Golden Scale [EN]: Chapter 72

New Bund (5)

New Bund (5)

This night was also difficult for Hou Longtao and Long. Being in enemy territory with exceptionally poor living conditions and carrying injuries, they could only doze on and off, unable to truly rest. Coupled with the lack of sleep on the train, both men looked unwell in the morning. They believed that reinforcements would arrive on the same train as them, which meant they wouldn’t be in Shanghai until 8:00 AM. The long wait was a true torment.

The air in the cabin was incredibly stale. As soon as daylight broke, they went up on deck.

“Heh heh, haven’t we been through worse?” Hou Longtao lit a dry Weilong [a cheap brand of cigarette] cigarette.

Long sat down beside him. “What do you mean? Wasn’t the time at ‘Fu, Lu, Shou’ [a gambling den] worse than this?”

“Of course not. That time, we weren’t nearly killed.”

“But that time, everyone except you got bloodied.”

“That was just a minor incident,” Hou Longtao said with a dismissive smile. “This time is different. We really almost lost our lives.”

“Damn, we’re not dead yet. But the ‘Fu, Lu, Shou’ thing happened several years ago. When are we going to get revenge?”

“Are you in a hurry? With our current strength, we can crush them anytime. We’ll do it when we have some free time.”

“Okay, don’t forget.”

The two brothers chatted for a while. At 7:00 AM, the other cleaning boats working outside gradually returned, and the air filled with the smell of garbage again. Because this boat had set sail yesterday afternoon and had “guests” on board, it hadn’t left the harbor. Grandma Qi’s family also got up. They seemed to have nothing to do during the day. Her grandson ran off to play with friends on neighboring boats, and her simple-minded son just sat there, grinning foolishly.

Hou Longtao felt helpless about this family’s situation for now, but as soon as he got through the current crisis, he would repay their life-saving kindness. “Grandma, come to Beijing with us.”

“Beijing?” Grandma Qi, who was sweeping the deck, looked up. “I’ve never left Shanghai in my life. All my relatives and friends are here. I don’t know anyone in Beijing. This old woman would die of boredom, hahaha.”

Although the old woman spoke in a joking tone, Hou Longtao knew she was telling the truth. Most older people don’t like to move. “Just stay for a week or two and then come back, think of it as a vacation.”

“No, thanks. It would be too much trouble for you. Besides, I really don’t want to go.” Grandma Qi didn’t know how wealthy these two young men were. She just assumed they had also suffered at the hands of Mao Zhengyi. If she were more discerning, she could have judged from the quality of their clothes that they were not ordinary people. Since she had refused, Hou Longtao didn’t insist. He could repay her kindness even if she didn’t go to Beijing, it would just take a couple of days longer. After sweeping the deck, Grandma Qi went to the dock’s shop to buy soy sauce. Long glanced at his watch. “It’s almost 8:30. Looks like there’s no breakfast for us.”

“Sigh, those two big bowls of rice porridge we had last night were probably their dinner.”

“How much do you think those two bowls of porridge were worth?”

“Priceless. Let’s go below, the smell here…”

Just as the two of them returned to the lower cabin, Grandma Qi rushed in, flustered. “Hou, Hou, wheeze, there are several fierce-looking men outside… checking the boat’s number. I heard them looking for ‘Hu Huang 107,’ that’s this boat. They might be Mao Zhengyi’s men. They’ll probably be here soon.”

“Is that so?” Hou Longtao didn’t understand how they knew he was here. If someone had seen them board the boat, they should have come earlier. But now was not the time to think about it. The priority was to find a place to hide…

Mao Zhengyi’s ten men finally found “Hu Huang 107.” “Boss, this is it.”

“Damn, parked so far away.” The speaker was a Wu Xing Han [Mao’s henchmen] nicknamed “Hillbilly.” He was the leader. Without the boss’s permission, he led his men onto the boat. “Where’s the boat owner? Come out.”

“Who is it?” Grandma Qi slowly emerged from the lower cabin. “Who are you looking for?”

“Don’t play dumb.” Hillbilly always tried to intimidate powerless boat owners.

“What? What playing dumb? Who are you people?”

