Hong Kong films: From street thugs to Hong Kong financial tycoons

2:30 p.m., Kowloon, Hung Hing Society headquarters.

This is an extremely old ancestral hall, filled with the smell of cheap incense, strong cheap tobacco, and the stench of hundreds of men's sweat.

Several dilapidated ceiling fans whirred overhead, making a deadly sound that seemed ready to fall and slice off someone's head at any moment.

In front of the statue of Lord Guan in the center of the ancestral hall, there is a huge long red wooden table. Jiang Tiansheng, the current leader of Hung Hing, sits in the main seat, with eleven of the twelve hall masters of Hung Hing sitting on either side.

"Damn it, this weather's unbearably hot! What kind of meeting is this?!"

B, the big boss of Causeway Bay, tugged at his already thin collar and complained, sweating profusely.

"That's right, Mr. Jiang, what's so special about today that you had to call all the brothers together?"

Sitting opposite Boss B, a man wearing an extremely flashy sequined suit and with hair dyed like a turkey was picking his nose in an extremely arrogant manner.

His name is Liang Kun. He is a notorious troublemaker in Hung Hing, known for his greed, lust, arrogance, and domineering nature.

Liang Kun casually wiped the booger he had picked from his nose under the table and said sarcastically, "I heard today is the election for the head of Portland Street? I heard that Thirteen Sister is handing out red envelopes everywhere to buy votes."

"But it seems she forgot about my share, Liang Kun. What, are you looking down on me? A lowly delinquent girl selling porn, you think you can be on equal footing with us?"

Upon hearing Liang Kun's words, Da Fei, Tai Zi, and the others, who had received a million-dollar election bonus from Thirteen Sister, immediately looked somewhat embarrassed. They were all indebted to those who had received gifts, so they could only keep their eyes down and pretend they hadn't heard.

Jiang Tiansheng put down his teacup, just about to speak up and put down Liang Kun's arrogant attitude.

"Boom—!!!"

Just then, a series of extremely dense and deep engine roars, like an earthquake, suddenly came from the street outside the ancestral hall.

The sound was so uniform and synchronized, like a torrent of steel crushing down an asphalt road, that it shook the dust off the roof of the ancestral hall!

"Damn it, what's that noise?!"

Liang Kun was startled and jumped up from his chair.

"Something terrible has happened, Mr. Jiang! Something terrible has happened!"

A henchman responsible for keeping watch at the street corner stumbled and crawled into the ancestral hall, his face pale, his voice as mournful as a eunuch's.

"Police, lots of police, no... it doesn't seem like police, it's the Flying Tigers, no, it's... it's a group of secret agents in black suits surrounding our headquarters!"

"What?!"

All eleven hall masters present were in an uproar. When they heard they were surrounded, their first reaction was to grab their weapons and run away.

With a series of clanging noises, a group of usually arrogant gang leaders were so frightened that they drew watermelon knives and baseball bats from their waists, and some even jumped onto tables in preparation for scaling the wall.

"Sit down, all of you! What's the rush?"

Jiang Tiansheng slammed his hand on the table, displaying the composure of a gang leader, "Go and see what their tactics are!"

The group walked nervously to the entrance of the ancestral hall and peeked out.

The next second, everyone, including Jiang Tiansheng, had their eyes bulge out and their jaws slammed into their feet in perfect unison.

"hiss--!!!"

A collective gasp filled the entire street as the already narrow street outside the ancestral hall was now completely packed.

Ten identical, brand-new, gleaming black bulletproof Mercedes-Benz sedans, lined up end to end, resembled a black steel dragon, arrogantly blocking the street.

The Mercedes-Benz emblem on the hood gleamed blindingly in the sunlight, practically dazzling the eyes of these nouveau riche gangsters who usually only drove secondhand Toyotas and Mazdas.

What devastated them even more was the scene that appeared after the car door was opened.

"Click! Click! Click!"

The sound of doors opening in unison rang out, revealing three hundred burly men, all over 1.8 meters tall, dressed in impeccably tailored Armani black suits, white gloves, and tactical sunglasses.

Like special forces from The Matrix, they poured out of the car and the bus behind it with incredible speed.

These three hundred thugs in suits did not make a sound, nor did they carry a watermelon knife.

They spread out with remarkable professionalism, standing with their hands behind their backs on both sides of the street, instantly forming an impenetrable black human wall.

They had miniature walkie-talkies in their ears, their eyes were as sharp as hawks', and they exuded an extremely terrifying sense of discipline and murderous aura.

