Book 3 Chapter 27 – Money Fight
The man from the couple that had just walked across the entrance was none other than Guo Xiang. He had a black v-neck T-shirt, and his hair molded into large locks with wax. The bloodstone jade pendant that hung from his neck was prominently put on display, and the gold watch around his wrist shone in all of its luxurious splendor. His arrival had surprised most of Li Yiming's friends. 'This guy, he's not a camouflager, is he?'
Guo Xiang had another pretty-looking girl in his arms. He was also surprised at first when he saw Li Yiming's gang. After escaping the attack at the restaurant, he had a moment of guilt from pushing Ji Xiaoqin toward danger, but later convinced himself that it was simply a natural reaction, and therefore he should not be blamed for it. He thought about seeking Ji Xiaoqin's forgiveness, but his calls were all left unanswered. In an attempt to "revitalize" his low mood, Guo Xiang went to a club the night before and had a crazy one-night-stand with a girl he just met. She worked as a sales representative at a car dealership, and although both her looks and figure were barely above average, her perfected technique had a unique charm. This morning, he had bragged to her that he would go buy a car in the dealership where she worked to help improve her sales figure, which was a rather convenient favor to offer since he needed a car for his short stay in Shangbei. However, he did not expect to meet Li Yiming at the dealership. The latter was the last person he wanted to meet, since the stark contrast between his fleeing and Li Yiming's fighting to defend Ji Xiaoqin irritated him quite a lot. 1
Fang Shui'er hid her features behind large sunglasses with dark-tinted lenses and a cap. She stood quietly on the side without saying anything, since it would be a nuisance for her to be recognized. Qing Qiaoqiao tried her best to mend her mistake of offending Zeng Qian by supporting her as the latter closed her eyes and focused on controlling the bugs she had sent out. Qing Linglong looked at Guo Xiang, a little surprised, but quickly turned her head around and ignored him.
Lu Yiyi looked at the woman in Guo Xiang's arms with disdain and disgust. She was called Bai Kaini. Although she powdered her face with makeup and wore revealing clothing, she was nothing out of the ordinary. However, Lu Yiyi knew that the biggest asset she had was her boundless promiscuity. She disliked people like her, who had no bottom lines in terms of what they were willing to do in order to increase their sales number . Now, with her evidently having found someone who was both dumb and rich enough, Lu Yiyi felt the urge to frustrate her efforts, so she immediately forgot about the minivan parked at the entrance and asked Li Yiming in the softest voice and with the sweetest smile she could produce. "Sir, are you sure that you want this car?"
"What? He's buying that car? You can't, I already sold it!" Bai Kaini's countenance shifted when she heard what Lu Yiyi said. She dragged Guo Xiang forward just quickly enough so he could intervene and said, "Master Guo, this is the car I'm talking about." She had been working hard the entire night to try to sell the car, and there was no way she was going to let that shorty snatch the fruit of her victory.
"This car is sold?" Li Yiming looked at Guo Xiang impassively and then at Lu Yiyi.
"That's impossible." Lu Yiyi glared at Jin Kaini angrily. 'How can she be so shameless? This car doesn't even belong to our shop, so selling it is something incredibly complicated, and I just heard management talking about returning the car to where it was next week! It's impossible that it was sold without them knowing!'
"Well then, we arrived first, did we not? Can we hurry up and get the procedures done?" Li Yiming said calmly. He was now truly endowed with the air of someone like Li Huaibei, who had been through mountains of corpses and tempests of blood and transcended above these obstacles.
"Alright, I'll call the manager right away." This was Lu Yiyi's challenge to Bai Kaini. 'Who said that you needed to find your biggest customers on a bed? Look at the one I found, he's not even asking for the price tag!'
"Wait, master Guo~" Bai Kaini tightened her grip around Guo Xiang like an octopus around its prey. She rubbed his arm against her chest and said in a feigned voice that could give goosebumps.
Guo Xiang looked at Li Yiming, whom he could barely recognize, and at the beautiful women standing right next to him. His frustration and shame quickly turned into anger. 'You! You ridiculed me, and you're here to cause me trouble again? I might not be able to take a knife to the back, but I don't think you can beat my wallet!'
"Well then, if the procedures aren't done yet, then it surely means that the car hasn't been sold yet. It's only fair competition then, right?" Guo Xiang looked at Qing Linglong and smiled coldly. 'I remember this woman! Beautiful, but a little old. She's the one who paid for Li Yiming at the restaurant, I didn't know he was that skillful at obtaining her favor, this car isn't that cheap.'
