dognovel Chapter 1077 Stranded in Macau
Chapter 1077 Stranded in Macau
Wu Mingqiang was chatting with Acheng on the second floor when he saw Gui'er suddenly in such a hurry to return to Hong Kong. He was very surprised and paused for a moment before saying, "I have already asked someone to help me buy a ferry ticket, but I won't have any news until tomorrow. Miss, what's wrong? Why are you in such a hurry to go back all of a sudden?"
Gui'er quickly showed him the missing person notice in the newspaper and said, "I feel like something happened in Hong Kong. Professors Xu Jing and Meng Haoliang have gone missing. I wonder if Brother Chen and Pei Shan rushed back to Hong Kong because of this?"
Wu Mingqiang took it and looked at it, then frowned and said, "Miss, those two have always had pro-communist views, so it's not surprising that they're being targeted. Wouldn't it be better for you to stay here at this time, so you don't get targeted?"
"How can you say that? They are good people, our comrades. How can we not rescue our comrades when they are in trouble? Besides, when they were bullied by Ouyang Bao last time, they were also implicated, and they didn't say anything." Gui'er was so anxious that she was almost crying.
“Miss, calm down. It’s late now, and there’s no way to find anyone. Let’s talk about it tomorrow. Maybe we can find someone we know who can help us buy tickets. It’ll be another long day of boat travel, so you should get some rest first,” A-Cheng said.
Although Gui'er was anxious, there was nothing she could do. She didn't know anyone in Macau. After agreeing, she returned to her bedroom on the third floor to rest, feeling dejected.
The next morning, Wu Mingqiang went out, saying he was going to get the ferry tickets and wouldn't be back for a while, telling the others to eat and drink as usual. Gui'er felt bad about keeping Dingxiang and Acheng cooped up in the house all day, so she went out with them for a stroll. Wu Mingqiang didn't return until evening, saying they still hadn't gotten the ferry tickets. The people at the bus station said, "The number of ferry trips to Hong Kong has been reduced by half recently, and the tickets are all booked up." Gui'er paced anxiously in the room, not touching the food Dingxiang brought her, her knuckles white as she clutched the missing person poster in her hand.
The third day brought the same result. Wu Mingqiang's message was even more vague, only saying that "the Hong Kong British government is cracking down hard, and the shipping companies dare not sell tickets privately." Gui'er was extremely frustrated. Sitting on the swing on the balcony, watching the pedestrians coming and going on Rua Nova below, she felt anxious. Something was wrong. She had only bought the ferry tickets two days in advance when she came, so why couldn't she buy them now? Money makes the world go round, and besides, Japan wasn't conducting military exercises at the moment.
In the evening, while Wu Mingqiang and Acheng went out to buy cigarettes, she called Dingxiang over and asked with a stern face, "Are you hiding something from me?"
Dingxiang trembled at the question, twisting the corner of her apron with her fingers, and stammered, "Miss... Brother Qiang and Brother Acheng are doing this for your own good. They said that Professor Xu and Professor Meng's affair is most likely the work of the Japanese or Kuomintang spies. If you go back, you might be targeted..."
Gui'er suddenly stood up, the swing creaking as it swung: "So they deliberately kept me here and wouldn't let me leave?"
"Brother Qiang said to wait until things calm down before going back..." Dingxiang stammered, "Miss, actually, you can't help much if you go back now. Last time, we had to go through a lot of trouble to get out of this situation. We can't afford to go through that again."
Gui'er didn't say anything more. The next morning, she made an excuse to go to a store to look at stockings and underwear, sending everyone away. She then took the money and ran to the ferry terminal by herself. The ferry terminal in Macau was located next to the Inner Harbour Ferry Terminal. It was a two-story Portuguese-style building with peeling paint and a faded wooden sign hanging at the entrance that read "Ferry Ticket Issuance Office" in Portuguese and Chinese.
The line to buy tickets stretched out onto the street, mostly filled with Chinese people carrying luggage, their faces filled with anxiety. Gui'er waited in line for half an hour before it was finally her turn. The Portuguese clerk behind the ticket window glanced at her and said in broken Cantonese, "To Hong Kong? Tickets for today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow are all sold out."
"How could there not be?" Gui'er asked anxiously. "I'll pay more, is there any way to get a ticket?"
The staff member waved his hand impatiently and pointed to the notice on the wall: "The Hong Kong British government has a limit on the number of passengers. Tickets are sold at 30% of the board price per boat. Want tickets? Wait until next week."
Gui'er looked at the Portuguese stamp on the notice and felt a chill in her heart. She went to several other shipping companies, but the answers were all the same. A Chinese employee secretly told her, "They've been cracking down hard lately. They say some 'unstable elements' have been arrested in Hong Kong. The shipping companies are afraid of getting into trouble, so they don't dare sell tickets to strangers."
Back at her lodgings, Gui'er locked herself in her room. When Wu Mingqiang knocked and entered, she was staring blankly in the direction of Hong Kong. "Miss, did you have fun today? Why are you locked in your room as soon as you get back?" He placed a bowl of stew on the table, and seeing Gui'er's silence, he felt a little guilty: "Don't worry about the boat tickets, I'll ask someone to try and find a solution, but..."
“You just don’t want me to go back, right?” Gui’er turned her head, her eyes reddening. “Brother Wu, they are comrades, they are friends. I can’t just stand by and watch something happen to them. Even if there is danger, I have to go back.”
Wu Mingqiang remained silent for a while, then sighed, "Okay, I'll take care of it tomorrow."
But this "tomorrow" was delayed for another five days. Every day, Wu Mingqiang tried different ways to cheer her up, taking her to the cinema in Senado Square to watch silent films, to the tea house in Lou Lim Ioc Park to listen to Cantonese opera, and to the silk shop on Rua Nova da Praia Grande to pick out fabrics, but Gui'er could not cheer up, and the anxiety in her eyes grew more and more intense each day.
A whole week had passed, and Gui'er's school was about to start. Wu Mingqiang finally got back the four ship tickets, his voice a little hoarse as he handed them over: "The ship leaves early tomorrow morning, third class."
Gui'er finally felt relieved. During this time, she read the newspaper every day, not even missing the advertisements in the margins, but she still didn't see any more news about Xu Jing and Meng Haoliang.
The next morning, they took a boat back to Hong Kong. When Sister-in-law Ying saw them, she put her hands together and said, "Amitabha, you guys are doing well. You were supposed to be gone for a few days, but you've been gone for more than a week. I thought something had happened to you in Macau."
Gui'er didn't bother to exchange pleasantries and was about to go find Chen Zhongyu when Wu Mingqiang stopped her, saying, "Miss, don't be impulsive. Let me go and find out what's going on. I know a lot of people. If you rush off to find someone like this, you'll be in big trouble if someone is watching you."
Wu Mingqiang then went out again and didn't return until very late.
Gui'er had been sitting in the hall waiting. When she saw him return, she quickly went up to ask how it went.
Wu Mingqiang sat on the sofa, looking exhausted, and shook his head, saying, "No, we can't find anything. They just vanished into thin air. We don't know who did it, Miss. I feel there's a lot more to this than meets the eye. You have to be careful."