Chapter 66: Right and Wrong

Surat Thani is the largest province in Southern Thailand.

Mother He, the second-in-command of the Buddha Hand Gang, is located in Ban Na City, the center of Surat Thani.

Traveling north from Wang Wi Town to Surat Thani, the route passes through Krabi.

At around two o'clock in the afternoon, the trio had arrived near the Phak District where Zhong Yuan had once stolen a three-wheeled motorcycle. Xiao Hua, who had started snoring the moment he got into the vehicle, suddenly woke up. After turning to look at the scenery outside the window, he blurted out, "Er Ga went to look for Dongzi some time ago. Now he's with Dongzi, working under that Manager Wu!"

Zhong Yuan, who was driving, was stunned for a moment before he suddenly remembered who Er Ga was.

Meanwhile, Zhong Da, sitting in the passenger seat, furrowed his brows, turned to look at Xiao Hua in the back seat, and asked in a deep voice, "Didn't we tell him to go back to the country? How did he end up running together with Dongzi again?"

Xiao Hua scratched his head and said, "I'm not too clear about the details either. I only found out about this news a couple of days ago."

"Why didn't you mention it at the time?" Zhong Da pressed further.

Xiao Hua offered a sheepish smile and said, "Er Ga sent me the message when we were at that KTV. It wasn't convenient then, and I forgot about it later. I just remembered it when we got here."

Zhong Da fell silent, his expression turning slightly grim. He took his phone out of his pocket. The screen lit up and went dark, lit up and went dark again. He stared at that number for a long time, but ultimately failed to place the call.

Zhong Yuan glanced at him a few times and, unable to hold back any longer, spoke up, "Just make the call! You'll feel at ease once you call!"

Zhong Da lowered his head for a moment before uttering a faint agreement. Then, he actually dialed the number.

The phone rang for a long time before it was answered. Er Ga's somewhat distant voice came through from the other end: "Brother Da."

Zhong Da paused, then feigned a relaxed tone and said, "I heard from Xiao Hua that you're currently with Dongzi, over at the plantation side, is that right?"

As the words fell, the other end of the line abruptly went quiet. After a few seconds, Er Ga's slightly awkward voice sounded: "Brother Da, we're not at the plantation anymore. Manager Wu took me and Dongzi to Chanthaburi!"

Upon hearing this, Zhong Da fell silent for quite a while longer before responding flatly, "Alright, then you guys take care of yourselves. Give me a call if anything comes up!"

"Okay." As soon as Er Ga acknowledged the instruction, the voices of other people calling out to him could be heard from the other end, and the call was disconnected.

Zhong Da clutched his phone, only lowering it after a long while.

The atmosphere inside the car grew somewhat oppressive due to the distress in Zhong Da's heart.

Zhong Yuan did not try to offer him any conventional comfort.

He understood very clearly what Zhong Da was agonizing over.

He was blaming himself, blaming himself for failing to take good care of his friends—Dongcuo was like that, and Er Ga was too. Even though Xiao Hua was following them, things didn't seem to be going all that well for him either.

Back then, at just a single phone call from him, they had cast aside everything without hesitation and rushed over.

He felt that he should have taken good care of all of them. Therefore, he had even gone so far as to act against Tan Wei, disregarding Zhong Yuan's desire for a peaceful and ordinary life.

His sense of responsibility was not wrong.

However, many things in this world do not go the way you want them to, no matter how hard you try.

Similarly, many things in this world cannot be fully explained by reason alone, let alone neatly divided into right and wrong.

Zhong Da wanting them to leave was not wrong, and Dongcuo and Er Ga wanting to stay was not wrong either.

None of them were wrong.

The current estrangement was merely the result of them no longer understanding one another.

Just like how Dongcuo once failed to understand their non-resistance, and how Er Ga failed to understand why they didn't bring him along!

Perhaps none of them were afraid of death, but they refused to accept what they called the helpless abandonment forced upon them!

Was it wrong?

If they could turn back time, Zhong Yuan would still make the same choice, and Zhong Da would still choose to listen to Zhong Yuan.

Therefore, it was not wrong!

However, Zhong Yuan did not voice these thoughts. Some things cannot be resolved by others trying to persuade you; he hoped Zhong Da could figure it out on his own.

Yet, Zhong Da, who tended to be stubborn on certain matters, seemed to have locked himself in a dead end regarding this issue!

When the car reached Phanom District on the west side of Surat Thani, bordering the Cheow Lan Lake, Zhong Da still wore a preoccupied expression.

Zhong Yuan glanced at him and parked the car on the roadside.

"Xiao Hua, you go ahead into town and open a room. Same arrangement as usual," Zhong Yuan said, turning his head toward Xiao Hua.

Xiao Hua nodded. Just as he was about to get out of the car, Zhong Da suddenly spoke up, "Brother, I'll go with Xiao Hua."

Zhong Yuan ignored him and simply motioned for Xiao Hua to go first.

Xiao Hua stepped out of the car, walked around to the back to retrieve his suitcase, and headed toward the town.

Zhong Da watched his retreating figure, looking as though he had more to say.

At that moment, Zhong Yuan rolled down the window and lit a cigarette.

"Dazi, let's talk!"

Zhong Da turned his head, cast a startled look at Zhong Yuan, and then a trace of a guilty conscience suddenly appeared in his eyes.