"Yes, fair competition." Bai Kaini smiled with satisfaction. She stared at Guo Xiang, making it very clear what her reward for his efforts were going to be.
The whole scene was under the close scrutiny of the manager of the dealership, who, in reality, had a hard time restraining the involuntary peeks in Li Yiming's direction, especially when rare beauties like Qing Linglong were present. However, since Lu Yiyi had already gone to meet them, it would be inappropriate for him to step in; not everyone in the industry was as shameless as Bai Kaini. However, seeing that a fight was about to erupt over that car, on which he had no authority, he quickly called for the owner of the dealership, who luckily happened to be in the shop for the day. It did not take long before the latter arrived to the scene in a slow jog.
"Ahh, thank you for gracing my shop with your presence. My name is Fang Yuanpeng, and I should apologize for not coming to greet you sooner." The owner of the dealership was a chubby man of short stature. He had a loud voice and a warm smile: the stereotypical look of a clever merchant. Of course, to be able to grant such a reputation to a second-level reseller was no trivial task.
"He's the owner of the dealership." Bai Kaini explained to Guo Xiang when she saw Fang Yuanpeng arrive. She also profited from the occasion to throw a few glances at Fang Yuanpeng, which possibly suggested at something out of the ordinary between the two.
"So you're the owner here?" Guo Xiang lifted his chin in his usual condescending manner. "I want this car, just say the price."
"Boss, I believe that mister over here arrived first." When Lu Yiyi noticed Fang Yuanpeng's arriving, her tone dwindled a little; everyone in the dealership knew about the "special" relationship between the latter and Bai Kaini.
"Well, this is a problem…" Fang Yuanpeng played for time to observe Guo Xiang and Li Yiming. 'One of them flaunts at every given opportunity whereas the other one seemed more reserved. Same age, but drastically different manners and airs. Well, if one thing's certain, it's that they're not from ordinary upbringings. The one who likes to show off, that has to be some kind of habit developed since a young age, some very rich second-generation I suppose. The other one though, he looked composed, but there's something dangerous about him, could he be from the military?'
"What problem? It's just about making money right? Just tell me what the price for the car is." Guo Xiang pinched Bai Kaini's buttocks without any consideration for appropriateness and firmed his resolution of making Li Yiming embarrassed.
"One million six hundred thousand yuan." Fang Yuanpeng, who had still yet to decide about which side to favor, offered a number that would allow him to better assess the situation.
"One million seven hundred thousand for me." Guo Xiang spelled out a number proudly. Bai Kaini looked at him as if he was her idol.
"Two million." Li Yiming spat out in a glacial voice. He had just been thinking about what happened to Ji Xiaoqin after the incident, but, more than anything, he was worried about Liu Meng.
"You…" Guo Xiang had barely begun to enjoy showing off his wealth when Li Yiming made him choke on his own complacency. "Two million one hundred thousand." Guo Xiang said while gritting his teeth. 'You, you're fighting me with the money you sold yourself for?'
"Three million," Li Yiming said, still in a calm voice. Qing Linglong had retreated to the side with the others and looked at the confrontation as if they had nothing to do with it. All of them knew that Li Yiming had a complicated relationship with Guo Xiang, and they chose to give Li Yiming the opportunity to play around a bit with that NPC.
The sudden jump in price scared Fang Yuanpeng himself. 'Wow, this is almost double the initial price!'
"Li Yiming? You dare?" Guo Xiang's face reddened. Li Yiming glanced at him coldly, as if he was nothing more than a rock.
'They know each other?' Fang Yuanpeng caught the message. 'Great, that means that the price ceiling for this car is endless!'
"Alright, Li Yiming, let's see how high you can go. Three million one hundred thousand." Guo Xiang seemed angrier than ever, but it was not enough to make him lose his reason completely. To buy something at more than a million over the original price seemed completely stupid, but Guo Xiang was in fact seeking a sense of satisfaction, which, to him, was well worth the price. Based on the way Li Yiming called his price before, his next offer should be four million. He was curious as to whether that rich woman would give Li Yiming four million just so he could have it his way. If she was unwilling, then it would be his turn to put up a show.
"Mr. Li." Zeng Qian, who until then stood spiritlessly, suddenly called out. The countenance of Li Yiming's team changed: it was not a warning about Li Yiming's careless squandering of money, but rather about something important being found by the bugs she had sent out.
