Song Tianyao naturally couldn't hear his mother's complaints downstairs about the Song Family men's special interest in widows. After his Scribe Hui hurriedly unlocked the door and turned on the lights, illuminating the living room, he carried Lou Fengyun to the bedroom. Lou Fengyun's room was even simpler than his own, probably because she wasn't planning to move in so soon. The living room had an old-fashioned three-seater wooden chair and two rattan chairs, nothing else. The bedroom only had a single bed with folded bedding.
Carefully turning around at the bedroom doorway to avoid Lou Fengyun hitting the doorframe, Song Tianyao gently laid Lou Fengyun down on the bed after entering the room. Only then did he straighten up, catch his breath, take out a cigarette, and light it. Seeing Lou Fengyun lying on the bed, her pretty face slightly flushed, her eyes cautiously looking at him, he frowned. "Shy? I already saw it a few days ago. You don't need to make that face when I help you carry upstairs. I'm not the kind of lecherous and unscrupulous lecher described in the newspapers. I have no interest in bullying a widow with injured legs."
"My leg injury has healed a lot." Lou Fengyun looked at Song Tianyao and said this almost as if she were in a trance.
As she spoke, Song Tianyao had already turned and walked into the living room with a cigarette between his fingers. Hearing her words, Song Tianyao stopped a step inside the bedroom door, turned around and looked at Lou Fengyun: "What does it matter to me whether your injury is healed or not? Even if Song Tianyao is heartless and not a gentleman, he's not a scumbag who gets lustful at the sight of a woman. Seeing how hard you went to congratulate my family on our housewarming, I carried you upstairs so you wouldn't have to walk back upstairs, feeling tired and heartbroken. At least now you can lie in bed and think about what I'm saying. It's better than downstairs everyone having a family reunion while upstairs you're sad and lonely, lying in bed reminiscing about your heartless, dead husband Black-Hearted Wah. Scribe Hui, are you just standing at the bedroom door waiting to watch the show? Just by the fact that your boss's wife took you in as a lackey, I know this woman has bad taste. She's stupid enough to wear glasses and act as a clerk. Help me carry the wine to the rooftop."
Chapter Eighty-Six: Not Determined by Heaven
Song Tianyao climbed the escalator to the rooftop of the fourth floor, crossed the parapet wall, and stood directly on the small balcony near the edge, letting out a heavy breath in the night wind.
The people inside the building—his own parents, his sister, and even Lou Fengyun and Scribe Hui —only saw him rise to prominence overnight, becoming the well-dressed secretary to the second young master of the Chu Family. They didn't know that every step he took and every word he uttered in that short period of time, though seemingly easy, was actually fraught with danger.
Song Tianyao, however, had no roots or support, and all he could rely on was the experience and resourcefulness he had accumulated in his second life.
Tonight at the Dulles Hotel, when Angie Perlis advised him to give up on persuading Shek Chi-yik and instead try to befriend other Customs officials, Song Tianyao did have a momentary thought of backing down. He simply wanted to give up, offer a bribe to a Britain Foreign Devil, and have the other party turn a blind eye when transferring smuggled contraband at the dock, while he found a boat for Likang to go out to sea.
However, Shek Chi-yik's desire to have his cake and eat it too, coupled with his position as deputy director of the Industrial and Commercial Administration Office, touched a nerve with Song Tianyao. Shek Chi-yik wanted both fame and fortune, unlike other officials who entered the upper echelons of the Hong Kong Colonial Government, who either gained a reputation or made a fortune in Hong Kong to take back to their ancestral home for retirement. Satisfying both of these was very difficult, but bribing officials was like stocks or futures—high difficulty and high risk, but also high returns.
Judging from Shek Chi-yik's current attitude, if he doesn't try to cultivate a relationship now while the other party is short of money, and waits until the other party is firmly in a high position and has plenty of money, it will only be more difficult to get close to them than to seize this opportunity today.
Song Tianyao wasn't worried about not being able to persuade Shek Chi-yik in five minutes. What worried him was the follow-up actions after persuading Shek Chi-yik— stealing meat from others' bowls, which would inevitably offend other businessmen in the same industry. If the situation became awkward, and Chu Yaozong suggested that Chu Xiaoxin sacrifice himself to save the king, while Shek Chi-yik watched from the sidelines, pondering the consequences, then the outcome would be a mixed bag. The laughing ones would naturally be Shek Chi-yik and Chu Xiaoxin, while only his parents and relatives downstairs would cry. As for himself? He wouldn't even have the chance to cry; he would only suffer a terrible death. Although this possibility was slim, perhaps only a one or two percent chance out of ten, even with only a 1% chance of winning, the result would be 100% certain death.
That's why he swirled the glass of red wine slightly when he picked it up. He had hesitated, but the blood that was ingrained in his bones—the love of taking risks and pushing the boundaries—was burning within him. Even though he knew this was no small matter like tricking Yan Hung or Chan Ah-sap before, he still wanted to give it a try.
The road is one's own to walk, and wealth and status are one's own to strive for. If you don't even have the courage to take a chance, then you've wasted your time in this magnificent era.
"Secretary Song, beer." The voice of the Scribe Hui, came from behind. Song Tianyao turned around and saw Scribe Hui carefully carrying three bottles of beer and a neatly folded blanket over the parapet. He stood beside Song Tianyao, glanced at the edge less than half a meter away, and then took a half-step back. "Sister Yun said it's cool on the rooftop, and told me to bring a blanket for Secretary Song."
Song Tianyao took the blanket, unfurled it in the breeze, spread it out on the balcony, sat down, took a swig of beer, and said to the standing Scribe Hui:
"Sit down and let's chat for a bit."
"Okay, Secretary Song." Scribe Hui paused for a moment, then carefully sat cross-legged on the edge of the blanket, with most of his buttocks still on the cold ground. His face was full of energy as he stared at Song Tianyao.
Seeing the other man's serious expression, Song Tianyao couldn't help but laugh. He picked up another beer and handed it to the Scribe Hui: "You're someone's clerk and assistant, I'm someone's secretary and assistant, we're pretty much the same. Maybe it's because we're in the same profession that I don't like you. Hey, is being a clerk in Gambling den tough?"
"Thank you, Secretary Song." Scribe Hui, carefully accepted the beer with both hands, not rushing to drink it, but holding it until Song Tianyao finished speaking. He forced a smile, "It's no trouble at all. I'm not very smart. Sister Yun is so clever, she doesn't need an advisor. She just needs an obedient errand boy."
"What were you doing before becoming a clerk? We're just drinking and chatting. I'm not the one paying your salary, why are you so nervous?" Song Tianyao held out his beer, lightly clinked it against the other person's bottle, took another swig, and said with a smile.