At Lo Wu Control Point, two men waited for a train at the railway station.
One was a young man wearing a white polyester-cotton shirt, though repeated washing had left it looking rather worn.
A red undershirt was visible through the fabric.
Below it, he wore army-green trousers and rubber shoes.
The man standing beside him was in his thirties and much better dressed, in a dark Zhongshan suit and spotless leather shoes, his center-parted hair neatly combed.
"So this is Hong Kong Island? It doesn't look any different. Even the sky isn't any bluer..." The young man in the white shirt also carried an army-green shoulder bag with the words "Serve the people" on it.
"You'll see in a bit. This is the checkpoint. It only gets busy once you reach the city," the young man in the Zhongshan suit said with a smile.
Quite a few people at the station were waiting for trains just like them, carrying bags of all sizes.
"He'll recognize you, won't he?" the man in the Zhongshan suit asked.
"Of course he will. His name's Gu Sheng, and mine's Gu Qiu. He has to call me his older cousin. We grew up practically sharing the same pair of trousers. Later, he came to Hong Kong Island with his family. Who would've thought he'd be a big boss now!" Gu Qiu's face held simple, unalloyed happiness.
"But where do we go to find him?"
"Don't worry. I know where he is. He's very famous on Hong Kong Island now, and he has quite a high standing. We'll find him just by asking around," the man in the Zhongshan suit said.
In fact, there was no need to ask around. After getting off the train in Kowloon, he made a call from a roadside phone