Chapter 259: Assault at the Hotel

He Yuzhu smiled and said, "If you ask me, losing your position as Prison Warden might not be a bad thing!"

Jin Hai snorted and cursed, "You kid, don't stand there talking without feeling the pain; I spent quite a bit of money to keep this little life of mine!"

"I know you need to handle those properties. If you bundle them and name a price, I'll take them all off your hands on behalf of my cousin. As long as the price isn't outrageous, I won't haggle."

"That's more like it!" Jin Hai became happy.

To tell the truth, this could be considered He Yuzhu doing Jin Hai a huge favor; otherwise, in two months, the houses wouldn't be sellable at all.

"What does your cousin want these houses for?" Jin Hai asked.

"To use as dormitories for the Bicycle Factory employees, so you can't sell them too expensively!" He Yuzhu said.

"But I still have a total of twenty-three storefronts and twenty-one courtyards in my hands. The bundle price is 500 Big Yellow Fish!"

"Master Jin, that's too expensive. My cousin doesn't have that much gold. However, she has safe deposit boxes in banks in Shanghai and Nanjing; she can pay you there. It even saves you the trouble of transporting it."

Jin Hai feigned a pained expression and said, "Four hundred Big Yellow Fish, not a cent less."

"Three hundred Big Yellow Fish, my cousin might be able to agree. Any more than that and it's really a no-go!" He Yuzhu shook his head.

"As long as you can pay me in Nanjing, 300 it is."

"By the way, I'm taking a plane to Nanjing the day after tomorrow, and I can get an extra ticket. Does Master Jin want to go together? I'll give you the money as soon as I get to Nanjing!"

Jin Hai glanced at Xu Tian and said, "Tian'er, I'll go there first to scout the path, and you can bring the rest of the family to find me later."

Xu Tian nodded: "I'll listen to Big Brother!"

Two days later, He Yuzhu and Jin Hai arrived at Nanyuan Airport.

A dense crowd was blocked firmly outside by barbed wire and wooden fences; cries, curses, and whistles were all tangled together.

Some people held up tickets and waved them desperately, others tried to climb over the obstacles but were knocked back by rifle butts, and more people just stood there numbly, pushing forward.

He Yuzhu and Jin Hai showed their tickets and special passes. Two soldiers of the Bald Party checked them over and over for a long while before reluctantly letting them through.

"Are these people crazy today? Why are they all crowding here, not even wanting their lives?" Jin Hai looked back at the chaotic crowd and said.

He Yuzhu suddenly remembered that today was November 6th—the situation in the Northeast had been decided, and those with good sources of information had likely already smelled the scent of the coming storm.

"The battle is lost," he said softly.

Jin Hai was stunned: "How could that be? Where did you hear that?"

"In the Liaoshen Campaign, the Bald Party lost. I have my own channels, but the newspapers certainly won't say it like that; they'll call it a 'strategic contraction'." He Yuzhu smiled.

"You brat, why do I feel like you're quite happy?" Jin Hai raised an eyebrow.

"I was never on the same path as you people, so of course I'm happy."

"Good, you kid finally told the truth! Back when the prison break happened, you were already one of their people, weren't you?"

He Yuzhu shook his head: "No, I just did them a favor."

Just as they were about to board, several officers suddenly blocked the gangway.

"Everyone listen up!" the lead officer barked sternly, "A batch of emergency supplies needs to be transported to Nanjing. None of you are allowed to bring large luggage! Throw it all away. Those who don't comply won't get on the plane!"

The crowd immediately exploded:

"How can this be! This is my lifeblood!"

"Officer, please have mercy..."

"I paid for my ticket, why should I throw my things away!"

Cries, pleas, and angry curses rang out all at once.

He Yuzhu only carried a homemade backpack, which was empty inside, and Jin Hai only held a small wooden box. Neither was given a hard time, and they boarded the plane smoothly.

He Yuzhu leaned toward the cabin door to look down and saw the back of an American-style truck wide open. Six soldiers were working in pairs, moving deep-brown, thick teak boxes from the truck onto the plane.

A person in a suit stood to the side in charge of inspection. He held a list, and for every box lifted, he would mark it with a red pen and report the count in a low voice: "... Fourteenth box, verification correct!"

A full twenty boxes were carefully moved onto the plane.

He Yuzhu understood without looking—this was all wealth scraped from the common people using Gold Yuan Coupons.

He felt secretly delighted: it really was a case of someone handing you a pillow just as you wanted to sleep.

When all the passengers had struggled to board and the cabin door was about to close, another team of soldiers rushed up and shouted: "The luggage is still overweight, throw all the large luggage down."

