Chapter 151 A Familiar Feeling
Just as Wu Ruoyu was about to say something, she realized that her throat felt strange, as if it was covered in honey. She could not utter a word. She repeatedly blinked her eyes, but even that could not hide the consternation and disbelief that was showing in them.
Surprise, surprise. Even with Wu Ruoyu"s powerful thinking, she could not have expected this.
Wu Ruoyu really wanted to bite off a piece of flesh from Chen Fan"s lips, but how could the well-prepared Chen Fan ever let her succeed in this?
With Chen Fan was kissing her, as if he was a wild boar eating corn, Wu Ruoyu couldn"t figure out his kissing patterns. Even her attempts at ruthlessly biting Chen Fan were successfully evaded by him. He even somehow made it look as if she was aggressively responding to his kisses.
Chen Fan greedily tasted the sweet astringent flavor with his tongue, feeling the firmness and tenderness of her chest. The jelly-like suppleness of her chest on his fingertips made him blaze like a volcano.
From her red lips to her neck, Chen Fan"s breath and warmness had become a deadly menace to Wu Ruoyu. Slowly and faintly, a rouge color began to spread out on Wu Ruoyu"s swan-like long neck. It then quickly spread all over her elegant ears, like a wild prairie fire.
When Chen Fan roamed from Wu Ruoyu"s neck to her pretty ears, Wu Ruoyu made up her mind. Her tightly closed eyes suddenly opened. Her delicate red lips were half-opened, yet she couldn"t make a single sound.
An indescribable and uncontrollable happiness rolled through her body, like a flow of current. Then, Wu Ruoyu"s body stiffened, immediately causing her to falter, then fall. She was curled up on the ground, s.h.i.+vering, as if she was a lamb with excessive blood loss.
The idiom "a fly in the ointment" was created specifically for this moment, as all of the sudden, they were both shocked by a continuous stream of car horns coming from outside the car window.
Chen Fan was stunned for a moment. Then, he immediately separated himself from Wu Ruoyu, as if he had been electrocuted.
"Come… come and help!" Wu Ruoyu had also noticed the movement outside the window, and was calling out to the startled Chen Fan with her weakened voice.
Chen Fan took two deep breaths and braced himself. Then, he reached over and carried Wu Ruoyu"s limp body, which was as soft as marshmallow, before putting her in the seat.
Chen Fan was feeling very gloomy. After all, no one would be happy if they got interrupted during such critical moments, would they?!
Wu Ruoyu was in a trance. It was as if the kiss had been stamped in her heart by a burning iron, its scar never to be removed.
Honk Honk….
The powerful horns from the red Mazda Six that was behind them kept piercing their eardrums. Apparently, Chen Fan"s car, which was parked by the side of the parking lot aisle, was blocking the Mazda Six.
Chen Fan cursed, then quickly climbed to the driver"s seat to move the car. He vigorously rubbed his drunken eyes, while he drove the car to a corner of the parking lot.
"It...It wasn"t intentional." Chen Fan stared at Wu Ruoyu, feeling quite tipsy. At the same time, he pushed the car door open, returning to sit by Wu Ruoyu"s side.
Chen Fan knew that what he had done just now was indeed out of line, but he justified his actions in his mind, secretly.
Wasn"t it Wu Ruoyu"s fault for jumping onto me and beating me up all of the sudden? How could I, a young man in my early twenties, resist her alluring body and bewitching smell? Not to mention, I drank a pound of Maotai on top of everything!!!
"Send me back!" After Wu Ruoyu blurted this out, she pressed her face into the pillow. She did not budge from that position, regardless of how hard Chen Fan tried to explain his actions.
Chen Fan had no choice but to sigh. He then took out his phone and called the main culprit, w.a.n.g Bing, to drive them back. If it wasn"t for him driving them there, this incident would never have taken place!
After receiving the call, w.a.n.g Bing, who was sitting at a distant barbecue stall, finished the grilled catfish in his hand with an astounding speed, before running back to the car compliantly.
"Boss, where to next?" w.a.n.g Bing wiped his oily mouth with his sleeve, while scanning the both of them from top to toe with his cunning eyes.
"Just head back!" That was the only response that could be squeezed out from Chen Fan.
After half an hour, they arrived at Bolan Gardens.
"Would you like me to escort you back?" Chen Fan offered.
"I don"t ever want to see you again!" An obvious no from Wu Ruoyu!
"Boss, did you do something barbaric?" w.a.n.g Bing clutched his stomach, as if this whole incident had him in st.i.tches.
"That was all your fault, wasn"t it?" Chen Fan sat in the back seat, sulking. "After this, I won"t have another chance with her!"
