Chapter 1: The Entanglement of Love and Hatred, Haicheng's Solitude

  Delicious melon, sweet and crunchy. The taste of the vine that produces this sweet fruit is bitter. Without bitterness, there would be no sweetness, it can be seen that all sweet flavors start from bitterness. A prodigal's life begins with hardship, but it doesn't mean they can't produce sweet fruits. Li Huqiu grew up in a tumultuous underworld, but he had good intentions hidden in his mind, and in his heart, he carried the swallow and his own fate, so he was different from others taught by Hao Duanzi. He had ideals. He wanted to let the swallow grow up in stability and happiness, he wanted to find his biological parents when conditions allowed, to see how unfortunate their lives were, why they abandoned their biological son.

  Dong Zhaofeng told him that in any profession, there are good people and bad people. In fact, the number of bad eggs among police officers is not much more than that of Hao's cripples, and Li San, a thief, can also be famous for his chivalrous bones. So no matter how bitter or difficult it is, don't give up on your wish to be a good person. Even if you are a thief, you can become a heroic thief who robs the rich and helps the poor.

  Da Baozi's selfish behavior made Li Huai decide that he should be punished.

  No matter how mature and experienced he is, he is still a 16 or 17-year-old boy. The concept of thinking before acting has not yet been integrated into his mind. Big Fatty is not a good person, stealing his money can be considered as doing justice.

  The old thief, Crab Claw, returned to the car and sat down beside Big Fatty, Li Huqiu followed him onto the car, not even looking at them, found a place that could accommodate half of his body, spread out the military coat he just bought at the station on the ground, and fell asleep.

  This train will go all the way to Yanjing, and after arriving in Yanjing, it will take a short rest before continuing along the southeastern coastal line all the way to Shencheng. Li Huqiu guessed that this guy's destination was Shencheng from the words "Shencheng Certain Electrical Factory Supply and Sales Department" printed on Da Baozi's small package. It didn't make sense for him to stare at him like that, especially since they had just set out on the first day of their journey.

  Laozei Crab Claw also reported the same idea as Li Huqiu, he sat beside Da Baozi, starting from the train leaving Changchun Station, he fell asleep with a loud snore, occasionally leaning his head against Da Baozi. He seemed to be sleeping very soundly.

  The sky was gradually brightening, and the train was about to arrive at Siping, the first major military stronghold in Northeast China. In those days, trains had to stop at every small station and wait for the next shift at large stations to refuel. Li Huqiu slept soundly that night, wrapped in his coat. This was a skill honed from living like a wolf - sleeping soundly, yet waking up instinctively when danger approached. The train stopped for a while, and Li Huqiu opened his eyes and sat up, casting a glance at Da Baozi and Pincer Hand. Old Thief was sitting with his arms around his knees, eyes closed, making it impossible to tell if he was still asleep. Da Baozi, on the other hand, was already dozing off, nodding his head from time to time.

  Li Huqiu leaned against the window, and outside on the platform, a woman selling cooked rice balls shouted to him. Li Huqiu bought two bundles, and before he could close the window, someone behind him said, "Buy me two bundles too." Li Huqiu handed over the ones in his hand to Lao Zei and bought another two for himself. In the corridor, Lao Zei said, "That woman cheated you because of your youth, this bundle of rice balls is expensive, I would have only paid 50 cents per bundle." Li Huqiu said, "I know it's expensive, but I gave her five yuan and didn't ask for change." Lao Zei snorted and said, "Youngster, listen to Uncle's words, your skills are top-notch, but if I look at you with my eyes, as a person who eats three meals a day, you're not even second-rate."

  Li Huqiu smiled and said: "Are you saying I'm not ruthless enough? In our line of work, there's a top-notch type called 'xia dao', haven't you heard of it?"

  Crab pincer stared at him and said: "You? What do you know about being top-notch?"

  Li Huqiu nodded and said, "I understand. A top-notch person not only has top-notch skills but also needs to have top-notch physical abilities, otherwise they will be ruined by the rampant sympathy."

  "Looks like you really understand, but I don't know how your skills are. Can you guarantee that after you break the rules, you'll still be safe and sound?"

  Li Hu asked, changing the subject, "Old thief, after feeling around for a whole night on that big fat pig, did you find any 'lard' on him?"

  Crab claw spat out a mouthful of saliva and cursed, "Damn it, this pig doesn't even know how many days he hasn't taken a bath, this one night has smoked me to death. This guy is all meat, I think there's oil and water hidden under his fat folds, it's really hard to find. But I reckon that big bag of his on the ground must have oil and water."

  Li Huqiu smiled and looked at him, listening to his nonsense. He laughed and said: "You're not being very loyal, I can see where the oil and water are hidden just by looking at it, how could you not know? The great Eight-Armed Buddha doesn't even have this much dignity, forget it, maybe you really didn't notice. Let me tell you, his big stash is hidden in the folds of his belly, specially tied up with a wide belt. This guy emptied his stomach before getting on the car and hid a urine bag in his pants, basically not planning to move at all along the way. Even if the oil and water are huge, I estimate we probably won't be able to get our hands on it."