The hundreds of thugs with machetes, shirtless, and covered in tattoos at the entrance of the Hung Hing headquarters looked like a group of refugees who had just fled from a beggar's village.

"Holy crap, is this some billionaire tycoon from Central coming to Kowloon for an inspection?"

Big Brother B swallowed hard, and the watermelon knife in his hand clattered to the ground.

Liang Kun was so frightened that his legs trembled, and he retreated repeatedly: "It's over, it's over, this must be Interpol coming to make an international arrest. I just smuggled a batch of pirated videotapes last night, is it really necessary to make such a big fuss?"

Just as all the gang leaders were trembling with fear and questioning their existence, the door of the extremely imposing extended Mercedes armored car in the very center slowly opened.

Wearing white gloves, the dog walked forward quickly and gentlemanly, opened the car door with one hand, and placed the other hand on the top frame of the door to prevent the boss from bumping his head.

Immediately afterwards, a foot wearing a limited edition CL red-soled high heel stepped out of the carriage.

Then, Thirteen Sister, dressed in an extremely dashing black haute couture suit, wearing Chanel sunglasses that almost covered half her face, and with a fine Cuban cigar in her mouth, stepped out of the car with an extremely pretentious air, supported by Sang Gou.

She had just stopped standing still.

"Whoosh!"

Three hundred thugs in suits bowed in unison at a ninety-degree angle, their voices booming like thunder: "Greetings, Sister-in-law!!!"

But then, the leader of the mob suddenly slapped himself and quickly corrected himself: "Hello, boss!!!"

"Hello, boss!!!"

Three hundred thugs in suits roared in perfect unison, their voices so powerful they stunned the Hung Hing gang leaders standing at the entrance of the ancestral hall.

"Cui...Cui Xiaoxiao?!"

Liang Kun rubbed his eyes, staring intently at the woman surrounded by three hundred suit-clad agents, who looked like an invincible underworld queen. He felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

Is this really the same Thirteen Sister who collects two hundred dollars in protection money on Portland Street and wears a white denim jacket with shampooed hair every day? With this kind of entourage and imposing presence, I'd believe you if you told me she was the Queen of England's illegitimate daughter!

Thirteen Sister took off her sunglasses and casually tossed them to the dog next to her. She looked at the gang leaders, who were usually high and mighty, but now looked like country bumpkins with great enjoyment.

Awesome, so awesome! Ah Yao is right. Driving a Mercedes to a meeting and wearing flip-flops are completely different experiences.

Wearing high heels and escorted by more than a dozen thugs in suits, she swaggered into the ancestral hall.

"What's wrong, Mr. Jiang, Brother B, Brother Kun, don't you recognize me?"

Thirteen Sister exhaled an extremely arrogant smoke ring, walked directly to the previously empty chair, and sat down with an air of superiority.

The entire ancestral hall was deathly silent, with only the sound of the broken fan turning.

It took a full half minute for Liang Kun to come to his senses. He felt extremely deceived and insulted because he was the only one in the room who didn't receive Thirteen Sister's million-dollar red envelope.

"Cui Xiaoxiao, what the hell are you pretending to be?!"

Ugly Kun pointed angrily at the convoy outside, "Rent a few cars, hire hundreds of extras to wear black suits, and you think you can intimidate us at headquarters? Do you really think we old hands are easy to scare? This is breaking the rules of the triad!"

Thirteen Sister looked at Liang Kun with extremely pitying eyes. She did not refute him, but instead snapped her fingers with great elegance.

"Smack."

Sang Gou immediately stepped forward, carrying an extremely heavy pure silver combination lock case, and slammed it onto the table in front of Liang Kun with a bang.

The briefcase was opened, revealing an extremely dazzling, pure gold Rolex watch, along with five stacks of brand-new thousand-yuan bills.

"Brother Kun, I heard you were smuggling pirated videotapes last night, and your ship was seized by customs. You suffered heavy losses, huh?"

Thirteen Sister leaned back in her chair, her eyes filled with disdain. "This gold watch and 500,000 are a reward from me, the newly appointed head of the Portland Street branch, to calm your nerves."

"From now on, we'll all be working under the same code, so watch your mouths. Otherwise, next time, what's in this safe might be your head."

An insult, a blatant insult to the power of money!

Young Kun loves money more than anything in his life. When he looked at the solid gold Rolex and the 500,000 in cash, his eyes turned red.

He had prepared a torrent of curses, and even considered drawing his gun, but then he looked at the three hundred menacing thugs in suits outside, and then at the five hundred thousand in real cash…

"Gulp."

