T/N:
Hi guys. So, for some reason one of the chapters I scheduled for yesterday didn’t post when it was supposed to. I have fixed it now, so give it a read.
Chapter 38.2 The Promised Land (End)
The tavern was much livelier at night, with people drinking to their heart’s content under the dim lights. The steak Sergey ordered was too big. Lin Banxia reluctantly stuffed it into his stomach. He felt that the food had reached his throat, and he didn’t even dare to drink anymore.
Song Qingluo was quite at ease. After finishing the steak, he also started drinking.
Lin Banxia said: “Is the injury on your chest okay?”
“It’s okay.” Song Qingluo handed him a glass, “Would you like some?”
Lin Banxia shook his head: “I can’t drink any more. If I drink any more, I’ll vomit…”
Song Qingluo smiled for a long time.
The air was filled with the smell of alcohol, but it did not make people feel disgusted. On the contrary, it gave people an illusory warmth. Empty alcohol bottles gradually filled the entire table. The clarity in Li Su’s eyes gradually faded, and Sergey’s voice became louder and louder. Song Qingluo didn’t care about the two of them. He sat next to Lin Banxia as they chatted and ate, and it turned out to be very harmonious.
In Li Ye’s absence, Lin Banxia had seen Li Su’s exaggerated drinking capacity. They drank from nine o’clock in the evening until three o’clock in the morning. It was not until the pub closed that they walked back drunk. On the way back, Lin Banxia saw several drunkards lying on the roadside. It seemed that drunkenness was the norm here.
Lin Banxia and Song Qingluo walked back and saw Li Su and Sergey staggering in front of them. However, when they passed by a group of drunk young people, Sergey seemed to accidentally collide with the body of one of them.
If they were not drunk, the worst they would do was just stare at each other, but for drunk people, this was like setting off the fuse of a bomb.
Lin Banxia was walking at the back so before he could react, he saw a group of people fighting.
“A fight is about to start!!” Lin Banxia just finished shouting, turned around and saw Song Qingluo slowly rolling up his sleeves.
Lin Banxia was dumbfounded for a moment.
Song Qingluo glanced at him: “Are you going?”
Lin Banxia: “Go…”
So, he went.
The six or seven young men were no match for them. Sergey and Li Su fought back and forth with them. When Song Qingluo and Lin Banxia joined the battlefield, the situation became one-sided. Not only was this the first time that Lin Banxia went abroad, but it was also the first time he fought with someone. He was a little bit reluctant to do it. On the other hand, Li Su punched one of the youths with a jab. His ruthless appearance was in sharp contrast to his delicate face. As for Song Qingluo, he was actually not beating people, but preventing Li Su from being beaten. After this battle, Li Su and Sergey were completely triumphant, and they were lying on the ground.
The four people stopped, looked at each other, and laughed. Li Su was laughing when he heard a roar from the corner of the street. The group turned around and saw policemen in police uniforms, so they quickly turned around and ran.
Not daring to rest all the way, the four of them ran back home. Li Su patted Lin Banxia on the shoulder and said, “This is the most authentic Russian night.”
Lin Banxia whispered: “The most authentic one is behind you.”
Li Su said: “Huh?”
Li Ye’s cold voice came: “Have you been drinking?”
Li Su’s bright smile instantly froze on his face. He turned his head stiffly and saw Li Ye, who had squinted his eyes and looked unhappy. He cautiously measured a distance with his thumb and index finger: “Just a small cup.”
Li Ye said: “How much?”
Li Su: “Three cups.”
Li Ye: “How much?”
Li Su: “…three bottles.”
Li Ye didn’t say anything. He reached out and picked up Li Su, carrying him away like a bag of rice. Sergey looked around blankly, not knowing what was going on. Song Qingluo calmly said to Lin Banxia: “Ignore them, let’s go to bed.”
So, the three of them went to bed calmly. As for what happened to Li Su, Li Ye couldn’t kill him. Lin Banxia thought. Life and death are determined by fate and wealth. I hope Li Su will be with him and live well until the check is cashed.
Lin Banxia had a good sleep. When he woke up the next day, he saw that Li Su had come back and was sitting on the sofa in the living room with a dead expression. Li Ye was calling next to him in Russian. It sounded like he was arguing.
“Good morning.” Lin Banxia greeted.
“Good morning.” Li Su raised his eyelids.
“We’ll go back to China the day after tomorrow.” Song Qingluo happened to come out and saw Lin Banxia and said, “If you want to buy anything, you can buy it today.”
Lin Banxia said sincerely: “I can’t afford it if I don’t have money.”
Song Qingluo said: “The reward should arrive in the account in two days. Do you want me to lend you some first?”
