Chapter 22: Lu Qiye

  After driving for more than five hours, the journey would have been perfect if it weren't for Du Xingguo's nagging voice. This mediocre doctor with a bad brain kept asking Jin Hu to go for an examination, which gave Jin Hu a headache.

  It was getting dark and almost 9 o'clock. Jin Hu finally followed Hu Fei to San Francisco's Chinatown, looking at the familiar square characters and neon red lanterns, although most of them were traditional characters, Jin Hu still felt a lot more intimate. However, the dialect spoken here, Jin Hu couldn't understand a single sentence, only knowing it was a southern dialect, but this didn't hinder Jin Hu's heartfelt sense of belonging.

  "What are you standing there for? Come on in and I'll introduce you to the big boss, Lu Qiye!" Hu Fei said with a push against Jin Hu who was standing at the door in a daze.

  Jin Hu nodded and followed Hu Fei inside.

  As soon as I entered, I felt like I was in a domestic restaurant, with round tables and Chinese-style chairs. However, there were very few customers, only seven or eight young people gathered around two tables playing cards, surrounded by swirling cigarette smoke. More than half of them had tattoos of dragons and phoenixes on their bodies, and at first glance, it was clear that they weren't good characters.

  "Fei Ge! Has your friend arrived?" A young man with yellow-dyed hair turned his head around, waving at Hu Fei with a hand holding a cigarette.

  "Hu Fei rushed towards the person and waved his hand: "Huh! Is Seventh Grandfather in?"

  "The young man upstairs pointed to the top of his head."

  Hu Fei nodded and led Jin Hu through the round table, heading towards the stairs. At this time, Du Xingguo did not follow up.

  Walking through a corridor, at the end of the door, there were two big men blocking the doorway like door gods. When they saw Hu Fei coming over, they opened up a path: "Brother Fei is back!"

  "Hmm! Is Seventh Grandfather inside? Are there any guests?" Hu Fei nodded and greeted the two of them.

  "No!" one of the big men said as he helped Hu Fei push open the door.

  Jin Hu followed behind Hu Fei and walked into the house. At a glance, he saw an old man sitting in a reclining chair, wearing glasses and looking at something, occasionally picking up his pen to draw a few strokes. Seeing Hu Fei come in, he put down his pen: "Little Fei! You've brought your friend back? What a robust young fellow!" After finishing speaking, he stretched out his hand towards the two chairs in front of the desk, indicating for the two to sit down.

  "My friend wants to stay in the US for a while, and since he's not familiar with the place, I was wondering if you could take care of him, Seventh Uncle." Hu Fei said as he sat down facing the old man.

  "We've also been friends for many years, it's just a small matter" The old man said to Hu Fei, then turned his head to look at Jin Hu: "Since you're here, and you're a friend of Little Fly, don't be polite! Treat this place like home, when you're at home you rely on your parents, but when you're outside you rely on friends!"

  "Thanks, Seventh Grandfather!" Jin Hu said with a smile to the old man.

  The old man listened and waved his hand: "No big deal!"

  At this time, a woman in her forties came over and helped Hu Fei and Jin Hu serve tea. The old man made a please gesture to the two of them, then turned his head to the woman and said: "Arrange a room for this young fellow, just next to Little Fei's is fine." After seeing the woman nod and leave, he turned his head to Hu Fei and said: "Mr. Sun has been doing well these past two years, if I'm not mistaken, this is the first time you've met him, right?"

  "He's not one of Gang Ge's followers, he saved the life of one of our comrades, wanted to come to the US to take a look, so I brought him along" Hu Fei took a sip of tea and said: "Your tea is still the best, other places are just serving anything".

  "Haha! I had someone bring this back from the mainland, and now that they're older, they've lost some self-control and have a bit of a greedy tongue. Sorry to make you laugh." The old man said with a smile, clearly delighted by Hu Fei's tea boasts.

  After chatting with the old man for a while, Hu Fei took Jinhu and bid farewell. The old man stood up from his chair to see them off.

  "Let's go! We'll first pay our respects at the Wu Zang Temple, then you can take a good rest." Hu Fei led Jin Hu downstairs.

  They went downstairs and didn't stay in the hall, but instead brought Jin Hu through a door. There were three or four eight-immortal tables set up here, and after sitting down with Hu Fei, Jin Hu asked: "Why aren't we eating in the main hall?"

  "Old Fang! Get us two of your signature dishes, and bring up some good wine!" Hu Fei shouted loudly at the glass partition. A voice came from inside, "Okay, wait a minute!" He then turned to Jin Hu and said, "The outside is just for show, we eat in here."

  "This Seventh Master's influence is quite significant." Jin Hu glanced around and thought for a moment before asking Hu Fei with a serious tone.

  "After messing around for decades! In Chinatown here, he's considered one of the big shots. A large area here is Seventh Grandfather's territory, and he's a man with a head and a face."

  "That's right! Last time the foreign devils held an election, they even came to visit our Seventh Master!" A stout man wearing a white chef uniform with grayish tone walked up to the table and said to Jin Hu and others: "Slippery fish slices, two plates of vegetarian dishes, another carp, one plate of sauce beef, what do you think?"

  "Squid is gone? Old Fang, bring a plate if there's any." Hu Fei asked, looking up.

  "It's already this late and there's still squid! It was eaten up long ago." Old Fang said with a wipe of his hand on his clothes.

  "Lao Fang's iron plate squid is a must-try, it seems we won't be able to eat it today" Hu Fei said to Jin Hu, then looked at Lao Fang and pointed at his greasy clothes saying: "Can't you wash your clothes properly? Every time I see them they make me feel nauseous".

