16,
The gunshots finally stopped, and the four of them, after ransacking the place, returned to their temporary camp.
Dai Ping'an slept soundly that night.
The next morning, Hosea, who hadn't slept, led them across Bacchus Bridge again, leaving Ambariño and returning to New Hanover. When they passed Barks Train Station, they specifically stopped again to search. Only when they were certain nothing valuable or useful could be found did they throw the bodies into the river and set Bacchus Station ablaze.
After entering New Hanover, they found the gold Dai Ping'an had mentioned on the cliff north of Cumberland Forest, directly opposite Bacchus Bridge. There were five pieces.
There was a minor incident in between. Because the path on the cliff was too dangerous, Dai Ping'an slipped. If it hadn't been for Javier's quick reflexes, grabbing Dai Ping'an's hand and pulling him back, this novel could have ended prematurely.
After climbing up, Dai Ping'an was so scared his heart pounded. Hosea waved his hand, confirming the ownership of this gold – this gold was the price for Dai Ping'an's trade with everyone, unrelated to Dai Ping'an's previous trade with the gang. In the end, Hosea even contributed his own share to make up for the one Bill had lost.
Truly the team's strategist! Truly the cunning Hosea!
With a few moves of appeasement and integration, he not only soothed unsettled hearts but also strengthened the gang's cohesion. While highlighting his own image of considering the bigger picture, he also quietly emphasized Dai Ping'an's identity – he was ultimately an outsider!
Unfortunately, this was useless.
In the face of gold, profit comes first! No one dared to place their hopes on others' humanity, let alone on the humanity of a bunch of outlaws.
Dai Ping'an didn't expect anyone in the gang to turn against him for the gold. As long as someone hesitated the next time Dutch wanted to kill him, for the sake of the gold, that would be enough.
Because Dutch would also hesitate. He couldn't be sure how many people in the gang would hesitate for the gold, nor did he know to what extent they would hesitate for Dai Ping'an, who knew the whereabouts of the gold.
This was Dai Ping'an's only chance to survive within the Van der Linde gang for now.
...
The heavy gold was on their backs, yet no one felt tired; instead, they felt much lighter. The one and a half day journey back was crammed into one day by the others' rapid galloping.
By nightfall, they had returned to camp.
Not to mention Hosea, who went to Valentine to find Dutch, nor Dai Ping'an, who was exhausted from the day's travel and fell asleep immediately. Let's talk about Javier, Bill, and Micah. The large, shining gold bricks in their hands made them the brightest and most popular stars in the camp.
Another night of sleepless revelry.
Dai Ping'an, who was asleep, did not witness the revelry. When he woke up, the camp was once again in disarray. Amidst Aunt Susan's angry scolding, Javier, Bill, and Micah, clutching their gold and their backs, dishevelled, ran out from the ladies' resting area.
Aunt Susan was still nagging, while Sadie Adler beside her looked on enviously from afar at Dai Ping'an, or more accurately, at the guns placed beside him.
From the dead road workers, Dai Ping'an had found several reasonably well-maintained weapons: a double-action revolver, a carbine repeater rifle, and a bolt-action rifle similar to Bill's.
He laid out all the weapons he had. Uncle was teaching him hands-on how to disassemble, maintain, and lubricate them.
That's right, as soon as Dai Ping'an opened his eyes, Uncle arrived with hot stew, rich coffee, and Carrington's brandy. Dai Ping'an suddenly realized that if Uncle cleaned himself up, put on a sharp tuxedo, and wore a wig, he could pass as a butler for a British nobleman without any issue.
For the entire morning, the solicitous Uncle meticulously taught Dai Ping'an about firearms, horsemanship, and common sense and tips for traveling and camping in the wild, demonstrating in person.
Dai Ping'an did not disappoint him either. When everyone lined up for lunch, Dai Ping'an took out a large, shining gold brick and handed it to Uncle with both hands in front of everyone in the camp.
At that moment, Dai Ping'an felt as if he heard the sound of eyeballs dropping into a soup pot.
In the afternoon, Dai Ping'an refused requests to be accompanied and went out alone with his weapons. No one in the camp stopped him.
He first went to Downs Ranch, but did not go in, observing from a distance. Seeing that the ranch showed no signs of decay, and even had a few more animals, Dai Ping'an felt somewhat relieved.
Then he returned to the fork in the road leading to Racie's Cabin. He had intended to go in and deal with that lunatic. But as he stopped his horse at the fork, the feeling of being watched reappeared, yet he couldn't find the source.
Dai Ping'an chickened out. He spurred his horse forward and continued on. Only after riding a considerable distance did the feeling of being spied upon slowly dissipate.
After Dai Ping'an's excursions, by the time he returned to Valentine, it was already dark. As per their prior arrangement, Dai Ping'an arrived at the entrance of the bar.
Valentine had two saloons.
Smithfield's Bar, located in the center of Valentine Street, offered everything: fine drinks and food, haircuts, card games, and lodging for ladies. Whether it was wealthy livestock merchants or hired ranch hands, anyone coming to Valentine wouldn't miss the renowned Smithfield's Bar.
As for the other saloon in Valentine, Kenneth's Bar, it was much humbler.
Its cramped environment, with a saloon lobby that could only accommodate four small tables; its dim lighting, with only a few short candles used for illumination; its lazy owner, whose establishment from the sign to the bar counter perpetually displayed a grayish-black hue, as if it had never been cleaned; its expensive food and drinks – a bowl of oatmeal for $4! For that price, one could order a lamb feast at Smithfield's Bar.
Yet, people still flocked to drink and conduct business there. Because even a few days ago, when the police and Pinkerton detectives swarmed Valentine due to the case of the pharmacy owner's murder for profit, Kenney's Hotel was still operating normally.
Not a single police officer or Pinkerton detective dared to step inside.
Even if a bold bounty hunter dared to enter, he would leave the way he came, even if the person he was after was sitting right in front of him, smugly drinking the cheap liquor.
This was Kenneth's Bar.
The bounty hunter's paradise,
A forbidden zone for police and bounty hunters,
Valentine's famous Kenneth's Bar.
Tonight, Dai Ping'an was to meet Dutch here.
Feeling hungry, I'll go eat first
Did you guess last night's famous quote? It's related to a new character.
Thanks to 'Life is Really Boring', thanks to 'Crossed Sky Marks', thanks to 'Skrull Great Engineer' for the moon tickets.
Thanks to 'Skrull Great Engineer', thanks to 'Really Want to Eat Sweets', thanks to 'Wandering Life and Void', thanks to 'Reinhardt v587', thanks to 'MuXiMuXi', thanks to 'HuHuZ', thanks to 'jianyinwei', thanks to 'Teutonic Grand Commander', thanks to 'Level Three Head Zhang San', thanks to 'polojiangtom', thanks to 'Radiation Wasteland Old Ice Stick' for the recommendation tickets.