Lin Banxia asked curiously: “Do you have money to lend me?”
Song Qingluo said calmly: “Yes now, but it won’t be certain in two days.”
“Where’s your money?” Lin Banxia felt that this matter was much more puzzling than those heretical things. Logically speaking, Song Qingluo had been doing dangerous work for so many years. No matter what, he should be worth tens of millions, so why was he living so hard? This was simply confusing.
Unexpectedly, as soon as Lin Banxia asked, Li Su couldn’t help but laugh. It wasn’t until Song Qingluo glared at him that he reluctantly stopped and made a zipper motion with his mouth.
“Shopping.” Song Qingluo gave an answer that was not an answer.
“Buying something? What do you buy?” Lin Banxia was even more surprised, “Why is it so expensive? I haven’t seen you buy a house.”
Li Su was suppressing laughter and his face turned red. He looked like he couldn’t wait to start telling the story right away.
Song Qingluo glanced at him sinisterly, did not answer Lin Banxia’s question, and suddenly said warmly: “It was not three bottles, it was thirteen.”
Li Su: “…”
Li Ye, who was sitting next to him, raised his eyelids and glanced at Li Su. The color on Li Su’s face immediately faded and turned pale, almost like a face change in a Sichuan opera. He smiled indifferently and explained humbly: “I really only drank three yesterday. I didn’t drink thirteen bottles, Song Qingluo is joking. Everyone knows that he likes to joke the most.”
Song Qingluo: “Heh.”
Li Su gritted his teeth and swallowed, thinking that Lin Banxia and Song Qingluo were all f*cking b*stards who held grudges.
In the end, Lin Banxia didn’t even know what Song Qingluo bought.
Three days later, the moment of separation finally came. Sergey came to the airport in person to take them to the security gate. The man who was over 1.8 meters tall and stronger than a bear hugged Lin Banxia and burst into tears. Banxia’s whole body was stiff, bearing the strange looks from around him. He was like a small tree being hugged and wrestled by a black bear. His whole body was filled with helplessness. The worst thing was that he couldn’t break away. Neither Li Su nor Li Ye had any intention of helping him, so they just watched the excitement. Finally, Song Qingluo couldn’t bear it anymore, reached out and grabbed Sergey’s collar, and forcefully pulled Sergey, who weighed more than 100 kilograms, into the air. He picked him up, then spoke mercilessly in English and moved him away, rescuing Lin Banxia, who was about to die.
Sergey, who was expelled, continued to cry loudly, looking like an aggrieved two-hundred-pound child.
Lin Banxia looked at his shirt which was soaked with tears and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He could only ask Li Su to tell Sergey that he was welcome to come to China, but please don’t cry anymore. Li Su spoke to Sergey. After a while, Sergey cried even more sadly, and looked at Lin Banxia from time to time, which made Lin Banxia’s scalp numb, his buttocks trembled, and he really wanted to leave first.
Seeing that Sergey was about to carry out a second round of bear hugs, Lin Banxia, who had a strong desire for survival, rushed into the security check, stood in a safe place, and waved to him from a distance. Li Su was gloating beside him, rocking forward and back with laughter. After finally getting on the plane, Li Su used Song Qingluo going to the toilet to quietly tell Lin Banxia why Song Qingluo was short of money.
Li Su said that Song Qingluo was obsessed with antiques and often went to the antique market. The antique market relied entirely on his own eyesight, but Song Qingluo didn’t know anything about it. One of the most talked-about examples is that Song Qingluo spent a huge amount of money to buy a beautiful jade pendant. The jade pendant was crystal clear and looked like an apple with a piece missing. The seller claimed that it was a good product from the Ming Dynasty. The price could be negotiated, but not much lower. Song Qingluo successfully got what he wanted after a round of negotiations.
This was nothing until the second month, when he used his salary to buy a new Apple mobile phone. He looked at the logo on the back of his mobile phone and then looked at the jade pendant. He suddenly realized something. By this time, it was too late. The seller had already run away.
“What happened next?” Lin Banxia felt like he was listening to a ridiculous story, but because it was so ridiculous, it seemed somewhat true.
“Later? Later, he reported it to the police. Because the amount involved was huge, he successfully recovered it, but this matter was still a good story in his circle at the time. Everyone knew that there was a rich man who spent hundreds of thousands to buy an apple from the Ming Dynasty, and everyone expressed their desire to get to know this rich man. There are also many antiques that the rich man would like to see…” When Li Su said this, he laughed again, with tears streaming down his face. “This matter was originally going to be on the social news, but in the end the police stopped them. They were afraid of irritating him. The police in that area knew him. This is the most outstanding incident, but there are others. There are countless things like this. Antiques also have rules. If you make a mistake when selling something, you will usually admit defeat. However, if the trick is too obvious, the buyer will become angry and call the police directly.”
