A waiter nearby approached and asked if Lu Yuanchun needed help cutting lemons or preparing lemon slices and lemonade, but Lu Yuanchun refused. He took a small fruit knife, cut the lemon in half, took out one half, and thinly sliced off a piece. He put the slice in his mouth and sucked on it, immediately wincing at the sourness. A few seconds later, the cute yet annoyed expression on his face disappeared. He looked at Song Tianyao, who had been scrutinizing him, and said, "When I was learning to do business in Malaya, if I encountered something I couldn't understand, I would take a sip of very strong liquor or eat a very sour lemon. My mother taught me that it could make me clearer-headed and think more clearly. But I've tried it several times—liquor and lemon—and I still don't understand you. Why did you change your mind so soon after returning from Britain? What exactly did He Xian say to you?"
Song Tianyao clasped his hands together on the table, his fists covering Song Tianyao mouth, making it look as if Song Tianyao had stuffed his fists into his mouth. The waiter brought over the martinis, placed them in front of the two of them, and then politely stepped back.
"I am China person." Song Tianyao yawned. "If you can't guess, don't bother. Things aren't going well here tonight. Finish this drink and go back to rest early. If something really happens to you, I don't want another Miss Fong and her older brother Lu Rongkang to become enemies. I'm not afraid of Miss Fong; she's still young. But Lu Rongkang is a formidable character. He's been making his way in the business world with impeccable skill, just like those righteous masters in martial arts novels. I, a nobody from the evil faction, am most afraid of that kind of person."
Lu Yuanchun didn't get up. Instead, she cut another slice of lemon, put it to her lips, and sucked on it. Her eyes were fixed on Song Tianyao, sparkling, and her face was full of the confidence unique to young girls. But after only ten seconds, she spat out the lemon with a bitter face. "Not only can't you figure out what you're going to do, but now you're so stupid that you can't even guess what that Taiwan person is up to."
Song Tianyao narrowed his eyes slightly. "I couldn't have guessed either."
"Boom!" A muffled rumble of thunder echoed from the distant dark clouds. Huang Liu, carrying a bottle of Wujiapi (a type of Chinese herbal medicine) and a packet of sliced braised meat wrapped in lotus leaves, sat on a rock at the mouth of Causeway Bay. He looked at the sky and then at the rising tide. "Even if it doesn't rain, the tide will come in and I'll be soaked to the bone. Am I supposed to go to the restaurant to see the boss, all drenched?"
He took a sip of wine, ate a few bites of braised food, and then idly smoked a cigarette. It wasn't until it was completely dark and raindrops began to fall that a small boat with a lantern appeared on the distant sea, heading towards Huang Liu at the mouth of the bay.
Wearing a black, one-piece Lengzai, Leng Zai jumped off the small boat. Huang Liu stood up and handed him a bottle of Wujiapi a type of herbal drink): "Brother, have a sip to warm yourself up."
Lengzai, one of Lei Danzi's men, took a big gulp of the Wujiapi a type of meat), exhaled, and then stuffed a big mouthful of the braised meat wrapped in lotus leaves in Huang Liu's hand. Only then did he take out a thumb-sized snail from his pocket and hand it to Huang Liu.
Huang Liu looked at the screws in his hand, then at Lengzai: "Is this all you have?"
"Those guys don't trust anyone anymore. If we hadn't dealt with them before, and if I hadn't sworn an oath with my entire family's ancestors for eighteen generations, we wouldn't have even gotten this. I don't know what your boss wants, but in their words, if even a little bit of information leaks out, they're completely finished." Lengzai's mouth was stuffed full, and he chewed for a long time before swallowing, his throat feeling uncomfortable from choking. Finally, he gulped down a mouthful of wine before he could finally get the meat down his throat.
Huang Liu's face was rather grim. "My boss sent me out to pick up the goods, treating them like his own life, but when I went back to see him, he told me there was only this one screw?"
"I won't disturb your enjoyment of this stuff. I'm leaving now. Before the rain starts, I'm crossing the harbor back to Kowloon." Lengzai, carrying the Wujiapi a type of liquor), turned and went back to the small boat, waving the bottle in his hand at Huang Liu: "Thanks for the liquor."
The small boat started up, Lengzai, with one hand on the rudder and the other holding a bottle of liquor, sailed out into the dark, boundless sea in his little boat, looking like a striking oil painting.
However, Huang Liu was not in the mood to see Lengzai off. Touching the cold snail in his hand, he turned and walked towards the road outside the beach, where Song Tianyao's Ford was parked.
Sitting in the car, hiding himself from the wind and rain and behind the windows, Huang Liu looked out at the dark sea. At this moment, only the dim light from the lantern hanging on Lengzai Zai's small boat could be seen on the sea. Turning his head to look at the equally dark bushes in the distance, Huang Liu took a deep breath, started the car, and the Ford roared as it drove towards the Harp Restaurant.
Just after Huang Liu got into the car and drove away, the middle-aged man whom Tan Jingwei called Fourth Brother, who had played chess with Huang Liu that afternoon, walked out from a bush a little distance away by the roadside. He was almost identical to Lengzai, wearing a long black raincoat and black gloves. At this moment, he had a night-use binocular in his right hand and a handheld radio in his left.
He stood by the roadside, gazing in the direction Huang Liu had gone, and spoke calmly into the radio, "Song Tianyao's men got what they wanted. I saw it; it's screws used on airplanes. Have the brothers from Hanging Neck Ridge stop that fisherman and find out the whereabouts of the goods and the man."
Chapter 498 The Noisy Harp Restaurant (Part 7)
Chen Liang had a 550 cigarette between his teeth, twirling a bright green old mine jadeite thumb ring in his hand. He stood almost touching a Stutz Model M, his eyes fixed on the Cloud Palace Hotel in the distance.
Although this Stutz sedan was manufactured in 1930 and is now 20 years old, making it a genuinely old car, it was bought by Liao Donggui from a Dutchman in 1949 for Hong Kong dollars 150,000 and given to Chen Liang. HK Hong Kong dollars 150,000 could buy two and a half new Ford sedans.
Chen Liang loved riding in this car. In all of Hong Kong, there seemed to be only three or four elegantly styled and uniquely designed Stutz Model M. Whenever he drove it on the street, the Stutz's distinctive design always garnered him more attention than other common cars. Otherwise, after following Liao Donggui for so many years, he could easily have gotten a Cadillac or Rolls-Royce from Liao Donggui, let alone an old one, or even bought one with the money Liao Donggui gave him. The amount Chen Liang had paid for following the wealthy shipping magnate Liao Donggui over the years far exceeded the price of several cars.