Ji Yongtao: How dare you call my house?!
Chu Jiajun: Don't forget that I want to settle down at your house. Why can't I call you?!
Ji Yongtao: Count how many people you have killed?
Chu Jiajun: I don't even know them, so why should I care about them?
He turned and ran toward the dark alley, but Dafei was following closely. Ji Yongtao followed Dafei and caught up with him again in the alley. Chu Jiajun was kicked against the wall from behind. He tried to reach for his gun with his right hand, but Ji Yongtao disarmed him. He also tried to reach for his folding knife with his left hand, but Ji Yongtao also predicted it and snatched the knife away by twisting his wrist.
Ji Yongtao wanted to stab him with a knife, so he could only lean against the wall and hold the man's wrist tightly: Where do you live? Your guesthouse... Wait until you calm down a little and I'll go find you - ah!
Ji Yongtao hit Chu Jiajun's forehead hard, and the back of his head hit the brick wall, and his head was buzzing.
Chu Jiajun: ... Stop fighting, no one can win. Stop...
Ji Yongtao struck again. Furious, he kicked the man in the old wound, forcing him back. But the enraged man lunged at him again, twisting his left arm.
Chu Jiajun was pressed to the ground by him, but he took back the gun with his right hand and pressed it against Ji Yongtao's abdomen.
Chu Jiajun: ...You see, no one can defeat anyone else.
Ji Yongtao: Why didn't you shoot?
Chu Jiajun sneered: I want you to come with me, is this hard to understand?
Chu Jiajun: If you want money, just tell me the amount. If you want something, I'll buy it. What on earth do you want in exchange for coming with me? I'm going crazy! Why is it so hard to communicate with you when you can't understand human language?!
Ji Yongtao: Because the world is not like this.
Chu Jiajun: Then you guys, tell me what the hell it looks like!
Ji Yongtao sighed deeply: It's not like that.
Ji Yongtao: We don't have time to tell you what it's like from beginning to end. But we can only tell you that it's not what you think. It's made up of many, many people, many families, not just you and others.
Chu Jiajun: Everyone else is me, so why shouldn't it be like this?!
Ji Yongtao: You can think so, but you have destroyed many people's homes.
Chu Jiajun: What does their home have to do with me? I only care about us! — Tell me, what about our home? How much money do I have to spend to keep it?
The muzzle of the gun against his abdomen trembled slightly. He turned around and saw Ji Yongtao's eyes in the shadows. The anger in those eyes had died down long ago, leaving behind endless helplessness and sadness.
Ji Yongtao: We will no longer have a home.
As soon as he finished speaking, he grabbed the barrel of the gun and moved the muzzle away from him; Chu Jiajun had not yet reacted, his eyes were wide open, and he seemed to have lost the strength to resist.
Ji Yongtao: There won't be any more, never again.
Ji Yongtao: ...I will take you all the way with me for the last time. Come with me. I will always be with you on this last journey.
His hand, slowly and gently, untied the gun from Chu Jiajun's desperate hand and silently held it in his own. Chu Jiajun's eyes were filled with tears. He felt as if he had suddenly experienced a funeral. The thing called home had been buried six feet below.
Ji Yongtao dragged his limp body up from the ground like a rag doll.
Suddenly, Dafei started barking wildly, and a huge figure appeared behind Ji Yongtao, grabbed his neck and pulled him up; this terrifying brute force had an overwhelming advantage. Ji Yongtao was grabbed by the strong man, and saw a man rushing over, pulling Chu Jiajun up and saying "Let's go".
Chu Jiajun picked up the gun that fell on the ground in a daze, staggered away, and his figure disappeared into the night.
When Ji Yongtao was struggling, he seemed to have bumped into the wound on the strong man's arm. Although the man was strong, he didn't feel any pain at all. He let go of the wound as soon as it was touched, covered his hand and ran away.
He fell to the ground. In the Shanghai night, there was only the meowing of cats deep in the alley, and Chu Jiajun was nowhere to be found.
-
Chu Jiajun ran a long way, wiping away the tears that obscured his vision as he ran. He ran like a zombie for an unknown amount of time before he felt the river breeze blowing against his face.
