Chapter 19: There Are Ghosts

Echeng, Shenghao KTV.

In the extravagantly decorated private room, Zheng Hai lay dissatisfied, left-armed and right-embraced on the sofa, not even removing his sunglasses in the darkness.

His body writhed left and right with the explosive music, his hands were not idle either, playing happily with two hostesses, occasionally complaining about the bitter days at sea.

"Damn it, half a month at sea and I'm pickled in seawater, heavier than those Hong Kong folks!

Anan didn't even bring dry rations; the last two days were all spent starving!"

The dancing girl clinging to him laughed until her heavy makeup crumpled into a mess, and she pinched her voice to say sweetly:

"Oh, my Brother Hai, you even went on the boat yourself; such matters should be left to the people below."

Zheng Hai slapped the other person hard, eliciting a cry of surprise:

"You don't know shit; this trip is a big deal, and I risked my entire fortune to pull off this job.

Without me making this run, those workers wouldn't even get to eat meat; that's called being kind and gentle... pfft, a Bodhisattva's heart!"

"Brother Hai, you really know how to joke; how much money can meat make? I bet it's all about the nice cars and phones."

While rubbing against him, the dancing girl lifted her head and blinked, her eyes filled with desire beneath long eyelashes; how could Zheng Hai not understand what that meant.

However, he was now drunk on beer, his whole body full of the urge to urinate, thinking only of going out for some fresh air first.

"Damn it, I'll give it to you after I've served you well tonight."

Zheng Hai cursed and went into the toilet, then came to the private room door to open a brand-new pack of imported cigarettes.

"Fuck, where the hell did Wang Hu find these girls for his venue? Not a single young one."

He had originally heard Wang Hu say a batch of new people had arrived at the venue, but seeing their performance, they were all veterans, so he immediately lost most of his interest.

Just as he lit a cigarette, he heard the voice of the main person:

"Big Hai, you shouldn't curse behind people's backs like that; I specially arranged for Yanyan and Yueyue just to keep you company and have fun, out of respect for our friendship."

Wang Hu was as his name suggested, short and stout, with tattoos on his bald head; although his designer clothes were quite imposing, the ferocity on his face, covered in thick flesh, could not be hidden, and even when smiling, he looked somewhat chilling.

Zheng Hai rolled his eyes at him:

"Have fun? More like she's having fun."

Saying this, he pulled a nearly new Motorola from his clothes; Wang Hu took it, holding it like a treasure, turning it over and over, and said in a sinister tone:

"Big Hai, if you have good things in the future, just bring them over; I, Tiger, run this venue based on loyalty, guaranteeing not a single slip-up."

The answer he received was Zheng Hai's disdain:

"This is just a bit; if you want to swallow it all, you should consider your own appetite; swallow it all? Aren't you afraid of bursting to death?"

Wang Hu was stunned; he knew Zheng Hai inside out, having followed the big brother in duty-free trade in his early years, and now starting out on his own, his most valuable asset was just a black car of unknown origin used to put on a show.

Doing the 'US Dollar' business was his first time; he originally thought it was just an occasional job, but it seemed he was planning something big?

He was already a person of some standing in Echeng; to dare say he couldn't swallow it all, that was no small amount.

Wang Hu felt no slight at all, instead speaking with some excitement:

"Big Hai, I heard you got a fast boat; did you go to Xiangjiang to establish connections? Don't underestimate your big brother; who in this area doesn't know me? With my introduction, I guarantee you won't lose out."

Zheng Hai said proudly:

"Not just fast; that speedboat counts as half my fortune; without a fast boat, this trade couldn't be done.

Now in this area, only I can guarantee that the 'Ah Gong' absolutely can't catch up!"

As he spoke, Zheng Hai seemed to return to that night, when several of Ah Gong's patrol boats chased with all their might, but his 'Duty-Free No. 1' just revved the engine, and within a few short minutes, it shook off those dog-tick-like cops.

The so-called international duty-free trade mainly revolved around Xiangjiang.

Compared to the mainland, Xiangjiang's special nature made it extremely suitable for importing goods, and its jurisdiction was also much more relaxed than the interior.

Imported goods arriving at the port do not pay taxes; according to normal procedures, they must declare at customs and pay taxes before entering the market.

But if one bypasses customs, when the ship arrives or approaches the port, and transports these goods directly ashore via small boats, the price will be several times cheaper than normal customs declaration, and selling them yields huge profits.

Among these, electronic products, frozen meat, and cars are the most common; electronic products are characterized by small size and high profit, while frozen meat and cars, although large in volume and weight, also have high overall profits.

Due to the cumbersome procedures required for customs declaration and the high tax rates, goods brought ashore via water routes are called 'water goods' in the industry, and once were the main channel for the mainland to obtain imported consumer goods.

Regarding this duty-free trade, although police on both sides of the strait are trying to suppress it, due to the lack of significant harm itself and empty police forces, there is basically no energy to guard strictly, and often they can only turn a blind eye.

But there are exceptions.

Besides electronic products and cars, there are some goods that are not just about paying taxes and declaring customs, but because they fundamentally cannot legally enter the country, so they need to use the same method to enter.

For example, flour or rock sugar; if it is such cargo, the police will dig up the earth three feet deep to drag you out.

More than ten years later, the state of the industry was like this:

If you haul frozen meat, Ah Gong will chase for a bit and then give up, because Ah Gong also needs to eat a ten-yuan pork knuckle rice after work;

If you haul 'Double Lion Treading the Earth' (a famous trademark of a certain triangle), peanut bullets will boil the water of the Pearl River Estuary for you.

Electronic products and cars are a bit better, but because the amount involved is too large, the regulatory intensity is not much weaker.

However, Zheng Hai absorbed the industry's advanced concepts, stepped into the industry's blue ocean, upgraded the response tactics, and achieved a brand-new upgrade of the safe transportation system.

In just one hour, he completed a transportation process that previously took at least three or four hours; once ashore, there were naturally people to receive the goods.

For the first batch, he riskily chose high-value mobile phones; before doing it, he borrowed from almost every loan shark, and if he failed, he would have to chop off his hands.

But since he had already successfully landed, this profit was enough to make him rich beyond measure, and that interest was nothing at all.

Peers, because they still used traditional small boats, basically had a interception rate of over 30%, so they never dared to transport goods of too high value at once, nor did they dare to do it too frequently.

But Zheng Hai was different; he had completely seen the advantages of the 'Big Flying Boat'; before Ah Gong was equipped with helicopters, general encirclement and capture could only be considered a mere formality.

Four 720-horsepower mad engines, even Ah Gong had never seen!

The 'Big Flying Boat' rose in the mid-90s due to the prosperity of duty-free trade, but its main purpose was still transporting luxury cars.

Although electronic products like mobile phones were in high demand, getting them out was relatively troublesome; with many people and many eyes, slips were inevitable.

Cars have very high profit per unit, and buyers generally have the strength to launder the money, making them the ideal target for duty-free trade specialists.

Zheng Hai was already preparing to buy motors for the second time; as long as he had more boats under his command, he would dare to do the car business.

The boat Tang Wen built last time was of excellent quality; Li Chang should have notified everyone by now, right?

Such a talented young man, it's a real waste that he isn't involved in waterway trade.

Zheng Hai was just thinking about whether to pull Tang Wen into the business when he saw Li Chang walk up.

The moment Li Chang spoke, his words were unexpected:

"Brother Hai, that kid from the Tang family is up to something shady!"