A hundred flavors of life

Chapter 1571 'Baoqiang': Big Brother, I was just kidding! (Please subscribe!)
A teahouse.

Xu Pingqiu invited Hua Shier to have tea.

The location was chosen by Xu Pingqiu. The surrounding area was antique and looked quite old. The shop was deserted, with only two customers including them.

Hua Shier, holding his teacup, looked around and couldn't help but tease:
"Hey Lao Xu, you finally get to treat me to a meal, and you bring me to a place like this?"

Xu Pingqiu slurped down a mouthful of chrysanthemum pu-erh tea, then grimaced, whether from the heat or the bitterness, it was hard to tell.
"Be content. With my meager salary, I'm already doing you a favor by treating you to tea. You expect me to take you to a five-star hotel?"

He put down his teacup, waved his hand, and steered the conversation back to the main topic:
"I have something important to discuss with you today. I didn't ask you to come to the team because your current position is sensitive, so please try to go to the team as little as possible in the future."

Hua Shier listened in silence for a long time.

That makes sense, but the way Old Xu sounded like he was being disliked.

Honestly, if it weren't for An Jialu and Big-Breasted Sister being there, do you think he would have been happy to run to the team?
Xu Pingqiu ignored his expression and continued speaking:

“We reviewed it again and found that there might be some problems with the previous plan.”

Hua Shier frowned: "Wasn't it already decided? What's the problem?"

The original plan was not complicated: before the start of the university semester, Hua Shier would go to Hong Kong Island under the pretext of visiting He Yuanyuan, get to know Kun Ge through He Yuanyuan, and then naturally discuss the next step of cooperation.

Xu Pingqiu lit a cigarette, exhaled a puff of smoke, and then explained:
“During the recent ‘anti-drug storm,’ we busted two drug trafficking gangs. One of the gang leaders, nicknamed Hua Gou, wanted to redeem himself by making amends and getting a reduced sentence, so he confessed to a lot of things.”

He paused, then flicked his cigarette ash:

"According to Hua Gou, he worked for Brother Kun for a while in his early years. Brother Kun is a very suspicious person. He would investigate and test his subordinates repeatedly before he would dare to use them with confidence, and he would do the same for his clients. Our original plan seemed fine at first glance, but if you really think about it carefully, there are too many coincidences."

"Why would you, a big shot from Guangzhou, choose to study in Dongshan? And why did you end up sitting next to his sister-in-law and even become her boyfriend?"

“This time you went to Hong Kong Island, ostensibly to see Brother Kun’s sister-in-law, but secretly to find a source of drugs. These things make sense on their own, but put together, under the nose of a suspicious drug lord, these suspicious points could very well become your fatal flaws.”

Hua Shier was silent for a few seconds, then put down his teacup and nodded frankly:

"You're right. So what's your new plan?"

Xu Pingqiu was clearly prepared; he stubbed out his cigarette, leaned forward, and lowered his voice slightly:

"This is the key point I want to make to you today. We're planning to add an extra layer of insurance for you. Hua Gou was able to contact Brother Kun, and we have him in our hands now. He's even trying to redeem himself. That's our biggest advantage."

"The new plan is to have Hua Gou act as your introducer. Once you get there, you can directly discuss purchasing goods. As for your little girlfriend—it would be best if you ran into her, consider it an accidental discovery of this relationship, but you absolutely must not bring it up."

"In this way, your identity will be more credible and your credibility will be much higher than before."

Hua Shier mentally reviewed the two lines from beginning to end, confirming that the logic aligned, and then nodded:
"This is definitely safer. Okay, let's do it this way."

He thought for a moment and then added, "By the way, can you help me contact a smuggler? This time I plan to cross the border by sea."

Seeing the question in Xu Pingqiu's eyes, he explained:

"Don't forget, I'm now at least a top scholar in the imperial examinations. A top scholar swaggering through the gates to do business? That's too conspicuous. If word gets to Brother Kun, it'll just arouse suspicion."

Xu Pingqiu pondered for a moment, then decisively made the decision:

"Okay. You'll come with me to the detention center tomorrow. I'll introduce you to Hua Gou first, and we'll go over the details!"

"it is good."

Hua Shier stood up briskly. Having finished discussing official business, he solemnly uttered a sentence:
"Old Xu, I'll go first. To avoid suspicion, you can go out in half an hour." After saying that, he quickly walked downstairs.

