Chapter 79 Looking for Someone
"It's right here," Xu Sa pointed to an old street with a row of bungalows and a big "Demolish" written on the wall. This place seemed out of place with other places in the base. It was too old, as if it was from the last era.
The sunlight was completely blocked by several high-rise buildings nearby, and it was a bit dark here in the afternoon, just like the business here which was not allowed to see the light of day. There were quite a few scantily clad men and women standing on both sides of the road, about twenty or thirty of them, most of them were women, but it must be said that the remaining few boys looked more eye-catching.
They stood by the wall one by one, vaguely showing off their most attractive features, like goods, with clearly marked prices, waiting for people who needed them to come and choose.
There is a shortage of drinking water nowadays, not even enough water to drink, let alone water for washing. Although it looks presentable at first glance, you can smell a slightly sour and fishy smell emanating from the body when you get closer. It's a mixture of sweating for a long time without taking a shower, plus something from the guests left on the body. It makes people feel sick just thinking about it.
It is still daytime and there are not many people coming and going, but one can still hear the sounds of panting, shouting and bodies colliding coming from the houses on both sides.
Lu Weiyi never sets foot in such places, not because Zhuang Mingxu is strict, but because such decadent and hopeless things make him feel uncomfortable from the bottom of his heart.
Seeing that the five of them were all men, Xiao Liu took the initiative to introduce them, "This is the business that we specialize in, and we're all just trying to make a living. If you guys like any of them, feel free to pick any."
Several men and women who were close to them immediately became a little excited when they saw their clothes. At this time, the way to judge whether a person is capable is not to see whether what he wears is a famous brand or how expensive the jewelry is, but whether he is clean.
A clean person certainly does not lack water, and anyone who can get water is definitely not an ordinary person. There were five of them in the group, and all of them were neat and tidy. Although they didn't take a shower every day, they would wipe it from time to time, and there was no sweat odor.
"Brother Liu, do you know why we are here?" Xiao Liu looked older than Xu Sa, and he didn't feel comfortable calling him Xiao Liu all the time, so he just called him Brother Liu.
Xu Sa dodged a woman who was trying to get close to him, glared at her with a cold face as a warning, and did not forget to pull the bewildered Liu Rui to his side. He said to the woman who was wearing heavy makeup and was about to take off her clothes on the spot, "Get lost."
As for the remaining few, Li Zhuang and Antonio were obviously not normal people who dared to approach them. Lu Weiyi stood in the middle, dressed in white and with an extraordinary demeanor. Although there was no look of disgust in his eyes, he looked like someone out of his reach at first glance. If he was with these people, who knew who would take advantage of whom.
Xiao Liu didn't say anything more, instead he smiled at the heavily made-up woman and said, "Dear sisters, may I ask where the boy who was just caught is now?" As he spoke, he took out a palm-sized piece of bread from his backpack.
When the others heard that they were asking about the captured person, they immediately returned to their original positions in silence. Only a woman with a pale face and obviously unsteady gait spoke up, "Is it Lu Xi? Fifteen years old, from Kyoto?"
"Yes." Lu Weiyi looked at her.
"I came here with him and know a lot of things," the woman looked at Lu Weiyi and said, "A bottle of water, I'll tell you everything."
Xiao Liu was about to stop him, but Lu Weiyi readily took out a bottle of mineral water and said, "Speak."
"He just came here five days ago. It seems that he was sold here by a good friend. He is good-looking, and his superiors kept him to entertain customers who paid a large sum of money. But he refused to obey and beat up a customer, so he was locked up and fined. I don't know the details, but he escaped today and was just caught." The woman pointed to a three-story courtyard at the end of the alley, her eyes dull. "It's right there. All those who are unwilling are locked up and disciplined there."
"Yeah." Lu Weiyi nodded, threw the water to her, and walked quickly inside. He was already 50% sure that it was Lu Xi.
He was a stubborn and proud child who would not give in easily.
"Little brother, this place is run by a local tyrant, it's best not to offend him." Although Lu Weiyi looked normal, Xiao Liu felt that this young man was not someone to be trifled with, so he quickly explained to him, "He has connections with the three forces in the base, but he doesn't rely on anyone. I heard that he has this..." He made a gun gesture, "but no one has seen it, and the three forces are aware of what he did, but they didn't interfere. Rumor has it that they dare not interfere..."
