Back to 1978

Chapter 115 Borrowing Money to Recruit a Younger Brother

4pm, Kwun Tong, Lam Tin.

Pui Shing Building in Kwun Tong was originally a residential building, but now with the influx of population from the mainland, it has been merged with Chungking Mansions in Tsim Sha Tsui into a mixed-use building with many cheap hotels, shops and food stalls.

You don’t have to worry about not being able to communicate with others because you can’t understand Cantonese. Most people here still speak Mandarin with an accent.

Originally, there were cheaper hotels in Shek Kip Mei, and there were more hooligans there, but most of them were visitors from the mainland who were admitted before and after the liberation. They had been turned into model rooms by Nan Wan through the distribution of food and money, and every house hung the flag of the Republic of China.

Xie Hushan was afraid that Han Hongbing would lose control when he saw this scene and contribute a headline news about mainland militia invading Shek Kip Mei to the newspaper, and then the two of them would flee on the same day after arriving in Hong Kong.

The environment in Lam Tin is better. The residents in the housing estates are all mainlanders who flocked in after 1957. They basically don’t care much about politics and are busy making money and living.

At this time, Xie Hushan was holding a large stack of newspapers and maps in his hands, pretending to be a countryman going into the city. He looked at the newspapers and maps, and looked around like a stupid goose.

Zhu Youjun pulled at the corner of his clothes and walked slowly behind him.

Han Hongbing and Xie Hushan looked similar. As for the free girl he picked up, she did not dare to hold Han Hongbing's clothes. She only dared to keep a step distance and follow behind him.

Xie Hushan looked at the woman with disgust. The woman was like a mute. Maybe she felt that she had humiliated her, so she didn't say a word when asked questions. Only when Zhu Youjun and Han Hongbing asked questions did she answer in a low voice.

According to Xie Hushan's idea, she should be left in the back alley and enjoy the free life in capitalist society. However, Han Laoer and Zhu Youjun had to be soft-hearted.

After the four people arrived in Lam Tin, they followed Xie Hushan's instructions and stopped or wandered in front of various shops on the ground floor of Peicheng Building from time to time, pretending to be visitors from the mainland. They tried to make the locals recognize them as the unlucky people who had just arrived in Hong Kong Island but could not find any relatives to rely on.

Xie Hushan read the newspaper for a long time, but there was no serious news in the newspaper that attracted him.

The headline in the English newspaper was that the British, in order to demonstrate their humanitarian spirit, announced that the cargo ship carrying more than a thousand Vietnamese refugees would be temporarily anchored near the waters of Po Toi Island in Hong Kong Island to replenish drinking water. The municipal government would build a shelter as soon as possible to receive these Vietnamese people to start a new life in Hong Kong Island.

On the one hand, they put up barbed wire to prevent Chinese people from coming in, and on the other hand, they actively accepted foreign refugees.

Britain really has an international humanitarian spirit.

The headlines in Chinese newspapers were reporting a major car accident.

I didn't find any secret to getting rich in seven days in the newspaper, and no one approached me after walking around for a long time. It looked like I might have to pay for the room myself today.

When Xie Hushan was about to tell Han Hongbing that he was going to call it a day and find a place to eat something, the voice he hoped to hear finally rang out:
"Brother, are you new here?"

Xie Hushan followed the sound and saw two Lantian hooligans walking quickly towards them from not far away. They had obvious dark circles under their eyes and tried hard to put on a friendly smile.

Seeing these two guys, Xie Hushan was secretly happy in his heart: Great, I don’t have to stay in a cheap hotel, and I have food and accommodation for the next few days. These two guys look like kind-hearted young people from Hong Kong Island who are discerning and willing to help others.

He nervously stopped Zhu Youjun and spoke to the two of them in Mandarin:
"You...what are you doing? We have identity papers."

"Brother, don't be afraid. We are not the police. We are the Changle Welfare Society. Do you have any jobs? Do you have a place to live?" The leading young man said in a serious tone in Mandarin:

"My name is A Bao. If you follow me and call me Brother Bao, I can take you to work. You will also have a place to live. The salary is 300 yuan per month, which is a lot in Hong Kong Island."

Han Hongbing next to him tried hard to control his expression and not let himself laugh out loud. He said in hypocritical shock:

"Fuck! The salary is so high, is it true? Hong Kong Island is so good, 300 yuan! Our brigade only makes 180 yuan a year! One month is almost equivalent to two years of work points!"

He was praising it with his mouth but cursing it in his heart. Hong Kong Island was such a J8 place, the buildings they lived in looked so cramped and the people there spoke in such a petty way.

The roads are full of cars and people walking on them are rich people, but scammers are reluctant to invest.

Before Xie Siling set out, he had told him that the minimum monthly salary in this place was eight hundred or one thousand yuan, but the two idiots in front of him said they would introduce him to a job that only paid three hundred yuan a month.

I don't even dare to brag too much.

Without a pattern, nothing can be achieved.

Xie Hushan also had a surprised expression: "Is it true that there is a place to live and money to earn?"

"Of course." The young man named Abao patted his chest and assured.

Xie Hushan and Han Hongbing looked at each other and said in unison to Brother Bao, the kind-hearted man who would be responsible for their food, clothing, housing and transportation for the next seven days: "Brother Bao!"

"Good brothers! I'll take you to work later. These two beauties are yours..." Brother Bao laughed, pinched his chin with his hand, looked at Zhu Youjun and the other girl, and asked.

They looked around for a long time and found two men with two beautiful girls hanging around for a long time like country people. They were too timid to go into the store and just wandered around outside. It was obvious that they were new mainlanders.

