"Oh." After coming ashore, Zhao Wenye said two words to Song Tianyao, both of them "oh," then climbed back aboard the freighter to work.
Once Zhao Wenye was back on the ship and the four of them continued toward the pier exit, Rotten-Life Ju asked Song Tianyao, "Secretary Song, do you know that young fellow?"
"He's my own cousin. We grew up together. I heard he recently started working for a Big Brother at the pier," Song Tianyao told Rotten-Life Ju.
Rotten-Life Ju gave him a somewhat awkward smile, but his heart sank a little. The freighter belonged to a trading company under the Chao Feng Chamber of Commerce, and Chao Yong Yi had always been responsible for loading and unloading it. Since Song Tianyao's cousin worked on that ship, he must be one of Chao Yong Yi's brothers. But Chao Yong Yi had over a thousand brothers at the pier, and Rotten-Life Ju couldn't place Zhao Wenye for the moment.
Song Tianyao was secretary to Chu Xiaoxin, the Chu Family's second young master, yet his own cousin was a laborer at the pier—and a laborer for Chao Yong Yi's, at that? Rotten-Life Ju felt that his most pressing business was no longer taking Yan Hung and Song Tianyao to see his Big Brother, Chan Ah-sap. Once he had sent the two of them on their way, he ought to hurry back and move Song Tianyao's cousin into a comfortable position. Otherwise, if the fellow so much as told Song Tianyao that he worked hard all day and his Big Brother took too big a cut, there would be trouble.
Chapter 21: Handle It Yourself
Lai Man-yau paced back and forth in his office, gnashing his teeth. Cigarette butts littered the floor where he had thrown them.
In the early hours of the previous night, a phone call from Cheung Wing-kam had woken him. Without preamble, Cheung had ordered him to dig Yan Hung out.
Lai Man-yau had rushed from home to the Yau Ma Tei Police Station and questioned several of his men, but none knew where Yan Hung had gone or why Cheung Wing-kam was angry. In the end, Lai Man-yau himself called one of Cheung Wing-kam's trusted aides with whom he was on good terms. Only then did he learn that the second son of Chu Yaozong of the Chiu Chow Chamber of Commerce had injured Cheung Wing-kam's godson at the Lichi nightclub, and that his own detective sergeant, Yan Hung, had actually stood up to Cheung Wing-kam and left him roasting over a fire.
Once he understood the whole story, Lai Man-yau felt that if Yan Hung had been standing in front of him then, he might have pulled out his gun and shot him dead.
Fuck your mother, Yan Hung! Did your brain go haywire, offending Cheung Wing-kam?
As far as Lai Man-yau was concerned, he had treated Yan Hung well. A Teochew man whom the Teochew and Hakka people did not value, Yan Hung had thrown in his lot with him, a man from Dongguan. Lai Man-yau had put Yan Hung in charge of a quarter of the opium dens and number-lottery stalls in the lucrative territory of Yau Ma Tei. Although the even more profitable heroin stalls and gambling dens were in other hands, Lai Man-yau felt he had shown considerable regard for an outsider who had come to him for support. Yet now Yan Hung had taken it upon himself to offend Cheung Wing-kam without so much as telling him?
Everyone in the police force made a point of giving one another face. Never mind that Cheung Wing-kam was Lai Man-yau's immediate superior; even Lai Man-yau's real Big Brother, the current chief Chinese detective Liu Fu, would probably give Cheung Wing-kam advance notice if he were arranging an operation in Kowloon District.
Just how much gall had Yan Hung grown? Did he think that, with the retired Yiu Muk backing him, he could offend Cheung Wing-kam and casually screw Lai Man-yau over in the bargain?
As Lai Man-yau remembered him, Yan Hung had always been an amiable, sharp subordinate. He had never been this ignorant of how the world worked.
That bastard! Just wait until he gets back to the Police Station! I'll send him straight to the odd-job room!
Lai Man-yau was making threats in his office, but he had waited from the previous night until daybreak, and the two men he had sent to find Yan Hung were still nowhere to be seen. He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was already eight in the morning. He wondered whether Cheung Wing-kam had secretly arranged for someone to kill Yan Hung. After all, the Sze Yap Chamber of Commerce behind Cheung Wing-kam supported quite a few societies, and nothing could be easier than secretly finding someone to kill a detective sergeant.
The more Lai Man-yau thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. A minor Chiu Chow detective sergeant had dared to provoke the Chinese detective in charge of Kowloon District; Cheung Wing-kam had very likely decided to kill him. If that were true, a detective sergeant's position would have opened up under him. Which of his men should he give it to?
Just then, a knock sounded outside. Lai Man-yau straightened up and called for them to enter. The two men he had sent to find Yan Hung walked in, dejected.
Lai Man-yau asked, "Where's Yan Hung?"
"Brother Man, Yan Hung stayed at Yiu Muk's house last night. Early this morning, he took Yiu Muk's car to Central Pier. By the time we caught up, Chan Ah-sap had already brought a dozen or so Chao Yong Yi's men to escort them to the Liheng Trading Company." One of the plainclothes officers spoke bitterly. "Yan Hung also said he'd come back to see you after he finished carrying out Yiu Muk's orders."
"Fuck your mother, Yan Hung!" Lai Man-yau hurled the cigarette in his hand to the floor, sending sparks and ash flying. "You listen to Yiu Muk? Fine! I'll strip that uniform off you and let you wait on Yiu Muk full-time!"
While Lai Man-yau was flying into a rage, Song Tianyao and Yan Hung were in the Accounts Room of the Liheng Trading Company at Central Pier. Naturally, it was not Chu Yaozong receiving two minor figures like them, but the Chu Family's old steward, Uncle Yan. Seated in the place of honor in the Accounts Room, the fifty-two-year-old wore a long silk gown and treated Song Tianyao and Yan Hung to tea with a genial smile.
Though Uncle Yan was only a steward of the Chu Family, the way Yan Hung was bowing and scraping beside Song Tianyao made Song Tianyao think that, if he hadn't been there, the fellow might have dropped to his knees and asked Uncle Yan to be his godfather.
Song Tianyao had guessed exactly what Yan Hung was thinking. Yan Hung did indeed believe that if Song Tianyao hadn't been there, leaving him and Uncle Yan alone, he really would have been ready to kneel and take him as his godfather. Then Uncle Yan could say a word to Chu Yaozong for him in the future: there was a fellow Chiu Chow named Yan Hung, a loyal man always willing to stand up for his Chiu Chow countrymen, but unfortunately he was still only a detective sergeant in his thirties.
Perhaps Chu Yaozong would toss Yan Hung a hundred or two hundred thousand without batting an eye and let him climb a rank or half a rank.
He was nowhere near qualified to take Chu Yaozong as his godfather, but becoming the godson of the Chu Family's steward was still possible.
"Brother Hung, thank you for taking the trouble over Young Master Shun's matter. The master said I must thank you afterward..." Uncle Yan sat in his place with a teacup in hand, speaking to Yan Hung with a smile.
Yan Hung hurriedly set down his teacup and stood. "Uncle Yan," he said with a solemn expression, "Young Master Shun thinks highly of me and has helped me along many times. If you still insist on thanking me, you're slapping me in the face. How would I dare let you call me Brother Hung? Just call me A-Hung. Even if I weren't a cop, I'd still be one of the Chiu Chow people. When something happened to Young Master Shun, it was my duty as one of the Chiu Chow people to stand up for him."