As they were talking, several people had already walked to the door. There were two minions standing guard at the door. When they saw the people coming, they immediately walked over and said, "What are you doing? Please move forward, sir."
"I want to talk to your person in charge about business." They had already caused enough trouble, so Li Zhuang said before Lu Weiyi could speak.
The two looked at each other, and one of them ran in. After waiting for a while, a smiling tiger came out. He was a fat man in his forties or fifties. He was holding a walnut in his hand. He smiled at the first sight and said, "I heard that you guys want to discuss business with me? What kind of business?"
"Buy a person," said Li Zhuang.
"Oh?" Smiling Tiger made way and gestured with his hand, "Please come in."
The yard was not big originally, but after it was connected with the next door, it looks spacious. In the original small garden, small tomatoes were planted with red and green fruits hanging.
It’s an old house, but the facilities inside are modern, with air conditioning and a refrigerator. It also has electricity, so it seems it has its own generator.
In the retro living room, apart from the main seat, there were only two stools on one side. Lu Weiyi automatically sat in the first seat, Li Zhuang sat next to him, Antonio sat opposite him without any hesitation, and as for the remaining seat, Liu Rui forced Xu Sa to sit while he stood.
As for Xiao Liu who followed in, he stood quietly at the back and tried to reduce his presence as much as possible. Now, there was no talk of offering water to the guests. The group sat there in a dry manner. Smiling Tiger asked, "What kind of person do you want to buy?"
"A boy named Lu Xi, fifteen years old, from Kyoto," Xu Sa described him. Worried that the group of people would say they had never seen him, he added, "I saw him just now."
Smiling Tiger looked at Lu Weiyi who sat down first, "Who wants to buy it?"
Lu Weiyi was manipulating the vines to find someone and ignored him. Li Zhuang interrupted and asked, "Why? Do you need to ask for the use of something before buying it?"
"That's not the case," Smiling Tiger lowered his head and rubbed a jade ring on his finger, saying slowly, "It's just that I always believe in mutual consent. If you want to buy it, you have to see if the other person is willing to go with you. Let me ask if there is such a person first." As he said that, he winked at a person standing at the door.
"No need," said Lu Weiyi, who had been silent all the time, and stood up. Then a scream came from outside. Li Zhuang and a few others followed Lu Weiyi out. The Smiling Tiger sitting in the main seat noticed something was wrong and followed them immediately.
"Where can you run to, you little bastard?"
As soon as I went out, I saw a young boy running outside. He was only wearing a pair of torn underwear that barely covered his body. His body was splattered with blood and bruises from being beaten. His legs were not very agile and he stumbled as he walked without shoes.
He looked panic-stricken like a frightened little animal. Two men behind him were holding sticks and shouting, chasing after him. A few more men came out from behind and supported the two screaming men. They were each missing two arms, with uneven cross-sections, obviously torn off by something.
Li Zhuang looked at this obvious and big incident, and his understanding of Lu Weiyi's ability to cause trouble reached a new level.
The young man was startled by several people who suddenly came out of the room. He lost his balance and fell to the ground. The four people behind him also caught up with him. A man swung a stick at him while cursing. The young man huddled up and covered his head with his arms.
The pain did not subside for a long time. I only heard a scream and saw blood everywhere. Then another arm fell to the ground, with a stick in the hand.
This is a new skill that Lu Weiyi just discovered.
Before, he had been using the small green branch to find someone. He found the person, but two men were holding Lu Xi and stripping his clothes, saying all kinds of obscene words. Lu Xi still had a gloomy face. He struggled with red eyes, and did not forget to intimidate and insult the two men. However, he was small and not strong, so he was no match for the two men. His underwear was about to be stripped off.
Lu Weiyi felt his blood boiling and he thought about chopping off their hands. Then Xiao Luzhi took action and tore off their arms.
Lu Xi didn’t understand what was happening, but he knew he had to escape. He flipped over and climbed up again, then he heard someone shouting, "Xiao Xi."
