Chapter 16: Making Money
Life requires planning, revenge requires planning.
Since John was murdered, his short-term goal must be to kill the murderer's family. The sorrow has passed, but the hatred will remain forever. To kill the murderer's family, he must first know the murderer's identity. To know the murderer's identity, he must first have resources. To gain certain social and judicial resources, he must first have money. To have money, he must first ensure that he will not starve to death.
What Liang Xi regretted most was that he did not accumulate certain social resources from the upper class when he was running errands and working as an assistant in the previous few years.
The first step of Liang Xi's revenge plan: earning a living. It is impossible to work as a part-time worker, as working can only provide food and clothing, so he must start a business. Starting a business is risky, so he should choose a career with the smallest investment and the highest income.
I did it right away. I bought a folding table, a few decks of playing cards, bowls and beans, and drove my Beetle to Burning Park to set up a stall. I put a hat on the table and started to perform close-up poker magic.
The counterpart of close-up magic is mechanical magic. Mechanical magic has many tricks, such as the shameless magnet, the medium-shameful projector, the shameful electric saw, and so on. Close-up magic mainly relies on sleight of hand. This is especially true for bean magic, which is simply stealing beans, stealing the beans and hiding them in the hands in full view of the public.
Today is Sunday, and there are many visitors in the park. At first, the magic booth attracted only a few children to watch, but soon, the children's exclamations attracted adults to stop and watch Liang Xi and the children perform interactive magic. The most attractive part of magic is: how is it done? Once the audience has this idea, the magic show is successful. Considering the ethics of magic, the process of performing magic is not described in detail.
The income was pretty good, with one pound as the main force. During this period, there was a blonde girl who was as cute as Barbie, very supportive, and kept clapping. Liang Xi also took good care of her and played with her alone many times. This is where the detective is damned. Liang Xi found out at a glance that the little girl was wearing a wig, and after a few words of interaction, he knew that she was sick.
The little girl liked the bean magic very much, but the poker magic attracted the majority of the audience. With the tilt of the playing method, and the violin and piano players nearby, the income gradually decreased. However, the smile on the little girl's face and the constant clucking of the hen made Liang Xi very happy. After her mother reminded her many times, the little girl reluctantly shook hands with Liang Xi and said goodbye. Before leaving, the little girl's father put a fifty-pound note in his hat and shook hands with Liang Xi to express his gratitude.
Sitting on a bench on one side was a man in a suit with brown curly hair. He was about 35 years old and dressed like a Wall Street white collar. His beard was as neatly groomed as his hair. While he was sitting on the bench watching magic for half an hour, at least three crazy women asked him for his phone number. Liang Xi couldn't deny that this guy had the charm of a typical uncle. In a TV series he would either be the first or second male lead.
In the evening, Liang Xi began to pack up his stall. The man walked up to Liang Xi, extended his hand and introduced himself: "My name is Charlie."
Liang Xi looked at the man named Charlie and shook hands with him: "My name is Richard." He forced a social smile. He didn't give him any money, and he didn't want to get close to him.
Charlie didn't care and asked, "If it's convenient, can I treat you to dinner?"
Liang Xi laughed and said, "You misunderstood. I don't have any inclinations in any particular direction."
Charlie also forced a smile this time: "Me neither."
Liang Xi: "Then why should I eat?" If you throw in fifty pounds, I can eat. But you didn't give me a penny, tricked me into the restaurant, ran away into the bathroom, and left me to pay the bill. Who can I cry to?
Charlie wanted to talk to him about something? Maybe he did, maybe not. If he did, he would always tell him. If not, he had no interest in having dinner with a handsome old man as a supporting actor. This was the basic logic of Liang Xi's thinking.
Charlie really had something to do, and said, “I want you to find someone.”
Liang Xi said: "I'm not looking for anyone."
Charlie asked, "Aren't you a detective from the Rose Detective Agency?"
Liang Xi replied: "The Rose Detective Agency is not looking for anyone. If you are looking for someone, turn right at the corner. There is a private detective agency over there."
Charlie laughed angrily: "So what do you usually do for work?"
Liang Xi asked back: "I have a job, do I need to come out and perform magic?" When his attitude was getting worse and worse, the other party remained patient, which showed that he wanted a lot of things. A person would never ask for a lot of things from me just because of magic. Charlie must have checked my background. The only part of my background that could give Charlie a lot of things was the thief part. Therefore, Liang Xi could basically judge that Charlie was not a good person.
Charlie stroked his beard and wondered, Liang Xi was always nice to everyone when performing magic, and even acted silly to make a child laugh. Why was he so rude to himself?
After Liang Xi packed up his stall, he looked at Charlie and said, "I am just a law-abiding person with no desire to get rich. Goodbye."
Charlie raised his hand, watched Liang Xi leave, and made a phone call: "Liu Shu, how much money is in his account?"
Willow replied: "5 pounds."
Charlie asked in surprise, "Only five pounds in the whole account?"
Willow replied, "Except for the information I can't find in outer space, yes. Birch, are you satisfied with him?"
Charlie said, "Satisfied, but he is not satisfied with me. Five pounds means he is not of the same kind as us. Help me find the next candidate."
…
"Hello!" Liang Xi answered the phone.
"Liang Xi?"
"right."
"I'm Liu Zhen from the Police Department. We need an interpreter to assist us. Are you free now?"
"have."
"Do you drive?"
"Yes."
"Go to Pier 2 and pull over after you cross the railroad line."
"OK."
Today was a good day. Liang Xi had just finished ordering his magic tricks and was considering where to go for a big meal when he got a call for a part-time job. However, the meeting place didn't sound very good. It didn't look like a document translation job. If it was just oral translation, he wouldn't make much money. The job Liang Xi wanted most was a job that the police asked him to translate all the books in the British Library.
Working 10 hours a day, 800 pounds a day, that's 24,000 pounds a month . I'd wake up laughing in my dreams. Money is secondary, the main thing is to help the police maintain social order and stability.
…
After crossing the railway line, Liang Xi pulled over and waited for a while. A woman in her thirties in plain clothes opened the passenger seat and got in the car, saying, "Go straight."
Liang Xi was driving, and the woman said, "I am Liu Zhen, and you are Liang Xi?"
Liang Xi nodded: "Hello, Inspector Liu."
Liu Zhen asked: "Chinese?"
Liang Xi asked in Chinese: "Yes, Inspector Liu is also Chinese?"
Liu Zhen nodded and answered in fluent Chinese: "I am a third-generation immigrant. I often meet compatriots in London."
Liang Xi felt something was wrong at this time. Before he could figure it out, Liu Zhen pointed the way: "Turn right."
