"You probably didn't hear me clearly. It's all of this. Yu Shiting will meet Shek Chi-yik tomorrow. Although on the surface Shek Chi-yik is representing the Hong Kong Government to inquire about the recent slump in the shipping industry, in reality, Song Tianyao bought eleven Chinese civil servants from the Customs at a high price to retire early. Yu Shiting's side in Shanghai will have eleven talents who can quietly apply for the positions. Not to mention the existence of the Hong Kong Police Club, if Shanghai people want to, they can immediately add a batch of Shanghai Chinese police officers to the Police Force, including the Marine Police. Moreover, the local triads were purged tonight. You should understand what that means. If you don't agree tonight, tomorrow it won't just be Yu Shiting and the Britain. All the local chambers of commerce in Hong Kong will force your Xu Family to stand up and die because they can't tolerate the gray order being controlled by Shanghai people. No matter how big the Xu Family is, it's just a lion. Not to mention Yu Shiting and the Britain, just those hyenas in the local chambers of commerce in Hong Kong, if they really band together and attack, no matter how strong the lion is, it's just meat in the hyena's mouth." Xu Minjun said calmly.
Xu Enbo closed his eyes and let out a painful sigh, "He's gone mad. Even if I agree to help him get those planes, Song Tianyao won't be able to stay in Hong Kong anymore. Colluding with Shanghai people to attack his own people in Hong Kong —no one can tolerate him!"
Xu Minjun nodded. "Everyone who knows the inside story, including myself, thinks he's gone mad. Oh, right, there's one more thing: if you help him with this, he promises to leave Hong Kong voluntarily, as a form of self-exile to force the Xu Family into this situation. Also, everything Mr. Song owns will be yours."
Chapter 509 He's gone mad, I'm dead.
Eastern District, Hong Kong Island, Shau Kei Wan, Old Cantonese Street.
The torrential rain washed over the Cantonese-style arcade buildings lining the streets, with water gushing out of their drains and recklessly rushing into the streets to merge with other rainwater.
With slightly disheveled hair and bloodshot eyes, Hong Lai-sau stood in front of the corner store window, staring intently at the storm outside. Behind him stood the pretty girl who had sold orchids on the street when he was fifteen or sixteen years old. She was now carrying a bowl of steaming soup. "Mr. Kang, it's cold. My mother and I made some hot soup. Would you like some to get rid of the dampness?"
Hong Lai-sau turned around to look at the girl, forcing a smile on his weary face, "Thank you, A-Di. I'm fine. When your older brother and the others return, I'll give them some to warm them up."
After saying that, Hong Lai-sau turned his gaze back to the outside, his eyes burning with longing.
As if sensing his gaze, a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky. In the instant of the lightning, Hong Lai-sau saw a dozen or so people wading through the rain towards the convenience store.
The next second, the scene before my eyes turned black again.
Upon seeing the figure, Hong Lai-sau perked up, quickly turned around, let the girl pass, and strode towards the door. He opened the shop door, stood under the Wind-and-Rain Corridor, and ignored the fact that the Wind-and-Rain Corridor was completely unable to shield him from the storm, letting the raindrops soak him.
The girl hurriedly caught up, her hot soup now replaced by a bamboo-handled umbrella. She opened it and stood on tiptoe to shield Hong Lai-sau from the wind and rain. Hong Lai-sau noticed and turned to the girl with a smile, "Let me do it."
Taking the umbrella, Hong Lai-sau held it up himself, raising the umbrella as high as possible over the girl's head, leaving most of his body soaked in the rain. The girl looked a little shy and subtly moved slightly closer to Hong Lai-sau.
Hong Lai-sau's bloodshot eyes reflected the stormy, dark night of Hong Kong, while the girl's eyes only saw Hong Lai-sau's image.
On the Old Cantonese Street, a dozen or so figures wearing black rubber raincoats took refuge under the Wind-and-Rain Corridor along the street. The leader waved his hand, and the dozen or so people immediately dispersed along the street towards their respective homes. Only the leader himself walked towards the direction of Hong Lai-sau and the girl.
"Mr. Kang." The man put down his rain hat, revealing a handsome face. He was about thirty-two or thirty-three years old, and perhaps because he had lived by the sea for a long time, his face bore the marks of time etched by the sea.
"Brother Yaofu, come in quickly, you've worked hard!" Hong Lai-sau hurriedly stepped aside, gesturing for the man to enter the house.
Only then did the girl turn her gaze away from Hong Lai-sau and see her brother. "Fifth Brother, you're back?"
Zhen Yaofu seemed unfazed by his sister Zhen Liudi's behavior. He sighed and followed Hong Lai-sau into the room.
Taking off his dripping raincoat and casually wiping his face with an old towel hanging on the room's ceiling rope, Zhen Yaofu said to Hong Lai-sau in a relaxed tone, "Don't worry, we've left people guarding it day and night. I can't guarantee the contents won't be discovered anywhere else in Hong Kong, but once it's in Shau Kei Wan, no one will find it. And even if someone does, as long as we're all alive, we guarantee the contents won't be lost."
Hong Lai-sau nodded solemnly, "I believe it, I believe it."
The name of the Old Cantonese Street in Shau Kei Wan already indicates where the residents of this street come from—naturally, from Guangzhou, the provincial capital. Even when Hong Kong was still a small fishing village, people from Guangzhou came here to fish and make a living. It can be said that apart from the original inhabitants of the New Territories, the outsiders in the Shau Kei Wan area can definitely identify themselves as Hong Kong.
However, before that Shau Kei Wan was just a gathering place for Guangzhou fishermen. It was only after the end of 1938 that it truly developed from a gathering place for poor fishermen into what it is today. At the end of 1938, the provincial capital Guangzhou fell to the Japanese, and a large number of Guangzhou people fled to Hong Kong and settled here. People from all walks of life and all kinds of Guangzhou people transformed Shau Kei Wan from a simple large fishing market into a small Guangzhou town independent of the eastern end of Hong Kong Island. Moreover, because many Guangzhou people had only been in Hong Kong for a short time, they lived a low-key life and rarely competed with other local Hong Kong people for business. In fact, most people in Shau Kei Wan lived a life that was neither rich nor poor, with small businesses and contentment with modest wealth.
Besides the Guangzhou residents from all walks of life, there was also a group of soldiers in Shau Kei Wan who were even more admirable than the Kuomintang defeated soldiers at Hanging Neck Ridge. There were only about one or two hundred of them. They were some officers and soldiers of the 153rd Division Brigade of the 458th Brigade of the 63rd Army Kuomintang the Kuomintang, who fought the Japan South China Expeditionary Army to the point of exhaustion in 1938. Unlike the defeated soldiers at Hanging Neck Ridge who fled to Hong Kong after the defeat in the civil war, these soldiers were disheartened after the fall of Guangzhou. After Yu Hanmou, Wu Tiecheng and his group fled without a fight, they were led by Zhen Yaofu, who was in front of Hong Lai-sau, and Zhen Yaofu's Fourth Brother Zhen Yaodong, who died in the fall of Hong Kong. They were unwilling to fight for the Kuomintang anymore and eventually settled in Shau Kei Wan, Hong Kong.