Located in the Shanghai Public Concession, the Little Winter Palace is an apartment built by a retired White Russian military officer, in the same heavy style as Russian architecture, and the four-storey Winter Palace looks like a fortress from the outside. The apartment was populated by adventurers from all over the world who had come to China to pan for gold, hooligans, swindlers, down-and-out aristocrats, and criminals like Chekov who had escaped from prison. Paul, the owner of the apartment, only comes once a month to collect rent, and usually doesn't come here at all, so Siming Apartment is the least safe place in the public concession, and at night, almost no one wants to walk through this apartment.

Today is the time for Paul to collect the rent, but Chekov's pockets are almost empty, the last few bills in his pockets have been exchanged for a few bottles of wine last night, but now they are empty. "Oh, damn it" Chekov rubbed his head and got out of bed, the whole night of drinking made him have a splitting headache now. Chekov felt more comfortable after pouring a large glass of water, and then remembered his friend Basha, the person who had been drinking with him last night.

"Oh my God" Chekov looked around the room, and just when he thought Basha had left, he found a drunk Basha in his bathroom. Curled up like a puppy, Basha slept in Chekov's bathtub, and not only that, but Basha was sucking his thumb like a baby. This discovery made Chekov, who was holding a glass of water, crazy, and did not realize that this Basha would have such a behavior or eccentricity.

"Boom" Chekov's door was knocked so hard that it didn't take a second time to know that it was Paul who was collecting the rent, and the guy who weighed more than 300 pounds always liked to slam the door with his fist rather than knock on it. "Paul, you know, I've never been in arrears of rent, but I've been in a little trouble lately, so I'm a little tight, can I give it to you next month, I promise" Then Paul let him into the room, and Chekov stammered what he had been thinking about all night. He's a fugitive, but he's not a liar, especially Paul, who took him in in the first place.

The gray-haired Paule blinked at Chekov, who was a little embarrassed, "Young man, if all of you are like this, then I will starve to death." Not for a month, I'll only give you three days, and if I haven't seen the rent after three days, then you have to move out of here" It's not that Paul is unkind, but the current prices are changing day by day, if Paul can't collect the rent, his family will really be hungry.

Paul's voice was a little loud, waking up Basha, who was sleeping in the bathroom, but fortunately Basha didn't have any so-called wake-up gas. "Here you go, it's the rent, take the money and leave" Basha took a crumpled lump of bills from his pocket and threw it to Paul, then staggered into Chekov's bed and went to sleep. Paul only glanced at the lump of money in his hand and put it in his pocket, and by weight and volume alone, he could tell that it was enough for Chekov's rent for three months.

"So much money from this guy?" After sending Paul away, Chekov moved a chair and sat on the edge of the bed to study Basha. Basha spoke both Russian and English very well, but he was not Russian, he never said where he came from, and Chekov and his friends speculated that Basha was a Jew living in Russia, where there are many such families. Basha was a generous man who would often organize parties here in Chekov to buy alcohol for the guys who lived in this apartment, and only God would know where he got his money from.

It wasn't until noon that Basha got out of bed in a daze, and Chekov had already eaten his lunch, and of course the money for the meal was turned out of Basha's other pocket. "God, you're finally awake, I thought you'd have to sleep for a day" Seeing that Basha woke up, Chekov happily threw a cigarette over, of course, this cigarette was also bought with Basha's money.

"Oh" Basha sat on the bed and rubbed his face and head with his hands, the hangover was so terrible that Basha vowed never to drink like this again. "Basha, I want to ask you something?" Seeing that Basha was completely sober, Chekov looked at Basha with concern, almost all the people who live in Siming are bastards who can do anything for money, but this Jewish kid is not like these guys, Chekov doesn't want his only friend to go astray, although sometimes Basha is quite annoying.

"You're asking me why I have so much money, aren't you?" Basha lit a cigarette and leaned back on the bed in a comfortable position, looking at his lazy appearance made Chekov want to beat him up. "Oh, oh, man, wait," Basha said in time to compromise before Chekov got angry, "Okay, okay, I'll tell you everything." It's an American who hires me to do something, he needs to recruit a group of bodyguards, I'm his liaison, I'm responsible for finding someone for him, regardless of nationality, regardless of gender, regardless of background, as long as he has the ability, he wants to find someone, give me $5, and if he can be selected, add me another $5, that's all."

Basha's answer made Chekov feel a little incredible, this is simply a fucking pie-in-the-sky thing, subconsciously tensed the muscles in his body, Chekov felt that he might be able to go to the place Basha said to try his luck, maybe he would come and live a good life. Chekov's reaction was seen by Basha, "You can't, they don't want drunkards, don't snore when they sleep, don't be black, don't call themselves, don't like to flirt with women." Man, except for the fact that you are not a black man and himself, the others seem to have all of them" Finally seizing the opportunity, Basha humiliated Chekov fiercely.

Basha's words made the little bubble that Chekov had just imagined burst in a flash, and his tense body also softened in the chair, looking extremely decadent. "Man, don't be too disappointed, I heard they still need a liaison, maybe you can try the position of that liaison" Basha very righteously pointed out a clear path to Chekov, which was the only thing he could do to help Chekov. The rest will depend on whether Chekov himself can fight for that position, and the American is not easy to fool.

"Contact?" Chekov was a little confused, and there seemed to be no explanation of the contact person in what he knew. Bodyguards sound much more interesting than any contact, Chekov has not done anything to kill people and sell goods, people like them come to China not only to escape arrest, but also to make a lot of money, they do everything for money, some time ago, Chekov helped a Chinese tobacco merchant kill one of his competitors, the other party just wants to recruit bodyguards, he should be competent.