Chapter 26: Cowboy

Page 1 of 3

Chapter 26: The Cowboy

The person inside the mirror and the person outside it said nothing. They simply gazed at one another in silence.

The outcome could no longer be changed. Perhaps this was the best possible ending.

Zhou Zhihan believed that the former owner of this body should have realized He Ningyu’s true identity by now. He was not a fool. A fool could never have made it to West Point. He had initially become a fool only because he had loved too deeply.

Perhaps there were some things the fool simply chose not to say. Perhaps he only wanted to remain a fool.

Or perhaps, for a fool, this was the best ending of all.

As he watched the blurry figure in the mirror gradually disappear, Zhou Zhihan stood there dazed for several seconds. Perhaps after this silent gaze, the two of them would truly become strangers forever.

Zhou Zhihan found another clean bath towel, wrapped the gold in it, slung it over his back, and walked into the kitchen. He turned the gas stove on again.

Then he searched the entire house once more, including every place he had visited, making absolutely certain that he had left no trace behind.

Five minutes later, Zhou Zhihan returned to the kitchen. The water in the hanging kettle had begun to boil. It overflowed, extinguishing the flames, and a sharp hissing sound filled the room as the smell of gas spread through the air. Only then did he sling the gold over his back and leave through the rear door, disappearing into the night.

Twenty minutes later, Zhou Zhihan obtained a bicycle and sped away amid a chorus of barking dogs.

Another twenty minutes later, he was at least twenty kilometers from Bruce Street. In a wilderness bordering the suburbs, he placed the gold inside an empty bird’s nest in the middle of several dozen towering trees.

The nest was vacant.

Judging from the surroundings, this was a remote place. There were no crops or farms nearby, and no one seemed to have visited or cleared away the branches in a long time. The weeds around the trees showed no sign of having been trampled. It was perfectly safe.

With his keen hearing and sharp eyesight, Zhou Zhihan was certain that no one had followed him along the way.

After climbing down from the tree, he carefully parted the grass, ensuring that he left no sign of flattened weeds around its base. Then he departed calmly.

He still did not know where the Chinese American Association was located. He would have to find it first before he could secretly deliver the gold. The overseas Chinese would travel throughout the United States, purchasing weapons and supplies urgently needed back home and sending them there.

Twenty pounds of gold, given the purchasing power of the era, could certainly buy a great deal of advanced weaponry.

Zhou Zhihan did not return to the military academy by bicycle in the middle of the night as the former owner had once done. Instead, he turned back and found a hotel about six or seven kilometers from Meizi Xiangshan’s villa. He would stay there for the night. Tomorrow was Sunday, after all, and he had no desire to return to the dormitory only to be bombarded with questions from his classmates.

Once a person became the center of everyone’s attention, it could be rather annoying.

Right now, he simply wanted a quiet room where he could see what the “Lord of the Skies” was.

The Lord of the Skies.

The name alone was enough to make his blood race.

Bruce Street, where Meizi Xiangshan lived, was relatively out of the way. After seven or eight in the evening, the road was practically deserted, which suited her identity perfectly.

On the main avenue ahead, however, neon lights glittered. A hotel there looked fairly decent.

Page 1 of 3

Page 2 of 3

When staying at a hotel, the quality of the establishment was not the most important thing. Cleanliness was the key.

Although I usually do not wash my socks or underwear, that does not mean I am unclean.

Would anyone assume that I paid no attention to food hygiene simply because I never cook?

Whether a person is personally clean has absolutely nothing to do with whether he washes his underwear or socks.

There were still plenty of people on the avenue at this hour. In the shadowed corners beside the walls, many figures moved about, both men and women.

Besides the rather impressive-looking hotel, the street was lined with cafés and bars.

On a mainstream American street like this, one could hardly see any tea houses run by Chinese people. At this time, American nightlife revolved largely around alcohol and coffee.

So American nightlife in the twenties and thirties had been quite lively after all.

The hotel owner was a tall, elderly American man dressed entirely in cowboy clothes, complete with a cowboy hat. Though he was quite old, he still looked rugged and imposing. When he saw Zhou Zhihan push open the door, he warmly rose to his feet.

As the old cowboy stood, Zhou Zhihan noticed that the distance between his left arm and his ribs was clearly greater than the distance on his right side. The movement was extremely subtle, but it did not escape Zhou Zhihan’s keen eyes.

