Born with Luck

"Too much grumbling will break your heart, but take the long view of the scenery! Look, in the end, we’ve bagged a fat one!" Fang Chao was so elated he even recited Chairman Mao’s poetry, plopping down on the edge of the hotel bed and gleefully eyeing the suitcase in front of him.

Liu Zhi gently patted the case, as if afraid of denting it, and said joyfully, "A million dollars—over sixty million yuan! I’ve never seen so much money in my life!"

"Huh? Your math skills are impressive. What a shame you didn’t join the statistics bureau."

"Did I calculate it wrong?"

"A million dollars is over six million yuan."

"Only six million?"

"Only six million? How much was that God of Wealth statue you moved? Have you ever gotten your hands on six million in your life?!"

"But... but six million split between us is just three hundred each. Buy a house, marry a wife, and it’s all gone." Liu Zhi sounded regretful.

Fang Chao gave him a sidelong glance. "Why do you need to marry a wife?"

"I... who doesn’t want to marry a wife?"

"I don’t!" Fang Chao pointed at himself and said earnestly, "Xiao Zhi, all your problems stem from lack of life experience and poor math skills. Marrying a wife is expensive. Do you know how much a real foot massage costs? The cheap ones are a few hundred, the good ones over a thousand. With three million, you could get thousands of foot massages—one a week for decades without repeating. Why would you still want a wife?"

"I—"

Fang Chao smirked. "Talking to you about the benefits of foot massages now is pointless. Tomorrow morning, we’ll leave Three Rivers Estuary, and I’ll take you for a few real foot massages! Until you don’t even want a wife anymore!"

"We’re leaving tomorrow morning?"

"What else?"

Liu Zhi pointed at Fang Chao’s pocket. "We still have Zhou Rong’s USB drive with his account books. He said he’s willing to pay to get it back. This deal isn’t done yet—how can we leave?"

Fang Chao shook his head. "Greed knows no bounds—do you know where that saying comes from? It’s talking about you. Three Rivers Estuary is Zhou Rong’s turf. He’s rich and powerful here. He says he’s willing to pay, but do you really dare to take it? We’ll leave Three Rivers Estuary first and deal with the USB later. As long as it’s in our hands, he won’t dare call the police. Money can’t all be earned—life is far more important than money. Ah, the gap in vision between people is vast. For this haul, you only see six million, but I see an entire business model."

"Business model?"

"Exactly. I’ve decided—from now on, we’ll target corrupt officials and wealthy people in small towns. These people have money, and it’s dirty. Cost-benefit-wise, robbing them is much better than robbing jewelry stores. Now that we have six million in seed money, why worry about this business not taking off? The market is huge, competition is minimal—whoever strikes first gets rich. Understand?"

Liu Zhi nodded eagerly. The two were too excited to sleep, lying in bed quietly fantasizing about their glorious future.

Let tomorrow come quickly. As long as they leave Three Rivers Estuary safely, this deal will be sealed.

At this moment, Fang Chao and Liu Zhi were overjoyed, but Gang Ge and Xiao Mao were deeply troubled.

The night was late. Gang Ge and Xiao Mao stood on either side of the table, staring blankly at the enormous black suitcase before them.Gang Ge's hand trembled as he reached out, pinched the zipper pull, and slowly unzipped the suitcase amidst his heavy breathing.

Although both of them had mentally prepared themselves, they couldn't help but take two steps back upon seeing the wide-eyed, blood-soaked corpse inside.

After a moment, they took a deep breath, steadied themselves, and moved back to the suitcase to examine its contents carefully.

Gang Ge cautiously extended his hand, gently turning the corpse's arm. Beneath it lay a cloth bundle. He grabbed it, feeling its weight as he lifted it. Gritting his teeth, he pulled the bundle out and unfolded it to reveal a small Chime Bell.

"What the hell is this junk?" He tossed it aside without a second thought.

Xiao Mao picked up the Chime Bell, studied it for a few moments, and concluded, "This must be the murder weapon!"

"With all this blood, wouldn't the weapon be a knife?"

"Probably bashed the victim to death with this first, then stabbed them with a knife. Otherwise, why leave it next to the body? Must've been planning to dump the body and then the weapon." Xiao Mao's analysis sounded plausible.

Gang Ge thought it over and nodded, then suddenly flew into a rage and slapped Xiao Mao across the head. "Dump the body, my ass! I told you to grab a few bags, not a fucking corpse!"

Xiao Mao dodged away, shielding his head, and whined in defense, "I... I didn't expect this either! That guy... that guy didn't look like a murderer at all. How was I supposed to know there was a corpse in his suitcase?"

"Didn't expect, didn't expect!" Gang Ge raised his hand to hit him again but paused when his gaze fell back on the corpse. He pursed his lips, thinking for a moment. "Now we've got no money and a whole lot of trouble instead."

"Gang Ge, maybe... maybe we should just call the police?"

"Call the police?" Gang Ge pondered for a few seconds. "If we report this, sure, the corpse won't be tied to us, but we'd still go down for driving a fake taxi and stealing stuff."

"But stealing is minor compared to murder. If we're talking jail time, theft gets us fewer years."

Gang Ge took a deep breath, then erupted again. "I didn't kill anyone! I didn't borrow any fucking loan shark money! Why should I go to jail because of you?"

"But... but you agreed to the fake taxi scheme too."

"Go to hell!" Gang Ge lunged at him, ready to throw punches.

"Bro, bro!" Xiao Mao begged, dodging. "Don't hit me yet—I've got an idea."

"Spit it out!"

"We just get rid of the suitcase. Problem solved."

"Get rid of it where?"

"Take it back where it came from. Drive back to where we started and dump it there."

Gang Ge shook his head after a moment's thought. "No good. If someone finds the suitcase, the cops will check the cameras, see our car dumping it, and we'll be screwed. They'll pin the murder on us for sure."

"Then we bury it somewhere deep, where no one will ever find it."

"This whole area's residential. Where are we gonna dig a deep hole?"

Xiao Mao thought for a moment. "We take a bus to the outskirts."

After some deliberation, Gang Ge realized this was their only option. They decided to take an early bus the next morning, transport the corpse to the outskirts, and bury it along with the suitcase.