They chatted and enjoyed the breeze on the viewing platform for nearly half an hour. Then they saw Chu Xiaozhong leading Kong Wing-yan out of the Peak Restaurant and hurrying towards the cable car station to wait for the cable car down the mountain. At the restaurant entrance, a middle-aged white woman seemed to be giving instructions to a young white man in an English restaurant uniform. Angie Perlis, carrying the prepared gifts, said, "It's time for us to go to the restaurant for dinner."
"After your heroic act, prepare to go down the mountain and meet me at Lichi," Song Tianyao instructed Chu Xiaoxin.
Chu Xiaoxin looked around. "Is someone about to jump off a cliff? If things are calm, who should I save?"
As they spoke, the three of them walked toward the restaurant. Just as they got closer and closer to the main entrance, Angie Perlis and the slightly plump middle-aged white woman finally spotted each other in surprise. This was the problem with the Britain; even though they both knew they were meeting here, they still insisted on acting like, "What a coincidence that you're here to eat too."
"Hello, Mrs. Bess, are you dining here too?" Angie Perlis greeted Shek Chi-yik's Australia wife with a look of surprise and delight.
Mrs. Shek glanced at Song Tianyao and Chu Xiaoxin, who were standing beside Angie Perlis, and replied with a smile, "Good evening, Miss Pellis. Are you dining here with your friends as well?"
"Yes, let me introduce you. This is Mrs. Bess, a senior member of the Royal Horticultural Society of Hong Kong, and these two are my employers, Mr. Chu Xiaoxin, the owner of Likang Trading Company, and this is Mr. Song Tianyao." Angie Perlis introduced the two parties.
This is also Britain custom; if Angie Perlis hadn't introduced them in this situation, Mrs. Bess would absolutely not have taken the initiative to speak with the two of them.
"Good evening, Madam, it's a pleasure to meet you." Chu Xiaoxin and Song Tianyao gave Mrs. Bess a slight, polite bow.
"Honey, the restaurant said our Angus roast beef will take a while. Wow, you've met some friends?" A middle-aged Britain walked out of the restaurant, looked at the three people in front of him, and asked his wife in a thick London accent.
As soon as the man appeared, Song Tianyao began to sized up this deputy director of the Industrial and Commercial Administration Office, who was even more greedy than the other Britain. He had the typical appearance of Britain: a stuffy gray suit and black leather shoes, a broad forehead and a receding hairline, a slightly reddish hooked nose, and deep-set eye sockets beneath thick eyebrows, where a pair of bright gray-blue eyes were hidden.
Mrs. Bess turned to her husband and replied, "These are friends I know from the Horticultural Association. This is Miss Pellis Angie Perlis, and those two are her China friends, Mr. Chu and Mr. Song, the owners of a company."
Then, she introduced him to Song Tianyao and the other two, "This is my husband, Patrick, whose Chinese name is Shek Chi-yik."
"It's a pleasure to meet you all..."
"Bang!" Not far from the restaurant door, a gas lamp post that was being repaired by workers suddenly burst into flames with a loud bang. The worker, who was standing on a ladder above the lamp post, lost his balance and fell backward from the two-meter-high ladder, his body crashing heavily onto the lawn!
"My God..." Everyone nearby was shocked by the scene. Song Tianyao kept his eyes on Shek Chi-yik and his wife in front of him. The moment their gaze was drawn to the lamppost, he quickly nudged Chu Xiaoxin's heel with his leather shoe.
Before anyone else could react, Chu Xiaoxin had already rushed to the accident scene and, before the other two workers could react, helped the fallen worker up. "Where are you hurt?"
"My back, my back! It hurts so much!" the injured worker cried out in Chu Xiaoxin's arms.
Chu Xiaoxin put his arm around the other person's shoulder and gently straightened his upper body. "I'll take you to the hospital. My car is at the foot of the mountain. Hey, helper, carry him down the mountain on the cable car to get him to the hospital!"
"A-Yao, I'll drive the injured to the hospital. You and Miss Pellis, slowly descend the mountain and take a taxi." Chu Xiaoxin helped the injured onto the back of a worker, carefully supporting the injured's lower back from behind, and called out as he ran towards the cable car.
By the time everyone at the scene came to their senses, Chu Xiaoxin had already led the wounded and was almost disappearing on the mountaintop.
"God help me, I hope the worker's injuries aren't too serious." Mrs. Bess, still flushed from the shock of what had just happened, recovered from the ordeal.
Shek Chi-yik was clearly unaware of what had just happened. He looked at Angie Perlis and Song Tianyao opposite him, trying to find some clues on their faces.
However, the two people in front of him, Angie Perlis and Song Tianyao, were both frightened and blushed, while Song Tianyao was nervous and unsteady, his hands clenched into fists hidden in his trouser seams.
"Mr. Chu is such a good man, darling. He's already taken the wounded to the hospital. Let's go inside the restaurant. God will protect the injured," Shek Chi-yik said, gently putting his arm around his wife's shoulder.
After he finished speaking, he looked at Angie Perlis and Song Tianyao.
If these two guys still insist on following the couple into the restaurant, then they're the ones behind this unexpected incident, although we don't yet know what they're planning.
If they also left in a hurry, then it must have been a genuine accident.
Although Likang Trading Company was owned by the Chu Family, a prominent merchant family in Chiu Chow, Shek Chi-yik had already learned some information about Likang, knew Chu Xiaoxin's identity, and knew that Likang's business had never been doing well. It seemed that Likang was of no help to his ideas. Shek Chi-yik did not feel any regret at being unable to communicate with the owner of such a small company and the unpopular heir of a large family.
"Mr. Shi." Seeing Shek Chi-yik turn to leave with his wife into the restaurant, Song Tianyao spoke somewhat abruptly, "I'm sorry, we can't stay for the meal, but could you please allow us a few words with your wife? We actually have something we'd like to discuss with Mrs. Bess and seek her help with."