They immediately threw the large boxes inside the cabin off the plane.

The cabin was instantly filled with wails, and a lady wearing a silk cotton robe fainted on the spot.

After a flurry of chaos, the plane finally took off.

"Why are you going to Nanjing this time?" Jin Hai asked.

"Two cargo ships were transporting machine tools for bicycle production. They were supposed to stop in Tianjin, but my cousin had a falling out with the official in charge, so she didn't dare let them stop there and had to have me go to Shanghai to transport the goods back."

"Why isn't Liu Rusi leaving?"

"She hasn't decided yet; she wants to see how the situation develops." He Yuzhu paused, "Master Jin, I advise you that if you're going to leave, go further. Why not go straight to Hong Kong? Staying in Shanghai or Nanjing is meaningless."

Jin Hai rubbed his hands and pondered: "I'd like to, but my two brothers won't go, saying they aren't familiar with Hong Kong."

"Does Tie Lin think so too?"

"He was shot in the leg during the last operation, a comminuted fracture. Now he relies on crutches and a wheelchair to get around and is no longer with the Secret Service Bureau. He just wants to leave Beiping now."

After three and a half hours of turbulence, the plane finally landed at Nanjing Airport.

Just before getting off the plane, He Yuzhu pretended to go to the restroom, approached the cargo hold, and used his Space Ability to collect all the gold inside, replacing it with scrap metal of the exact same volume. The entire process was completely unnoticed.

"Master Jin, where are you staying tonight? I have to go to Shanghai early tomorrow morning." After leaving the airport, He Yuzhu looked at this unfamiliar capital city and asked.

Jin Hai squinted and calculated for a moment, then grinned: "Let's be extravagant today and stay at the Central Hotel; my treat. That's one of the most impressive places in Nanjing; I stayed there for a night a few years ago."

"I'll listen to you!"

After getting settled, He Yuzhu got straight to the point: "Master Jin, I've thought about it. Giving you all gold is too troublesome to transport; I can give you some US dollars instead."

Jin Hai hesitated for a while: "How do you exchange Big Yellow Fish for US dollars?"

"I'll give you 180 US dollars for one Big Yellow Fish, how about that? That's the best price on the market."

"I want one hundred Big Yellow Fish, and the rest exchanged for US dollars."

He Yuzhu nodded: "Fine, I'll have it done for you before eleven o'clock tonight."

He walked alone onto the streets of Nanjing.

The Xinjiekou area was still bustling with traffic, and newsboys were waving the day's *Central Daily News*, with the headline reading "Northeast Guangtou Party Army Makes Strategic Advance, Victory in Xubeng Campaign in Sight"—the lines between the words were full of signs of defeat that tried to cover up the truth.

He Yuzhu sat down at a roadside stall, ordered a steaming bowl of duck blood vermicelli soup, and sliced half a salted duck, slowly savoring the worldly atmosphere of this ancient capital.

At eleven o'clock sharp that night, he lightly knocked on Jin Hai's door: "The things are ready, come and verify them."

Jin Hai walked into the room and saw two open large leather suitcases on the floor, packed full of Big Yellow Fish, which shimmered with an alluring luster under the dim light.

He picked up a Big Yellow Fish at random, a look of satisfaction appearing on his face.

He Yuzhu then handed him thirty-six thousand US dollars.

"Count it," He Yuzhu said.

"No need, I trust you," Jin Hai waved his hand.

"How do you plan to handle this money?" He Yuzhu asked with concern.

"Rent a quiet courtyard in Nanjing city and store it there first."

"You must be careful; so many Yellow Fish are too eye-catching."

"Rest assured, I've been roaming the world for half my life; there's no problem with my security."

Jin Hai took a sturdy oilcloth package from his inner pocket, unwrapped it layer by layer, and revealed a stack of yellowed yet neat paper deeds.

He smiled and handed them over: "Actually, I wanted to give them to you back in Beiping."

"Exchanging money and goods at the same time is just fine," He Yuzhu said with a smile.

He Yuzhu took the land deeds, carefully counted them, and tucked them into his bosom.

At the hour of dawn, He Yuzhu was sleeping soundly when he was suddenly awakened by the sounds of fighting coming from the room opposite.

He sat up abruptly from the bed and listened intently—it was indeed the sounds of crashing and muffled groans coming from Jin Hai's room.

The door remained tightly shut, but inside it had already descended into chaos.

He Yuzhu's eyes turned sharp, and without hesitation, he turned and rushed toward the window at the end of the corridor.

He nimbly flipped out of the window, his hands gripping the brick seams tightly, and moved quickly along the outer wall toward Jin Hai's room like a cat prowling in the night.