One Hundred and Fifty-Six: An Old Acquaintance

Wei Hua and Ono Kura left the hotel where they were staying and found a bar not far away. As soon as they stepped inside, a wave of noise rushed toward them. They walked over to the counter, where Wei Hua ordered a beer and Ono Kura asked for a glass of Scotch whisky. Sipping their drinks, the two men watched the striptease performance taking place on the elevated stage in the middle of the dance floor. This kind of erotic strip show was completely ordinary in Thailand, found virtually everywhere. Before Wei Hua had even finished his beer, he noticed a few people entering from outside the bar, one of whom looked remarkably familiar. Looking closer, Wei Hua realized it was indeed someone he knew, which immediately sparked a question in his mind: What on earth was this person doing in Thailand?

Instead of lingering in the ground-floor lounge, the group headed straight up to the second floor, which consisted entirely of private rooms. Wei Hua told Ono Kura he was going to the restroom and then walked upstairs. In the second-floor hallway, two of the men who had just arrived stood guard outside a private room. Wei Hua glanced at them briefly before stepping into an unoccupied room nearby. After closing the door securely, Wei Hua extended his spiritual awareness into the adjacent room. There were only two people inside: his acquaintance and another middle-aged man who looked like a Thai local. He heard his acquaintance say to the Thai man:

"Mr. Nai Chai! Please, whatever it takes, I am asking for your help. Once this is accomplished, we will certainly not treat Mr. Nai Chai poorly."

"Mr. Jiang! It is not that I am unwilling to help! There is simply nothing I can do! General Khun Sa's organization is exceptionally tight, and they have established fixed partners in Indonesia with immense power. Therefore, no matter how high a price you offer, General Khun Sa's people will not sell drugs to you. As far as I know, General Khun Sa's partner in Indonesia is protected by the Indonesian military and high-ranking government officials, which is why Khun Sa's people refuse to sell narcotics to you. This was agreed upon with General Khun Sa beforehand, and you must be careful when you return to Indonesia—those people in Indonesia might come looking for you," replied Nai Chai, the Thai man.

"Many thanks, Mr. Nai Chai! Since things stand thus, I shall not intrude any further. This is just a small token of our appreciation, and I hope Mr. Nai Chai will look after us in the future!" With that, he pulled an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Nai Chai. The envelope was bulging, stuffed with something inside. Nai Chai took it, slipped it into his own pocket, and said:

"In that case, I will not keep you any longer, my friend. Safe journey!"

Jiang Hua stood up and walked out the door. Wei Hua also stood up and left his private room, running right into Jiang Hua as the latter emerged from the adjacent room. Jiang Hua froze upon seeing Wei Hua. He was just about to greet him when he noticed Wei Hua's expression of complete unfamiliarity, which immediately made him realize that Wei Hua did not want to expose their relationship. He thus turned to his two subordinates standing at the door of the private room, as well as a few others who were coming out of another room, and said:

"Let's go downstairs for a few drinks before we head back to the hotel!"

"How did it go, Brother Hua? Was the matter accomplished?" a subordinate asked.

"Do not ask any more questions! Let's go down first!" With that, Jiang Hua led his men downstairs, and Wei Hua followed closely behind from the second floor.

Back at the bar, Ono Kura was flirting with several Thai women, and one could tell at a glance that these women were hostesses. Wei Hua noticed that Jiang Hua, who was not far away, was keeping an eye on his movements. After drinking another beer, Wei Hua made another excuse and walked toward the restrooms. On the other side, Jiang Hua, who had been watching Wei Hua the whole time, also headed toward the washrooms. Wei Hua entered the restroom, and Jiang Hua followed shortly after. After scanning the surroundings with his spiritual awareness, Wei Hua spoke to Jiang Hua:

"You guys head back to Indonesia first. I will travel to Indonesia in a little while, and we can discuss whatever needs to be discussed then!"

With that, he left the restroom. Not long after Jiang Hua came out of the restroom, he left the bar with his subordinates. Wei Hua and Ono Kura did not leave until late into the night.

The next day, Wei Hua and Ono Kura took a plane out of Bangkok and returned to Hong Kong. Upon exiting Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport, the two parted ways. Ono Kura returned to his company, while Wei Hua went back to Qiyuan.

After resting in Hong Kong for two days, Wei Hua caught a flight to Jakarta, Indonesia. Through A Liang, he made contact with Jiang Hua, and they met at a secret location. Upon seeing Jiang Hua, Wei Hua went straight to the point:

"What were you guys doing in Thailand looking for Khun Sa's people? Are you planning to get into the drug trade yourselves? And how are things with the resistance organization now?"

Over the past few years, Wei Hua had paid little attention to the Indonesian resistance organization, and gradually He Xiaoya stopped reporting to him about it as frequently, only seeking him out when funds were needed. Even then, the resistance organization had not required large sums of money in recent years. Ding Peng, who was responsible for protecting Wei Hua, knew very little about the situation in Indonesia.

"The organization has developed very well over the past few years, expanding its strength rapidly. However, Miss He's strategy appears far too gentle—she focuses blindly on expanding strength while completely failing to serve as any kind of deterrent to the Indonesians. That fabricated Indonesian Freedom Alliance you came up with back then still carried some weight with the Indonesians initially, but after years of inaction, the Indonesians have long since forgotten about it. Over the past year or two, the attitude of the Indonesians has grown arrogant once again. We have trained so many fighters, yet we engage in no armed struggle; what is the point of training them? Our trip to Thailand this time was an attempt to establish a connection with Khun Sa's line and obtain narcotics. Doing so would, firstly, cut off a financial lifeline for high-ranking Indonesian officials and the military, and secondly, provide us with some additional operating funds," Jiang Hua explained.

"Did I not promise to provide all the operating funds?" Wei Hua asked.

"Miss He said that if we can resolve the funding issue ourselves, it is better to do so. She said that Mr. Wei's money is entirely tied up within the company, and transferring funds to us through the company is prone to problems. That would inevitably implicate Mr. Wei's company, so we were asked to try our best to solve the funding problem ourselves."

Wei Hua knew this was his own oversight. A dignified world-class billionaire did not even have any private stash of cash. Although the money within Excellence Private Investment Company belonged entirely to him personally, the risk of using funds from there for such activities was simply too high, as far too many people were monitoring the capital movements there.