txolops Chapter 5 Chapter 5
Chapter 5 Chapter 5
"Who are we with whom? As long as you stop here, brother, I, Lai Mazi, will guarantee the lowest price. Just look for it..." Lai Mazi was talking nonsense, and suddenly he was slapped hard on the shoulder, so frightened that he almost bit him With his own tongue, swallowing his saliva, he started cursing before turning around, "Who——huh? Brother Gu, it's you."
"Brother, you're back too?" The interrupted guest and Gu Baiqing nodded and waved at Lai Mazi casually, "Okay Lai Mazi, you greet him first, I'll go in and see the goods myself."
"Then you can do whatever you want, whatever you want."
Watching the customers enter the store, Lai Mazi turned around and winked at Gu Baiqing, "Why, Brother Gu is about to leave again? Is it still the old rules?"
Untied the flagon from his waist and threw it over, Gu Baiqing stretched out his hand and pushed the Ark beside him forward, and said with a smile: "Old rules, here is a pot of honey. I am really grateful to you for taking care of me. Let me introduce a guest to you."
Only now did Lai Mazi see the ark. The young man was standing cautiously behind Gu Baiqing, his face showing uneasy vigilance towards the surroundings. Although he tried his best to pretend nothing had happened, Gululu's eyeballs still gave away his emotions.Looking left and right, Lai Mazi felt a little familiar, and asked doubtfully, "Brother, have we met before?"
Gu Baiqing was waiting for his words, raised his hand and threw the ark's compass over, and waited for Lai Mazi to catch it in a hurry, before he said quietly: "Twenty coppers, don't you look familiar?"
It doesn't weigh much, the chain is also light metal silver-plated, the vulgar landscape is carved on the pocket surface, the dangling hands that can't fall... He really sold it.Lai Mazi put the compass into his arms calmly, smiled so much that he could see his teeth, he took two steps forward and hugged Fang Zhou's shoulders and shook it vigorously, then he carried it in, muttering non-stop as he walked: "Brother, you are too ignorant." Yes, if you are friends with Brother Gu, let’s talk about it earlier. Our small shop, don’t look small, but it has all internal organs and everything you want, brother, you just need to say..."
Fang Zhou was forcibly taken away, and he still kept looking back nervously at Gu Baiqing for help, but only received a comforting wave: "I will leave Fang Zhou to you first, Lai Mazi, I will come back later."
"Okay, you can go at ease."
With Lai Mazi's assurance, Gu Baiqing left Fang Zhou who was still struggling and calling for help, and went straight out of the dilapidated and crowded little black shop.
The setting sun was just right, and the blood red was still warm on the body.Gu Baiqing stretched, hesitated for a few seconds, resolutely gave up and went back to start from scratch, and walked along the old road towards the port.
In the evening, the port, which had been bustling all day, became quiet. At this time, there were no ships to go to sea, and the ships that stayed had already finished moving their cargo.Strong men living by hard labor sat anywhere in twos and threes, and the patrolling people also slowed down. Gu Baiqing walked over slowly and stopped in front of the familiar tiger-headed boat.
The noisy deck in the past was now empty, with bits and pieces of debris placed in the middle, crowded and deserted.The captain was lying on the stacked wooden boxes with a rag on his back, his legs crossed, and he was humming a pop song with a wild accent. intoxicated person.
"I said, can't you let me calm down for a while?" The captain said sullenly, and he knew who it was before he even took off the rag.
"I've come to tell you something."
"Say."
Gu Baiqing casually moved a wooden box, sat down and said, "I want to bring someone aboard."
"Could you be another fool?" The captain grabbed the rag from his face and looked at Gu Baiqing helplessly.The nose is straight and the eyes are long. It's obviously the face of a murderer. Why does it always provoke fools?
Gu Baiqing squinted: "You are well informed."
"Oh, I'm not as free as you." The captain yawned, sat up and hammered his back, first looked around, and then lowered his voice, "Last night, I was so tired that I was almost exhausted. In the morning, I had to distribute money to the sailors, and each of them told the story of you at the door of Lai Mazi's shop in a vivid and vivid way. Everyone in the port knows about it. Hey, you didn't plan to just do it like this Are you being entangled? Do you want my brother to help me?"
"Forget it, I don't have the habit of going around in debt." Gu Baiqing saw through his little calculations, and narrowed his peach blossom eyes slightly, "However, speaking of last night, the research institute didn't seem to be interested in mermaids. .”
"Twenty gold coins, it's almost enough. I thought I was going to return empty-handed. The professor is really nice." The captain smiled brightly, "We went out for a trip, and the whole ship's cargo was not worth a few gold coins. made a fortune."
"The research institute is not very interested in mermaids. There can only be two reasons." Gu Baiqing said slowly, "First, they don't need a whole corpse, only a blood sample is enough; second, I'm afraid they already have one. Corpse samples, even..."
"Even what?" asked the captain.
"There are even living ones." After Gu Baiqing finished speaking, he shook his head, denying himself, "That's not right, mermaids have more advanced high-tech, and their attacks are also very organized and purposeful. It can be seen that they are absolutely high-intelligence creatures. Even If they are all poisoned and mute, they cannot make sound waves, and there is no guarantee that they have no other means of information transmission. Once the mermaid shoal is accidentally attracted to retaliate, the entire institute will be ruined. Those professors will not take this risk easily. Then, That leaves only the third case."
