Like right now, with five figures resting before her eyes, Ye Jian1 silently hid behind the trees and observed the party under cover of the leaves.
All five men were bald, and they huddled together in a circle. Every so often, it was clear they had tense nerves just by looking at their complexion, their continually moving eyes, and their anxious looks.
These people⦠must be the ones the border police are after.
The leaves were rustling after being beaten by the rain; their voices were projected fragmented into Ye Jianâs ears.
âBrother Hong, exactly how long will this take? Can you at least give us something concrete? Weâve already been walking for one day, and weâre still not there yet! Thereâs plenty of rain in the mountains and thereâs also lots of snakes. All of us are tired and hungry, if we continue like this, weâll all collapse before we reach where weâre going.â
âThatâs right, Brother Hong. Please give us something concrete, one moment youâll say âjust in frontâ, and youâll say ânot too far awayâ in the next one. Weâve already walked one day, all of us are worried and can only feel anxious.â
âBrother Hong, are you sure there are people coming to get us?â
âBrother Hong, the four of us are sincerely following you, if you say that someone is going to get us, then weâll follow your leadership without another word. Youâve also seen how sincere we are, but Brother Hong, you should at least let us see some of your sincerity, right?â
The four bald men spoke one sentence after the other at the man who they had surrounded in the middle. Ye Jian did not immediately avoid them. Instead, she was silently waiting for the man in the middle to answer.
The sound of the rain was loud. To not miss out on the details, the courageous Ye Jian gently squirmed another half a meter towards them, then slowly laid herself prone in the bushes. Her gaze swept over them, to prevent being discovered by them.
Because there was an infection in his leg wound, Brother Hong currently had a low fever. After hearing that these four men wanted to hear his reply, Brother Hong sighed: âSo are the four of you not trusting me? We truly still need to continue moving, and my men are truly waiting for me to return.â
âWhy didnât I make my men come get me at the hospital? Thatâs very simple, because Iâve already sent a letter to them while in prison, telling them the date Iâll return to the village. That Iâll continue bringing my fellows huge riches! If you guys believe in me, then you can keep following me, if you donât, I wonât force you to stay and you can choose to leave!â
The four bald men went to jail because they got caught while they helped traffic drugs. Why did they choose to follow Brother Hong? All of it was because before they were arrested, they had heard of âBrother Hongâs infamy! They knew this man controlled his own drug trade!
But they hadnât seen anyone come get them after such a long time had passed! It was hard for them not to doubt whether or not the âdrug tradeâ in Brother Hongâs hands was razed to the ground by the armed police!
After he was done, a younger bald man said with sudden excitement: âBrother Hong, you you you⦠what you mean is youâll bring us to where you left your âgoodsâ? Youâll bring us straight there?â
âWell of course, the four of you managed to get me out, how can I not show some sincerity?â Brother Hongâs Mandarin also had an accent, a village accent that came somewhere from Sichuan. He sighed, making it look as if he was really sincere.
The young man probably knew something; his expression seemed more excited; Ye Jian could only hear him repeat himself: âThank you Brother Hong, thank you Brother Hong! Weâll follow Brother Hong from now on! Thank you Brother Hong, thank you Brother Hong.â
Brother Hong waved his hand, âYou guys saved me regardless of the cost, I definitely must thank you guys. Iâll be resting for a few more minutes, then weâll have to keep moving after that.â
âOkay, okay, you should rest, you should rest.â It was as if the young man had just seen money raining from the sky, and he was suddenly treating Brother Hong as his ancestor.