Chapter 261 - 258: Unsettled
Li Xiangyang looked at her. "Okay, let’s go down and eat. After we eat, we’ll go check out a few other markets."
Lin Lan nodded. The two of them secured their fanny packs and walked downstairs, carrying their backpacks.
Duan Hongjun and the two other drivers were talking about what they had seen on the road.
The three of them felt the roads were getting more and more chaotic. In the mountains, they had encountered a few girls on the roadside wearing short, thin clothes and waving at them. When the wind blew, flashes of pale skin were exposed.
The lustful ones who stopped would have people swarm their trucks and get all their cargo stolen.
Seeing Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang come down, Liu Da nudged Duan Hongjun and waved at the pair. "The food is on the table. Let’s eat and talk."
He was worried that if Lin Lan heard, she would be afraid of how dangerous the roads were and wouldn’t let Li Xiangyang accompany the truck. But the goods he was shipping this time were especially valuable, and he really wouldn’t feel at ease if Li Xiangyang didn’t go with them.
Duan Hongjun and the other two drivers said to Li Xiangyang, "Xiangyang, remember to bring back two sets of clothes made of good material for us."
Li Xiangyang looked at Duan Hongjun and shook his head. "I can get sizes for Li Bing and Liu Biao, but for you, we’d have to get it custom-made at a tailor shop."
"Yeah!" Liu Biao clapped Duan Hongjun on the back. "Who asked you to grow so tall? Look at Xiangyang—he’s 1.78 meters, and you’re a whole head taller than him."
Duan Hongjun scratched his head and said in a rumbling voice, "It’s how my mom and dad made me. What can I do about it?"
Everyone burst into laughter.
Liu Da said to Lin Lan, "Little Lin, Uncle Da wants to ask you something. I’d like to hire Xiangyang to help guard a shipment. What do you think?"
Lin Lan nodded. "Xiangyang just told me." As she spoke, she looked at Li Xiangyang, Duan Hongjun, and the others. "The weather is cold and the roads are slippery. You all have to be careful on the road."
Li Xiangyang and the three drivers all nodded in agreement.
Duan Hongjun laughed. "Little Lin, don’t just look at how I’m taller and bigger than Xiangyang. His kung fu is much better than mine. Otherwise, Uncle Da wouldn’t have asked him for help."
"It’s good to be careful." Liu Da turned his head to look at Duan Hongjun. "An old saying goes, ’Caution can catch a cicada that lives a thousand autumns, and care can sail a ship for ten thousand years.’ The three of you must remember that your wives and children are waiting for you at home."
The three men nodded. "Got it, Uncle Da."
After they finished eating, Duan Hongjun, Master Li, and the other driver rested at the guesthouse.
Liu Da gave his and Lin Lan’s letters of introduction to the guesthouse owner, asking for help buying sleeper tickets back to the provincial capital for the next day. He also asked to rent a tricycle and went with Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang to the other markets.
Lin Lan discovered that the markets here were even livelier than last night’s night market. The street was a bustling sea of people, as noisy and crowded as one of those internet-famous tourist spots would be thirty or forty years in the future.
There were people selling bags at the market entrance. Lin Lan bought over a dozen canvas sacks, and Li Xiangyang pushed the tricycle into the crowd.
The three of them shuttled between two nearby markets. The goods they bought not only filled up the new canvas sacks but also another dozen or so sacks given to them by a wholesale boss.
On their way back, they also bought a few boxes of clothes hangers and about ten measuring tapes from the market. They had to hire another tricycle just to haul everything back to the guesthouse.
The three of them carried the goods upstairs, piling them up until Lin Lan’s guest room was completely stuffed.
After moving all the goods, the three of them sat down on chairs to catch their breath. Only then did they realize it was already midnight, and the soles of their feet ached as if pricked by needles.
Liu Da shook his head repeatedly. "Sourcing for a clothing business is exhausting. My line of work is much easier."
’Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang are a really good match,’ he thought. ’They’re both so bold. They’ll buy tens of thousands of yuan worth of goods just like that, without worrying at all about not being able to sell it back home and getting stuck with it.’
