The next day, Long Wu arrived on time at the soon-to-open Chen Trading Company to see Chen Fan. Chen Fan took out the large gold bars he had prepared earlier, packed them into a small wooden box, and handed it to her.
Long Wu took the wooden box and left without so much as a word of thanks.
For several days afterward, she seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth, with no word from her at all.
But Chen Fan paid it no mind. He remained busy training sales representatives and shop assistants, and holding meetings with the management.
They worked on the trading company's various work rules, penalties, rewards, and other measures.
On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the trading company officially opened amid the festive clamor of gongs, drums, and firecrackers.
Chen Fan had specially changed into a newly tailored navy-blue suit, with a white silk handkerchief folded into a triangle tucked into his left breast pocket.
He stood on the gray-brick steps outside the shop, with the sign he had personally hung behind him.
The gilded lettering of "Chen Trading Company" gleamed in the morning light.
A row of flower baskets stood on either side of the entrance. Some had been sent by Old Knife Handle, some by Cao Bin from Shiliupu Wharf, and others by merchant friends he had only recently met in the French Concession.
Firecrackers went off one after another outside the entrance. Shreds of red paper carpeted the ground from the steps to the curb, like tiny red blossoms scattered everywhere.
The band stood across the street, playing wind instruments and beating drums, drawing plenty of passersby to stop and watch.
Chen Fan stood at the entrance exchanging pleasantries with several business friends who had come to offer their congratulations.
They were all the usual polite remarks, nothing more than...
"May your ambitions flourish and wealth come pouring in, Boss Chen!"
"The Chen Trading Company will be counting on everyone's support..."
And other words of that sort. As the saying went, a splendid sedan chair needed many hands to carry it. With the trading company opening today, everyone was showing him plenty of respect.
The entrance bustled with activity. Brother Bao led his men in unloading cart after cart of goods, while Ma Xiaotian had brought along two sharp lads from among the children he had taken in to help.
The two brothers were thirteen and fourteen, named Ma Ganshan and Ma Ganhai.
Their job was to boil water in the backyard belonging to the owner of the tea shop next door.
Three or four coal stoves had been set up in the backyard, along with a row of thermos flasks. The two children ran back and forth, delivering flasks filled with hot water to the trading company, then bringing the empty ones back...
Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion...
The sun was well up, and the crowd was thick when two figures slowly approached the trading company from the intersection.
The one on the left wore her hair in a men's side part, specially waxed and combed back.
It was Long Wu. Her look that day could be summed up in one word: handsome...
She wore a suit with a patterned silk scarf tied at her chest and a khaki overcoat over it.
A man walked beside her. He was about 1.8 meters tall and very thin, with sunken cheeks, prominent cheekbones, and an ashen complexion overlaid with a sickly pallor.
One look was enough to tell that he had been confined somewhere that never saw daylight for a long time...
A scabbed cut ran diagonally from his hairline to the end of his eyebrow, looking like a fresh wound inflicted by some blunt object.
But there was something strange about the way he walked. Strange was not quite the word-just slow, very slow, each step as though he were dragging invisible chains.
He wore a gray long gown and brown glasses. Needless to say, this was Long Si, the leader of the Four Seas Gang, whom ten large gold bars had bought out of captivity.
That said, he looked nothing like the Chinese God of Gamblers Chen Fan had pictured.
Chen Fan handed the cigarette in his hand to the tea shop owner beside him, murmured, "Excuse me," and went to meet Long Wu and Long Si.
"Boss," Long Wu spoke first as soon as she met Chen Fan.
Chen Fan waved a hand. "Miss Wu, dressed like that, you look more like the boss than I do."
Long Wu hesitated, and the man beside her spoke. "Boss Chen, I was the one who asked her to dress like this."
"You run a legitimate business. I was afraid Little Wu might affect your image if she dressed too casually."
At those words, Chen Fan looked at the man, and Long Wu quickly introduced him. "Boss, this is my older brother, Long Si."
"Master Si, I've long heard of you." Chen Fan cupped his hands in greeting.
"You flatter me." Long Si sighed. "How could I deserve to be called Master Si in front of you, Boss Chen?"
"You don't look much older than Little Wu, Boss Chen. If you don't mind, just call me Brother Si."
Chen Fan said gently, "You've only just gotten out, Brother Si. You shouldn't stand around in the street too long."
"Come with me."
With that, Chen Fan led the two through the shop and gestured to Brother Bao to keep an eye on the front.
The three climbed the stairs and soon reached the third floor.
Chen Fan had already converted the south-facing part of the third floor into an office.
There was a newly made rosewood desk, several horseshoe-back armchairs, and a row of half-filled bookshelves against the wall.
The curtains were half drawn, and the sound of gongs and drums from the street was muffled up here.
Chen Fan shut the door and gestured. "Brother Si, have a seat."
Long Si gave Long Wu a look, and she quickly said, "Boss, I'll go downstairs and see what I can help with."
Long Wu looked toward Chen Fan. He nodded, and she quickly turned and left. Beside her, Long Si had already found himself a chair and sat down.
He did not seem to have fully recovered yet. He sat slightly askew, as though afraid of touching a wound,
One hand rested on the armrest, while the other pressed against his knee, as though ready to brace himself and stand at any moment.
His gaze slowly traveled around the room, from the desk to the bookshelves, before finally settling on Chen Fan's face...
"You really are young and accomplished, Boss Chen."
Long Si sighed. "At your age, I was still hauling sacks for people at Shiliupu Wharf."
"Yet here you are, sitting in an office, with such a large trading company to your name."
"Little Wu told me you put up the money and effort to get me out of that hellhole beneath the police station."
At this point, Long Si could not help coughing violently, bending double before he wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and finally recovered.
He raised his eyes and stared at Chen Fan. "If I remember correctly, we've never met before."
"Much less had any kind of friendship. I just want to know why you were willing to spend money to save me."
"Or perhaps you could be more direct, Boss Chen. What exactly are you after?"
Chen Fan narrowed his eyes as he studied Long Si. "What do you think I could want from you, Brother Si?"
"Your sister? Or the Four Seas Gang?"
Long Si shook his head. "My sister is just a wild girl. All she really has to offer is her marksmanship and her ability to get things done."
"But she isn't worth ten large gold bars."
Chen Fan suddenly smiled. "What if we add the Four Seas Gang?"
"The Four Seas Gang? What Four Seas Gang is there anymore..." Long Si sighed. "When I was arrested, the brothers around me fled, scattered, or surrendered."
"The coldest thing in this world isn't the Huangpu River's water in winter. It's the human heart."
Chen Fan asked gently, "Then have you thought about what you'll do from now on, Brother Si?"
Long Si gave a bitter smile. "For someone like me, once I walk out that door, there are enemies everywhere."
"I never know what tomorrow will bring. The reason I had the nerve to come asking to see you today, Boss Chen, was to ask a favor. If something happens to me one day and I end up dead in the street, please look after Little Wu."
"That girl can work. She'll be useful to you, Boss Chen..."
Chen Fan said in a low voice, "Have you never thought about taking back what you lost, Brother Si..."
At Chen Fan's question, a spark flared in Long Si's eyes, but quickly died out again.
"Easier said than done. Back then, I had hundreds of brothers in my gang, and I still ended up like this."
"Now I'm all alone. Turn things around? With what..."
Chen Fan laughed and pointed at his own head. "With your brains, of course..."
"An idol of mine once said, if a gangster doesn't use his head, he'll be a plane all his life..."