Bi-Han got three paces out of the door before he came to a full stop. Nathaniel was in front of him. With him was Ben, Teddy, Royce, and Ray no longer hobbling from the gunshot to his leg.
"Nathaniel." Bi-Han said. He lowered his eyes in what might have been mistaken for deference, but it was more to put a quick wrap on his seething temper and rampant emotions from his argument with Kuai. "To what do I owe the pleasure."
Teddy stepped a fraction closer to him. Bi-Han was aware that they were shifting their weight slightly to flank him and make him feel uncomfortable. It was working, Bi-Han had an overwhelming urge to stick a knife through Teddy's throat.
"Well, Jinhai." Nat had a cigarette between his fingers and his dark glasses on, like he had the first time he came to Bi-Han's door, "We heard Li-heng Syun is dead. And now we're wondering exactly where that puts us, you, and my dear sister Gracie."
"I didn't tell Grace you asked me to kill Syun at her apartment, if that's what you're asking." Bi-Han found it hard to sound cool and collected. Kuai standing up to him had lit fires of anger inside him, and he hadn't counted on having to deal with Nathaniel now or anytime soon.
"So you lied to Grace?"
"It didn't come up." Bi-Han tried not to sound as tired as he was, "Grace was already suspicious of Syun."
Nathaniel drew a long pull in his cigarette and breathed out the smoke in a slow plume.
"It would be very inconvenient for me if Grace learned I'd tried to take out those close to her."
"Which is why I steered clear of telling her." Bi-Han couldn't keep the testiness from his voice. Ben folded his arms, making Bi-Han quickly reassess the situation. It was worth not making a scene out of this. And with Kuai still in the house…
"Might I have a private word with you, Nat?"
Nathaniel pushed his glasses up into his hair and flicked his cigarette end onto the street. He stubbed it out with smart shining shoes.
"Sure." Nathaniel waved at his gang to stay and moved a few paces off, giving him and Bi-Han some space.
Bi-Han smiled slightly, then leaned in close. Too close to be comfortable. Nat stiffened and Bi-Han could see Ben flinch at the threat from over Nat's shoulder.
"I kept quiet about the attempt on Syun's life you asked me to make. It didn't make sense to drive a stake between you and Grace when things were just resolving. I didn't have to that, and it could have gone badly for me if Grace found out what you asked me to do, but I stayed quiet. For you. But remember Nat, you gave me to her. And it's her I obey now. Which means the next time there's a conflict of interests I do what's good for her, not you. We're all on the same side now, we both work for Grace. But when last I checked, you weren't in any chain of command I have to answer to." His lips were quiet next to Nat's ear, "So if you ever come to my house and threaten me and my brother again, I will kill every person standing just over there." He nodded to the others. A mock friendly hand on Nat's shoulder turned him non-too gently to see where Bi-Han meant, "And I have a feeling that Grace won't really mind too much, as long as I leave you alive." He let go, stepped back and gave Nat a small bow, giving him the chance to extract himself without embarrassment in front of his peers.
Nathaniel looked uncertain for a moment, then smiled quickly. Bi-Han could see from the slight edge to his movements that he was afraid. Good, was all Bi-Han thought.
"Good to catch up with you, Jinhai." Nat gave a small awkward wave, "Maybe we'll see you around sometime."
"Maybe." Bi-Han spoke with a stiff smile and no enthusiasm.
Ben gave Bi-Han a thoroughly dark glare as he followed the others into the out-of-place glistening bronze Bentley parked half on the curb. Bi-Han gave him a mild and absent look. As soon as the car door shut and the engine roared up the road, Bi-Han's mask dropped. He spat where the car had been and stormed off toward town, not looking forward to the overdue report he now had to give to Grace.
Kuai sat still for a long time. He breathed slowly, letting the air around him turn cold, not with anger but with quiet control. He let his thoughts move away into absence, and allowed himself simply to be in the present. He could hear many small sounds that he did not usually hear when meditating at the Temple. There was a continuous soft buzz of electricity, and the hum of appliances. Two taps were dripping out of sync with one another, one in the kitchen and one in the bathroom. Cars passed on the road. Voices exchanged on the pavement beyond the front door. A loud rasping car exhaust pipe sped off. Noises were both regular and irregular. And in that alternating wall of sound he found silence. He held that peace for a moment, then opened his eyes.
