Yiu Muk had treated Yan Hung well enough. After being promoted to Kowloon Chinese Detective Chief Inspector, he had pulled strings to transfer Yan Hung, a policeman with a dark past from the Japanese occupation, into the detective squad, starting him out as a plainclothes detective. In 1949, he helped Yan Hung rise to detective sergeant.
Yan Hung had been convinced that as long as he had Yiu Muk to lean on, he would surely soar to great heights. But fate had played a cruel trick on him. In 1949, Yiu Muk became Hong Kong's first Chief Chinese Detective Chief Inspector, taking charge of all plainclothes criminal investigations in Hong Kong. Yan Hung took out the hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars he had painstakingly saved over the years, hoping Yiu Muk could use his connections to secure him a Police Station Senior Station Sergeant's post. Yiu Muk had agreed, but after taking the money and before he could make any arrangements, he retired early for health reasons. Liu Fu, formerly the Kowloon District Detective Chief Inspector, succeeded him as Chief Chinese Detective Chief Inspector. The Kowloon District inspector's post went to Cheung Wing-kam, who seized the opportunity to bribe the Foreign Devils with five hundred thousand. The Sze Yap Chamber of Commerce paid that sum for Cheung Wing-kam, and he used the opportunity to expand the Sze Yap gangs' territory within his jurisdiction.
When Yan Hung heard the news, he nearly spat a mouthful of blood. Naturally, he could not go back to Yiu Muk and demand his money. Although Yiu Muk had retired and could no longer step forward to help him get promoted, it would be all too easy for him to hold a grudge against Yan Hung.
With no other choice, Yan Hung found himself a lesser backer: Lai Yau-man, then the Detective Chief Inspector in charge of the Criminal Investigation Unit at Yau Ma Tei Police Station. Lai Yau-man was Liu Fu's subordinate and, like Liu Fu, came from Dongguan. Although the Dongguan people in Hong Kong could not compare with the Chiu Chow or Five Counties people, they formed a faction of their own. As a Chiu Chow man, Yan Hung naturally could not win Liu Fu and Lai Yau-man's favor, so after all these years he was still a detective sergeant. Lui Lok, who had joined the force a year before him, had also lived through the Japanese occupation and likewise had a dark past. Yet because he had always clung to the coattails of his fellow Chiu Chow people, he had remained safe and sound. He was now a detective sergeant at Sham Shui Po Police Station and the chosen successor of Chan Lap, the station's criminal investigation Senior Station Sergeant. Once Chan Lap retired, arrangements would be made for Lui Lok to take his post, without Lui Lok even having to waste much money. Chan Lap was a Chiu Chow man himself, and Lui Lok had served him faithfully for years. To all the Chiu Chow people, it was only right and proper that Lui Lok should succeed him, and wealthy Chiu Chow merchants would naturally help prepare the money for the succession.
Chapter 16: Crossing the Harbor Late at Night
So, starting that year, Yan Hung had abandoned his previous strategy of clinging solely to Liu Fu and Lai Yau-man's coattails and repeatedly made overtures to the Chiu Chow Gang's forces. He had even joined Fuyixing, a long-established Chiu Chow society, becoming one of its 426 Red Poles. Through his connections as a society Red Pole, he cultivated ties with bosses from other Chiu Chow societies, hoping they could put him in touch with a real Chiu Chow big shot, someone like Chu Yaozong.
As long as he had the money, it was not impossible for Yan Hung to buy himself a Police Station Senior Station Sergeant's post outright. The problem was that he had no money. Even if someone in his position took bribes and dirty money every day, he would pocket no more than a thousand or so Hong Kong dollars a month. After daily expenses, he could save only a little over ten thousand a year. As for a Senior Station Sergeant's post, he could forget about it without a hundred or two hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars, and only major merchants and big-time operators could produce that kind of money.
Through Chan Ah-sap of Chao Yong Yi, Yan Hung had made a connection with Chu Xiaoxin. But that so-called connection amounted to little more than drinking, chatting, and listening to music together now and then. They were still nowhere near close enough for Chu Xiaoxin's father to pay over a hundred thousand to buy Yan Hung a senior sergeant's post.
Was tonight an opportunity?
Yan Hung's heart pounded twice, and his mind began racing. He wrestled with the question of whether taking this gamble to help Chu Xiaoxin tonight could earn him a reward from Chu Yaozong.
"Brother Hung, the Chiu Chow people are on one side and the Five Counties people are on the other. There's no need to think too hard about what to do, is there? If you failed to seize your chance last time, and you hesitate again this time, I'm afraid none of them will consider you one of their own anymore. Whatever you want to do, just say the word. The car's waiting outside." Song Tianyao watched Yan Hung's expression change several times. He did not need to know Yan Hung's history; seeing that he was only a detective sergeant in his thirties and still had to humble himself before a spoiled young master like Chu Xiaoxin was enough to tell him that Yan Hung must have backed the wrong side back then and failed to win the Chiu Chow Chamber of Commerce's support.
Yan Hung's round face twitched violently twice when he heard Song Tianyao's words. He squeezed out a sentence through clenched teeth. "A-Yao, right? Fine, I'll take this gamble again. I refuse to believe that I, Yan Hung, will keep having bad luck at thirty-three! Come with me to the villa district halfway up Tai Ping Shan, right now!"
"A Wai!" Yan Hung shouted outside as he fastened the buttons at his collar.
The detective named A Wai walked in. "Brother Hung, what is it?"
Yan Hung took a little over two hundred dollars from his pocket, hesitated, then looked at Song Tianyao. "A-Yao, do you have any cash on you? Three hundred will do."
Song Tianyao took out his wallet, counted out three hundred dollars, and handed it to Yan Hung. Yan Hung added it to his own two hundred and slapped the money into A Wai's hand.
"Have Ah Bong take this five hundred and hurry to the Lai Chi Kok Marine Police Division. Find a British marine policeman named Poon Ying-si and have him arrange for a marine police steam launch to wait for me at Central Pier. He'll send a boat out if he sees the money, so make sure to pay him first."
Once A Wai had put the money away, Yan Hung continued:
"Go to the Ritz Garden Nightclub yourself. You've met Young Master Shun, Chu Xiaoxin, right? Stay there. If Cheung Wing-kam's men try to take Young Master Shun away, tell them that I, Yan Hung, want him to stay and wait for me. Unless Cheung Wing-kam comes in person, even a Senior Station Sergeant can forget about taking Young Master Shun away. Whatever happens, I, Yan Hung, will shoulder it all myself!"
As he said this, the expression on Yan Hung's face could only be described as ferocious.
"Should we notify Brother Man-yau..." A Wai wanted to ask whether they should tell Yan Hung's superior, Lai Man-yau, about the matter.
Yan Hung shot him a sideways glare. "No! I said I'd shoulder it myself!"
After giving his orders, Yan Hung went downstairs with Song Tianyao. Without wasting words, he squeezed straight into the Ford. "Tsim Sha Tsui Pier. I'm crossing the harbor tonight to go to Tai Ping Shan."
Hong Kong had no cross-harbor tunnel yet, and all travel between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon depended on boats. It was already late at night, and the Star Ferry had long since shut down for the day. Anyone wanting to cross at this hour had to rely on the small sampans operated by the various societies at the piers. The wind and waves were strong late at night, and it was normal for a sampan to be overturned by them. Yan Hung had spoken without the slightest hesitation, and Song Tianyao could not help taking a few more looks at him. With his teeth clenched and a determined look in his eyes, this Yan Hung was clearly far more impressive than the timid, deathly afraid, and rat-greedy Yan Tong from the movies.