  "Just hold on for a few more days, when my wife comes from home it'll be fine, by then I'll be spotless" Old Fang said with a smile, his two small eyes narrowed.

  "Is it coming? Well, congratulations in advance then, have you gotten your citizenship?"

  "This is all thanks to Seventh Grandfather! Just the other day, I shouted a couple of slogans in front of the enemy's flag, and after just two days, everyone from my family came over." Old Fang's small eyes were almost smiling.

  "Alright! Just as you said, it's fine!" Hu Fei said to Lao Fang.

  "Alright!" Old Fang turned around and went into the kitchen.

  Jin Hu looked at Old Fang's plump body swaying away from his sight: "This naturalization, can Seventh Master really handle it?"

  "If time permits, calling a certain congressman would be much faster than others. Some people have waited for two or three years and still can't get it done."

  "This man's face is wide!" Jin Hu nodded and said.

  Hu Fei looked at Jin Hu and said, "I don't know what you're doing here!" After finishing speaking, he tapped his hand on the table: "This place is not a bit better than China! I've figured it out, with money, anywhere is comfortable, without money, America is not paradise! Moreover, the situation in the US now, finding a job is harder than in China, I don't know why so many people risk their lives to sneak here, the officials here take bribes, and have mistresses, none of which are rare."

  "I'll just stay and take a look, once I understand, I'll go back. Otherwise, if someone asks me about America, I won't know what to say, that would be embarrassing." Jin Hu smiled as he explained.

  "Alright! You just stay there." Hu Fei looked at Jin Hu, his mind made up, and said no more. "I'll exchange your money for US dollars? This way it's better, I won't have to carry your money with an uneasy heart!"

  Jin Hu nodded: "All changed to US dollars! See if you can get me an ID" The money Hu Fei was talking about was left on the ship by Jin Hu, almost 1 million RMB. He gave Wang Jun 300,000 and remitted over 10,000 to his old man. It wasn't that Jin Hu was stingy, but rather he had given too much money to his old man at once. His old man might not even be able to sleep well at home, always asking this and that.

  After finishing a meal, Jin Hu followed Hu Fei to the dormitory. When they arrived at the door, Hu Fei said: "You go in and rest first, I'll come over later."

  Jin Hu nodded and pushed open the door to enter. The room was about ten or more square meters in size, with a large double bed inside, a TV hung on the wall at the head of the bed, and a desk. Near the entrance, there was a small bathroom. Apart from the command cabin of the warship, this was the best room Jin Hu had ever lived in. However, the command cabin of the warship did not have such a warm feeling, everything was decorated with a hard military style. Jin Hu secretly made up his mind that next time he went on board the warship, he would definitely change to a better decoration, and it wouldn't be so cold and impersonal.

  Lying in bed with his legs raised, Jin Hu stretched lazily and began to think about how to make money. He finally thought of going to a bar to hang out, as the tough guys in movies always did, then wondered what the chances were of striking it rich like in Hollywood. He let out a sigh.

  "Tiger!" The knock at the door came from Hu Fei.

  "Come in, the door is not locked." Jin Hu said, turning over on his bed and speaking towards the doorway.

  Hu Fei walked in, carrying a bag in his hand, and threw it onto the bed: "Here you go, a total of $183,000 US dollars. Some of the money in between is other people's hard-earned fees!"

  "So soon?" Jin Hu opened the bag, took a glance inside and then closed it.

  "You don't even think about where this is!" Hu Fei laughed and sat down beside Jin Hu: "This is a gang's place, let alone your over 10 million, if a few more come, they can be exchanged for you, take it well, don't tell others, wealth should not be revealed especially in someone else's place! Take out the money, my bag still has use."

  Jin Hu smiled and put the money in the drawer, Hu Fei looked at him: "You be careful yourself! I'll be back in three days, tomorrow I'll get you an ID." Then he leaned close to Jin Hu and whispered: "Be more careful when you're outside, only say a third of what you want to say, don't believe everything others say."

  Jin Shang listened and was stunned for a moment, then nodded: "Got it!" He knew that Hu Fei had reminded himself specifically when he first came out alone, and his heart felt a little warm.

  After listening to Jin Hu finish speaking, Hu Fei stood up: "You rest first! I'll have a little gift sent over later" After saying that, he chuckled and patted Jin Hu's shoulder before leaving the room.

  Watching Hu Fei, Jin Hu didn't know what the so-called gift was. He followed Hu Fei and closed the door behind him, then went back to the bedside, picked up sixteen stacks of colorful tickets, twisted open the small Rubik's Cube on his neck, and a transmission port facing the warship appeared. He threw the money inside, and three seconds later, he watched as the transmission port disappeared. Only then did he close his eyes and contact No. 1 on the warship with Storm Seven to put the money in his own cabin.

  After finishing all this, Jin Hu turned on the TV on the wall and pressed a few buttons to feel the enthusiasm of the American people. On the screen, several foreign women were naked and rolling around together.

  "Knock knock knock!" Jin Hu heard a series of knocks on the door.

  "Come in!" Jin Hu walked to the door and turned the handle, then walked back to the bedside.

  The door opened and a young man poked his head in: "Tiger!" He greeted Jin Hu with a nod, then turned to the back and said: "Come on in! What's taking so long?"

  As he heard someone call him "Tiger Brother", Jin Hu was taken aback, then looked up to see a woman walking in. The young man smiled at Jin Hu and left the room, closing the door behind him.

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