Earn Merit Once, Enjoy Wealth and Honor for Life
"Really?" Chu Xiaoxin frowned. "You explained everything to my Dad so clearly from beginning to end. Chan Ah-sap is obviously backing up to my older brother. I'm a merchant owner, and they've made it so that I don't even know the profits from smuggling..."
Having just clashed with quick-witted individuals like Chu Yaozong and Chu Xiaozhong, Song Tianyao now felt that compared to Chu Xiaoxin might as well have gone abroad to study if it weren't for him. That would have given him more freedom. As the owner of the trading company, Song Tianyao was unaware of the company's profits and actually blamed Chan Ah-sap for it.
Even a casual chat with other young masters of the merchant family at a dinner party could easily elicit some information about this, yet Chu Xiaoxin had never heard of it. This shows just how useless this second young master of the Chu Family really is.
"This matter is over, Young Master Shun, you don't need to think about it so much anymore," Song Tianyao said to Chu Xiaoxin with a heavy sigh.
Chu Xiaoxin nodded in agreement. "Forget it, the more I think about it, the more troublesome it becomes. But seeing Chan Ah-sap kneeling on the ground, so scared he almost peed his pants, and my brother turning pale, it's not a complete loss. I feel much better now. You don't know, my brother usually mocks me whenever he sees me. What's most infuriating is that I don't even have a chance to retort. I'm so bored I'm about to die."
For Chu Xiaoxin, the biggest gain today was seeing his elder brother Chu Xiaozhong and Chan Ah-sap make a fool of themselves. As for whether or not the dock business of Likang Trading Company was handed over to Fuyixing, it seemed to have no impact on him.
"So, are we really going to the shipyard or the trading company later?" Chu Xiaoxin asked Song Tianyao in high spirits.
At this moment, Song Tianyao looked through the car window at several Self-combed Maids in their thirties and forties who were gathered together on the street and walked along the street with sad faces. Among them seemed to be Sister Fen from Yiu Muk's family. Their eyes were red. Song Tianyao was very curious about what could be so sad about these high-class maids. The tragic things that poor families sold their children were just trivial matters for them that could be settled by simply greeting their employers.
Upon hearing Chu Xiaoxin's question, Song Tianyao withdrew his gaze and said, "Chairman Chu has already offered to speak to the Chiu Chow uncles who own the shipyard on your behalf. Let's wait until he finishes speaking before going to the shipyard. As for the trading company, we can go this afternoon. Let's give Young Master Zhong's uncle some time to process what happened today."
"Are you really only eighteen, A-Yao? If it weren't for your extravagant spending, I would have thought the person sitting in front of me was my older brother, someone in his thirties, who thinks about everything so clearly?" Chu Xiaoxin said smugly, patting Song Tianyao on the shoulder.
"As a secretary, boss, of course you have to be sharp. If I have to make you clean up my messes and deal with my problems all day long, and bother you with every little thing... uh... speaking of little things, I might really have to trouble you in the future, Young Master Shun." Song Tianyao said to Chu Xiaoxin in a relaxed tone, but his expression suddenly turned serious halfway through his sentence.
"What small matter?" Chu Xiaoxin asked curiously.
If his secretary can even suppress his own elder brother, why would he need to trouble him?
"If I go out drinking with friends tonight and my wallet is empty, I might end up having a waiter from the restaurant run to the Dulles Hotel for you to pay the bill. Would that count as troubling you?" Song Tianyao said to Chu Xiaoxin seriously.
Chu Xiaoxin laughed heartily, pointing at Song Tianyao and saying, "Don't even think about me giving you an advance on your salary. Even if I gave you a mountain of gold, you'd still be standing in front of me empty-handed the next day, continuing to play the pitiful victim."
"Are you sure?" Song Tianyao smiled at Chu Xiaoxin. "You're unwilling to receive an advance on your salary, right?"
"No need to even think about it," Chu Xiaoxin said, but his hand was already reaching for his wallet.
Song Tianyao said exaggeratedly, "Fine, you're forcing me."
He turned to the driver in the front seat and said, "Brother Fu, please stop the car. The boss is too stingy. I'm quitting as his secretary and going to work as a male dancer at a nightclub."
After he finished speaking, he and Chu Xiaoxin laughed together. Chu Xiaoxin squeezed Song Tianyao's neck tightly to show their intimacy. "Okay! You said it, you want to be a gigolo, right? As long as you're willing to do it, I'll come to support you every night and make you the number one gigolo in Hong Kong."
Chen Xingfu Chu Xiaoxin's personal driver, glanced enviously at Song Tianyao in the back seat a few times, smiled but didn't respond. He had witnessed Secretary Song's performance over the past two days and couldn't help but admire him. He wondered if Song could read people's minds. Young Master Shun hated trouble and preferred to be close to people with similar personalities. Song knew all this perfectly well. When doing things, he made sure Young Master Shun at all. As for flattery, he did it so subtly that it wasn't even flattery; a few jokes were enough to make Young Master Shun laugh heartily.
Now, Chu Xiaoxin can casually grab banknotes from his wallet and hand them to Song Tianyao. When Song Tianyao takes them, he doesn't express any gratitude or thanks, not even a word of thanks to his boss. Meanwhile, his trusted driver Young Master Shun fear when he wants to ask for an advance on his salary, lest he be fired on the spot because Chu Xiaoxin has a bad temper.
Comparing yourself to others is truly infuriating.
"No need to go to the shipyard, no need to go to the trading company, what should we do this morning?" Chu Xiaoxin looked at the more than 70,000 yuan in cash in his hand. "How about we take out 20,000 yuan to hold a temporary fan meeting, and then invite two movie actresses out for lunch?"
Chapter 55 A single merit brings a lifetime of wealth and honor
Chu Xiaoxin doesn't have the talent to make money, but when it comes to spending it as quickly as possible, he can come up with all sorts of entertainment options before lunch and squander over 70,000 yuan.
In 1950s Hong Kong, groups like "Young Masters' Club" and "movie fan club" might seem like simple fan organizations for interacting with singers and movie stars in later generations. However, these groups were merely entertainment tools for wealthy young men. Spending money to host a movie fan club wasn't necessarily about genuine liking a particular movie star. It was more about strolling around the cinema, looking at the movie posters, and deciding which actress caught the eye. Then, they'd simply book the entire theater, arrange for someone to notify the film company, and say they liked a certain actress's movie and wanted to host a fan club event at the booked theater, allowing the star to meet her fans. The end result was that genuine movie fans were lucky enough to get a free movie or a glimpse of the star up close. As for the wealthy young men and actresses having lunch together, while it might be exaggerated to expect them to have sex that very day, if the young man was handsome, eloquent, generous, and from a prominent family, and the actress was somewhat materialistic and vain, it wasn't uncommon for them to go to a hotel after a few such events.