Chapter 137: Chapter 136: Quite a Classical Romantic Sentiment

After talking with Lu Ming, Lin Chu went back to his room and put the matter out of his mind.

His heart was already sealed in concrete, hard as a rock.

Watching his buddies still drowning in the throes of love gave him a strong sense of déjà vu. He saw shades of his former self in them.

But Lin Chu didn’t find them annoying or troublesome. He just felt a kind of compassion.

It was a path every man had to walk.

Of course, it might be the wrong path, but who’s to say what’s right or wrong? Adults simply choose their path and pay the price for it without regret.

A little after midnight, Lin Chu’s phone suddenly rang, the tone urgent.

He glanced at it. It was Da Xiong.

Lin Chu, who was in the middle of pushing a sled, answered casually. He had a feeling it was about the situation at sea—that there was news.

"Brother Chu! Good news! We found them! They’re alive!"

’Hm?’

The news made Lin Chu pause for a moment, then he couldn’t help but laugh. "Alright, that’s great."

’They’re actually alive. They’re damn lucky.’

"The two of them were really lucky. They were clinging to a piece of wood, drifting at sea for two days. They were nearly baked into human jerky and had drifted dozens of nautical miles away. Good thing I got a helicopter to expand the search area. We found them. No major injuries, just heatstroke and an electrolyte imbalance. They’re at the hospital now."

Da Xiong said, sounding very excited.

The sense of accomplishment from something like this was truly unparalleled.

He wasn’t a Buddhist, nor did he subscribe to the belief that saving a life is more meritorious than building a seven-story pagoda. He just felt a primal, heartfelt joy.

And the root of this whole affair was actually just a passing thought from Lin Chu.

If it hadn’t been for Lin Chu’s words, he wouldn’t have bothered with it, wouldn’t have thought about recovering bodies, and certainly wouldn’t have expanded the search area. Those two would have definitely baked to death.

Who would care about them in the vast, open sea?

"Alright, that’s good."

Lin Chu said with a smile. After chatting for a few more moments, he hung up and continued... pushing the sled.

He inexplicably felt more energized.

...

The next morning, Da Xiong came to the hotel to find Lin Chu. He was dressed very formally in a dress shirt, trousers, and leather shoes.

"This is... What’s all this?"

Lin Chu was a little taken aback for a moment.

Right then, Xiong Jianwu even seemed a bit shy, looking embarrassed. He chuckled. "Brother, I need to talk to you about something."

"Spit it out!" 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Lin Chu’s tone was crisp.

"Um... this might be a little old-fashioned, but I still want to do it. Let’s... become sworn brothers! I really feel like you’re a guy I can trust, you know? I get that vibe. What do you say? Am I worthy?"

Da Xiong himself felt this was a bit awkward, but he genuinely wanted to do it.

He approved of—truly approved of—Lin Chu.

Lin Chu was a little speechless and couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

"What the—that’s so played out from all the Hong Kong movies. It’s retro, like, way too retro. Who even does this anymore? Society’s all atomized now."

"And, damn, you’re so much older than me. Do we have to go by age for this sworn brother thing? Would I have to call you ’big brother’? I’m not doing that."

"I’m not in the habit of calling anyone ’big brother’."

Lin Chu said in a lighthearted tone. He wasn’t trying to humiliate him; it just felt weird in practice.

However.

Pausing for a moment, Lin Chu smiled again. "Let’s just keep it in our hearts. We can burn a stick of incense together. Or maybe drink a bowl of chicken blood? We can just consider it an alliance. You’re overseas, I’m in the country. If anything comes up, we’ll have each other’s backs."

These words were a compromise, and one that was much easier to accept.

Da Xiong took a deep breath and nodded heavily. "Okay!"

Lin Chu: ...

’Heh, what the hell is this?’

’So much classic romanticism.’

’Seriously, it takes all kinds to make a world. You meet all sorts of people.’

But it wasn’t a bad thing.

’The more friends you have, the easier the path. What if I need his help someday?’

...

Performance art. It was truly performance art.

Da Xiong had found a statue of Guan Gong from somewhere and placed it in the very center of the courtyard, complete with a red cloth and an incense burner. It felt like the start of a movie shoot.

His wife and two children were watching from the side.

Among the crowd of onlookers, the people Lin Chu had brought with him were also enjoying the spectacle.

Among Gao Haitao’s men, some even felt a twinge of envy.

In this day and age, at least back home, this kind of thing rarely happened anymore. But honestly, it still struck a chord in a man’s heart.

This was especially true for those of them who had gone through military life.

That collectivist lifestyle, the barracks filled with testosterone—that was a man’s romance. And at this moment, so was this.

Just then, Lin Chu was whispering with Gu Jiayan.

After chatting for a bit and confirming something, he walked over with a smile.

"So? Should we start?"

Da Xiong took a deep breath and nodded.

"Alright!"

Liu Junfeng suddenly shouted, then started leading a round of applause.

Lin Chu shot him a glare. "Damn it! Are you guys trying to make this awkward? Settle down."

They lit the incense, took a deep breath, and without any formal vows, simply kowtowed three times to the statue of Guan Gong. Then the two of them clinked their bowls of liquor and drained them in one go.

And with that... the ceremony was complete.

"First time in my life doing this. I’ve never even bowed to heaven and earth with anyone."

Lin Chu stood up, teasing with a smile.

Da Xiong let out a hearty laugh and clapped Lin Chu heavily on the shoulder, unable to contain the smile on his face.

"I’ve prepared a gift for you. I’ll get it for you later,"

Lin Chu said with a casual smile.

’Hm?’

Da Xiong’s eyes flickered. "Great minds think alike. I prepared a gift for you too. It’s a tiger bone. I’m not sure if you can take it back to the country, though. It’s from a Bengal Tiger. Took me a lot of effort to get it a long time ago. If not, I can grind it into powder for you."

HISS...

’That’s some good stuff... but also a felony.’

"You can’t take that back. We’ll talk about it later."

"How about an island? Do you like it? I just picked one out. It’s in Quezon City, called Daber Island. 124 acres, freehold. I’ll buy it and give it to you."

Lin Chu said with a smile.

Hearing this, Xiong Jianwu was stunned. He knew you could privately buy and sell islands in the Philippines, but he never expected Lin Chu to give him such an extravagant gift!

That was a freehold island!

It was equivalent to owning a piece of the Earth, completely and entirely yours, for generations to come!

He had looked into the private island market before. The starting prices were in the millions of US Dollars. And after buying one, you had to pay for all sorts of reinforcement, infrastructure construction, and access. A plane and a yacht were standard equipment, which was another huge expense.

Unless you were super-rich, you couldn’t even dream of it.

The crowd of onlookers was also stunned when they heard this. No one had expected Lin Chu to make such a move!

On the way here, they had even joked about letting Lu Ming become Robinson Crusoe.

But who would have thought it would actually come true?

It was truly... the power of money.

"No refusing, alright? It’s settled. I’ll buy it first, and we can talk about how to develop it later."

Lin Chu also patted his shoulder.

Xiong Jianwu took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and though he felt a bitter taste in his mouth, he still nodded firmly. "Alright!"

How could he be a buzzkill at a moment like this?

He just secretly hoped that Lin Chu was bluffing, that he was only kidding.

...

...