"Who's that young man over there?" Ignoring Yan Hung's flattery, Yiu Muk looked at Song Tianyao, who stood beside the sofa, and asked.
Chapter 18: Staying Here for the Night
"He's Chu Xiaoxin's secretary at the Liheng Trading Company. Chu Xiaoxin is the second son of Chu Yaozong, the chairman of the Chao Feng Chamber of Commerce." Yan Hung introduced Song Tianyao to Yiu Muk. Of course, Song Tianyao's identity was unimportant; what mattered was that Chu Xiaoxin and Chu Yaozong stood behind him now.
Yiu Muk rolled a strand of Eighteen Beads between his fingers and nodded to Song Tianyao. "Secretary Song, please sit."
"Thank you, Brother Muk." Song Tianyao sat at the very edge of the sofa and looked at Yiu Muk and Yan Hung.
"Chu Xiaoxin got into trouble and offended someone in the police force, so you came to see me? You're in your thirties, and you still keep company with a young playboy like that? A-Hung, you really haven't made any progress these past two years. Was it one of Liu Fu's people he offended?" Yiu Muk rolled the beads extremely slowly, moving one every five or six seconds, but he spoke quickly, hitting the nail on the head.
Admiration appeared in Song Tianyao's eyes. When he had first seen the somewhat gaunt-looking Yiu Muk, he had thought the man was merely an old man who was past his prime, with nothing more than former protégés and old acquaintances in the police force and enough standing before Liu Fu, Cheung Wing-kam, and even the Westerners. But Yiu Muk's words made Song Tianyao feel that the man who had become Hong Kong's first chief Chinese detective inspector since the port opened really did have a piercing eye.
Yiu Muk had asked only one question: who Song Tianyao was.
As soon as Yan Hung answered, Yiu Muk realized that Chu Xiaoxin had run into trouble with the police and stated it with certainty. Such a reaction would have been unsurprising from a middle-aged man in his prime, but coming from the gaunt old man before him, it was impossible not to admire.
"The godson of Cheung Wing-kam, the Chinese detective inspector of Kowloon, got into a jealous quarrel with the Chu Family's second young master over a singer at Lichi Garden," Yan Hung told Yiu Muk truthfully. "The Chu Family's second young master and some members of the Chao Yong Yi Association under the Chao Feng Chamber of Commerce injured Cheung Wing-kam's godson and a plainclothes officer."
"Cheung Wing-kam's godson?" Yiu Muk repeated, then looked at Yan Hung and asked, "Did Chu Xiaoxin say he wanted you, or did you happen to see an opportunity and attach yourself to him?"
Yan Hung gritted his teeth inwardly and said, "Brother Muk, I haven't made any progress. I wanted to find a way in, so when I saw Chu Xiaoxin's identity and status, I took the initiative to attach myself to him."
"The moment you opened your mouth, I knew you were lying. If you'd taken the initiative to attach yourself to him, someone as smooth and tactful as you wouldn't have ended up in such a passive position. You're telling me this because you want me to think you're trying to climb higher but have no opportunity, and that you once had an opportunity, only for me to hold you back. Still, this second young master of the Chu Family has a sharp head on his shoulders. After offending Cheung Wing-kam, he wasn't so frightened that he called his father out first; he contacted you instead. That was a good move. As long as Chu Yaozong doesn't show himself, even if Cheung Wing-kam brought every plainclothes officer in the Kowloon District, he wouldn't dare touch a hair on the Chu Family's second young master's head. The sons of the chairman of the Chao Feng Chamber of Commerce really are no fools." Without the slightest attempt at tact, Yiu Muk laid Yan Hung's little scheme bare.
Somewhat embarrassed, Yan Hung lowered his head, but immediately raised it again. "Brother Muk, I want to get a connection to the Chu Family now. I hope you can point me toward a clear path."
"A clear path? Easy. In a little while, I'll have A-Fen prepare two guest rooms. You two can stay here." Yiu Muk took a pipe from a rosewood box beneath the coffee table and leisurely packed it with tobacco as he spoke.
