Chapter 11 Robbery: Fortune Lies in Peril
The arguing in the courtyard grew louder and louder.
"Sixty percent, and we still have to transport it to the neighboring province ourselves? Why doesn't that old scoundrel just rob us? This is money earned with our lives on the line, and he just talks about it?" Black Ox's face was red and his neck thick, his spittle almost splattering onto Old Qiang's face, his thick fingers almost poking into the pile of fertilizer bags reeking of ammonia. "If you ask me, we should just sell it locally! I know Old Qian's family in Dongtun is in a hurry for fertilizer, and Old Wu in Xicun can also get some. The price isn't as good as on the black market, but we can still get seventy percent. And it's cash, safer!"
"Safety? What safety!" For the first time, a clear look of anger appeared on Daqiang's gloomy face. His voice was low but even more vicious. "You robbed the county agricultural supply company in Jiapigou, and then you just scattered things locally. Do you think the security department and the police station are just sitting around doing nothing? Lao Qian and Sun Laowu are all talk, they spill everything when they've had a few drinks! The police will follow the trail and arrest them all! Are you crazy for money or tired of living?!"
“That’s still better than working for Old Guai for free! What if we get intercepted on the way to the neighboring province? What if he turns on us and tries to lower the price when we get there?” Black Bull didn’t back down, and several of his henchmen who were also involved in the operation and looking forward to splitting the money quickly echoed his sentiments.
"Exactly! Brother Qiang, this is so frustrating."
"Black Bull is right, local distribution, quick!"
"A long night can lead to many unforeseen events, Brother Dao!"
The other group sided with Daqiang, and consisted mostly of older, more cautious veterans.
"Listen to Brother Qiang! Local retail is too risky."
"Although Lao Guai is ruthless, he follows the rules. The money comes slowly, but it's safe."
Don't let a small gain cause you to lose the big picture!
The two groups argued fiercely and almost came to blows.
Old Dao stood in the middle, his face ashen, veins bulging on his temples. His eyes darted back and forth between his arguing subordinates, his chest heaving violently. This hot potato had put him in a dilemma; either choice carried enormous risks and unsatisfactory rewards.
Inside the storage room, Lu Zhe listened nervously to the commotion outside, his palms sweating. He was a divorce lawyer, and dealing with conflicts was commonplace for him, but this was a society governed by law; even if clients argued, they wouldn't resort to assaulting a lawyer. But today, with internal strife within the criminal gang, he was genuinely worried they might take their anger out on him.
He looked at Chu Yanxi and found that she remained calm, even tilting her head slightly, as if carefully discerning the content of each argument and the characteristics of the speakers.
"That's about it," Chu Yanxi suddenly said in a low voice.
No sooner had he finished speaking than a loud crash was heard, and Old Knife roared, "All of you shut the hell up!"
The courtyard fell silent instantly, with only heavy breathing remaining.
The empty tin bucket, which Old Dao had kicked over, rolled on the ground and came to rest next to Big Black Bull. Black Bull reached out and picked up the bucket, glancing at Old Dao with some apprehension, and dared not say another word.
Old Dao's gaze swept over the crowd with a gloomy expression. After a long while, he finally squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth: "Let's leave the goods for now. As for the loose goods, let me think about it some more."
Everyone shut up reluctantly. Black Bull and Da Qiang locked eyes, the tension palpable.
Hearing the silence in the outer courtyard, Chu Yanxi asked Lu Zhe, "Can you sing?"
Lu Zhe was baffled: "Singing?"
Chu Yanxi: "Aren't you in charge of collecting folk customs? You must be able to sing a few folk songs, right?"
Lu Zhe flipped through the original owner's past memories: "...I know a little."
Chu Yanxi glanced at the confused Lu Zhe and said, "Then sing it. You can write the lyrics. The theme is 'Forced love is never sweet.'"
Having spent time with Chu Yanxi, Lu Zhe had come to understand her quite well. He immediately grasped her intentions—she was planning to stir up trouble and alienate Dao Ge's team.
Lu Zhe immediately perked up and came up with the lyrics in just a few minutes. He chose a folk song tune and started humming it.
"The mountains are high and the watercourses are low."
Sister, don't get stuck on that kind of narrow-minded thinking.
The black-hearted vine twists and turns the melon, and even in old age, it suffers endlessly.
