Beipai Tomb Raiders Notes

Chapter 602 Dog thing

"Chief Ji, who told you about this? Have you seen Xiaoying?"

"You've never met me before, so I'm telling you all this? The two of them came to Zhengding before the New Year and stayed at the Kangxinyuan Hotel. Boss Tian sent someone to deliver things to them. It seems you didn't know that."

"No! How could they get divorced? Such a big thing! Why didn't anyone discuss it with me!"

"That girl is alone now; your cousin is no longer in Zhengding."

"Where did Liangzi go?!"

Ji shook his head.

"Where is the child! Where is the little saint?" I asked anxiously.

"That girl is being looked after."

I felt conflicted after hearing this—angry and helpless. Xiaoying and I hadn't actually crossed any lines! I'd already been honest with Liangzi! I even shook his hand, which meant it was all in the past! Perhaps something happened that I don't know about that led to their breakup. From January until now, Xiaoying hasn't called me once, and I haven't contacted him either! Because I'm afraid of causing Liangzi to misunderstand, in a way, I have to draw a clear line between Xiaoying and me.

"Little Elephant Leader, don't get involved in your husband and wife's affairs. It's been several months already, and they haven't contacted you for so long. Don't you understand what that means? Young people these days are open-minded; breakups and makeups are normal."

“I understand. If they are determined to separate, I respect their choice. Can you still see Brother Tian now?”

"Yes, I can see Boss Tian anytime I want."

"I heard from people in Zhuji the other day that Brother Tian has two uncles from the same clan, one named Tian Yue and the other named Tian Di..."

Suddenly, Ji Batou waved his hand, interrupting me, and said, "I'm old, but I'm still quite healthy. With my artillery skills, there are plenty of teams in the Northern School that want to recruit me. Even if I don't go to the front lines, I can make a lot of money just by giving pointers. So why do you think I should retire?"

He said earnestly, "Little Elephant Leader, we must know how to assess the situation. I have followed Boss Tian for so many years and know many of his past secrets. Now that Miss Luo is gone, I must step down."

“I, Lao Ji, will always be loyal to him, but from now on I can no longer call him Headmaster Tian. I can only call him Boss Tian. Do you understand the difference?”

I thought about it and nodded.

Today I have a new understanding of this old artilleryman from the Northern School. He is not unintelligent; on the contrary, he sees the current situation more clearly than anyone else.

We each lit cigarettes and, puffing out smoke, chatted about some of the funny things that happened in Tianguangdong Village. Of course, to avoid upsetting him, I didn't mention Tang Gui's wife again. He had some photos saved on his phone, including pictures of tomb blasting in the wild and pictures of Aunt Luo's wedding day.

Looking at that photo, I almost cried.

I can't explain why, I just couldn't resist.

Even though so much time has passed, seeing the photos again still feels like it happened yesterday. Brother Tian... Brother Tian hasn't smiled once in two years. When he's alone, he must often look through these old photos. He has never told anyone about the pain he has endured deep in his heart.

Aunt Luo in the photo looks beautiful and mature. She is dressed in red and doesn't look seriously ill at all. I think her memories in her final moments were all beautiful. It's just that she couldn't see the day when Brother Tian would still be struggling to move on, several years later.

If love between two people is meant to last, why should they be together every day and night? But no one can live up to the poem's description; the deeper the love, the more one wants to be together every day and night.

I gradually came to my senses and said, "Chief Ji, why don't you quit and join us? Brother Tian won't say anything. Work with me for another two years. With a gunner, our work efficiency will double."

Faced with my invitation, he shook his head and declined, saying, "I have to take care of my son. I don't have the time or energy to travel around with you. Besides, your skills and those of Chief Wang are among the best in the Northern School. It doesn't matter whether we have a gunner or not."

"Ji Bao Guan'er, oh, I must say, the more I think about this name, the better it seems. What were those two lines of poetry you just mentioned again?"

"An old treasure is hidden in a box, and a new jar is placed on the table, which symbolizes humility and forbearance."

“Cultural people are different. Where do these two lines of poetry come from?” he asked.

“It’s an excerpt from the poetry collection of the great poet Lu You,” I replied.

Ji Batou nodded repeatedly, then bowed slightly to me.

I also bowed to him.

This means he accepted my suggestion. Once the household registration issue is resolved, Xiao Ji's formal name will be Ji Baoguan.

Actually, these two lines of poetry have nothing to do with Lu You; I made them up. But they contain my good intentions and my hopes for Xiaoji's future.

.....

The next morning, our boat finally got cell phone signal after leaving the remote Nanhu District, and I couldn't resist calling Xiaoying.

"Hey?"

"it's me."

"Feng... Brother Feng, you changed your number."

What's going on between you and Liangzi?

Xiaoying was silent for half a minute on the phone before saying, "We're officially divorced. Shengtong is mine."

"I thought I could keep it from you for a while, but I didn't expect you to find out anyway. I'm sorry, Brother Feng. Liangzi and I can't live together anymore. I will support myself from now on and raise my child well."

"Where is he?" I asked.

“He went to Guangzhou with a few people. Brother Feng, you don’t know, Liangzi has become addicted to gambling. He gambles big. He took away and gambled away the more than 700,000 yuan that I had painstakingly saved over the past two years. I tried to persuade him, and I even hit him, but it was no use. We don’t have a house yet. I originally planned to save that money to buy a house.”

"Alright, that's all for now, Feng. Someone's here. We'll talk later."

A dial tone sounded, and Xiaoying was gone.

I gripped my phone tightly, so angry that my blood rushed to my head, and I almost smashed it!

I knew there was something wrong!

Xiaoying's tone was rather calm, but the calmer her tone was, the more I could sense the chill in her heart.

Liangzi, that bastard!

How dare he! He was still gambling! And he even gambled away all the money Xiaoying had worked so hard to save over two years!

I immediately called his mobile number.

The voice prompt indicated that the number was not in service.

"Yunfeng, who are you talking to on the phone? You look so pale."

"No one."

Brother Yu walked over, looked me up and down, and said, "I'm wondering if you're secretly giving the Jiang family a heads-up."

"Don't joke around, Brother Yu. I was set up before and wasn't on guard. Now that I know the truth, how could I still be controlled by a phone call?"

"It's hard to say. The Jiang family is very secretive, especially that woman. Who knows if she has some tricks up her sleeve? To be honest, the boss told me to keep an eye on you and report to him immediately if anything unusual happens."

"OK!"

I raised my hand and said, "I accept your surveillance. If you find out I'm colluding with the enemy, you can kill me immediately!"

Brother Yu grinned, came over and put his arm around my neck, punched me lightly and said, "I was just kidding, don't take it to heart. The Thousand Island Lake is a vast expanse of water, with thousands of small islands hidden within it. It's impossible for the Jiang family to know our whereabouts."

“That’s right. From yesterday until now, our position has been constantly changing, just like the ship at the foot of Mount Li. The captain’s move can be described as going with the flow.”

"Brother Yu, I have another question for you."

"what's up?"

"Chaosheng told me before that the Gelaohui were still in Qiandao Lake, but I haven't seen them show up. Did the leader send the Gelaohui some secret mission?"

Brother Yu looked around, then leaned closer and whispered, "They're burying the goods."

"Buy the goods?"

"What goods are you burying? Haven't the goods from Zukengyuan been sold yet? That shouldn't be the case. The boss wouldn't leave this kind of thing to those people."

Brother Yu shook his head, and then suddenly pulled out a lighter.

Our eyes met, and Brother Yu looked at me before slowly pressing the lighter.