As I stood near the window and looked out, the first thing I saw was the utility pole by the roadside.

I estimated the distance to be 10 meters from here. Then, I looked around again from the beginning of the street to the end of it.

This utility pole was the best place to conduct the deal and this window was the best spot for someone to keep watch.

What sort of deal needed someone else to keep watch?

An illegal one, of course.

An illegal one?

That’s right. Just like how the street stalls in the night market had to make sure the city management never saw them, or businesses without a license to operate had to avoid inspections from the government, this deal of mine had to be kept away from the watchful eyes of the police.

There were many deals in the world that had to be kept as secret from the police. So which type was I talking about?

I was talking about the type where you hand me money and I’ll hand a human back to you. I kidnap, you pay the ransom. Also, no discrimination between the young and the old.

And because this was a kidnapping case, the ransom was to be paid along this old and secluded street.

And because this was a kidnapping case, I had to choose a spot where one could watch the whole thing in case the police came. I didn’t want a situation where I ended up losing both my hostage and my money.

That’s why I chose this window. It was the best place to monitor the entire street, since one could see every corner of the street from here.

But Fatty Sun was still uneasy about my decision. He stood at the window and looked around outside, then asked, “You’re really going to do it here?”

I said, “It’s a pretty good location. It’s secluded, quiet and few people know about it, so that makes this place a suitable location for exchanging ransom money. Besides, we grew up here, so we’re more familiar with this area than anybody else.”

“But…but aren’t you making this decision a little too hastily?”

“I’m being hasty?”

Fatty Sun nodded. “Dahu, have you ever thought about this problem? There are no forks or other alleyways along this street. If the police block both ends of the street, we’ll get caught for sure.”

I said, “One can see the entire street from this window. If there’s any suspicious activity, we’ll call off the exchange. What can the police do about that?”

“While that’s true…” Fatty Sun swallowed his saliva before continuing, “I mean, if we were just bullying the locals or getting into fights, we wouldn’t get into a lot of trouble with the law. But we’re talking about kidnapping now. For one, neither of us knows how this works and two, neither of us has any experience in this. Don’t you think it’s a little inappropriate for us to suddenly get into this?”

I could tell what Fatty Sun was trying to say. This fellow was trying to back out of the plan. Was he getting cold feet after he nearly died stealing that robber’s money with Chen Dadong the last time?

We had kidnapped that kid on a whim, but now that we were prepared to ask for a ransom, we had to be on the same page. Kidnapping was different from murder, robbery or pickpocketing. You could do those other crimes by yourself, but kidnapping required a full team. Someone had to be in charge of the kidnapping itself, someone had to watch the hostage, and someone else had to do the money exchange. These were all important steps and you couldn’t proceed without any of these steps.

And now, Fatty Sun wanted to quit? No way.

I didn’t say anything and just glared icily at him.

Fatty Sun said, “Better the devil you know. It’s not too late to turn back now.”

“Turn back? What are you going to do with the kid we kidnapped?”

“He’s just a kid. He seems quite smart and I think it’s worth training him up.”

I didn’t expect that response. “What do you mean?”

Fatty Sun waved his hand about and asked me something else instead, “At our age, we should have been married by now. You’re divorced, but at least you had a wife once…”

I spat, “Do NOT talk to me about that woman. Our son has leukemia and not only did she completely ignore that fact, she insisted on getting a divorce and took half my assets. Since she wanted a divorce, FINE! She could have one! I’d just take it that my son never had a mother!” My voice started to crack as I spoke.

Fatty Sun picked up on my disappointment and continued to fan the flames, “Like I said, at least you had a wife and you have a son. What about me? I still don’t have a wife. Without a wife, I won’t have a kid. But not having a kid isn’t really important…”

I paled and interjected, “Wait, not having a kid isn’t your point? What’s important to you then?”

Fatty Sun sighed and said, “It’s such a pity that there’s nobody to inherit my family’s trade.”

I was getting confused. I knew Fatty Sun since we were children and I knew everything about him and his family. Besides his chubby figure, I never knew his family had anything else to pass down to future generations.

Fatty Sun saw my confused expression and used his hands to make the action of picking something up. I got it immediately.

That’s right. He had indeed come from a family of pickpockets.