“Did you pick up two people from the river yesterday afternoon?”

“No.”

“Really?”

“Why would I lie to you?”

“You better be honest.” Hillbilly winked at his men. One man went to the boat’s wheelhouse, three men checked the outside of the boat, and the remaining five men went into the lower cabin.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Grandma Qi tried to stop them. This was her home, how could she let people barge in?

“Old lady,” Hillbilly grabbed her. “We’re criminal police, investigating a robbery and murder. If you knowingly conceal information, you’ll go to jail.”

“What…” Grandma Qi wasn’t a member of the underground party, after all. She couldn’t help but be affected by such words, but she quickly recovered. “How could there be murderers here? Don’t talk nonsense.”

Hillbilly had worked as an undercover security guard in a large supermarket for a year. He was fired for being dishonest, but his job had trained him to observe people’s facial expressions. Grandma Qi had indeed shown a nervous expression, and her brief hesitation made him suspicious. He decided to thoroughly search the boat. “Everyone, look carefully.”

“There’s no one here. How many times do I have to say it?”

“What’s that place?” Hillbilly pointed to a large green hatch on the deck at the stern of the boat.

“That’s the garbage container. The city sends a truck every day to take away the full containers and replace them with empty ones.”

“Open it and let’s have a look.”

“O… Open it? It’s full of garbage, what’s there to see?”

“Enough nonsense.” Hillbilly waved to his men. “Open that hatch.”

Two thugs walked over and grabbed the two lifting arms on either side. The two hatch covers slowly opened upwards. As the gap widened, the stench grew stronger.

“Okay, okay, okay,” Hillbilly shouted. “Close it quickly.” He didn’t even go over to look. He couldn’t stand the smell. No one could be hiding in there.

“Boss, there’s a cabin door below that can’t be opened, and there are curtains blocking the windows,” a thug said, coming up from the lower cabin.

“Hmph.” Hillbilly glared at the old woman and walked towards the lower cabin. Grandma Qi quickly followed. The bottom of the cabin wasn’t large to begin with, and now with seven people crammed in, it was difficult to even turn around. One cabin door was tightly shut. “Hillbilly” pulled Grandma Qi over. “Get the key.”

“This door doesn’t have a lock, where would I get a key?”

Hillbilly looked and saw that there was indeed no keyhole. He pushed hard, but it didn’t budge. It seemed to be bolted from the inside, or blocked with a chair or something against the doorknob. “Break it open.”

A slightly stronger man squeezed forward. “Bang,” “Bang,” “Crash.” The cabin door was broken open. This narrow cabin had no furniture, only a broken wooden chair. A disheveled man cowered in the corner, trembling, his face filled with fear. Hillbilly walked in and grabbed the man. “Is this him?”

A man who had seen Hou Longtao yesterday looked at him. “No.”

“What are you doing? What are you doing?” Grandma Qi rushed in and pulled the man away. “He’s my son.”

“Mom,” the man suddenly pouted and wrinkled his nose, and large tears welled up in his eyes. “I’m scared, Mom.”

“Are you really police? What are you doing scaring my simple-minded son?”

“Damn, he’s an idiot. Old lady, are you really sure you didn’t rescue two young men?”

“How many times do I have to say it? No, I didn’t.”

Hillbilly and his group had already walked outside the dock. “Boss Mao, we’ve searched all the boats, no one rescued them.” Before he could hang up the phone, a skinny, monkey-faced guy squatting under a tree by the roadside came over. “Hey, are you looking for two people who fell into the Huangpu River?”

“Yeah, do you know where they are?” Hillbilly looked at the boy, who was about seventeen or eighteen years old.

“Maybe. How much do you think my information is worth?”

“Damn it,” Hillbilly grabbed the boy’s collar. “Are you messing with me?”

“If you hit me, I won’t say anything.” The boy’s voice trembled, but his expression was determined. He clearly wouldn’t speak without seeing money. “I want to talk to Mao Zhengyi.”

“You’re tired of living,” Hillbilly shook the boy’s body. “Are you even worthy of saying Boss Mao’s name?”

“Let me talk to him.” Mao Zhengyi’s voice came from the phone in his right hand.