"The third situation is even worse, that is, the mermaid itself has no research value. They are pure earth creatures like humans or even tigers and mice. There is no genetic mutation, but their IQ is relatively developed, and they can tear apart iron pieces with one paw. It's the ability they were born with." Gu Baiqing lowered his voice as he spoke, as if a little frustrated.
"Isn't it just an extra fish tail?" The captain curled his lips, "We also have two extra legs, who is worse than the other? Why do we lose everything when we fight?"
"Because their weapons are well stored in the sea and can continue to be used, we can only stare blankly when our weapons sink into the sea." Gu Baiqing rolled his eyes to the back of his head, "not to mention that their claws are better than our hands It’s been used too much, why don’t you tear off a piece of iron sheet with your bare hands and show it to me?”
"Don't let other people's ambitions grow, we are not bad, at least we have survived until now."
"This is the strangest thing. We are not opponents in one-on-one group fights. The mermaids quickly retreated as soon as they succeeded in a blow, and they didn't seem to be chasing after the victory. Don't you think there is a problem? If the bottom of the sea hadn't collapsed this time, they would still have to Hiding in the deep sea, they won't even show their faces to us." Gu Baiqing raised his eyebrows and asserted, "The mermaid must be hiding some secret, but we haven't discovered it yet."
"That's not something we can manage." The captain patted his trouser legs, stood up and stretched his waist, and muttered, "Let's take care of our stomachs first. If we can't eat enough, how can we care about others? The research institute probably does the same. I think it's the top priority to rehabilitate the ground and restore planting. Mermaids and sea monsters have to stand aside. Who has the leisure to care about their secrets. I think it's fine now. As long as we don't fight at sea, the mermaids will fight with us The water does not interfere with the river, and the pirates no longer dare to show off their power at sea, so it is safer for us to go to sea."
"You think so."
"You're welcome. I can earn money if I can live for a day. I'm quite content." The captain squatted down against Gu Baiqing, and asked in a discussing tone, "The twenty gold, let's divide it according to the usual practice, old rules, I will take one-third, you will take one-fourth, and the rest will be shared equally with them. When they came to get the money, I already gave it to them. Take some more from my share and give it to you."
"Give more to the cripple, and shut his mouth." Gu Baiqing spread his hands, and the captain immediately offered up coins, including gold, silver, and copper coins, a handful of bits and pieces, "You went to the bank to exchange money ?”
"Hey, I'm still getting a discount. Hurry up and take all jewelry and machinery, but gold and silver are the most real." The captain urged.
Gu Baiqing nodded and stood up, not forgetting to look down at the captain with disdain and say, "Go wash it up, it stinks to death."
"You're the one who has a lot to do." The captain snorted to show his disdain, and when the person walked away, he picked up his collar and sniffed suspiciously, mumbling, "It doesn't smell bad, wash it again?"
Go back to Lai Mazi's small shop along the same road, from the outside it looks like the shop is pitch black, not even a single candle is served, despise Lai Mazi's stinginess in his heart, Gu Baiqing stands between the bamboo poles at the door Picking and picking, I quickly picked one and pulled it out. When I was studying it, a friendly shout sounded in my ear.
As soon as Gu Baiqing raised his head, he frowned, watching the ark that was full of bits and pieces walking quickly, and couldn't bear to see him, then turned his gaze around him and looked at the snickering Lai Mazi: "What's the trouble? Once out?"
Fang Zhou was probably over excited, his eyesight was lost to the sea, he pulled Gu Baiqing and started to show off: "Brother, look, Lord Lai gave me three knives and this compass, isn't it so handsome?"
"It's so handsome." Gu Baiqing looked at the compass embossed with a skull that was about to reach the tip of his nose, and admired sincerely, "Put it away quickly, others will be jealous when they see it."
"Oh." Fang Zhou happily took off the bits and pieces from his body and stuffed them into his pockets.
Lai Mazi covered his mouth and laughed so hard that Gu Baiqing couldn't help but glared at him: "Give him some belts."
"It's already ready, old hen." Lai Mazi pulled out the belt from behind his waist and threw it over.
"belt?"
"Yeah." Dazed by Fang Zhou's bright eyes, Gu Baiqing sighed tiredly, and went straight to tie the belt around him, while reminding him, "These belts should be tied around the chest and waist. After getting on the boat, remember not to take it off even when you are sleeping. The knife cannot be put in the pocket. There is a hidden buckle on the handle, which can be directly buckled on the belt. Take a waist bag and put all the small things in it. These are enough.”
Fang Zhou nodded obediently.
After tying up the belt, he moved all the knives to the belt and fastened it. Then Gu Baiqing took a step back, looked up and down his masterpiece, and patted him on the shoulder with satisfaction, "It looks pretty decent, it's a man gone."
After all, Fang Zhou was still a big kid, and when he was praised, his face turned red with excitement.
Lai Mazi looked interesting, turned around and pulled out the amphora from the pile of rags at the entrance of the small shop, generously stuffed it to Fang Zhou, and said proudly: "The first time I go to sea, I will come back alive, remember to visit the small shop more often in the future. A pot is a meeting gift."