Hello there and long time no see^^

I'm sorry for the little delay but as you can see the new chapter is ready and it is like I imagined it to be. And it became a rather long one so I hope it repays you a little for the wait.

By the way thanks for the nice comments and favorites so far - and stay tuned for the next chapters. Since I have freetime from university right now I have decisively more time to write and get this story going.

Well then there is nothing left to say but have fun reading and feel free to review ^.^

Regards, Eisteuel

Chapter VI

Teatime

The air was filled with the sweet, sticky smell of tobacco and something else I could not clearly put my finger on at first. But after a few deep sniffs I almost instantaneously identified it as Opium. I would recognize this cheap, sweet stench that had succeeded pervading every single little corner of the docks everywhere…

The heavy doors behind my back were closed as soon as I had entered the wide room with the shiny mahogany furniture and wainscoting on the walls. The room was rather dimly lit and due to the missing light and the dark wood everywhere it oozed an awkward atmosphere. Opaque and almost gloomy, shrouded in thick layers of silvery smoke. All of the windows were covered with shutters, locking out even the slightest ray of light which might have found its way into the murkiness. I really did not want to know what kind of businessmen gathered in such a room without real light and without even a long table to sit at. And I really didn't want to know which kind of businesses they pursued in the dark either. In fact the only source of light were two great Chinese lanterns dangling from the wooden ceiling, radiating a pale, slightly bleared light onto the relaxed features of my host who was half lying, half sitting on a crimson-red divan at the end of the room, absentmindedly puffing silvery-grey smoke rings into the already stuffy air. I already felt one of my heads coming up and he was worsening it even more...

Not for the first time it came to my mind that this obviously very powerful man was a very strange man indeed. He could switch from dangerous and sincere to playful and cheery within split seconds. But what amazed me the most was that he appeared like he did not even care in the slightest for the stunningly beautiful woman with the undone Quipao who was sitting on top of his lap, affectionately ruffling his hair.

"There you are, my dear boy", his dark voice echoed through the room when he lifted his head just barely enough to take a tired glance at me. With a short movement of his hand he shooed the woman away, who immediately slipped gracefully from his lap as if she did this every day. Adjusting her dark red Quipao with some short, well-versed movements, her bare feet hushed over the floor with a tripling sound before she vanished with a short giggle through an almost invisible, very well hidden door which had been embedded into the wainscoting.

A deep sigh could be heard when he straightened himself on the divan.

"Women these days", he muttered more to himself but to me when he got onto his feet, meanwhile taking another deep drag at his pipe. "You've been out only for a few hours and they behave like you were on a decades-long crusade. My, my…"

"Was that woman your wife?" I asked carefully, still silently admiring the vanished beauty, but not for long…

"Wife?" he looked like he was about to choke on the smoke in his lungs before he burst out into gales of laughter, almost spilling the embers in his pipe over his expensive robes due to the not ceasing snorts of laugher.

"Boy… oh dear boy", he finally managed to articulate himself, wiping away a few tears running down his reddened cheeks and I suddenly felt very, very stupid. It was exactly the same feeling that had afflicted me when that little girl in the courtyard had looked at me like I was an elephant in a store selling bone china. Once again it had been rubbed into my face that I was entirely misplaced here.

"No, no boy, that wasn't my wife", he finally was able to speak in coherent sentences again. Putting his still smouldering pipe into his lap he turned his attention towards me again:

"My wife died ten years ago", he simply stated after he had managed to completely compose himself. "And I fathomed that more women mean more fun. A fact you'll probably be able to fully realize when you are a little older. Now take a seat, Lau", he made a wide gesture, the cloth of his sleeve was swaying in the air. Swallowing hard I wordlessly did what he told me to, I knew all too well that this wasn't an offer. It was an order. Nothing else. And although he still was as friendly as before I also knew very well that this behaviour could change very fast. The last thing I should do was letting my guard down. One attempted murder a day was more than enough and one should let sleeping dogs lie.

"Thank you", I murmured almost inaudibly when I got onto my haunches before I sat down on one very soft and surprisingly comfortable cushion, lying on the floor in front of the little table he had advised me to.

After a few short steps he had also arrived at the table and settled himself on one of the cushions himself.

"By the way, how old are you, Lau?" he asked casually, crossing his overly long, thin fingers in front of his face while eyeing me with blatant interest.

"15 or 16", I answered truthfully and tried my best to avoid that damn inquisitional gaze that seemed to follow even the faintest of my movements like it had been glued to my body.

"15 or 16", my host repeated lowly when he started to twirl the left end of his thin black moustache between his thumb and index finger. "And you neither can read nor write? Numbers are probably difficult too?"

"I can count to twenty", suddenly I felt the strange desire to defend myself – I wasn't that uneducated.

"Still a shame for someone who shares the same name with the great philosopher Zhuangzhi. But it is a start, that's right. I'm a great admirer of his works. We really have to teach you how to write so you can read his poems."

I did not answer and I highly doubted that he really expected one. Therefore, I simply nodded and thereby swore to myself that I would keep this up for the rest of this strange meeting. There was no point in interjecting or contradicting him but when the day was over and he would shoo me out of his house like some mangy dog I would at least have some of my pride left. At least a little more as if I would agree to everything he said and start rejoicing over something that we both knew would never happen.

"Where are you from?"

The strange interrogation continued.

"From the docks", I retorted, rather taken aback. Like hell, he knew where I came from, he had met me down there. And there was that little smile again that made the ends of this beard twitch.

"No, no dear. I don't mean that. You are not from the docks, you were simply in the unlucky position to work there."

Long fingers grasped for his pipe he had put on the floor. After a short approving look he realized it was still gleaming. Taking a deep drag at his little, dragon-shaped pipe he inhaled the smoke deeply before he release it in thin plumes of silver. "I mean where were you born, boy? I can hear you are not from Shanghai by the way you speak. No little brat from Shanghai's gutter would speak that way."

