In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, inside a somewhat run-down Chinese teahouse.
Several men sat smoking around a table, with a few underlings standing against the wall behind each of them.
Malaysia had once had more than ninety Hongmen branches. Now forty or fifty remained, varying in size.
The larger ones had two or three thousand members, while the smaller ones had fewer than a hundred. The men seated here represented the largest Hongmen branches in Malaysia.
Unlike Wah Kee, which presented a united front to outsiders, these Hongmen branches usually disliked one another. Yet now they were all seated here.
After a long while, a fat, big-eared middle-aged man tapped the table. "Hongxing isn't coming with good intentions this time! What do you all think?"
He was Yuanbao, the Boss of Hong Shun Tong. As he spoke, his eyes turned toward another middle-aged man, who was skeletal and looked rather listless.
"What is there to think? Let's hear what they have to say!"
The skeletal middle-aged man spoke without even looking up. He was Liao Cai, the Boss of the Hong'an Society, also known as Little Three Rivers. They had extensive connections with Hong Kong Island and even owned a company there.
"Besides, what could we do even if we had ideas? They have men, money, and guns. Do you think they're coming to discuss things with us? They're coming to inform us!"
"Boss Liao, you're always going to Hong Kong Island, so you know more about things over there. Is that Gu Sheng really like the rumors say?" asked a tall, burly bald man with a mustache.
"He's even more overbearing than the rumors say! There are dozens of gangs of all sizes and over a hundred Character Piles across Hong Kong Island. Who doesn't get the jitters at his