Chapter 332 — Safe Return
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"There's something I need to confirm with you. A fellow claims he bought a car from you today, and he was wearing one of our Shuilan Gang logo baseball caps. Do you know this man?" Lazi asked.
"Oh? Yes, there was such a person — a tourist from the East. I sold him an old Santana. If it's him, then there's no problem!" York thought for a moment, then said, "Why don't you hand him the phone so I can confirm?"
"Fine!" Lazi figured a little caution never hurt, so he passed the phone to Wei Zhao. "You talk to York."
"Big Brother York, it's me!" Wei Zhao said, beaming. "Here's the thing — I bought the car, didn't I, and I was all set to drive it home, but then I got stopped at the city exit. I have no idea what's going on..."
"It's you. All right, no problem. Put Lazi back on, I'll talk to him!" Having confirmed that the man on the phone was indeed today's buyer, York was satisfied.
"Sure!" Wei Zhao handed the phone back to Lazi. "Big Brother York wants to speak with you!"
Lazi took the phone, exchanged a few words, nodded, then said to Wei Zhao, "All right, you can go. My name's Lazi — if you ever want to buy a car again, you can come to me!"
Lazi had started poaching business.
"No problem, Big Brother Lazi!" Wei Zhao nodded and agreed. Buy a car from you? In your next life.
Back in the car, Wei Zhao drove through the checkpoint without a hitch and sped out of Blue City.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Xie Jinbiao was dumbstruck. Just like that, they were letting them go? All those other cars beside them weren't allowed through, and Wei Zhao had just said a few words and taken a phone call, and that was that?
Of course, this time Xie Jinbiao had learned his lesson and didn't dare ask anything rash.
Wei Zhao offered no explanation. He had seen Shuilan Gang members searching for someone back at the hotel, and had anticipated there would be more of them at the city exit. So he had put on the Shuilan Gang cap and prepared his story in advance, and in York's name he had slipped smoothly out of the city.
Once outside the city, Wei Zhao pulled the cap off his head and tossed it away. The thing was useless now — outside Shuilan Gang territory it wouldn't work anyway, and if it caused another misunderstanding, that would be even more trouble.
They reached the airport without a hitch. Wei Zhao simply abandoned the car in the airport parking lot, without even pulling out the keys.
"Let's go. You planning to stand here forever?" Seeing Xie Jinbiao gazing at the airport in a daze, Wei Zhao snapped at him.
"N-no... it's nothing, Big Brother. I was just looking at this place of sorrow. Who knows, I might never come back here again?" Xie Jinbiao said with a sigh, then hurried after Wei Zhao into the international departures gate...
The plane soared into the sky from the runway... Xie Jinbiao was silent the whole way, and no one knew what he was thinking. But during the layover in Yanjing, he asked cautiously, "Big Brother... how much did my father give you..."
"Everything he had," Wei Zhao replied flatly. "When you go back, he'll have nothing left."
"Oh..." Xie Jinbiao nodded. He looked a little dejected, but he said nothing more. In his view, the price was fair enough — with Wei Zhao's skills, he was worth that much! And the entire family fortune added up to less than a hundred million US dollars, so in the end he had come out ahead; otherwise his father would have had to sell everything he owned and still be drowning in debt.
Xie Jinbiao's attitude surprised Wei Zhao somewhat. No crying, no fuss — he seemed to have accepted the facts. Had this fellow actually mended his ways?
In truth, after this hair-raising ordeal, Xie Jinbiao had come to understand a few things. When he had money, he was a young master; when he had none, he was less than nothing...
The plane touched down safely on the ground. They were home.