Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 28 The Fat Guy Finally Joins

Shirley Yang looked at the fat man expectantly. If this fat gentleman was also a person with profound skills, then I had met three experts. With their help, why would I be afraid of not finding the secret of the Ghost Eye Curse? As long as the fat man was capable, she didn't mind paying tens of thousands of dollars more.

Hearing Shirley Yang's words, the fat man felt as if he had been trampled by a thousand horses, and he almost exploded.

"My brother here is a great shot."

Huba saw that Shirley Yang was testing the fat man, so he quickly spoke up.

He knew the fat man didn't understand feng shui, nor did he have any other skills; his only talent was his marksmanship. What he didn't know was that Shirley Yang despised marksmanship the most.

When it comes to marksmanship, who here dares to compare with her!
"We don't need marksmanship!" The fat man was about to boast about how awesome his marksmanship was, but Yang Xueli's words shut him up completely.

People say you don't need someone with great marksmanship, so if you're bragging about your marksmanship, isn't that just pointless?

Seeing the fat man's appearance, Yang Xueli was clearly disappointed, realizing he didn't possess any profound skills. She turned to Hu Bayi and Hu Ming and said, "I'm sorry, your friends don't have any special talents and don't meet our requirements."

"Fine, I won't go then. Who cares?" the fat man snorted, then added irritably, "Even if you begged me, I still wouldn't go."

At this point, he looked at his two brothers and said, "Old Hu, Mingzi, go ahead. I will wait for your return."

"Miss Yang, my brother here is skilled and daring. The desert is full of dangers, and he can protect us and clear the way for us. We need someone like him!"

Hu Bayi said sternly to Shirley Yang, "The meaning is very clear: none of us three brothers can be left behind. You either take all three of us with you, or none of us will come with you."

Yang Xueli frowned slightly, pondered, and decided to agree to go with the fat man, even if it meant having another glutton.

"Fatty, bring out the spoils you got from suppressing bandits in the Western Regions. Let them see how good your marksmanship is." Hu Ming took a sip of tea, smiled faintly, and said that whoever he wanted to send was just a matter of a word from him.

Spoils of war? The fat man thought for a moment, "When did I go to the Western Regions to suppress bandits? Spoils of war, please?"
Um!?
"It's my family's heirloom jade," the fat man chuckled. "Fine, let's see if you underestimate me."

Taking the jade pendant off his neck, the fat man held up the heptagonal jade in front of Yang Xueli and Professor Chen, saying, "See this? This jade is from when I was suppressing bandits in the Western Regions. I was carrying a Type 38 rifle and fighting against more than 300 bandits. The scene was incredibly fierce. I was firing my gun while charging forward, and I even held a bugle in one hand to sound the battle cry."

Hu Bayi was embarrassed for the fat man, while Hu Ming facepalmed. But he noticed that Yang Xueli and Professor Chen's eyes were fixed on the jade pendant in the fat man's hand, following it wherever it was.

"Hey Fatty, where did you get this jade?" Professor Chen interrupted the chubby guy who was bragging. Come on, you weren't listening to what I was saying, were you?

"As Fatty said, it's spoils of war that Fatty seized during the final battle against the bandits. Fatty fought a bloody battle back then..."

Hao Aiguo, unable to bear it any longer, interrupted the fat man again, "Comrade Fatty, may I ask what year you were born? I remember the Western Region bandits were thirty years ago, before you were even born, right?"

Uh! The fat man was speechless for a moment, not knowing how to respond. Hu Ming, standing to the side, couldn't help but twitch his lips, barely suppressing a laugh.

However, Hao Aiguo didn't continue arguing with the fat man. He noticed that Professor Chen and Shirley Yang looked strange, so he stared at the jade pendant. There was a small square hole in the middle of the heptagonal jade pendant. The fat man had threaded a small red string through the hole, and the small red string was covered in dirt.

It was obvious that the fat man hadn't washed the red string in a long time. The jade pendant was intricately carved on the front, interspersed with many blood-red patterns. Around the small hole were four ancient symbols that resembled characters but weren't. Upon closer inspection, however, they did look like characters.
No one knew what it was. Seeing that everyone was staring at his jade pendant, the fat man became even more smug. He turned the jade pendant over so that the back was facing him.

The back is engraved with a miniature ancient city. The craftsmanship is exquisite. Although the ancient city is engraved on a piece of jade that is only four centimeters in size, its magnificent aura is awe-inspiring.

Professor Chen, his body trembling and his lips quivering, looked at Shirley Yang, his slightly cloudy eyes brightening.

Yang Xueli was in no better shape; her pretty face was filled with horror, and she could hardly breathe. She took a deep breath, nodded slightly to Professor Chen, and said to the fat man, "Mr. Wang, I am willing to pay a high price for this jade. Just say the word."

"Not for sale." The fat man refused without hesitation. "Hey, I'd rather give it to my brother and throw him in the river than sell it to you. Goodbye, Fatty has to go home."

"Hey, Fatty, please wait a moment." Professor Chen grabbed the fat man and held him tightly, refusing to let him leave, pleadingly asking, "Can we borrow the jade pendant to take a look?"

"Okay, just don't break it." Professor Chen took the jade pendant and walked away with Shirley Yang. He carefully examined the ancient city on the back of the pendant with a magnifying glass, and then looked at the text on the front. It wasn't until more than ten minutes later that the two returned.

Upon returning, Yang Shirley smiled politely at the fat man, "Mr. Fatty, Mr. Wang and Mr. Hu are experts in feng shui. However, you are a good marksman and have even fought bandits. We'd like to hire you as our protector and have you join our archaeological team. The reward is $30,000, and it will double if you find the Jingjue Ancient City. What do you think?"

What? Fatty doubted if he'd heard correctly. They agreed to go to the Jingjue Ancient City? And they'd even give him a reward of 30,000 US dollars. Although it was less than what Huba and the others received, Fatty knew his own worth.

At this moment, Hu Ming shook his head and said, "Miss Yang, you've given me too low a price."

Upon hearing this, Yang Xueli raised her eyebrows and said, "Is there something special about Mr. Wang, like you?"

Hu Ming said, "Although Fatty doesn't know anything about feng shui or anything like that, whether we can enter the Jingjue Ancient City depends on Fatty's family heirloom. Without this thing, we won't be able to enter the Jingjue Ancient City even if we find it."

Professor Chen and Yang Xueli were all surprised and said, "You mean Mr. Wang's jade pendant is the key to unlocking the ancient city of Jingjue?"

Hu Ming nodded and continued, "Not only that, Fatty's fighting skills are also quite good. Our team has three young people and two professors, so it's going to be tough just for me and Old Hu. Besides, there are quite a few wolves, snakes, and other animals in the desert."

Upon hearing this, Yang Xueli nodded and said, "Then Mr. Wang, how about you do the same as Mr. Hu?"

After pretending to think for a moment, the fat man said, "Alright, I'll reluctantly go with you."

Hu Bayi rolled his eyes at him upon hearing this.

(End of this chapter)