Five or six minutes later, Fang Bai saw three people walking towards him, one of whom was the driver.
He walked at the front, followed by two middle-aged men. One of them was pushing a wooden wheelbarrow, which seemed to hold repair tools.
Seeing this, Fang Bai realized it was unlikely to cause trouble, so he breathed a sigh of relief and got out of the car to wait for Zhang Guoping to come over.
"How is it?"
"They said they can fix it. Let them take a look first," Zhang Guoping said calmly, then glanced at the two men behind him and cursed in a low voice, "Damn it, we're being ripped off!"
Upon hearing this, Fang Bai felt a bit angry, but could only comfort him in a low voice: "There's nothing we can do. If they can fix it, just let them."
The two spoke in low voices, and when the two men behind them approached, they stopped talking.
Zhang Guoping led the two men to the punctured tire and explained the situation of the punctured tire to the bald man who wasn't pushing the cart.
After explaining the situation, he still tried to haggle: "Boss, this tire is punctured. Does it really cost fifty yuan to fix?"
"That's the price. Didn't we just agree? Replacing the inner tube is too much trouble, and it's a big truck. We also came all this way. If you think it's expensive, find another shop to replace it," the bald man said with a hint of impatience.
"Alright then, you fix it. But you need to give me a certificate when it's done, otherwise I can't get reimbursed."
"I'm illiterate, I can't write," the bald man refused.
"Alright then, just fix it."
Zhang Guoping naturally had a way to get the repair fees reimbursed. The tire repair would leave a trace, and he just needed Fang Bai to help write a certificate. He guessed the man's illiteracy was fake; he just didn't want to leave any evidence.
Fang Bai stood aside, observing the bald man and his accomplice. The bald man had a tattoo on his arm, an eagle's head, but it was poorly carved, with a straight beak and lifeless eyes, looking very much like a rooster without a comb.
Haha, a rooster without a comb, it loses all its prestige. What's the difference between it and a eunuch chicken?
Thinking of this, Fang Bai almost laughed out loud, but he tried hard to suppress it.
The other person was ordinary, subservient to the bald man, like a follower.
Listening to their conversation, Fang Bai was surprised by the car repair price they quoted. No wonder Zhang Guoping said they were being ripped off.
Damn it, fifty yuan isn't cheap. They really dared to ask for that much.
But there was nothing they could do. They were convinced there were no other repair shops nearby. If they didn't get it fixed by them, the driver would have to fix it himself, and car repair was very troublesome.
Fang Bai chuckled, offered the bald man a cigarette, and shook his hand, trying to gauge what the other party was thinking.
It was true; the spike was thrown by the bald man.
Alas, truly ruthless.
But they were helpless. Fang Bai and the others could only suffer the loss, even if it wasn't Fang Bai's money being spent.
The bald man saw a young man greeting him so warmly and even offering a cigarette, and he felt much more amiable.
The car, well, he'd fix it properly.
But the money, he'd still collect it.
More than half an hour later, the tire was repaired and replaced. After Zhang Guoping checked and confirmed there were no problems, he gave the repair money to the bald man. Fang Bai also checked that the inner tube was properly patched.
The two started the car and drove away. Just a hundred meters or so after they had left the bald man behind, Fang Bai said to Zhang Guoping meaningfully, "Brother Zhang, their repair shop isn't far from here, is it?"
"About two or three kilometers."
"Is it by the road?"
"Yes."
"Let's pull over there."
Fang Bai chuckled. In fact, even without asking Zhang Guoping, he already knew the location of the repair shop through the bald man, and he also knew some things he shouldn't have known.
Zhang Guoping was stunned for a moment, then seemed to understand and also showed a smile: "What do you want to do?"
"You just went there. The shop should be empty now, right?"
"Yes, and there's no one around either. You're not thinking of..."
Fang Bai interrupted his guess: "Don't overthink it. Just drive over there first."
A few minutes later, the truck stopped about ten meters behind the repair shop by the roadside. Fang Bai observed for a moment and confirmed that there were indeed no pedestrians passing by, only occasional cars.
The repair shop was a simple structure made of asbestos tiles and wooden boards, about several tens of square meters. Outside, a sign stood, "Guang Touqiang's Repair Station."
Looking further back, the view behind was obscured by lush trees after about a hundred meters at most.
Observing this, Fang Bai felt relieved.
