Brother Cha sighed. "Didn't you say yesterday that your cousin A-Yao was turned away from the police academy exam? Today, my Big Brother—your boss's boss, Brother Ju—actually went to the pier especially to wait for him. Then the boss, Brother Ten, took him into the Accounts Room at Liheng Trading Company to meet Uncle Yan, the Chu Family's steward. Brother Ju has already asked me what the hell is going on. Secretary Song's own cousin has been following him, and he barely even remembers you. My Big Brother didn't look too happy. If he calls you in for questioning later, for the sake of how well I've treated you, don't mention what happened yesterday. If my Big Brother finds out I chased Secretary Song's Dad away from the pier yesterday, he might just use his two knives to castrate me."
"Secretary Song? You mean Brother Yiu?" Zhao Wenye repeated the title. "When did Brother Yiu become a secretary? I didn't even know."
"Brother, whether you know or not, you have to back me up about yesterday. At worst, the next time the gang hands out promotions, I'll suggest to Big Brother that he make you a Red Pole," Brother Cha said with a long face.
Zhao Wenye tightened his grip on the banknotes in his hand and said to Brother Cha, "Big Brother, don't worry. I won't say anything I shouldn't. Brother Yiu asked me to have dinner at his house tonight. I'll clear things up for you."
"That's a relief." Brother Cha let out a breath, thinking it was a good thing he usually looked after Zhao Wenye. If he had given him a hard time, today might well have been the day his retribution came. Who could have imagined that the young man from the Squatter Area who had been turned away from an exam yesterday would become a secretary at the Chu Family's Likang Trading Company today?
Zhao Wenye put the money away and returned to the cargo ship. Sure enough, less than half an hour later, he saw Rotten-Life Ju walking over, wearing a silk undershirt, a gold chain around his neck for emergencies, and a jade thumb ring.
In recent years, underworld Big Brothers had taken to wearing gold chains and thumb rings. Whether or not they had any savings, they would have a chain as thick as a little finger made to wear around their necks, even if they had to borrow money for it. The chain was not for showing off, but for emergencies. If, for example, something happened to the gang and they suddenly had to go on the run without time to raise money, they could take the gold chain to a pawnshop or money house and exchange it for cash to see them through.
"A-Yip, come over and have a word." Rotten-Life Ju stood on the shore and spoke with a smile to Zhao Wenye, who was carrying sacks of rice on the cargo ship.
"Brother Ju." Zhao Wenye hurriedly jumped ashore and stood respectfully before Rotten-Life Ju.
Although Brother Cha had said his cousin was a secretary at the Chu Family's Likang Trading Company, Zhao Wenye did not dare fully believe it without hearing it from Song Tianyao himself. Just yesterday, he had been so sure his cousin would pass the police academy exam that he had spread the news in advance. In the end, he had made his cousin and his aunt and uncle the laughingstock of the Squatter Area. Having learned his lesson, he now kept his composure and acted as though nothing had happened.
Rotten-Life Ju fished a Ho Choi cigarette out of his pocket and tossed it to Zhao Wenye. He waved the other coolies, who were looking over curiously, farther away before saying to Zhao Wenye:
"How long have you been with Chao Yong Yi?"
Zhao Wenye held the cigarette without lighting it. "Brother Ju, seven months."
"A-Zha tells me you're the only man in your family. Are you managing to get by? If you have any trouble, remember to tell the gang. Once you join the brotherhood, everyone is your brother. Your parents are my parents—that oath isn't just empty words." Rotten-Life Ju looked at Zhao Wenye and softened his tone as much as he could. But he was a rough man, and even though he tried to rein himself in, his words still carried a note of eagerness.
"Brother Ju, Brother Cha, and the other brothers have all looked after me. I've always kept it in my heart."
"I asked A-Zha about you. He said you're very loyal, always charging at the front whenever there's a fight over territory at the pier. The gang is fair: put in the work, and you'll get the credit. Starting tomorrow, take six brothers and escort Liheng Trading Company's oil ship around the harbor." After saying this, Rotten-Life Ju lowered his head, drew a cigarette from his pack with his teeth, and held it between his lips. Only then did he look up at Zhao Wenye.
Zhao Wenye's head buzzed. Merchants loved smuggling because the profits were high, but for underworld men in the gangs, the hardest job was escorting smuggling ships. Hong Kong waters were unsafe. Although the British navy now publicly claimed there was no longer any sign of pirates, several groups of ruthless seaborne bandits known as Big Tian Er, made up of routed Kuomintang soldiers, operated along the Hong Kong–Macau route. Unlike the underworld gangs, these Big Tian Er observed neither loyalty nor rules. Even if they encountered a ship belonging to the Chu Family, whose head was chairman of the Chiu Chow Chamber of Commerce, they would rob it all the same. If anyone dared resist, they would immediately wash the cargo ship in blood, leaving no one alive.
That was why escorting smuggling ships was the most dangerous job in the gangs.
The steadiest, safest, and most lucrative position was escorting a trading company's cargo ship around the harbor. A harbor run meant delivering cargo that had already been counted to destinations throughout the port: for example, taking a thousand sacks of rice or five hundred barrels of cooking oil from Central Pier to the pier at Sham Shui Po in Kowloon. There was no risk in this work, since the ships never needed to go out to sea; they only loaded and unloaded goods between several piers in Hong Kong. At most, the escorts had to keep other gangs from causing trouble. The profits were generous, too. The custom on cargo ships was to take one in every thousand: for every thousand sacks of rice the company loaded or unloaded, one belonged to the underworld men escorting the ship. With a little hard work, handling three or four thousand sacks of rice or that much cooking oil in a day was no problem. Even split among the seven brothers on the ship, including Zhao Wenye, it paid more than simply working as a coolie at the pier. And since Rotten-Life Ju had put him in charge, he would naturally get the largest share.
Even his own Big Brother, Brother Cha, could not get a job like that. The boss, Brother Ten, only assigned them to tough men who had risked their lives and shed blood for Chao Yong Yi. After all, there was a fixed number of cargo ships making harbor runs, and Chao Yong Yi was responsible for only a dozen or so.
Had the world really changed? Could a poor coolie like him have his day of turning things around too?
Chapter 27: Waiting
Zhao Wenye took out a match and, with trembling hands, lit Rotten-Life Ju's cigarette. His breathing seemed to grow heavier the moment the match caught, and he did not know what to say.
"You're Secretary Song's cousin and a brother in the gang. Your family is struggling, and you've earned credit for the gang, so it's only right that you take charge of a harbor-run ship. I hear you're going to Secretary Song's house for dinner tonight. I didn't want to disturb you, but you've had a pay rise today, so I'll celebrate with you. After dinner, why don't we go for drinks at the Taibai Seafood Restaurant? If Secretary Song has time, invite him along." Rotten-Life Ju repeated to Zhao Wenye what Chan Ah-sap had told him to say.