It was easy to talk about, but actually being sent to guard a reservoir meant losing all his under-the-table income, leaving him with a salary of just 120 dollars a month. And with the post out in the countryside, where transportation was inconvenient, most of the connections he had cultivated would likely be severed once he was transferred! After all, if he went to the distant countryside, it would no longer be realistic to come back every day to a place like Yau Ma Tei, where heroes gathered and money flowed.
"Yes." Song Tianyao made no attempt to hide it, admitting it openly. "Someone had to step forward and give Cheung Wing-kam an answer for what happened last night, and there was no one more suitable than you, Brother Hung. I started thinking that way the moment Young Master Shun mentioned your name when I asked him last night about his friends in the police force."
"Bastard! You set me up? If I go to the countryside, what happens if Chu Yaozong forgets the favor he owes me?!" Yan Hung shot out a hand and seized Song Tianyao by the collar! His eyes were visibly beginning to redden, not with tears, but with anger. He was ready to go berserk!
Song Tianyao met Yan Hung's gaze without the slightest fear. "Brother Hung, things have already come this far. Do you have a choice? Even if Chu Yaozong forgets the favor he owes you, Chu Xiaoxin won't. After you've spent a few months in the countryside, buying you another Detective Sergeant post will only cost a few tens of thousands. For Chu Xiaoxin, that's one or two months' pocket money. It'll be easy to transfer you from the countryside to another police station to keep working as a Detective Sergeant. You'll just be spending a few months cultivating your character and calming your mind. But if you don't do this now, Yiu Muk has already repaid the favor he owed you, and Uncle Yan will also tell Chu Yaozong that you're taking care of this. If you back out now, I'm afraid you'll end up worse off than dead. Think it over. I'll be going."
Yan Hung stood rooted to the spot in a daze, letting Song Tianyao shake his hand off his collar. Only after Song Tianyao had taken five or six steps did Yan Hung turn his head weakly and call after him:
"Can I choose to stay at Yau Ma Tei Police Station, even if it's just in the janitors' room?"
"The harder you fall now, the higher the Chu Family will lift you when they remember you in the future. As far as I know, Lee Jusheng has a little over a year until retirement. When he retires, a Senior Station Sergeant will naturally take his place. As for the Senior Station Sergeant post that opens up, if you take this chance to build a good relationship with Lee Jusheng today and make sure he sees your connection to the Chu Family clearly, it's not impossible that you could climb into that post in a little over a year." Song Tianyao stopped and turned around, smiling at Yan Hung as he finished. "Good luck, Brother Hung. I won't set you up."
With that, Song Tianyao laughed, turned around, and walked away along the pier with an easy stride.
Chapter 24: What a Talent
Yan Hung stood frozen, watching Song Tianyao's retreating figure. Several times, he wanted to rush up and give him a few hard punches.
If he still couldn't see through Song Tianyao's thinking by now, he might as well gouge out his own eyes!
That was right. By taking Cheung Wing-kam's anger upon himself in Chu Xiaoxin's place, he would have the Chu Family owing him a favor. But what about Song Tianyao? Once he had been banished by Cheung Wing-kam to guard a reservoir in the countryside, Song Tianyao would be the one who benefited most! Without having to suffer like him or give anything up, he would become Chu Xiaoxin's trusted confidant! Chu Yaozong should know that his son Chu Xiaoxin wasn't meticulous enough to have done all this!
In a single night, Song Tianyao could well become a talent recognized by Chu Yaozong!
Was this really a game of chess a young man not yet twenty could have played? Pitiful as he was, only when Song Tianyao finally laid the board bare did he realize that he had followed Song Tianyao's design, step by step, until every road behind him was cut off—and he had done it willingly! More frightening still, even if he wanted to back out now, it was already impossible!
Where on earth had Chu Xiaoxin found a secretary who not only devoured people without spitting out their bones, but even smiled while doing it?!
Yan Hung put his hand on the pistol at his waist, but he no longer had the courage even to draw it and scare Song Tianyao. His assignment to guard the reservoir was already a certainty. Even if he refused to take a stand today, Lai Man-yau wouldn't let him off. He could only wait for the Chu Family to remember him and pay to have him transferred back. If he really fell out with Song Tianyao today, then given Song Tianyao's scheming and methods, he was afraid he could forget about ever being transferred back to the city.
One thing after another, from last night to this moment standing on the pier, the more Yan Hung thought about it, the colder his back felt. How had he let a young man like this play him in circles? First, Song Tianyao had used Young Master Shun's trouble to hook his greed, and in the end, he was using that same greed to force him to make the final move.
Especially those last words Song Tianyao had just said: I won't set you up.
Indeed, if Song Tianyao hadn't told him, but had waited until he had arranged everything before pushing him out, he probably wouldn't have been able to bear the blow and would have shot himself by then.
"What a talent..." Yan Hung bit his lip hard and squeezed the words out through clenched teeth. Without lingering, he headed for Fuyixing's headquarters. Since the outcome was already settled, come what may, he had to follow through on the move Song Tianyao had laid out. Refusing meant death; going through with it left him hope.
"Master, I'm back." Uncle Yan stood outside the study in the Chu Family villa and spoke cautiously to Chu Yaozong, who was standing inside practicing calligraphy.
He had chosen his moment perfectly, speaking just as Chu Yaozong paused his brush after finishing a line of verse.
Chu Yaozong straightened up at his writing desk but didn't put down his brush. Admiring the line he had just written in running script, he said, "Come in and have a cup of tea, Uncle Yan."
Uncle Yan stepped quietly into the study and stood properly more than two paces behind and to Chu Yaozong's right.
"Master, I've met that Song Tianyao and Yan Hung."
As he spoke, Chu Yaozong bent over the desk and continued writing. "Then, in your opinion, was it that Song Tianyao or Yan Hung who came up with last night's move?"
"Master, I'm afraid last night's move was made by this Secretary Song whom Young Master Shun brought in. From what I saw of Yan Hung, he didn't seem especially sharp. Although he was eager to draw close to us, he was only a yes-man. It was what Song Tianyao said that left me rather puzzled," Uncle Yan said softly from behind him.
"Oh?" After listening to Uncle Yan, Chu Yaozong turned around and asked, as though his interest had been piqued.