"I-"

Thank god a little knock saved me from answering that question and I could feel a heavy weight falling from my heart.

"Ah there comes the tea!"

Crossing his arms lazily behind his head he leaned back a little while he looked anxiously at the door the woman had used to vanish like a shadow. It silently opened as if by magic and a little foot entered the polished parquet flooring. I was already expecting one of the two twin-like servants but was proven terribly wrong when the seam of a dark blue Quipao was lifted a little and a girl entered the room.

Her!

Just the same stare as before, the same condescending look in her eyes which still looked so much like the ones that had closed for the last time about ten years ago.

My throat felt like some snake was wrapping itself around it tight and tighter with every single step the girl came closer to the table. Wordlessly she balanced a tray with a steaming teapot, cups and biscuits on her arms before she carefully put it onto the floor next to the table. One could feel her desire to simply ignore my presence since she took her time to carefully fill the tea into the very, very expensive looking bone china cup of my host before she did the same with mine. Way less carefully. With a sloppy motion the swayed the pot over the table, the tea barely stayed in the tiny cup she silently put onto my side of the table. I barely dared to look at the fragile little thing in front of me and I dreaded holding it. With a determined clack she put she teapot on the table as well and was about to take her leave as wordlessly as she had come.

"Wait dear, wait!" my companion said in a musing voice while he beckoned her over with his wide sleeve, only missing his tea cut by a hair's breadth in the process.

"Sit down and have some tea with us dear, as you can see we have a young guest today."

One could almost feel her unwillingness to do what she had been told and her burning desire to leave the room as soon as possible. With faltering steps she returned and sat down reluctantly next to my entertainer, carefully adjusting her dress under her knees.

"This is Zhuang Lau. I just made his acquaintance this morning and we got so carried away with our little chat that we decided to continue it in a little more private setting."

Something on his so casually sounding depiction of the actual events made my flesh crawl again. Nonetheless, I forced myself to smile what I called my most winning smile while I fulfilled a deep bow to her. "It's a pleasure."

"My daughter", he now introduced her in return while he patted her head with his hand. She kept a straight face although her father had just ruined her extremely complicated hairdo with his affectionate action. Several strands of her long black hair had come loose. Stoically ignoring the fact she simply hinted a short nod at me.

"We already met before… Just a few moments ago when I was waiting for you in the courtyard", it just blundered out of my mouth before I could stop the words from spilling. In moments like this I wished to bite my tongue. The golden eyes narrowed to nothing but two very thin slots that were staring at me like I was some kind of nasty insect she wanted to crush under her feet.

"Oh really?" he seemed genuinely surprised. "And I thought I had told you not to go outside when I have clients on the premises, Ran Mao."

Ran Mao it was. I bit back a smile when I heard her name for the first time but almost instantaneously put on a solemn face again when she was glaring daggers at me like she was really intending to kill me with her gaze.

"I thought they were already gone. I did not know you were that late", a very high yet steady voice replied in a cold and composed manner while she was still glaring at me like a vengeance goddess and suddenly I felt extremely guilty, to say the least. It was me who had accidentially revealed our meeting in the yard to her father and she most decisively held me responsible for that.

Her father simply chuckled.

"That's true dear, we really lost track of time. But I don't want to see you outside when I've clients in here. Are we clear?"

A vague nod was the only sign that she had listened to him in the first place. With mechanic movements the grasped for the teapot on the table and refilled her father's cup straightfaced.

"Well, were did we stop?" my encounter asked more to himself than it was addressed to me while he carefully took a little sip.

"Actually I have a question", I finally dared to ask what was lying on my heart for what seemed like ages.

"You know my name and I know the name of you daughter now but… who are you?"

The ends of the neatly trimmed beard twitched, brows narrowed and the already very dark eyes suddenly appeared like charcoal.

Something was wrong… suddenly the strange feeling got ahold on me that something was terribly, terribly wrong here. The pupils of the girl which looked so much like the ones of Liang dilated in a way that they were nothing more but two large, black pools without any remaining golden iris at all.

With stiff movements she put down the teapot she was still holding in her hands without noticing the spots of tea she had spilled onto the polished table surface. Her eyes were attached to my host whose features were adorned with that wry smile he was almost always displaying.

"Oh my…" he put his cup next to the leaking teapot and looked straight into my face.

"Did I really entirely forget to introduce myself?" he sounded almost rueful but I highly doubted that he had really forgotten about it. Sure as death he did not forget it, he rather had swept it under the table on full purpose. Having this in mind the strange feeling that this whole situation became rather strange did not vanish at all, on the contrary it only made my stomach violently tensing up.

"What a shame indeed."

The black eyes of him which almost looked like the little beads I had scattered onto the ship stared at me without even the slightest movement of their lids until he finally continued with an implied bow:

"The name is Yuesheng Du. At your service."

It hit me like a ton of bricks.

The eyes of the girl had regained their golden colour and were staring at me while her father kept on his omnipresent, unreadable smiling when he carefully took another sip from his steaming cup. Every single of his movements suddenly appeared completely different to me like seconds before. I didn't know how to explain this strange feeling but I really thought that there had to be something especially dangerous to the leader of the most notorious and most dangerous gang in all of Shanghai.

The Quibang, or how the damn Englishmen called them: The Green Gang.

For those of you who are a little interested in history: Yuesheng Du actually was the leader of the Quibang in Shanghai and my character relies to great lenghts on his historical model. His life does of course not entirely fit with the dates and events I'm using here but see it as artistic freedom ;)

Ah well and dear Ran Mao had her real first appearance :D

See you with the next chapter