America 1881: Legend of the West

"Back door? Tavern?" Chen Jianqiu stood up from the window.

He took out his two golden guns from the box and changed into cowboy clothes.

"Let's go take a look." Chen Jianqiu put on his hat, adjusted the position of his holster, and walked towards the door of the room.

Under the leadership of Sean, the two came to the door of an inconspicuous tavern.

The two of them were leaning on the opposite street corner, observing the tavern.

Like other taverns in the West, the entrance to this tavern is a double bat door.

There are lights on inside, so it's not noisy. Compared with other entertainment venues in this area, it's much quieter here.

"Boss, this is it. How about we go in and take a look."

After Sean finished speaking, he prepared to walk towards the door.

However, Chen Jianqiu pulled his shoulder.

"Don't worry, wait until someone comes out."

They didn't wait long. After a while, a sloppily dressed cowboy came out of the door.

Chen Jianqiu lowered the brim of his hat and led Sean forward quickly.

They passed the cowboy face to face and entered the tavern.

After entering the tavern, Chen Jianqiu did not look up in a hurry to find the target. Instead, he and Sean walked along the aisle and quietly walked to the corner of the bar.

"What do you want to order?" asked the tavern owner in overalls.

"Two glasses of bourbon, sir." Chen Jianqiu took out the change and put it on the table. He lowered his head slightly and began to scan the entire pub under the brim of his hat.

"Which brand do you want?" the tavern owner continued to ask.

"Boot Hill." Chen Jianqiu leaned against the bar and his voice came from under his cowboy hat. The boss couldn't see his face.

Wyatt told him that this winery was well-known near Dodge City, and the owner himself had been a local gang member and had a background in bootleg liquor.

His winery is named after the fact that he controls everything from planting the seeds to bottling the wine, so the product is very popular with local gangs in Dodge City.

If you order a bourbon at a Dodge City tavern and look too much like a clueless passerby, you're likely to get picked on.

The boss handed over two glasses of wine without saying a word.

Chen Jianqiu and Sean took it and found a seat in the corner and sat down.

He soon spotted White.

White sat alone at a table with a wine bottle and a wine glass in front of him.

As soon as he got off the train, he and his fellow detectives took off their uniforms and changed into casual clothes.

But now, there was a white square scarf in the chest pocket of his suit, with a corner slightly exposed.

Detective Mazi stared straight ahead without saying a word. From time to time he would pick up his wine glass and take a sip, and then continue to "be in a daze".

"He should be waiting for someone." Sean held his chin in his hand.

Chen Jianqiu said nothing, twirling the wine glass in his hand and continuing to look at White from the side.

However, after about ten minutes, the seat opposite White was still empty.

Detective Mazi, on the other hand, drank sip after sip of wine, and even his eyes and expression didn't change much.

It was as if everything around him had nothing to do with him.

This was the fourth time he was filling his glass.

Is this person really just here to drink?

After drinking the wine in the glass, White picked up the bottle and began to add wine to the glass.

But this time, whether due to the influence of alcohol or his absent-mindedness, he accidentally spilled some wine outside the table.

The boss who was bragging with other customers happened to pass by him.

The boss picked up the rag in his hand, bent down, and began to wipe the wine on the table.

His mouth seemed to be saying something.

White's mouth also began to open for the first time after Chen Jianqiu and Sean entered the tavern.

They seemed to be communicating something, but the sound was so low that even the table next to them couldn't hear it at all.

Chen Jianqiu observed his surroundings and found that no one around him noticed these two people. When he looked at Sean across the table, he found that the black man was looking intently at the lips of these two people.

"They are meeting." Sean whispered, but continued to stare over there.

Black people can read lips.

He once told Chen Jianqiu that when he was a child, he often sneaked into the theater to steal things, and occasionally squatted in the corner of the back row to watch the show.

But the effect of many theaters is not very good. If the actors' skills are not enough, it will be difficult for their lines to be transmitted to the back rows.

So, he learned to read lips.

Chen Jianqiu did not disturb him, but quietly listened to Sean's "simultaneous interpretation".

White: "Are you still in contact with Jeffries recently?"

Boss: "He has found Jesse James' ranch, got in, and worked for his mother."

White: "Can I ask him out in the next two days?"

(The boss’s hand wiping the table paused for a moment)

Boss: "This may bring danger to him."

White: "I need him."

(silence.)

White: "I won't act rashly when I'm not sure."

(silence.)

White: "I'll be careful."

Boss: "He should be driving the cattle from the pasture to the livestock exchange tomorrow. I suggest you go see him alone."

White: "Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

Boss: "Behind you, in the corner, there is a black man staring at us."

Sean shut up abruptly.

He lowered his head, lowered the brim of his hat, and curled up in the corner of the chair.

Chen Jianqiu didn't know when he had moved to the chair opposite Sean, with his back facing White's direction.

The boss took the wine off the table with the last rag, straightened up, and walked towards the bar.

White drank the wine in the glass in one gulp and stood up.

He picked up his hat from the chair next to him, straightened his clothes, turned around, and prepared to walk towards Chen Jianqiu's table.

However, just as he was about to leave his table, the bat door of the tavern was violently knocked open by a man.

A man wearing a police badge broke into the tavern with several people.

This man was the police officer Chen Jianqiu and the others saw on the street earlier who connived at the murder of his subordinates.

And the murderer, Steve, nicknamed "Bull", was standing next to him with a fierce look.

"Mr. Carson, what would you like to drink today?" The tavern owner stood at the bar and greeted him warmly.

Officer Carson ignored him.

He put his hands on his waist and glanced at everyone in the tavern.

Some of the cowboys in the tavern stared at the Dodge City law enforcement officer in front of them, while others lowered their heads, but they were all nervous because they didn't know what this moody guy was thinking.

They didn't know if some unlucky guy would get into trouble, drag him from the tavern to the street, and then shoot him to death.

This kind of thing happens almost all the time in Dodge City.

But this time, they all escaped the disaster.

Carson's eyes rested on White.

He led a group of people to Detective Mazi:

"Well, yo, yo, let's see, who is this?" He circled around White. "I'm told that Thomas White, the famous Pinkerton detective, appeared in the infamous of Dodge City.”

He stopped in front of Detective Mazi and stared at him coldly: "So, what are you doing here?"

"I was just passing by." White said calmly without any fear.

The area around Dodge City's railroad red-light district has always been a restricted area for Pinkerton detectives.

Detectives usually can't do anything when they come here. Even if they come, they often change their clothes and go to the red light district to do as the Romans do.

Chen Jianqiu didn't know what happened between the pockmarked detective and Carson.

"I care about your affairs very much." Carson said in a sinister tone.

"But I don't care about you." White glanced at the law enforcement officer opposite.

The atmosphere in the tavern suddenly became tense.

The grumpy "Bull" had already touched his waist, while several other people behind Carson were also staring closely at White.

The pockmark on Detective Mazi's face was trembling slightly.

He faced several people across from him alone, and his momentum did not drop at all.

Perhaps he felt that shooting a Pinkerton detective for no reason in a tavern was uneconomical, but in the end Carson did not choose to do it:

"You'd better be passing by."

The gunfight did not happen in the end. After Carson said a harsh word, he turned around and left with his men.

White knew that this was not a place to stay for a long time, so he left immediately.

"Are we still following tomorrow?" Sean asked softly.

Chen Jianqiu answered immediately and drank the bourbon on the table in one gulp.