“Yes.” Hillbilly released the boy and handed him the phone.

“Hello, Mr. Mao, my price is very high.”

“Are you afraid I can’t afford it? What’s your name?”

“Qu Er.”

“Name your price.”

“Um…” Qu Er gritted his teeth. “Ten thousand yuan.”

“Heh heh, good. But my men might not have that much cash. I’ll have them give you two thousand yuan as a deposit first. After they catch the people, you come with them to see me, and I’ll give you twenty thousand yuan, and arrange a good job for you at ‘Nongkai’ [a desirable company]. How does that sound?”

“Great, great, that’s wonderful.” When Qu Er heard that he could work for such a large company, he imagined his future as a white-collar worker and went crazy with joy. He naturally agreed.

“Very good, hand the phone to my man.”

“Boss Mao,” Hillbilly took the phone.

“…”

“I understand, two thousand yuan.” He hung up the phone, turned to the thugs, and had them each take out two hundred yuan and hand it to Qu Er. Two thousand yuan! Qu Er had never held such a thick stack of hundred-yuan bills. His eyes were shining.

“Look at you, hurry up and tell us. If the people run away, you won’t get any money. Watch your dog legs.”

“Okay, okay, okay, they’re on Grandma Qi’s boat.”

“Hu Huang 107?”

“Yes, yes.”

“Bullshit, we just searched it,” Hillbilly almost popped his eyeballs out. “Besides an idiot, there was no one there.”

“You must not have searched carefully. Yesterday afternoon, Grandma Qi picked up two people from the river. I was the one driving the boat. I saw those two smoking and chatting on the deck before you came. One of them had a splint on his left arm.”

“That old hag dared to lie to us.” Hillbilly cursed viciously, waved his hand, and led his men and Qu Er back the way they came…

Grandma Qi nonchalantly stayed on the deck for ten minutes. After confirming that no one was left to monitor her boat, she hurried to the garbage hatch at the stern and opened one of them. “They’re gone, come out quickly.” Two people wearing large masks suddenly emerged from the pile of garbage. With Grandma Qi’s help, they climbed onto the deck. They began to shake their bodies frantically, as if to shake off all the smell clinging to them. “Almost died in there.” One of them ripped off his mask and gasped for air. It was Hou Longtao.

If these garbage containers were new, they would be sealed. If they had hidden inside, they would have suffocated even if they weren’t discovered. But because they had been in disrepair for years, the container had many small cracks that allowed air to enter, and also allowed the stench to leak out. This was why the air near the dock was so bad.

“Damn it, damn it,” Long was also gasping for air. “This is worse than death. I’d rather have been caught.”

“You two,” Grandma Qi smiled wryly. “The water is already boiled. You can rinse off when it cools down.” After she finished speaking, she went into the cabin. Hou Longtao walked to the side of the boat and grinned as he looked at the slightly murky river below.

Long was picking pieces of paper and rotten vegetable leaves tangled in his hair and followed him. “What are you looking at?”

“I can’t wait any longer. This river water already looks clean to me.”

“Are you sure you can do it? You can’t move one arm. Don’t jump in and get eaten by turtles.”

“Being eaten by turtles is better than being suffocated to death by my own stink.”

“Can you even smell anything? I’m already numb.”

“Stop talking nonsense. You’re injured, so wait a little longer.”

“I don’t think we should wait any longer.” Before Long could answer, a man’s voice came from below the boat. Hou Longtao and Long turned around and saw more than a dozen people on the dock. The leader had a gloomy face. “Boss Mao has been waiting for you two for a long time. No need to wash, let’s go now.”

“Phew…” Hou Longtao wiped his face. Assessing the situation, there was no chance to escape. He could only wait for an opportunity to arise. He glanced at Long. “Let’s go see Boss Mao.”

As soon as the two of them got off the boat, Hillbilly immediately covered his nose. “You stink, did you two fall into a latrine?”

“Not much different.” Hou Longtao stepped forward. “Give us a couple of cigarettes.”

“Sure.” Hillbilly gave each of them a Marlboro and even lit them himself. He had no personal grudges against these two. If he caught them, he might be rewarded by Boss Mao. There was no reason to make things difficult for them.