He stood up and went to the door. His outdoor shoes lay next to the door, just like they would if he were at the Temple. He slipped them on and stepped outside. He wasn't exactly sure where he was going. It was a warm day, but a thick wind off the sea buffeted at his face and cooled the temperature a little. He walked up the steps outside his apartment that led to the floor above. He hadn't been to any other floors before, and it felt strange to only be doing to after living nearly two months just downstairs. He knocked on the door of the flat above his.
An old lady appeared wearing a green apron, with wiry grey hair bound in a bun on her head and eyes lost in the crinkles of her face. Her face made even more crinkles when she saw Kuai.
"You're the little weasel who lives downstairs."
"Yeah." He admitted
"Very noisy weasel."
"My brother's a bigger, noisier weasel."
"Two weasels make much noise." Her eyes were still narrowed, "Fallen out with him?"
Kuai was startled by her directness. He looked down and nodded.
"Come in," She said, a fraction less grumpily.
Kuai shuffled into her kitchen, and immediately forgot his worries. The kitchen faced the same orientation as his below, but the windows had no curtains and were thrown open to let in bright light. Every surface was covered in long pots and trays brimming with plants. The wind blew through the house like they were still outside, bringing with it the fresh smell of the sea. There were swaying thin plants with bushy stems sprouting out their tops, and long trailing plants that snuck over the counter and down to the floor, and tall spindly plants who needed the support of strings hung from the ceiling.
"What's all this!?" Kuai was so surprised. He had never seen so many plants indoors before.
"Hmph." Said the old lady, "I grow my own vegetables."
"These are vegetables?!" Kuai stared. He couldn't see any vegetables, only green plants like in the woods behind his school. Before he had come to Hong Kong and seen whole vegetables in the supermarket, the only vegetables he knew about were the ones already cooked and served to him at meal times at the Temple.
The old woman gave him a quizzical look. She beckoned him over to a trailing mass of leaves and pointed into its mass and nodded. Kuai stared at her, not understanding. She gave him a look that reminded him of Bi-Han's impatient face. Kuai parted the leaves carefully. They were a little prickly and left tiny scratches on his hands. He looked at the old woman, not seeing anything other than more fat stems and broad flat leaves. He looked again, parting the leaves, unsure what he was looking for. He blinked in surprise when he saw a large fat courgette growing alongside all the stems. It looked so out of place that he reached in to see if someone had put it there as a joke. The vegetable was firmly attached to its stem.
"Twist and pull." The old lady said.
After much failed twisting and pulling, the old lady gave Kuai an iron pair of scissors. He freed the courgette and held it in his hands.
"Are there more hiding in there?"
"Find out." She said. "Stretch out your fingers." He did so. "If it's smaller than your handspan, let it grow. Bigger – then cut it."
The old lady pottered off. Kuai suddenly felt like an amateur in a room full of precious fragile things. He became anxious that he might ruin something and cut it wrong and deprive someone of their vegetable. The old woman's relaxed confidence in him and a curiosity to see it this strange bush was hiding any more secrets got the better of him. He began carefully moving the leaves apart, looking for more.
After he'd put six courgettes in a bamboo basket, he asked aloud,
"Is it a cucumber?" He was a little shy that it had taken him this long to work out what kind of vegetable this might be.
"No!" The old woman, who had been invisible, appeared from behind a row of strawberry bushes growing on the kitchen table. She had a look of affront on her face. "Weasels know nothing!" She beckoned him with a sharp reprimanding finger. Kuai with a little guilt and reluctance sloped over to her. Another row of trailing broad leaf plants were before him. They were spotted with yellow flowers and looked much the same as the plants Kuai had just been attending. He parted the leaves, looking with more confidence for cucumbers. He looked for a whole minute before looking up quizzically at the old woman.
"There's nothing here."
The old woman burst into a cackle of laughter, apparently taking a lot of amusement from Kuai's failure.
"Watch, little weasel." She pointed to one of the small yellow flowers. Just behind the flowerhead was a slightly thicker stem, shiny, green and smooth. Like a very small cucumber.
"How was I meant to find that!" Kuai gave, "It's pretending to be a flower!"
The old woman's eyes twinkled,
"Cucumbers grow behind the flower. Bigger and bigger until the flower dies, then it is time to pick."
"You know a lot about vegetables. I didn't even know there was this much to learn about vegetables."
