Chapter 250: A chance connection
After hearing what the young man had to say, Cui Jiuyang thought to himself that these merchants really would risk their lives for money.
Even if Harbin were paved with gold, the situation there was so complicated and tense that a stray shot could spark a major clash. Going there now was like snatching chestnuts from a fire-dangerous in the extreme.
Still, when had money ever been easy to earn?
With that thought, Cui Jiuyang accepted it.
Given a chance to stake their lives on a future of immense wealth, many people would probably consider it an opportunity they could not afford to miss, one worth risking death for.
After all, far more people in this world worked themselves to the bone for no more than a full stomach. Some went their entire lives without so much as a roof to shelter them from the rain, living in poverty and hardship.
The time it took to smoke a cigarette passed in a flash.
As the two talked, their cigarettes quietly burned down almost to the tips, warming their fingers.
The young man watched the gray-white ash fall onto the floor, where a cold draft blowing through the gaps in the carriage swept it up and sent it swirling about like rootless duckweed.
He tossed his cigarette butt onto the floor and ground it out with his foot. Then he respectfully raised his hands and cupped them toward Cui Jiuyang. "May I ask your name, sir?"
Cui Jiuyang waved a hand casually. "Nothing grand about my name. Cui Jiuyang, from Shandong. And what should I call you, brother?"
The young man quickly put away his cigarette case and returned the salute, answering heartily, "My name is Liu Jingye. I'm a Changchun local, currently a junior manager