The plainclothes officer paused for a moment, then lowered his voice and said, "Master Hung, Scribe Tan has considerable influence in Mong Kok. Even the Detective Chief Inspector... the Detective Chief Inspector get a share of the profits from Scribe Tan's businesses."
"Benefits? He gives the Detective Chief Inspector benefits, and I can give him benefits too. Steal from him, fabricate evidence, frame him, lock him up for ten or eight years, find a compliant gangster to take over his business, give the Detective Chief Inspector his share every month, and use a portion to reward all the brothers in the police station. Isn't that better? Why should the cops be afraid of those gangsters? Is the gun in your hand for picking your ears?" Yan Hung said, and then directly shouted, "A Yue!"
A young man wearing a brand-new plaid shirt walked in. "Master Hung, you called me?"
A Yue was the Uniformed Branch in uniform who shot Ngo Keng Ho that night. Yan Hung had a deep impression of him. After Song Tianyao arranged his position as Senior Detective Sergeant, when he was building his own detective team, the first thing he did was to recruit A Wai and this Uniformed Branch into his team.
That night, the dazed little Uniformed Branch suddenly became a plainclothes Criminal Investigation Unit member and Yan Hung's confidant.
"Do you know Scribe Tan?" Yan Hung asked A Yue, shaking his legs on the desk.
A Yue nodded. "I know."
"Go deliver a message to him for me. He asked me to come, but I don't have time. I want to talk. Come to my office between four and five o'clock this afternoon. If I don't see him before five o'clock, don't even mention his relationship with the Detective Chief Inspector. I don't even remember his relationship with Cheung Wing-kam. Ten dollars? I'll be damned! Are you treating my brother like a beggar? Remember to throw twenty dollars back at him when you deliver the message, and have him give it to the beggars on the street for me." Yan Hung said.
"Yes, Master Hung." A Yue replied and turned to leave.
Just then, A Wai strode in and called out to Yan Hung, who was glaring at him with an arrogant air, "Master Hung, Miss Wanqing is here."
Yan Hung was leaning back in his office chair, his legs propped up on the desk and shaking. He almost stumbled and fell over when A Wai said those words.
"Where is she? Please come in quickly! No! I'll go pick up Miss Wanqing myself!" Yan Hung steadied himself in his chair and immediately stood up, speaking repeatedly as he quickly buttoned up his open shirt and strode towards the door.
Sure enough, as soon as he stepped out of the office, he saw Meng Wanqing, who had changed into a simple light blue floral jacket but still exuded a quiet elegance, walking up the stairs. Yan Hung smile, "Miss Wanqing, what brings you here? If you have anything to say, just send someone to let me know, or I can come see you myself."
After giving Yan Hung a slight bow, Meng Wanqing raised her head and said, "Officer Yan, I'm here to report a case. The officer behind you asked me to come up and see you when he was downstairs."
"Let's talk in my office. Who's so bold as to offend Miss Wanqing?" Yan Hung showed no airs of Senior Detective Sergeant. He led the way like a public servant, leading Meng Wanqing into his office. He then personally locked the office door, let Meng Wanqing sit down, poured her water and made her tea. After finishing his work, he respectfully returned to his desk opposite Meng Wanqing and sat down.
After Yan Hung sat down, Meng Wanqing stared at Yan Hung blankly, and Yan Hung also looked at Meng Wanqing awkwardly. This was the first time the two had met since that night of running around. It seemed that after one night, the two people in the eye of the storm were no longer the same as they were that night.
Meng Wanqing was unaware that Yan Hung become Senior Detective Sergeant. Today, when she came to the Mong Kok Police Station to report a case, she met Yan Hung's confidant, A Wai. A Wai led her up, and she realized that the short, stout middle-aged man who had brought her to Secretary Song had become a Police Force officer of a higher rank than Wong Wan-chiu.
As for Meng Wanqing, during this period, she felt as if she no longer recognized this city or its people. Secretary Song was indeed the young man who had given her the gold bars. Unlike Wong Wan-chiu or other people with ulterior motives, he did not coerce or entice her into bed. Even after daybreak, when she left the Dulles Hotel with her sisters, she left with them. When they left, Secretary Song was still sleeping in the bedroom, and his follower and Yan Hung did not stop her.
But after leaving the hotel, the world changed. When he went home to see his parents, the neighbors whispered and pointed at him behind his back. When he went to the seafood restaurant to prepare to start working and earn money to pay off his debts, the manager of Taibai Seafood Restaurant paid him six months' salary, but said he dared not ask him to play the pipa on the boat again.
Before he could even speak to his parents after returning home unemployed, the family's creditors showed up at his door, demanding that all the family's debts be wiped clean and asking him not to cause them any trouble. He politely declined, but the creditor, who was said to be a figure in the underworld, was so frightened that he knelt down and begged, crying and saying that he didn't want to suffer the same fate as Kowloon's Eighteen Tigers, Rat Xiang, and Chai Fa Chiu, dying an unjust death.
After finally managing to persuade the creditor to leave, her parents gave her strange looks and, like thieves, whispered to her who the important person she had spent the night with was and how much she had been paid for it.
The intense gazes of her parents left Meng Wanqing speechless. Should she lie to them and say that she had slept with that young man all night, or should she tell the truth that she only had two boat sisters sharing her bed that night?
After spending a few days at home trying to calm herself down, her younger brother still hadn't returned home. Usually, although he was addicted to opium, he would at least show up at home once a day. But now, after several days of absence, he hadn't appeared even once. Her parents panicked and asked Meng Wanqing to help them report the case to the police station, asking the officers to inquire about her brother's whereabouts.
"Miss Wanqing, there is indeed news about your brother. On the night of your incident, you were taken out of the Flower Arrangement Apartment by Chai Fa Chiu, and your brother was beaten to death by men ordered by Rat Xiang. His body was dumped at Fish Tail Rock." Hearing that Meng Wanqing wanted the police to investigate her brother's whereabouts, Yan Hung's expression hardened, and he said, "The body has not yet been recovered, but Rat Xiang's men have confessed and been imprisoned, and Rat Xiang himself was killed that night. Miss Wanqing, please accept my condolences."
Meng Wanqing was lost in thought for a moment. She no longer had much affection for her younger brother; he spent his days smoking Meng Wanqing and living on the streets. She could say she had long been mentally prepared for his death. Upon hearing the news, aside from the initial momentary sadness, she felt more like relief. She slowly stood up from her seat and said politely to Yan Hung, "Thank you, Officer Yan."