Li Yiming expression suddenly changed and he darted for the exit of the dealership. 'He's running away?' Guo Xiang was baffled, but the panic he saw in Li Yiming eyes was enough to bring an immense feeling of satisfaction to his entire being. 'One sentence from that woman is enough to make him run? But wait, who exactly is paying him? Is he being paid by all of them? In that case I'd have to say that he's quite lucky.'
"Well, why pretend if you don't have the money? Mr. Fang, would you mind starting the procedure for us?" Guo Xiang swept his eyes around the women on Li Yiming's team with lewdness and contentment. He also squeezed Bai Kaini's butt vigorously enough to sent a shiver down her limbs.
Fang Yuanpeng himself was also astonished when he saw Li Yiming run toward the exit. However, when he saw that the countenance of Qing Linglong remained largely unchanged, he knew that the matter was not as simple as it seemed, and so he stayed quiet and pretended not hearing Guo Xiang's exhortation.
Li Yiming dove into the backseat of the small van parked at the entrance and pulled out two large suitcases from it. The objects were actually stored in his bracelet, but he required the camouflage of the vehicle since he did not want to perform "magic" within the dealership.
Fang Yuanpeng squinted his eyes in satisfaction at his own judgment when he saw Li Yiming return with the two suitcases. Even Lu Yiyi, who became dejected after seeing Li Yiming flee, started to regain hope.
"There should be more than four million in here. Just ask someone to count it." Li Yiming opened one of the suitcases and spilled its content onto the floor: it was full of bank notes.
'I was right.' Fang Yuanpeng's eyes lit up when he saw the small mountain of cash. Four million was but an abstract number, something worth a lot. However, when four million yuan worth of bank notes was actually put in front of him, it was quite a shock even to someone like Fang Yuanpeng, needless to say for Lu Yiyi and Bai Kaini.
'Cash? Is this fake?' Guo Xiang was no less shocked than the others, and his first reaction was that the bills had to be forged. 'Who wanders the streets with four million yuan worth of bank notes cash?'
Note: the original statement here is "lose all face". The concept of "face" in China is something worthy of a lengthy discussion, but for now, you can interpret the emotion as a mixture of shame/anger. ↩
Book 3 Chapter 28 – Attacking the Police
Fang Yuanpeng had barely recovered from the shock of seeing that much cash and looked at Guo Xiang eagerly to see his response. 'Wow, four million! The profit will be… That's probably as much as I can make in one year!'
"Alright, you win with four million, I'll see if it's real money." Guo Xiang spat out between his clenched teeth, suppressing a boiling rage. He had attained the goal of making Li Yiming waste more money than he should, but he could feel nothing but anger, especially when he saw Li Yiming's impassiveness.
"Count it." Li Yiming urged Fang Yuanpeng with a glacial voice. He looked at him in a way that suggested at bad consequences if his order was not obeyed immediately.
"Fast, fast, get everyone to come out with the counting machines. Quick!" The intent to kill buried within Li Yiming's gaze made Fang Yuanpeng shiver, and he remembered the conjecture he had formulated just a moment earlier. 'He bought this car for an amount way above the original price. It was a fight with someone else, but what if he decides it's my fault and takes it out on me?'
Lu Yiyi felt a mixture of shock and excitement. 'Wow, four million! Look at that! How much would the commission be?' Due to her youth and inexperience, she did not think as much about the ramifications as her boss. She quickly brought over her colleagues along with chairs, tables, and the counting machines. All eyes within the dealership were closely riveted in Li Yiming's direction: it was not every day that one could see a fight like that.
The clinking sounds of the cash counting machines reverberated within the hall as the staff rushed to count the cash. Every single time a beeping sound was heard due to a bill being stuck, Guo Xiang's eyes would light up at the prospect of a fake bill being found. However, when it was determined to be nothing more than a mechanical issue, Guo Xiang would resume his expression of disgust and displeasure, as if he had just swallowed a fly. He had thought about continuing to raise his bid, but when he saw the second suitcase that Li Yiming had brought with him, he knew that the latter was not at his limits yet. Buying a car worth a million and six hundred thousand yuan for four million one hundred thousand yuan was already a bad deal. Being born into a family that obtained affluence through business, he understood that bidding any higher could potentially forever taint his life.
Fang Yuanpeng hesitated about bringing the price down for his own well-being, but with Guo Xiang around, this was a difficult task to achieve as well. "Go fill up the tank." Li Yiming was trying his best to remain calm. If it was not for the rules of the domain that prevented him from destroying order, he would have killed to get the car quicker a long time ago.
