Volume 2Chapter 15: The Fat Man
Although I was a little surprised, I had already guessed this possibility. The people who came out of the Lu Palace were dead, Uncle San was missing, Pan Zi was in a coma, and the fate of the Mian Youping was unknown. Only me and this fat man were left. This organization must be prepared for both situations. I guess their first choice may be the fat man, and I may still be a substitute.
The ship did not slow down when it reached the dock. The fat man had gained weight in the few days since I had last seen him, but his skills were still the same. He followed the group and jumped onto the ship at the same time, and after running forward a few times, he stopped and saw me, laughing happily: “Little comrade, you’re here too. It seems that our Miss Ning still has a lot of face.”
The woman smiled at him reluctantly. It seemed that they were very familiar with each other. My opinion of this fat man has always been mixed. I don’t know whether I should be happy or sad about his arrival, but when I think of his behavior in the Lu Palace, he almost killed me several times, and I can’t help but get a headache.
He threw his luggage onto the deck and sat across from us, tapping his back and saying, “You guys are pushing me too hard. By the way, did you find the place?”
The woman named Ning shook her head: “There is only one more point left. If there are no accidents, it should be that place.”
The fat man said, “I told you before, I don’t know anything about finding dragon points or locating points. You have to notify me when you find the place. If you can’t find it, don’t blame me. I’ll still take the money. According to the rules of the underworld, you southern barbarians have to ask the locals when you enter the country.”
A-Ning sighed with a headache and said, “I know you can’t do it. It’s already been arranged. Mr. Wu will be in charge of the specific positioning.”
I was originally in a relaxed mood, but I was confused when I heard it. I’m in charge. What am I responsible for? I haven’t even shoveled a single shovel yet. I hurriedly said, “I’m in charge? Don’t you know where the sea bucket is?”
She said, “We can only estimate a general direction. If we can find the tunnel, that would be great. If we can’t, the actual positioning and determining the shape of the underground palace will have to rely on you. We only have some old documents on hand, which can’t replace the experience of the earth workers. Your uncle is very smart, and he didn’t leave us any of this information.”
I was sweating all over my back. It seemed that I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight. I had to recall the things that my grandfather taught me, otherwise, once I got to that place, I would be making a fool of myself.
I have no problem with digging, and any inconvenience or mistake at the bottom of the sea can be attributed to the seawater. After all, I am not a grave robber, but a tomb robber, and this is not my area of expertise. But if I am to plan the underground palace, it is too difficult. Fortunately, although I have not practiced it, my theoretical experience is still there.
I thought about it for a moment, and my nervousness had subsided a lot. I thought to myself that everything would be fine when the time came, and if it really didn’t work, I would just say that the underground palace was a bit strange.
The fat man looked at me and said, “That’s good, everything is ready – but it’s rare to come to Xisha, so we have to have a good meal tonight to build up our strength. This is manual labor.” He ran to find the boat captain and asked him what seafood was on the boat.
A-ning didn’t seem to have much of an appetite and leaned over to the side without saying a word. I was hungry, and as soon as I heard there was seafood, my mouth watered and I ran over to see it.
There are many mackerel, horse mackerel and grouper in the Xisha. Some people say that half of the sea in the Xisha is water and half is fish, so fishing boats rarely go out without a catch. During the tourist season, fishing in the Xisha is also a very interesting thing to do. The fat man was very insistent, and the boat captain, who was very reluctant, took out a large mackerel from the fishing box and handed it to one of the crew members, saying, “Bring out a fish head pot.”
The fat man didn’t know what had just happened. He saw the boatman’s sad face and was very unhappy. He scolded, “My mother’s father is not not paying, not robbing you.”
But despite his displeasure, when the fish pot was served, the aroma was so good that I lost all desire to eat. I had never thought I would want to eat something so much in the city before. The fat man was so greedy that his eyes were straight. Before the pot was even placed on the table, he used a chopstick to pick up a piece of fish skin and ate it. It was so hot that tears came down his face.
The power of this pot of food was really too great. I don’t know if they were all hungry or what, but all the newcomers came over, even Zhang Tu, who was sleeping at the bottom of the warehouse, came up and sniffed it, saying, “Xisha is really good. We can’t eat fish like this anywhere else in our lives.”
The fat guy pulled him away and yelled, “Flattery is flattery, but don’t spit in it, it’s disgusting.”
Seeing that the fat man had never seen him before, Zhang Tu hurriedly shook his hand and said, “Hey, stranger, what’s your name?”
The fat man was very straightforward. After looking at him, he asked Ah Ning, “Who is this bald guy?”
Zhang Tu’s face turned black at the mention of his name. He said forcefully, “Please call me Mr. Zhang, or Professor Zhang, okay?”
The fat man ignored him. Ah Ning saw that the atmosphere was not right and said, “I forgot to introduce you. This is Professor Zhang, one of our consultants.”
When the fat man heard that he was really a professor, he didn’t dare to be too presumptuous. He hurriedly shook hands with Zhang Tuozi and said, “Oh, I’m really sorry. I really didn’t realize that you were a cultured person. I’m just a gut, surnamed Wang, a rough person. Don’t take it to heart.”
Zhang Tuozi only smiled reluctantly when he heard this, saying, “This cultured person and rough person are all people. Cultured people are not all rough people. They have different jobs and different jobs.”
The fat man didn’t understand what he was talking about, so he just smiled. The bald man didn’t know how to take a hint, and asked again, “What kind of work does Mr. Wang do?”
The fat man was taken aback and felt awkward, but he couldn’t be too rude in front of a cultured person, so he said, “Well, to put it simply, I’m actually an underground worker.”
The bald man couldn’t help but be awed when he heard this, and said, “So you’re a public security fighter. My respects.”
I heard this and hurriedly held back my laughter. His mother’s bald head was too wordy. The fat man saw me laughing and glared at me fiercely. He said to Zhang, “Don’t worry about talking first. Come on, have a taste.” Then he called out to the others to start eating.
I didn’t care about them. I picked up a chopstick and ate. The taste was really amazing. I hadn’t even swallowed the first bite when I took my second bite.
The fat guy ate a few bites, shouted that he was satisfied, and then asked for more wine. A-Ning said, “How could someone who came out to fish bring wine with them?” The fat guy didn’t believe him, so he went to the cabin and came out with a jar of wine, laughing. The boat captain looked at it and was shocked, saying that it was for the Dragon King to drink, and then came over to grab it.
The fat guy was furious: “Why are you so full of nonsense? With this broken wine, the Dragon King will definitely take your boat away after drinking it.” He took out a bottle of Erguotou from his bag and handed it to the boatman, saying, “Take it, it’s for the Dragon King to change his taste! This is called the cultural exchange of northern and southern wine. See, Erguotou, good stuff, don’t you know how to appreciate it.”
The boatman was there, not knowing what to do. The fat man took that as a yes, tore off the seal and poured it for us. The wine was really good, a famous coconut wine from the Li and Miao townships. We ate and drank, and it was a great time. We didn’t stop until the moon was overhead.
The fat man finished his last sip of wine, burped, slapped his thigh, sat up straight, and said, “Everyone, we’re full, and it’s time to talk about serious things.”