"What do they teach you at school?" She tutted in disbelief.
"Uh like… how to paint your own face on paper. And some maths. And what people's insides look like."
"Hmph. You see someone's insides then they're probably dead. Why not learn about the vegetables you eat every day."
Kuai shrugged. He like the cool air in the kitchen and the calm that came of being surrounded by plants all growing and living their own quiet lives.
"I don't know. The things they teach at school seem kind of random. We also learn about lots of kings and queens who ruled a place called Commonwealth. I don't know where that is but it doesn't seem like lots of common people got wealth from it, otherwise why did they all want independence? Also there aren't any kings and queens in Hong Kong or China, but there's lots of cucumbers, so I don't know why we don't learn about those instead."
"Hmm. Pretty wise for a weasel."
Kuai looked around the kitchen at all the different plants. Small, fragile leaves shifted in the slight breeze, and their thin leaves turned different colours in the sun, lighting up like tiny green lamps.
"Hey… do you think I could come up here when I next…"
"… Fall out with you brother?" The old lady supplied. Kuai looked at his feet, "Do you fall out with him often?"
Kuai shuffled his shoulders awkwardly,
"You can probably hear through the floor." The lady gave a harumph in response, and Kuai quickly went to his brother's defence, "It's mostly my fault. I keep messing things up for him: not doing as he says or not doing things good enough. I know I should be more respectful but-"
"Listen here young man," The woman set down a trowel and put her hands on her hips, "You be respectful when respect calls for it, but if you've got something to say then you damn well stick to it and don't let anyone push you around. You think I got to where I am today by being respectful all the time? Nuh uh, not a chance. I speak my mind."
"Not sure that's a good idea for me," Kuai muttered to his shoes.
"Oh it's a good idea alright, didn't say it would be an easy one! Now, you can come up here any time you like, but you better promise me you'll stick up for yourself!"
Kuai twisted his hands together,
"… You haven't met my brother… He's a lot bigger than me."
"There's always someone bigger. You got to do the thing that's right by in here," She tapped her chest, "And you got to not regret it. Or what's the point. Might as well be a cucumber." She threw a cucumber at him.
Kuai caught it,
"Definitely would be simpler if I was a cucumber." Kuai sighed and sat on a stool by an open window. He bit the head off the cucumber and spat it away, then munched slowly, enjoying the crunch and water in each bite. He sighed again, but this time it was freer.
Bi-Han was sitting back into a deep pile of cushions, letting the strain eke out of his muscles as he relaxed. The large lounge was lit by a number of crimson box lanterns with gold leaf trim. A half dozen courtesans reclined about the room also, smoking and talking lowly, giving the lounge a peaceful ambience of the kind that only exists in the true absence of work.
"How did that recipe work out for you, Jinhai?" Yi was a spindly man with impeccable style and a penchant for loose silk and dazzling make-up. Bi-Han was sure that Yi had mentioned to other courtesans the moment some days before when Bi-Han had flinched away from physical contact. All the workers at the brothel were intensely aware of body language in a way that Bi-Han found relieving. He could simply be and sit nearby others without anything intrusive or demanding required of him.
"Good." Said Bi-Han, without opening his eyes, "My brother was surprised I hadn't burned the house down. He even complimented the food."
"Did you bake a birthday cake as well?"
"No chance. Recipe looked like a complicated martial arts form only to be performed with fingers and mathematics."
Yi laughed. His laugh was high and infectious. A few others laughed with him, but Bi-Han didn't find it threatening like he might had they been his fellow Lin Kuei.
"I thought you liked a challenge!"
"Challenge? Your cake recipe looked more like witchcraft than it did food preparation. And there wasn't even any cutting. The bit with knives is the only bit I'm good at in cooking." The rest of the room listening in laughed at that, and Bi-Han smiled with them.
"Getting popular with the ladies, Zho?"
Bi-Han's eyes snapped open and a stiff alertness shot through his limbs.
Anton Kwan, the man Bi-Han believed to be the most irritating person working for Grace, had stepped into the lounge and shattered it's peace.
"Not all ladies here, Mr Kwan." Yi raised a vague floating arm from the cushion pile he was submerged in.
"You all dress the same. But hey, can't say I don't envy you, Zho. I'd like a little bit of action myself, but these stooges are only in it for the cash. Won't even give a colleague a bit of a free one."