Fatty Sun said, “Since we’ve kidnapped a kid, I might as well take him in as my disciple. Then at least my ancestor’s great techniques will not be lost.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh please. Pickpocketing is not some great technique that anybody should learn. Besides, those who are rich enough carry cards nowadays. Who is still carrying cash?”

He retorted, “That’s because you’ve never gone around the produce markets before.”

I snorted. “You want me to wake up early in the morning just to steal $20 from old ladies going marketing? If it rains, there’d be more fellow pickpockets than old ladies! If you get three or four pickpockets eyeing the same old lady, you’d probably end up bashing each other up before you even get to steal anything.”

Fatty Sun continued to argue, “A number of my competitors at the market have been arrested over the past two years!”

“Oh?”

Fatty Sun threw in a commentary on today’s society, “The police these days can’t crack any of their major cases and they dare not go after the corruption cases because it involves powerful people, so they’ve been using small fry like us to make themselves look better. Thankfully, my ancestors have kept me safe, plus I’ve always been cautious, bold and skillful. So even though most of my competitors have been arrested, I’ve managed to survive.”

He paused for a moment, then continued to blow his trumpet, “Now, I’m the only one doing this in the markets within a five kilometer radius from here. I can choose from hundreds of old ladies! Each one doesn’t carry a lot of cash, but a little each time will eventually add up to a lot.”

I said, “This kidnapping can earn us a few million and we just need to do it once. How many old ladies would you have to steal from to earn this much?”

Fatty Sun was the conservative type to begin with, and after his attempt to steal more money with Chen Dadong had failed the last time, he became even more unwilling to try something else. He waved his hands about and refused to agree with me.

I thought about my son’s impending surgery and felt that I had to do this or I wouldn’t be able to afford it. I yelled angrily at him, “If you don’t dare to do it, then get lost right now! Ergou and I can get this done ourselves! Just don’t get all envious when you watch how much money we get out of this!”

Fatty Sun was a lot less imposing than he looked, so after I snapped at him like that, he backed down a little. He was going to embarrass himself if he insisted on backing out, so he gritted his teeth and said, “Look, it’s not that I’m a coward or that I’m afraid of trouble. Fine! We’ll do it! I’m not scared! But I get to decide one thing.”

“Which one?”

“I get to decide how much we extort from the family.”

“How much are you looking at?”

Fatty Sun stuck out three fingers.

“Three million? Wang Jianguo is worth a few hundred million now. That’s peanuts to him.”

Fatty Sun shook his head. “Not three million.”

I gasped. “You mean…$30 million?”

He shook his head again. “Not $30 million.”

“How much then?”

“$30,000!”

“WHAT?!”

“30 grand!”

My first instinct was to conclude that there was something with Fatty Sun’s brain. We had risked jail time and put in so much effort to kidnap this kid and we had to keep the kid alive and happy as well. All that for just 30 grand?! Only an idiot would do such a thing!

But Fatty Sun didn’t think there was anything wrong. “You don’t understand. I’m doing this for the safety of all of us.”

“Oh?”

“Think about it. This is the first time we’re doing this, so we want it to go through successfully. Having an auspicious start is very important.”

“And what has this got to do with the amount of ransom we ask for?”

“Think about it. Asking for just 30 grand is so little, it’ll sound more like human trafficking than a kidnap case. Would the family bother calling the police if the ransom amount is so low? If they don’t call the police, our first deal will go through smoothly, wouldn’t it?”

He was right, but 30 grand was also very little money. That was nowhere near enough to cover my son’s surgery fees.

Fatty Sun seemed to have read my mind and quickly piped up, “Do you find $30,000 very little? Hey, that’s equivalent to half a year of stealing from old ladies and scamming others!”

Then he looked at me and spoke in a patient and earnest voice, “Dahu, we shouldn’t be too greedy, especially for those in our line. Besides, it’s not about how much we’re getting. It’s about whether we’d be alive and free to spend it or not.”

The more he spoke, the more excited he became. He even insisted on making the call to the family himself. In his words, extorting ransom money was an art in itself and one had to choose both the words and tone of voice carefully. Ergou and I were uncouth people, while he was the meticulous and detailed one despite being so large in size. Or so he claimed.