The sour apricots hang high on the branches; their green skin is astringent, so don't force them.
Before the sun shines and the fruit is fully ripe, it's sour it makes your teeth ache.
A bull whose head is forcibly held down will not drink water, and a pair of mandarin ducks bound together will never be able to pair up.
"A melon is only truly sweet when it's ripe and falls from its stem..."
Lu Zhe's voice was deep and resonant as he sang this northern folk song. Even Chu Yanxi was moved and her eyes lit up when she looked at him.
Chu Yanxi has a good memory, is studious and diligent, and knows a little about astronomy, geography, and various other esoteric subjects, but she is tone-deaf and cannot sing. She usually appears aloof and arrogant, but that is just a disguise, and others do not know the vulnerability hidden in her heart.
She envied everything she couldn't have.
A little girl, held in her father's arms and sitting on his shoulders, laughing happily;
A student proudly returns home with their report card to share the good news;
My college roommate would call his family during winter and summer vacations to let them know his train number and who would pick him up.
There are also women who love to act coquettishly, college students with artistic talent, and entertainment bloggers who can sing and dance...
Lu Zhe's voice is clear and bright, with a wide range. When it soars high, it's like an eagle soaring through the sky; when it's low, it's like the gentle sound of a cello. His singing of folk songs has a unique flavor. His singing is like a gentle breeze, swirling in the air above the small courtyard.
Old Dao, who was squatting in a corner of the yard smoking, suddenly paused when he heard the singing. His cloudy eyes instinctively looked in the direction from which the singing came, then quickly looked away, but his brows furrowed even more.
The lyrics, "A forced melon is not sweet" and "You can't force a cow to drink water," touched Lao Dao's heart.
Yes, whether you're eagerly begging Lao Guai to buy your goods or rushing to find a local buyer, you're in a passive position and easily manipulated. Forcing two groups with differing opinions to work together on one thing will only result in them hindering each other and creating endless hidden dangers.
Black Bull and Lao Qiang also heard the singing, and their expressions were quite different.
Black Bull was a rough man and didn't listen to the lyrics carefully. He just thought that the cowardly intellectual he had always looked down on was singing something interesting. He smirked and said, "This kid actually has the leisure to sing folk songs."
Daqiang didn't respond; his eyes flickered as if he was pondering the deeper meaning of the lyrics.
The melodious singing gradually faded, but the two lines of lyrics kept churning in Lao Dao's mind. He turned to look at Hei Niu and Da Qiang, whose expressions varied, and a thought suddenly became clear: Break up!
Rather than letting these two groups stick together and sabotage each other, it's better to let them each do their own thing. Let's see what they're made of! If they succeed, we'll reap the benefits; if they fail, they'll bear the consequences themselves. It's better than them locking each other up and arguing like this.
Old Dao suddenly stood up, a ruthless and resolute look on his face, and waved his hand: "Stop arguing! Listen to my arrangements!"
Everyone quieted down and looked at him.
"This batch of goods will be split in two!" Old Knife said decisively. "Daqiang, you take half of the goods and, using your connections, contact Lao Guai to find a way to transport and distribute them! Heiniu, you also take half of the goods and, according to your plan, find buyers locally and sell them as soon as possible. Each of you will do your own thing and bear the profits and losses yourself!"
This sudden decision stunned everyone. Hei Niu and Da Qiang exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with mixed emotions—surprise, relief, and a touch of trepidation at having to shoulder the responsibility alone. But in any case, it seemed to have resolved the current impasse.
"Brother Dao, how should we divide the manpower?" Black Bull asked.
"Take the ones who work with you! The ones who work with Daqiang, go with him! I only need two people to guard the house." Old Dao waved his hand impatiently.
Soon, the yard was bustling with activity. The fertilizer was quickly divided into two piles, and Hei Niu and Da Qiang each took stock of their manpower, prepared vehicles and tools, and the originally crowded yard became much emptier, leaving only Lao Dao and his two close confidants, as well as Chu Yanxi and Lu Zhe in the storage room.
The separatist plan succeeded!
Old Dao's team shrank from about ten people to just three core members in an instant. Chu Yanxi watched all this through the crack in the door, a barely perceptible smile playing on her lips.
The courtyard was quiet now, but Lao Dao's anxiety hadn't lessened. He needed to raise money faster and in greater quantities to fill the uncertainty and emptiness brought about by this family division.
