Chapter 38: Great Britain, Vice-Consul William Harris
Outside the gates of Longyuan Bay Pier, about thirty security personnel from the Lu Family Trading Company, led by Yan Lintong, were gathered.
This time, the Security Bureau had clearly spared no expense, or perhaps they were under immense pressure.
At the pier entrance stood a full hundred Security Bureau officers, all heavily armed and clad in black uniforms.
There was a guard post every few steps, a sentry every few feet. The entire pier area was surrounded so tightly, with guards and patrols inside and out, that it was completely impenetrable.
The security was so tight, not even a mouse could dream of slipping through, let alone a person.
"Son of a bitch!" a veteran guard muttered under his breath. "Worked here half my life. Who’d have thought one day I couldn’t even get into my own damn pier!"
Yan Lintong stood at the front of the crowd, his expression grim, a cigarette dangling from his lips.
A few minutes later, he was huddled in a relatively secluded corner just inside the gate with a middle-aged man in a security uniform, whose epaulets marked him as a squad leader.
This was none other than Captain Zheng, the man who had taken a "favor" the previous night to let Lu Yun pass.
The two of them leaned against the wall, each with a cigarette, calmly exhaling clouds of smoke.
Patrolling guards saw Captain Zheng and simply nodded, choosing not to disturb them.
Yan Lintong took a long drag from his cigarette, then slowly blew out the smoke before speaking in a low voice, "Old Zheng, that arrogant little brat sitting in the office building, the one who’s still wet behind the ears... he doesn’t look familiar. Not a local from Yun Port, is he?"
Captain Zheng flicked the ash from his cigarette, glanced left and right, and leaned in closer, also lowering his voice. "Boss Yan, sharp as ever. The kid’s name is Gan Wen Yao. He was parachuted in directly from the Yanjing headquarters. I hear he’s a trusted subordinate of some Special Commissioner Feng."
"If you ask me, he’s no one important. Just a dog they threw out here to guard the gate! The real shot-caller, that Special Commissioner Feng, is supposedly still over at Ren’an Hospital visiting the injured."
"Hmph!" Yan Lintong snorted, a vicious glint in his eyes. "They dare to cause trouble for our Lu Family, even locking down our pier..."
"If the Chairman hadn’t ordered us to lie low for now, I’d storm in there right now and twist that little chick’s head off his neck and kick it around like a ball!"
In a lawless place like the Yun Port City Pier, a den of vipers teeming with gangs, what kind of business could grow so large and secure a firm foothold by being a bunch of saints?
The Lu Family was no exception.
As the chief captain of the Lu Family’s security department, Yan Lintong was skilled in combat and ruthless enough to have weathered his share of bloody storms in his early years.
It was only because of his current status and advanced age that he had reined himself in.
Hearing this, Captain Zheng gave an awkward laugh and didn’t pursue the topic.
He didn’t dare to be as audacious as Yan Lintong; after all, their positions were different.
Instead, Captain Zheng just offered a quiet reminder, "Boss Yan, calm down. The way I see it, that kid Gan inside won’t be able to control the situation for long."
"This lockdown is completely unreasonable. Give it time, and pressure will mount from all sides. They’ll have to find a way to back down gracefully."
Yan Lintong took another drag of his cigarette and nodded, his expression softening slightly. "Mm, thanks, Old Zheng. You should head back. Don’t let anyone see us talking for too long."
"Alright, Boss Yan, I’ll head back then. You take care of yourself, and please, don’t do anything reckless."
With that, Captain Zheng tossed his cigarette butt to the ground, crushed it under his boot, straightened his uniform, and turned to walk nonchalantly back inside the pier gates, soon disappearing among the patrolling guards.
Yan Lintong stood alone, watching the direction Captain Zheng had disappeared, then glanced at the heavily guarded sentries and the anxious Lu Family subordinates waiting behind him.
The General Manager had already said a plan was in motion. He just needed to follow instructions, keep the situation stable here, and wait for the right moment.
Yan Lintong believed this farcical lockdown would soon end in some unexpected way.