He wasn't stupid; naturally, he could roughly guess what Zhong Yuan wanted to say to him.

"Brother, I..." He wanted to offer a few words of defense, but Zhong Yuan had no mood to listen.

"Having a sense of responsibility is a good thing!" Zhong Yuan interrupted him, took another puff of his cigarette, slowly exhaled the smoke, and continued, "But everything has a limit. Once you cross that line, it might no longer be a good thing. Honestly, I didn't want to say these words because they are your friends, and I understand the guilt in your heart, so I wanted you to figure out this boundary on your own! But all the way here, it seems you still haven't figured it out."

"Actually, it's not that I haven't figured it out, it's just that I..." Zhong Da wanted to defend himself, but halfway through, he choked up again.

"Do you know why I had Xiao Hua act as an undercover agent in Lin Zhonghai's affair earlier?" Zhong Yuan suddenly asked.

Zhong Da was stunned for a moment and replied, "Wasn't it because he was more suited for it?"

Zhong Yuan took a drag of his cigarette and let out a dry laugh. "That's only one reason, and the least important one at that. That day, if I had sent you into that private room, Lin Zhonghai would have smoothly accepted that 'gift' as well. I had Xiao Hua go because I actually hoped that he would shrink back from the difficulty and quit!"

Zhong Da was dumbfounded.

"I wanted him to return to the country for two reasons. First, his record is completely clean; he can return home at any time, and there's truly no need for him to take these risks by following us. Second, and most importantly, it's because of you!" Having said this, Zhong Yuan paused.

Zhong Da felt a momentary confusion, but soon, his complexion turned slightly pale.

He understood what those three words—'because of you'—meant!

A sense of responsibility!

An excessive sense of responsibility ruins things! Especially given their current predicament!

If he could previously keep this sense of responsibility under control, then following the successive estrangements of Dongcuo and Er Ga, the weight of the sole remaining Xiao Hua would undoubtedly become much heavier in his mind. At the same time, he would transfer all the guilt he felt toward Dongcuo and Er Ga entirely onto Xiao Hua.

However, since Xiao Hua had decided to follow them, he had to bear the risks involved. That was a choice Xiao Hua made himself. Zhong Da could feel grateful or guilty, but if he placed the entirety of Xiao Hua's safety on his own shoulders out of an overbearing sense of responsibility, sooner or later, they would all run into disaster because of Zhong Da's excessive burdens!

They could take Xiao Hua into consideration as much as possible when planning actions, but if he couldn't contribute anything of use throughout the operation and instead forced them to expend extra effort to take care of him, what meaning was there in him staying?

"Last night, I already talked with Xiao Hua, and he wants to stay. I can agree to that. But I hope you can adjust your own mindset. If you can't, then Xiao Hua must return to the country!" Zhong Yuan stared at Zhong Da for a moment before speaking again.

With a pale face and downcast eyelids, Zhong Da remained silent for a long while before answering in a raspy voice, "Brother, I understand. Give me some time to think about it, okay?"

"Alright, but you only have two days. We're only staying here for two days, and after that, we have to head to Nakhon Si Thammarat Province. You must figure it out before we leave for Nakhon Si Thammarat," Zhong Yuan said.

Zhong Da nodded. "Okay."

Then, he suddenly spoke up again, "Brother, give me a cigarette!"

Zhong Yuan was taken aback for a moment, then let out a helpless laugh, reached for the pack of cigarettes lying on the center console, pulled one out, and handed it over.

Zhong Da took it, lit it, and took a deep drag.

A moment later, he spoke in a soft voice: "Dongcuo, Er Ga, and the three of us grew up together. When we were kids, the pastures belonging to our family and Dongcuo's family were often right next to each other. Either he was sleeping at my place, or I was sleeping at his. Er Ga lived a bit farther from us and we didn't see him as often, but when we went to school, the three of us were the best of friends. I dropped out of school at fifteen; Er Ga stopped studying at sixteen after finishing junior high. Dongcuo's family circumstances were a bit better back then, so he studied for two more years, but later his grades dropped and he refused to continue. After I left school, by a twist of fate, I started following Third Master. Er Ga didn't have any proper job back then, so he often helped me with tasks later on, and Dongcuo was also called over by me after he stopped studying. In later times, I often thought that perhaps without me, they would have ended up just like our parents, with kids old enough to run errands by now!

Xiao Hua is an orphan; he was brought into our group by Dongcuo, but in the end, he became the closest to me. He is a Han Chinese. When he was three or four years old, someone found him in the wilderness and sent him to an orphanage. Word has it that he was practically on his last breath when they found him! Back then, we often said that Xiao Hua was probably abducted by human traffickers to the Northwest, but when they saw he was about to die, they just threw him away! Still, he had a tough life; someone picked him up, sent him to an orphanage, and he managed to survive. He had a pretty bitter childhood. Competition among the kids at the orphanage was fierce, and because his health was poor when he was little, he was often bullied. His dream back then was to become an actor. He felt that if he became an actor and got on television, perhaps his family members would be able to see him and recognize him..."

Zhong Da blurted out a great deal all at once. He recounted the experiences the four of them had shared over the years like reading a ledger, unsure whether he was reciting it for Zhong Yuan to hear or for himself.

Zhong Yuan sat beside him the entire time, without uttering a word to interrupt him!