Chapter 1 An Unlucky Start

Just arriving in Thailand and encountering this kind of thing, Uncle Mei and I both felt incredibly unlucky.

Uncle Mei frowned and said, "Damn, is this driver trying to rip us off because he thinks we don't understand Thai? Old Liu clearly paid the fare already, why is he still asking for money?"

That's what I thought too at the time. I figured this driver was playing dumb on purpose, and coupled with the long and tiring journey, plus Xiaobo, who was supposed to pick us up, was nowhere to be seen, I got a little annoyed and couldn't help but push the driver.

The driver seemed quite wronged, glaring at us and shouting loudly in Thai, gesturing wildly with his hands, not sure what he wanted.

Uncle Mei panicked a little and said softly, "Rongsheng, forget it. A strong dragon can't suppress a local snake. We're new here, let's not argue with the locals. Doesn't he just want money? Fine, we'll give it to him again."

"How can we do that?" I immediately shook my head and said, "We already gave him the money. Why should we give it again?"

After all, we were both short on cash at the time, and we needed the money to treat Little Mei's illness.

Just as we were in a chaotic mess, a tall, thin man suddenly walked over from across the street. After he approached, he exchanged a few words with the driver in Thai, then immediately took out his wallet, pulled out two small-denomination bills, and handed them to him.

The driver took the money, immediately changed his expression, stopped making a fuss, nodded with a smile, and then drove away.

Uncle Mei and I were dumbfounded, not knowing what had happened. Then the thin man turned around, looked at us, and said in Chinese with a southern accent, "You must be Uncle Mei and Little Chen, right? Pleased to meet you. I'm Yu Xiaobo. Mr. Song sent me to welcome you."

Sixth Uncle's surname was Song, so Mr. Song was naturally him.

Uncle Mei and I felt like we'd met a savior, and we quickly grabbed his hand and thanked him several times, not even bothering to hold his lateness against him.

Then Uncle Mei couldn't help but ask, "Xiaobo, what just happened? Before, Old Liu... ahem, before Mr. Song clearly paid the fare for us, why was that driver still asking us for money?"

Yu Xiaobo chuckled and explained, "That was a tip, not the fare. Here, when you take a taxi, eat a meal, or whatever, you have to give a tip in addition to the money you're supposed to pay. Usually, ten to twenty percent is enough. The driver was asking you for a tip."

"What? A tip? There's such a thing?" Uncle Mei stared in surprise.

Not only had Uncle Mei never heard of it, but it was also the first time I'd heard of the concept of a "tip." After all, there was no such custom back in China.

Yu Xiaobo saw the look of disbelief on our faces and said with a chuckle, "It's a bad habit learned from those capitalist countries. I don't like giving tips either, but there's nothing we can do about it. When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

Uncle Mei and I quickly nodded and said, "Right, right, when in Rome, do as the Romans do."

Then Yu Xiaobo asked, "By the way, did you eat after you got off the plane?"

I said we hadn't. We came straight here after getting off the plane. Sixth Uncle said we'd be able to board the ship in the evening.

Yu Xiaobo pointed to a night market not far away and said, "Let's go grab some snacks first. The snacks in Thailand are pretty good. Once you're on the ship, you won't be able to eat anything so fresh. Let's fill our stomachs first, that's the most important thing."

After speaking, he led Uncle Mei and me to the nearby night market and told us to pick whatever we wanted to eat.

The night market here was a bit like the night market back in my hometown, but there was a lot more seafood, countless fish, shrimp, crabs, and other seafood, and it was all very fresh.

Uncle Mei and I both grew up by the river, so we were naturally interested in these aquatic products. Plus, we were a bit hungry after the long journey, so we had a big meal at the night market.

In addition to seafood like fish and shrimp, there was also a special snack here. I don't know what it's called, but it's a mix of fruits, vegetables, shrimp, chili peppers, and other things, all mixed together with a little lemon juice. It's sour and spicy, and the taste is very good. I ate it once and still remember it to this day.

Of course, Yu Xiaobo paid for all the food. Uncle Mei and I also spent some of the local currency we had on us. A few times I wanted to pay, but Yu Xiaobo stopped me.

He said that Mr. Song, or Sixth Uncle, had given him a reception fee in advance, and he was responsible for hosting us, so we didn't need to pay.

After stuffing ourselves at the night market, we walked towards the pier, feeling satisfied.

On the way, we passed through a place that looked like a rural-urban fringe area. All along the street, we could see young women dressed in revealing clothing, heavily made up, and with very attractive figures.

Those women would occasionally give us three men an ambiguous smile, and some of the more outgoing ones would even wave at us or whistle at us.

Yu Xiaobo smiled and asked Uncle Mei and me, "Now that you're full, do you want to relax a bit? We don't know how many days we'll be at sea on this trip. It's best to get it all out of your system before boarding the ship."

After speaking, he glanced at the seductive women standing under the streetlights and introduced us, "One thing you can say about this place is that there are plenty of beauties, cute ones, voluptuous ones, tall ones, short ones, fat ones, thin ones, all kinds. If you want to try something fresh, there are also local specialties, female *yaos* that you can't find anywhere else..."

My father-in-law was standing right next to me, how could I dare to nod? I quickly waved my hand and said, "No need, no need, we don't need that kind of thing."

Yu Xiaobo put his arm around my shoulder and said, "Little Chen, don't be shy. Mr. Song gave us some activity money in advance. It's enough for you to have some fun, so don't worry about that."

I shook my head again and said, "Really, no need. I'm not being polite."

Uncle Mei also spoke up and said, "Xiaobo, we're not being polite, we really don't have that kind of idea. We've come all this way from home just to make some money, and once we make it, we'll leave."

Seeing that we weren't just being polite, Yu Xiaobo quickly said with a chuckle, "Alright, alright, since you two aren't interested, I won't force you. But allow me to say one more thing, it's not easy to come out here, why not enjoy yourselves? Once this opportunity passes, you won't get another one. We work our butts off all year long just to make money and have some fun, right? Otherwise, what's the point of living?"

What Yu Xiaobo said made some sense, and Uncle Mei and I nodded in agreement.

Soon we passed through this street of passion filled with wild blossoms and arrived at the pier.

Yu Xiaobo led us onto a ferry, which took us to a large ship in the distance.

I saw that this large ship didn't look like a professional archaeological salvage ship, but rather like a fishing boat. Then I thought about it again, and I understood. This ship was using deep-sea fishing as a cover to go and salvage treasure.

In that case, I couldn't help but feel uneasy—didn't that mean that this salvage operation was risky?

I quickly asked Yu Xiaobo, "Brother Bo, are we disguised as fishermen to go and salvage? Won't we get caught and exposed?"