Chapter 1 In Thailand

In 2005, there weren't many airports in China offering direct flights to Thailand. Most flights required at least one, or even two, transfers.

I haven't been to Thailand in years, so I don't know if things have changed. But back then, when Sixth Uncle bought our plane tickets, he could only get us a flight from Guangzhou, which offered a direct route.

Sixth Uncle traveled with us on the way there, so we didn't have to worry too much.

Besides Sixth Uncle himself, there was also a stunning beauty in her early twenties, with a sweet face and a tall, shapely figure.

However, her skin wasn't very fair, about the same color as Uncle Mei's, slightly yellowish. I thought it was a pity at the time, such a beautiful woman, but her skin was a bit yellow. Later, I learned that it was called wheat-colored, and she had deliberately tanned it at the beach.

Uncle Mei quietly asked Sixth Uncle if the beauty was his wife.

Sixth Uncle just smiled ambiguously and said four words: "Soulmate (hongyan zhi ji)."

Although I was young at the time, I knew what a "soulmate" was for. It seemed that the outside world was indeed very complex, and Sixth Uncle was quite the player.

When we arrived at the airport, Uncle Mei and I were dumbfounded. It was our first time at an airport, and we didn't expect the space inside to be so large.

If Sixth Uncle hadn't been with us, we would have definitely gotten lost. Even circling around in the Qu Shang underground palace didn't make us feel this disoriented.

Before boarding, Sixth Uncle treated us to a bowl of noodles at the airport. As a result, a plain bowl of beef noodles cost fifteen yuan.

Back then, in 2005, I usually paid two or three yuan for a bowl of noodles. If I occasionally encountered a five-yuan bowl, I would say the owner was ripping people off!

But a bowl of noodles at the airport actually cost fifteen yuan!

Uncle Mei immediately said, "Why doesn't this shop just rob people?"

Sixth Uncle laughed and said, "Da Ding, that's the price at the airport. You can tell it's your first time here. You'll get used to it if you come a few more times."

After finishing the noodles, we boarded the plane on time. It took more than three hours, almost four hours, to fly from Guangzhou, which wasn't too long or too short.

When the plane took off, I was scared to death sitting in my seat, but fortunately, I was young and quickly adapted.

Uncle Mei was worse off than me. As soon as the plane took off, he said he felt uncomfortable, as if his heart was about to jump out of his chest. When the plane reached high altitude, he said he had a terrible earache and that he was short of breath.

I didn't know if he was really short of breath or if it was psychological, so I had to ask the flight attendant to come and take a look. Sixth Uncle laughed beside us, saying that Uncle Mei was just scaring himself, and that there was no shortage of oxygen on the plane.

Finally, the flight attendant came over and said a few comforting words, and Uncle Mei stopped making a fuss. After a while, I saw him leaning back in his seat and falling asleep.

The trip was uneventful, and we landed safely in Thailand.

After landing, Sixth Uncle led us out. He took out his mobile phone and made a call.

He spoke in Thai when he called, rattling off a bunch of things we couldn't understand. Then I saw a dark-skinned, thin, middle-aged man, about one meter sixty-five tall, running towards us, grinning and waving.

Sixth Uncle introduced him to us, saying that this was the driver who would pick us up. He would take us directly to the dock to board the boat. We could get on the boat tonight.

When Uncle Mei heard this, he suddenly realized and asked Sixth Uncle, "Old Six, you're not coming with us?"

Sixth Uncle put his arm around his soulmate and shook his head with a smile, "I'm not going. I'm in the foreign trade business. I usually don't go to the site. I'll be responsible for selling the goods after you salvage them."

Sixth Uncle had been with us all the way, but as soon as we arrived abroad, we had to split up, and Uncle Mei and I were very unsure.

The main thing was that people here spoke either Thai or English, and neither Uncle Mei nor I could speak or understand either language. We had become deaf and mute, unable to communicate with foreigners.

What's more, mobile phones at that time were not smartphones, and there were no translation apps like there are now. Not knowing a foreign language meant not knowing a foreign language, and we could only fumble around.

Uncle Mei asked, "Can this driver speak Chinese?"

Sixth Uncle shrugged and said, "He can't."

"Damn it, what do we do?" Uncle Mei said anxiously, "How are we going to communicate with him?"

Sixth Uncle patted Uncle Mei on the shoulder and said, "Da Ding, don't panic. I'll pay the fare for you directly. You and Chen Rongsheng just need to ride in the car. He'll take you directly to the dock. When you get there, just get out of the car. Someone will naturally be there to meet you at the dock. Don't worry, the person picking you up is Chinese, so you'll be able to communicate normally."

After speaking, Sixth Uncle personally walked up to the driver, took out a few banknotes in front of us, and stuffed them into his hand, then rattled off a bunch of things to him fluently in Thai.

The driver was very respectful to Sixth Uncle, nodding and bowing. After taking the money, he smiled at us as well, and his attitude was quite good.

Sixth Uncle came back and said to us, "Don't worry, I've arranged everything, there won't be any problems. Are you still worried about my work?"

Uncle Mei still had some confidence in his old classmate, and immediately nodded and said, "Of course I'm not worried."

"That's right." Sixth Uncle smiled at us and said, "Alright, hurry up and go. When you get to the dock, a man named Xiao Bo will meet you. I've already told him in advance, so just listen to his arrangements."

"Understood."

Uncle Mei nodded and left the airport with me, getting into the driver's car.

At that time, there were a lot of motorcycles in Thailand, and relatively few cars, so we looked particularly cool riding in a car all the way out of the airport.

The airport wasn't far from the dock, and it took only twenty minutes to drive there. We were actually driving along the coast the whole way, and I could see the endless sea.

When we arrived at the dock, we didn't see the Xiao Bo that Sixth Uncle had mentioned. Uncle Mei guessed that the man might have been delayed by something, and suggested that we get out of the car and wait for a while.

As a result, when we got out of the car, the driver suddenly grabbed us and chattered a lot of things we couldn't understand. Although we didn't understand Thai, judging from his gestures, he seemed to be asking us for money.

Uncle Mei got anxious when he saw this and frowned, "That's not right. Didn't Old Six give him the fare before we got in the car? What's wrong with this driver? Why is he asking us for money twice? Isn't this a rip-off?"

I also thought the driver was being a bit too much. Sixth Uncle had given him the money in front of us. I quickly gestured to communicate with the driver, saying, "It's been given, the money's already been given, Sixth Uncle gave you the money!"

But I was speaking Chinese, and the driver obviously didn't understand. He grabbed us and desperately gestured with his hands, wanting money.