Li Dazhi caught up to me, put his arm around my shoulder, and I shook his hand off.
"If a man doesn't look out for himself, heaven and earth will destroy him. We're all people of the martial world, don't act like you have a knight's heart."
"Is Shun Ge your brother?"
"Brother? Spare me. On the surface we were brothers, but in reality, all these years he helped me because he was afraid I'd expose his murder."
Hearing this, I was particularly displeased. I stared at Li Dazhi and said, "Don't badmouth the dead. Save some virtue for your ancestors."
"How about I tell you about it, there's a restaurant ahead, and we can chat."
...
Li Dazhi told me Shun Ge's history, whether it was true or not, I don't know. It was about eight or nine years ago. After Shun Ge came to Ruili from the Northeast, he was lucky and made some money gambling on stones.
At that time, Shun Ge was over thirty and still unmarried. He was a drifter, a gambler at the stone gambling markets every day. Who would marry such a man? Shun Ge was desperate for a woman, so he bought a girl from Myanmar, who was seventeen or eighteen. Because it was an illegal border crossing, Shun Ge kept the girl locked up at home every day.
Not many people knew about this, but Li Dazhi and Shun Ge were close friends, so he was relatively clear about it. Later, Shun Ge met Hongmei, who worked as a waitress, with Li Dazhi. Hongmei had the straightforward and generous personality of a northern woman. Moreover, Hongmei was in great shape when she was young, with great legs and a voluptuous figure.
Within a few days of meeting, Shun Ge fell for Hongmei and asked Li Dazhi, who was slightly more cultured, to write love letters to Hongmei. Li Dazhi felt extremely awkward because he also liked Hongmei, and they had secretly gotten together.
Li Dazhi didn't want two brothers to fall out over a woman, so he truthfully confessed his relationship with Hongmei. Shun Ge nodded when he heard this, and went off to drink dejectedly. Li Dazhi felt that his friendship with Shun Ge had ended, and in a terrible mood, he went to gamble on stones. He lost all the money he had earned. Not only that, but he also borrowed 100,000 yuan. The lender had some connections. After Li Dazhi didn't pay for many days, they found him, cut off three of his fingers, and handed the fingers over to Shun Ge.
Shun Ge used the money to bail Li Dazhi out. Grateful to Shun Ge, Li Dazhi broke up with Hongmei and left Ruili altogether, smuggling himself out of the country to Myanmar. On the Myanmar side, he endured inhuman hardships, and after losing an eye, he finally made something of himself.
He returned from Myanmar two or three years ago. Shun Ge's life had changed dramatically. He struggled to make ends meet, while others had become bosses and shop owners, he was still the same hard-working mugger.
Hongmei learned of Li Dazhi's return and secretly met with him. She told him something Li Dazhi could not believe. Shun Ge's son was his, and all these years Shun Ge had been helping Li Dazhi raise Hongmei and their child.
Hearing this, I scoffed, "Shun Ge, after he treated you like this, you still killed him."
"I was actually quite grateful to him, until one day I met Situ, who had just been released from prison."
"Who is Situ?"
"The one who lent me money at the stone gambling market and cut off my three fingers."
Hearing this, I had a bad premonition. Could everything Li Dazhi had gone through be a setup by Shun Ge? So, I asked, "What did Situ say?"
"The one who lent me money back then wasn't Situ, but Shun Zi, my so-called good brother."
"Was Situ hired by Shun Ge?"
"Yes!"
These words, after all, came from Li Dazhi's mouth. I had personally seen Li Dazhi stab Shun Ge several times. Therefore, it was within reason that Li Dazhi would concoct a reason for the murder.
"You expect me to believe you? Shun Ge framed you, and still raised your wife and child for you."
"Yes, Shun Zi helped me raise my wife and child. He was always a fake husband. He never even touched Hongmei privately. He acted well, the only flaw was that he wasn't close to the child."
I sneered, "Who would believe that? In your eyes, Shun Ge is just a big idiot?"
"Remember I said Shun Zi bought a girl from Myanmar and kept her hidden at home?"
"Yes!"
I believed that statement. Things don't happen out of nowhere. Wang Yong had also said Shun Ge had a previous relationship.
"He killed that girl. To cover up his murder, he made me lose three fingers and an eye, and used the family that rightfully belonged to me to conceal his crime. Do you think I would let him go?"
...
"If you killed him, you killed him. Why slander the dead."
Ultimately, I still didn't believe it. I made a sarcastic remark, which further enraged Li Dazhi. "I, Captain Li Dazhi, admit that I am a scoundrel who licks blood from the blade. But I am definitely not a despicable person with a hidden agenda. I killed Shun Zi, I admit it, so what? If I'm discovered, I'll just flee back to Myanmar. But I have to get these things off my chest. I, Li Dazhi, am not someone who betrays his brothers."
...
"Regarding your matters with Shun Ge, I won't believe your one-sided story. Li Dazhi, I'm telling you, good and evil will eventually be repaid. You know best what you've done. Let's get back to the point. Why did you call me to this restaurant today to tell me these things that you needed to get off your chest? Is it another diversion by Qin Sisi?" httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
Li Dazhi frowned. I smiled, "You will never find that rough stone. However, at the hotel, I have kilogram-grade stones that I collected from Wang Yong. If Qin Sisi likes them, she can have them."
"Qin Sisi is right. Tang Nan, your greatest skill is pretending to be oblivious when you know everything. Wait a moment, I'll make a call."
Li Dazhi made a call to Qin Sisi on his mobile. When she answered, Li Dazhi handed the phone to me. Qin Sisi's voice was still as gentle and pleasant as ever. "Hello, Mr. Tang Nan. Let's get straight to the point. How much do you want? Is twenty million enough?"
"I got caught up in this scheme unintentionally. I originally wanted to get twenty million and live an easy life. But now that things have come to this, I really don't want to back out. Sister Qin Sisi, I'm interested in cooperating with you. Do you agree?"
When playing poker, Old Ghost told me a truth: when playing with ordinary people, always be one step ahead. When playing with smart people, you have to be bolder.
Qin Sisi laughed charmingly on the phone. "Little brother Tang Nan, you bought a rough stone with a fake skin due to an error by my staff. With just this, you think you can take a share in this big game? Do you think that's possible?"
"Sister Qin Sisi, the 'Empty Room' celebrity circle seems to be rolling in money, but we all know that the police have been watching you for a long time."
"Is that so? I don't think so."
"Really? Didn't the staff's mistake alert you?"
"That's our business."
"Then I'll be blunt, Sister Qin Sisi. That fake-skinned rough stone is just a talisman I got for myself. My capital for cooperating with you is not this fake-skinned rough stone."
"Do you have any other leverage?"
"I am a strategist. I can help you find the police hidden in the 'Empty Room'."
"And then?"
I held the phone, smiled, and looked at Qin Sisi. "Don't you have underworld figures like Captain Li Dazhi under you? As for what happens next, you know better than I do."
"How do we cooperate?"
"I'll take thirty percent."
"It's not easy for me either. Many people need to be bribed."
"You're a shrewd businesswoman. Then twenty percent. It can't be any lower. My side is going through official channels, ruining the future."
"Deal. Have Li Dazhi bring you over."