Chapter 21: This One’s A Rookie
“Seven-thirty in the evening, don’t get the time wrong.”
“After the transaction is completed, come find me at this address. Don’t bring any weapons up here; our line of work avoids that.”
Immediately after, Lin Xueyi instructed some rules for the transaction, nagging for more than half an hour before explaining everything clearly. After that, he turned and left the study room, skipping dinner and hurrying out the door.
The servants at home saw this and were unfazed; this family had long scattered without any semblance of a home.
The eldest miss was over thirty and unmarried, arguing with the master every day she saw him. The eldest young master schemed all day for the old master’s family property. The second young master was even worse: a man in his thirties still hanging with a gang of hooligans fighting over territory, doing chicken-head beheadings, burning yellow paper, swearing brotherhood, with righteousness first.
Heh, in short, except for the young master, everyone in the family had some issues to varying degrees.
The situation was just like that, but no one dared say a word extra. They just followed Butler Aunt Gui’s directions and did their own tasks.
Shanghai, Chinese Territory, Maoming Road, Kui Xing Ji Cotton Mill warehouse.
The original boss of this cotton mill was named Zheng Kui, a Ning City Sanshui man.
Ning City wasn’t far from Shanghai. To make a living, Ning City people would rather abandon the superior environment of the provincial city Hangcheng and head to Shanghai.
The most common livelihoods for Ning City people in Shanghai were basically two kinds.
One was opening cotton mills; the Lin family was one of them.
Lin Zonghan was from Shangyu in Ning City. Over twenty years ago, he brought his family to Shanghai to make a living. Over ten years ago, he started with a cotton mill and became a wealthy merchant.
The other was the top choice for Ning City people with no money: tobacco exchange shops.
Tobacco exchange shops were somewhat like future convenience supermarkets, but they were different from mainstream grocery stores.
Half of a tobacco exchange shop’s business was selling cigarettes; the other half was exchanging change for guests and charging a handling fee.
This livelihood didn’t make much money, but for a diligent and hardworking young man who got up early and stayed late without minding the hassle, while it wasn’t a big success, supporting a whole family was no problem.
At seven-thirty in the evening, Chen Yang rode a rickshaw to the entrance of Kui Xing Ji Cotton Mill.
After paying the fare, Chen Yang checked the time on his watch, walked to the cotton mill entrance, and knocked on the window of the gatekeeper’s room.
“Excuse me, I have an appointment with Mr. Guo.”
The gatekeeper pushed open the glass and sized up Chen Yang for a moment before suddenly asking: “Smooth winds and waters, rely on mountains and seas?”
Chen Yang replied without hesitation: “No winds or waves, borrow your precious land to travel by water.”
The man was somewhat surprised. Chen Yang’s words meant he was alone with no backing, and today he was doing a deal through a middleman.
This kid had some guts.
“Go in.” The gatekeeper pressed the electric gate button, and the main gate instantly popped open a crack.
Chen Yang said thanks, then turned and reminded: “Excuse me, a delivery truck will arrive soon. Please make it convenient for us, elder brother.”
As he spoke, Chen Yang pulled a pack of Hard Gate Cigarettes from his pocket and handed it to the gatekeeper.
Yo, this kid knew the ropes. The most popular in Shanghai were cigarettes like Old Knife and Hard Gate.
Only rich people could afford imports like Camel Cigarettes.
If compared to later generations, this Hard Gate was about the same level as hard Zhonghua; no wonder the gatekeeper was grinning like a trumpet flower.
He couldn’t bear to buy such good cigarettes himself.
Chen Yang pushed open the warehouse door, and four or five bare-chested, muscular big men inside immediately surrounded him when they saw someone enter.
The leader said sorry and had Chen Yang raise his hands, checking him front and back to see if he had brought anything in.
Confirming the other had no weapons, the leader gave a look to a subordinate nearby and said politely: “Mr., apologies for the offense. Just follow him.”
The two walked one in front and one behind to the central warehouse door. The subordinate’s level was obviously not high enough and could only go to the door, reported to those inside, and then two more men came out to escort Chen Yang in.
Chen Yang couldn’t help but sigh that these people really followed the rules, with clear layers of hierarchy.
Entering the warehouse, he saw a middle-aged man in a black shirt with one foot on a stool. On the table in front of him were scattered peanuts, beans, chicken, pork bones, and a jar of yellow wine.
The middle-aged man sized up Chen Yang for a moment and suddenly asked: “Little brother, were you introduced by Xu Biao, Boss Xu? Where are your goods?”
Chen Yang checked the time: “Should be arriving soon.”
Just as he spoke, a subordinate ran in from outside, leaned to the black-shirted man’s ear, and said a few words.
The black-shirted man frowned, glanced at Chen Yang and nodded, then said a couple words quietly to the subordinate.
The subordinate nodded eagerly in agreement and dashed out again.
The black-shirted man called out to those around, and several men gathered. He said a few quiet words.
The group dispersed, and the front few worked together to open the warehouse door. Moments later, a truck drove in.
The driver was someone Chen Yang recognized: it was Ando Shinichi.
“Goods delivered, Mr. Chen, thanks for your trouble.” Ando Shinichi leaned close to Chen Yang and said quietly, then turned to call the several men in the truck bed to unload the medicine.
After unloading the medicine, as Ando Shinichi prepared to leave, Chen Yang leaned in and whispered so only they could hear: “Ando, one more thing to trouble you with: take your men to this address and wait for me.” With that, Chen Yang handed over a prepared note.
Ando Shinichi glanced at the note, passed it to the driver, who started the car, shifted to reverse, floored it, and swiftly left the warehouse with his men, their speed impressive.
“Boss, check the goods.” Chen Yang had no time for pleasantries, walked to the goods, tore open a seal, took out a large box, opened the packaging, and handed it over.
“Sulfanilamide injection, twelve vials per box, one hundred boxes per crate, total twenty crates here. Have someone check if the numbers match.”
The black-shirted man’s face showed some shock. Twenty crates of sulfanilamide injections right in front of him, and the other seemed unafraid they’d pull any tricks.
This wasn’t scientific. This was their turf, and Chen Yang was alone. Where did his confidence come from?
There were only two possibilities: either this guy was a hothead, but dressed in a sharp suit with keen eyes, he didn’t seem that reckless.
So it must be the other possibility: this guy’s backing was very strong, at least not caring about small fry like them.
A subordinate flipped through for a while, then his face suddenly darkened, as if discovering something serious: “Elder brother, something’s off with the goods. These seem to be French people’s.”
The black-shirted big man didn’t get it yet: “So what if they’re French people’s? Just check if the stuff is real or fake.”
“The medicine is real.” The subordinate leaned to the black-shirted man’s ear: “Elder brother, did you forget? These past few months, the French people’s goods have all been seized by the Gendarmerie Headquarters anti-smuggling team.”
The black-shirted big man instantly went on alert: “Xiao Ma, you mean these goods are from the Gendarmerie Headquarters.”
The man called Xiao Ma nodded: “Very likely. These goods all have seal marks, like they were just torn off.”
“Elder brother, this guy is probably working for the Japs.”
“Are you two done whispering?” Chen Yang couldn’t stand listening anymore.
Laozi helping them? More like they’re helping me…