Along the Huangpu River, the surging night wind and the honking of the ferry echoed over the Bund. He walked to the river's edge, leaned against the railing, and gazed across at the strange construction site. They were preparing to make a candied haws stick. The foundation had already been dug, revealing a bottomless sinkhole.
Suddenly, he heard a noise nearby.
Under the flickering streetlight, the dog panted and panted, squatting on the side, looking at him expectantly.
It had chased his scent all the way here, running until it was exhausted. But this animal was so simple, even when it was exhausted and lying on the ground, it would still stick out its tongue and wag its tail happily when it saw Chu Jiajun walking towards it.
Chu Jiajun knelt on the ground, hugged Dafei with her arms around his neck. The dog's body was very warm and became his only comfort on the slightly cold river bank.
Chu Jiajun: Dafei, we all have no home.
Chu Jiajun held it in his arms, shedding many tears. He stood up and walked away, Dafei staggering after him.
He walked ahead, along the Huangpu River, for a long distance, and the dog kept following him. Chu Jiajun became increasingly annoyed, so he turned back and chased it away: "Don't follow me, I can't support you."
Dogs and humans can live together, dogs and dogs, humans and humans, can all live together.
The devil thought, if only he hadn't accidentally lost the human skin.
The ghost walked back to the dog and sat on the ground, his long hair ruffled by the river breeze. The dog contentedly lay on the ghost's lap, being gently stroked.
The ghost shed many tears. From his death to his life, it seemed that he had never shed so many tears as he did these times.
Chu Jiajun held it tightly, letting it rest its head in his arms in peace. The cold muzzle of the gun silently approached it.
The river wind howled, a ferry whistle blew, and the river water drowned out the sound of gunfire.
Cheng Jiu's hometown was famous for its wooden Buddha statues, but their village's location was poor, with little to grow and a dwindling number of young people. Eventually, someone started robbing trucks on the highway, dragging him along. This became frequent, and the pursuit intensified, so he fled with his nephew. He worked for a while in the north, then injured the foreman and fled...
He talked non-stop, while Chu Jiajun sat in a corner, leaning against the basement wall, smoking, not listening to a single word. Cheng Jiu talked for a long time, and through the smoke, he saw Chu Jiajun's eyes were red, as if he was still crying. He couldn't understand what was wrong with this man - everyone in this industry had heard of the "face mask" leader, young, ruthless, and crazy. They thought that as long as they had Chu Jiajun's help, they could do whatever they wanted in the city.
Cheng Jiu: I asked my nephew to save you, not to see you cry. Tell me, if that exhibition really took place in Shanghai, how many people would you need to make it?
Cheng Jiu: I saw seven or eight of them... they all had to be veterans. The roads in Shanghai aren't squared off in the east, south, west, and north directions. The local police know the roads well, but if someone from out of town came in to "do the job," they'd be completely lost in the shikumen. If you bring in a newbie, they'll have no idea what to do.
Cheng Jiu: You must have hidden your guns somewhere else, right? I'll have the brothers outside look for them. You need equipment to do big things...Brother Xiao Chu, are you listening?
Chu Jiajun was stunned for a moment, then suddenly pulled out a gun and put it to his temple; Cheng Jiu was scared to death and tried to snatch the gun from his hand.
Cheng Jiu was originally very thin, and standing next to his nephew, he looked like a paper man. He could not snatch the gun from Chu Jiajun and was knocked to the ground in two moves. Chu Jiajun ran to the corner with the gun in his hand, as if he would pull the trigger in the next second.
He stood there, and several times he really wanted to snap his fingers down, but in the end he didn't.
Chu Jiajun dropped his hands, staring blankly at the intricate network of pipes on the basement ceiling, and suddenly began to hum a song. The man, wandering around the room like a madman, suddenly leaped in front of Cheng Jiu and demanded, "What do you want a gun for?"
Cheng Jiu: Grab...grab the exhibition piece.
Chu Jiajun put his face close to him and looked at the skinny and ugly man curiously: Oh... what if the gun can't be brought in?
Chu Jiajun: Body searches are now done, so it doesn't matter if you have a gun or not. Your nephew wouldn't even need to show up; he'd be recognized outside.
