"..."
Samir was completely speechless.
It took him a while to regain his senses.
"Boss, where did you learn all these from?"
"Self-taught."
Of course, Samir wouldn't believe Song Heping's answer.
His boss was too incredible.
He had never seen anyone like him.
He was a returnee from England and used to think highly of himself.
But now, he felt his own intelligence was inadequate in front of Song Heping.
They quickly arrived at Yijibai Village.
As expected, there were armed personnel guarding the entrance of the village.
In the current Illiguo, it was common for every tribal village to have their own armed forces for self-protection.
Their SUV was stopped.
The young man who came to deliver the message in the morning was also there.
But when he stepped forward and saw the C4 on Song Heping's body, his face changed.
After some discussion,
they indeed refused to allow Song Heping to enter the village wearing a tactical vest bristling with C4 and asked him to hand over all weapons before he could go in to see their tribal chief elder.
Song Heping said to Samir, "Tell him, if they want me to take off this tactical vest, then we'll turn around and leave, and the meeting is off."
Samir babbled away in the local Illiguo dialect as he started to explain.
The young man and two armed villagers were also there, jabbering away, arguing.
After talking for a while, Song Heping said to Samir, "Tell him, instead of arguing with us here, it might be better to go inside and ask their tribal chief whether they would allow me to enter as I am."
Samir conveyed the message, the young man was taken aback for a moment, then asked the two to wait and turned to enter the village.
About ten minutes later, the young man reappeared.
"The chief invites you in."
Seeing that they were allowed to pass, Song Heping felt relieved.
It seemed the tribal chief was indeed in a hurry.
The two followed the young man into the village.
The village was built on a gentle slope, and they walked up an uphill road flanked by houses.
There weren't many people beside the houses; it seemed they had been told to stay inside, possibly because of Song Heping's bomb-laden vest, so no one dared come out.
He saw a child peeking from behind the low wall in front of a house, who was quickly pulled back by a large hand and disappeared from sight.
The tribal chief's house was large and located in the center of the village.
The center of the village was a relatively flat small square, with the white-robed tribal chief's house on the west side of the square.
When Song Heping arrived, the other party was already standing at his doorway to welcome them.
Song Heping was already familiar with the meeting customs of Illiguo.
After a simple exchange of greetings, the tribal chief led him and Samir into his courtyard.
The courtyard was laid with carpets and food was placed on top.
There were a few strong men with guns standing by, and the tribal chief waved his hand, seemingly having them leave.
Once his bodyguards left, the old man then spoke in English, "Mr. Song, it's a pleasure to have you visit Yijibai Village to see this old man."
"It's my honor."
Song Heping assessed the elderly man before him.
The chief looked to be over seventy, still vigorous, with a white beard and long eyebrows that had also turned white.
What surprised Song Heping the most was that the man could speak English.
He had thought the chief was an old man confined to his village, but it turned out he was an elder with quite a scholarly air.
"You speak English?"
"Learned it many years ago..." The chief said with a smile, "When you live long enough, you pick up a thing or two."
He poured tea for Song Heping.
Song Heping said thank you.
The old man began introducing himself, "My name is Haymour, the chieftain of this tribe. Our Yijibai tribe is large, with three other villages nearby that are our branches."
As he spoke, he made a welcoming gesture.