After giving Song Tianyao his instructions, Chu Xiaoxin turned to Yan Hung. "A-Hung, A-Yao is my secretary, so paying him isn't a slight to his dignity. You're my friend, and if I gave you money, it would feel like I was looking down on you instead. A-Yao knows how to handle things. He'll come to an agreement with your Big Brother."
"Young Master Shun, you're far too polite," Yan Hung said to Chu Xiaoxin.
Chu Xiaoxin had spent the previous night at the police station and slept poorly. He was also thinking that he might have to face his father's questions that evening, so after a few sips of tea, he rose to leave. After telling Song Tianyao to start work at the Likang Trading Company the next day, he went downstairs and got into a car, intending to catch up on his sleep. Song Tianyao and Yan Hung saw Chu Xiaoxin out of the Lu Yu Teahouse, then returned to the private room, where the atmosphere turned strange. Speaking calmly to Yan Hung, whose face had suddenly darkened, Song Tianyao said:
"Brother Hung, invite your Big Brother out for a drink tonight. There'll be something in it for you too. Consider it a little interest paid in advance for sticking your neck out for Young Master Shun this time."
Chapter 29: Not Worth Tricking Again
Yan Hung's expression shifted between light and dark, but he said nothing.
Song Tianyao lit himself a cigarette and sat down, looking through the window at the women's teahouse across the street. In a casual tone, he said, "It's true. Would I lie to you? Chan Ah-sap displeased Young Master Shun. Young Master Shun doesn't have the final say over the Chao Feng Chamber of Commerce's other businesses, but at the Likang Trading Company, which he manages himself, he can choose not to hire Chao Yong Yi's men. Fuyixing has always run lottery stalls and heroin stalls in places like the Yau Ma Tei fruit market and Shek Kip Mei, but I hear it doesn't seem to have much territory on the docks. Wouldn't you say I'm giving you a benefit? I'll also tell your Big Brother to his face that Brother Hung took the fall this time for Young Master Shun, so Young Master Shun will put in a word to have you transferred back to Yau Ma Tei Police Station as a Station Sergeant in a few months. If you tell him yourself, he won't believe you. It should be a little more credible coming from me on Young Master Shun's behalf."
"It was because I believed you last night that I went from a detective sergeant at Yau Ma Tei Police Station to the Uniformed Branch at the Sha Tau Kok reservoir in a single night." Yan Hung stared fixedly at Song Tianyao. "Why should I believe you again? If you weren't Young Master Shun's man, I'd have had the gang throw you into the sea to feed the fish long ago."
"You've gotten smarter, Brother Hung. One stumble, one lesson. The fact that you can tell me to my face that you're unhappy shows you're smarter than if you plotted against me behind my back. You ask why you should believe me again. To be honest, the truth might hurt a little." At that, Song Tianyao turned to look back at Yan Hung. "The truth is, Brother Hung, you don't have anything left that makes you worth tricking."
Yan Hung was struck speechless.
Indeed, he was about to put a uniform back on and guard a reservoir. In that position, he was like a patch of mud in the road: passersby would be too busy avoiding him to think of stepping on him or tricking him. Before, he had been a detective sergeant at Yau Ma Tei Police Station, worth Song Tianyao's scheming, with the detective sergeant's position used to quell Cheung Wing-kam's anger. But now he had nothing left. Unless someone was an idiot, who would travel all the way from the city, crossing mountains and ridges to Sha Tau Kok, just to make trouble for him?
"You really intend to give my Big Brother a benefit and let Lao Fu handle the Likang Trading Company's business at the docks from now on?" Yan Hung was silent for a while, but in the end he couldn't hold back and asked Song Tianyao.
He had lost his position, but that didn't mean he had lost his ambition. He might be a patch of mud in the police force for the time being, but in the gang, he would use what had happened today to secure enough benefits for himself.
Fuyixing was one of the oldest gang organizations in Hong Kong, with a history that could be traced back to the Daoguang era of the Qing dynasty. The "Fu" had originally stood for Fujian, and had been bestowed by Wan Baoshan of the Hung Mun Fujian General Association, which had opposed the Qing and sought to restore the Ming. It signified that Fuyixing was of Hung Mun's orthodox Fujian lineage. At first, Fuyixing's members had mainly been small vendors and itinerant traders from Fujian, who helped Hung Mun raise funds in secret. Later, Fuyixing and Wan Baoshan fell into internal conflict, just as Hong Kong was opened as a port, so Hung Mun dispatched Fuyixing to Hong Kong to serve as its branch there. But by then, other Hung Mun factions were already entrenched in Hong Kong. When Fuyixing arrived and established its lodge under the banner of Hung Mun orthodoxy, those Hung Mun gangs were naturally displeased, and the two sides had been fighting ever since. Over the years, Fuyixing had changed from an organization whose members were all Fujianese at its founding to one whose members were now mostly Chiu Chow people, little different from Chiu Chow-led gangs like Chao Yong Yi. Yet because it still bore the character "Fu," the various Chiu Chow chambers of commerce could not trust it for the time being, leaving it in an awkward position.
In Chiu-named gangs like Chao Yong Yi, Chiu Yong Shing, and Chiu Hung Yi, most members were Chiu Chow people who had come to Hong Kong, while a smaller number were Hakka who shared common roots with them. These gangs were established in the name of civilian organizations such as martial arts associations or hometown associations. As soon as they were formed, they didn't need to go begging all over the world: the Chiu Chow Chamber of Commerce would immediately send people directly to recruit workers. All they had to do was follow the chamber's orders. If a chamber of commerce from elsewhere came to the docks to snatch business or berths, they only had to lead their men over and cut them down. They didn't have to worry about going hungry for lack of work.
Fuyixing, on the other hand, had recently been forced to turn to illicit trades. With no major financial backer to rely on, it could only take the crooked path to make money, extending its operations into densely populated residential areas such as the squatter and shanty districts of Yau Ma Tei, Shek Kip Mei, Jialin Road, and Kowloon Walled City. There it ran gambling dens, lottery stalls, heroin stalls, small opium dens, and the like. The Squatter Area where Song Tianyao now lived, for example, was Fuyixing territory. Although Fuyixing also had a considerable reputation in the underworld, when it came to strength, even a small Chiu Chow Gang faction would probably dare to stand up to it. For no other reason than that their financial backers had money, power, and connections. And no matter how fierce Fuyixing's men were, or how well they could fight, if the other side's backers put up the money, they could have the Hong Kong Police Force take turns raiding Fuyixing's establishments twenty-four hours a day.
If Song Tianyao really was willing to find Fuyixing a foothold at the docks, Yan Hung could imagine how excited his Big Brother would be. In Golden-Tooth Lei's years as Fuyixing's leader, the gang had never lacked money. What it truly lacked were people, backers, and strength in high places. If the trading company of the Chao Feng Chamber of Commerce president's second son let Fuyixing onto the docks, the implications would go beyond what lay on the surface.
Yan Hung didn't believe Song Tianyao would be so kind. He had experienced firsthand how this young man dug pits to bury people: he would first make someone feel they were about to reach the heavens in a single bound and soar straight into the clouds, only to leave them bruised and battered, a complete mess, in the end.