"Four hundred and eighty, but I still need a stone slab in front of my door. You can just give me this one too," Li Chonglou said in standard Mandarin.
The old man, hunched over, looked at Li Chonglou suspiciously, unsure if he didn't understand or didn't grasp why he was only returning twenty yuan.
Within seconds, he suddenly realized.
So, it was a boss from out of town, not a local.
If it were a local, he would have to return at least two hundred. Outsiders were easier to bully.
Immediately, he chuckled and readily agreed, "Young man, take all four hundred and eighty!"
"Xiázi" was the dialect for "child" in Shuyu County.
The older generation preferred to use it to show their superior position.
Li Chonglou, without wasting any words, took out his wallet, pulled out five hundred yuan, and shoved it into the old man's hand, "Uncle, here's your change."
While the old man fumbled in his pocket, he and Huang Jian efficiently loaded the stone slab and the stone lion into the car.
The old man still hadn't found twenty yuan.
"Never mind, Uncle. You can keep the change. Buy yourself some cigarettes," Li Chonglou got out of the car and said, waving his hand at the old man's cracked, orange-peel-like face.
"What a kind person, what a kind person..." the old man praised repeatedly, moved.
Just then, on the slope of the mountain pass behind them, three Toyota Prados appeared.
They were imposing.
"Quite a few people are visiting the mountain gorge today," Huang Jian murmured, glancing back at the three cars.
Normally, you wouldn't see a single car there for half a day.
Further inside was undeveloped primeval forest, and the mountain road was only wide enough for one car and extremely steep.
At the summit, there was only a tea plantation called Gujizhai and a dilapidated temple.
Anyone with poor driving skills could risk their car being destroyed and their lives lost. These Prado drivers were probably here for off-roading.
"Get in," Li Chonglou, however, sensed something was wrong.
His eyesight was far superior to Huang Jian's. From a distance, he could see that the people in the cars were all radiating a violent aura, their expressions unfriendly. They clearly weren't off-road enthusiasts, but troublemakers.
Recalling that he had broken Zhao Hui's leg last night and Zhao Hui hadn't called the police, he suspected these people were sent by him.
They had actually tracked him to this deep mountain wilderness, so they must be planning something nefarious.
This area was the residential district of Shanxia Town, mostly populated by the elderly.
If a conflict broke out, they might be frightened or caught in the crossfire.
It would be best to find a desolate, uninhabited place to settle this.
"Are they... Zhao Hui's people?" Huang Jian finally caught on and quickly got into the car.
Li Chonglou waved goodbye to the old man and stepped on the accelerator.
"Young man, it's dangerous ahead, drive slower..." the old man called out from behind as they drove away in their direction.
One had to admit, in this ancient mountain town, people were pure-hearted.
They were selfish, perhaps, but not harmful.
In the rearview mirror, the three Prados behind them quickly caught up, traveling at least eighty yards per hour on this country road.
The elderly people by the roadside cursed in fear.
Li Chonglou also increased his speed significantly, making Huang Jian and Tian Lingli very nervous, while Zhou Yacheng remained nonchalant.
As a playboy from Qinzhou, he had long since tired of street racing and felt nothing.
"The road to Gujizhai ahead is too treacherous, we shouldn't go. Let's try to abandon the car and run," Huang Jian said, his heart in his throat as he looked at the increasingly steep mountain peaks.
Although Li Chonglou had shown remarkable bravery and fighting prowess last night, that was only against pampered young masters like Zhao Hui.
When faced with a dozen thugs, any normal person would falter.
The three of them weren't skilled fighters and couldn't help at all.
If the car continued like this, they would surely be caught with no escape.
It was better to stop the car early and rely on their legs to escape.
After all, in the mountains, nobody was familiar with the terrain, so at least the starting point would be fair.
"Can your bodies outrun those people?" Li Chonglou asked calmly, smiling. "At most a mile of mountain road, and you'll be exhausted."
"Then they'll grab you one by one, and you won't be able to run."
"Let's just go forward and see. As long as the road is passable, no matter how treacherous, we'll be fine."
As he spoke, Li Chonglou pressed harder on the accelerator.
Tian Lingli closed her eyes tightly, gasping for air in fear.
Huang Jian's face also turned pale, and he dared not say anything more.
"Exciting..." Zhou Yacheng poked his head out of the car window and gave a middle finger to the pursuing Prados behind him.
The Prado drivers were enraged, their faces contorted, cursing loudly.
The red flag car and the three Prados sped along the mountain road. Fortunately, there were no people on the road and no potholes from heavy vehicles, only some sharp turns, and they managed to get through without major incident.
However, as soon as they reached the foot of Gujizhai mountain, Li Chonglou understood why Huang Jian didn't want him to drive up the mountain.
This mountain road was completely different from before.
Looking around, it was only wide enough for one car, almost as if it wasn't built for cars at all, but rather a path for local mountain residents to ride motorcycles or walk up the mountain.
The incline was extremely steep, estimated to be at least 20 degrees, which was already the limit for everyday off-road vehicles to climb.
It was a slope so steep that when you drove, you couldn't see the ground, only the sky.
If there were some sharp turns ahead, it would indeed be extremely dangerous.
But for Li Chonglou, this was nothing.
With his Heavenly Eye activated, his vision was unobstructed.
Boom!
Without hesitation, he floored the accelerator and drove up the slope.
"Oh my god..." Huang Jian couldn't help but exclaim, gritting his teeth.
The drivers of the Prados behind them had eyes full of sinister ferocity. "These idiots are seeking their own doom, daring to go to Gujizhai."
"Then we'll deal with him there. We'll just drive his car off the cliff, saving me the trouble of doing it myself."
As locals, they naturally knew the dangers of Gujizhai.
Even most off-road enthusiasts didn't dare to venture here, as there was a cliff on the side. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, they would be fine, but one slip meant utter destruction.
With their minds made up, the three Prados accelerated together, the roar of their engines echoing through the wilderness.
Li Chonglou's lips curved into a smile. He switched the automatic transmission to manual mode, engaged second gear, and the accelerator let out a beast-like roar.
Despite being a domestic car, it was not inferior.
The car ran almost scraping the cliff face. At a 180-degree hairpin turn ahead, Li Chonglou violently turned the steering wheel.
Without slowing down, the rear of the car instantly swung out.
He executed a drift turn.
Tian Lingli and Huang Jian screamed, clutching the handrails in terror.
Even Zhou Yacheng's face tightened. "Brother... Brother, let's slow down, no rush."
The Prados behind were stunned, their eyes bulging: "Wh... What's going on? How can a broken Hongqi car drift on a mountain road like this?"
"Am I hallucinating?"
"Boss, I saw it too..."
"Is this even human? How are we supposed to chase this?"
...
Suddenly, the Prado cars erupted in chaos, and even the leader of the first car felt a sense of regret.
But having already entered the mountain road, there was no turning back. They had to keep up.
"No matter how good the driving skills, keep up. The road at the top of Gujizhai has continuous winding turns. That will be his death!" the leader said viciously, his eyes full of malevolence.