A few days later, Valentine.
The sky was gloomy, with scattered raindrops floating in the air. Since the beginning of summer, weather like this has been rare. The heat of summer is locked here by the clouds. Even though there is rain, it is still very boring, so besides having to Those who went out almost all locked themselves in the house. Even Sheriff Malloy, who usually leaned at the door of the office, did not appear at his usual place today.
There is still a "Opening" sign on the door of Miller's gun shop, but the boss staying in the shop has no idea that he may receive customers at any time. Although it is nominally open, the boss is lying comfortably On the rocking chair, I was drinking coffee and reading the latest newspaper.
As an experienced businessman, he knew very well that in such weather, there would generally not be many customers, especially for a gun shop with a low customer flow. It was more likely that there would be no customers at all today. Therefore, Quan should give himself a holiday.
As for the batch of black goods that he was obsessed with some time ago, maybe he would have been devastated by the loss of those things a few days ago, but now, although he still cares about their loss, he no longer expects those things to come back. Think about it. , how could one person snatch those goods away from a group of vicious robbers? Therefore, although he is still worried about losing those goods, his mentality is much calmer than some time ago.
The shop door creaked, and the sound of rain that had been completely isolated outside the house slipped in along the gradually widening crack in the door, and was cut off again outside the house by a rough closing sound.
The person who walked into the room was a tall man wearing a black cowboy hat with the brim so low that his face could not be seen clearly. The black leather windbreaker that covered his whole body was covered with water droplets, which made the man see. It was a little awkward going up.
The boss put down the newspaper and coffee in his hand, stood up from the recliner, put on a standard smile for welcoming guests, and said: "Welcome, sir, can I help you?"
"I don't need your help, but I just did you a big favor." The man took off the black cowboy hat on his head, revealing his light blond hair and green eyes, and said, "Do you still remember those black things of yours? ?」
The boss recognized the man in front of him at a glance, and said with surprise and a bit of joy: "It turns out to be you, Mr. Munny. This, this really surprises me. I thought..."
"You thought I died in the hands of robbers?" Brandy said with a slight smile.
"Ah no no no, of course not," the boss said with a trembling smile, "I thought it might take longer, but I didn't expect you to show up so quickly..."
"Yeah, it's really fast," Brandi nodded and said, "If it weren't for luck, the problem might not be solved so quickly. Maybe when I track down the culprit, you want to see them again. , maybe I have to spend the money to buy them again.”
The boss is a smart man. He understands just by listening to the implication of the words, and his attitude is much more respectful than before.
He motioned Brandy to sit on the stool in front of the counter for guests to rest, helped Brandy take off the wet coat, hung it on his own clothes hanger, and then poured a cup of hot water for Brandy. Coffee, served by hand.
Brandy was very satisfied with the boss's attitude. He took a sip of the rich coffee, paused, and said, "Your goods are now being placed behind the back of your shop. There are two carriages full of them. You can wait for them later." You can go check it out. I have paid the corresponding sealing fee to the hired driver. They will not say that they were involved in the transportation. Of course, they don’t know what is in those boxes. Oh, by the way, and I This time I met brothers from the same gang. Without their help, this matter would not have been resolved so quickly, so I asked them to pick out the things they liked and take them away as reward. What do you think?"
"It should, it should." The boss smiled broadly. Compared with the recovery of this batch of goods, a small expense was nothing.
When talking about remuneration, the boss suddenly remembered something, turned around, took out a prepared stack of banknotes of about a hundred dollars from the cabinet behind him, handed it to Brandi, and said: " Just a little fun,
Consider it a reward. "
Brandy did not take the money, but shook her head slightly and pushed the money back.
Seeing that Brandy refused to accept the money, the boss was a little stunned and confused, and said, "Mr. Munny, what are you..."
"I'm more interested in cooperation than remuneration," Brandi said as she picked up a cigar from the wooden cigarette box on the counter that the boss used to entertain guests. The boss struck the match very consciously. Ordering it for Brandi, Brandi took a nice puff first, and then continued, "What was the price you negotiated with them before?"
The boss was slightly stunned when he heard this. It wasn't that he didn't understand what Brandy was referring to, but he was slightly hesitant about whether to say it. However, this hesitation only lasted less than five seconds and disappeared.
