money player

The woman barely managed to sit still before spewing out another string of curse words, "Quel connard! Merde! Putain!"

It was quite considerate. Afraid that Xian Yaowen might not understand, he switched back to French.

When the woman had finished cursing, Xian Yaowen sneered, "Maria, you don't want to jump off the building. Come down from the guardrail. If you want to talk about something, I, Carlos, am happy to listen."

For those who are not completely desperate, suicide often happens on impulse. It is important to act with all your strength and not think too much. Once you think too much, you will become weaker and feel sorry for yourself. When you are exhausted, you will no longer want to die.

The woman in front of me has already soothed her impulsive emotions and doesn't want to die anymore. She is just struggling with herself. She needs someone to persuade her and talk to her before this impulsive incident can pass.

In the Confucian cultural circle, people might still have the fluke mentality of confiding their experiences to a noble person. After all, when Confucian people encounter difficulties, they will envision a great hero riding on a colorful cloud to save them. This is a delusion of hoping to be rescued. Generally, the symptoms are particularly serious for gamblers who are on the verge of desperation.

"If anyone helps me pay off my gambling debts, I'll do whatever I want..."

This is romantic Paris. You may not have the idea of ​​hugging a noble man, but you are likely to have the idea of ​​hugging a wild man. A few seconds ago it was the last indulgence before death, and a few seconds later it was the celebration of rebirth.

The guardrail was quite high, and she couldn't get down just now. Now that she had a ladder, the woman grunted and stepped down to the balcony guardrail closest to Xian Yaowen. She leaned up and bared her teeth at Xian Yaowen, "I'm not Maria."

Xian Yaowen then moved closer to the other person, leaning against the guardrail like a woman, and said with a wicked smile: "I'm Carlos."

Carlos and Maria are from the novel "The Maias" by Portuguese writer Queiroz. They are a pair of siblings who were separated due to their parents' divorce. Carlos stayed in the aristocratic family and became a doctor when he grew up, while Maria was taken away by her mother and lived in poverty as an adult.

The brother and sister met at a cocktail party. They did not know each other's identities and soon fell in love. Maria became Carlos' lover. Although Carlos later learned of Maria's identity, he continued the illicit relationship.

Putting aside the sibling relationship, Maria escaped poverty by becoming Carlos' lover, and the latter can be regarded as the former's benefactor. Of course, Xian Yaowen brought up this stalk mainly because of the "illicit love".

"Well, you're Carlos, but I'm not Maria. Alice, Alice Santos Ferreira."

"Adam Hepburn."

"Vivian is your mother?"

Xian Yaowen said seriously: "My last name is Hepburn, and Vivian's last name comes from me."

Alice said apologetically, "Sorry, your age... you know."

Xian Yaowen waved his hand to indicate that it didn't matter. "Have you been to Macau?"

"You knew?" Alice asked in surprise.

"Guess."

Due to the relationship between race and Mediterranean climate, Portuguese people grow up quickly. If Alice had not come into contact with yellow people, it would be difficult for her to judge Fei Baoshu's real age by his appearance. Fei Baoshu often lamented that he was old and was more concerned about his age. He was unlikely to take the initiative to tell outsiders about his age.

“I lived in Macau for two years.”

"I'm from Hong Kong." Xian Yaowen shook the wine glass in his hand, "Alice, you can start talking now."

Alice took a big gulp of wine, turned her head and looked around, but didn't find what she was looking for, so she turned back and asked, "Do you have any cigarettes?"

Xian Yaowen waved back and a pack of cigarettes appeared in his hand, which he threw to Alice.

Alice took the cigarette and picked up a long pipe from the table behind her. It was made of bamboo, very thin, with an emerald head and a golden toad lying on it.

She picked up the scraper and scraped the bowl on the toad's head a few times to clean it; she opened a cigarette, stuffed the tobacco into the bowl, and picked up the pressure rod to compact the tobacco; then, she took another cigarette and stuffed it into the toad's mouth.

He lit a long match, first lit the tobacco in the bowl, took two puffs, tilted his head back, and showed an intoxicated expression on his face, as if he was smoking hibiscus cream.

After a while, she lit a cigarette and took a deep puff, and golden toad's mouth and head glowed red.

This way of playing is weird and strange. Xian Yaowen used a knife to pull his buttocks, which opened his eyes.

Alice took a few puffs, held the pipe elegantly and said, "I'm broke."

"Because of what?"

Alice took another puff, and the white mist wrapped around her as she laughed at herself, "I inherited a large fortune."

Xian Yaowen said happily: "In France?"

"You guessed right." Alice said depressedly.

"A collateral relative?"

"You guessed wrong, not a relative."

"Ha." Xian Yaowen laughed and said, "Congratulations."

France was under great pressure to recover its economy after the war, and the government needed to supplement its finances through taxation. As part of direct taxes, inheritance tax assumed a certain income regulation function.

In addition, the left-wing parties have been pushing for tax reform and advocating reducing the inequality in intergenerational wealth transfer through a progressive tax system. In recent years, France has been brewing tax reform and keeping a close eye on taxes.

