Chapter 79 - Old Friend
“You go back to the hotel first. I have something to discuss with er-ge,” Yu Tang said to Song Xiao and indicated for the bodyguard on the side to send him back.
Song Xiao frowned and pinched Yu Tang’s palm. Previously, he had thought that Yu Ci was a somewhat gloomy and sickly beauty. Now, it seemed that he was in truth, a vicious and heartless fellow. Now that the secret guard wasn’t by Yu Tang’s side, Song Xiao didn’t want Yu Tang to be left alone here.
“It’s fine.” Yu Tang paused, and when he understood Song Xiao’s meaning, he laughed softly in his ear.
Yu Ci watched Song Xiao leave with the bodyguard, with a smile that wasn’t a smile, then turned his head to look at Yu Tang. “You really dote on him, as if he’s the apple of your eye.”
Yu Tang didn’t speak, but turned around to enter the lounge and sit down in the main seat, like a great master.
Yu Ci didn’t get mad either as he lay back down on his own couch. Taking the tea offered by his bodyguard, he slowly sipped it. “You brought that child over to meet me; is that your way of showing your sincerity?”
“He is precisely my greatest weakness. Is this sincerity not enough?” Yu Tang poured himself a cup of tea and swirled it, but did not take a sip.
Yu Ci lowered his eyes, hiding the light in them. “If the family head knows that you like men, then you can forget about that position.”
“If he learns of it now, of course it’ll be an issue. In the future, I’ll make him accept it.” Yu Tang drank his tea, then took out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Yu Ci. “Look at this.”
Yu Ci took it and opened it unhurriedly. As his eyes slowly swept further down, his pupils shrunk and his voice gradually turned colder. “How do you know this?”
Yu Tang merely smiled wordlessly.
Because of his sickly body, this er-ge seemed very low-key in the family clan. However, the family head had given him control of the business in Las Vegas that couldn’t be allowed to see the light, simply because this person was the fiercest and most unscrupulous member in the family.
This type of person could only be befriended and never be made an enemy. From the moment they met when Yu Tang was a child, they had a connection, but it was nothing more than a pa.s.sing acquaintance. Recently, Yu Tang obtained a piece of information about Yu Ci through the general, which gave him an opportunity to discuss cooperation with Yu Ci.
When Song Xiao returned to the hotel, he was bored in the room, so he changed some of his money into coins and went downstairs to play the slot machines.
There were only three slot machines, and all of them were occupied, so Song Xiao just stood on the side and watched the people play.
“Three, three, three! G.o.ddammit, I lost again!” A large man with sideburns lost all his coins and angrily kicked the slot machine, then reluctantly got up.
Song Xiao walked over, inserted a coin, and pulled the lever. “Kakaka” – a tiger appeared, a second tiger appeared, a third… with a hualala, countless coins dropped into the tray below. Song Xiao was dumbstruck. What just happened?
“Oh, wow, he got all three!” Someone next to him looked over with extreme envy. Three tigers was the biggest prize and was worth a few hundred coins.
Seeing the machine spit out coins in an unending flow, Song Xiao felt like he was seeing the silver flow out of the state treasury. He was about to collect the coins hurriedly, but someone grabbed his wrist.
“Hey, kid, this money should be mine!” the man with sideburns from before said with a vicious expression.
“How strange. I was the one who cranked the machine, so how can the coins be yours?” Song Xiao gestured for the bodyguard to not move and looked coldly at this fellow.
“If it weren’t because I cranked it hundreds of times before that, you wouldn’t have gotten the jackpot!” the man with sideburns said, fl.u.s.tered and exasperated. He was a tramp from the area. The coins he earned from begging during the day were all spent on this machine. To the man, the only reason this kid won was because he himself had put in so many coins.
“What’s going on?” An Asian man dressed in a suit walked over, his voice stern and chiding. It was none other than Bernard, who had been with the famous star, Hermann, during the day. “Server!”
A hotel server hastily ran over and pulled at the man with sideburns. “Sir, the coins fall at random; it has nothing to do with how many times you play.”
Song Xiao ma.s.saged his wrist and lifted his eyes to look at the Asian man who had suddenly rushed over. The man walked over to block the man with sideburns who was trying to s.n.a.t.c.h the coins, and said coldly, “If I remember correctly, these machines are only for the use of hotel guests?”
It was then that the server realised that the man was wearing tattered clothes and had an unkempt beard and hair; he looked nothing like a guest from the hotel.
“It’s you again. How many times have I said that you aren’t allowed to come in?” The hotel manager walked over and recognised the tramp, and signalled for the server to throw him out. He then personally went over to apologise to Song Xiao.
“Thank you.” Song Xiao looked at the Asian man who had helped him out. He didn’t speak English, but spoke in Mandarin. “Uncle Xiao.”
The man was stunned for a moment, and his eyes widened in disbelief. “You… still remember me?” He was none other than Song Zicheng’s business partner from many years ago, Xiao Zhengqing. Even though he had already left China, he was still very up-to-date on the news from back home. He even knew about Song Xiao’s amnesia, so when he had spotted Song Xiao at the theme park last time, he didn’t dare go over to recklessly verify it, for fear of scaring him. He didn’t expect that Song Xiao would actually still remember him.
Having regained his memories, Song Xiao naturally recognised Xiao Zhengqing. He initially thought that this man had already argued and cut ties with his family’s muddle-headed father; he didn’t expect the man to be still willing to help him out. “I remember. Let me treat you to a cup of tea.”
The two of them sat in a coffee shop. It didn’t have any good Eastern tea, so they asked for two cups of coffee.
When Xiao Zhengqing was in his teens, he joined the entertainment industry in a special administrative region and became a gold medal manager. Later, he arrived on the mainland and cooperated with Song Zicheng to establish Xinghai Entertainment. Having worked at the national broadcast station for so many years, Song Zicheng had a pretty good array of connections. The two of them performed their respective roles, and Xinghai Entertainment’s development was exceptionally rapid and sudden.
But later, this pair of golden partners abruptly split up for some unknown reason. Xiao Zhengqing took his money and went straight to America, and never returned for years.
“I’m now in Hollywood.” Xiao Zhengqing was about the same age as Song Zicheng, and was reportedly of mixed blood, which gave his facial features a more three-dimensional appearance. After all these years, there were now wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, but coupled with his cultured temperament, he still gave off a very charming air. “I invested in films at the very beginning. After I earned some money, I started to make my own movies.”
He opened a small film company in Hollywood, and his business was doing reasonably well.
“Your dad… how has he been recently?” Xiao Zhengqing hesitated for a moment but still asked this question.
Song Xiao felt that this sentence was odd and slowly raised his head to look at him.
When Yu Tang returned, Song Xiao was sitting on the bed and counting his money. The pile of coins was arranged into stacks as he built a pyramid. Holding a coin between his slender and fair fingers, he placed it shakily on the top of the coin pyramid. It swayed a little, and Song Xiao hurriedly withdrew the coin.
At that moment, a gigantic emperor threw himself onto the bed with a thump. The tall pyramid fell with a clatter as the coins scattered all over the bed.
Holding the coin, Song Xiao lowered his head to look at the fellow squirming on his legs like a large worm. “Your Majesty, in your opinion, if two partners argue and break up, and one of them sees the other’s child, what would be the first thing they would probably ask?”
Yu Tang pondered the question. “Is your dad dead yet?”
Little Theater
Xiaoxiao: How can you say that?
Fish Tang: You told me to say it ah
Didi: He’s itching to be spanked; hurry, serve up the family discipline
Fish Tang: (Lies down) Come ba, sit down and punish zhen
Xiaoxiao: …