In front of Charles were hundreds of packages of cigarettes in the warehouse, Marlboro, Parliament... dozens of expensive cigarette brands, of course, the most were some low-priced cigarettes, which were not Charles' targets.
50 cartons were in one package. Charles only moved the expensive brands into the van. He was holding the heavy box, feeling that he was not holding cigarettes, but holding money.
One package represented 1,500 dollars!
He almost sang out with excitement. One second before he blamed himself for renting such a small van, while one second later he told himself that he couldn’t be too greedy. Ten minutes later, he used nearly one hundred thousand dollars of cigarettes to fill the van.
Closing the door, Charles immediately jumped into the van and started it, and Robert, who heard the sound of the engine, opened the gate.
Everything was surprisingly smooth, exactly the same as previously imagined.
The van drove smoothly on the road by which they came. The road was still bumpy, but their mood was completely different. Robert's hands were sweaty, and his legs were trembling. He has done nothing rather than opening the door. Although they were getting far away from the warehouse, he still felt that someone could catch up and kill them at any time.
Excitement, fear, and a sense of accomplishment, these emotions were fused together, and it’s too complex to Robert.
Charles glanced at Robert, "How are you feeling now? I told you it’s easy, am I right?”
"When can these goods be exchanged for money?" Robert asked.
"We can’t touch them, at least not now. Their sales channels are all over the city. As long as we make any mistake, they will grab it, follow it, and find us. Trust me, we got to wait a few days," Charles has already thought of everything.
Soon the van came to the bar. When passing by the bar, the two involuntarily looked over. Through the doors that people opened, they saw that the people inside were either enjoying food or wine. No one looked out the door, and no one cared about a van passing by.
The van did not drive into the city, but kept running in the suburbs, and stopped outside an abandoned factory half an hour later.
This was the free "warehouse" Charles found in a few days. The one-meter-high weeds and rusty gates proved that this factory has been abandoned for a long time. Insect sounds came from every corner.
Under the holy starlight, two daring and sinful thieves kept moving packages of valuable fake cigarettes into the abandoned warehouse full of spider webs...
A few years later, Charles always had a lot of emotion when he thought of today because it was from this day that he truly embarked on a path of difference.
After hiding the fruits of victory, Charles and Robert returned to the hotel in the middle of the night, and the two of them were tossed in bed with excitement. None of them couldn't fall asleep.
"Charles, what are your plans after you get the money?" Robert asked in a low voice.
Charles really enjoyed the tone of Robert when he was chatting with him. This gave him a feeling that Robert had regarded him as a leader. Decisive MadNine and insidious Mark seemed to have become a person in his previous life.
"Did you ask me what the first thing I am gonna do? Of course, I will buy myself a big meal first." As soon as he finished speaking, Charles's stomach groaned.
Robert looked at the dark ceiling, "If I have this money, I will pay our family debt first."
"Family debt?"
"Twelve thousand six thousand seven hundred dollars."
"So much? What’s that for? " Charles was curious.
"My dad had an operation, even my mom paid the bill as long as she received a salary, still it’s far away from clearing all debts.”
Charles wanted to ask Robert about his father’s illness, but he immediately gave up the idea. Although Robert and he were partners now, they were not close enough to ask such privacy questions. It would be better to share Robert’s bright future rather than trapped in the misfortune past.
"Don't worry, as soon as those cigarettes are sold, you will be able to pay them off immediately, and after a few more visits, the car and the house will no longer be a dream."
"Then when can we get the money?" Robert threw this question back.
"Don't worry, buyers are everywhere now that the ‘gold’ is in our hand," Charles said lightly, but he knew in his heart that those cigarettes were too hot, and it could burn their hands.
The most optimistic scenario was that they can find a generous seller who could take all the cigarettes at once so that the risk can be transferred all at once, but Charles was worried that it is not easy to find such a buyer.
The two slept until the next afternoon. After a brief wash, Charles and Robert first went to return the van, and then went to the restaurant Little World. They were here to celebrate yesterday's business.
As night fell, it’s crowded in Little World as usual.
Charles frequently toasted Robert. After three rounds of drinking, Robert sighed.
"We were still four of us last time here. I didn't expect that we are left with two now," Robert held his forehead.
"This is a new beginning. Bro, there is no future with them."
"Yeah, I know, but Jim is quite nice to me," Robert said.
Charles was about to complain about Jim when he found Robert started to miss that jerk, so he swallowed the dirty words he prepared to say, "Life is like this. People around you come and go."
"And MadNine. Do you think if he will come back?" Robert asked.
Hearing Robert's sudden question, Charles immediately choked the wine out of his mouth, "MadNine is very ambitious. When people slowly forget about this, he will definitely come back."
While comforting Robert, Charles prayed in his heart. Please! MadNine! I’m pretty sure you can have a new market in LA. Please do not come back anymore. Or I’ll be the one running around.
Charles didn't tell the police about MadNine ran to LA. He didn't think he had to drive MadNine to a desperate situation. He couldn't kill someone who had never hurt him.
And when Charles' father was still alive, he often taught Charles to leave some space, whether for a friend or an enemy. After all, you cannot always be a winner, and your enemy may become a winner at any time.
The world was changing too fast.
“f**k you!”
Just as Charles and Robert fell into inexplicable silence, a harsh sound came from the table to their right. Charles turned his head and saw that a dining table had been overturned, and someone was lying under the table, clutching his bleeding head. The surrounding diners turned their heads and straightened their necks to look over.
It turned out that four people were beating one person. Numerous fists and big feet were falling on that person. All the onlookers tried to stop those four people with soft words, but no one dared to move forward, including the owner of Little World.
For some reason, Charles felt the wailing sound was particularly familiar, so he pushed aside the crowd to see what was going on. Standing in the first row, Charles noticed that the man who fell on the ground was rolling around on the ground with his head in his hands.
This scene reminded Charles of his being beaten at the bus station. Although he couldn't see how miserable he was at the time, it was probably like the loser on the ground.
Wait a moment! Why was that face so familiar?
"Mark, the man on the ground is Mark," Robert who followed Charles grabbed Charles by the arm and screamed in a low voice.
Mark?
Charles took a closer look and found that this man with a swollen head like a pig turned out to be Mark.