Liang Kun swallowed hard, and with incredible speed, his face transformed into an extremely fawning smile.

"Oh dear, Sister Thirteen, what are you saying? We're all fellow disciples, what's this talk of rewards? From now on, what matters on Portland Street is what matters to me, Liang Kun. Anyone who dares to disobey Sister Thirteen, I, Liang Kun, will be the first to kill them!"

After saying that, Liang Kun smoothly pulled the box into his arms. All the patriarchs in the ancestral hall cursed inwardly: Shameless bastard!

Jiang Tiansheng was secretly shocked by what he saw. The power behind Thirteen Sister was simply unfathomable!

Not only is their financial power terrifying, but they were also able to find out even highly confidential information such as the fact that Liang Kun's boat was seized by customs last night. This shows that their intelligence network has infiltrated every aspect of Hong Kong.

Hung Hing absolutely cannot afford to offend this powerful figure; in fact, they must cling to this powerful figure for dear life!

"Ahem!"

Jiang Tiansheng cleared his throat, stood up, and solemnly raised his teacup.

"Since none of the leaders have any objections, I hereby formally announce that from today onwards, Thirteen Sister is the person in charge of Portland Street in the Hung Hing Society."

"Thirteenth Sister!!!"

Big Boss B, Prince, Big Fei, Handsome Kun, and others stood up in perfect unison and greeted him with utmost respect.

Nonsense. We took their election bribes, and now they're blocking our door with hundreds of thugs in suits. Who dares to say no?

Thirteen Sister felt extremely pleased looking at the group of gang leaders who were completely convinced of her authority. Instead of raising her teacup, she stood up with great swagger, placed her hands on the table, and looked around.

"Since everyone calls me Sister Thirteen, I'll set a rule today."

Thirteen Sister's voice carried the air of a capitalist, brainwashed by Lin Yao: "First, from now on, heroin trading is completely banned on Portland Street. Anyone who dares to sell that stuff in my establishment will not only have their legs broken, but their bank accounts will also be frozen!"

"Secondly, from now on, all members of the gang at the level of hall master must wear suits and ties to any gang meetings. Anyone who dares to come in shirtless with a shabby tattoo will be kicked out as a beggar!"

"Third, and most importantly!"

Thirteen Sister pointed to the row of dazzling Mercedes-Benz cars outside the door.

"Times have changed, my friends. The days of collecting protection money of two or three hundred yuan and wielding a watermelon knife to chop people up every day are over."

"This is the age of capital! The age of making money."

"In the future, if you encounter problems that you can't solve, don't resort to violence at the drop of a hat. Give me money. As long as the money is right, the suit-wearing thugs under my Yaosheng Security Group will provide you with the most professional physical persuasion service in all of Hong Kong at any time."

"I've finished speaking. Who agrees? Who disagrees?"

Silence reigned in the ancestral hall, a deathly stillness. All the gang leaders stared at the domineering Thirteen Sister, their minds replaying the words, "Times have changed."

They suddenly felt that the watermelon knife they were so proud of was as ridiculous as a broken stone from the Stone Age.

This is truly a game-changer! Using a capitalist mindset, they've forcibly pulled the entire underworld into a commercialized operating track!

……

Meanwhile, on the top floor of the Far East Financial Center, inside the trading room of Yaosheng Capital.

Lin Yao had no idea that his sister had already tricked a group of triad bosses at the Hung Hing headquarters into questioning their very existence.

He was leaning back lazily in his boss's chair, watching the Hang Seng Index's candlestick chart on the big screen, which was still rising wildly—the last frenzy before the storm.

"Boss."

Chen Zheng walked in carrying a top-secret report, his voice trembling slightly from extreme suppression, "All 50 billion in short-selling funds are in place."

"In addition to Hong Kong's local blue-chip stocks, we have also locked in several core indices on Wall Street in the United States through offshore options."

Lin Yao put down the gold bar in his hand and glanced at the electronic calendar on the wall. The time displayed on it showed that there were only 24 hours left until the epic Black Monday stock market crash.

"Old Chen, treat all the brothers in the trading room to a special meal tonight—the finest Wagyu beef and caviar."

Lin Yao stood up, walked to the French windows, and his eyes flashed with an extremely crazy, bloodthirsty light, as if the Grim Reaper had descended.

"After you've eaten and drunk your fill, lock the doors to the trading room."

Lin Yao stretched out his hand, making a loose clench in the air as if he held the economic lifeline of the entire world in his grasp: "When the market opens tomorrow, come with me and smash this world of capital!"