He turned abruptly, pushed open the storeroom door again, and stared intently at Chu Yanxi: "Miss Qiao, now that it's quiet, shouldn't the big deal you mentioned be on the agenda?"
Chu Yanxi knew that the team's disintegration presented the perfect opportunity for her to make her move amidst the chaos. She met Lao Dao's gaze, her voice calm: "Fertilizer is difficult to sell because of its large quantity, conspicuousness, and strict enforcement. But what if the target were something else?"
"What is it?" Old Dao pressed.
"Cash." Chu Yanxi uttered two words, instantly attracting everyone's attention.
"Cash is great, cash is great! But... where can we get it?" Old Dao's eyes lit up.
Chu Yanxi looked at Lao Dao and said calmly, "We'll go wherever there's more money."
Old Dao was drawn into her rhythm, and while thinking, he spoke: "Didn't we discuss this before? One is robbing a bank, because their vaults are full of money. The other is robbing big bosses who sell medicinal herbs and furs, because they always carry a lot of cash on them."
But whether to rob the credit union or the wealthy is a decision that Lao Dao is finding hard to make in the short term.
Chu Yanxi said in a consultative tone, "Those big bosses may carry a lot of cash, but they must also have a lot of thugs, right?"
Old Knife sighed: "Night Owl, Tiger Wang, and Zhang Yougen were terrified of being robbed in their early years, so they've gathered a lot of martial arts experts around them. They're really not easy to deal with."
Chu Yanxi changed the subject: "Robbing a bank sounds scary, but as long as we have explosives and retreat quickly, it's actually easier to succeed." She paused deliberately.
"You mean..." Old Dao's eyes narrowed.
"When you rob a big boss, the money belongs to them, so they'll definitely fight back fiercely. But when you rob a bank, the money belongs to the government, not the security guards, so they won't be as serious. A vault might seem heavily guarded, but it's really just a room with a thick door. As long as the explosives are powerful enough, we can blow the door open, stuff the money in, and kill one or two people in our way. That'll scare them away as far as they can!"
Old Dao immediately became excited: "Miss Qiao, you have some nerve! Let's go in and out quickly, grab the two bags of money and run, who can catch us?"
Chu Yanxi chuckled inwardly.
Banks in the 1980s were not as well-secured as they are today. A vault was just a small, enclosed room where cash was temporarily stored. If you had explosives or anesthetics, robbing a bank would not have been difficult.
Lu Zhe, who was standing to the side, was terrified.
Robbing a bank! That's a capital offense, and Chu Yanxi actually tricked Lao Dao and the others into doing that? He seemed to understand Chu Yanxi's idea—she thought the human trafficking case was too small and wanted to pull off a big one to send Lao Dao and the others to the execution ground.
Old Dao licked his lips, his eyes a mixture of greed and fear: "Damn it! What's there to be afraid of! Fortune favors the bold!"
One of his henchmen, nicknamed Monkey, was a little scared: "Brother Dao, robbing a bank is a deadly crime. If something goes wrong, it won't just be the county investigating; people from the region or even the province will come down. We won't be able to escape then!"
Another henchman, nicknamed "Ma Gan," was incredibly excited: "Monkey, what are you afraid of? Didn't Brother Dao say we'd go in and out quickly? We can just cover our heads and no one will know it was us. There are only three of us now. If we take a share of the money, it'll be enough for me to live a carefree life for the rest of my days, hahaha..."
Old Dao gritted his teeth, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Chu Yanxi: "Miss Qiao, tell me, what should we do?"
Chu Yanxi knew that the fish had taken the bait.
She met Lao Dao's gaze, her voice calm and unsettling: "I'm working on the explosives. Next, I need to gather more information. Once I have a clear understanding, I can begin."
Old Dao stared intently at her, as if trying to see what was going on in her head.
After a long silence, Old Dao suddenly slapped his thigh, his face revealing a gambler's madness and determination: "Fine! I'll trust you this once! We'll cooperate fully with Miss Qiao! Whatever information you need, I'll find a way to get it! If you want to scout the place yourself, I'll send someone with you! But Miss Qiao..."
He leaned closer, his voice low and menacing: "If the plan succeeds, I won't treat you badly. But if you try anything funny, or if the plan fails... you know the consequences!"
Chu Yanxi nodded slightly: "I understand. You and I... are all in the same boat."
A note from the author:
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