Grandma Qi came out of the cabin. The first thing she saw was Hillbilly lighting Long’s cigarette. The old woman’s eyesight wasn’t good, and she thought the people picking them up had arrived, so she got off the boat. But as she got closer, she realized that these were the same people from before. “Hou, Lin, you…”

“Old hag.” Hillbilly was furious with this old woman. She had almost ruined his good deed. He kicked her, knocking her to the ground.

“Are you crazy!” Hou Longtao immediately became angry and kicked Hillbilly. Long went over to help the old woman. “Grandma, are you okay?”

At the same time, several people began to beat Hou Longtao. He only had one arm to use and took several solid blows. His nose was bleeding. Besides the “um ah” sounds when he was hit, he sternly forbade Long from coming to save him, for the same reason as yesterday. Of course, Long wouldn’t listen to his fourth brother at this time, but before he could act, Hillbilly stopped his men. “Stop hitting them, take them back and then hit them.” Their commotion attracted many people from other boats, who were just watching the excitement. Hillbilly didn’t want to cause any more trouble here. He signaled his men to support Long and Hou Longtao and walk towards the outside of the dock. Grandma Qi didn’t dare to chase after them. She had done all she could.

Among the onlookers was Qu Er’s father. He saw his son actually mixed in with these people and quickly pulled him aside. “Er, who are these people?”

“Mao Zhengyi’s men.”

“What!?”

“No time to talk to you, I’m going to get a reward for providing information.”

“You… you’re helping Mao Zhengyi!? We live here because of him.”

“So what? He’s my source of wealth now. I’m tired of being poor.” Qu Er shook off his father’s hand and caught up with the “group.”

While walking out, Hillbilly reported the good news to Mao Zhengyi. After hanging up the phone, they had reached the outside of the dock’s fence. Two more steps and they would be at the parking area. Hillbilly waved to Qu Er. “Come here.”

“What for?” Qu Er now considered himself a meritorious person, and his tone was not polite at all.

“Give me back the money.”

“What!?” Qu Er took two steps back and covered the pocket of his jacket with both hands. “That’s the deposit.”

“Deposit your mother!” With Hillbilly’s roar, four or five people went up and pinned Qu Er to the ground. “Daring to blackmail us, you’re tired of living.” This beating was truly “dark and chaotic,” even worse than when Stephen Chow was beaten by the Eighteen Arhats [a reference to a comedic scene in a popular movie]. The “poor” Qu Er, the two thousand yuan hadn’t even warmed up before it disappeared again. Hou Longtao didn’t understand what was happening at first, but after Long told him that the person being beaten was the one who drove the boat yesterday, he could guess what was going on.

“Mr. Hou, let’s not waste any more time.” Hillbilly opened the door of a Santana sedan.

“We’re so disheveled, let’s find a place to wash up first, don’t get your car dirty.” Hou Longtao didn’t have a well-thought-out plan. He only knew that it would be difficult to escape once he got to Mao Zhengyi, so he had to delay as much as possible, even if he couldn’t wait for reinforcements to arrive, maybe he could create an opportunity to escape.

“Hmph, the car belongs to the company, I don’t care if it gets dirty. We haven’t closed our eyes all night, we just want to go home and sleep with our wives, so don’t cause us any more trouble.” Hillbilly forcefully pushed Hou Longtao into the car.

“Don’t touch my fourth brother.” Long had been regretting that he couldn’t help Hou Longtao block a couple of punches earlier. Now that no one was holding him, he landed a punch right on Hillbilly’s right face. Although the punch wasn’t heavy, it ignited Hillbilly’s anger. Counting it up, he had been hit by each of these brothers once. These two bastards were too arrogant. Being in such a disadvantageous position, they still dared to treat him like this, clearly not taking him seriously. “Damn it, it seems I’ve been too kind. Boss Mao wants them alive, but he didn’t say how alive. Beat them half to death first.” With Hillbilly’s order, none of the remaining nine thugs moved. “What are you waiting for?”

“Boss, look.” One person pointed behind him.