Fang Yuanpeng was relieved to hear Li Yiming's command. He quickly pulled one of the security guards that came to assist him and ordered, "Quick, get the gasoline from the garage!" Coincidentally, the security guard happened to be the one who stopped Li Yiming's car at the gate earlier. 'So I almost barred these people from entering the shop? Look at the amount of cash! If the boss knew about that, would I be fired?'
The security guard quickly came back with two full tanks of gasoline, running at a respectable pace despite the heavy burden and trying his best to show off his physical aptitude so that his boss could forgive him for his mistake. Fang Yuanpeng put the oil into the car himself, and the exertion from the task almost brought him to the ground. Lu Yiyi signaled Fang Yuanpeng to indicate to him that they had already reached four million, and judging by the looks of the stack of bills that remained, there was about three hundred thousand. "Mr. Li, we're done counting the money. The rest…" Fang Yuanpeng wiped away the sweat on his forehead and came to Li Yiming deferentially.
"Give her the rest." Li Yiming pointed at Lu Yiyi, who became dumbstruck by what she heard. To the surprise of the shop staff, he immediately hopped onto the car and called for his friends to do the same.
"We didn't give you the receipt yet." Fang Yuanpeng yelled while chasing the car that was already rolling toward the exit.
"No need for that." The doors were sealed shut with a few thuds and with the low roar of the V8 engine, the massive car headed for the road.
'No need for the receipt? But how are you going to get a license without it? Why the hurry… Could this be some kind of money laundering scheme?' Fang Yuanpeng looked at the neatly stacked pile of cash and started to become nervous.
Lu Yiyi had still yet to recover from the shock of hearing Li Yiming's last words. She laughed idiotically, showered by envious stares from her co-workers. Bai Kaini was especially jealous of her good fortune and pursed her full lips to show discontentment. Guo Xiang's eyes trailed the vehicle and took out his cellphone with a sullen expression.
* * *
"Is it about Liu Meng?" As soon as the car went past the dealership's gate, Li Yiming asked Zeng Qian.
"It's… Big Beard." Zeng Qian answered hesitantly and glanced at Fang Shui'er.
"You found them?" Fang Shui'er was still trusting the person she had initially chosen to team up with for this domain somewhat and refused to believe that he would betray her.
"Yes, they're under Hengjiang Bridge." Zeng Qian looked at Li Yiming; this sudden discovery was quite a deviation from their original plans.
"Big Beard? You mean the guy who was with you at the start of the domain?" Li Yiming was disappointed when he heard that it was not a breakthrough about Liu Meng's situation.
"Our previous team disbanded after what happened in Ning Village. Qianqian and I… we had to look for someone else. He's the person we went sought to form an interim team for this domain, and they tried to trail the beast that attacked you at the restaurant. We haven't received any news from them ever since we split up," Fang Shui'er explained.
"You mean that fox you were talking about?" Li Yiming remembered his knife injury back at the restaurant.
"What now?" Qing Linglong, who was at the wheel, asked Li Yiming. At the intersection ahead, she would need to turn right to go to Hengjiang bridge, so a choice was required to be made.
"What about you guys?" Li Yiming dithered. He himself thought it better to not be distracted by such matters, since finding Liu Meng should be the first and foremost priority, but the Fang sisters evinced their concern at the fate of their former squadmates.
"What's the situation with them?" Qing Linglong slowed the speed down and mulled the matter over.
"It seems like they're in a difficult situation." Zeng Qian closed her eyes and tried her best to assess the situation through her bugs.
"We should go take a look at least. If there's nothing we can do, then we'll leave," Qing Linglong proposed. It was important to take into consideration the needs of each member of the newly formed team, otherwise it would inevitably lead to grudges and future issues.
"Go then." Li Yiming understood the motives behind Qing Linglong's proposal.
"Thank you," Fang Shui'er
Qing Linglong stepped on the gas pedal and the imposing all-terrain vehicle darted into the right lane of the street. At that precise instant, a patrol car with flashing lights appeared in the rear-view mirror. "The vehicle ahead, please stop on the side of the road. I repeat, the vehicle ahead, please stop on the side of the road." A warning came out of the megaphone attached to the roof of the patrol car.
"Traffic police? I didn't exceed the limit, did I?" Qing Linglong slowed down with a frown and parked the car onto the shoulder. The patrol car overtook them and stopped in front of them. Three police officers descended from the car. 1
"Please show us your driver's license and vehicle permit." One of the officers came to the window and asked Qing Linglong after a salute.
