Even though Wu Jinliang had arranged plenty of introductions like this, he still couldn't help taking a deep breath. Fifty dollars! The tea house paid him only sixty a month, and Song Tianyao had said there would be a token of thanks afterward as well. Wu Jinliang immediately wanted to put his skills to use and show Song Tianyao what he could do.
"Brother, I'll accept your thanks, but let me say this first: a job paying at least two hundred dollars, like the one you're asking for, is very hard to get. I have a connection, but it depends on whether you're willing to spend the money. Would you part with eight hundred or a thousand Hong Kong dollars for a lasting position at a trading firm?" Wu Jinliang put away the fifty Hong Kong dollars on the table, his expression turning serious.
Song Tianyao flicked the ash from his cigarette and placed his wallet on the table. "There are twenty-seven hundred dollars in here. If that's not enough, Brother Leung, I'll go to the bank for more."
Those words raised Wu Jinliang's opinion of him even further. Twenty-seven hundred dollars in cash was already an astronomical sum to many families, and Song Tianyao could go to the bank for more. His easygoing attitude made Wu Jinliang like him considerably more. That was more like it. When asking someone for help, you couldn't be afraid to spend. The fellow townsmen who had come to him before had all wanted jobs, yet their tokens of thanks amounted to only a dollar or two. Wu Jinliang had sent every one of them off to work in a factory. His real connections had to be saved for young men like Song Tianyao, who were willing to part with their money.
"We'll book the entire top floor of the Taibai Seafood Restaurant, the name by which the now-famous Jumbo Floating Restaurant was known at the time, arrange a banquet, and invite three top-billed songstresses to drink and sing with us. After the restaurant, we'll go to the North Point Dance Hall Nightclub for drinks and dancing. The whole evening will cost a little over eight hundred Hong Kong dollars. If you agree, I'll make the arrangements. The second son of the president of the Chao Feng Chamber of Commerce is a regular here. His family owns three trading firms. If the second young master gives his approval, your job will be no problem at all," Wu Jinliang said, watching Song Tianyao's eyes.
He was watching for the slightest hesitation in Song Tianyao's eyes. If he saw any, he was prepared to use another connection to find him a somewhat lesser job.
But Song Tianyao didn't hesitate. He took a thousand Hong Kong dollars from his wallet and handed them to Wu Jinliang. "Here's a thousand dollars. Please make the arrangements for me, Brother Leung."
"Good." Wu Jinliang took the thousand Hong Kong dollars without hesitation, then turned and called out toward the counter, "A private room by the window on the second floor, and a pot of ten-year-old pu'er! It's my treat for Mr. Song Tianyao!"
He had to make that announcement, and he had to pay for the tea. Otherwise, as a waiter conducting business as a middleman in the tea house, he would have been thrown out long ago.
But though Wu Jinliang always treated his guests, what he usually called for was a booth on the first floor, a pot of scented tea, and a steamer of dim sum. Sometimes there wasn't even any dim sum, only a pot of scented tea, which meant he hadn't earned much in thanks. The private room by the window on the second floor that he had called for now was the finest room at Luk Yu Tea House. A pot of ten-year-old pu'er alone cost twenty dollars and counted among the tea house's finest teas.
Everyone on the first floor immediately looked in Wu Jinliang's direction, mostly at Song Tianyao. They wanted to know which one was Song Tianyao, who had spent so freely that Wu Jinliang had called for a pot of ten-year-old pu'er.
At just the right moment, Song Tianyao stood, cupped his hands slightly to everyone, and headed upstairs. Behind him, Wu Jinliang said quietly, "Brother Song, wait for my good news."
As they watched the young man, who looked like a senior employee at a foreign trading firm, slowly climb the stairs, the guests at the downstairs tables began talking among themselves. They had been coming to the tea house for a long time and knew how things worked:
"A-Liang is going to make a profit today. He hasn't treated anyone to ten-year-old pu'er in nearly a year. Looks like he'll make a fair bit this time."
"Of course he will. But judging by how that young fellow is dressed, he doesn't look like someone who'd need A-Liang's help."
"When A-Liang comes back, let's tell him to treat each of us to a steamer of sesame cakes."
An attendant led Song Tianyao into the private room and set out fruit and snacks for him before boiling water to rinse the tea set and prepare the tea. Song Tianyao sat down by the window and found that the room did indeed have an excellent view. A women's tea house stood directly across the street, and from his window he could see the bevy of beauties there drinking tea and chatting.
"Sir, would you like to hear a song?" A little girl, no more than fourteen or fifteen, stood outside the private room with her hair in two buns and a pipa in her arms. She sank into a deep curtsy to Song Tianyao before speaking timidly.
Though her voice was soft, it had a natural, alluring sweetness.
She had seen Song Tianyao come up to the second floor, and, thinking that Wu Jinliang was treating him to ten-year-old pu'er, she had plucked up the courage to follow, hoping to earn some money for a song.
Biting into an apple, Song Tianyao asked, "How much for a song?"
"A dollar for a short one, three for a long one."
"Play and sing me a short one, then." Song Tianyao took out a dollar and placed it on the table.
The little girl hurried over and curtsied again. Then she picked up the dollar and sat on the small stool in the corner reserved for performers. She didn't start at once, but waited until the attendant had brewed the tea, withdrawn, and closed the door from outside. Only then did she spread her ten fingers and pluck up and down the pipa's strings.
The melody filled the little private room. Song Tianyao sat at the table with his eyes closed, keeping time with his hand.
When the prelude had flowed to its end, the little girl parted her lips and sang, her voice soft and haunting, its notes lingering:
"How many things in this world are hard to speak of? Only keep one spark of truth in your heart. A singer asks not whether a tale is true or false, but takes from it a piece of genuine feeling..."
Song Tianyao's eyes flew open. He looked at the little songstress and exclaimed softly:
"Good. Never mind the singing; those first two lines alone deserve a reward. Fine lyrics."
Chapter 5: The Chu Family's Second Young Master
The short song lasted only a little over ten minutes. The little songstress stilled her fingers on the pipa, fell silent, and looked at the guest before her. Song Tianyao picked up his teacup and drained it in one gulp, seemingly unaware that the music and singing had stopped.
The little songstress was very well-behaved. Rather than speak or rise and interrupt Song Tianyao's thoughts, she gently plucked the pipa, playing a graceful, quiet tune.
Another five or six minutes passed before Song Tianyao emerged from his thoughts. He turned and smiled at the little songstress, then took five dollars from his wallet and placed them on the table: