"Cheung Wing-kam's godson dared to humiliate my woman? I'll knock every tooth out of your mouth! Even if Cheung Wing-kam were here, I'd still beat you to death!" Chu Xiaoxin shouted brazenly from behind the crowd.
Song Tianyao breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Chu Xiaoxin stepped in, the conflict would not truly get out of hand. Even if Chairman Chu learned what had happened tonight, he would probably praise his son for thinking on his feet, knowing to step forward himself rather than letting Chao Yong Yi wipe his ass for him.
Chapter 13: Two Double Red Poles
With Chu Xiaoxin's swing of the beer bottle, the two sides were at a stalemate again. Manager Jin clearly no longer had enough face to settle the matter. Both sides had now revealed their trump cards: one was the son of the Chao Feng Chamber of Commerce's chairman, the other the godson of Cheung Wing-kam, the Detective Chief Inspector of Kowloon. A mere manager of the Ritz Garden Nightclub was not qualified to mediate a conflict at this level. The main reason Li Caifa had poached Manager Jin from the Shanghai Bund to work at Lichi Garden was his keen eye for reading people and situations.
If Chu Xiaoxin had not later smashed that beer bottle over the policeman's head tonight, Manager Jin would certainly have continued to intervene, doing no more than persuading both sides to leave the nightclub and settle things outside. But things were different now. That drunken cop on the other side had turned out to be Cheung Wing-kam's godson, and as the manager of the Ritz Garden Nightclub, he naturally had to learn to help his boss cultivate connections.
He could still tell both sides to settle it outside, but now that he knew the cop had a great Buddha like Cheung Wing-kam behind him, the best approach was to use tonight's affair to help his boss, Li Caifa, establish a connection with the newly promoted Detective Chief Inspector of Kowloon.
Li Caifa was not merely the Emperor of Hong Kong Nightclubs. He was also the first person in all of Hong Kong to know how to extract morphine and heroin from opium. All the locally produced morphine and heroin currently on the market in Hong Kong came from Li Caifa's opium refinery.
To operate a refinery in Kowloon, he naturally had to maintain good relations with the police. After all, this was not the Shanghai Bund, where the Green Gang's Heng Society stood alone above the rest. All of Hong Kong was a jumble of fish and dragons, with scores, even hundreds, of local societies. Though Li Caifa's name now commanded great prestige in Hong Kong, and people in its jianghu respectfully called him Mr. Choi Fat because he was a disciple of Du Yuesheng's disciple and a senior member of the Green Gang, when it came to actual strength, he might not be able to match the Chiu Chow Gang or the Sze Yap Gang.
So Manager Jin first sent a reliable waiter to fetch Li Caifa, then stood between the two sides like a big-headed monkey and cupped his hands. "Officer, Young Master Shun, please calm down. Mr. Li, Lichi's owner, will be here shortly. Whatever happens, please give him some face and don't fight anymore."
Taking advantage of the distraction, Song Tianyao quietly squeezed in behind Chu Xiaoxin. "Young Master Shun, I'm afraid someone from the police force will step in shortly. Do you know any Chiu Chow people in the police, so we can avoid being taken to Cheung Wing-kam's turf?"
"There's a detective named Yan Hung in the Yau Ma Tei Police Station's detective squad. He's one of us Chiu Chow people, a very loyal man, and we're close," Chu Xiaoxin told Song Tianyao.
Yan Hung? One of the future Four Great Detective Chief Inspectors? Song Tianyao turned the name over in his mind. The detective squad's full name was the Hong Kong Police Criminal Investigation Unit. Simply put, all plainclothes officers in Hong Kong could be considered members of it. It was only in 1949, when Hong Kong's population surged, that the British colonial government began to pay attention to the department. Making full use of its policy of using Chinese to govern Chinese, it appointed two Chief Chinese Detective Chief Inspectors to command the Criminal Investigation Unit. It could be said that if a policeman wanted to climb the ranks, his first step was to find a way to shed his uniform and join the plainclothes detective squad as a detective.
Song Tianyao's thoughts turned. Under the present circumstances, there was no need yet for Chu Yaozong to step in and use his connections. Although Cheung Wing-kam was the Chinese Detective Chief Inspector of Kowloon District, commanding the detectives of an entire district, Chu Yaozong stood far above him in social standing and wealth. Chu Yaozong was the chairman of a regional chamber of commerce. To reach his present position, he needed not only money but also sufficient prestige among all the Chao Feng people doing business in Hong Kong. Many Chiu Chow people's gangs also followed the chamber of commerce to make their living. Someone truly on equal footing with Chu Yaozong would be a figure on the level of the Sze Yap Chamber of Commerce Chairman. Cheung Wing-kam was merely a policeman from the Sze Yap Gang who had done well for himself, while Chu Yaozong was already the Chao Feng Chamber of Commerce's decision-maker, whose word was law.
To put it plainly, Cheung Wing-kam was only the Sze Yap Gang's top enforcer, while Chu Yaozong was the Chiu Chow Gang's chief financial backer and decision-maker.
Having Chu Yaozong deal directly with Cheung Wing-kam would be giving Cheung Wing-kam far too much credit. So someone of slightly lower standing on their side had to come forward first to talk to him. If they reached an agreement, Chu Yaozong would have proven he had a good son. If not, Chu Yaozong could go directly to the chairman of the Sze Yap Chamber of Commerce.
Yan Hung could not possibly be qualified to talk to Cheung Wing-kam, but he should also have a backer in the plainclothes squad. Otherwise, he could not have risen to become a Detective Sergeant. It depended on Yan Hung's ability. A man who later rose to become one of the Four Great Detective Chief Inspectors and played the chief villain in The Story of Lui Lok probably wasn't too stupid.
"I'll go bring Yan Hung here. Until I get back, Young Master Shun, be polite to Li Caifa, but you can be a little more arrogant with the police," Song Tianyao advised Chu Xiaoxin.
Chu Xiaoxin was very pleased with Song Tianyao, whom he had only met that night. His new secretary had spoken up several times, and each time his words had been to Chu Xiaoxin's liking. Most importantly, he knew what a secretary should do: help his boss solve problems.
"Have the driver take you." Chu Xiaoxin nodded, then said to Chan Ah-sap beside him, "Send two men to protect A-Yao. If anything happens to him, you can wait to starve to death."
"Ah Ju, Ah Kun, you two go out with this gentleman and keep him safe," Chan Ah-sap said to two muscular men beside him who were obviously typical enforcers at a glance.
"Got it, boss." The two followed Song Tianyao out of the crowd and headed outside.
On the police side, one of the officers had also slipped away, naturally to fetch reinforcements.
The policeman met Song Tianyao's eyes. Song Tianyao gave him a slight nod and a smile, then left the nightclub, got into Chu Xiaoxin's Ford, and said to the driver:
"Thanks for the effort, and sorry for the trouble. Please take me to Yau Ma Tei Police Station."