"I help the gang run this gun shop and conduct black market transactions. In return, I can receive 10% of the net profit as a reward. The rest of the profit will be calculated from the time I take over the business here and will be sent to "Tacitus· Kilgore". "
The boss is actually very satisfied with this condition, because the remuneration is already much more substantial than what he received when he was employed by the Dalton family, and now he is not working as an employee or subordinate, but as a partner. As a person running a store, this change is also psychologically satisfying for him.
"Oh, that's it," Brandi nodded and said, "I would like to ask, on a quarterly basis, how much profit does this store and black market transactions generally make?"
"This...it's really hard to say." The boss said with a confused look.
While slowly smoking her cigar, Brandy tapped her fingers on the table and said, "Tell me, how much income did you get in the worst month in your memory?"
"The worst recession? With all due respect, Mr. Munny, in our industry, unless the incoming goods are lost and we lose money, there is no such thing as a recession." The boss said this with a smile, "However, in my impression, the business is the worst In one month, including black market transactions, I only made more than 300 yuan. Mr. Dalton scolded me severely that time and deducted a month's salary from me, so I remember it more clearly."
"You earn at least three hundred dollars a month. Based on this figure, it's a thousand dollars a quarter. Even if you look at it this way, it's quite impressive." Brandy murmured to herself, and then asked, "This account Have you settled it with Mr. Matthews?"
Of course the boss knew who Brandy was talking about Mr. Matthews. To be precise, he only knew how to call the old gentleman who seemed completely unrelated to the desperado Mr. Matthews, and he didn't know the rest.
He shook his head and said, "No, because Mr. Matthews left in a hurry at that time, so he didn't ask about this matter."
"Oh, that's it, that's easy," Brandy nodded, then smiled like a businessman and said, "Well, now, how about we negotiate a new deal, ah no, to be precise. Say, it’s a new cooperation, what do you think?”
"This... this is not appropriate, Mr. Munny." The boss showed a fearful look. He knew very well who he was doing business for, and he didn't have the guts to make small moves behind the back of those murderous guys. .
"Don't panic, just listen to me first," Brandi signaled to the boss to calm down, and then said, "And you, continue to manage this store here, but no longer for the gang. In return, you can What do you think about keeping 20% of the net profit as compensation?"
"20%?!" The boss almost shouted, and the remuneration was doubled. This was something he had never dared to think about.
Brandi still maintained a businessman's smile and said, "How about it? I think you have no reason to refuse this offer, right?"
"Yes...yes, this is indeed too rich," the boss swallowed subconsciously and said, "But, Mr. Munny, if Mr. Matthews finds out..."
"Don't worry, he won't find out, because next, you still have to send 80% of the net profit to "Tacitus Kilgore". "Brandy said confidently.
The boss was even more confused now: "Why... why is this?"
「
Because by the time you send the money, the gang may have moved to Rhodes. By then, Hosea's energy may not be able to pay attention to this small shop in Valentine. ” Brandi thought so.
"You don't need to worry about this, you just need to do what I say," Brandy said. "After you receive a letter signed "Billy the Kid," based on the content, then transfer the 80 % is sent to the address mentioned above, and the recipient is still "Billy the Kid". Do you understand? "
The boss nodded. This was not difficult to understand, but he was still a little confused: "Mr. Munny, this "Billy Boy"..."
"A friend of mine who is very reliable is also your boss," Brandi said casually.
The boss was still a little hard to understand. However, seeing that Brandi had no intention of explaining more on this issue, he just nodded again and said nothing.
"Okay, that's all I have to say." After Brandi finished speaking, he put out the small half of the cigar in his hand, stood up from the stool, and the boss looked at the still damp leather windbreaker. Pass it to Brandi.
Putting on her trench coat and cowboy hat, Brandy reached out to her boss and said, "Now, who's your boss?"
"It's you, of course it's you." The boss immediately held Brandy's hand flatteringly.
"That's wrong, your boss is "Billy the Kid,"" Brandy shook her head slightly and said, "You have to always remember this, I'm just a middleman, understand?"
"Yes, yes, I remember it." The boss nodded repeatedly and said.
After walking out of the store, Brandi looked up at the gloomy sky. The rain still hadn't stopped, and the raindrops had even become a lot thinner. It was likely to turn into a heavy rain that is common in summer.