Let us a.n.a.lyze this for a bit. First of all, subconsciously, Chen Fan wasn"t sure who he was in love with, but Wu Ruoyu did have the virtues of both a westerner and an easterner. Aside from the fact that she was good looking, she also had a good temper. Plus, she wasn"t the type of girl with an unreasonable character, either.
While it might not sound like Chen Fan was deeply and pa.s.sionately in love with Wu Ruoyu, it was certain that Wu Ruoyu held the biggest part of his heart out of all the female friends he had ever known.
"That might not be the case," w.a.n.g Bing said with a knowing tone, as if he had personally experienced this same thing before. "Although getting fresh with a girl without her permission is indeed a shameful and spiteful act, I think she did not mean what she said. Hence, boss, you still have a chance, as long as you thicken your skin and are as determined as steel."
"Steel my b.u.m! Just get lost!"
The time was now around 9:40 p.m. A moment after Chen Fan chased w.a.n.g Bing away, Yun Meng, the little student, came home after school with her electric bicycle.
"School"s over?" Chen Fan was casually lying on the sofa, watching TV. His head was still groggy, so he couldn"t fall asleep yet.
"Yes!" As a strand of hair slipped down from behind her ear, Yun Meng readjusted it, then sat down next to Chen Fan.
She then took out her plastic lunch box and said, "Big Brother, I bought two orders of fried cuttlefish b.a.l.l.s at the school entrance."
"Was it from the same old man as before?" Chen Fan picked up a steaming hot fried cuttlefish ball with a toothpick, before putting it into his mouth.
Beside the school, there"s an old man who uses his tricycle to sell barbecued seafood. Chen Fan had often visited his stall, ever since his first year in high school, but had never gotten the chance to again after he graduated.
So, when Yun Meng had brought some home a few times, he realized the very familiar taste and asked her about it. It was then that he knew that the old man was still running his same business there still.
"Yep!" Yun Meng leaned her head on Chen Fan"s shoulder, immediately getting a whiff of his dense alcohol odor. "Big Brother, were you drinking again?"
"Do you know of any man who doesn"t drink?!" Chen Fan swallowed the half-chewed fried cuttlefish ball. "The weather is getting colder. I will take you to shop for some thicker clothes in a few days."
"Why don"t you get a black trench coat as well, Big Brother? I saw the boys in my cla.s.s wearing them. They look really good!"
"We"ll see." Chen Fan wiped off the black oil, using the tissue given to him by Yun Meng. Then, he patted her shoulder and said, "You should go to bed early. There"s still school tomorrow."
"Let me bring you a cup of tea!" Yun Meng nodded her head obediently. Then, she got up from the sofa and walked towards the kitchen.
Drifting off to sleep at some point, Chen Fan had a dream. In the dream, he was lying on a big white velvet bed, having fun with a few cuties and enjoying the pleasures of what an emperor would have had.
This must be a dream, thought Chen Fan.
No, it"s not, the one in the dream replied.
It is!
No, it"s not!
However, when the dream was about to reach its climax, a sudden phone call pulled him back to reality.
"Who dares disturb me?" Chen Fan slowly opened his eyes, yawning lazily. It was already daytime!
"h.e.l.lo!" he answered, still groggy.
"Hey Chen, you still in bed?" Ma Rongtao"s voice was heard on the other end of the phone. "I"ve gotten you the five oil tankers as requested. They are the latest models of double hull type oil tankers, just released. There are four with 50,000 tons and one with 60,000 tons."
"Are you serious?" Chen Fan popped out of bed. "What about the price?"
"The five s.h.i.+ps cost a total of 120 million US Dollars!" Ma Rongtao paused, then said with hesitation, "Chen, this isn"t a small amount of money. Are you sure you have it? "
"Certainly! Otherwise, there"s no point in asking Uncle Ma to settle this for me, is there? My only concern is timing. When would we receive our tankers, once the payment is made?"
"Don"t worry about the payment just yet. Instead, its best if you dropped by my office. I"ve got some high-definition photos, as well as some technical specifications to show you. You may then make the payment, once you are satisfied with the goods."
"Alright then, I"m on my way," Chen Fan replied.
When he arrived at the doorstep of Ma Rongtao"s office, the thought of whether Wu Ruoyu would show up at the office suddenly popped into his mind. He then decided that there was nothing that he could do about it at the moment, so he pushed open the office door with a brazen face.
Heh….
Chen Fan let out a sigh of relief, seeing that Ma Rongtao was the only one in the office. He was sitting at his work desk, waiting for Chen Fan"s arrival.
"Chen, come in." Ma Rongtao stood up and welcomed Chen Fan with a smile.
