Chapter 73 Reunited
Translated by: chua
Edited by: TN and Elkassar
A passionate anxiety was currently burning in Sanzi and Sheyan’s heart. The two sprinted towards a little house near the shore. The house appeared crooked and run down, as though it would collapse from a heavy gale. Sanzy pushed opened the door fiercely, about to exclaim loudly, but was hindered by Sheyan’s sudden hand over his mouth.
The house only had 1 room, even the kitchen was hosted at the entrance of the house. On the left was a tattered wall, with a makeshift bed made of stone and planks beneath; a shabby torn cotton quilt was covering the bed, while spotlessly white hair leaked out from its end. The hair swayed along with the infiltrating sea breeze. A gentle snore could be heard, the patient was currently in deep sleep.
Beside the bed was a wooden stool; on it was placed a half eaten bowl of dried rice, house flies swirling above it. Sheyan gazed at the brown filthy bandage leaking out beside the bed, a violet sour sensation flushed within his nose. Upon hearing the slight ruckus, the old man wriggled up the bed with immense effort, swinging his head round to look.
At this moment, Sheyan’s mind was totally blank. He could feel the items on hand turning a thousand times heavier, his hands trembled for no reasons. Thump! His baggage crashed to floor. His eyes welling up with fogginess. In an instance, it seemed like his entire world was concentrated onto the two warm, gentle eyes!
“Uncle Dasi!”
Sheyan could no longer keep the tears from pouring out unbridled; the storms and droughts of life, pressed deeply beneath his heart, the pain and weakness, finally exploded out. In front of others, he was firm and resolute, never letting others take advantage of him. Who knew he could behave like a boy, a boy in front of an uncle who was more like a father, a father who cared and sheltered him for 20 years without the slightest complaints nor regrets.
He could only cry, he could finally unburden this immense baggage!
Finally seeing Sheyan, Dasi’s wrinkled cheeks streamed with tears, muttering with sorrow yet excitement.
“It’s good you’re back, it’s good you’re back.”
After ‘father and son’ had reunited, Sheyan did not conceal his matters as he updated Uncle Dasi with full details, apart from things related to the nightmare realm. After hearing Sheyan’s murderous path of escape, Uncle Dasi couldn’t help feeling worried for him. The boulder he was carrying in his heart could finally be placed down with Sheyan’s return. His vitality had been depleted for far too long, slowly falling into deep sleep as Sheyan talked on and on.
During the few days of Sanzi’s absence, fortunately the neighbor Grandma Zeng came around everyday to take care of Dasi. Naturally, Sheyan went over to offer his gratitude and even expressed his sincerity to Dashu. After these miscellaneous things were completed, it was already night, soaked thoroughly by the rain. After returning home, a pale looking Uncle Dasi who was incessantly shivering greeted him. Sheyan immediately boiled a bowl of piping hot ginger soup, pouring out for his family to drank. The warmth of the soup seeped into Uncle Dasi’s bodies, comforting him thoroughly as he fell back to sleep once again.
Sheyan and Sanzi both slept on the floor because the room had only one bed. Besides, they had done this countless times in the past already. Listening to the gradual snores of his uncle, Sheyan was finally able to quieten down his heart. The torrential rains spattered heavily against the house, the chilly winds infiltrating the cracks as it permeated into their bones. Sanzi rolled his blanket around him several times. Even Sheyan was covering himself with a blanket. A digitized body wasn’t freed from cold or heat, it only meant a higher resistance towards it.
Sheyan woke up the next morning to a dusky atmosphere, thinking that it was still early. After listening closely, he could hear the distinct sounds of water converging on the rooftop, and the clamorous sounds of peasants outside. The atmosphere here was indeed vile and shabby.
Due to the dim lighting the previous night, he couldn’t really observe the interior carefully. The surrounding walls were stained with mud and rust, and had excessive amounts of paint peeled off. Several fat dolls covered in a layer of dust had turned yellow over the years over a wall rampart. The uneven flooring honestly felt like raw earth, the roof supported by only 7-8 slanted frail beams. Greenish black decayed moss settled around, along with a plastic bag hung by Sanzi the last night to prevent the leaked rain soaking the entire floor.
“This place is not livable.” Sheyan sat up from his makeshift bed, turning to Sanzi with a commanding deep voice. “Even a healthy person living here would turn ill. What more uncle Dasi is already sick?”
Sanzi had woken up long ago, feeling wronged he replied
“I’ve already told Uncle Dasi numerous times, he kept on insisting for the remaining cash to be kept for their marriage.”