Looking in the direction of the voice, it was a young boy, dazzling in the old surroundings. "He is really handsome, but it's a pity that he ended up in a place like this." Lu Xi just sighed in his heart and didn't react much. He couldn't even protect himself, so how could he care about others.
As soon as Lu Weiyi saw the look in his eyes, he knew that this person probably didn't recognize him. After all, the two hadn't met since he arrived in Qingyuan. He walked forward a few steps and said helplessly, "Xiaoxi, you don't recognize me."
"You?" Lu Xi heard the familiarity in his tone, looked up at him for a long time, eyes gradually filled with surprise and joy, "Brother? You are my brother, right?"
This was the first word Lu Xi uttered when he was a child learning to speak. Lu Weiyi could still remember that meat ball, calling out "Guoguo" incoherently, and his eyes became softer.
"Yes, I am your brother." Lu Weiyi walked forward and rubbed Lu Xi's dirty hair.
"Brother, brother, save me, save me, I don't want to go to receive customers, those people are so scary, they are so scary... I don't want to go." With someone to rely on, the tears that Lu Xi had been holding back suddenly covered her face. She hugged Lu Weiyi tightly with both hands and cried incoherently.
"Okay, I won't go. I'm here, so you don't have to be afraid." Lu Weiyi was unusually gentle. He had never been gentle to Zhuang Aiyi. After all, when Lu Xi was a child, he was a normal child and he took care of Lu Xi for several years.
Lu Weiyi coaxed the somewhat out-of-control Lu Xi with gentle words. Smiling Tiger, who saw the mess in the yard, still maintained a smile, as if it was no big deal, and said, "Everyone, no one has ever caused trouble here before?"
"Here it is, isn't it? Everyone has a first time, right?" Li Zhuang also had a half-smile on his face, "It's also a reminder to the boss, if you force others, you have to ask about their background clearly, to avoid someone tough to deal with coming to your door and directly shutting this place down. In this world, don't we all just want to live a stable life?"
"Hahaha, brother, what you said makes sense, but everything I do is consensual, and I never force anyone," said the Smiling Tiger with a smile.
"Xiaoxi, tell your brother, has anyone bullied you?" Lu Weiyi said with hints.
Lu Xi shook his head, almost sticking to Lu Weiyi, and said with hiccups, "I hurt them."
Lu Weiyi breathed a sigh of relief. This was the only child in his Lu family, and he arrived just in time.
Hearing that nothing happened, Lu Weiyi's face looked better. He looked up at Smiling Tiger and saw that Smiling Tiger had sent someone to bring a set of clothes and shoes for the young child. "There is a guest room inside. Young man, why don't you let the child put on some clothes and we'll talk later."
Lu Weiyi nodded, picked up Lu Xi, put him on the bed in the guest room behind the hall, let Lu Xi put on his clothes by himself, and he sat back in his original seat.
"I will compensate those who are injured outside. Boss, just name a price." Although Lu Weiyi didn't want to say this, he also knew that everyone was trying to survive. He didn't agree with it, but he wouldn't block others' path to wealth.
"It's okay." Smiling Tiger didn't want to offend someone who could hurt someone dozens of meters away. No one knew how far the future superpowers could go. He said to a man standing in the hall, "Tell this young brother about the child's situation."
"Yes, boss," the man in the hall replied, then turned to look at Lu Weiyi, "When I was looking for a business in the refugee area outside the base, I met someone who said he wanted to sell his brother. They needed supplies to return to Kyoto. At that time, Lu Xi had a fever and was asleep. I bought him because he looked good, and gave him medicine to reduce his fever. But after he woke up, he said that that was not his brother and it didn't count. I spent a lot of supplies to buy him, so naturally he didn't want to. He said he would go out to find the supplies and return them to me. I gave him a chance, but he held him back once and caused a brother to be bitten by zombies. We compensated the family with a large part of the supplies."
At this point, Lu Xi, who was dressed, came out. The man paused and looked at Lu Xi. Lu Xi did not refute, so it was obvious that he was not lying. Lu Weiyi waved his hand, asked Lu Xi to stand beside him, and motioned the man to continue.
