Chapter 260: Escaping Nanjing

He Yuzhu leaped into the room, where a scene of chaos met his eyes; tables and chairs were overturned, a dead man lay on the bed, and a thick, pungent smell of blood rushed toward him.

In the corner of the room, four thugs were locked in a life-or-death struggle with Jin Hai.

With his back against the wall, Jin Hai brandished his dagger like the wind, maneuvering around the thugs by using an overturned desk and two chairs, holding his own. It seemed Jin Hai was truly a man of the underworld.

He Yuzhu's intrusion alerted the four men.

One thug lunged at He Yuzhu with a dagger; He Yuzhu ducked to avoid the blade, swept the man's legs to trip him to the ground, and with a flick of his right sleeve, a Flying Knife was buried in the thug's chest.

Seeing his companion fall, another burly man brandished his dagger and lunged forward, aiming straight for He Yuzhu's chest.

He Yuzhu did not dodge or evade; when the tip of the blade was only half a foot from his chest, he grabbed the man's wrist and gave it a sharp shake. With a "Crack!", the man's upper arm was dislocated, and He Yuzhu kicked him to the floor.

Seeing how fierce the newcomer was, the third man lost his composure, dropped his dagger, and grabbed a chair to smash it onto He Yuzhu's head.

He Yuzhu dodged to the side, and the chair grazed his lapel before smashing into the ground, shattering into pieces.

His right leg swept out like a steel whip, his toe striking the thug's occiput with precision. The man collapsed at the sound and stopped moving.

In the blink of an eye, three men were on the ground, and the pressure on Jin Hai was suddenly reduced.

He let out a roar and drove his dagger straight at the last man's face.

The thug scrambled backward in panic; Jin Hai seized the opening and kicked him in the chest.

The thug's body hit the wall with a "Thud."

Jin Hai lunged forward and struck with his blade, the dagger plunging deep into the man's heart.

Jin Hai pulled out the blade, blood spraying all over his face; he didn't bother to wipe it off, instead taking the dagger to finish off the three men who weren't quite dead yet.

"Master Jin, what exactly is going on?" He Yuzhu asked.

Jin Hai turned on the faucet to rinse the blood from his hands, splashed his face vigorously with cold water, and grabbed a towel to wipe it dry.

He pointed at the burly man on the floor and said in a low voice: "This kid is named Feng Baoshan, and he was my deputy at the Beiping prison three years ago. Relying on his father-in-law in the Nanjing Ministry of National Defense, he was absolutely lawless in the prison and would do anything. Later, I gathered some evidence and reported him. I thought he'd have to eat prison food for a few years, but I didn't expect this grandson to change his location and suddenly transform into a Regimental Commander. After he found out I'd been dismissed, he caused plenty of trouble behind my back, all of which I paid to smooth over. I didn't expect this grandson to be so relentless!"

He Yuzhu joked: "If you didn't know him, I might have been the one taking the fall for this..."

Jin Hai shook his head, "Brother, I trust you. Just for the way you treat Dayingzi, I wouldn't suspect you! Actually, I saw this grandson on the plane, but I pretended not to see him. I didn't expect him to target me instead."

He Yuzhu's expression turned stern: "The commotion we made must have alerted the lackeys; I'm afraid we can't stay at this hotel anymore."

Jin Hai nodded: "Help me carry a suitcase, we're leaving immediately."

The two of them left many things behind and ran out of the hotel.

At the hotel entrance, a team of lackeys came rushing over.

He Yuzhu pulled Jin Hai to hide behind a plane tree.

Once the lackeys charged into the hotel, the two of them began to run for their lives.

"Rest, let's rest for a moment..." After running for a stretch, Jin Hai couldn't take it anymore, gasping for air.

He Yuzhu handed the suitcase back to him and said: "Master Jin, we can't run out of Nanjing on two legs. I just saw a military Jeep parked in front of a courtyard; let's borrow it."

He Yuzhu walked quickly to the Jeep, took a piece of wire from his space, fiddled with the keyhole for a few moments, and opened the door.

After jumping into the car, He Yuzhu pulled out three wires from under the steering wheel, lightly touched two of them together to create a spark, and stepped on the gas; the engine roared to life.

"Master Jin, get in!" He Yuzhu said, stopping the car in front of Jin Hai.

Jin Hai loaded the two suitcases into the car, looked at He Yuzhu, and said sincerely: "Zhuzi, if it weren't for you tonight, I might have met my end here!"

"It's only right. You've helped me plenty of times before."

Jin Hai sighed softly: "After seeing your skills, I realize I'm truly old."

"Don't compare yourself to me; you aren't old. There are very few people in this world with skills like mine."

Jin Hai was amused and laughed out loud: "Being with you kid is actually quite fun!"

"Without these skills, I would have died a hundred times over living in these times," He Yuzhu sighed.

"Not being your enemy is the most correct choice I, Jin Hai, have ever made in my life!"

He Yuzhu smiled slightly: "Nanjing is too dangerous; we'd better drive to Shanghai!"

"I served as a Prison Warden for years, and only after coming out this time did I realize that I have enemies all over the world!" Jin Hai lamented.

"I told you long ago that not being a Prison Warden isn't a bad thing for you. How about this: we happen to have a ship going to the United States that is stopping in Hong Kong. You should go to Hong Kong with the ship; I think you can really make a name for yourself there!"

Jin Hai pondered for a moment, then nodded: "I'll listen to you and go to Hong Kong to see. If I can't adapt to life there, I'll come back."

The two took turns driving and arrived in Shanghai at eight o'clock the next morning.

He Yuzhu and Jin Hai settled into the International Hotel, known as the "tallest building in Asia."

Jin Hai looked at the bustling scene of Shanghai Tan outside the window and finally made up his mind: "I've decided, I'm going to Hong Kong."

He Yuzhu poured him a cup of tea and reminded him: "Since Master Jin has decided to go to Hong Kong, shouldn't these two big suitcases of gold be exchanged for Hong Kong Dollars or US Dollars? Carrying so much gold on the road is truly too conspicuous."

Jin Hai smiled bitterly and nodded: "It's shameful to say, but as an old-fashioned person, I only recognize gold; I always feel at ease only when I have something heavy in my hands. But after this bumpy journey, I realize these yellow goods are truly too heavy. Brother, do you and your sister still have US Dollars? Can you help me exchange some?"

He Yuzhu pondered for a moment: "My sister's US Dollars aren't plentiful either. However, she has saved a lot of Big Ocean in Shanghai. Another task for me coming to Shanghai this time is to help her exchange these Big Ocean for US Dollars. We can go check out the black market."

Upon hearing this, Jin Hai's eyes lit up: "Then what are we waiting for? Let's hurry and ask around for the way into the black market!"

He Yuzhu paid forty Big Ocean and finally made contact with a broker named Xiao Tian, a man whose eyes were always darting around; he didn't look like a good person.

Under his guidance, He Yuzhu and Jin Hai met the Boss of an underground money exchange on Jiujiang Road in Waitan.

In the dim light of the back room of the money exchange, Boss Chen used a touchstone to lightly scratch one of the gold bars Jin Hai brought to compare the purity, then clicked his abacus and asked in Shanghai dialect with a Ningbo accent: "Today's rate: one Big Yellow Fish for one hundred and seventy-five US Dollars. How much do you two gentlemen want to exchange?"

Jin Hai placed the suitcase on the counter, "Exchange twenty bars first."

"Three thousand five hundred dollars in total!" The boss said while taking four stacks of green bills from the safe behind him, counting them rapidly with his hands.

Jin Hai poked He Yuzhu hard in the waist and whispered: "You kid, help me see if this is real money?"