Chapter 49: Lin Qi’s Old Acquaintance

Both host and guests were pleased. Baron Milo personally walked Blackbeard’s party out the main gate of his mansion. In Dun Er Ke, very few people had the face to make Baron Milo take the trouble to walk them to the gate to see them off. If he hadn’t misunderstood Blackbeard’s plans, and if the gifts Blackbeard gave this time weren’t extremely valuable, Baron Milo would have only seen them to the front door of the hall at most.

After saying goodbye to Baron Milo, who was in a very good mood, Blackbeard took Lin Qi to visit several other leading figures in Dun Er Ke.

For example, the chairman of the Dun Er Ke Bankers’ Salon, several directors of the Dun Er Ke United Chamber of Commerce, and the head of the Dun Er Ke Ocean Freight Shipowners’ Association, among others. He solemnly introduced Lin Qi to these people. The unusual pairing of Lin Qi and Enzo made these shrewd important figures think of many things.

Anyone with the slightest bit of sense misunderstood Enzo’s identity. They all mistook Enzo to be the Black Tiger Family’s cultivated military representative. With the wealth and power in Blackbeard’s hands, plus Lin Qi and Enzo—two outstanding young men—the rise of the Black Tiger Family seemed unstoppable.

Since it was unstoppable, these shrewd merchants naturally wanted to jump on board and reap as many benefits as they could.

So Blackbeard intentionally or unintentionally brought up the issue of his running for mayor. And these people, like Baron Milo, gave Blackbeard very firm assurances. As long as Blackbeard announced his candidacy for mayor, all these people he visited today would become his supporters, and everyone would use their utmost ability to ensure Blackbeard came to power.

When the sky was growing dark, a satisfied Blackbeard returned to Black Beech Mountain with Butcher Knife and his other attendants, as many matters still required his attention. But Lin Qi didn’t go back with Blackbeard. In Lin Qi’s words, he wanted to let Enzo see the bustling sights of Dun Er Ke, and at the same time, earn a bit of pocket money.

Treading on the crunching snow, Lin Qi and Enzo walked along the busiest street of Dun Er Ke’s port area. On their left was the sea, where some very large fishing boats were entering the harbor. Many fishmongers were shouting and rushing onto these boats, picking out the catches that interested them. One lucky fishing boat had caught an enormous tuna. By the look of its size, it must have weighed at least two thousand jin. This rare catch immediately caused a stir across the whole port. All the fishmongers were frantically bidding, fighting over the ownership of this tuna.

“Such a big fish!” Enzo, seeing the ocean and this kind of scene for the first time, couldn’t help exclaiming in surprise. Everything here felt too new to him.

“What’s so special about that? It’s just a big one among tunas. You haven’t seen a truly huge fish!” Lin Qi had his hands in his pockets, standing under a street lamp and looking at the fishing boat not far away. He curled his lip and said disdainfully, “When I was eleven, someone caught a fin whale. That was a true giant!”

Smacking his lips, Lin Qi described to Enzo the immense size of that fin whale. Then, not without a bit of boasting, he said, “My father had the bones of that fin whale made into a specimen and donated it to the City Hall. It’s still on display in the main hall of the City Hall. As for the meat of that unlucky fellow—it tasted pretty good, as tender as the finest veal. I even found a very large pearl oyster inside its belly. I took out seven pearls, each as big as a thumb!”

“Pearls?” Enzo raised his eyebrows. “Pearls as big as thumbs? Those must be very valuable!”

Spreading his hands, Lin Qi sighed. “When my personal maid Maria got married, I gave those seven pearls to her as a dowry.”

“Personal maid?” Enzo cried out in surprise. “You have a personal maid? Good heavens, boss, you really are a young master from a wealthy family!”

Enzo was so jealous his eyes turned red. Lin Qi’s ancestral residence was impressive, but Enzo hadn’t reacted too strongly—no matter how wealthy and powerful Lin Qi’s family was, that was Lin Qi’s. But Lin Qi actually had a personal maid—that made Enzo feel very unbalanced! A personal maid—the kind that, according to rumor, always had both emotional and physical interactions with young noble masters!

Lin Qi shrugged. He let out a sharp whistle, then sighed deeply. “Maria and I were pure! Absolutely pure! She started taking care of me when I was five. She was a full seven years older than me! She was a maid adopted by my mother. We were pure!”

Suddenly turning around, Lin Qi looked at Enzo and said coldly, “You know what? Do you know why I gouged out Arthur’s eye? Because he dared to lay hands on Maria! He actually dared to have such thoughts about the personal maid my mother left for me. That’s why I made a move on him. But unfortunately, my father arrived too quickly. I hadn’t managed to kill him yet when my father saved him.”

Giving a sinister laugh, Lin Qi muttered under his breath, “His purple eyeball was very pretty. I remember I preserved it in a medicinal solution as a specimen, but I don’t know where it ended up later. What a shame—it was a very beautiful purple eyeball!”

Enzo’s scalp went numb. He looked at Lin Qi, unable to imagine that a teenager could personally gouge out someone’s eye just because the personal maid his mother left him was harassed! Enzo couldn’t help sighing deeply. “Boss, I’m really curious what kind of person you were in your youth. At least at your age, I couldn’t have done something like that.”

Curling his lip, Lin Qi laughed loudly. “That’s exactly why I’m bringing you to see and experience it! Meet some friends, and then earn some pocket money. Then you’ll know what I was like back then!”

The sea fish from the fishing boat’s hold were being carried out basket by basket by the fishmongers. The air began to fill with a pungent fishy smell. Lin Qi took a deep, intoxicated breath of this distinctive harbor air. Laughing heartily, he dragged Enzo into a narrow alley.

This alley was winding and quite secluded, but it was kept very clean. The path was sprinkled with salt and carefully carved with anti-slip patterns, making it comfortable to walk on. Every few steps, there was a street lamp on the wall made of polished, semi-transparent shells. The light wasn’t very bright, just enough to illuminate the path ahead.

After walking along the alley for a while, they reached the end, where there was a golden door. The door was carved with elaborate rose patterns and shimmered with a sparkling golden light under the lamps. Enzo’s eyes widened abruptly. He instinctively touched the door. Sure enough, this door was actually made of pure gold.

Lin Qi rubbed his hands together excitedly. He kicked the door proudly.

“Hey, hey, open up! Master Lin Qi is here for his pocket money! Oh, it’s been three years—you must have missed me terribly, right?”

After a full minute, the door slowly and hesitantly opened. Two young men with very unpleasant expressions carefully poked their heads out through the crack. The moment they saw Lin Qi, both of them swore at the same time.

“God, it really is Lin Qi! Damn it!”