Ding Wei was dying to know, what his father had discussed with Wenjie. Back during the Water Lily case, he had felt jealous at times, because his father had paid so much more attention to Wenjie. Later, he had realized why. So, that his son wouldn't mess things up for him when he killed Wenjie.
The likelihood of him trying a second time had decreased. But Ding Wei reckoned, he played a false game. Without a word, he sat down at the table next to Wenjie and placed a bottle of water in front of him.
Xu Zhengqing's henchman gave Ding Shenghuo a cup of tea. Naturally, he also sat down with them. Certainly not because he was interested in the outcome of Weiqi's game. Under the table, Ding Wei rubbed the edges of his shoes against each other restlessly.
Then, he noticed his father transmitted something to him via Morse code with his fingers. Be patient. The game won't last much longer.
It wasn't that clear-cut. There were already a lot of stones on the table, but it was difficult to tell, who had the upper hand. Wenjie was good. Ding Wei had never got that far against his father. He usually fell for his little traps. It was the same every time.
Time passed as if in slow motion. But the feeling was deceptive. In fact, just half an hour passed, before it was no longer possible to make a move. Wenjie had not managed to defeat Ding Shenghuo, but the game ended with a stalemate. Not bad.
Ding Wei patted him on the shoulder. “We should play against my father together.”
“You'd lose,” Ding Shenghuo replied. “Because your concentration would be more on Wenjie, than on the matter at hand.”
Ouch. Ding Wei refrained from commenting. Instead, he grabbed Wenjie's arm and stood up. He didn't miss his father's raised eyebrow. He didn't care. What was or wasn't going on between Wenjie and him was his business. And he wanted to know now, what they had discussed, just not in front of his father.
Wenjie followed him up to the upper deck. No one was there. Xu Zhengqing was probably below deck. Ding Wei heard noises from below. He let go of Wenjie and took a look down. Ah, there was Xu Zhengqing. He was busy with Ding Shenghuo. The two of them were definitely up to some nasty plans.
When he turned back to Wenjie, the younger man was standing at the railing of the observation deck, looking over to the cargo ship where Captain Luo and Zhuang Yaobai were. Ding Wei leaned next to him with his back to the railing.
“What did he want?” he got straight to the point.
Back then, Wenjie hadn't let him elicit any information from him. Today was a different story. Once they were relatively safe, at least for the time being, his friend briefed him on the conversation.
Ding Wei growled angrily. “He's trying to tell you, that he doesn't accept my way of life. And I bet, he doesn't intend to keep his end of the bargain.”
“He assumes, he doesn't have to.” Wenjie gave him a sidelong glance.
The indifference in his eyes frustrated Ding Wei. “How can you stay so calm? You're not planning to go along with the deal, are you?”
“I need to think about it.” Wenjie looked over at the cargo ship again. “We have two options. We make a deal with Xu Zhengqing or with Ding Shenghuo. But we can't let them join forces against us. Either way, we will be forced to do things, that go against our code of values.” He let out a deep sigh.
Ding Wei froze. “Xu Zhengqing? You can't be serious. It's out of the question. That bastard...” he continued.
“He's old. He regrets many things. He longs to turn back time. Otherwise he wouldn't have come up with the idea of hypnosis. It would be risky, but it could work.”
Wenjie's words reminded him, that Xu Zhengqing had listened to him. Since he had brought him on board, he had treated his friend decently. No torture, no imprisonment in dark rooms, no poison collars or even sexual assault. The thought of the latter made the hairs on the back of Ding Wei's neck stand up. Was there a tiny spark of hope? Could it be that the old man was getting tired of his old life and was longing for something else? After everything that had happened, that seemed unthinkable. And yet, Wenjie obviously didn't completely rule it out.
Ding Wei also turned towards the railing and put an arm around Wenjie's shoulder. He leaned down towards him. “What are you up to?” The wind swallowed his words. No one would hear them up here.
Wenjie didn't slap his arm away. “I offer to talk to my father and negotiate a reconciliation. What he really wants is to restore the old days. I'm no substitute for my father.”
“But that's not all. You said he's still greedy.”
Wenjie nodded. “He also knows that his crimes are punishable by death. Unless he would redeem himself by doing something to balance things out. Not all the cultural artifacts he stole were stolen from museums or galleries. Some of them were in the possession of foreigners. He retrieved these artifacts.”
Oh. Ding Wei understood what he was up to. This was crazy. Xu Zhengqing never got involved. What was the point? He wanted to own everything. If he now traveled to other countries to bring back stolen Chinese cultural artifacts, he wouldn't be allowed to keep them. Unless someone made perfect copies for him. “You're not planning to make duplicates for him? Not all artifacts are paintings.”
“I can only help him with the paintings. He can give the originals to the museums. He would have copies for his own use.”
Ding Wei pinched his shoulder and laughed. “He'll never go for that.”
“Probably not.” Wenjie squirmed out of the embrace. “Besides, it's not a good idea to make an enemy of your father.”
He was definitely right about that. And kill two birds with one stone? If Captain Luo wasn't over there on the other ship, Ding Wei would have argued in favor of simply fooling Xu Zhengqing and Ding Shenghuo. But like this? He didn't know what to do anymore.
to be continued ...
