The fatty won't lie to me for sure. Then the question is, what on earth is going on?
I stared into the fatty's eyes, looking dead serious. "Tell me the truth. Where did you kidnap this young girl from?"
In this industry, it's rare for people with a religious background to get involved. The Floating Master is one of the exceptions.
Although he comes from a religious background, he'll take on any kind of job. When he was young, his reputation was really bad, but things have changed now.
I rubbed my arm. Years have passed, and the master has long since retired. From my long - term observation, the master's appearance fee is extremely high. We can't afford to hire someone like him.
I sighed. "I'd advise you to just give it up."
The fatty shook his head disapprovingly. "How can you say that? I think we should just go ahead. I've already invited the person here for free. It's up to you."
I looked at the fatty curiously. There was an uncomfortable feeling welling up inside me. The fatty met my gaze and then instinctively looked away.
I raised my eyebrows. "Caught you! Come on, fatty. What on earth are you up to?"
I gritted my teeth and spat out a sentence through them.
The fatty lowered his head and said nothing. The principle of "silence is golden" would be something I'd appreciate in other situations, but now...
I flashed a grim smile and patted the fatty on the shoulder. "Fatty, tell me the truth. What are you doing?"
The fatty lowered his head. Finally, he whispered, "I haven't done anything bad, really. You don't have to look at me like that. It's just a small thing."
"Then tell me what this small thing is!"
If he were his usual loud - mouthed self, I might not have taken it seriously. But I've known the fatty for so many years. The more he acts like this, the stronger the bad feeling in my heart becomes.
Sure enough, the next second, the fatty forced out an awkward yet polite smile. "I had a run - in with this girl when I was strolling around the market. The strange things in her family looked like fakes at first glance. Who would've thought I bet wrong?"
The fatty accidentally broke something. When I heard this news, I felt as if I'd been struck by lightning.
God knows what kind of family this girl comes from. Why did you have to break this young lady's stuff?
"The Floating Master's things are not something you can just touch!" I hissed through my teeth.
The fatty said discontentedly, "Why should we boost others' morale and undermine our own? Don't you have a thick family fortune?"
I thought to myself that the stuff in my family belongs to my second uncle. The things in my shop are worth next to nothing. But this girl is different. Her family fortune has been accumulated by her master over the years.
These two are on completely different levels. You can't compare them at all!
Even someone like me who's not deeply involved in this circle knows that the Floating Master dotes on his only female apprentice.
There were some rumors at first. If the girl wasn't so young, there might have been some scandal. It seems that the master treats this girl named Hualian like his own daughter.
Although the Floating Master did some shady things when he was young, whether he dug up people's ancestral tombs or not, he never had children and never got married in his life.
Anyway, this monk is definitely one of the top ten people not to provoke in my book. If possible, I hope we can all be nice to each other. Don't screw your friends over like this, okay?
Maybe the resentment in my eyes was too obvious. The fatty shrank his neck nervously and reluctantly said, "Don't look at me like that. I didn't want this to happen either, but there's nothing I can do. I suspect that girl was just trying to extort money from me."
"Shut up!"
I rubbed my head in frustration. I thought to myself that she really has no need to extort money from us. Our meager assets are not even enough to pay for that broken bottle. So, how did this finally get resolved?
I was really curious about how the shameless fatty finally solved this problem.
The fatty seemed to have read my mind. He giggled and patted his round belly. "Ever since I heard what A Jin said last time, I got an idea. You gotta admit, my brain is not for nothing."
When I saw the fatty's expression, I immediately knew what he was up to. We've known each other for so many years. If I didn't know this by now, something would be really wrong.
"You're so shameless," I blurted out.
The fatty didn't say anything. Instead, he scoffed, "No sacrifice, no victory. Besides, that bottle of hers is so valuable that even if we sold both of us, we couldn't afford to pay for it. The Floating Master doesn't have many treasures. Now that I've broken one, how can I pay for it? When I heard what A Jin said, I knew we had a chance. That girl is obviously interested in treasures, and we're in a desperate situation. Why not solve one problem first?"
The fatty winked at me. He looked so annoying that I twitched the corner of my mouth. Without saying a word, I turned around and walked away. The fatty behind me desperately tried to catch my eye.
"I'll go back."
When the fatty heard me say this, his eyes immediately lit up. He looked at me with eager anticipation. "Really? Brother, you're so reliable!"
The fatty trotted over, quickly dialed a number on his phone, and then looked like a smug little man.
Just looking at his sleazy appearance, it's hard for me to imagine how I became friends with him. It's truly a wonder of the world.
After a few minutes, the fatty finally got through on the phone. During this time, he was constantly interrupted. Oh, of course, it wasn't me who interrupted him, but someone else beside him.
I rolled my eyes at him and turned away. The fatty sighed, said nothing, and just shrank his neck. "Alas, kids these days don't give people any face. But it doesn't matter."
This shameless guy patted his own shoulder. "Let me just sink deeper into this. Anyway, I don't care. At worst, I'll be chopped into eight pieces by the Floating Master."
As far as I know, no one with any sense around the Floating Master would ever owe him something and not pay it back.
It's quite a rarity for someone to be at the top of the industry but have a bad reputation.
When I heard the fatty talk about the Floating Master, my heart sank. Although he's always so talkative and spouts nonsense, he's right about one thing: the Floating Master is someone not to be offended.
If the fatty really offends this big shot, his future days won't be easy. What should we do?