Chapter 48: Seeing Fatty Again After Just One Day
He didn’t know how long they had rested before, but by the time they came back to the deck, it was a fine day with clear skies.
Facing the sea breeze, Lin Yan saw what looked like an island in the distance. It seemed to be the Yongxing Island that Wu Yong mentioned? That meant they would soon see Wang Pangzi and A Ning and the others?
Not long after, the fishing boat approached the beach by the island. With their eyesight, they could clearly see the white sand on the beach. After sailing a bit further, the fishing boat changed course and began circling the island, apparently looking for a dock to moor at.
Wu Xie wasn’t idle either. After being pulled by Lin Yan to change clothes, he started peering over the deck downwards. It was obvious without thinking that he had been scared by the sea monkey and was afraid it might hide in the sea and attack the boat. However, the water in Xisha was very clear, and they could see thirty or forty meters down without issue. Wu Xie circled the fishing boat once and saw no strange things following, so he put it behind him and began enjoying the moist sea breeze.
It had to be said that without that storm, this sea trip was no different from a vacation. At least the current scenery was quite nice.
Not long after, when they could vaguely see the dock, Lin Yan had already spotted Fatty from a group of identically dressed people with his excellent eyesight.
There was no helping it; Fatty seemed to have gained another full circle in size over the past couple of days, sticking out 1.5 times bigger than others. It would be strange not to recognize him.
Wu Xie seemed to have noticed something too: “Lin Yan, why does that fatty at the dock look so familiar to me?”
“Yeah, it’s the fatty you’re thinking of.”
Wu Xie squinted hard to peer into the distance, but still couldn’t make out the face: “Why can’t I see clearly… Is your eyesight really that good?”
Lin Yan nodded smugly: “Of course!”
Wu Xie found the blind spot: “So that means you knew all along?”
Lin Yan nodded: “Of course. How could it be such a coincidence? We were just about to head out to sea with A Ning and the others, and right after, Fatty took on a big job and left the same night. No matter how you think about it, he should be coming with us, right? Besides, A Ning said before that they only bought two airplane tickets for that night, so they must have brought Fatty here early through other channels. Should’ve known not to leave early; maybe we could’ve avoided the storm.”
Wu Xie looked helpless as he listened. So he was the only one who didn’t expect it? He shook his head and waved the notebook in his hand: “You can’t say it like that. If we hadn’t come early, how would we have gotten Third Uncle’s notebook?”
Lin Yan nodded perfunctorily, but actually thought Wu Xie was still too naive. Even if they hadn’t come, this notebook would absolutely have been delivered to Wu Xie by his Third Uncle through some other means. What could stop those two scheming old foxes from luring their nephew onto the path of seeking the truth? If anything, it would be Zhang Qiling, but Xiaoge was on their side.
Although he hadn’t thought deeply about it, why did he involuntarily feel sympathy for Wu Xie while also wanting to laugh a little? So the essence of humanity was schadenfreude after all!
Lin Yan didn’t know that he would soon have no more laughs left, because those two scheming old foxes bringing along one mute bottle had already decided to drag him down too.
What was it called when fortune’s wheel turns? This was it! Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west—ah no, wrong play. Anyway, the person who wanted to deal with the big thing in his head and then lie back collecting money with some small drinks in this era before prices inflated, buying a small house for a safe and steady life, didn’t know that his future would be one of mooching food, drink, and lodging off Wu Xie, then off Fatty, and even mooching food, drink, and lodging inside the tomb.
Hm? Lin Yan shivered. Why did he have an ominous premonition out of nowhere? Who was scheming against him?
In a moment, as they got closer to the dock, Wu Xie finally saw the people there clearly. Zhang Hao and A Ning, who had come to negotiate with them before, were both there. That figure much wider than the others was facing away, but it was obviously Wang Pangzi at a glance.
At that moment, Wang Pangzi was getting impatient from waiting, muttering curses in his mouth about how they still hadn’t come after waiting so long, when suddenly he heard a familiar voice calling him.
“Fat——ty——”
He turned around: “Who? Who calls you Fatty Ye?”
Looking closely, a fishing boat was approaching from afar, and a familiar person on the boat was waving at him. Upon closer inspection, it was Wu Xie.
He couldn’t help but feel delighted. He didn’t expect to see acquaintances on this trip out. Looked like this job paid pretty well.
Once the boat docked, Fatty was the first to leap aboard: “Hey, young comrade, we meet again! Why didn’t you say you guys were coming too?”
Wu Xie couldn’t help hugging him: “You said you had a big job, why didn’t you say it was here? If we’d known, we’d have come together! Nearly lost our lives on this sea trip!”
Lin Yan also reached out for a high-five with Fatty: “Where’d you come from? How’d you get here ahead of us?”
Fatty let go of Wu Xie and rolled his eyes, pointing toward A Ning—Zhang Hao caught his look and gave them an awkward smile.
“Isn’t it them? Said they had to hurry and get to the place early, so they arranged a car straight to the port for Fatty Ye, rented a boat from the Tianjin port side, and rushed all the way here. Thought we could go straight to the place, but they said the equipment was on another boat and we’d have to wait here for you guys. I was just saying earlier, we’ve been blowing in the cold wind here forever, how come you’re not here yet? Didn’t expect you guys to be among the arrivals!”
Wu Xie smiled and said: “Exactly. Didn’t expect to meet again so soon. What time is it now? We ran into a storm on the way, and the ship captain changed course to get here. I remember telling you guys about it, right?” He scratched his head uncertainly, recalling Wu Yong’s phone call on the ghost ship.
It seemed it wasn’t a direct call with A Ning? Didn’t the people on this boat pass the message to A Ning?
He turned his head and sure enough, Wu Yong had found a corner to communicate privately with A Ning, while Zhang Hao stood not far from them, seemingly very interested in the three of them.
Wu Xie gave Fatty a look: “What exactly is that Zhang Hao? Why does he seem like A Ning’s subordinate, but not very familiar with the other people from their company?”
Fatty shook his head: “I don’t know either. The divers from their company didn’t talk much with him either. The whole way, he just kept chatting with Fatty Ye, no reading the room. I was blunt, but he still stuck on, like a chatterbox.”
Wu Xie and Lin Yan listened and both looked toward Wu Yong. Who knew who was more of a chatterbox between him and Zhang Hao—no way, they’d never seen someone who could talk about a military shovel for five minutes.
Lin Yan shook his head inwardly: Fatty, Zhang Qiling isn’t interested in you; he’s staying in character! If he weren’t a chatterbox, wouldn’t A Ning know he’d been swapped? Who knew if this guy felt like ripping off that skin inwardly while playing the chatterbox—it really didn’t match his mute bottle personality.
(It seemed indeed a bit late.)
