As the car drove away, Fatty was even more anxious than I was, asking me what we should do.
I said, "He shouldn't discover it for a while. Let's go back to the room first."
Upon returning to the room, I used the room's phone to make an international call to Yang Hanxue.
When the call connected, his voice was as deep as ever, "Hello?"
"Brother Yang, it's me."
"Oh? Xiao Fei, how is your progress over there? Have you found them yet?"
"Not yet, but we can generally determine where they went. We'll be heading over in the next couple of days."
"That's good."
"Brother Yang..." I pursed my lips and said, "I want to ask you something."
"What is it?"
"Can the Zhu Lixin you introduced to me be trusted?"
The voice on the other end paused for a few seconds, "Why are you asking this suddenly? Did something happen?"
"It's nothing major, I just need someone who speaks the local dialect to help me."
"Zhu Li is definitely trustworthy. After all, he went through life and death with my father. I'll give him a heads-up later. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask him for help."
"Okay."
After hanging up, Fatty asked me what we should do now, if we should go to the address Ni Li gave us.
I thought about it and said, "For now, I think this matter needs to be told to Zhu Li."
"Huh?" Fatty was taken aback, "Tell him? How can we tell him? What if he gets greedy for the treasure, and we're both..."
"Yang Hanxue said he's trustworthy..."
"You believe him just because he says so? I don't think that Yang fellow is a good person either."
I glanced at Fatty, "Yang Hanxue has saved me several times; he wouldn't harm me."
"Brother Xiang, this isn't like back home. If something happens to us here, only we can save ourselves," Fatty said.
Fatty's words made me waver a little. What he said wasn't unreasonable.
We were in the Philippines now, not back home. If anything truly happened, only we could handle it.
Yang Hanxue said Zhu Li was trustworthy, but we hadn't interacted with him for long.
The more I thought about it, the more annoyed I became, regretting even more why I had contacted Ni Li in the first place.
If she had asked me to go over that night and I hadn't, would all this trouble have been avoided?
Regret was useless now. I had already transported the gold out. If something went wrong, I likely wouldn't have a good time.
Although I didn't know if Zhu Li was trustworthy, if I proactively told him about this matter, even if he became greedy, he wouldn't kill me, would he?
The worst outcome would be him absconding with the gold. As for Ni Li, since he would have the gold, he would naturally find a way to deal with her.
After thinking it through, I realized it was my own greed at play.
Even though I claimed not to be interested in the gold, subconsciously, I still didn't want it to be exposed.
Once I made up my mind, I decided to call Zhu Li.
Seeing me talking to Zhu Li on the phone, Fatty completely deflated, sitting aside in silence.
I invited Zhu Li to the hotel and told him the whole story.
After listening, Zhu Li was clearly surprised.
"Did she tell you all this?"
I nodded, "Yes... Uncle Zhu, actually, I'm not very interested in that gold. You know my purpose for coming to the Philippines. I really don't want any trouble."
Zhu Li smiled helplessly, his smile looking a bit strange, a mix of amusement and exasperation.
I didn't understand why he had that expression at that moment.
"Xiao Xiang... it's also my fault. I shouldn't have let you stay in HeKou in the first place. Primarily, I had some matters to attend to a few days ago and wasn't at ease leaving you here," Zhu Li said.
"Uncle Zhu, this isn't your fault; it's all my fault," I sighed and handed him the note Ni Li had given me. "This is the contact person Gu Sao gave me. She told me to look for this person after bringing the gold out."
Zhu Li took it and glanced at it, "This person hasn't been in the Philippines for a long time."
"Hmm?" I was a little confused.
"Xiao Xiang, wait for me here. I need to go down to the car for a moment," Zhu Li said.
I nodded. As he left the room, Fatty came over and asked, "Brother Xiang, is he going to run off with the gold?"
"Can you wish for something good for a change?" I said.
"It's wise to guard against others. How about I go down and watch?"
"If you have the free time, can you make me a cup of tea?"
As we were talking, Zhu Li pushed the door open, carrying the iron box.
He placed the rusty iron box on the table and said, "This is the box of gold you brought out, isn't it?"
I nodded.
Zhu Li opened the box. There was still a lot of sand inside. In the middle of the sand were gold bars, shining like gold.
He took out two gold bars and handed one to me and one to Fatty, "Take a look."
I didn't understand what he meant and examined the gold bar.
"This isn't gold at all..." Zhu Li said.
At his words, Fatty and I were both surprised.
"This is all fake. These gold bars are all made of aluminum alloy. If you don't believe me, try biting them to see if you can bite through."
Fatty put the gold bar into his mouth and bit down, "Ouch! This is really hard!"
Seeing no marks on the gold bar, I looked at Zhu Li in confusion, "Uncle Zhu... what's going on?"
He gestured for us to sit down, then handed each of us a cigarette. After taking a puff, he said, "This is all old history. I just didn't expect her to still be kept in the dark."
Hearing Zhu Li's tone, I began to understand. It seemed that woman was most likely deceived.
Zhu Li began to tell us about the past. He said it was seven years ago, when Ni Li's husband was still alive and quite a figure in HeKou.
He usually helped the mine owners find buyers, acting as a salesman in today's terms.
"That guy, although he used to like gambling, he knew how to restrain himself. But after he got involved with drugs, his gambling addiction grew, and he owed a lot of debt. At that time, he even came to ask me for money..."
Zhu Li took a puff of his cigarette and pursed his lips. Seeing this, I quickly asked Fatty to fetch a cup of tea.
Zhu Li took a sip of tea and said, "To pay off his gambling debts, he set up a trap for the mine owners in HeKou. Everyone fell for it. He swallowed ten kilograms of gold all by himself. In the end, with nowhere else to turn, he played a trick to hide the sky... unfortunately, lies are always exposed."
"Uncle Zhu, what exactly happened? Can you tell us in detail?" I asked curiously.
He smiled slightly, "I can tell you, of course, but I need to tell you in advance that this cannot be told to anyone else. If people find out I told you, I'll be in trouble."
"Uncle Zhu, don't worry, Fatty and I will definitely not speak carelessly," I tugged at Fatty and said.
"Yes, you can rest assured, Brother Xiang and I have tight lips," Fatty said with a smile.