His words were quite serious, which pleased Xu Pingqiu greatly. He nodded secretly while sitting in his seat—this kid, I only gave him a hint today, and he immediately became alert. He's definitely got potential.

Finding some peace and quiet, Xu Pingqiu decided to finish the rest of the teapot in peace before leisurely getting up to pay the bill.

Behind the counter, the owner handed me a form.

Xu Pingqiu looked down and saw that it was five hundred and fifteen.

His brows furrowed immediately: "Boss, I only ordered a pot of chrysanthemum pu-erh tea, wasn't that fifteen yuan? Even if you charge per person, it shouldn't exceed thirty. Are you sure you haven't made a mistake with the bill?"

The shop owner's smile remained unchanged as he calmly and methodically sorted out the bill for him.
"Sir, you must be joking. We business people don't calculate such a large difference. Chrysanthemum Pu'er tea, fifteen. Plus a cake of ten-year-old aged white tea, five hundred. Five hundred and fifteen in total, that's correct."

Xu Pingqiu became anxious: "When did I ask for aged white tea? I only ordered a pot of chrysanthemum pu-erh tea—"

The owner calmly gestured with his lip: "That young man at your table just now took it. He said it was your treat, so he'll put it on your tab."

The image of Hua Shier solemnly instructing him to "go out in half an hour" flashed through Xu Pingqiu's mind like lightning, and he immediately understood everything.

A surge of anger rushed from his dantian to his head, rendering him speechless for a long time, finally turning into a laugh born of rage. That bastard—and he had just been praising him in his heart!
The next day, when they met at the detention center, Hua Shier winked at him, but Xu Pingqiu acted as if nothing had happened.

Taking this bastard seriously is a losing proposition—he can gain nothing but the bastard's pleasure in getting away with his trickery.

Consider the five hundred yuan as a treat for my subordinates to have tea.

After meeting Hua Gou and discussing a few details, Hua Shier hurriedly returned to the hotel. He had spent the whole night with An Jialu, and today Lin Yujing, the busty woman, sent him a message saying she had taken leave and was coming to steal from An Jialu's house—he still had to rush back to deal with her.

Ugh! Being a charming and handsome guy is such a pain.

Two days later, Hua Shier received a text message from Xu Pingqiu containing contact information for a human smuggler.

He immediately gathered his men. Mouse, Zhang Meng, Wang Shenxiu, and Luo Jialong were all present.

Following the address in the text message, the group found the bus arranged by the smuggler in a public parking lot.

The driver rolled down the window and blurted out, "Was it Brother Gou who introduced you?"

Hua Shier then realized that Xu Pingqiu was also following the same path as Hua Shier. He nodded: "Yes, Hua Shier."

The driver pushed open the car door and bluntly said, "Get in. Don't ask any more questions."

Without further ado, Hua Shier told his brothers to get into the car.

The bus drove from Guangzhou to Dachang Bay in Shenzhen. When they arrived, the driver dropped them off and led them, wading through the mud, to a secluded beach.

It was late at night, and the sea breeze was howling. The driver took out his flashlight and shone it on the sea a few times. After a while, a small boat silently emerged from the darkness.

Mouse laughed: "Dude, what era are we living in? You guys are still doing something so primitive?"

The driver sneered and spat, "You don't know anything. The more primitive, the safer."

As the small boat approached the shore, the driver gestured with his chin towards Hua Shier: "Get on board."

Hua Shier raised an eyebrow, finally unable to resist asking, "We're not going to just row all the way to Hong Kong Island like this, are we?"

Perhaps out of consideration for the spotted dog, the driver patiently explained:
"This is the ship that will take you onto the big ship. The water is too shallow here, and fishing boats can't get close enough. It would be too conspicuous to anchor near the shore."

Hua Shier didn't ask any more questions and, along with Mouse and the others, jumped onto the small boat. The oars parted the water, and the small boat swayed and drifted deeper into the sea. Before long, they saw a fishing boat with its lights off, lying darkly on the sea ahead.

Someone on the boat met them and pulled them aboard. The smuggler finally appeared; he was a chubby middle-aged man in his early forties, with a slick smile on his face. He greeted them immediately upon seeing them:
"The bosses are all here, let's set sail!"

The fishing boat's engine emitted a low, muffled sound, the hull shuddered, and it broke through the night, heading out to sea.

