Reborn in 1993, Dark Sea

Upon receiving An Xiaohai's call, Guo Xiangshui was overjoyed and eager. He told An Xiaohai to come over immediately, as he would cancel all his other plans for the day and wait for him to arrive.

Of course, one cannot visit one's savior empty-handed, so after thinking for a moment, An Xiaohai went to the market and bought a bunch of fresh seafood.

Guo Xiangshui is rich and powerful, so there must be many people who want to give him gifts and curry favor with him. He must have seen plenty of expensive gifts, so there's no need to put effort into that. It would be better to buy something unique that's nearby, which would make him seem more sincere.

However, it can't be too cheap, otherwise it will seem a bit frivolous.

Just then, a villager caught a fairly large wild moonfish, and An Xiaohai bought it for over 600 yuan, thanks to a discount from a fellow villager.

An Xiaohai didn't know if this thing was a protected fish, but he figured Guo Xiangshui wouldn't have any such concerns.

After having the shopkeeper carefully pack the fish, An Xiaohai carried the huge styrofoam box, hailed a taxi, and set off. More than an hour later, An Xiaohai arrived at the archway at the entrance of Haiwei Village.

"Brother Hai, over here!" To An Xiaohai's surprise, Guo Xiangshui was sitting at the village entrance drinking tea with a group of people. He didn't know if Guo Xiangshui was waiting for him here on purpose or if this was his usual practice.

Guo Xiangshui called him Brother Hai as a sign of respect in front of outsiders.

"Haha, I've been waiting for you! Come, come, let me introduce you, these are my good brothers!"

Guo Xiangshui rushed over, put his arm around An Xiaohai's shoulder, and introduced all the strange-looking guys present one by one, acting as intimately as could be.

An Xiaohai greeted everyone one by one, and it was clear at a glance that these people were no good.

Three people in particular left a very deep impression on Xiao Hai:

The first one is called Da Xian. He wears glasses and looks like he's full of bad intentions. He should be considered a strategist.

The second one is named A-Jie. This guy is tall and strong, exudes a murderous aura, has particularly sharp eyes, and speaks very little. He often intentionally or unintentionally stands in front of Guo Xiangshui. He should be a thug or bodyguard.

The last one was a man called Uncle Cai. He was probably a local. He was very unremarkable in appearance, dark-skinned and thin, and it was hard to tell his exact age, but he seemed to be around fifty or sixty years old.

Uncle Cai left the deepest impression on An Xiaohai. An Xiaohai himself didn't quite understand why, but he felt that Uncle Cai had a very special temperament.

After this introduction, Guo Xiangshui pulled An Xiaohai toward the Haiwei Village Committee.

The Haiwei Village Committee is a rather large building with eight floors in total. The first floor is the village committee building, the second to sixth floors are rented to outside business people, and the seventh and eighth floors are Guo Xiangshui's private property.

There is a separate elevator next to the building that goes directly to the seventh floor.

An Xiaohai followed Guo Xiangshui up the elevator to the seventh floor. Once inside, he discovered that the entire seventh floor was a hidden gem, transformed by Guo Xiangshui into a private club-like space.

The design of this club is of unknown origin, with an awkward style that blends antiquity with a strong sense of luxury. A huge plasma TV is placed in the center of the large main living room, further disrupting the overall decor.

However, once Guo Xiangshui led this group of oddly shaped people to sit down, the entire hall immediately became exceptionally harmonious again.

"Wow, what a huge moonfish! And so red! This is a rare find, haha! Ah Jie, hurry and call Fangfang back, she loves eating this sashimi the most!"

Guo Xiangshui was overjoyed. He instructed A-Jie to call Guo Fang, and then immediately called the cook over to prepare the moonfish.

An Xiaohai was all smiles. Who would have thought that he would receive such an unexpected surprise so soon after arriving at Guo Xiangshui's lair? The surprise was the cook in front of him who was so obsequious to Guo Xiangshui. An Xiaohai had seen his picture before.

Zhang Dongxiang, nicknamed "Jianren Dong," was one of the leaders of the drug trafficking gangs that disappeared not long ago!

Who would have thought that the notorious drug lord, Jianren Dong, who wreaks havoc and terrorizes the area, would actually become Guo Xiangshui's cook here!

No wonder he disappeared from everyone's sight. Wang Tiejun and the others spent so much effort, but they still couldn't find any trace of him.

An Xiaohai showed no unusual behavior; he wasn't here to see these people.

He had only been sitting down for a short while when An Xiaohai felt a strong sense of isolation.

Guo Xiangshui was from Shanzhou, which is very close to Chaotou. Therefore, Guo Xiangshui and his group were very similar to Third Brother's group in terms of both habits and language.

