After saying those six words, she could no longer hold back her tears. She collapsed weakly onto the stretcher, biting her fingers between her lips and weeping silently.
Black-Hearted Wah has poured over a decade of hard work into this project, and he's about to hand it all over in just six words, all to save himself and Black-Hearted Wah family's lives.
"Brother Hua, don't blame me." Lou Fengyun released her bitten finger, which had bled, and called out.
Song Tianyao swallowed the rice in his mouth and said to Scribe Hui who was listening outside, "No need to come in. Go directly to see Gao Lao Cheng from Yau Ma Tei and have him come here to see me. I have something to tell him."
Chapter Sixty-Three: The Concept of Socialite Teahouse
As the footsteps outside faded into the distance, Song Tianyao looked at Lou Fengyun appeared heartbroken. "I didn't realize you and Black-Hearted Wah were so close. Just from his nickname, I knew that scoundrel was no good. Black-Hearted Wah, Black-Hearted Wah, always spending money to kill the neighbors. You're probably not much better. To be honest, I was a little surprised that Golden-Tooth Lei would actually kill Black-Hearted Wah to help me vent my anger. Otherwise, I would have told Golden-Tooth Lei, 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. You wanted to kidnap my sister, so I'll find a chance to sell you and your husband to Brothels in Macau and mines Malaysia, so you can experience what it's like to be kidnapped and sold. Consider it doing a service to the people."
Upon hearing Song Tianyao's words, Lou Fengyun's hand gripping the blanket trembled slightly. The words spoken by this seemingly calm young man sent a chill down Lou Fengyun's spine, a woman who had spent years in the Gambling den and considered herself to have seen all sorts of people.
The Brothels in Macau are not the Kowloon Walled City. The Kowloon Walled City is in Hong Kong. If she and Black-Hearted Wah were sold to the Kowloon Walled City, they might have some hope of escaping through money or connections. But women in Macau Brothels only have one way of getting out: they'll be abused and tortured to death, carried out by the Brothel's inhabitants. If she were truly sold to Macau Brothel, let alone someone like Old Fourth Nine of the Fuyixing triad, there was a Hong Kong triad Big Brother's concubine who was tricked into going to Macau by her son-in-law and then sold to Brothel. That Big Brother threatened and intimidated her, bribed officials, and tried every means to rescue her, but in the end, the concubine disappeared in the Macau Brothel, her whereabouts unknown. It's said that to avoid trouble, the Brothel resold her to Southeast Asia.
As for the mines in Malaysia, they were hell on earth. People couldn't even leave the mines after they died from exhaustion; they were buried on the spot after they died.
"Brother Hua was very good to me. When I was seventeen, my family and I fled to Hong Kong because of the war. We were penniless. My father was a primary school teacher, but he couldn't find work after arriving in Hong Kong, so he had to work at the docks. At that time, my family didn't understand the traps at the docks. My father was tricked into signing a three-year contract and went to Indonesia to work as a Chinese laborer. We hadn't heard from him for many years. Later, I followed Brother Hua and found out that on the third day after boarding the ship, my father suffered from acclimatization problems, vomiting and having diarrhea. He was thrown overboard by the smugglers on the ship. My mother and I initially lived in the Squatter Area of Tai Hom Village, making a living by washing clothes for others. Later, my mother fell ill, and we had no money for treatment. I wanted to become a dancer, but when I went to..." "It wasn't until I went to the nightclub that I realized a woman like me, who only knew how to drink and didn't know how to dance with customers, wasn't even qualified to be a dancer. At that time, Brother Hua had already opened a small gambling den in Tai Hom Village. Although it wasn't as big as it is now, it was already making over a hundred yuan a day. I was desperate, so I went to his gambling den wanting to gamble with myself. I remember clearly that business was good at that time, and he was too busy to handle everything, so he didn't let me go up to gamble. Instead, he took out twenty yuan, casually stuffed it into my breast pocket, and squeezed it while saying that he had just taken advantage of me, and that the twenty yuan was a reward." Lou Fengyun lowered her head and softly recounted her past with Black-Hearted Wah.
"Twenty dollars. I bought medicine to cure my mother's illness, and I also made up my mind to sell myself to him. I learned to write from my father and I know how to do accounts. His wife died in childbirth a few years ago, a tragic loss of both mother and child. So, we gradually turned that gambling den into a husband-and-wife operation. Two years ago, my mother passed away, and he took care of everything, wearing mourning clothes and helping me bury her. He didn't frequent prostitutes or opium dens, and he gave me all the money he earned. Now that he's dead, I want to take care of his parents and relatives. So, Secretary Song, can I really only take one-fifth of it? Can I have a little more?"
Song Tianyao seemed not to hear Lou Fengyun's words at all, and instead quickly finished the bowl of white rice. He then gently patted his stomach and said to Lou Fengyun:
How much do you hope to take with you?
Lou Fengyun seemed to have already planned it out. Upon hearing Song Tianyao speak, she immediately said, "Half. If I can get half, I'm willing to give Secretary Song 20% of that."
"You said it yourself, I didn't force you." Song Tianyao looked at Lou Fengyun, his eyes always seeming to carry a hint of mockery.
"Whether you two are a respectful couple or childhood sweethearts is none of my business. I'm not helping you because I see you as filial. After this matter is settled, if you're willing to take care of Black-Hearted Wah's parents, find a place to live quietly. I might open a place like Socialite Teahouse in two years at most, and then..."
Lou Fengyun's eyes lit up, and she looked up at Song Tianyao eagerly.
However, after noticing her gaze, Song Tianyao immediately poured cold water on her. "Don't look at me like that. Do you think that being Gambling den owner for a few years makes you a manager of a teahouse? How many of the three selling points do those Socialite Teahouse managers have these days?"
The so-called "Socialite Teahouse" is a branch that evolved from Women’s Teahouses. It doesn't mean that only women can go there, but that the entire Socialite Teahouse, from the manager to the waiters, is staffed by women.
The difference between Socialite Teahouse and Women’s Teahouse is that tea houses are generally located in Sheung Wan and Sai Wan, while Socialite Teahouses are only located in upscale residential areas such as Tai Ping Shan and Happy Valley. Moreover, the decor is more sophisticated, and the biggest feature is that it emphasizes the noble status of the owner. The three selling points are: widow of a prominent family, foreign noblewoman, and graduate of an English-medium college.
A woman needs to possess at least one of these three selling points to qualify as the manager of a Socialite Teahouse.
Given Lou Fengyun's current status as a young widow, she may only qualify as the first widow of a prominent family.
"Secretary Song, do you want me to work on camellias?" Lou Fengyun gently bit her lip and asked Song Tianyao.