"Hahaha." Old Knife Handle laughed. "If I were the one paying, Zhang Xiaolin might suspect something was wrong."
"But Miss Jin, your background is clean. Just insist you know nothing."
"Besides, you never told him anything about the goods."
"Relax. As long as you deny it, I'll take care of everything else for you."
Jin Xiangyu hesitated. "Sixth Master, this is Zhang Xiaolin we're talking about. Are you sure you can handle him?"
Old Knife Handle thumped his chest resoundingly. "Miss Jin, here in Shanghai, I, Liu Laoliu, still have a few tricks up my sleeve..."
Time flew, and several days soon passed...
After paying a deposit of two thousand silver dollars, Jin Xiangyu sent no further word...
Until that evening, when Jin Xiangyu suddenly sent someone over with a letter.
The letter contained only a few words: tomorrow night at nine, berth seven at Shiliupu. Two red lanterns hanging from the bow.
There was finally some movement. Chen Fan left his office and gave Long Wu a few instructions.
Long Wu readily agreed. It had to be said that she was a truly conscientious employee. She had managed several hundred people in the gang before, so running a trading firm was nothing to her.
Chen Fan left the trading firm, hailed a rickshaw, and headed for Shiliupu Wharf.
By the time he reached the wharf, darkness had fallen.
The dust and shouting of the day had settled, leaving only the sound of river water lapping against the embankment...
Laborers working the night shift sat around the wharf in twos and threes, chatting as they waited for work.
A kerosene lamp burned in Cao Bin's little accounts office, its door ajar.
When Chen Fan pushed the door open, Cao Bin was drinking alone, with a plate of completely cold soy-braised dried tofu and a jar of aged Shaoxing wine before him.
Seeing him arrive, Cao Bin fished a chipped cup out from under the table, poured him a drink, and pushed it across. "I figured you'd come tonight."
"Sit down..."
Chen Fan sat down and took a sip of wine, then picked up a piece of dried tofu and chewed it slowly. After washing it down with wine, he slowly recounted the matter of Jin Xiangyu's letter.
"By the way, Second Brother, how did you get on with what I asked you to look into?"
Cao Bin slurped a mouthful of wine and set down his cup. "I spent some money with Uncle Quan. Luckily, it was money well spent. We've got a fairly clear picture."
"The Japanese started fighting in Xuzhou last month. Who knows what got into those chieftains down southwest, but they sent people to Shanghai to buy a large shipment of arms."
"Old Knife Handle handled the deal. Their goods were shipped out on boats belonging to the Joyful Harvest Year and Hall Full of Joy theater troupes."
"Not long afterward, Uncle Quan got word that those chieftains had put together another large shipment. The destination wasn't certain, but word was it was coming to Shanghai."
"Chen Fan, if that information is right, judging by the timing, this should be the shipment Jin Xiangyu wants you to transport."
Chen Fan frowned in thought for a moment, then picked up his cup and took a gulp.
He changed the subject. "Second Brother, have you found any leads on that internal Green Gang business I asked you to investigate?"
Cao Bin nodded, then reconsidered and shook his head.
What exactly did that expression mean?
Before Chen Fan could ask, Cao Bin gave a bitter smile. "That trail is buried so deep. How could we find a lead just by asking around?"
"Uncle Quan took some men to investigate for a few days. They did send back one rather inconsequential piece of information, but I don't know whether it has anything to do with Third Uncle."
Chen Fan hurriedly asked, "What information?"
Cao Bin said slowly, "This happened three years ago. There was a famous opera performer at the Nanjing Grand Theatre called Yue Jialing."
"That theater was on Old Fire Crow's turf. He works under Boss Du."
"Yue Jialing had only performed there for a few days when word suddenly spread that Old Fire Crow had taken her as his mistress."
"A lot of people were surprised at the time."
Chen Fan thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Old Fire Crow? Do you mean Rui Qingrong, one of Boss Du's Four Great Guardians?"