Sheyan directly pulled Sanzi out of the door, losing his patience he continued.
“Money wise I’ll settle. Uncle Dasi has a tough temper, we try our best to give in to him, but this matter what I say will stand. Didn’t we see those detached small houses when he arrived earlier? We’ll buy those! It seems that Granny Zeng took care of him pretty well. After settling the house, we can invite her over. Whatever income she is drawing now, we will double that amount to take care of Uncle Dasi.”
Sanzi was a capable and nimble person, but he lacked decisiveness. This was completely unrelated to age, a person’s character followed him for life. But once he was tasked with something, he would ensure it carries out completely. After Sheyan finished, he tossed him several layers of notes to Sanzi, allowing him to settle the rent for the house. He then returned to boil another bowl of egg porridge for the ill Uncle Dasi. He then accompanied him and ate, chatting continuously with him.
As they spoke, Uncle Dasi questioned him of his future plans. Sheyan already had a mental outline in his mind, he immediately replied in a respectful and serious tone.
“Uncle Dasi, after I shrugged off Huashan Fei’s men that day, I didn’t stop there. Seizing the chance when his house was empty, I infiltrated and managed to snag a batch of goods; carrying it to Hong Kong and handed to one of my connections! This was a blessing in disguise, I even received 3,000,000 HKD from that. A pity Uncle Dasi has’t recovered, or we would have made enough this time.”
Dasi asked curiously.
“Made enough for what?”
Sheyan replied in surprise.
“Of course for a new boat. Our whole lives were spent out at sea, without a boat, should we climb the mountains and eat air instead? Even though Fu Yuan was preserved by us sentimentally in the past, it had already been rolling at sea for 15-16 years. Since it’s sold, we can now get a new one. But I still have matters to settle, why would I find time to watch over the workers? Leaving it to Sanzi is definitely a risk, how about uncle you take charge again?”
Once the subject was about boats, uncle Dasi immediately regained his vigor.
“3,000,000 HKD? We can really build an amazing boat, uncle has the suitable connections! How big do you wish to go?”
Sheyan was aware of Uncle Dasi’s dreams, he instantly replied.
“I reckon the standard 77 isn’t bad, we probably need over a thousand horsepower if we want to take it abroad!”
The 77 standard refers to a 49 meter Steel Trawler load, which had always been the pinnacle of Uncle Dasi’s dreams. His face shone with an ecstatic brilliance.
“This idea isn’t bad indeed.”
“En.” Sheyan earnestly replied. “That is why uncle you have to hurry up and recover. Without you watching over those slacking scums, how would I dare to place a deposit to build the boat? Let’s go to the hospital once the rain halts in the afternoon, the faster you recover, the quicker we can get to ship building.”
After listening to Sheyan’s words, Uncle Dasi hesitated slightly before agreeing. In his heart, he felt that he was a useless cripple, why should they waste hospital fees on him? But once he found his existential value, naturally the desire to live returned.
***************
After Sheyan succeeded in triggering Uncle Dasi’s passion, he finally heaved a sigh of relief. As long as Uncle Dasi cooperated, everything else would be a breeze. After two consecutive days of treatment at the hospital, Uncle Dasi’s physique repeatedly became healthier, his condition took a huge turn for the better. In order to calm his heart, Sheyan immediately initiated the various procedures in ordering a Steel Trawler load.
5 days had past since returning to the present world, everything was going on the right track. The matters of the realm continued to prick at Sheyan, besides amassing his own strength from the nightmare realm was his life goal. He then gave a call to Jessica. The mixed blood young lass instantly grumbled about why he didn’t call earlier. She then exclaimed in grievance that the pack of wild animals were filthy as hell, their frightening howls caused her to fear returning home to sleep.
Sheyan beamed with delight and hung up, before finding his Uncle Dasi. As the saying goes, money will make the devil turn millstones*. After Sheyan confirmed he didn’t have a criminal record in Taiwan, he leisurely footed an expensive price for a flight back to Hong Kong. Within 3 hours, he arrived at Jessica’s mansion.
(TN: *Chinese idiom, anything is possible with money)
Even though Sheyan had caused such a huge commotion; because all of the casualties were from the underground society, also Yi Wufu was no virtuous individual, and none of the victim’s family came out, thus the entire incident vanished into smoke. It only circulated internally within the police. To them, by announcing such a chain homicide, apart from indicating that the police was useless, plunging the society into panic had no benefits at all. Hence, the matter was kept low, and only investigated in the shadows. There was no news about it that Sheyan could find on the newspaper or the internet.