These people sat together drinking tea and chatting, all in their local dialect, which An Xiaohai found completely incomprehensible and could barely join in the conversation.

The language of these two places is really hard to understand. I heard that when we were fighting, we would specifically recruit people from these areas to be signalmen, and they would call out in plain text. Even if the Japanese heard it, they could only stare blankly.

At this moment, An Xiaohai deeply understood how the Japanese soldiers felt back then.

The crowd was chattering away, making An Xiaohai's head spin. He thought to himself, "Thank goodness this isn't ancient times. If the emperor in ancient times knew that these guys would die right after eating, I wonder if the whole village would have to throw a feast."

The club was bustling with people of all kinds. Every now and then, all sorts of people would ring the doorbell and enter the club through the private elevator. These people would drink a few cups of tea, chat for a while, and then leave in a hurry.

Everything seemed chaotic.

Guo Xiangshui sat in the middle, chatting happily with all sorts of people, and didn't neglect An Xiaohai too much. However, under these circumstances, it was almost impossible for An Xiaohai to talk to him about anything.

This situation continued until lunchtime, when it finally subsided when Guo Fang appeared at the club with a sour face.

There were quite a few people eating, filling two large tables. At Guo Xiangshui's table, most of the people were relatives or friends, including men and women, young and old. An Xiaohai was seated at this table.

The other group consisted of friends and such. Luckily, the club was big enough, otherwise it would have been difficult to accommodate so many people.

This was the first time An Xiaohai had faced such a situation, so he simply kept quiet and focused all his efforts on analyzing and memorizing the language of these people.

Guo Fang nodded to An Xiaohai when she came in, and then ignored him. Instead, she took a few young people of similar age to another room to sing karaoke. She only appeared briefly during dinner and then disappeared afterward.

It's clear that Guo Fang really enjoys eating sashimi; she devoured a whole plate by herself.

After finishing their meal and drinking tea, everyone who was supposed to leave left, leaving only a few people in the club, and it finally quieted down.

Guo Xiangshui changed the tea leaves and brewed another pot of tea. He handed the first cup to the gloomy-looking guy opposite him, and only gave the second cup to An Xiaohai.

This gloomy-looking guy, whom Guo Xiangshui calls Lao Ba, must be a relative or something. There are just too many people coming and going, and the various kinship relationships are so complicated that even with An Xiaohai's memory, he still couldn't completely figure out their relationships.

"Old Eight, stop looking so gloomy. I've already turned down Ah Huo and the others. I'm not renting that place to them anymore. You can have it, okay?!"

Guo Xiangshui sighed and said that he had already taken good care of An Xiaohai, and that he would speak Mandarin as much as possible when he could.

Guo Xiangshui's words made An Xiaohai raise an eyebrow. He was probably talking to this old man about the shop downstairs.

"Ah Huo... Could this Ah Huo be the undercover agent?... But Wang Tiejun's intelligence is clearly off. This isn't some subordinate; he's obviously a relative..."

"Say something! Why do you always have that sour face? Have some self-respect!"

The old man looked so listless that Guo Xiangshui's anger flared up.

"Big brother, I'm just not sure what to do!" the eighth brother said with a mournful face.

"You're going to fight with people just because you're not confident? You've made me offend Ah Huo and the others, and now you're telling me you're not confident? Are you asking for a beating?" Guo Xiangshui was finally provoked by Lao Ba and became furious, which was completely different from his usual kind demeanor.

This version of Guo Xiangshui finally has a bit of the feel of a sea hawk.

Seeing that Guo Xiangshui was angry, the others quickly tried to persuade him to calm down.

"Uncle Shui, what trouble has Brother Ba gotten into?"

"Xiao Hai, stop asking. It's none of your business. You shouldn't be dealing with this today, but this is just too infuriating!"

Guo Xiangshui slammed the teacup in his hand heavily on the table, his eyes fixed on Lao Ba.

"It was indeed Lao Ba's own fault for doing this, no wonder the boss is angry," Li Maocai suddenly interjected.

An Xiaohai had been secretly observing Li Maocai. Li Maocai was very distinctive; he rarely spoke, and when others were talking, he would just listen with a smile, but everyone felt that he was always involved.

Unexpectedly, Li Maocai spoke up at this moment.

"Uncle Cai, what exactly is the trouble? Could you tell me in detail? I'd like to see if I can help. Hello, to repay Uncle Shui's favor, haha!" An Xiaohai said with a smile.

"This..." Li Maocai looked at Guo Xiangshui.

"Ah Cai, you should talk to Xiao Hai. Lao Ba is running a legitimate business, and Xiao Hai is quick-witted; he might actually have a solution. I won't say anything more; it just makes me angry!"

"Okay, then I'll explain," Li Maocai nodded.