They say that when enemies meet, their eyes turn red with rage, but it must be admitted that people like Niu Daming, who can greet an enemy with a smiling face, are truly rare.
And while Wang An wished he could kill Niu Daming and his companion right then and there, he restrained himself for his own sake.
Thus, upon hearing the words, Wang An replied with a smile
"Mm-hmm, I forgot to buy a couple of things, so I have to make another trip to get them."
Niu Daming was stunned for a moment, not expecting Wang An to answer in such detail.
In Niu Daming's estimation, Wang An should have just given a perfunctory response.
However, what Niu Daming could never have imagined was that the "two things" Wang An mentioned were not actual "things," but the lives of Niu Daming and his companion.
Before Niu Daming could speak again, Wang An continued riding his horse forward.
Once Wang An had gone far off, the troublemaking youth said nervously to Niu Daming
"Brother Niu, do you think he knows about our business?"
Hearing this, Niu Daming showed no fear or panic; instead, he narrowed his eyes with a solemn expression and said
"He shouldn't know. When you gave them the cigarettes and paper, didn't you cover your face?"
The troublemaking youth continued nervously
"What's the use of covering my face? I already knew that Liu Zhu."
Niu Daming was momentarily stunned, then raged in frustration
"Didn't you say it was foolproof? This is your 'foolproof'?"
Though his face was full of dread, the youth still tried to explain
"I meant that with so many of them and so many guns, they could definitely handle that Big Lunatic. I didn't..."
Before the kid could finish, Niu Daming interrupted him angrily
"Definitely my ass! Did they handle him? I'm asking you, did they handle him?"
After speaking, Niu Daming glared fiercely at the youth, who looked back at him, speechless.
After a while, the youth stammered
"How about... how about we hire someone?"
Upon hearing this, Niu Daming's eyes lit up
"Right! That person you found last time specializes in introducing dirty work. Let's go find him right now."
As Niu Daming spoke, the troublemaking youth also looked excited.
However, Niu Daming soon said with a smile to the youth
"Dongzi, how much money do you reckon it'll cost?"
The one called Dongzi thought carefully and said
"At least 500 yuan. If it's for the Big Lunatic, it might, might..."
At this point, Dongzi began to hesitate again, glancing toward Niu Daming.
When Niu Daming heard "500 yuan," his brow instantly furrowed into a deep crease.
Mainly because 500 yuan at this time was truly no small sum; based on average income, it would take a person a full eight years and four months to save that much.
But when he noticed Dongzi couldn't go on, Niu Daming realized that 500 yuan wasn't nearly enough.
Consequently, Niu Daming's smiling face immediately slumped, and he looked at Dongzi hopefully
"Dongzi, how much money do you have in your pocket right now?"
After Niu Daming asked, Dongzi began rummaging through his crossbody bag. Only after emptying the bag completely did he start counting the money.
It must be said that Dongzi was doing quite well for himself; adding up all the money on his person, he had a full 25-plus yuan.
Niu Daming had watched the entire process of Dongzi pulling out and counting the money, so once Dongzi finished, Niu Daming's hopeful face slumped once again.
At that moment, Dongzi asked Niu Daming cautiously
"Brother Niu, how much do you have?"
The reason Dongzi was cautious was that one look at Niu Daming's ashen face gave him a guess in his heart.
In this day and age, people with 500 yuan in their pockets weren't nonexistent, but they were certainly one in ten thousand.
Although Niu Daming's mood was not optimistic, he still emptied every pocket on his body.
After counting, he found he had a total of 24-plus yuan, just a few cents short of 25. However, if they combined their money, it was exactly over 50, with a few extra cents.
The two of them held their money, staring blankly ahead, unable to think of a way to get more.
It must be said that the various old sayings of China are very reasonable.
One of them in particular was quite apt: "Fish seek fish, shrimp seek shrimp, and turtles seek tortoises."
Of course, there are many idioms with similar meanings.
Phrases like "birds of a feather," "colluding in wickedness," "in cahoots," "cut from the same cloth," "birds of a feather flock together"... all of these perfectly described these two.
After Niu Daming and the man called Dongzi stared blankly for a while, they subconsciously locked eyes, then almost simultaneously looked away, shifting their gaze to the two horses pulling the cart.
Immediately after, the two of them shifted their gaze away from the horses at the same time and locked eyes again.
Finally, the two of them spoke almost simultaneously
"I bought my horse with borrowed money!"
To be honest, achieving this kind of divine synchronization is absolutely difficult.
The most impressive part was that although they said the exact same thing, neither felt awkward or that something was amiss.
After they spoke, Dongzi thought for a moment, patted the side of the carriage, and said again
"The wheels of this cart are new, and the carriage body is newly made. It should be worth over five hundred, maybe it can sell for six hundred. Six hundred-plus yuan should be... should be... enough... enough to use."
By the last few words, Dongzi's voice had dropped and become stuttery, and his eyes flickered uncertainly as he looked at Niu Daming.
The meaning of Dongzi's words was obvious: since the horses were bought with borrowed money, they shouldn't sell them; selling the cart would be almost enough.
Hearing this, Niu Daming's eyes nearly spat fire, because the carriage body and the wheels all belonged to Niu Daming!
Fortunately, Niu Daming remained composed at this moment and did not start arguing with Dongzi.
A moment later, Niu Daming suppressed his rage and stared at Dongzi with a look that suggested he wanted to kill him, saying
"Fine. No matter how much this cart sells for, half of it counts as yours. After that, you lead your horse to my house first. Whenever you pay me back, that's when you can take it back."
Upon hearing this, Dongzi was instantly bewildered. After all that scheming, Niu Daming had neutralized it so easily.
After the bewilderment passed, Dongzi could only nod helplessly.
It must be admitted that anyone is quite concerned about their own property, and when it comes to guarding their wealth, everyone's brain reacts incredibly fast.
In any case, these two were evenly matched in the art of scheming; neither lost out, and neither gained an advantage.
(End of Chapter)