The snakehead chuckled and approached Hua Twelve: "You gentlemen were introduced by Brother Dog?"

Hua Shier nodded: "That's the way Hua Gou showed me."

He called out casually, blurting out the nickname "Spotted Dog" without even adding "Brother Dog."

Upon hearing this, the smuggler immediately looked at him with newfound respect, and his smile became even more ingratiating.

"My name is Snake Boy Fa. This boss is quite handsome, what's your name?"

Hua Shier glanced at him and casually said, "Just call me Brother Long."

Snake Boy quickly climbed up the pole, his eyes narrowing into slits with a smile:

"Brother Long, you know the rules, right?"

He rubbed his right thumb back and forth between his index and middle fingers a few times:
“Since it was Brother Gou who introduced us, then we’re practically family. I’ll give you a 40% discount, so it’s 3,600 per person.”

Mouse, listening nearby, gasped in astonishment: "Three thousand six hundred per person? Without a discount, that's six thousand each!"

Snake Boy chuckled and subtly gave a compliment:
"Small-scale operations can't compare to the big fortunes made by several bosses."

Hua Shier was too lazy to argue with him, so he pulled out two stacks of banknotes from his backpack and handed them over: "Twenty thousand, keep the change."

Snake took the money, and with a quick glance, he knew the amount was more than he expected. His face immediately lit up with a smile, and he hurried towards the cabin.
"Brother Long, you're so generous! The wind and waves are strong outside, please come inside and rest. By the way, there are a few other guests in the cabin, please bear with them, Brother Long."

Hua Shier originally thought there would be at most five or six guests, but when he went down to check, he found that there were more than twenty people crammed into the cargo hold, including men, women, and children.

These people were all traveling by boat to Hong Kong Island in search of an unpredictable future. Their faces showed a mixture of trepidation and excitement, as none of them knew what awaited them there.

The air inside the cabin was stuffy, so Hua Shier and the others sat down near the door and opened it a crack to let in some fresh air.

Snake Boy greeted them and then left.

Mouse, never one to sit still, pulled a deck of cards from his pocket and winked at his buddies: "Want to play a couple of rounds?"

Zhang Meng, Wang Shenxiu, and Luo Jialong all rolled their eyes.

Zhang Meng didn't hold back at all, exposing his past: "Why don't you go play with Yu'er? Are you trying to scam us out of money again?"

When Mouse was in school, he would steal pocket money from his roommates by playing cards, and everyone present was a victim.

Yu Zui had fallen for the trap before, but later it was Hua Shier's turn. Once, Mouse tried to trick him, but Hua Shier seized the opportunity and tricked him badly, almost making him lose his underwear.

After suffering two major losses, Mouse avoids Hua Shier whenever it sees him taking cards.

Of course, he didn't know that Hua Shier's skills were only so-so outside, but once he entered a legitimate casino, he became a guiding light. Hmm, this guy has a halo!

Seeing that none of them were fooled, Mouse, bored out of his mind, turned and shouted at the group of illegal immigrants:
"Anyone want to play cards? Just a few cents, something to have some fun."

Surprisingly, there were a few who enjoyed playing. Before long, he set up a small game, and a few people squatted on the ground and started playing cards by the dim light of their phone flashlights.

Hua Shier leaned against the side, closed his eyes, and pretended to sleep.

In the darkness, a woman's suppressed cough came from deep within the cargo hold, one cough after another, sounding unpleasant to hear.

Immediately afterwards, a simple, honest voice said to them, "Brothers, could you please close the door?"

Before Hua Shier could even open his eyes, Wang Shenxiu chimed in, "Dude, with so many people crammed in here, don't you feel like you're suffocating?"

The man then said, "My wife is sick and can't stand the wind. You'd better close the door."

Before she could finish speaking, the woman coughed even more violently, her breathing becoming whistling, as if she were about to pass out at any moment.

Hua Shier opened his eyes. The cargo hold was only dimly lit by a few cell phone screens and flashlights, but he still recognized the speaker immediately and blurted out:

"Baoqiang?"

That person looked exactly like Shagen.

Hua Shier realized what was going on; well, she'd stumbled into some unknown plot again.

He glanced at the woman in Baoqiang's arms, who was coughing and trembling, and said nothing more. He then reached out and closed the cabin door tightly.

With the sea breeze blocked out, the woman's cough gradually subsided.

