Chapter 47: Strolling Downtown (Part 1)

  It is said that a phoenix without feathers is not as good as a chicken. Now that Boss Xie has fallen on bad luck, there are indeed many people who kick him while he's down. Those who used to do business with Xie Dazhi and borrowed money from him but haven't paid it back yet have all disappeared.

  After scrambling to gather the money, selling both villas in Shishi, Xie Dazhi barely managed to pay it off. This incident also made him see the world's superficiality clearly.

  However, a dead camel is bigger than a horse. Xie Dazhi still has some real estate besides the company going bankrupt, and he hasn't fallen to the point of having no food to eat.

  But with the presence of Director Lao, Xie Dazhi was clear that he had no chance of making a comeback in Shicheng. If one day Director Lao became unhappy again, it would not be just a matter of losing all his property.

  Thinking of this, Xie Dazhi decided to move his whole family to Tianjin City where he still had some business. That place was like being under the emperor's feet, and he believed that the other person would not pursue him there for fear of ruining his own career.

  Xie Da Zhi never thought that his son would refuse to leave, saying he wanted to wait for Feng Lao Da to come out. This made Old Master Xie almost choke with rage, and if he had known earlier, he would have rather shot this unfilial son against the wall back then.

  In a fit of anger, Xie Dazhi took his wife and elderly father away from Shishi, leaving behind only the keys to an unrenovated house for Xie Xuan, without even a single penny.

  "Wait a minute..."

  Upon hearing this, Qin Feng interrupted Xie Xuan's words and asked: "Xie Xuan, your dad's company went bankrupt and he left, how did you and Yuanzi make a living?"

  "Li Lao Da went to the train station and carried a lot of luggage."

  Xie Xuan glanced at Li Tianyuan and said with some embarrassment: "I... I'm going to set up a stall in Wenhua Alley, if luck is good, I can earn some money every day."

  "What are you selling? What goods?" Qin Feng was taken aback by the words, he remembered that when he first met this little fatty, he was a complete second-generation rich kid, and didn't expect him to actually lower himself to set up a street stall.

  "Haha, it's just fortune-telling and deceiving people for a few small coins."

  Xie Xuan hehe smiled, and with a pleased expression, took out an eight trigrams robe from the bed mattress that looked like a treasure chest, put it on, and said seriously: "This big brother, I see you're flushed with excitement, full of energy, you must be very pleased with yourself lately?"

  However, your fortune tells that you have a calamity in the red center, within a few days there must be a disaster, if not resolved, it is feared that you will be unlucky for three years!

  The little fatty put on this getup and started talking, really having a model-like tone. This was a case of praising first and then suppressing, even if someone listened to it, they wouldn't become angry and fight. If what the fatty said came true, one couldn't help but spend money to ward off the disaster.

  "I said, who did you learn this from?" Qin Feng was taken aback at first, then couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  Qin Feng never thought that Xie Xuan would actually go and do fortune-telling, and he even said it with some reason, if Qin Feng wasn't familiar with the inner workings, he might have been deceived by him.

  "My dad is an old feudal, our home is full of these books. I found them more interesting than textbooks, so I learned some."

  Xie Xuan couldn't help but smile proudly, although he was living off his own scams and tricks, compared to before when he would ask his parents for money, Xie Xuan's life now was much more down-to-earth.

  Three months ago, his mother secretly came to see Xie Xuan and stuffed 5,000 yuan into his hands, but he returned it all to her bank card. Out of guilt towards his parents, Xie Xuan wanted to rely solely on himself to survive.

  However, such scams usually don't even open once in three days. Their livelihood mainly relies on Li Tianyuan's cargo handling at the train station, which can earn them a warm meal every day.

  "Son who is far away, are you working hard?"

  Qin Feng turned his head to look at Li Tianyuan, who had just drunk a bowl of wine and was hot all over, taking off his clothes. On his shoulder, there was a blood-red mark, which was the trace left after being pressed by a heavy object.

  "It's hard work but that's nothing, damn it, there are people bullying me in that place, everyone is working hard, and someone wants to be the boss, collecting 10 yuan from us every day!"