When Yiu Muk said this, Song Tianyao involuntarily clenched his fists. Having lived two lives, he had thought he had considered everything carefully enough, but in the end he had gotten one thing wrong: he had habitually carried some of his later-life views on officials and relations between superiors and subordinates into 1950s Hong Kong. Yiu Muk was clearly turning the tables on Cheung Wing-kam, forcing him to make a choice with no good answer.
Yiu Muk's sharp eyes caught Song Tianyao's small movement as he clenched his fists. He lit his pipe and took a puff, then looked at Song Tianyao. "What do you think of what I just said, Secretary Song?"
"Those words of yours weren't just a clear path for Brother Hung, Brother Muk. You've practically built him a ladder to the blue clouds." Song Tianyao took a deep breath, deliberately put an admiring expression on his face, and spoke with feeling.
Yiu Muk laughed. "Young man, you're interesting."
Yan Hung, however, still hadn't caught on. He was indeed smooth and sociable, but his mind was not particularly nimble, or he would not eventually have ended up joining Lui Lok, who had graduated in the same class as him, in disappointment. Seeing that Yiu Muk and Song Tianyao both looked as though they understood, while he alone had no idea what Yiu Muk meant, he no longer cared whether Yiu Muk laughed at him for making no progress and asked:
"Brother Muk, I'm slow-witted."
"Let Secretary Song explain it to you." Yiu Muk reached for the cup of Ginseng Tea and spoke to Yan Hung.
Yan Hung immediately looked at Song Tianyao. Song Tianyao hesitated for a moment, but in the end he spoke directly in front of Yiu Muk. "Brother Muk said we're staying here tonight. The people outside will go back and report, and Cheung Wing-kam should already know you stood up for Young Master Shun. He's probably also realized by now that you would come and ask Brother Muk for help, so he's waiting for Brother Muk's call. But Brother Muk won't make that call. He'll only let the people outside go back and tell everyone that Yan Hung, who stood up for Young Master Shun, is staying at Brother Muk's house tonight. With just that one statement, Chairman Chu can pretend he knows nothing, Brother Muk can pretend he knows nothing, and you won't show yourself either. That makes Young Master Shun a hot potato in Cheung Wing-kam's hands: he won't dare eat it or throw it away. Even knowing it'll burn his hands, he'll have to grit his teeth and bear it."
"But in the end, this still has to be resolved. Is Young Master Shun supposed to stay in Cheung Wing-kam's hands forever?" Yan Hung pressed.
Song Tianyao glanced at Yiu Muk, who was drinking his tea, and continued, "If I were Cheung Wing-kam, faced with this situation, I'd definitely go and ask the Sze Yap Chamber of Commerce chairman what to do next. But however this matter is handled, even if the Sze Yap Chamber of Commerce stands up for Cheung Wing-kam, Cheung Wing-kam has to speak up first. Who does he speak to first? Chairman Chu? Chairman Chu definitely won't see him. That leaves Brother Muk, because you're staying at Brother Muk's house and not showing yourself. But I don't think Brother Muk will see him either. The Sze Yap Chamber of Commerce chairman can't take the initiative to see Chairman Chu; Cheung Wing-kam has to get someone from our side to come out first, and only then will the Sze Yap Chamber of Commerce show itself. So, of the three—Chairman Chu, Brother Muk, and you—which is the easiest to ask out? It's you, Brother Hung. You're a detective sergeant at Yau Ma Tei Police Station, one of Lai Man-yau's men, so he can have Lai Man-yau call you out. Showing yourself then is entirely different from showing yourself now. At that point, you'll be representing Chu Xiaoxin, and you can negotiate with Cheung Wing-kam openly. If the talks go well, Chu Yaozong, chairman of the Chao Feng Chamber of Commerce, will remember the favor you did him this time. Brother Muk gave you this opportunity. How did he give it to you? By letting you stay here for the night."