Chapter 2 — The Scam
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"I don't have it either. What are we supposed to do about that..." the pockmarked man said with a miserable frown. "Just look at me. Do I look like a man who could come up with thirty thousand yuan?"
"Teacher, please think of something for us. Neither of us brought that much money," the pockmarked man appealed once more to the bespectacled man for help.
The bespectacled man pondered for a moment, then ventured tentatively, "How about this? I will give each of you thirty thousand yuan, you give me the pull-tab, and I will go claim the prize?"
The pockmarked man and the buzz-cut man exchanged a look. Since each of them could still pocket thirty thousand that way, they agreed at once. "Fine, let's do it like that."
A flash of secret delight crossed the bespectacled man's face. He pulled his briefcase toward him and began rummaging for money. At first he still looked pleased, but as his hands rifled faster through the bag, his expression grew uglier and uglier, beads of sweat seeping from his forehead, until at last he sighed in dismay. "This is bad. I did not bring much money when I left home today. I have only thirty thousand here, and you two would surely never sell for that. To watch money already in hand just vanish like this, what rotten luck."
"Ah?" Both the pockmarked man and the buzz-cut man were dumbfounded. The bespectacled man had no money, and neither did they, so how was this prize to be divided? The pockmarked man could not sit still any longer. "Teacher, you are learned, you are educated. Think of another way for us..."
"Well, how about this, let us ask someone else..." As he spoke, the bespectacled man turned his face toward Wei Zhao, who sat to one side. "Young brother, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get rich. Do you have any money? Pay each of them thirty thousand first, then take the pull-tab to claim the prize yourself, and you will make twenty thousand in one stroke. Is there any road to money faster than this? If I had brought the cash, I would have kept this fine thing for myself..."
Until then, Wei Zhao had been watching the three men put on their play with cold eyes. It was obvious enough that all three were in league together, with the pockmarked man playing one part, the buzz-cut man playing another, and the bespectacled man acting as the plant.
Though Wei Zhao had grown up in the mountains, he was no fool. Never mind his country clothes. When it came to learning, few men were his match, let alone three third-rate swindlers like these.
"Me?" Wei Zhao pointed at himself with a look of great surprise, then asked, "Can I do it?"
"You can. This fine thing has now fallen right upon your head." Hearing Wei Zhao ask if he could, rather than saying he had no money either, the bespectacled man was overjoyed at once. He knew from experience that men who talked like that were eight times out of ten carrying the goods in their bags.
Wei Zhao was about to say more when he felt someone kick his leg. Out of the corner of his eye he glanced to his right. There sat a very beautiful girl, about his own age.
Her hair flowed like water and her skin was fair. Though she had never stood up, by Wei Zhao's visual measure the girl was at least about one meter sixty-five, tall and slender by any reckoning.
Ever since boarding the train she had been quietly listening to her MP3. Wei Zhao had wanted to strike up a conversation to pass the time on the road, but with her earphones always in, the young lady had left him no opening to try.
And now the girl was looking at Wei Zhao with anxious eyes, wanting to say something yet holding back out of caution. She could only signal to him with her eyes.
Wei Zhao understood her meaning at once. She was telling him not to be cheated. A warmth rose in his heart on the spot. Did people not say that folks in the big city were all cold-hearted, minding only their own business when it did not concern them? That this girl would warn him proved she had a kind heart.