  Crab Claw was a master of holding in his bowel movements for days, and he found Li Huqiu's words hard to believe. "He can hold it in for seven or eight days without having a bowel movement?" he asked. Li Huqiu chuckled and said, "Just look at that big belly of his - it's all from holding in his stool. The fatter someone is, the better they are at holding it in. You'll see, on this trip, he'll just be stretching his waist every now and then until we reach a major train station, where he'll finally get off to take care of his urine bag and sleep for a bit. If you're counting on him sleeping through the whole thing, I think that's unlikely."

  Crab claw's face turned sour and said, "No wonder this guy stinks so much. When he takes a deep breath, I don't dare to breathe. It's going to take until the roast chicken in his stomach turns into fart and kills me?" Li Huqiu said if you can't stand it, let me come, I love that smell.

  Crab paws sat back in his own position, instantly enveloped in the aroma of braised pork belly. Old thief frowned, stood up to take a look at Li Huqiu, and then looked at the still radiant and majestic big fat man, but finally sat down again.

  The big fatty is indeed a master of anti-thief, not only did he use psychological warfare to paralyze the two small thieves beforehand, but also used the old pig's embrace tactic to make the two big thieves helpless against him. Now, the smell on his body can be called biochemical warfare, and this is still under the circumstance that the ultimate "killing aura" has not been released yet. Li Huqiu maliciously thought, if this guy continues like this all the way to Shencheng, wouldn't it become a bacterial war?

  The fight became increasingly fierce and interesting, the old thief finally couldn't bear it, decided to open the unremarkable big bag under the big fat man's feet first. His nickname was Eight-Armed Buddha, besides his hands, he also had a special skill, that is, his feet were as agile as his hands. In broad daylight, without anyone's cooperation, the bold and daring old thief began to take action against the highly vigilant big fat man.

  He first took off his shoes, revealing a pair of old feet with visible veins. Li Huqiu had been secretly watching him out of the corner of his eye and noticed that he had taken off his socks. He immediately realized that something interesting was about to happen, as the Eight-Armed Buddha was going to use his special skills. The old man's foot skillfully clamped down on the zipper head of the big package under Fatso's feet. The old thief pretended to accidentally bump into Fatso's head with his hand, and Fatso turned around to look at him with a scowl. The old thief cursed, "What are you looking at? Don't you dare?" As he said this, his foot had already slipped into the big package. Fatso surprisingly backed down and didn't dare look at him again. Li Huqiu silently cursed him as a coward, deserving of losing his stuff. The old thief's foot had already finished its work and come out, with the whole process taking less than half a minute. Li Huqiu estimated that the package clutched in the old man's foot contained around 20,000 yuan.

  After the old thief got what he wanted, he suddenly stood up and rushed towards the fat man, spitting a mouthful of saliva at him. "How long has it been since you last took a bath? You're so stinky that even good people are being corrupted by your smell! Don't you know that poisoning someone to death is also against the law?" Such harsh words would be unbearable even for a Buddha, and the fat man indeed got angry. He stood up strongly, his tall and sturdy figure having an overwhelming advantage in terms of presence compared to the thin and withered Crab Claw. However, Crab Claw seemed to be unaware of this. He raised his hand and slapped the fat man. The fat man was at a disadvantage and immediately became unreasonable, starting a fight with Crab Claw. Someone wanted to go find the police to report the incident, but was stopped by their companions. Meanwhile, Crab Claw took advantage of the fight to attack the fat man again.

  But when he touched the plastic package tied around the big fat man's waist, he couldn't help but scold the fat man's ancestors in his heart. This son of a bitch not only tied things up, but also stuck glue on the skin. As long as this thing moves, it will definitely disturb the big fat man. Crab claw was helpless and finally decided to give up. He raised his hand to block two punches from the fat man and said: "You're as fat as a pig, with a personality like a woman, I'm too lazy to compete with you, I'll go find the flight attendant to change seats." After speaking, he turned around and left, behind him was the big fat man who thought he had won, saying that he didn't send him off.

  Li Huqiu watched with narrowed eyes as the whole process unfolded. As he brushed past Crab Claw, he asked, "What? Giving up?"

  "Wait for me," Crab Claw said in a low voice, "I'll be right back."

  About half an hour later, the fat man suddenly let out a sharp cry like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. He frantically patted himself with his big fat hands and only then did his expression slightly relax. However, he was still in a state of urgency, grabbing hold of an elderly person sitting next to him and exclaiming: "I've been robbed! That person just now was a thief, he stole my large package, taking away 20,000 yuan! Quickly help me call the police, he hasn't gotten off the bus yet, we should still be able to catch him."

  That old man was also hot-tempered, and he refused with a wave of his hand. He scolded the big fat guy: "I was just standing next to you two earlier. The other old brother didn't even touch your waist, what did he use to touch your package? You're not framing him, are you? I thought that old brother was being too much earlier, but now it seems like nothing happened at all. Just the smell on you, any good person would be driven mad by you. You deserve to be beaten. If you want to report it, go yourself."

  Li Huqiu suddenly walked over and asked, "What's wrong? Did you lose something?" The fat man didn't bother with the old man, anxiously nodding to say yes. Li Huqiu said that we must hurry up and report to the police, otherwise when the thief has transferred the goods, even if you find him it will be in vain. Don't worry, I'll help you report to the police. After finishing speaking, he ran off towards the back.