"What's the matter, Pryant, looking at you, you seem to be restless, you should drink some black tea, it will relax your mind." In the guest room on the second floor of an inn near the sea at the port of Dagougang, a middle-aged Western man with red hair raised the white porcelain teacup in his hand to the other, intoxicated by the fragrant tea with a look of enjoyment.

"I just came here and it looked like someone was following me, Ham." Another Westerner, Pryant, was standing at the window, admiring the busy harbor and the beautiful seascape in the distance, just outside the anchorage of the harbor, where a fleet of Qing sailors was moored, cutting the beautiful seascape in two, which made him feel very uncomfortable.

Pryant was the Englishman who Liang Pengfei saw just now who came out of the crowtooth smoke house, with beautiful blonde hair, although he was in his forties, he was well maintained, and his demeanor was quite a gentleman of a Westerner.

"It's nothing, those Qing people may be afraid that we will take the deposit and run away. You know, even the warehouse where we store our goods is 'protected' by those Qing Navy soldiers. The red-haired man shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. For Pryant's carefulness, the red-haired man Ham secretly despised it in his heart, but the problem was that Pryant was not only his partner, but also a major shareholder, and in this business, Pryant's shares accounted for two-thirds. Therefore, he could only suppress his dissatisfaction and make himself appear a little more patient.

"No, no, no, I have a very bad premonition, Ham, it doesn't seem to be safe, I don't know why, I always feel that something is missing." Pryant picked up a cup of black tea and took a sip, feeling the sweet tea spread through the tip of his tongue and mouth. "Damn, why is it only in the East that such an attractive thing grows."

"We also have tempting things that can even get people into heaven and, of course, make them go to hell." Ham gestured to Pryant with his teacup, a wicked and sly smile on his face.

"You're right, but don't forget, you will suffer a lot if you get carried away, have you forgotten what happened to Charka last year?" Pryant raised his eyebrows a little displeased, but his good cultivation allowed him to quickly hide his emotions, but his tone still revealed a stern vigilance.

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"Dear Mr. Pryant, of course I haven't forgotten, that's why we managed to avoid the waters of Guangdong and take this line of Taiwan, you know, in order to be able to feed these greedy Qing [***] people and officials like a pack of three-headed dogs of hell, we have spent a lot of money." At the mention of this, Ham felt the roots of his teeth itch. "If you want to blame that damn Qingguo general, you can only blame it, he actually killed more than 300 people in Charka, my God, this guy is so barbaric and cruel."

"However, if that guy doesn't die, this business won't fall into our hands, there are always two faces to everything." Pryant took a sip of tea and walked to the window, enjoying the black tea here, looking at this picturesque style that is different from Europe, it is indeed a pleasure.

"Do I need to arrange it first? Pryant. Ham took the last sip of his tea, exhaled a pleasant breath, and began to swallow a cigarette.

"Wait a minute, wait for those merchants from Zhejiang and Fujian to arrive, and directly divide the goods, at that time, we can take the money and leave. It also saves the need to put back the goods for one or two merchants, which is easy to arouse the suspicion of others. Pryant explained, shaking his head.

Ham shrugged his shoulders and smiled: "It doesn't matter, anyway, we have already been mentally prepared, these Qing people have always been procrastinating." ”

The two were chatting with each other, when Pryant, who was enjoying the beautiful view of the harbor, became puzzled. "Ham, I remember when I left in the morning, there weren't so many Qing warships there."

Ham saw the change in Pryant's expression, stood up and walked to the window. "I know that these ships came to anchor there two hours ago, but depending on the situation, they must be ready to stop here for supplies. Well? What they're doing. Ham's gaze suddenly fell not far away, it was the warehouse where they stored their goods, because there were soldiers of the Qing Navy's soldiers patrolling around, so it had been quiet all along, but now, a group of people were approaching there, although they all looked like civilians. But the way those people walked, and the fierce momentum on their faces, gave people the feeling of a thug and robber who was ready to pick a knife at any time.

"Could it be a gang here?" Pryant rubbed his forehead: "Damn it, do these people dare to fight our cargo?" "It's not the first time Pryant has been to Dog Harbor, but he knows that there are quite a few ruffians here who collect protection money in this area, just like the ruffian bullies in the ports of the British Empire.