“What’s wrong?” Hillbilly turned around and was also stunned. The road leading here wasn’t asphalt, but dirt. Actually, there wasn’t even a road. There were no buildings within a few kilometers, it was completely open space. They saw dust rising high in the distance. Soon they could hear the roar of engines. Six Cherokees driving side by side were like startled rhinos, approaching at an extremely fast speed. They didn’t slow down even when they were a hundred meters away. Ninety, eighty, seventy… until they were fifty meters away, the Cherokees began to brake sharply, raising several meters of dust again. The twelve people stood still, no one knew who was coming, and no one could see who was coming.

In the yellow dust, they could only vaguely see the general situation. Before the cars had come to a complete stop, the three doors of each Cherokee, except for the driver’s side, had already opened. Hou Longtao pulled Long and retreated five or six steps to the side. “Ah…” “Ah…” “Ouch…” After a series of screams, the dust had cleared. Ten men were lying sprawled on the ground, and eighteen men holding electric batons were standing there. The most eye-catching was a “black iron tower” who was over one meter ninety tall.

Hou Longtao and Long walked over. “Why did only you three come? Where are Second Brother and Third Brother?” He recognized the remaining fifteen people. They were all security guards from his factory, a group of veterans. No wonder they were so efficient just now.

The fat man had a smile on his face, but he still looked quite intimidating. “Second Brother is a public figure now, so we didn’t let him come. Third Brother heard that you fell into a stinky ditch, so he went to buy you clothes. He’ll meet up with us later.”

Ma Lian saw that Hou Longtao had a splint on his left arm and blood on his face, and quickly came over to express his concern. “Fourth Brother, you were abused…” Before he could finish speaking, he covered his nose. “Damn, did they feed you shit?”

“Go to hell, look at your brother, he took two knife wounds.”

“Really?” Ma Lian and Er Dezi surrounded Long. Hou Longtao took the cigarette that the fat man handed him. “We can’t stay here long, have you figured out how to leave?”

“Take the train,” the fat man glanced at his watch. “There’s a train back to Beijing in an hour.”

“Huh? Don’t trains back to Beijing all leave at night?”

“Uncle Gu has arranged everything.”

“Uncle Gu? Arranged what?”

“You’ll know when we get there.”

“Okay, load them all into the cars,” Hou Longtao pointed to the few people who were still twitching on the ground. “Give me five minutes.” He quickly walked back towards the dock. Hou Longtao had only taken a few steps when he ran into Grandma Qi, who had come out to check on the situation. “Oh, Hou, are you alright? How’s Lin?”

“We’re all fine, my friends have come to pick us up. I think you should come with us, I’m afraid you’re not safe in Shanghai.”

“Okay, then I’ll go pack up.” Grandma Qi also understood the current situation.

“You don’t need to bring anything, just take your children and grandchildren.” Hou Longtao turned around and waved, calling a few of his men to help the old woman.

Ten minutes later, Grandma Qi came out again. “I can’t find my grandson.”

“How could that be?”

“He ran off to play somewhere with other children, he often does that.”

“I’ll send someone to look for him right away.”

“Monkey,” the fat man shook his head at Hou Longtao. “There’s no time.”

“Yes, Hou, you should go, we’ll be fine.”

“This…” Hou Longtao really couldn’t leave his life-saving benefactor in this dangerous place… (How could a golden carp [a metaphor for someone special] be a thing in the pond [a metaphor for a dangerous place])

Golden Scale [EN]

Golden Scale [EN]

金鳞岂是池中物
Status: Completed Author: Native Language: Korean
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[English Translation] From the bustling streets of Beijing to the sun-kissed shores of California, witness the audacious journey of a reformed hooligan turned unlikely millionaire. Armed with a college degree and a lottery ticket from the Golden State, he's about to shake up the world of high finance. Back in Beijing as an investment department manager, he navigates a treacherous landscape of seductive beauty, cutthroat competition, and unforeseen crises. Watch as he leverages his street smarts, newfound wealth, and a dash of pure luck to transform every obstacle into an opportunity, rising through the ranks to become a titan of industry. Prepare for a thrilling saga of ambition, intrigue, and the intoxicating allure of power.

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