Bi-Han stared at Anton. He was not quite sure how to respond to this. He was aware there was some important posturing going on and lots of sexual subtext, but he could not even begin to imagine the sort of response a regular civilian might give to this. When he saw Anton's stare still challenging him to respond, Bi-Han merely said,
"Okay..." In the most noncommital of tones. He had hoped maybe Anton would leave after this, but instead the man merely folded his arms and leant in the doorway.
"So what's your secret? How does a guy get in and close with the merchandise." Anton had a strange smile, as if perhaps he had noticed that Bi-Han was not a regular player when it came to this kind of banter.
Bi-Han gave Anton an uncomprehending look. He could feel a stiffness similar to his own in the posture of the courtesans around him. When he realised the situation wasn't resolving itself with his silence, Bi-Han said slowly,
"I don't think I care about the same things you care about. I'm just sitting down. In this room. And I don't really understand what you're talking about. I guess if you want to get on with people here, you could try talking to them instead of me."
"Please don't bother." Said Yi in a bored voice.
"You shut up!" Anton looked somehow flustered and red, as if he'd just realised he'd turned up to casual party in fancy-dress. "As if I'd be interested in talking to a man."
"Could have fooled me," Bi-Han said under his breath, and a shared giggle rippled through the courtesans.
"Oh, laughing at me now?!" Anton's face was puce as he squared up and planted his hands on his hips, "Smart move, genius. Because guess what with Li-heng Syun out the way, that makes me unequivocally Grace's lieutenant, and puts all of you shits under me. So watch your fucking backs." He stormed out the room. Then, returned a second later, "Oh, Zho, by the way, Grace called for you ten minutes ago. So you're late." He left again.
Bi-Han remained seated for a moment.
"I'd kill him for free." He said out loud.
"Eh, we get ten a day like him," Said a petite woman in the corner. She wore traditional formal dress, but her robe was slit to above her thigh. "Kill them all and we'd be out of income."
"Death can be a lucrative business, you know." Bi-Han stood and stretched.
"Only once though," The woman said wryly. "A regular client is returning profit". Bi-Han tilted his head, conceding that. He took himself off down the corridor to Grace's office. He hesitated, then knocked.
Grace got up as Bi-Han entered. She took a long dark coat off the back of her seat and put it on.
"Am I keeping you from something?" She said cooly.
"No, sir."
"You took your sweet time coming."
"Sorry, sir. Lost track of time."
"Walk with me. I have an appointment with a fishmonger."
Bi-Han wondered what that was a euphemism for. He followed Grace back into the corridor. People parted like water before Grace. When she pushed open the door onto the back street, Bi-Han shielded his eyes from the afternoon sun. The wind ruffled his hair. It was welcome after the smoke of the lounge.
"I hear Syun Li-heng is dead."
Bi-Han took a breath.
"I know you wanted me to hold off killing her."
"I did say that, didn't I. Funny. I thought maybe I'd imagined it." Grace had the same light tone of voice. Bi-Han trod carefully, unsure how this would play out.
"I… pushed a situation in which she'd have to reveal herself if she was police."
"And lost our client's reputation and the drugs and the money in the process. Well done, Zho. A quadruple combo of lost assets. And I was just starting to like you." She had a fast pace considering how much shorter she was. Bi-Han quickened his stride to keep up with her.
"I know it doesn't look good-"
"It doesn't." Grace took the steps down to their left, then turned into another back alley. Bi-Han wondered if she was leading him to a death squad hidden around the next turn. His eyes jumped at every clack of Grace's heels, mistaking them for guns loading.
"My brother told me she drove him to the police station." Bi-Han said quickly. He was making excuses. He hated making excuses, "She wanted my brother to testify about me to the police. They locked him in a room. When you called the station for his release, Syun was all ready to bring you down. Forgive me if a private assignment with her got my back up. I set up a situation to test her loyalties. I know how the police are with their own being killed. This way, the police killed her – no lasting vendetta on their end. I know I lost the money… and the drugs. But… she would have done so much more damage alive. I had to think fast. I know its not my place to, that I'm just here to-"
"-To do as you're told."
Bi-Han stopped. He was becoming more agitated by the tight winding backstreets they were taking.
"Keep walking." Grace said, without looking back.
Bi-Han's eyes searched the narrow walls either side of him. They were sheer brick, but the mortar was old enough that he could climb them. He couldn't climb faster than a bullet though. And the mission. He would lose it all it he had to run now.
