Reborn in 1970, I thrived in Hong Kong.

February 10, 1971, was the Lantern Festival, an auspicious day for seeking wealth.

This day is also the most lively day of the year for the Chaoshan people in Hong Kong.

Early in the morning, Chaozhou chambers of commerce in Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and other places began to get lively, with activities such as carrying the "Old Man" (a traditional Chaozhou deity), lion dances, and Chaozhou opera performances being prepared one by one according to the schedule.

At 8:00 a.m. sharp, Lei Luo arrived at the Kowloon Chaoshan Chamber of Commerce with his family. He hummed the Chaoshan opera "Si Lang Visits His Mother" as he walked into the chamber, nodding to the Chaoshan fellow villagers who greeted him.

There is one thing that is ingrained in the Chaoshan people: they fight tooth and nail among themselves, but are remarkably united when facing external threats.

Take Limpy Ho and the Ma brothers, for example. They fight tooth and nail behind closed doors, but they are very united in the face of outsiders. If any of them is bullied by outsiders, the others will definitely step in to help without saying a word.

When Lei Luo arrived at the clubhouse, Limpy Ho was negotiating with the Ma brothers.

"Boss Ma, we're all family here, what you're doing is going a bit too far."

Brother Luo promised us we could get "flour" from your docks, but you've double-crossed us twice, swallowing hundreds of kilograms of my "flour." What does that mean?

Just as Ma Lao Er was about to speak, Ma Lao Da stopped him with a look.

Boss Ma took a sip of his Kung Fu tea, placed the cup on the coffee table, and glanced at Crippled Hao:

"Ah Hao, you yourself said that you now import several hundred kilograms of flour from our dock every time."

Hong Kong is only so big, and the number of people who consume "flour" is limited. If you sell a few hundred more kilograms, then we'll sell a few hundred fewer kilograms.

We're not like you. Our main business is selling "flour." You also smuggle pickled vegetables from Chenghai into Hong Kong, and you run lottery stalls; your business is diversified.

"You have no problem running a 'flour' business, but the problem is you've already taken away a significant portion of our business. How are the brothers who rely on the Ma family for a living supposed to earn a living and support their families?"

Upon hearing this, Limpy Ho immediately protested his innocence:

"Boss Ma, you know about the smuggling of Chenghai pickled vegetables from our hometown. It was a method devised by the Chamber of Commerce when there was a famine in our hometown. People from our hometown would secretly grow water green mustard greens in jars and pots, make Chenghai pickled vegetables, and transport them to Hong Kong to exchange for rice to take back home to eat."

All of this was purely to help people back home get through this difficult time. We didn't make any money; in fact, we even lost some money on gas.

"How about this, we'll let the Ma family handle the matter of exchanging Chenghai pickled vegetables for rice."

Just then, Lei Luo walked in, humming the Chaozhou opera "Si Lang Visits His Mother".

Limpy Ho and the Ma brothers immediately stood up to greet him:

"Luo Ge!"

……

"Luo Ge!"

Lei Luo waved his hand, signaling everyone to sit down, and he plopped down in the master chair between Limpy Ho and the Ma brothers.

The Chaoshan Chamber of Commerce on Hong Kong Island is composed of prominent Chaoshan businessmen such as Li Ka-shing, Lim Por-yen, and Lim Kai-lai, almost all of whom are legitimate businessmen.

The Chaoshan Chamber of Commerce in Kowloon is mainly composed of gangsters and police officers, and Lei Luo has served as its president for several terms.

After he sat down in the master chair, he finally stopped humming the Chaozhou opera. He looked around and saw that everyone had quieted down. Without saying a word, he took out a small paper packet from his inner pocket.

He skillfully opened it, and found that the small paper packet contained tea leaves.

Just then, the water boiling nearby came to a boil, and Lei Luo skillfully brewed four small cups of Kung Fu tea using the tea leaves from the small paper packet.

He looked up at Limpy Ho and the Ma brothers, reached for a cup of tea, took a small sip, gently placed the cup on the coffee table, and said:

"This is Phoenix Dancong tea from my hometown. It took me a lot of effort to get my hands on it."

Please have some tea!

Upon hearing that it was Phoenix Dancong tea from their hometown, Limpy Hao and the Ma brothers immediately each took a cup and savored it carefully with both hands.

"This is the taste! It's been ten years since I've had tea from my hometown!" said Limpy Ho, who came to Hong Kong during the famine of 1960.

Upon hearing this, Lei Luo was stunned. He remembered that he was preparing to immigrate to Canada with his whole family. Abroad, let alone drinking Phoenix Dancong tea from his hometown, he wouldn't even have a decent meal!

After a long while, he recovered, looked at Limpy Ho and the Ma brothers, and said:

"We're all family, what's there to argue about? If everyone takes a step back, wouldn't that be fine?"

Ah-hao, you shouldn't be buying flour yourself anymore. Let Xi-zhen and Xi-ru handle the transactions with the Golden Triangle, and then they'll add a 5% markup and sell it to you. Wouldn't that be a win-win situation for both of you?

If you think what I said makes sense, then we should follow this method from now on.

If you think what I said doesn't make sense, today is the Lantern Festival, so let's enjoy watching the procession of the deity, the lion dance, the Yingge dance, and listening to the Chaozhou opera. Let's have some fun and talk about other things after today.

From today onwards, you can fight to the death to determine a winner. Whoever has the bigger fist will have the final say. The victor is king, the loser is villain. Let's judge heroes by victory or defeat, shall we?

Limpy Ho and the Ma brothers exchanged a glance, but neither of them spoke.

The fact that neither of them spoke meant that they were both unhappy with Lei Luo's suggestion and were ignoring him!

Who is Lei Luo? He immediately understood what was going on. It was simply a matter of people forgetting about him now that he had been retired for two years. Lei Luo no longer took him seriously.

He sighed inwardly:

"Sigh, it seems I need to speed things up and launder the money in the basement and move it out as soon as possible. Otherwise, not only will the British want to take it, but the shady characters in the underworld will probably be looking to make their move sooner."

Lei Luo was plotting at the Kowloon Chaoshan Chamber of Commerce how to quickly launder the money in his basement and transfer it overseas.

Little did they know that no sooner had his family left their large villa than a hole was dug in the basement. A masked man in black emerged from the hole with a flashlight, found the switch, and turned on the basement light.

As soon as the lights came on, the masked man in black was immediately dumbfounded. Before him were neatly stacked Hong Kong dollar bills, piled up like small mountains!

Subsequently, nineteen people crawled into the opening, which was only wide enough for one person to pass through. Once inside, they were all dumbfounded.

The last person to enter, a masked man in black who was about 1.85 meters tall, quickly recovered. He clapped his hands together, making a few "clap clap clap" sounds to wake everyone up, and gestured to signal everyone to proceed according to plan!

These masked men in black immediately divided their tasks: half of them were responsible for filling the snakeskin bags they had brought with them with money, and throwing each bag into the cave entrance when it was full; the other half of them passed the snakeskin bags full of money out of the cave entrance and underground.

These masked men in black did not utter a single word, communicating entirely through gestures.

The masked man in black who had clapped earlier helped pack several bags of money, then got up, went to the basement door, hesitated for a moment, unlocked the door, and went out.