The inheritance tax in France is quite heavy at present, and the tax rate for non-relative inheritance is usually over 60%. If the inheritance does not contain a large amount of cash, a billion-dollar inheritance may not be inherited. Alice may have taken the wrong path of taking on debt and paying taxes to inherit.

Alice pushed back her dark brown hair that was blocking her view and glared at Xian Yaowen, "Are you gloating over someone else's misfortune?"

"If you borrowed high-interest loans to pay taxes," Xian Yaowen shrugged. "Yes, I am gloating."

Alice stared at Xian Yaowen with a murderous look and said through gritted teeth: "You are very good. You guessed it right."

Xian Yaowen chuckled, "Thank you for the compliment."

Alice put away her fierce look and said helplessly: "Adam, you are not a good person to talk to."

"Yes, you are right, but I might be able to help you solve a practical problem. Are you ready to start a meaningful chat?"

Alice grabbed the bottle and took a sip of wine, then put it down and pretended to listen carefully.

Xian Yaowen put down his wine glass and said, "First question, who did you borrow the money from? A moneylender or a gangster?"

"Gangster."

"Second question, how much is the principal?"

"Seventy million francs."

Xian Yaowen roughly calculated that the value of the inheritance was around 33 US dollars, which was indeed a large sum of money, but not what he thought it was.

"The third question is, how much is the interest? When is the repayment date?"

"110 million yuan in principal and interest, three days later."

"How much have you prepared?"

"Seven thousand."

"Are you aware that your debts exceed the value of your estate?"

If Alice knew how to count on her fingers, there was no doubt that this woman had a bad credit record and the amount of her debt was the result of interest compounded from one or more extensions.

"I missed two payment dates." Alice said with an innocent look.

"If the gangster's reputation is good, after deducting the inheritance, you will probably need to work in the window for two or three years to pay off your debts. Please tell me when you will start working, and I will be the first to patronize you." Xian Yaowen raised the wine glass in his hand, "Order a few more glasses of champagne (sets) and give a little more tip, so that I can help you solve some practical problems."

If Alice didn't have a special identity, the gang would most likely ask her to sell herself to pay off her debts. The Parisian gangs attach great importance to inheritance. For a hundred or two hundred years ago and a few decades later, their main business has not changed, and they all revolve around prostitution.

"That's it?" Alice said sarcastically. "Don't buy a few more bottles (girls)?"

Xian Yaowen spread his hands and said, "If you don't mind, I can introduce you to some more people who know how to drink champagne. They are all generous gentlemen and you can get tips."

Before he finished speaking, Xian Yaowen turned around and looked at Qi Longque behind him, who had just sent out a secret signal.

Qi Longque pointed his thumb to the left, then pointed his index finger to the ground - Xie Huiran or Xie Tingyun on the left sent a message that something special was happening downstairs.

Bathed in Alice's foul language, Xian Yaowen leaned over to look downstairs, only to see two men running from right to left, with their right arms in a special position, and it was obvious that they had guns in their hands. Moving his sight to the right, he saw two men and a woman chasing behind, with their right arms raised, ready to pull the trigger at any time.

"telescope."

As soon as he finished speaking, Qi Longque threw the telescope over.

With a flick of his hand, Xian Yaowen raised the telescope, aimed it at the man running in front of him, and quickly identified him, concluding that he was suspected to be of the Germanic race.

Turning the camera, we see three people chasing in the opposite direction. The first man has a blue kippah on his head and has yellow-skinned features, suspected to be a Kaifeng blue hat. The second man has a standard Jewish nose. The woman wears a headscarf and also has a Jewish nose, suspected to be a married Jewish woman.

Three suspected Jews with revealing features were chasing two suspected Germans. There was also a suspected blue hat. When the Jews who took refuge in Shanghai during the Anti-Japanese War left, a small number of blue hats followed them. In this way, the possibility of gang vendettas was relatively small, and the possibility of Jewish revenge organizations taking revenge on the Nazis was very high.

While Xian Yaowen's brain was working at high speed, gunshots rang out downstairs. First, a suspected German turned around and shot to delay the pursuers, and then three suspected Jews pulled the trigger one after another.

The shooting frequency of the three men was wrong. They were obviously novices in using guns, and their luck did not seem to be very good either. The three men fired eleven bullets at two targets at a distance of just over ten meters. If they were luckier, the targets would actively receive the bullets, but the reality was that every shot missed the target.

"Xiao Mian, go to Intersection No. 1 and intercept. Kill the two Germans in front. Don't use the Mozambique shooting method. Leave my name on the three behind. You don't have to come back. It's your holiday. You can go wherever you want."

"clear."

Qi Longque agreed and quickly rushed to the door.

After watching Qi Longque leave, Xian Yaowen turned to look at Alice's balcony, only to see her lying straight on the ground with her hands on her head, a very standard civilian posture for avoiding a gunfight.

The flames of World War II did not spread to Portugal, but Alice still had this stress reaction, perhaps because she lived in a war zone during the war or perhaps she received relevant training.

“I’ve lived in Macau for two years.”