Before long, the low rumble of an engine echoed from a distant street.
Two luxurious, pure-white sedans, polished to a mirror sheen, stood out starkly among the drab vehicles and crowds as they slowly approached the gate of Longyuan Bay Pier.
Even more eye-catching, a small flag was mounted on each side of the cars’ hoods, fluttering gently in the wind.
Yan Lintong’s sharp eyes spotted them from a distance, and he immediately gestured to his men gathered behind him.
The well-trained men of the Lu Family quickly moved aside, clearing a path straight to the gate.
The two white cars came to a steady halt in front of the gate. Only then did Yan Lintong get a clear look at the flags.
It was the flag of Great Britain!
Immediately after, the car doors opened. Lu Jingwu, the General Manager of the Lu Family Trading Company, stepped smartly out of the front car.
From the rear car emerged a middle-aged man dressed as a typical Western gentleman.
He was about forty-five years old, around five-foot-eleven, with slicked-back, shiny blond hair, grayish-blue eyes, and a neatly trimmed mustache on his upper lip.
He wore a well-tailored black tailcoat, a white wing-collar shirt with a black silk bow tie, black slim-fit dress trousers, and gleaming Oxford leather shoes. On his head sat a black top hat.
"Boss! It’s a foreign devil! The General Manager brought a foreign devil!"
A young Lu Family guard couldn’t help but exclaim in a hushed, astonished whisper.
In this era, a Westerner’s "face" was sometimes more powerful than anything else.
"Calm down! What’s there to panic about?" Yan Lintong chided in a low voice. He straightened his clothes and strode forward to greet them.
Lu Jingwu saw Yan Lintong and nodded at him before turning to introduce the Western gentleman. "Consul William Harris, this is the chief captain of our Lu Family’s security department, Yan Lintong."
Yan Lintong hurried forward and, mimicking the Western custom, gave a slight bow.
Seeing this, William Harris put on a standard social smile and replied in his clumsy Chinese, "Nee-how."
The pronunciation was just extremely odd.
"Hello, hello," Yan Lintong quickly repeated with a smile.
Just then, William Harris’s gaze went past Yan Lintong and Lu Jingwu, landing on the numerous, heavily-armed guards up ahead.
His smile vanished instantly, his brow furrowed, and his face filled with unconcealed anger.
"Mr. General Manager," Harris said, turning to Lu Jingwu. His voice jumped an octave, full of fury. "It seems what you said is true!"
"These bastards really are trying to steal my goods!" he roared, the last two words mangled by his accent.
As he spoke, he gestured emphatically, pointing an arm at the guards.
From the two cars, four tall, stern-faced Western bodyguards quickly emerged, their waists visibly bulging.
William Harris ignored Lu Jingwu and Yan Lintong, marching menacingly toward the gate with his bodyguards in tow.
He pointed at the guards blocking the entrance and barked in stiff Chinese, "You! You bastards, get out of the way now!"
The guards, who had been standing at attention with stoic expressions, were now completely dumbfounded.
They glanced at each other, momentarily unsure of how to react.
’A foreign devil? And one who looks to be of high status?’
’These are the kind of people who usually swagger around the concession districts, people even the City Manager has to treat with courtesy. What are they suddenly doing at this remote pier?’
’And they look like they’re here to settle a score?’
They might dare to throw their weight around with their own countrymen, merchants and common folk, but they had a bone-deep fear of Westerners, especially one who clearly had status.
"What’s going on? What’s all this shouting about?"
Just then, Captain Zheng, who had only just left, heard the commotion outside and hurried back, looking impatiently at the guards blocking the way.
"Captain! This is bad! It’s... it’s a foreign devil!" a young guard quickly whispered in his ear, his voice trembling.
"What!" Captain Zheng’s expression changed drastically. He forcefully shoved aside the guard in front of him and pushed his way to the front to look outside the gate.
When he saw William Harris in his black tailcoat and top hat, his face contorted with rage, and the murderous-looking Western bodyguards behind him, Captain Zheng’s heart sank to the bottom of his stomach.
’This is trouble... real big trouble!’