"After he came back, I wanted him to receive customers, but he disagreed and even bit a customer. He also lost a lot of supplies. After that, I was hungry and thirsty for the past two days while waiting for him to agree. As a result, he sneaked out today when the guarding and handover were not strict. He was just caught a while ago, and the subordinates might have punished him again."
Hearing about the large amount of supplies being brought several times, Lu Xi felt unsure. He looked at Lu Weiyi pitifully with his cat's eyes and tried to grab Lu Weiyi's clothes cautiously, but Lu Weiyi grabbed him with his backhand and patted him gently to reassure him.
"How much supplies do you need? Just tell me the number and I'll pay for it." Lu Weiyi didn't care at all. He turned his head and glanced at Lu Xi. Maybe it was to attract customers. He had been beaten but his face had no damage at all. He might have been hungry and thirsty for a few days, so his complexion was not very good and the corners of his mouth were dry, but it didn't matter that Lu Weiyi felt sorry for him.
When he was a child, he followed his grandfather and was treated like a young master. Later, he followed Lu Xiao. Although Lu Xiao was busy, he gave him all the things he deserved and never suffered any injustice.
"You are lucky that nothing happened to him here." Lu Weiyi stood up and prepared to leave. He looked at the smiling tiger and said, "Have you heard of Mr. Zhuang in Kyoto?"
"I have heard of this founding general." Smiling Tiger's expression changed slightly.
"His great-grandfather," Lu Weiyi continued lightly, "This is the only child in my family. His superiors are all high-ranking military officials in Kyoto. His father is in charge of tens of thousands of soldiers. If he is humiliated by you..." Lu Weiyi shook his head and didn't continue, "I'll take the person away, you send someone to take away the supplies."
"I always do things that are consensual for both of us. Since there is poor supervision from below, we will naturally be responsible." It is not known whether Smiling Tiger really felt this way or just did not want to offend too much, so he said.
"That's not necessary," Lu Weiyi said, and took Lu Xi out.
Until he left the hospital, Lu Xi felt a little unreal. This was a place where he couldn't leave no matter how hard he ran. He thought he would rot here forever, "Brother..."
Lu Weiyi took his hand and said, "It's okay, just follow me first, and I will send you back to Kyoto if I have the chance in the future."
Lu Xi responded and exhaled forcefully, as if he wanted to get rid of the foul air that was stuck in his chest.
Antonio, who had been silent until they left the alley, finally asked, "Is his grandfather really Mr. Zhuang?"
"You, a foreigner, know Mr. Zhuang?" Lu Weiyi was a little surprised.
"Of course, I know all the high-ranking officials and dignitaries from various countries," Antonio said with a proud tone.
A mercenary leader, what's there to be proud of? In the end, he still becomes a bodyguard and is controlled by the young master. Lu Weiyi curled his lips and said, "No."
"Are you lying?" Antonio was surprised.
"Not really. My uncle, Xiaoxi's father, is a soldier under the command of Mr. Zhuang's son. His current military rank does indeed command tens of thousands of people," Lu Weiyi explained, "Mr. Zhuang is the great-grandfather of Zhuang Mingxu."
Li Zhuang looked over in surprise, as if he had not expected Zhuang Mingxu to have such a background. "Isn't he a businessman?"
"He used to be a soldier, but later he had to take care of my family's affairs. He was reported by political enemies and retired from the army. Grandpa Zhuang kicked him out of the family, so he took me to Qingyuan to start a business." Lu Weiyi finished explaining his entanglement with Zhuang Mingxu in a few words.
These are all inside information, so naturally not many people know about it. Xu Sa said in surprise, "I always thought that others said that his family couldn't accommodate you, and he was very affectionate and loyal by eloping with you. I didn't expect there was an even deeper inside story."
In fact, the inside story is deeper than this. As Grandpa Zhuang's most capable junior, Zhuang Mingxu has been trained since childhood and his family is in a high position of power. How could he be discharged from the army so easily because of something that is not worthy of being mentioned? It was because Zhuang Mingxu realized that Grandpa Zhuang wanted to kill him, and he refused to stay in the army no matter what. In the end, he was exiled from Kyoto, which was a great effort.
However, there was no need to tell these to others, so Lu Weiyi did not say anything. Instead, he briefly introduced these people to Lu Xi.
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