Li Xiangyang laughed. "What part of making money is ever easy? Like you said, money is hard to earn, and shit is hard to eat." ’I only realized Uncle Da’s true capabilities today,’ he thought. ’Compared to him, I’m really falling short. I have to keep working hard.’
Liu Da nodded. "Yeah! You guys are exhausted from buying the inventory; I’m exhausted from transporting it."
The three of them poured hot water to soak their feet. Then, Li Xiangyang and Liu Da went back to their rooms to sleep.
Lin Lan organized the inventory lists, recorded the accounts, and then lay on her bed, looking at the sacks piled high. Of all these goods, only a little over a thousand yuan worth was hers; the rest was all paid for with Li Xiangyang’s money.
Thinking about how Li Xiangyang would be leaving to guard the truck tomorrow, she felt a little worried.
At five o’clock, Li Xiangyang, Liu Da, and the others came over to Lin Lan’s room. They tied up the goods with hemp rope and dragged them to the guesthouse’s backyard to load the truck.
Lin Lan saw that the truck was already filled with cardboard and wooden boxes, with several motorcycles placed near the sideboards.
Li Xiangyang, Duan Hongjun, and Li Bing climbed onto the truck. They stacked the goods properly, moved all the sacks aboard, and tied everything down securely with thick hemp rope. Then they covered it all with an army-green canvas tarp, sealing the cargo tightly.
Liu Da bought some crackers and also asked the owner to prepare a good amount of dry rations for the four of them to eat on the road.
Duan Hongjun carried the rations onto the truck and said to Liu Da, "We’re heading out."
Liu Da nodded. "Have a safe trip."
Lin Lan put the fermented bean curd and mushroom sauce into Li Xiangyang’s backpack. "Be careful. I’ll be waiting for you at home."
Li Xiangyang squeezed Lin Lan’s hand. "Okay. You be careful on your trip, too." With that, he grabbed his backpack and climbed onto the truck.
Lin Lan and Liu Da stood there, watching as Duan Hongjun started the engine, waved at them, and drove toward the main gate.
At 10:30, Lin Lan and Liu Da boarded the train to the provincial capital.
Li Xiangyang slept for a while on the truck. When he woke up, it was already noon. The four of them stopped in a small town to eat, refill the truck’s water, and then continued on their way. That night, they stayed at a state-run hotel in a small county seat.
For the first half of the night, Duan Hongjun and Li Bing guarded the truck. In the second half, Li Xiangyang and Liu Biao took over so the other two could go to bed and rest.
Early the next morning, the four of them hit the road again. They encountered a few checkpoints along the way, but Li Xiangyang had the procurement form provided by Zhang Zemin, so they passed through without any trouble and finally stopped at the foot of a large mountain.
The mountain road snaked its way upward, looking like a coiled dragon from below.
Three other large trucks were already parked on the roadside at the foot of the mountain. Duan Hongjun, Li Bing, and the others took out the clubs, hunting rifle, and a handgun that they had hidden in the seat cushions.
Duan Hongjun switched places with Li Xiangyang, handing him the gun. "Xiangyang, there’s a particularly narrow stretch on a bend halfway up the mountain. We nearly got into trouble there last time."
They’d been driving this route for seven or eight years; they knew where every pothole was.
Li Bing added, "Those guys use logs to block the road, threatening us for a toll and trying to climb aboard to rob us."
Li Xiangyang frowned. "Where are they from? Don’t the police do anything about them?"
Duan Hongjun said, "Probably locals from around here. This is a lawless area. These guys used to just stop cars to beg for food and drink. Later, they started demanding ten or twenty yuan. Everyone figured it was better to pay up to avoid trouble, so they gave it to them. Who knew they’d get a taste for it and get bolder and bolder."
The drivers from the three trucks up ahead walked over. One of them, a tall, thin man, took out his letter of introduction and driver’s license for Duan Hongjun to see. He then offered cigarettes to the four of them and said to Duan Hongjun, "Brother, how about we cross the mountain together?"
Duan Hongjun glanced around and asked, "Brother, how long have you been here? Did you bring any ’tools’? Has anyone gone up the mountain yet?"