Cheng Jiu: We didn't commit any crime in Shanghai. They didn't recognize us…
Chu Jiajun: Starting tomorrow, your nephew will be on the wanted list here. Do you know who that man is?
Although Cheng Jiu's physique was not very good, his mind worked quickly. He initially thought that the man last night was just Chu Jiajun's enemy, but now thinking back, he thought that the man was most likely a policeman.
He cursed: It's all because of you!
Chu Jiajun did not answer. He lowered his eyes and smiled: That's right, it's all for me.
Chu Jiajun: I also want to make this one last sale, so I need to be steady this time. As for your question about how many people you need to take over the jewelry exhibition, I think we should... maybe recruit more people?
His eyes sparkled, and in them were whirlpools of jewel fragments. He wanted those jewels and diamonds, he wanted them urgently, things that he could hold tightly in his hands.
Chu Jiajun saw the exhibition promotion on the road. The exhibition venue is on Nanjing West Road. Security will be very tight, and any noise can only be kept small.
But he wanted to play big, so he asked Chengjiu to help him code people, and the price was an extra million.
This is roughly the dynamic of this "industry": those capable of organizing large-scale operations attract those less capable but ambitious enough to give it a try. Most of these individuals were wiped out in the past few years, turning to petty theft and robbery. Getting rich overnight through violent crime is a thing of the past. What lies ahead for these smaller players is a gradually drying up pond.
Everyone wanted to tear off a last piece of meat before the water completely dried up.
Ji Yongtao was leading people to investigate in the alley yesterday when suddenly someone called him and said that something was found in the bushes.
It was a newspaper with information about a jewelry exhibition. Inside the newspaper was a ticket for the exhibition.
This is a message from Chu Jiajun.
The security at this jewelry exhibition was very tight, almost watertight inside and out. Sunglasses and masks had to be taken off, identification was checked, and bodies were searched. It was almost impossible for people like Chu Jiajun or the fat man that night to sneak in.
It was confirmed that Chu Jiajun was in this city, and there was a high probability that he had two accomplices. Everyone who had followed Ji Yongtao suddenly remembered the crane that had crashed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the exhibition hall, and their stomachs twisted.
There are also many construction sites in Shanghai, even more than in City A, and there are construction sites almost everywhere in the central area.
In one to three years, this place may be full of "buildings" - they can only foresee this step, just like those old communities that cannot anticipate the number of private cars in five years.
If someone told them that these buildings would be five or six times taller than they expected, that the skylines of many cities would be soaring, and that every road would be monitored by surveillance cameras, then for ordinary people, "guns" would become a prop that only existed in movies and TV dramas. Young people wouldn't even know what road bullies and gangsters were, or what train robbery meant. They'd only seen the traditional green-skinned trains on TV. They could wear gold and silver jewelry without sewing it into their underwear, and the idea of "a hand covered in gold bracelets and rings being chopped off" would only exist in the jokes of their elders.
People could not yet imagine such a peaceful and beautiful future.
In the future, there will be no monthly 290 yuan, no desperate struggle for a bag of special milk powder, and only KFC for Chinese New Year. Many years later, Ji Yongtao went to the hospital to get high blood pressure medication and casually asked about the illness of a former colleague's daughter. The young doctor raised his glasses in confusion and told him that the disease could now be cured with two weeks of medication and fully covered by medical insurance. There was a fried chicken family bucket on the department table, but the young nurse and the female doctor, concerned about their figure, refused to eat it.
A week before the exhibition, Chu Jiajun booked a theater. All the seats were filled, and he stood in front of the screen. The lights were off, and only the light in front of the screen remained on, shrouding him in a golden glow.
Chu Jiajun: They are no longer afraid of us.
Chu Jiajun: We used to be able to go anywhere, get everything, and have the final say. It has to be this way in the future.
Chu Jiajun: We have to let them know that even without guns, they have to be afraid of us and let us live our own way.
This was a gamble. A layout as fragile as a jewel, yet shone with an evil gleam like a flower blooming from a bone.
Nearby construction sites have been inspected, and lanes around the exhibition area have been controlled. Because there is a school nearby, security in the area near the school is particularly tight.
The exhibition has a daily limit on the number of visitors and will be held for three days, five or six days.
Chu Jiajun entered the exhibition hall on the first day, which was Friday morning.
