Chapter 40
Chapter 40
Xiuli Palace was a famous entertainment club in Zimu City’s red-light district. Colored lights bathed its lavish architecture in a golden splendor. No other building there covered as much ground.
Broad, even steps led up to the entrance. Beyond them stood classical columns. Look up, and you could see the glow of chandeliers through the serrated patterns decorating the windows.
The whole building was magnificent and imposing, its carved stone towers crowned with pointed arches that pierced the sky. The modern wall tiles made the jumble of styles look rather vulgar.
Even so, it was more than enough to impress everyone around it and flatter the vanity of the rich.
Xiuli Palace had even set aside land specifically for luxury cars to park. Flowers and greenery lined the grounds, which also held several whimsical fountains.
Beyond the screen of trees and the smooth road built especially for those luxury cars, four- and five-story buildings crowded together in a noisy, disorderly mass.
There were lights here too, but they belonged to garish, oddly shaped signs, their little colored bulbs flashing dazzlingly.
On the unlit signs, the words were lost in the gathering darkness. Black shapes jutted out like bare branches in a forest, straining upward and outward for what little sunlight and space remained.
The buildings were plain rectangular boxes. Curtains hung behind every pane of glass, with suggestive pink light glowing inside.
Forget flowers or greenery. There wasn’t even a tree.
Inside and outside were two different worlds. Even the valets at Xiuli Palace wore suits, gloves, and ties.
Out in the red-light district, everything reeked of decay and depravity. Women with faces obscured by heavy makeup leaned against walls, smoking as they waited for someone to approach.
An argument broke out. A vicious-looking man chased and beat another man who had no trousers on, while onlookers roared with laughter.
Addicts hid in corners, some standing, some sprawled on the ground. Predatory pickpockets bumped into briefcase-carrying men out for a good time. A few young children who had already learned to rob people were punching and kicking someone.
Then several security guards covered in dragon and tiger tattoos came out of Xiuli Palace’s back door. They carried something to the roadside, dumped it, and strode away.
Once they were gone, a few young gang members went over to look. It was a sack.
One opened it and cried out, “It’s Dahu!”
The others crowded around. Finding Dahu barely alive inside, they called to him in alarm and scrambled to lift him out and get him to a doctor.
Dahu opened his eyes as they hauled him out of the sack.
Ignoring his injuries, he flatly refused to leave.
He had spent the entire day begging anyone he could think of for help.
But a small-time lackey like him had no useful connections. Never mind going into Xiuli Palace to look for someone; he got beaten just for approaching. He had finally managed to sneak inside, only to be caught and thrashed.
Dahu weakly asked for a cigarette. He smoked one after another, blood still trickling from his head. The right side of his face was swollen from the guards’ blows. A tooth came loose in his mouth, and he spat out a mouthful of bloody froth.
One of the boys he ran with tried to comfort him. “Don’t panic, Dahu. I know a woman who works at Xiuli Palace. I’ve already paid a guard to pass some money to her. We’ll hear something soon.”
“Let’s wait a little longer. Go see a doctor first. We’ll definitely hear something in the next few days. The moment I do, I’ll come and tell you. All right?”
But Dahu couldn’t bring himself to leave without seeing his brother.
Why had they taken Xiaolong for no reason? Who had done it? And which big boss had ordered it?
The more he thought about it, the more frantic he became. He threw away his cigarette and cursed feebly. Every bit of his money was gone, spent on bribes, gifts, and information.
If he hadn’t collected protection money from that nice student today and slipped it to the thugs in time, they probably would have beaten him to death instead of merely injuring him.
“Why don’t we try Ah Hao and Shuai Zai?” one of the boys suggested. “We’ve fought and had drinks together before. Maybe they’ll help.”
Dahu barely knew either of them. They had fought together, but that meant a gang brawl with hundreds of men who didn’t know one another.
The drinks were an even bigger stretch. They had merely raised their glasses at the same gang gathering. Still, with nowhere else to turn, they could only try their luck.
Dahu had joined the Tianding Society to make something of himself and stop being pushed around. The boss he served had run faster than a rabbit the moment he heard about this. Forget helping; he hadn’t even offered a word of comfort.
Dahu didn’t really expect Ah Hao and Shuai Zai to save his brother. He only hoped they could put in a word with the gang. If it would get Xiaolong back, he was willing to take a suicide hit.
A suicide hit meant going out with no expectation of returning: trading your own life for that of the gang’s enemy. Something like strapping explosives to your body and charging into a Longhu Society headquarters as a human bomb.
Ah Hao and Shuai Zai had made a small name for themselves recently by turning the tables on the Longhu Society’s Red Bandanna and killing him.
They hadn’t earned any grand titles yet, but word was that they could get the gang’s big shots to listen.
This was Dahu’s only chance. He and his boys found the pair watching over a pool hall and explained why they had come.
Ah Hao and Shuai Zai couldn’t promise anything, but they agreed to ask around. The next day, they brought Dahu news.
A wealthy businessman named Huang Jinsheng had a taste for young boys. While visiting Zimu City for pleasure, he had spotted Xiaolong on his way home from school and ordered the Longhu Society to kidnap him and deliver him to Xiuli Palace.
Ah Hao and Shuai Zai lacked the clout to find out any more.
At least Dahu now knew what had happened, who had taken his brother, and which rich man had paid for it.
He knocked his forehead to the ground twice before Ah Hao and Shuai Zai, offering to carry out a suicide hit in exchange for his brother’s rescue. But the gang had to get Xiaolong out first.
The gang actually sent someone to handle the matter. Dahu had seen him before: the interpreter who had led the “mainlanders” to Spirit Medium Hall. A White Paper Fan of the gang, known as “Little Jia Xu.”
His schemes were particularly vicious. You didn’t have to use him, but you couldn’t let him go and put his talents at another gang’s disposal.
And since Interpreter Liu’s real name was Liu Wenhe, sharing the courtesy name of the strategist Jia Xu, the nickname had only grown more popular.
On the surface, Liu Wenhe looked perfectly respectable. He greeted everyone with a smile, put on no airs, and seemed like an easygoing, helpful sort.
This time, he wasn’t in a suit with slicked-back hair. He wore a white shirt and yellow tie, baggy shorts, and cheap brown slippers. “How much do you think your life is worth, boy?”
“Huang Jinsheng is a very rich man. Your brother could do a lot worse.”
“Don’t even think about barging in to kill him, or paying a ransom.”
“Go straight to him and you’re dead. Without power and influence behind you, you could bring Mr. Huang a mountain of gold and he’d still kill you and take it. You’ll need someone with enough clout for him to show them respect before he’ll let your brother go. Understand?”
“The gang won’t offend a man like that for a rank-and-file member like you. This is a tricky business.”
Wrapped in bandages, Dahu grew agitated.
Liu Wenhe cut him off before he could speak, narrowing his eyes. “Still, there might be a way.”
“If we can do it without offending Mr. Huang, the gang will certainly ask for your brother back.”
“Didn’t you take a student under your wing at the morning market the other day?”
“I heard you call him Zhao Xiuming.”
“Zhao Xiuming is much prettier than your brother. Bring him over as a replacement.”
“Mr. Huang will be pleased and think you know how to behave. Between that and doing the gang a favor, he won’t just let your brother come home. He’ll pay your family a tidy sum too.”
“Go on. Bring Zhao Xiuming here and give him to Mr. Huang. Then your brother can be saved.”