Luo Jialong leaned closer and complained in a low voice:
"No, you're really going to close it? What if this woman has an infectious disease? Wouldn't everyone in our cabin get infected?"

Hua Shier glanced at the woman again and shook his head: "It's not an infectious disease. It's leukemia."

Zhang Meng, Wang Shenxiu, and Luo Jialong were all taken aback. When they looked at the man and woman again, their eyes involuntarily filled with sympathy.

Baoqiang's reaction was faster than all of theirs.

He had been curled up in the innermost corner, holding the woman, but then he suddenly pushed off the ground with both legs, springing up like a tightly compressed spring. In the blink of an eye, he was opposite Hua Shier, his eyes flashing with a fierce and wary light.
How did you know my wife had this disease?

Hua Shier ignored him and instead smacked Zhang Meng, Wang Shenxiu, and Luo Jialong on the head.

Three sharp cracks pierced the stuffy cargo hold, causing the three men to wince in pain, frantically rubbing their heads and letting out a pitiful wail:
"Yu'er, what are you doing!"

Hua Shier's face was grim, his tone as cold as a knife:
"When I told you his wife had a terminal illness, what were those looks on your faces? Anyone could see the pity on your faces. Please, you're working for me, you're supposed to be doing big things with me. If you're so compassionate, why don't you become police officers?"

He was giving these guys a wake-up call on the spot.

They all looked great during the special training, but once they came out, their true colors were revealed—they were full of flaws in the details.

If these three showed that kind of look in front of Brother Kun, it would immediately arouse his suspicion.

The three of them instantly realized their mistake, and one by one, they suppressed their grievances and lowered their heads.

"Yu'er, we understand."

Hua Shier glared at him: "You can call me Yu'er in private, I don't mind. But what should you call me in public?"

The three exchanged a glance, then simultaneously stood up, bowed deeply, and said, "Brother Long."

Hua Shier nodded, his tone softening, but the weight of his words remained undiminished:
“That’s right. I hope this is the first and the last time. Anyone who isn’t fierce or ruthless enough should go back to their hometown as soon as possible and stop embarrassing themselves.”

The three responded in unison.

Baoqiang stood aside with his wife in his arms, ignoring everything, his eyes fixed on Hua Shier.

After they finished speaking, he spoke again, his voice even lower than before, yet even more profound:

"Brother, you still haven't told me—how exactly did you know my wife had this disease?"

Hua Shier raised his hand and tapped his eye with his index finger, then began to fabricate a story without changing his expression:
"My family has a long tradition of traditional Chinese medicine. Is it so amazing that I could tell what illness your wife has at a glance? Have you ever heard of the four diagnostic methods of traditional Chinese medicine: observation, listening, questioning, and palpation?"

Baoqiang's expression shifted rapidly. Doubt, shock, excitement, and hesitation all surged up within a few seconds.

He grabbed Hua Shier's arm, his knuckles tightening, his voice trembling: "Can you cure it? Can you cure it?"

Hua Shier flicked his wrist, casually brushing his hand away, and looked at him with a half-smile:
“You’re not deaf, you should have heard everything we were saying. I’m a fucking bad guy. Even if I could cure her—why should I cure her? Give me a reason first.”

The excitement on Baoqiang's face gradually faded, replaced by a cold and fierce expression.

He slowly clenched his right fist, his knuckles cracking like popping beans, and the words were squeezed out one by one from between his teeth:

"If you don't treat her, I'll beat you to death. Is that reason enough?"

Hua Shier didn't even blink. He reached behind his back, and when he raised his hand again, a shotgun was already firmly pressed against Baoqiang's forehead.

He tilted his head, his tone nonchalant, but there was no hint of a joke in his eyes:
"Come on, give it a try and see who kills whom first. I might not be able to kill you, but I can kill this guy in your arms—want to take a bet?"

Zhang Meng, Wang Shenxiu, and Luo Jialong drew their guns almost simultaneously, all three dark muzzles pointing at 'Baoqiang'.

Screams erupted in the cargo hold; some shrank into corners, while others covered their mouths tightly, too afraid to make a sound.

Baoqiang's originally fierce, wolf-like eyes quickly cleared up after a brief struggle:
"Hey, bro, I was just kidding!"

Thank you to the following brothers for their generous donations: 08a, Little Tiger of the Demon Realm, and King Gigi 16050. Thank you also to the brothers who voted for monthly tickets and recommendations. Thank you so much!