Song Chengqi slowly stopped a dozen steps away from the old man, glancing into Wo Ping seemingly ordinary Elderly Home gate. There was no movement. He turned around and looked behind him. Two middle-aged men in floral shirts were standing on the street talking, smoking cigarettes, a dozen meters away in the night.
Song Chengqi's eyes swept over the waists hidden under the hems of the two men's shirts. He turned to the old man he called Bo Ming with a puzzled look and said, "Just two cops. Cops coming to the Elderly Home to arrest people? Including you and me, there are only eleven old guys waiting to close their eyes in the Elderly Home. Do you think there are any old guys who can climb over the wall at night to steal?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a dozen or so figures appeared beside the gate of the Elderly Home. The three leading figures were a woman in her early thirties, dressed in simple, plain clothes, the kind of jacket and trousers that most women wear. But on this woman, the clothes did not make her look shabby or destitute; on the contrary, they made her look quite neat and capable.
Beside her were a man and a woman. The man, around forty years old, wore a round felt hat and a shawl. He was none other than Liang Pei, the Wan Chai Police Station Detective Chief Inspector had rescued Taihe and Heizai Jie on Tai Wo Street. The woman beside him was no more than twenty-one or twenty-two years old. She was wearing a black velvet cheongsam with gold trim and her arms were linked with Liang Pei's, making their intimate relationship obvious to outsiders.
Behind the three men, besides several plainclothes officers, were several young men dressed as gangsters, who effectively blocked the entrance to the Elderly Home.
Song Chengqi seemed not to see these people. He walked up to the Bo Ming, handed him the wine and food, then squatted down to help Bo Ming tie the shoelaces on the broken foot. He then stood up and helped the Bo Ming to face the group of people, walking towards the gate of the Elderly Home.
"Excuse me, are you Mountain Lord Song the East Liang Mountain of the Hung Mun Triad Society?" The woman in the lead sized up Song Chengqi, who was dressed in a coarse cloth robe, and looked uncertainly at Liang Pei beside her. Liang Pei nodded slightly affirmatively, and only then did the woman ask Song Chengqi.
Song Chengqi casually said, "You've mistaken me for someone else."
"Heroes are born, brothers like wind, tiger, cloud, and dragon. Reaching the heavens, they follow the will of Heaven and restore the Ming. If the gates are not properly closed, the dragon will open differently. Loyalty and righteousness prevail, for the cause of overthrowing the Qing and restoring the Ming. Qi Weiwen, Right Chancellor of the Eighth Hall of the Loyalty Hall of Hongfa Mountain, Hongmen Triad Society, humbly requests your name, sir." The woman stepped forward, facing Song Chengxi, her thumbs raised, index fingers curled inward, the other three fingers extended, placed on her lower abdomen, and bowed before speaking.
Seeing that the other party was reciting the Hung Mun Mountain Clan's secret formula and making hand gestures, their manners were impeccable.
Song Chengqi sighed, released his hand from the Bo Ming, and calmly raised his hands to his chest. He first made the same gesture as the woman who called herself Qi Weiwen, then extended his right thumb, index, and middle fingers, bending two of them. He did the same with his left hand, pressing them against his chest. Finally, he extended the thumbs and little fingers of both hands, bending the remaining three fingers and pressing them against his chest. He completed the entire set of movements methodically before speaking softly, "A man of ambition in all directions, righteous and awe-inspiring in all directions, commanding thirty-six sworn brothers above and seventy-two sworn brothers below, representing wood, fire, earth, water, and metal, tiger, snake, sparrow, tortoise, and dragon. Gathering earth to form a mountain, binding grass to transform into a dragon, the three harmonies shining brightly, steadfastly united, the leader of the East Liang Mountain Dingyi Hall the Hung Mun Triad Society, Song Chengqi."
Before Liang Pei and the other officers could react to his actions and words, the young woman holding his arm, the men Qi Weiwen had brought behind him, and Qi Weiwen, who was standing at the front, all respectfully stepped back and bowed with different hand gestures. "Junior Hongfa Mountain Triad Society the Hung Mun Triads greets fellow sect Mountain Lord Song."
The neat and obedient movements startled Liang Pei and the other officers. The Bo Ming, who was leaning on a cane, looked at Song Chengqi with excitement on his face.
"Get up and speak. What brings you all this fuss to see an old man like me?" Song Chengqi took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, took a puff, and said with some disgust, "East Liang Mountain is at its wit's end, its hall is broken and its incense has died out. We have neither money to help our fellow disciples nor brothers to sacrifice themselves for them. Please take another step and turn to a side sect."
After Song Chengqi told them to stand up and speak, Qi Weiwen straightened up, a smile on his face, "Mountain Lord Song, Hongfa Mountain is not asking for help from our fellow disciples, nor is it asking for their troops. I have come here on the orders of the old Hongfa Mountain Old Mountain Master Ge Zhaohuang, the Young Mountain Master Ge Zhixiong, and the Incense Master Chen Zhongying, who have instructed me to invite you and the Mountain Master Zhu Xuguang of Heavenly Treasure Mountain of the Hung Mun to Hongfa Mountain for a meeting."
Song Chengqi looked up at the night sky, sighed, nodded to Qi Weiwen, and said, "Since you've accepted the order, you can't go back if you can't do it. I won't make things difficult for you, a woman. Let's go. Ge Zhaohuang is smart enough to know I won't make things difficult for a woman."
After saying that, he turned and walked along Longjin Avenue towards the outside of Kowloon Walled City. After a few steps, he turned to Bo Ming and said, "Remember to leave me a sip of wine."
Qi Weiwen personally chased after Song Chengqi a few steps to his side, and gently supported Song Chengqi with both hands.
Liang Pei walked at the back, glanced around the dilapidated Elderly Home, and whispered to the woman beside him, "What's the use of your master asking you to beg me to help find this old man? I thought he was some respected elder in the martial arts world, but he's just some unknown old fellow."
"You wouldn't understand the affairs of the Hung Mun," the young woman said softly, her arm linked with Liang Pei's, her eyes fixed on the master who was supporting Song Chengqi as they walked ahead.
Liang Pei curled his lip. "I'm Single Righteousness, so I can be considered a member of the Hung Mun."
"What kind of Hung Mun is your Single Righteousness? My master said that members of the Hung Mun are called righteous men. How many of those Hong Kong triads that call themselves the Hung Mun have actually fought on the battlefield? You are a member of the Hung Mun, so why didn't you stay behind and fight the Japan when Japan invaded Hong Kong?" The young woman spoke with an air of arrogance in her eyes.
As Liang Pei walked away, she curled her lip. "Do you think I'm stupid? Even the Britain couldn't hold out, and I'm supposed to stay and die? Don't even mention me, even you guys from 14K, if the Japan invaded again, wouldn't you still run away? Did the old man actually fight the Japan? It would be a miracle if you survived a fight. Stop bragging. I went through so much trouble to help you get rid of people, so tonight, you, the eldest of the Mong Kok Twelve Golden Hairpins, have to make it up to me properly."