"We just bought the car. There's no vehicle permit yet." Qing Linglong handed her license to the officer. She abided to the command as it was the usual procedure for traffic control.
"What about the temporary permit?" The officer looked at the driver's license and at Qing Linglong's face, a little surprised by the inscribed age of almost forty years old.
"We forgot about it. We're about to go back to the dealership to retrieve it," Qing Linglong explained patiently. Usually traffic police would ignore such trivial problems, especially when no laws were broken.
"A new car?"
"Yes, we've just taken it onto the road, actually."
"What about the receipt then?"
"We've forgotten about that as well."
"No receipt?" The officer seemed stunned, but something about his expression suggested that he had actually expected the answer. Li Yiming caught the detail and realized that the officer could have ulterior motives.
"I'm sorry, but I'll have to ask you to disembark from your vehicle." The officer pushed a button on his radio and shut it down.
"What is it? I'm not aware that we broke any law." Qing Linglong was growing impatient.
"We've received a report that a vehicle of the same model was just stolen nearby. Please cooperate in helping us investigate." The officer's two colleagues also came forward.
Qing Linglong was somewhat surprised by such a turn of events. She exchanged a glance with Li Yiming and they both stepped out of the car. "Everyone, disembark." The leader officer's phone suddenly rang. He glanced at the caller's display, gave an order to his two subordinates and retreated to the side.
Li Yiming's eyes lit up with anger when he saw what was displayed on the screen. 'Master Guo?' He signaled to his friends to remain seated in the car and strode toward the police who was on the phone. The latter's two underlings did nothing to stop him, and even they seemed to find the whole affair very disagreeable. By the time the officer had realized that Li Yiming was behind him, stopped his conversation and turned around to look at him, Li Yiming had already reached out for his wrist and snatched his phone with his other hand.
"What are you doing?" The traffic police officer seemed shocked by the fact that he was being assaulted in broad daylight.
"Guo Xiang?" Li Yiming ignored the scream from the officer. He pinched the officer's wrist so he could not pull his arm back and brought the phone to his ears.
"Li Yiming?" As expected, Guo Xiang's surprised voice came out of the device.
'Well, that's already proof enough.' Li Yiming threw the phone into the green belt and stared at the officer coldly. "This is what you're wearing that uniform for?"
"What are you doing? You're crazy! You're attacking an officer in uniform, you…" The officer seemed to be frightened. His features were distorted by the excruciating pain that came from his wrist. Only now did his two fellow officers react to the situation and come forward to try to help him.
"You don't deserve to be wearing that uniform." Li Yiming did not give the officer the time to finish his statement. He increased the force he put into his grip. A light crack and a roar of pain from the officer suggested that his bone was broken. However, his screech of pain was cut short by Li Yiming, who punched him in the stomach with the other hand. Although Li Yiming did not use all of his strength, it was enough to make officer's entire body arch forward. The officer's eyes remained gaping wide while a yellow liquid seeped out of the corners of his mouth. Li Yiming pulled the officer back up and threw him into the air both arms. The officer's body spun a whole revolution in the air before landing on the hood of the patrol car with a loud bang.
Li Yiming's movements were so fluid that by the time the cry of pain was heard after the loud bang produced against the car hood, the two other police officers had barely taken two steps forward. What they saw made them stop in their tracks; they knew from the telephone conversation in the patrol car earlier that this was no ordinary mission, and that their captain was simply helping someone cause trouble. As such, there was no need to be that eager to risk their own well-being for the cause.
Li Yiming looked at the two officers who were still standing and pulled out an ID booklet. He threw the object toward one of the officers: this was the piece forged by Eyeglasses. "Report to your superiors with this, and someone will come to take your testimonies." Li Yiming imitated Grandma Wang's demeanor back at the police station in Hangzhou and walked past the two officers coldly.
The car's engine was started and the vehicle quickly left the scene after skirting around the patrol car, leaving behind two dumbstruck officers staring at each other and the third one moaning on the car hood.
Things Li Yiming will do before saving Liu Meng:
[x] Have a long distance urination contest with Guo Xiang to buy a car
[ ] Help out Fang Shui’er’s temporary teammates
[ ] Eradicate world hunger and poverty
[ ] Achieve world peace
[ ] Answer the question “why are we alive?”
The police department responsible for traffic regulation in China are usually separate from the department responsible for violent crimes etc. ↩