks for reminding me.”

Fourth Brother didn’t notice anything amiss and naturally chided me from the front. “Gan Ji, pay a little more attention. You’ve been away at school for a few years now—don’t always rely on others to remind you to take your medicine.”

Lu Ayao 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 to be prompted for everything. All grown up for nothing.”

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

He Yu gave me a subtle “OK” sign. The tight string of tension in my chest suddenly went slack, 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 gag, He Yu immediately reached out to clamp the cap over my mouth, 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 coated in bitterness. He Yu burst out laughing at my scrunched-up face, and Lu Ayao 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 heading out to sea.

The moment my feet hit the ground, the sea breeze hit me full in the face, blowing until my skin felt stiff. The last lingering glow of the sun remained at the horizon, a fiery red ribbon staining the edge of the sky. Several freighters and ferries swayed with the wind on the water. On the mudflats below, numerous 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, bundled up in our jackets 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 stepped past Fourth Brother to pat my shoulder. “I heard you had that Qiao guy dancing to your tune in Yunnan. He’s hunting for you all over the world now. To make him look that pathetic, you’ve got some real skill!”

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 sheer dread.

Fourth Brother touched Liu Wan’s wrist, and she naturally stepped 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 couldn’t make sense of it, and the spark of gossip inside me was practically shooting out of my head.

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

“Fourth Brother, where is Lu Ayao?” I looked around, and seeing no sign of him, 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, and in the short time I spent by the sea calming my nerves, he had already brought over 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 face-first 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 chickened out and 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 Yinggan Tang. 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, “Young Master’s all 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 felt that Fourth Brother’s men were completely different from Qiao Sangui’s thugs.

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

Fourth Brother took me around the deck to meet everyone, then hooked his arm around my neck and led me down toward the cabin. But as soon as he lifted the cabin curtain, the smile froze on my face, and my footsteps came to a slow halt.

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

Bai Shenxian flashed me a toothy grin. “Young Master Gan, we meet again!”