Basically, the first batch will be launched.
He wore glasses, stuffed cotton behind his upper and lower lips to change the shape of his mouth, and his hair was tied up in a baseball cap. The ticket inspector had only seen his photo and did not recognize him.
In the still-small exhibition hall, there were no security guards near the display cases. All the security guards were on the second floor, observing the first floor exhibition area. Based on the average number of people, the number was even denser than that of the gold exhibition. These security guards were all equipped with guns, which were tucked into their waists.
Two tour buses stopped outside the exhibition hall, and a group of tourists, each wearing a "Ningbo Family Visiting Group" sticker on their chests, entered the hall under the guidance of their guide. The hall suddenly became crowded, with nearly a hundred people entering, making the relatively small hall suddenly crowded.
He leaned against a glass case, looking at the glittering emerald necklace below. The estimated price was marked on the sign next to it; this necklace alone was worth about 150,000.
Fifteen thousand is about the size of a small briefcase, and the equivalent amount of gold is about half a brick, which is very heavy.
But if it is a gem, you can carry it in your pocket or put it in an envelope and mail it.
He lay there, gazing intently. The radiance of the gemstone fell into his eyes, clear and bright.
Suddenly, a hand lifted his baseball cap, and the long hair tied inside fell down.
Chu Jiajun heard the man's voice ringing beside him.
Ji Yongtao: If you like something, you have to earn money to buy it.
Chu Jiajun was stunned for a moment, but did not run. Instead, he used two fingers to simulate walking and "walked" towards Ji Yongtao on the glass.
Chu Jiajun: I am also working hard to make money.
Chu Jiajun looked at him expectantly: "I don't have a gun or a knife with me. I'm just here to browse the exhibition." "Brother Yong, I'll listen to you. I'm quitting and planning to go to Guangdong to work. Just think of this as something good for me and pretend I never did anything."
Chu Jiajun's fingers "walked" to Ji Yongtao's elbow, and poked him lightly with the tip of his index finger: Okay?
Ji Yongtao also looked at the necklace without saying anything.
Chu Jiajun: Is it okay?
Ji Yongtao sighed: "You're such a fool. Where can you find a place where there's a queue for the men's restroom but not for the women's?"
Chu Jiajun didn't react. The restroom was on the east side of the exhibition area, in a T-shaped structure, but the line in the men's restroom stretched out the door.
Ji Yongtao: If you had a girlfriend in college and gone shopping with her, you wouldn't have made this mistake—do you know how long it takes to wait for a lesbian to use the restroom? The women's restroom always has a line.
Chu Jiajun's eyes darkened, and even the light of the gemstones within them turned cold. "So what? There are hundreds of people here. How can you be sure which ones are mine?"
Ji Yongtao: At least more than a hundred people, if I estimate correctly - you find scalpers to buy tickets in large quantities, and let your own people enter in groups under the name of a tour group, and then hijack ordinary guests, taking hostages and gems onto the tour bus - if other buses or trucks parked outside the exhibition hall would definitely be checked, but the tour group's car can stay there and no one would be suspicious.
Ji Yongtao: The razor blades were hidden in the heels of their shoes, avoiding body searches and being pulled out in the restroom. This is why the lines in the men's restroom are so long.
Chu Jiajun: So what? I said, how do you know who are my people?
——After coming out of the toilet, everyone threw away the tour group stickers and looked like ordinary people.
Ji Yongtao: My guess is that these people first locate their hostages in the exhibition hall, then go to the restroom to remove the razor blades, discard the stickers, and return to the exhibition hall to find their targets. Even if there are occasional mistakes, it doesn't matter, as long as most of the hostages are ordinary tourists.
Ji Yongtao: So you think we can only use ordinary methods to distinguish between hostages and robbers?
He extended his hand to Chu Jiajun. At the same time, the broadcast in the exhibition hall sounded -
Fire alarm, notify guests to leave the exhibition hall.
Ordinary people immediately rushed to the exits, while those standing there, looking at each other in bewilderment, were all Chu Jiajun's men. The security guards on the second floor had already drawn their guns on the people on the first floor, while Chu Jiajun remained hunched over the counter, staring at the emerald with reluctance.