Ah Yee wouldn’t answer. He put down the provisions they had bought, sitting heavily on a log.
“Ah Yee bumped into a man outside the broth—outside the shop,” said Ah Wing. “Turned out to be a mata. He got angry, started threatening this and that. Said he wanted to arrest us. We had to give him the chicken to get him to let us go.”
“Should have given him Ah Yee,” said Fung Cheung.
“Why did the mata want to arrest you?” said Tet Sang, speaking over him. “Did he recognise you all?”
It seemed unlikely. Ah Yee and Ah Wing had not appeared on the wanted posters identifying Lau Fung Cheungand his men as enemies of the Protectorate. It was true both Ah Yee and Ah Wing had been convicts before they had joined the group, but they had done their time.
Ah Wing shook his head. “The mata wanted to pick a fight only. He was drunk.”
“He wasn’t the only one,” said Fung Cheung, looking at Ah Yee.
Ah Yee did in fact smell of beer, as did Ah Wing, but Fung Cheung could have expected nothing else when he gave them money and permission to go to town. It was injudicious of him to take out his displeasure about his own bad decision-making on Ah Yee. Tet Sang shot him a warning look.
“Maybe we were not so polite before we realised he was a mata,” conceded Ah Wing. “But it was okay in the end. He was very happy about the chicken.”
Fung Cheung was evidently not done making jibes. But before he could think of any more, Ah Yee spoke.
“The girl saw from the window,” he said. He must have had more to drink than Ah Wing; his voice was thick. “She laughed at me.”
“So what?” said Fung Cheung. “Can’t be the first time a woman has laughed at you.”
Ah Yee raised his head, frowning. His gaze caught on Guet Imm, who was serving out rice porridge for Ah Wing. She sensed his eyes on her and looked up.
“You want dinner, brother?” she said.
Ah Yee rose unsteadily to his feet and glared at the pot of porridge.
“You call that dinner?” said Ah Yee. “I could shit out a better meal than this!” He tried to kick the pot but missed. He stumbled, swearing.
Guet Imm didn’t appear to notice that he had been offensive. “That means you want or don’t want?”
Ah Yee said to Ah Wing, “What’s the use of a woman if she cannot cook? Since we let this one join us, she has only caused trouble. Travel here, travel there, it’s all because of her. Now we have no money and no peace. Even our blood the leeches and mosquitoes have drunk up already.”
Holding his bowl of porridge, Ah Wing gave Guet Imm a look of acute embarrassment. He stammered, “There’s no need to say so much, brother…”
“At least if she fucked us like Ah Boon wanted, it might be worth keeping her,” said Ah Yee. “As it is, bringing her along is wasting rice only.”
“Don’t bring me into this,” snapped Ah Boon. “That was before I knew Sister Guet Imm. She is a nun. How can you blame her for not fucking people? It’s like if I blame you for not knowing how to behave. We all knew you’re a samseng when you joined. What else can we expect?”
Ah Boon was angry enough that he asked Guet Imm for a second serving of her rice porridge. She ladled out a bowl for him, keeping an eye on Ah Yee. Her face wasopen, a little puzzled:Why is brother so grouchy?she seemed to be wondering.
But her body language belied her expression. Her entire person was tense, ready to spring.
“You’re on her side because you hope she’ll change her mind,” said Ah Yee. He turned to Guet Imm. “You should give him a chance. Ah Boon’s dick is so small, it’s not like he even counts as a man.”
“Ah Yee,” said Tet Sang. “That’s enough.”
Ah Yee rolled his reddened eyes at him. “Why? You also want, is it? You should think twice, Second Brother. You’ll have to take turns with Ah Boon, and you don’t know how many cows he’s fucked.”
“I’ve said so many times already, it’s zero!” said Ah Boon.
“The only people who’ve been taking turns with people are you and Ah Wing,” said Fung Cheung to Ah Yee. “If it’s going to make you so ill-mannered, Sister Guet Imm won’t need to chop off your dick. I’ll do it for her. You don’t want me to be tempted, you’d better stop talking nonsense.”
His tone made the men steal surreptitious looks at one another, like children reprimanded by a teacher.
In any other mood, Ah Yee would have known to stop and take himself off. But beer and his sense of grievance, solidified over the past several days, overcame his discretion.