"It doesn't matter, there are sailor soldiers guarding there, they don't dare to attack the officers and soldiers, besides, didn't you see the Qing Navy warship on the sea? They are just such a few people, do they dare to turn the sky upside down? Ham laughed, a little worried, but only a little.

"Who are you, no one here is allowed to come near you." A sailor soldier shouted loudly with round eyes, although he saw that the twenty or so people on the other side all looked so strong and burly, and one or two looked hideous, looking at him like a pack of wolves, which made him feel a little numb, but he still tried his best to do his duty.

Not only did the other party not disperse because of his reprimand, but approached closer and closer, which made him unconsciously tilt the spear in his hand and aim at these unkind-looking guys.

"Why, can't you see it?" Li Dashuang said loudly in the crowd. "Isn't it just a warehouse? Let's pass by here and see what's going on. ”

A group of veteran ruffians made a commotion on the side, and after a while, a crowd of people quickly gathered in the lively port because of the dispute here, and those soldiers who stood aside thought that someone would dare to make trouble here, and immediately rushed over, trying to drive the crowd away.

Just as everyone's attention was attracted by this, there was a lewd figure under one of the windows of the warehouse, and easily opened the window, and then got into the window like a tanuki, and then the window closed again.

And standing on the street corner not far away, Liang Pengfei, who was chattering about cigars and watching the excitement, couldn't help but stare at him, he really couldn't imagine that Bai Shusheng, a guy who said he was full of poetry and books, did this kind of work of stealing chickens and dogs so smoothly, and next to him, Wu Qianjin also shook his head vigorously: "Scholar, this dog still calls himself a young man every day, I think his mother is more professional than anyone else." ”

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"You're simply tarnishing the title of youth." Liang Pengfei muttered with a black line on his face. These guys often learn a lot of new terms from themselves, but they never care about the right fit, and they make people feel uncomfortable like stuffing a cactus into their crotch.

"That's right, the scholar has indeed tarnished this title." Monk Chen coaxed with great schadenfreude, and the pro-soldiers behind him suddenly let out a suppressed muffled laugh. Next to him, Sun Shijie and Ni Ming rolled their eyes together, looking helpless.

Li Xiaoshuang, Wu Qianjin and the others got the signal from here, and retreated to the side with a scolding attitude, those sailors and soldiers seemed to be very loyal to their duties, and soon retreated, and after a lot of effort, the window that Bai Shusheng got into suddenly pulled out a small crack, and two fingers stretched out from inside, making a gesture that had been discussed a long time ago.

After seeing Bai Shusheng's gesture clearly, Liang Pengfei spat viciously Xingzi: "The monk is called a person!" Get ready to work. ”

"Yes!" Monk Chen was overjoyed, strode across the street, ran to the edge of the dock, took out a whistle from his arms, puffed out his cheeks and blew it violently, and the whistle was so sharp that it pierced his eardrums and echoed in the pier.

"Damn, what's going on, what's going on?" The sharp, sudden whistle startled Pryant, who had just breathed a sigh of relief and was sipping black tea, and some of the black tea poured out and splashed on his silk shirt, and he couldn't help but complain angrily.

"Pryant, come and see!" At this time, Ham's ruddy face, who was still standing at the window and looking at the bustle below, turned a little pale, and his voice changed, which made Pryant not bother with the tea stains on his new clothes, and rushed to the window to look in the direction of Ham's finger.

I saw that many small boats had been lowered on the warships of the Qing Naval Division that were originally moored at the anchorage, and it seemed that they were full of heavily armed soldiers heading towards the dock.

"My God, is there something just going on here that we didn't notice?" Pryant's face was also extremely pale at this moment, could it be that his premonition had come true?

"Damn, we have to get out of here right now." Pryant put the teacup down and hurried to the door of the guest room.

"Why, Pryant, they didn't necessarily come to trouble us, didn't you say that the officials here have been bribed by you? With their protection, our safety is no problem. Ham couldn't help but scream.

"I said it, but the origin of that group of Qing Navy is unknown, who knows if they are coming for us."

"But our goods are in the warehouse."

"Idiot, what's the use of those goods if we can't even save our lives?" The two of them argued as they quickly rushed down the stairs, but just as he was about to step on the floor of the lobby downstairs, Pryant suddenly felt that something was wrong, he stopped his downward streak, and raised his eyes to look at the inn lobby, which should have been bustling and crowded, but now eerily deserted and quiet.

(To be continued)