It doesn’t matter to the men, but it’s a shame for two pretty country girls to follow these two idiots who just arrived in Hong Kong Island. It’s better to keep them to myself.

"You mean those two?" Xie Hushan looked back at the two women, then at the eldest brother he had just recognized. His Mandarin dialect suddenly changed to Cantonese, and he said with a smile: "Brother Bao, we don't know them."

"Go wait over there first. I want to talk to these two pretty girls." Brother Bao didn't notice Xie Hushan's accent changing and was eager to strike up a conversation with the women.

How could I not know these four people? I clearly saw them talking and laughing just now.

He pushed Xie Hushan away and said to Zhu Youjun with a smile:
"Girl, don't be afraid, we are good people, I..."

"Brother Bao, don't you want me to work and live? Take me there first." Han Hongbing urged from the side: "Female comrades don't want to go..."

"Xuanzi, teach them some rules. The boss hates it most when his subordinates interrupt him when he is speaking and talk too much." Brother Bao impatiently ordered the younger brother beside him.

The younger brother named Xuanzai reached out to pull Han Hongbing, cursing, "Fuck you..."

"Diao diao diao, diao the fucking mother!" Han Hongbing doesn't speak Cantonese, but he can understand the swear word "I dick your mother". This is what Xie Hushan told him when he asked the locals how to curse on the street.

Han Hongbing grabbed Xuanzi's hair with his left hand and slapped him hard on the face with his right hand!
Four slaps were given in the blink of an eye. Xuanzi's left face was already red and swollen, the corner of his mouth was cracked, and blood was flowing out of his nostrils.

When Han Hongbing let go of him, Xuanzi was already unsteady on his feet. He staggered sideways and fell to the ground with his buttocks.

Brother Bao, who was standing next to him, saw this sudden scene and couldn't control his mouth, so he subconsciously said, "I suck..."

Xie Hushan patted his shoulder and smiled warmly: "Boss, turn your face around and face me."

"Clap clap clap!"

Two minutes later, Brother Bao and Xuanzi stood in front of the open-air chess table in the Lantian Reservoir Playground with their faces covered, carefully looking at Xie Hushan and Han Hongbing who were sitting at the table, smoking cigarettes and looking through their wallets.

Zhu Youjun and Ziyoumei were sent far away by Xie Hushan to sit on the swing.

"Boss, who are you and who is grandpa? It would be good for us to have a name to rely on when we go out to register." Xie Hushan put more than forty yuan in loose bills and the two people's ID cards into his pocket, threw the empty wallet back to Brother Bao, and asked.

Brother Bao bowed and said to his two new brothers:
"Changle, Hongmen Changle, my boss is called Goupai Bo, he..."

Xie Hushan waved his hands impatiently:

"Okay, anyway, I don't care. Since the two of us followed you, you have to take responsibility. You don't call me boss for nothing. You have to be responsible. I heard that you get paid to recruit subordinates, at least thirty-six dollars and sixty cents. There are two of us, and you only have more than forty dollars, which is not enough. Boss, are you not sincere enough to recruit us two?"

"Hiss...hiss...two big guys, are you going to stop teasing me?" A Bao touched his burning face and begged for mercy while gasping for breath.

When recruiting younger brothers, the younger brothers give red envelopes to the big brothers, but how come it is the other way around in front of these two cousins ​​from the mainland?

"My name is Ashan, his name is Aer, you are the boss, we are the minions, don't be too polite, just call me Brother Shan and Brother Er, boss." Xie Hushan corrected the other party's honorific for him, stretched his waist, and showed the handle of the pistol on his waist:
"I'll ask you again, are you not sincere enough in accepting us?"

"What do you want me to do to show my sincerity in accepting you two big brothers as my adoptive fathers?" Seeing the short dogs tied around their waists, A Bao knelt on the ground with a thud and said with a sad face to the two biological fathers he had adopted.

"The red envelope for greeting each person is worth 3,666 yuan, and the price is 8,000 yuan. This shows that you are sincere in accepting us. It will also be a face-saving thing for us to tell our friends in our hometown that Brother Bao accepted us." Xie Hushan said to A Bao.

A-Po looked at the empty wallet that was thrown back in front of him:

"Brother Shan, I'm just a parking boy... I saw your girlfriend was pretty, so I just said hello... I really don't have any money."

Xie Hushan poured out all the cigarettes from the other person's cigarette box and put them into his own box, saying:
"I found that there are many loan sharks in the building. Boss, why don't you go and borrow some money? Then the world will know that you are lending money to recruit younger brothers. With such loyalty, everyone will definitely follow you."

"By the way, boss, remember to go to the key store to make two more keys for your house when you borrow money. I can use them when I go to bed."

"I have parents and a younger sister at home... Boss, this is not fun. I beg you, please don't let the disaster affect my wife and children!" A Bao knelt on the ground and bowed repeatedly with his hands.

In his mind, he tried hard to recall everything he had done since he was born. Although he was in a gang, he was of low generation and a scoundrel who made a living by parking. Apart from his love for talking nonsense and chatting up beautiful women, he had definitely never done anything that was against the law!

Queen, why did Wong Tai Sin let himself meet these two fierce bandits who don't follow the rules of the underworld...

Xie Hushan stood up, helped his boss up, touched his swollen face, and examined the injury:

"You don't have to be so polite to us, boss. We are family. Your parents are my parents. We won't make things difficult for you."

"With our help within seven days, you will definitely be the most outstanding boss in Lantian. Why don't you go and borrow money? After you borrow the money, we will go to see Grandpa and ask him to borrow money as well. If he refuses to lend, we will rise up and help you out."

"Or, you can just lead us to set up a new Changle Welfare Club."

(End of this chapter)