Wu Jinliang rubbed his hands together, a little excited. He had worked at the Lu Yu Teahouse for many years and had been to the Taibai Seafood Restaurant quite a few times, but very rarely had both host and guest invited him to join them at the table on an occasion like this. Having a songstress specially assigned to keep him company was completely unprecedented. After all, the three songstresses charged quite a bit to come up to the third floor to drink and sing with the guests. For serving this table alone, each of them would take home fifty dollars, with tips on top.
"I..." Wu Jinliang meant to decline, but with such beauty before him, he couldn't bring himself to say there was no need.
Beside him, Chu Xiaoxin asked in surprise, "What? A-Yao, you're treating us to this meal? I thought Old Wu was treating me. When he agreed to help me recruit someone, he took three hundred dollars for it."
"It's only right that I treat you. I went to Brother Leung to ask for a job, and he was willing to introduce me to you, Young Master Shun. Treating the two of you to a meal is really a bit shabby," Song Tianyao said, sounding slightly apologetic. "If my family hadn't fallen on hard times, I'd certainly take you both to Tokyo, Japan, to experience a love hotel and a private bathroom."
"I'll choose... you." While Song Tianyao and Chu Xiaoxin talked, Wu Jinliang reached out and pointed to the songstress in the middle, who had big eyes and a delicate, pitiful appearance.
Two of the three had been picked, leaving only the slightly older woman on the right. She had a somewhat cool, glamorous air and wore a rose-red qipao embroidered with black trim, its slit revealing a pair of long, slender, snow-white legs. She was just about to walk over and sit beside Song Tianyao when he waved her away. "No need. Sit in the corner and play us a tune."
Not only did the woman pause in surprise, but the two songstresses who had sat down to drink with the men also looked at Song Tianyao in astonishment, then turned to the woman with some pity. Between keeping guests company over drinks and singing, the former was naturally the easier way to earn tips. A performer had to sit in the corner and play and sing without stopping until the meal was over. It was the most tiring job, and once the guests had eaten and drunk their fill, they often forgot to tip the songstress who had worked hardest in the corner.
Once the woman had gone to sit in the corner and tune her pipa, Chu Xiaoxin's interest was caught by the subject Song Tianyao had just brought up. "A-Yao, you've been to Japan? Love hotels and private bathrooms? What are they?"
Ever since Wu Jinliang had introduced the Chu Family's second young master as a generous man who loved extravagance and lived a free and unrestrained life, Song Tianyao had been considering his tastes. His fondness for drinking, having fun, and watching shows at nightclubs came down to nothing more than an eye for beauty, which was why Jiang Zhen had just mentioned Japan's love hotels and private bathrooms.
Sure enough, Chu Xiaoxin looked at Song Tianyao with great interest, waiting for him to explain.
"When I had money, I went a few times. As the name suggests, a love hotel is a hotel, except that in every room there's a lover you've never met before. She helps you change, bathe, and go to bed, sharing your bed and pillow." Song Tianyao spoke to Chu Xiaoxin at an unhurried pace. "The most enticing part of a love hotel is the time between taking the key from the owner and walking to your room. You don't know what your lover for the night will be like: will she have exquisite curves, or be fragrant and soft as jade? Will she be graceful and alluring, or gaze at you with tender affection? The feeling reaches its peak the moment you use the key to open the door."
Not only were Chu Xiaoxin and Wu Jinliang listening intently, but even the two songstresses peeling crab for them were entranced. Only when the pipa sounded from the corner did Chu Xiaoxin come back to himself and say to Song Tianyao:
"You make me want to go to Japan and see for myself right now. One lover in every room—wow, just thinking about it is exciting. What about the private bathrooms?"
"Private bathrooms are similar to love hotels. A bathhouse has more than ten bathrooms, and a female masseuse is assigned to each one. What do you need to scrub your body and apply soap in the bathroom?" Song Tianyao asked with a grin.
"To scrub your body? A towel, of course." Chu Xiaoxin swallowed a piece of crab roe the songstress beside him had brought to his lips. "Don't tell me the masseuse helps you scrub yourself with a towel?"
"That's the enticing part. Private bathrooms in Japan don't provide towels for applying soap. The masseuse rubs soap solution over her own body, then uses her body as a towel to wash the man. Young Master Shun, I don't need to say any more about the pleasure of holding a soft, fragrant beauty in your arms after that, do I? Hmm?" Song Tianyao gave him a look that spoke for itself and smiled.
Chu Xiaoxin pictured the scene, his eyes almost shining. All he lacked was a pair of wings; otherwise, he could have flown straight across the sea to Japan to see the two kinds of pleasure establishments Song Tianyao had described.
"When there's time, come to Japan with me. I have to see them for myself. Just thinking about them is almost more than I can bear. The Japanese really know how to have fun," Chu Xiaoxin said excitedly to Song Tianyao, pulling himself out of his fantasy.
Song Tianyao said, "Why don't I treat you to a good time in Japan once I've earned my wages, Young Master Shun?"
That brought Chu Xiaoxin back to reality. Song Tianyao was sitting before him, waiting for his decision. He thought for a moment, then asked, "A-Yao, to tell you the truth, I hate trouble more than anything, but there's plenty of troublesome business at the trading company. So I want to find someone to handle it for me. You said you'd worked at a trading company in Macau before, so tell me, how can I make money from my medicines?"
Song Tianyao took a deep breath. The main act had arrived. Whether he could win Chu Xiaoxin over depended on what he said next. "I heard from Brother Leung that your trading company deals in Western medicine, Young Master Shun, buying from Germany's Bayer and the American Roche Company and selling to Asian regions outside Hong Kong—poor places like Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Laos. Why can't you sell in Hong Kong? Why must you go overseas? Because Hong Kong colonial law allows trading companies in the pharmaceutical business to sell medicines that haven't been registered and put on the market in Hong Kong, and no local prescription is required, but only on the condition that the medicines are sold to markets outside Hong Kong. In other words, it's an entrepôt business: importing goods into Hong Kong and then exporting them to other countries. So these medicines can only be sold outside Hong Kong. Anyone in Hong Kong who needs them can only buy them from registered Western pharmacies designated by the Hong Kong Colonial Government's Department of Health. Where do these pharmacies get their medicines? From government-designated pharmaceutical distributors, of course. They're all run by Foreign Devils—the British making money off Hong Kong people themselves. Young Master Shun, if you want to expand your trading company and make money, there are two paths: one fast, one slow. The fast one is smuggling. The Mainland and North Korea are short of medicines right now. Just deliver the medicines to the waters they designate for collection, and they'll pay cash on the spot. The price is high, and you don't have to declare it for tax. One shipment a month. The slow path is to put up the money to buy a registered Western pharmacy, then set up a hospital. It would probably take an investment of over a hundred thousand, but if you put the money in, within two years your pharmacy will definitely be the most profitable Western pharmacy in all Hong Kong. And it'll be completely legal, with no loopholes anyone can find."