The Crow glared at Petru with a stern look, then proudly raised its head, like a victor in a war awaiting the surrender of the defeated.
Hanran, who had been carried up by Su Huilan, suddenly seemed to be stimulated by something, let out a sharp howl, stood up from Su Huilan's arms, lay on her shoulder, arched her back, bristled, and looked at Petru with a ferocious expression, as if she was about to attack at any moment.
Seeing the cat's expression, the Crow said, "Calm down! Calm down! Your master—my friend—maybe he's a blockhead, but he's always been loyal and will definitely stand up for me."
Hanran roared at Petru again, then calmed his ruffled feathers, meowed at the Crow, curled up, and nestled into Su Huilan's arms, his eyes still warily fixed on Petru.
Petru looked helpless, thinking to himself, "What's going on?! Not only is a talking bird here, but there's also a cat causing trouble!"
An awkward silence fell over the scene.
The Crow waited for a long time, and seeing that Qingmu didn't react, it lowered its head, shook its head upside down a couple of times in front of Qingmu's face, and asked:
"Hey, what are you waiting for? He just shot at me! Why not take him down? At least teach him a lesson! If I were just an ordinary bird, I'd be dead by now. Dead! -- Do you understand? I'll never see you again! Never! Never! Never... understand?"
Perhaps it got a bit of a brain hemorrhage from hanging on its head, because it started to feel dizzy while talking, lost its balance, and fell headfirst off Qingmu's head.
Qingmu quickly reached out and caught the bird in mid-air.
At the same time, the cat in Su Huilan's arms jumped up nervously, stretched its neck, and meowed. Even Su Huilan was very nervous, thinking that the Boss Coal was really injured.
The Crow spread its wings, limp in Qingmu's hands, and stuck out its tongue, mumbling, "Like this—dead!"
Qingmu stroked the Crow's feathers and said, "This place has a natural spiritual barrier; it would be a good burial site for you."
The Crow scrambled to its feet, flapped its wings, and flew back to the top of Qingmu's head. " Guagua, caw, you can't be so disloyal! If you're going to die, you should die back in Wuzhong."
Su Huilan asked curiously, "Why?"
The Crow said, "I don't want to die far from home. Even if I'm badly injured, before I die, I will use all my strength, with my wounded wings, to fly back to my hometown, to see the willow tree at the alley entrance one last time, and to say a few more words to my fellow villagers!"
Su Huilan praised, "What a loyal and devoted bird!"
Qingmu laughed, "You can't let go of Ruhua's braised pork knuckle, can you?"
"Caw... uh..." The Crow began to change the subject, "Then what cawing... why is there a mental barrier here?" It then cawed at Petru, "Hey, man, what's wrong with your bullets?"
Petru was completely bewildered as the bird switched between Chinese and English.
His body was stiff from holding the same position for too long, but he dared not relax. Maintaining this tense state at least gave him a chance to fight back. Besides, the situation had just been tense; he couldn't just suddenly stand up and relax his legs now. This wasn't a boxing ring where he could take a break.
He certainly wouldn't answer a bird's question, but this stalemate couldn't go on. He didn't have any cats or birds around to ease the tension, and looking at the strange human-bird-cat combination opposite him, Petru suddenly really wanted to get a dog.
Fortunately, the woman opposite him finally spoke to him, instead of that annoying bird.
"Are you Petru?"
Who are you?
"I came to rent a boat from you for a sea trip, but your welcoming ceremony seems excessive. Is this how you treat your clients?"
"You didn't come here to kill me?"
Why should we kill you?
Petru cautiously watched Su Huilan, while keeping a close eye on Qingmu's movements out of the corner of his eye. After a while, he finally straightened up, but did not loosen his grip on the knife behind his back.
"I don't charter boats," he said.
"But I want to rent it," Su Huilan said.
Petru felt he had encountered a scoundrel.
Imagine a butcher encountering a customer who insists on buying several fish from his meat stall. The angry butcher doesn't want to explain to the rogue why he doesn't sell fish, but he also can't raise his butcher's knife and kill the rogue, because standing next to him is a monster that looks like it could tear him to pieces at any moment.
Petru had the illusion that he wasn't a pirate, but rather the two opposite him were.
"Alright," he said somewhat helplessly, "There's a bay behind the canyon where my boat is moored. You can take it anytime you want."
"No," Su Huilan said, "We're not robbing anyone, we just want to rent a boat, but I can't sail, so you'll have to provide us with a captain. I think you're the best captain here, Mr. Petru! Of course, I'll pay you a considerable sum."
"I don't need the money," Petru said.
Su Huilan laughed and said, "I know you're not short of money. You're the Redbeard swept across the Gulf of Aden, the fearsome Barbarossa II! So, the reward I'm paying you certainly isn't money."
What is that?
"Free."
"Free?"
"Yes, freedom."
Petru squinted and burst into laughter, the muscles in his face twitching as his large beard jiggled.
"Freedom?! Haha, that's ridiculous! This is the Pacific Ocean, not a prison! I can go wherever I want in my ship. What kind of freedom do Tushu need? Can you give me a Milky Way warship?"
"Really?" Su Huilan asked with a half-smile. "Then why don't you go back to the Gulf of Aden and try it out!"
Petru frowned, his eyes filled with anger.
"You've plundered merchant ships from almost every country in the world. United States CIA, MI6, United Kingdom, Israel, China, Australia, Germany, France, Russia, Mossad ISI all list you as their number one dangerous individual. India Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Somalia, Egypt, Somalia, Ethiopia, Singapore, Indonesia Chile, and Argentina, along with Malaysia respective governments and intelligence agencies, have also placed you on their wanted lists. With so many navies and intelligence agencies watching you, do you think hiding here is a secret? And you think you can just sail around like that?"
Su Huilan recited a string of names of intelligence agencies from various countries as if she were memorizing a textbook, then said with a smile:
"The reason you can roam freely in the South Pacific is because you're different from those low-level pirates in Somalia. You have principles and follow the rules; when you rob, you only take one-tenth of the cargo from a ship each time, never robbing it completely; although you've killed countless people, you won't indiscriminately kill innocent people as long as merchant ships cooperate with you; you never kidnap hostages to extort money, and you've even used your influence in Somalia to help the United States, France, and Spain rescue hostages. In China terms, this is called 'honor among thieves.'"
"You're clever. You've gotten the major powers like the US, UK, China, Russia, and France to turn a blind eye to your behavior, and other smaller countries naturally won't dare say anything, allowing you to peacefully enjoy your life on this island. But don't forget, you really gave the Indian warships and the Saudi Arabia crown princes' cruise ships a hard time back then. They won't forget that grudge. They won't dare send warships to the Pacific Ocean to cause you trouble, but you can't go back to the India Ocean or the Gulf of Aden, can you?"
Petru, then asked with a look of shock and confusion, "What exactly do you want?"
"I want to rent a boat," Su Huilan said.