"What can I do to make this right?"
"You can listen carefully in future. The police have violated the accord they have with the clan. They'll be getting the heavy treatment anyway, so discretion wasn't necessary when it came to Syun's death. If she was alive we could have fed her false information once it was confirmed she was police. This could have been handled low key. I could have money, drugs, a client who still buys, and a one up on the police. But instead I have none of this."
"Sorry." Said Bi-Han genuinely. He would have been pissed with himself had he been in Grace's position. And had his Lin Kuei credentials not been at risk of exposure, he certainly would have done things differently last night.
"See that you're more careful next time."
She rounded a corner and suddenly a bright sunlit market was before them. Steam rose in curls, blurring Bi-Han's senses and disorientating him. He swivelled left and right, steeling himself for an attack. Grace paused and looked back at him.
"Come. Fishmonger is this way."
Bi-Han followed her uncertainly, blinking and still checking in multiple directions, wondering where the executioners he had convinced himself were coming for him had gone.
He was still unsure what was going on when Grace stopped in front of a stall selling fresh fish. The scales winked a thousand colours and a thick raw pungence was in the air. Bi-Han flinched at the sound of a knife slamming into wood. A fish head bounced off a chopping board and onto the street, where it was gobbled up by a lean mongrel.
"On-Tou," Grace said as she stepped out of the steam pouring out of a noodle bar and up to the fish stall. She had her hands in the pockets of her long coat, and her hair tied up and functional. Bi-Han stepped into her shadow, vowing to stay close, silent, and not to blow this second chance.
The fishmonger went the pallid colour of his fish. He passed a tongue over his lip.
"M-Ms Yeung." He stammered. "I… don't suppose you're here for fish?"
"I am after something slippery and unpleasant." She gave a cold smile. "On-Tou," She said again. She pulled the cleaver out from the chopping board and turned it over in her hands, "Yesterday, one of my lieutenants was shot in crossfire with police."
"I am very sorry, Ma'am." The fishmonger wiped his hands on his apron. He took a step back. Bi-Han folded him arms deliberately. The fishmonger stopped moving.
"The funny thing is," Grace continued to look at the cleaver, "They shot her by mistake. Before she died she claimed to be an undercover cop." The fishmonger swallowed. Grace went on at her own sedate pace, "So what I'm wondering is how the man I pay to make sure the police are keeping up their end of the bargain, managed to miss that a detective was undercover for several years in my ranks." Grace's eyes flashed. "What have my family been paying you for, On-Tou? Because it seems to me you have a nice business going for yourself here: selling fish, being a police confidential informant, being a Triad informant, and… what?... taking extra bribes to keep quiet for the police?"
"N-nonono, ma'am" On-Tou raised his hands, "It's not like that. The undercover officers are very secretive. Barely anyone in the department knows, let alone a lowly CI like me."
"Ah. Alright. That makes sense." Grace set the knife down, "So you were useless to me from the start?"
"Wait, no- that's-"
"And you've been taking JFP money what, to spy on how many do-nuts are eaten?"
"Nono, ma'am. I have – I have information for you."
"Really."
"Yes, ma'am. I have a folder. Reports, dates, times, photographs even – I missed that they had an infiltrator in the clan, but in my notes, my photographs, you can see who is coming and going when – find out who ordered the under cover op. It will be very useful for you ma'am. I'll get it for you f-free of charge, not even you're uncle has seen it yet. It's just in the back ma'am… may I-?"
"I'm not stopping you." Grace said mildly. The fishmonger bowed low and pushed aside a plastic curtain into the back of the shop. "He's going to run." Grace said to Bi-Han.
"Really? Pretty elaborate story just to try and-"
There was a sound of cutlery clanging off the floor and crashing crates.
"I want him alive." Grace remained with her hands folded, "Don't let me down again, Zho."
Bi-Han tore open the plastic curtain and gave chase.
Author Note: While on the plane to and from Tokyo I watched lots more Hong Kong crime dramas so lots more inspiration! Everyone around me watching comedies and pixar animations and I'm sitting their wincing as people get chopped up. Also. I really like growing vegetables. I find it kinda meditative. It helps sort my head out. I thought maybe Kuai would appreciate that too. Hopefully this chapter was somewhat calming after the last one. Now you can buckle up for a street chase.