"That's him. He's from Sanshui in Ningbo. He used to make his living under Boss Ji before joining Boss Du."
"He used to manage Boss Ji's opium dens. After he joined Boss Du, he was put in charge of several opium dens in the French Concession."
"Heh, the bastard was lucky to find Boss Du. In my grandfather's day, he would've been tossed into the Huangpu River to boil like a wonton long ago."
Chen Fan wholeheartedly agreed. There were two taboos in the underworld: one was wearing red shoes-seducing a brother's woman-and the other was betraying your boss.
Ji Yunqing and Boss Du were not on the same side. Their factions belonged to the Greater and Lesser Bagudang respectively.
Whenever the two sides met, they fought like mortal enemies and would never stop until one side was dead.
By switching from Boss Ji to Boss Du, Rui Qingrong had clearly broken a major taboo.
Chen Fan tapped his fingers lightly on the table and said slowly, "Second Brother, doesn't this seem a little too coincidental?"
"How so?" Cao Bin raised his cup and clinked it against Chen Fan's, motioning for him to continue.
Chen Fan said gravely, "Old Fire Crow runs opium dens, and Yue Jialing, the mistress he keeps, is an opera performer."
"If you connect those two to Old Knife Handle, doesn't the web of relationships make a lot more sense?"
Cao Bin asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"
Chen Fan picked a few black beans out of the plate and arranged them one by one on the table...
"Second Brother, let's make an assumption. I'm Old Knife Handle, and I have a shipment of goods from the southwest. This stuff is very profitable, but I have to sell it to make any money."
"But here in Shanghai, if I want to move the goods, I need to find someone who can afford the price."
"Of the Chinese-administered Area, the French Concession, the International Settlement, and the Japanese Concession, the French Concession has the most money."
"But how do I get a foothold there? There's Boss Du, Boss Huang, and Boss Zhang."
"I can't just sell it out in the street, so I have to find someone to work with."
"What kind of person do I need? Someone who isn't too principled or inflexible, preferably with a weakness."
"Old Fire Crow, under Boss Du, clearly fits the bill. Disloyal, greedy, lustful, and he runs opium dens."
"Boss Du has been trying to go legitimate and enter politics these past two years. So as long as those businesses keep bringing in money, he won't ask questions. He won't even want to have anything to do with them."
"So I send Yue Jialing to seduce Rui Qingrong and bring him on board."
"To be safe, and to stop anyone from realizing I'm behind this, I need to arrange an escape route first."
At this, Cao Bin understood. "Chen Fan, if that's how it happened, doesn't that mean Old Knife Handle planned to make Third Uncle take the fall right from the start?"
"That old bastard really is a piece of work."
Chen Fan drank a cup of wine and slammed the cup down on the table.
"That's probably about right. Old Fire Crow is most likely the one hiding in the shadows."
Cao Bin frowned. "Then wouldn't helping collect the goods tomorrow be walking straight to your death?"
"Old Knife Handle must have made preparations. He'll use you to lead the pursuers over there."
"Sharp eyes, Second Brother..." Chen Fan sneered. "Splitting one shipment between two landing points-making a show in one place while secretly acting in another-is hardly a brilliant trick."
"If I dared to take his order, naturally I have a way to deal with him."
Cao Bin pressed him. "What way?"
Chen Fan chuckled. "He has his clever scheme; I have my way around it."
"He wants to sneak his goods through under cover of a diversion? Then I'll pull the rug out from under him."
"Second Brother, you've been working these docks for so long. Finding a cargo boat shouldn't be difficult, right? Tomorrow night, we'll seize his goods."
"Chen Fan, aren't you oversimplifying things? If they're bringing in that much cargo, they're bound to have men stationed there."
Chen Fan scoffed. "Second Brother, having more men isn't necessarily useful. Just keep an eye on the cargo boat. I'll arrange everything else."