Lin Banxia also wanted to laugh, but felt that laughing would be too cruel to Song Qingluo, so he held it back and said, “Then why did he buy so many antiques?”
“I don’t know, maybe it’s just a personal hobby.” Li Su shook his head, “No one can stop this kind of personal hobby, but because of this, his financial situation is really not optimistic…”
Lin Banxia suddenly realized that the mystery that had troubled him for a long time was finally solved. However, at the same time as it was solved, new confusion arose – why did Song Qingluo buy so many antiques? Was it just a hobby? It’s not like he couldn’t afford to eat just for the sake of his hobby.
Of course, Lin Banxia had just thought about this matter in his mind and didn’t dare to ask. After all, seeing Song Qingluo’s reaction earlier, he might become angry if he asked.
After a while, Song Qingluo came back. Li Su had returned to his normal expression and discussed the salary of this mission with Lin Banxia in a serious manner. Lin Banxia thought it would be hundreds of thousands like last time, but Li Su shook his finger and said with a smile: “It is indeed hundreds of thousands, but it’s not RMB, it’s US dollars.”
Lin Banxia was stunned for a moment and immediately started to convert the exchange rate. The current exchange rate was about 6.9. If it was more than 100,000 US dollars… Wouldn’t it be close to one million??
“Really??” Lin Banxia said in surprise, “Then I can move out from there.”
After he said this, he laughed to himself: “Just kidding. Why would I want to part with such an expensive house, and I can’t even sell it…”
Li Su said: “What do you want to do when you have money?”
Lin Banxia thought for a while: “Maybe I will find time to go home.”
“Yes, we have to go home.” Li Su said, “This is called returning home in rich clothes.”
Lin Banxia smiled when he heard this and did not answer. A few hours later, Lin Banxia successfully arrived in China. This time, he brought back a lot of gifts for Ji Leshui. Originally, he wanted to bring meat sausages, but unfortunately Li Su said he couldn’t pass the customs with it, so he had to give up and bring some sweets like alcohol-infused chocolates, which was considered as fulfilling his duty as a friend.
When they arrived at the airport, they dispersed. Li Ye and Li Su drove away in the car parked at the airport, while Lin Banxia and Song Qingluo got on the bus – what a sad story.
Lin Banxia happily called Ji Leshui and told him that he was back. Ji Leshui was still at work and invited Lin Banxia to have a good meal together in the evening so that they could chat about his travel experiences.
Lin Banxia smiled and said yes.
On the way back to the car, Lin Banxia answered the phone. He responded casually a few times and then hung up the phone. Song Qingluo looked a little strange and asked him who called him.
“Forgot.” Lin Banxia was a little confused, “It’s a little strange, I can’t remember clearly.” It was okay when Song Qingluo didn’t ask, but as soon as he asked, Lin Banxia realized that there seemed to be something wrong with him. It was obvious that he had just hung up the phone, but he couldn’t remember who called. Looking through the call records, it was just an unfamiliar number with no name.
“Maybe it’s a harassing phone call.” Lin Banxia thought for a while and felt that it was no big deal. “This kind of thing is normal.”
Song Qingluo hesitated for a moment and said softly: “Where did you grow up when you were a child?”
“City A.” Lin Banxia answered, “It’s a small rural place with paddy fields everywhere. I often went fishing in the water. I was poor at that time and often couldn’t afford to eat, so I just hoped that I would catch a few more small fish. The mountain stream filled my stomach, and now that I think about the smell, I feel a little nostalgic…” He yawned, showing a bit of exhaustion, “I haven’t been back since I left there in college.”
Song Qingluo said: “Did something happen?”
Lin Banxia shook his head and said, “I haven’t encountered anything, I just don’t want to go back.” He felt his nose was a little itchy and scratched it twice. “Maybe I’ve been too busy with work and don’t have time to go back. Let’s talk about it later.”
Song Qingluo looked at him deeply and said, “Go to sleep.” He did not continue the topic, but his eyes towards Lin Banxia became meaningful.
Summer is coming, and it is a good time to catch fish in the river. I wonder if the river in my hometown is still as clear as before, Lin Banxia thought before falling asleep.
The author has something to say:
Lin Banxia: Hold a grudge and complain to Song Qingluo.
Song Qingluo: Hold a grudge and complain to Li Ye.
Li Ye: Holding a grudge…
Li Su: ???? Are the three of you playing Solitaire???
Translator’s comments:
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