  When Qin Feng asked about himself, Li Tianyuan's eyes turned red and he said viciously: "Feng Ge, you're just in time. Tomorrow we'll go to the cargo yard and teach those bastards a lesson. I'm not showing off my power, do they think I'm a sick cat?"

  Xie Dazhi's company went bankrupt, and Li Tianyuan naturally lost his job. He had originally found another job as a driver, but his luck was not good, and on the first day of work, he hit someone with the car.

  As a result, Li Tianyuan not only lost his job but also spent all the money he had earned in over a year on medical expenses. His pockets were now emptier than his face, and Wei Xie's fortune-telling stall was still not profitable. The two brothers really had trouble eating at that time.

  Li Tianyuan did have the idea of going back to school to extort money from primary school students, but thinking of Qin Feng's words, he finally endured it. In desperation, he could only go to the cargo yard and become a porter.

  "Son, do you know why I made you come out and stop fighting?"

  Looking at Li Tianyuan's flustered appearance, Qin Feng waved his hand and said: "It's not that you're not allowed to fight, but whether there's any benefit after the fight. Even if you beat up those guys in the cargo yard, it would only save you ten bucks, which is not worth it."

  "Yes, Wind Brother is right, fighting and killing has too little technical content!"

  Upon hearing Qin Feng's words, Xie Xuan excitedly jumped up and shouted: "If you ask me, Brother Feng, you and Lao Da Li should come to Wenhua Street together. Let's drive away all those old fogies there! Even fortune-telling needs to be rejuvenated!"

  "Your skills aren't that high either!"

  Qin Feng splashed a whole head of cold water on Xie Xuan, "You little scoundrel are lucky, didn't encounter any thugs, otherwise your mouth would have been beaten swollen long ago, what do you use to deceive people?"

  Fortune-telling is the easiest job to get beaten up, next to being a thief. It's true that trouble comes from one's mouth. Imagine if you were to tell a big girl how many sons she would have, her father would definitely beat you until you're rolling on the ground looking for your teeth.

  "Feng Ge, this won't work, that won't work, what are we going to do?"

  The wine was getting to his head, and Li Tianyuan was getting impatient. He shouted: "Why don't we go find that little brat Nie Yuandong? I heard his old man made a fortune selling antiques, and he's always driving around the city in a broken-down car. Wind Brother, what do you say we kidnap him?"

  "Kidnapping? You haven't stayed in school long enough?"

  Qin Feng shook his head, and at this moment, he was also a bit annoyed in his heart. Although he had told Li Tianyuan not to cause trouble after being released from prison, it didn't mean that he wanted to keep him by his side right now, let alone with Xie Xuan as an unpredictable factor.

  Following Qin Feng's idea, the most important thing for him to do after getting out of prison was to find his sister and parents, but if he left now, he feared that these two brothers would soon be sent back to prison.

  "Is Nie Yuandong's family in the antique business?"

  Qin Feng stroked his chin, which had just sprouted a bit of stubble, and said thoughtfully: "Xiao Pang, you don't need to set up your stall anymore. Yuan Zi, tomorrow when you get paid, don't go either. At that time, come with me to stroll around Shi City!"

  "Want to go window shopping?"

  Xiao Pangzi didn't know what Qin Feng was up to, and with a bitter face, he pointed at the wine and dishes on the newspaper, saying: "Feng Ge, the money I earned the day before yesterday has all turned into these, if we don't set up our stall tomorrow, we won't have anything to eat."

  "I won't let you go hungry, I still have some money left."

  Qin Feng took out over a thousand yuan from his body, thought for a moment and put away five hundred-yuan bills, saying: "Believe me, don't ask anything else, just follow me tomorrow to take a stroll!"

  "Brother Feng, I believe in you!"

  Qin Feng's words had barely fallen when Li Tianyuan patted his chest and thought, "In those years when Qin Feng was 13 or 14 years old, he dared to cross the great prison, and almost succeeded. Now that several years have passed, who knows what kind of monster he will become?"