This also reveals the difference between Hong Kong locals and visitors from Shanghai. For wealthy Hong Kong locals, buying Ford or Chevrolet sedan for daily commuting is already quite good. Those with a bit more status and a taste for cars might grit their teeth and buy two Rolls-Royces to emulate the Britain aristocracy, which is the highest they can afford. For them, cars are more about practicality.
These wealthy individuals from 1949 came from Shanghai, a major metropolis in the Far East. Living in the bustling metropolis, their aspirations were far more sophisticated than ever. The basic sedans sold by Ford or Chevrolet dealerships in Hong Kong were only enough for their nannies to drive to the market. For the owners to travel in such shabby cars would be a laughingstock. The more mature and dignified, renowned tycoons of Shanghai typically drove Chrysler Imperial like the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud, maintaining a respectable image even when encountering Britain nobles. Younger Shanghai scions, at the very least, needed a brightly colored Mercedes-Benz 300SL with Batwing doors to feel comfortable going out. Someone like the Second Young Master Chu of the Chu family, who only owned a Ford, could only associate with other Hong Kong playboys in their "Young Masters' Club" and was absolutely not qualified to be invited to join the Shanghai tycoons.
Overall, people like Chen Liang, as Liao Donggui's confidant and bodyguard, sometimes have a more imposing presence than some bosses when they go out. Of course, now that Chen Liang is dressed in a suit and tie, he no longer needs to do the dirty work himself.
Chen Liang was from Tianjin and initially worked as a dockworker at the Tianjin Swire Wharf. He had learned martial arts in the countryside from a young age, but he never used his skills to act recklessly or swagger around. Instead, he worked diligently at the docks, and when the dock Big Brother demanded protection money, he paid on time and respectfully, never clashing with the dock thugs or Green Gang members. It was this maturity and composure Chen Liang caught the eye of Liao Donggui, who owned two cargo ships that transported opium from Shanghai to Tianjin, supplying the Tianjin. Liao Donggui, a member of the Green Gang and a senior figure in the Opium dens of Tianjin, was on par with Du Yuesheng Shanghai Shanghai and Yuan Wenhui of Tianjin. He had connections at both the Shanghai and Tianjin docks. Of the two cargo ships he owned, Liao Donggui entrusted one to Chen Liang. However, on the first time Chen Liang escorted the ship back to Tianjin Swire Wharf Swire Wharf in Tianjin, Chen Liang ran into trouble. Chen Liang, a local dockworker, had previously been a quiet and unassuming man. How could he have suddenly become a ship captain? The Green Gang members and thugs near the Tianjin Swire Wharf immediately felt they had found a meal ticket and prepared to take advantage of Chen Liang.
Everyone knows Chen Liang is siding with Liao Donggui's boat. People give Liao Donggui face, but they don't give Chen Liang any. They even hung several brightly colored rags with various characters written on them, like "Big Boss," "Er Tu," and "Sanqingkou," on several dilapidated boats, occupying the berths that should have been Chen Liang's boat. If they couldn't feed the thugs from various gangs who were eyeing them from the shore, they wouldn't get their hands on those boats.
Chen Liang, unfamiliar with the ways of the underworld, didn't realize that the other party was using those dilapidated ships to occupy the berths in an attempt to negotiate Chen Liang, demanding money to buy the positions. Chen Liang was preoccupied with the fact that his boss, Liao Donggui, valued him and entrusted him with managing a cargo ship. If he failed now, how could he explain himself to his boss? Besides, he thought, "I've already paid the protection money you thugs used to collect. Now that I've finally found a new job, you dare to cause trouble? Clearly, you don't want me to have a good future; cutting off my livelihood is like killing my parents!"
Chen Liang disembarked from the ship carrying a grappling hook used for unloading cargo. He showed no intention of negotiating. The day was a one-sided massacre. Chen Liang single-handedly took down more than a dozen men, and another twenty or thirty thugs ran out of Swire Wharf crying for their parents, never to return.
Of the dozen or so who lay there, the lucky few had their cheeks ripped open by the scratching hooks, or one of their eyes blinded; the unlucky two had their carotid arteries ruptured and met their King Yama.
Chen Liang's actions caused a sensation in Tianjin Guard that very day. It is said that the leaders of several gangs were initially very dissatisfied when they learned that someone had broken the rules and attacked people without warning. They even wanted to take their men to the docks to teach Chen Liang a lesson about the rules of fighting among Tianjin gangsters. However, Chen Liang, who had already been arranged by Liao Donggui to go to Shanghai overnight to avoid trouble, declared that he was not a member of the underworld and did not understand the rules of the underworld. He only knew that anyone who dared to prevent his ship from entering the dock would have their life taken. He, Chen Liang, did not sell fighting skills, but only beat people.
As a result, Xu Maozi, the leader of Sanqingkou, didn't believe it and vowed to meet Chen Liang no matter what. After Liao Donggui found a scapegoat to settle the two lives Chen Liang had taken, Chen Liang returned to Tianjin and used a grappling hook to hang Xu Maozi's body on the unloading rack at the dock. It is said that the unloading rack was not the primary crime scene. Xu Maozi was killed by Chen Liang in front of his parents, wife, and children while he was having dinner at home. Chen Liang even apologized to Xu Maozi's parents, wife, and children before using the grappling hook to drag Xu Maozi's body to Swire Wharf. It was hung there for three days before Xu Maozi's family was allowed to take it home and bury it. This was because Chen Liang had declared that anyone who dared to touch Xu Maozi's body within three days would have to hang it next to Xu Maozi's body for three days to keep him company. The body was exposed to the sun for three days, and it stank worse than pickled fish. However, none of the thugs from Sanqingkou dared to show their faces at Swire Wharf. Not to mention touching the body, no one even went to kowtow and pay their respects.
Many gangsters were forced by their families to retire from the underworld after Xu Maozi's death, just so they wouldn't offend Chen Liang and end up dying at home with their bodies left to rot at the dock.
He was unruly and ruthless, and after two such incidents, no one in Tianjin Guard dared to mess with Chen Liang anymore. Some people said that Chen Liang wasn't a hoodlum or a gangster, but his methods were far more ruthless than those of the gangsters in Tianjin Guard.
"Brother Liang, I've asked Brother De. Song Tianyao is in the Harp Restaurant at the Cloud Palace Hotel. But it's a bit strange; Song Tianyao isn't with anyone. It's like he deliberately gave himself away." A subordinate hurriedly walked up to Chen Liang and whispered, "Also, there are four Big Tin Yi in that restaurant. We contacted them before, and they all have blood on their hands."
Chapter 499 The Noisy Harp Restaurant (Part 8)
Zheng Yutong stubbed out her cigarette heavily in the crystal ashtray on the table, but the next second she lit another cigarette and continued to exhale smoke. The ashtray was now piled with seven or eight cigarette butts, most of which were more than half-smoked. As for the exquisite cold dishes on the table, they seemed more like accompaniments. Only the ashtray seemed like the main course of today's dinner.