Jueying was bathing in the fine rain, looking very comfortable. Although as a Turkmen horse, he is more adaptable to dry weather than other horse breeds, but he did not show any signs of the occasional rainy weather. Uncomfortable reaction.
"Let's go, Jueying," Brandy took the reins of Jueying's horse and whispered in Mandarin that no one could understand, "it's time to take you to meet some friends."
Until just now, Brandi has completed his final arrangement in Valentine.
When the convoy just arrived in Valentine, he spent extra money to send the coachman away, and then personally drove the two carriages to the backyard of the gun shop. This was actually to be safer, as the two were just hired by him. The coachman does not need to know too much information, and exchanging money for the right to know is a common thing in any era.
Then, he did not come to the gun shop immediately, but sent the little girl home. The little girl has experienced two kidnappings in just one year, and has become a bit shabby. She has not slept peacefully for a long time in the past few days. She was in a coma even before arriving at Valentine. She was so groggy that her horse was held by Brandy, while she lay in Brandy's arms, rocking to sleep.
After settling the little girl, Brandi packed the rest of her luggage, left a letter, and left in a hurry.
It's not that he wanted to say goodbye without saying goodbye. Of course, leaving a letter explaining the situation didn't count as saying goodbye without saying goodbye. However, according to his original intention, he naturally didn't want to say goodbye in this form.
However, on the one hand, he felt from the bottom of his heart that he had wasted too much time in this small town. Others didn't understand it, but he knew very well that the injury was just an extremely legitimate excuse, which really stopped him. What left was actually the laziness hidden in his heart. This time can be said to be a good opportunity. If he didn't leave here with all his energy and energy, Brandi felt that he would not leave even in 1900. .
On the other hand, he does find it troublesome to say goodbye to people with whom he will probably never see each other again but with whom he has a good relationship. It is troublesome to say goodbye to a close friend who has been inseparable since middle school but went to a different university. Saying goodbye to a first love girlfriend who has always had a good relationship but had to break up due to various objective reasons is also troublesome.
Of course, in that distant information age, it was okay to chat with old friends who could not meet, or to end a relationship that was destined to have no good results.
Problems can be easily solved using various information tools, but Brandi is a person who has experienced the budding period of the information age, and he has experienced all those troubles.
Later, while living alone and thinking about this issue quietly, Brandi came to the conclusion that the same information, spoken from the mouth and written on paper or in a dialog box, left traces and weight in the heart. The difference is that for him personally, some things cannot be explained clearly with words, but using words can at least retain a relatively clear logic of discourse. Moreover, just in the matter of "farewell" mentioned before, using Solving the problem with words is much simpler than solving it with words. Not only does it have more room to organize language, but it also does not leave too many waves in the heart. Therefore, since there is such an opportunity to avoid saying goodbye with words, why not Why not?
After finishing the matter here, Brandi still did not go to the gun shop. Instead, she went to the Valentine Post Office first and asked Ben Rosen, who was on duty, to pay attention to a signed letter mailed to the gun shop in the future. After completing the letter for "Billy the Kid", he came to the gun shop to discuss cooperation with the boss.
In fact, it is not appropriate to call it a layout. At most, it is just some plans for yourself in advance.
In fact, in this era, Brandi has many other options. He does not necessarily have to join the Van der Linde Gang to make a living in this country, but he finally chose to join. The reason is very simple, that is, he was once a bystander. , and now as a participant, he wants to give an explanation to those in this gang who deserve a good ending but cannot.
However, this does not mean that he wants the Van der Linde Gang to continue to exist. In fact, the survival of the Van der Linde Gang is determined by this era that is gradually moving toward civilization. Brandi knows very well that he alone is There is no way to stop the rumbling gears of the advancement of the times. The demise of the Van der Linde Gang is the choice of the tide of the times and the course of history. What he can do, besides trying his best to pull out those gang members who deserve a better ending, is to give more Leave some escape route for yourself so that after you break away from the gang, you won't be like John's family wandering around incognito.
Quietly taking this gun shop into his own hands is just the beginning. As for what to do next, Brandi has not yet found a suitable idea, but at least the outline has been set. For a good start, this is already enough.