Ma Rongtao walked towards his work desk, then opened a folder on the desktop. He pointed at some high-definition digital photos and said, "Five oil tankers, all of which were constructed by the Braybrooke s.h.i.+pyard in Australia. The model is also known as the Suez cla.s.s oil tanker."
The Suez cla.s.s oil tankers were one cla.s.s of tankers graded according to the International Maritime Organization"s regulations on tankers. This was basically a fancy way of saying that the tankers meet the navigation conditions of the Suez Ca.n.a.l.
Each of these tankers had a uniformed red base and black body. Also, a red crude oil pipeline on the gray deck extended all the way from the bow to the stern, where the four-story high control cabin was located.
There were roughly 20 photos of the s.h.i.+p"s exterior, while the others were photos of the interior. There was also detailed doc.u.mentation regarding all s.h.i.+p-related specifications.
Chen Fan looked at the photos for some time, thoroughly impressed in all aspects.
"Uncle Ma, how long does it take to sail these s.h.i.+ps to us, once we complete the purchase?" Chen Fan asked, as he sat down opposite of Ma Rongtao, looking at the computer screen.
"s.h.i.+pping is fast, but my suggestion is that you don"t have them sail it here." Ma Rongtao did the math for Chen Fan. "The s.h.i.+pping of these s.h.i.+ps costs about three million US Dollars, and on top of that, you will be wasting time s.h.i.+pping them over from Australia. Instead, you can send your men to sail these s.h.i.+ps to Saudi Arabia, through the Gulf of Aden, to bring back tons of oil."
"By the way, Chen, how much funds will be left after purchasing those s.h.i.+ps?" Ma Rongtao asked. "If you have enough money to spare, I suggest you purchase oil from there, then s.h.i.+p it here to sell it. a.s.suming all five s.h.i.+ps are fully loaded, the net profit would be worth 50 million Renminbi for a single trip!"
"50 million?" Chen Fan was rather surprised. "Doesn"t that mean that all costs would be paid for in just 16 s.h.i.+pments?"
Chen Fan continued his line of thinking. "Let"s say that these s.h.i.+ps sail at 20 knots, and that there are 6800 nautical miles between Saudi Arabia and Zhongyun. It would mean that it would take at least a month to travel back and forth, if the time taken for the loading and docking process is taken into account. In other words, it would take less than two years to earn 120 million US Dollars and a net profit of 50 million Renminbi per month henceforth!"
"That"s right, the current cost of oil transportation is relatively high, due to piracy. It would take about 100 million US Dollars, if you wanted to fill all five s.h.i.+ps." Ma Rongtao confirmed.
"Uncle Ma, as a matter of fact, I do have 100 million US Dollars, but how am I going to sell the oil, after purchasing it from Saudi Arabia?" Chen Fan voiced his concern. "I"m not familiar with the oil trade in Saudi Arabia. What if the government sues me for smuggling crude oil?"
"Hehe…" Ma Rongtao smiled. "Do you know about the flag of convenience?"
"I know that many cargo s.h.i.+ps are registered in Panama and are flying the Panamanian flag. This is because the registration tax is cheaper there, and because there is a 50 percent tax exemption when pa.s.sing through the Panama Ca.n.a.l," Chen Fan replied.
"It"s way beyond that! In the case of our country, 50 percent of the oil tankers are registered in Panama. On one hand, it"s easier to conceal the tanker owners.h.i.+p, and on the other hand, it allows one to escape from punishment after a major accident," Ma Rongtao explained.
"For example, if an oil tanker that is flying its motherland"s flag is involved in an oil spill incident, the United Nations, or the country owning the territorial sea, can claim damages from the respective registrant, based on the particular flag that is flying on that s.h.i.+p. On the other hand, it would be fine if you are flying the flag of convenience, as it would be equivalent to an offsh.o.r.e company, where no one can be blamed."
He continued his explanation. "With the flag of convenience, it would be cla.s.sified as international crude oil trading, when your s.h.i.+ps are transporting oil. In that case, many refineries will compete to buy from you. All you need to do is pay the port charges."
"In fact, you will be fine, even if you do it in broad daylight!" Ma Rongtao continued talking, listing out the data. "Fifty percent of domestic oil consumption depends on imports. Unfortunately, domestic oil fields simply cannot meet this demand. Therefore, as long as you are not selling domestic crude oil, no one would bat an eye, even if you robbed the US tanker! Instead, many people would buy it from you. After all, oil is an important resource in our country."
"What about the Saudi Arabian side? What formalities are needed for the oil trading business?" Chen Fan inquired.
"US Dollars are all they need! The country is monarchy-based you see. All the oil fields are monopolized by members of the royal family. Thus, as long as you hold onto a large amount of US Dollars, and manage to get on good terms with some members of the royal family, you will be rich in no time." Ma Rongtao waved at Chen Fan, signaling him to come closer to the computer.
