The Lost Tomb : Restart (The Sound Of Providence)

Chapter 122: Rejection

I didn't persuade Kan Jian to get back in the car. When I drove away, I looked at his lonely expression in the rearview mirror and thought that he looked like an abandoned puppy.

Uncle Two's arrangement was extremely brilliant. To help me was to kill me, but if they didn't help me, then that was basically marking me as an outsider.

I hadn't smoked for a long time, so I felt a little dizzy as the smoke filled my lungs. The cigarette had a spicy flavor to it that gave off a kind of northern air feeling.

I was surprisingly calm as I drove through traffic. It was like all of my emotions had just disappeared. I called Xiao Hua's phone, but it rang for a long time and he didn't answer. I called Fatty and told him that something was wrong.

We met at the hair salon by West Lake that he kept visiting. Fatty and I sat on some chairs by the lake and drank beer while sighing and saying, "How did this happen?" I told Fatty that I needed him to make some inquiries about the incident so that we could make our own judgments. I also asked him to get some money ready.

"With Uncle Two here, we can't hire grave robbers from our mutual contacts. Now we can only find people who only care about money. These people won't ask for a low price. My income is small and my savings are almost the same. It's enough to get me through life, but it's definitely not enough to go underground. Moreover, this place isn't ordinary. I'm afraid we need special talents, which means the price will be higher."

I had thought Fatty would readily agree. Although he spent a lot of money, he usually had a little savings. But now he looked a little distressed.

I frowned, "What's the matter? What happened?" Fatty wasn't a disloyal person, so something must've happened to cause him to make this kind of expression. Fatty turned to look at the hair salon behind him, where the proprietress was inside washing someone's hair. An ownership transfer note had been posted on the door of the salon.

"My friend was in trouble, so I went to help." Fatty rubbed his neck. "I was determined to help."

"You must have at least 1.8 million yuan on you, right? How much could a hair salon cost?" I asked him.

Fatty sighed, "It's a long story, so don't ask. In short, I can mobilize fifty thousand yuan. I gave the rest to the shop. I bet what you have definitely isn't enough, so let's try to find a way."

I checked my account balance on my phone. I still had a hundred and fifty thousand on my card, so with Fatty's fifty thousand, that would add up to two hundred thousand. This was different from the past when more than ten thousand yuan could get you all the equipment you needed and get you to Shandong. But now even two hundred thousand yuan probably wouldn't be enough to gather a team. But Fatty, like me, didn't have the word "dead" in his dictionary and believed that Black Glasses and Poker-Face would never die.

In the end, we decided that Fatty would make some inquiries first. Those working for the Wu family definitely wouldn't tell me anything, but they would tell Fatty. And this kind of thing would certainly become a rumor in a few days. I just didn't want to try figuring out the truth by myself, that was all. I stopped by Wushanju on my way back. Wang Meng must've already known about it, because he didn't say a word when he saw me coming. Or maybe he just didn't know what to say.

"How much money is on the card?" I asked him directly.

"Bo... boss, what's the matter?" Wang Meng asked me.

"Help me get the word out. Just say I want to borrow some money with eight fen [1] interest. I want to borrow as much as I can."

"Uncle Two has already spoken. No one will lend you any money," Wang Meng said. "Boss, you know how much my salary is. Although Uncle Two gave me an increase, I haven't been paid yet. If you had given me more before, I would definitely give it all to you now."

I told him that even though Uncle Two had already spoken, they could still lend me some money as long as Wang Meng was acting as the middleman. Even though everyone in the business would know I was borrowing it, it wasn't like they were lending it to me directly. Besides, my reputation was still very high and an eight fen interest rate was a huge profit. Some people would definitely be willing to gamble.

Wang Meng shook his head, "Uncle Two has already reported your situation to them. No one will believe that you can pay back the money. Boss, Master Hua is so rich. Just let him do this kind of thing. I heard that more than a hundred people went there."

I patted him and said that I didn't know if anyone would still be willing to lend me some money, but it was still better to spread the word first. He eventually agreed. I sat on Wushanju's stairs and called Jin Wantang, but that bastard wouldn't answer.

After trying for half an hour and still not getting an answer, I saw him post on WeChat Moments: Sometimes rejection is a kind of kindness.

Uncle Two's setup allowed everyone to ignore my calls while remaining on the moral high ground. They didn't even have to worry about not being able to face me in the future. I pinched my brows, lit another cigarette, and had only taken two puffs when I found that it was raining.

I looked down and found that it wasn't rain dripping on my arm, but blood from a nosebleed. 

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Note:

[1] Fen(分)= 0.01 yuan.