Xian Yaowen muttered to himself, quickly left the balcony, entered the living room, pointed to the kitchen to Xie Huiran, Xie Huiran nodded, rushed into the kitchen, and took out an MP40 submachine gun and some odds and ends from the secret compartment in the closet.

Then he returned to the living room, pushed two single sofas to the door of the master bedroom, formed a V-shaped shelter, overturned the long sofa, picked up a bundle of steel chains under the sofa, and covered the surface of the shelter with them.

Xie Tingyun and Xian Yaowen entered the study. They put some equipment on their bodies. Xian Yaowen came to the window on the left side of the balcony and observed the window of the building across the street through the gap with a telescope.

After a while, he finished his observation, took a bottle of red wine from the wine cabinet and went out.

Three minutes later, Xian Yaowen arrived at Alice's door and knocked on it.

After knocking twice, a voice came from inside the house after a long time. "Who?"

"Adam, and some wine."

With a creak, the door opened wide and Alice came into view. The first thing Xian Yaowen wanted to do when he came over was to take off her clothes, so he glanced at Alice's face and moved his eyes downwards.

Alice was still wearing the same loose cotton shirt-style pajamas, but one more button was undone, exposing her breasts. Her shorts were the same as before, and her feet were still bare, but there were water stains on the insteps near her toes.

Returning his gaze to Alice's face, Xian Yaowen handed over the red wine, "Originally, I wanted to drink some red wine to create an atmosphere, but now it seems that it is not necessary."

Alice took the red wine, narrowed her eyes, and stared at Xian Yaowen's face with a smile, "You can drink the wine later."

Xian Yaowen stepped forward and squatted slightly. He inserted one hand under Alice's armpit and lifted her hips up with the other hand. Alice raised her legs and wrapped them around his waist. Xian Yaowen blocked Alice's mouth and rubbed her back with his hand that was holding her hips. It seemed like he was flirting, but he was actually searching for dangerous items.

Carrying the person forward, the red wine was put down, the buttons were unbuttoned, and when they came to the balcony, the two of them were already naked...

When the moonlight returned to the time stolen by joy, Xian Yaowen, who was pressing on Alice's back, stretched out his left hand and a handkerchief appeared in his palm.

Alice, who was standing under him, happened to say in a daze, "Adam, help me hold the pipe."

"You can smoke the cigarette later." As he said this, Xian Yaowen covered Alice's mouth and nose with the handkerchief in his hand.

Alice stared at Xian Yaowen's face, confused and puzzled, and then her consciousness became blurred.

Xian Yaowen stood up, picked up the clothes scattered on the floor, helped Alice put on her clothes first, then put on his own clothes, and made a gesture to Xie Tingyun.

Seeing this, Xie Tingyun handed him a pistol and two magazines, then went into the bedroom and began searching.

Xian Yaowen carried Alice into the living room and laid her on the sofa. He opened her eyelids and used a flashlight to observe her pupils. After confirming that she was in a coma, Xian Yaowen removed the magazine of the pistol, ejected three bullets, took out three bullets with insufficient gunpowder from his pocket, loaded them, replaced the magazine, and placed the pistol on the coffee table.

"It's all about font baisser les miens, it's all about bouche, it's about portraiture..."

Humming "La Vie en Rose", Xian Yaowen walked into the kitchen, observed it carefully first, then tapped each floor with his toes to make sure there were no hidden holes in the floor. Then he put on medical gloves and began to search around.

After finding nothing in the kitchen, he went to the bathroom.

I immediately opened the cover of the toilet tank and shone the flashlight. I found something inside. I fished it out and found it was a small waterproof bag. I gently squeezed it and found that it should contain paper items such as documents.

Don't rush to check. Shine the flashlight into the blind spot of the toilet and check it thoroughly. If there is nothing else to find, observe the connection between the toilet and the floor. If you see black and yellow, it means the seal is not good and the toilet has most likely been lifted after installation.

I lifted the toilet bowl and put it aside, shone the flashlight on the drain pipe, and carefully observed whether there was a wire along the edge, but found nothing. I then shone the flashlight into the inner wall of the drain pipe, but still found nothing.

Xian Yaowen did not stop there. Instead, he removed the towel hanging rod, bent one end into a hook shape, and made a little arc in the middle. He poked it into the drain pipe and hooked it left and right. A lot of dirt was hooked out, but nothing was what he imagined, so he stopped.

Turn the toilet over and check the bottom, nothing is found, so put the toilet back in place.

He searched the bathtub, ceiling, floor, and every corner but found nothing new. Xian Yaowen then opened the waterproof bag and checked the contents.

There were two passports, one French and one Spanish, both had Alice's photo on them, but the information was different. He had no experience in forging passports and couldn't tell whether the passports were real or fake.

During the war, fake documents were everywhere. Having two "fake" passports was nothing, and it did not mean that Alice's identity was not simple.

Xian Yaowen washed himself at the sink, then left the bathroom, planning to go to the first floor to check the mailbox.

Just at this moment, Xie Tingyun came out from the second bedroom.

"Sir, I have found something." (End of this chapter)