"Brother Zhang, wait for me. I'll be back in five minutes at most. It'll take them at least ten minutes to push the cart back," Fang Bai took two plastic bags from the car, which were originally used for fruit.
After jumping out of the car, he jogged towards the repair shop.
Zhang Guoping had only been guessing at first, but when he saw Fang Bai actually running towards the repair shop, he couldn't help but laugh: "Damn, this young man is quite cunning!"
He couldn't guess what Fang Bai was going to do inside, but it definitely wouldn't be anything good for that bald man.
Just now, Fang Bai had observed the surroundings because he was afraid Guang Touqiang would return too quickly and see their car parked at his shop.
But in the current situation, they couldn't see anything. Those two were probably slowly walking back.
Fang Bai, meanwhile, arrived at the shop door and saw that the simple wooden door was already locked with an iron chain.
However, with a tug, a person could squeeze through the gap between the door and the doorpost.
Fang Bai put on the plastic bags, not wanting to leave any fingerprints.
As for shoe prints, there were so many around, he couldn't worry about that much.
Would a bandit who had just been released from prison for a year dare to call the police?
Fang Bai squeezed into the house, went to the bedside, pulled out an earthenware pot from under the bed, and poured out all its contents, which amounted to about two or three hundred yuan.
This was all Guang Touqiang's money, and Fang Bai didn't hesitate to take it all.
He planned to use it all for good deeds, and he couldn't tell Zhang Guoping or compensate him.
Telling Zhang Guoping would be like telling him that he had "taken" the money.
Besides, this was unexpected wealth obtained through his true abilities.
Fang Bai put the jar back in its original place, scanned the room, and saw a rooster with its legs tied in a corner of the wall. This was what Guang Touqiang had bought from the market that morning, and Fang Bai took it directly.
As he walked to the door, he thought for a moment. If the man came back and didn't see the chicken, he'd probably guess a thief had been there.
Or, when Guang Touqiang put the money in the jar, he'd probably realize the money was gone very quickly too.
He walked back and wrote a few words on the muddy ground at the corner of the bed with a stone: Han Li was here!
Seeing the toilet paper by the bed, and a puddle of chicken droppings on the floor where the chicken had been, Fang Bai had an idea. He poked the chicken droppings with the paper, then used two small sticks to hold the paper and stuffed it back into the jar.
"Oh, am I being a bit disgusting here?"
"It seems like, this isn't a big deal. I just wonder what kind of expression Guang Touqiang will have when he reaches into the jar for money and pulls out a wad of damp paper, haha..."
After finishing all this, Fang Bai went to the door, peeked out through the crack a few times, and seeing no pedestrians, he quickly squeezed out the door and left the repair shop.
The rooster, when Guang Touqiang had thrown it on the ground earlier, was so scared it squirted out a pile of droppings.
It had been lying comfortably that morning, but then it found itself with a new person, who picked it up again. It crowed twice in displeasure, but Fang Bai clamped its beak with his hand, and it couldn't make a sound anymore.
Zhang Guoping, who was in the car, had been watching the repair shop. He saw Fang Bai slip into the shop, and then slip out again in less than two minutes.
Only, he had a chicken in his hand!
Is that all?
However, this also made him burst into laughter and wave at him.
Fang Bai took the chicken and got directly into the passenger seat, throwing the chicken under the seat. He calmly said to Zhang Guoping: "Let's drive away from here first."
The car started again. After driving for a kilometer, Fang Bai finally said: "Brother Zhang, I found a chicken by the roadside. You can take it home tonight to nourish yourself."
And as for the chicken, if Zhang Guoping took it, then he would be an "accomplice."
No, they were eliminating a menace for the people.
Zhang Guoping heard this and couldn't help but laugh. What Fang Bai said was too funny, "found by the roadside."
He grinned mischievously: "You don't want it?"
"My family is from the countryside, we don't lack chickens. If you don't want it, I'll throw it away, you know."
"Haha, it would be a pity to throw it away. I'll take it back tonight and stir-fry it. I'll nourish myself well," Zhang Guoping laughed. Fang Bai had vented his anger for him, and being able to steal a chicken was also good.
No, it was found by the roadside, as Fang Bai had just said, and he had seen it too.
Zhang Guoping felt that Fang Bai was a very good person: brave, loyal, and not greedy. Such a person was worth befriending.
The two drove happily towards Wen City, and by five o'clock in the afternoon, they finally arrived in Wen City.