"Thank you, Fourth Uncle." Zhang Weilin gratefully wiped away his slightly moist eyes and said sincerely.
Zhang Yuliang shook his head and said earnestly, "You're welcome."
Chapter 118 Xianyu Shuan
Song Tianyao ordered a plate of rice from a street food stall in Wan Chai. He didn't care that his suit didn't look like someone who would do such hard labor. He wolfed down his food. After finishing the meal, he still had things to do. Thinking about the ideas would only take a few cups of coffee, but actually doing them would require running around like crazy.
Just as I was enjoying my rice and braised pork, a voice beside me said uncertainly, "Secretary Song?"
As Song Tianyao looked up, he tried to swallow the food in his mouth. Not far away stood a guy who was supposed to run errands for him, a guy named Xianyu Shuan. His bald head was covered in sweat, and his shirt was soaked through. He was holding the hand of a little girl who looked to be about five or six years old. It seemed that he was also there to eat.
"Didn't I tell you to go see Gao Lao Cheng?" Song Tianyao straightened his neck and, after finishing his meal, asked Xianyu Shuan, "Did you see him?"
Xianyu Shuan wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve. "I already met him. I told Brother Shing Secretary Song everything Secretary Song said. The people Brother Shing arranged have already gone to Chenji Candy Shop. I only managed to squeeze in a moment to rush home to see my daughter. I didn't use the Secretary Song gave me for the ride. I saved it to buy clothes for my wife and daughter and take my daughter downstairs for a nice meal."
Song Tianyao looked at the little girl holding Xianyu Shuan's hand. She was about five or six years old. Her clothes had many patches, but they were clean. Her face was rosy and her hair was tied into two cute pigtails. At this moment, her eyes kept turning between the fragrant food at the food stall and her father, and she kept swallowing.
"Boss, one order of tofu and braised pork belly, one order of spiced eel balls, one order of agar-agar and pork skin, and a big bowl of fried rice with extra oil!" Xianyu Shuan noticed his daughter's expression and hurriedly called out to the busy, sweating food stall owner.
"Sit at this table and eat together." After Xianyu Shuan finished ordering, Song Tianyao pointed to his table. "Your daughter?"
"Yes, she's six years old this year, Xiu'er, call... call..." Xianyu Shuan wanted his daughter to greet Song Tianyao, but he didn't know what to call him. He was stuck there, scratching his head and looking at Song Tianyao.
Song Tianyao smiled and said, "Just call me Uncle."
"Xiu'er, say hello to your uncle." Xianyu Shuan led his daughter to Song Tianyao's table, gently tugged at her sleeve, and the little girl looked up and obediently said to Song Tianyao, "Hello, Uncle."
"Boss, please bring this table a soda and two beers, put it on my tab." Song Tianyao said to the boss first, then looked at the little girl named Xiu'er: "Sweetie, uncle will buy you a soda."
"Thank you, Uncle." After the food stall owner brought over a bottle of soda and two bottles of beer, this time without Xianyu Shuan's reminder, the little girl proactively thanked Song Tianyao: "My mom said that little kids shouldn't drink soda, it'll make them crave it. They can drink it when they're older so they won't crave it. Let Daddy drink it."
Xianyu Shuan, standing awkwardly to the side, chuckled and said somewhat timidly to Song Tianyao, "My wife rarely lets our daughter drink soda."
"Drinking it once in a while won't make you crave it. You can let your dad take a sip first, and then you can drink it. That way, you won't get worms, right?" Song Tianyao pushed the soda in front of the little girl and said with a smile.
"Dad, have some." Xianyu Shuan's daughter held up the soda bottle with both hands and handed it to Xianyu Shuan.
The Xianyu Shuan took the drink, moistened his lips slightly, and then handed it back to his daughter. "Daddy has had some, you can have some now."
The child sipped his soda quietly, then took out a wooden cigarette Xianyu Shuan from his pocket, pulled out a State Express 555 cigarettes, and handed it to Song Tianyao: "I left the cigarette case with Brother Shing, but I couldn't bear to part with the cigarette. Keep it and enjoy it slowly."
Song Tianyao took it and smiled, "With a wife and kids, why would you want to join a gang? Xianyu Shuan, who gave you that name?"
"I used to sell salted fish at a stall in Kowloon, and everyone called me 'Xianyu Shuan.' In that kind of place, if you didn't have a gang to stick around with, you'd be getting into trouble every day. I wanted to live a peaceful life, so I joined the Fuyixing gang and paid my monthly fees on time. I knew a few words, and since I sold a lot of salted fish, I could do some accounting. Last year, the gang opened an Opium den in Wan Chai, and the person in charge of collecting money died. Seeing that I knew how to do accounting and had been a regular member of the gang for many years, they brought me from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island to work at the Opium den." Being in charge of collecting money and keeping accounts, spending all day and night in the Opium den was tough, but I could earn a little more than selling salted fish in Kowloon. I thought it was a long-term job, so I brought my wife and daughter to Hong Kong Island and rented a small apartment. But good times don't last. This year, the Opium den's shareholders planted their own relatives there, so I had nothing to do. There was no salted fish to sell, and not enough fish to fight, so I ended up doing manual labor at the docks. Just the other day, Brother Shing said he needed someone to help make candy, so I was sent there."
Xianyu Shuan helped Song Tianyao light his cigarette with a match, but he himself didn't smoke a 555 or 500 cigarette. Instead, he picked up the cheapest Little Joy Cigarettes, lit it, took a puff, and then said to Song Tianyao.
At this moment, the owner had already brought over the three-combination rice dish that Xianyu Shuan had ordered. Song Tianyao poured himself a glass of beer and gestured for Xianyu Shuan and his daughter to eat first. Xianyu Shuan used his bowl to scoop out most of the fried rice for his daughter, and then picked out all the pork belly from the tofu and pork belly (roasted pork, chunks of meat) and the pork skin from the stir-fried pork skin with agar and put them into his daughter's bowl. He then ate the agar and tofu with gusto, not even touching the small portion of eel balls in the middle.
Seeing the father and daughter enjoying their meal, Song Tianyao got up and paid for his own meal along with the one for the Xianyu Shuan. He then asked the owner to make a separate serving of spiced eel balls and a portion of rice to go, which he then carried back to the table. "Does your wife like eel?"
Xianyu Shuan was shoveling rice into his mouth when he saw a plastic bag filled with rice and vegetables suddenly appear in front of him. He looked at Song Tianyao with his mouth half open, puzzled.
Song Tianyao happened to ask that question as well.
Xianyu Shuan swallowed the food in his mouth, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and smiled somewhat awkwardly, "My wife is from the countryside on the mainland. She makes her living by the water and has loved eating eel since she was a child. After coming to Hong Kong and living with me, life has been difficult, so she rarely eats it anymore. When I used to sell salted fish in Kowloon, I would always go to the ponds in the New Territories to catch some eels for her when I had free time. After coming to Hong Kong Island, there isn't a single river to be found, and the eels sold outside are so expensive. My wife can't bear to spend the money, and we haven't eaten them for over a year. Today, Secretary Song gave me fifty dollars for transportation, and I wanted to take my daughter out for a meal and then bring that portion of eel back to my wife."