For dining, Lichi Garden had renowned chefs brought in specially from famous Shanghai restaurants.
For clothing, Lichi Garden had a tailor famous on the Shanghai Bund who had once made clothes for the president of the Flower Kingdom.
For haircuts, Lichi Garden had a barber who had shaved the heads of three grand marshals on the Shanghai Bund.
These wealthy men from the Shanghai Bund also showed the Hong Kong bumpkins and colonial Foreign Devils what real wealth looked like. Newspapers reported at the time that, in the month Du Yuesheng came to Hong Kong, the Ford dealership sold 105 cars—twice as many as it had sold in the entire previous year.
When cars were still the exclusive preserve of the wealthy in Hong Kong, servants of rich Shanghai families could have a driver take them to the market in a Ford 49 to buy vegetables.
Sadly, many senior Hong Kong government officials at the time rode in nothing better than a Ford 49, putting them on the same footing as the servants of rich Shanghai families.
And the place where these wealthy Shanghai men went for entertainment in the evenings was Li Caifa's Lichi Garden. Thanks to his connections in Hong Kong and his identity as a Shanghai man, Li Caifa found favor on both sides between the wealthy Shanghai men and the people of Hong Kong, riding high on the spring breeze.
But the tallest tree in the forest was bound to be battered by the wind. Hong Kong was a British colony, yet an American magazine had called a Chinese man the Emperor of Hong Kong Nightclubs, and a nightclub run by a Chinese man had been called the largest entertainment venue in the Far East. How could the face-conscious British swallow that insult?
So, directly across from the Ritz Garden Nightclub, a British man named Charlie opened the Heavenly Palace Nightclub. Its architecture and décor were copied entirely from Lichi Garden, and its grounds were even larger. He spent heavily to poach Lichi Garden's dance hostesses, mamasans, and managers. On opening day, he played the charity card for all it was worth, inviting the director of the Hong Kong Colonial Government's Social Welfare Department and a host of senior officials to attend. Countless wealthy men hoping to forge ties with the Hong Kong Colonial Government immediately flocked to the Heavenly Palace Nightclub. Its doors became as busy as a marketplace, while sparrows could have been caught at Lichi Garden's deserted entrance.
Just when everyone thought Li Caifa was no match for the British, at nine o'clock on the Heavenly Palace Nightclub's opening night, Du Yuesheng stepped out of a car at the entrance to Lichi Garden, across from the Heavenly Palace Nightclub. He had been in poor health ever since coming to Hong Kong, had shut his doors to visitors, and had never once set foot in a place of entertainment. Yet, dragging his ailing body along, he walked step by step into the Ritz Garden Nightclub.
Du Yuesheng of the Shanghai Bund had gone to Lichi Garden that night. The news spread across Hong Kong like the wind, and the many wealthy Shanghai men at the Heavenly Palace Nightclub hoping to meet senior Hong Kong Government officials forgot all about being discourteous, got up, and ran for Lichi Garden.
In the end, Hong Kong Chinese officials, Detective Chief Inspectors, and the Green Gang's many Hong Kong elders, disciples, and disciples' disciples all gathered at Lichi Garden. Even the director of the Social Welfare Department could not resist entering Lichi to meet Du Yuesheng.
Du Yuesheng stayed at Lichi Garden for only two hours and saw only a handful of people.
But after that night, Lichi Garden became the stronghold of all sorts of figures from Hong Kong's three mountains and five peaks, and its prosperity never waned. The Heavenly Palace Nightclub, meanwhile, lasted less than a year before it could no longer keep going and shut its doors.
From then on, no one in Hong Kong's entertainment world dared step forward to challenge Li Caifa, and Li Caifa truly secured his title as the Emperor of Hong Kong Nightclubs.
As for Chu Xiaoxin, to have made himself the leader of a Young Masters' Club at such a nightclub, where dragons and fish mingled and gold was scattered everywhere, was no small feat.
Chapter 9: Nightclub Conflict
A Young Masters' Club was rather like the fan organizations for singers that Song Tianyao had seen in his previous life. In Cantonese, the term "young master" referred to a bride's brother. The Songstresses in the pleasure world were usually young women, and the fans who supported them were often rich young scions, so Hong Kong newspapers jokingly called them young masters. Of course, there was nothing derogatory about the term.
On the contrary, anyone who became a member of a popular Songstress's Young Masters' Club would definitely draw envious looks from most people.
By the time Song Tianyao, Chu Xiaoxin, and Wu Jinliang arrived by car at Seven Sisters Road in North Point, where Lichi Garden was located, it was already 9:40 p.m. Yet the entire road was as bright as day under the streetlights and headlights, and all manner of cars and rickshaws had brought traffic to a standstill. Although more than a dozen young waiters in waistcoats and bow ties had come out to direct traffic, it still took Chu Xiaoxin's car nearly ten minutes to get from the street corner to the nightclub's main entrance.
A waiter hurried over and bent to open the door of the Ford 49. He had expected to see the Chu Family's second young master step out, as he came every night to show his support, rain or shine. Instead, Wu Jinliang stepped out in a long robe. Wu Jinliang quickly went around to the other side of the car and opened the door, and only then did Chu Xiaoxin step out. Song Tianyao got out of the front passenger seat.
"Young Master Shun, welcome." The waiter bowed politely to Chu Xiaoxin.
A State Express 555 cigarette clenched between his lips, Chu Xiaoxin did not even look at the waiter. He was like a different person from the man who had chatted and laughed with Wu Jinliang and Song Tianyao at the banquet earlier. He merely squeezed out a question through his teeth: "What time does Judy come on tonight?"
"Ten o'clock. But Young Master Kai, Young Master Rong, and a few others came early. They're backstage keeping Miss Judy company now," the waiter told Chu Xiaoxin after a moment's hesitation.
Chu Xiaoxin's handsome face immediately darkened. "How did you handle this, huh? Good-for-nothing!"
With that, he strode toward the nightclub's main entrance.
Song Tianyao brought up the rear. He took ten dollars from his wallet and tossed it to the waiter, whose face had gone deathly pale at Chu Xiaoxin's words. "This is a reward from Young Master Shun."
Just then, Chu Xiaoxin turned to call Song Tianyao over. When he saw Song Tianyao tip the waiter, he spoke angrily as Song Tianyao approached. "A-Yao, why tip him? That kind of man is stupid as can be! He can't even do one little thing he's told properly!"
"He's a waiter at the nightclub, not a servant of your family, Young Master Shun. Of course he can't listen only to your orders. Why get angry over someone like that?" Song Tianyao smiled at Chu Xiaoxin. "You came here to enjoy yourself, Young Master Shun. There's no need to get your liver fire up over a little thing."
Chu Xiaoxin said no more. He merely glared at the waiter and went into the lobby.
The lobby inside Lichi Garden's main entrance was more like a hub, where guests coming to Lichi Garden went their separate ways. Song Tianyao, Chu Xiaoxin, and Wu Jinliang, for instance, had come to support the dance hostesses and Songstresses, so they would head from there to the nightclub. Other guests who wanted a meal went to the Chinese or Western restaurant, while those who wanted to play cards went to the card and game hall.