That meant the old cowboy had a weapon hidden beneath his right arm, most likely a pistol.

There was nothing unusual about that. In America, nearly every household owned a gun. This street was prosperous and drew people from every walk of life. A cowboy running a hotel would naturally carry a weapon, just in case.

His American classmates in the dormitory often joked that many cowboys carried three guns: a smoking gun, a shooting gun, and...

The entire dormitory would then erupt in lewd laughter.

Ever since the system had appeared and transformed his body from the inside out, Zhou Zhihan’s powers of judgment had improved by leaps and bounds.

His requirements were not high. He wanted a room on the second floor, preferably a large suite. It had to be quiet, with no one to disturb him. Most important of all, it had to be clean and hygienic.

The old cowboy shrugged, took a key, and handed it to Zhou Zhihan. With a highly exaggerated gesture, he spread his hands, then pointed toward the price list.

Damn.

The most expensive room.

Zhou Zhihan paid, and was just about to turn toward the stairs when the old cowboy’s voice came from behind him.

“Young man, dawn is still a long way off. Want me to find you someone to drink and chat with?”

“Thanks! It’s precisely because dawn is still a long way off that I can’t find anyone to drink and chat with!”

The old cowboy stared at him.

Zhou Zhihan turned around. “Youth never knows how precious the horse’s strength is. Old age leaves a man staring at an empty pasture, weeping.”

The old cowboy did not understand what the line meant at first. He returned to the counter and slowly mulled it over. Several minutes later, realization dawned on him.

“Fuck...”

Page 2 of 3

Page 3 of 3

When Zhou Zhihan reached the second floor and walked toward his room, a brown-haired woman of around twenty-seven or twenty-eight was already waiting outside the door. She wore a short skirt and had a strikingly voluptuous figure. When she saw him turn the corner from the staircase, her eyes lit up, and a satisfied smile appeared on her face.

Her teeth were very white.

Seeing the brown-haired woman, whose hips were wider than her shoulders, Zhou Zhihan could not help drawing several cold breaths through his stomach.

Though pleasure might make a man feel like a god—

the more horsepower, the more fuel it consumed!

“Sir!” The woman’s smile was fairly charming. She pushed a small cart piled with freshly laundered bedding. “I’m here to tidy your room.”

The woman had a very distinctive way of making the bed. In particular, the way she bent over while changing the sheets reminded Zhou Zhihan of a popular phrase back home...

Damn.

At the crucial moment, he had forgotten the phrase.

Had you never experienced this in school? You could have memorized a passage until you knew it by heart, yet the moment you stood before the teacher, you would suddenly forget the opening and be unable to force out a single word for ages.

Watching the woman spread clean sheets, replace the clean pillowcases, and change the clean duvet cover, Zhou Zhihan was extremely satisfied.

Before he transmigrated, many classmates and friends had complained that hotels back home looked clean on the surface, while the beds, pillows, blankets, and sheets were actually filthy. Someone had once found a map on a bedsheet, while someone else had discovered a yellowish stain on a quilt.

He had also read reports saying that some guests with no sense of decency washed their underwear and socks in hotel kettles, and even boiled utensils in them for disinfection. Some spat inside. Others casually wiped their hands on the pillows or smeared all kinds of filthy substances on them...

After changing the bedding, the woman smiled and made no attempt to leave, as though she were the mistress of the room.

Zhou Zhihan understood. He slipped her a two-dollar tip.

Having accepted the tip, the woman was unsure whether she ought to leave happily. This handsome young Oriental man was completely oblivious to romance.

As he watched the door close from the outside, Zhou Zhihan let out a long breath. Eastern and Western standards of beauty were truly different. In Western eyes, did someone who looked a little thin like him really have to be attracted to women with especially generous curves?

Hmph!

Zhou Zhihan had already bathed at Meizi Xiangshan’s home. He removed his socks and let his feet breathe freely. After propping up his pillow and reclining against the headboard, he was just about to open the system when someone knocked on the door.

Zhou Zhihan opened it.

“Sir!”

A girl of eighteen or nineteen stood outside. She had a lovely figure, very fair skin, a few freckles scattered across the bridge of her nose, large blue eyes, and black hair.

“I’ve brought you some hot water, sir!”

End of Chapter