When Chen Fan got closer, Ma Rongtao brought up a photo from the computer, then pointed at an Arabian man in a white robe and said, "This is Abdullah Aziz, nephew of the Minister of Natural Resources, whose name is Ali Ibrahim. He is an oil tyc.o.o.n, who supplies oil to many domestic tankers. However, you must sign a long-term supply contract for at least a year to do business with him. I can establish this connection for you, if you think the idea is feasible."
"A year?" Chen Fan felt that this should be fine, after thinking for a few seconds on its feasibility. "What"s the account number on Australia"s end? I will make the remittance today."
"The account holder is Braybrooke s.h.i.+pyard, and this is the account number," Ma Rongtao said, while pa.s.sing a note to Chen Fan. "Be sure to send your payment, as well as your company information, and they will help you register those s.h.i.+ps as Panamanian s.h.i.+ps for free."
"Ok then! Thank you Uncle Ma!" Chen Fan placed the note in his pocket.
"No need to be so formal! You have helped me twice on important matters, and a task like this isn"t that big of a deal for me, anyway!" Ma Rongtao waved his hand.
After parting with Ma Rongtao, Chen Fan went home and had the certification materials of the offsh.o.r.e company and cruisers printed out. Then, he proceeded to send those doc.u.ments to Braybrooke s.h.i.+pyard in Australia via the courier service. Nowadays, it only took about two days for the courier company to transport mail to its destination. Chen Fan decided to make the remittance once the doc.u.ments reached their hands.
After lunch, Chen Fan had nothing else to attend to, so he sat on the sofa. He then decided to turn his attention to the electric eel in order to continue the excavation.
Apparently, the key for productive working days was to fill your stomach first! After controlling the electric eel to crawl out of the big cave, Chen Fan had the eel swim to a nearby reef.
The surrounding reefs were about 100 meters away from the cave and covered several miles. Its area consisted of strangely shaped stones, which were everywhere, except for the 100-meter-long stretch of open water in the center. Therefore, no s.h.i.+p was willing to come here to fish.
After the electric eel came back from devouring a group of mackerel, Chen Fan stared at the giant square-shaped stone that was now resting in front of the cave. As he stared, he suddenly felt a familiar feeling in his mind.
The familiar feeling wasn"t because of the giant stone, but from the stylish, abstract lines spreading all over the stone. Somewhere, deep down in Chen Fan"s memories, he clearly felt that he had seen those grooves before, but he couldn"t pinpoint where.
These feelings were really uncomfortable, and frustrating! "Oh… F*ck it…" Chen Fan was so upset, he almost smashed the stone plate to pieces.
Chen Fan, after finally suppressing the resentment in his heart, returned back to the task at hand. Thus, he began to control the eel to dive back into the cave, in order to continue using its spear to excavate.
The electric eel had managed to dig both sides of the cave out, to a depth of more than 20 meters. Chen Fan even suspected that it would dig into the roots of the distant reef, should it continue digging.
Rumble…
The electric eel had extracted nearly 10 tons of mud from the wall in less than half an hour. It had also piled the bottom of the cave into a small hill.
The cave exit might be buried, if it continued digging. Thus, Chen Fan controlled the electric eel to throw away the spear, using its four claws to grab the mud and swim out of the cave instead.
The place that the soil was chosen to be discarded was a flat area three kilometers away from the reef cl.u.s.ter. It had a depth of more than 50 meters.
The soil was discarded in several piles. The sea would then wash away the soil in less than two hours. After that time, there was nothing left to be found.
Travelling back and forth from the cave to the reef for six or seven times, Chen Fan couldn"t help but feel uncomfortable all over again, whenever he saw the stone plate.
It"s familiar... Too familiar…
The grooves on the giant stone kept attracting his attention, like a giant, annoying magnet. The eel aggressively reached for the giant stone, then brought it closer for further inspection.
The grooves appeared to be the same as always. However, Chen Fan had a feeling that the lines seemed to slowly coincide with some scenes in his mind. Finally, the puzzles began to fit after he had observed it for a while.
These grooves look just like the contour of the reefs…
"Well, I"ll be.." He finally made sense of it, after comparing the grooves with the reefs for a long time.
This was definitely carved by someone purposely. Not only that, but it also seems to be a map!
"I wonder who carved this on the stone?"
Chen Fan was incredibly surprised. He felt as if he had just discovered a prehistoric dinosaur! According to the grooves that were carved on the stone plate, the flat area at the center of the reef was represented by the lines, excluding the top layer.
The only problem was…
They were all buried in mud!