White Tiger

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

I sighed as I went through my email. Leo had subscribed me to a number of alternative lifestyle lists. It took me nearly twenty minutes to unsubscribe from most of them, but Leo was an active participant on some and they seemed worthwhile.

My phone rang and I picked it up. ‘Hello?’

‘Emma.’

‘April! Where are you? Are you in Hong Kong?’

‘Yes, I came back to visit Andy. Lunch tomorrow? I’m meeting Louise. Want to come?’

‘Sure. How about the little Japanese place under the hotel in Causeway Bay?’

‘I don’t know it.’

‘Meet me outside the World Trade Centre, I’ll take you there. The teppanyaki’s good.’

I met Louise and April outside the World Trade Centre and led them past the entrance to the hotel. Early December weather could be very pleasant, and today was particularly good: the fresh breeze blew across the harbour and the sky was clear blue for a change.

The Noonday Gun sounded across the road; all of us ignored it.

We turned right after the hotel and walked down a filthy alley lined with garbage bins.

‘Where the hell are you taking us?’ Louise said. She picked her way through the puddles of water. ‘It’d better not be a dai pai dong, I get sick every time I eat at one of them.’

‘You do?’ April said. ‘I don’t. I missed them. No dai pai dong in Australia.’

‘Spoilt Westerner,’ I said. ‘Delicate digestion.’ I stopped at the end of the alley. ‘Here.’

A tiny Japanese garden nestled under the towering wall of the hotel. I walked along the waist-high bamboo fence to the gate and showed them in. To the right a small fountain splashed into a pool of golden koi carp. A tiny lawn stretched the length of the restaurant, bordered by stands of bamboo.

April was delighted. ‘This is so cute! I never knew it was here!’

I opened the door for them and we went in. The restaurant had about twenty booths under the large picture windows overlooking the Japanese garden. At the end of the restaurant the large steel plates of the teppan sat on the marble benchtop.

We sat together at the teppan. The waitress poured us some Japanese green tea and gave us the lunch menu. Typically for Hong Kong restaurants, it had a set-price lunch menu for the office crowd. We all ordered the same thing. Then Louise pulled out her notebook and I felt a jolt of dismay.

‘Uh, Louise,’ I said as I raised my hand, ‘don’t bother about that. I haven’t had time. I’ve been flat out busy and haven’t even been collecting names. So you win by default. I’m paying.’

‘Humph.’ Louise put her notebook away. ‘I had some really good ones too. There’s a guy in a shop in Mong Kok called Circus Wong.’

‘So how’s life in Australia, April?’ I said. ‘Andy’s not joined you there yet?’

‘He’s always having emergencies at work, he can’t leave yet,’ April said. ‘Soon.’

‘It’s nearly three months since you went yourself, April,’ Louise said. ‘He should be making a move.’

‘When he’s back in Hong Kong we’ll talk about it,’ April said. ‘He said he’ll see me again before I go home to Australia.’

Louise and I stared at her.

The chef came out from the back of the restaurant. He bowed to us and we nodded back. He turned on the teppan and polished the plate completely clean with a wet cloth.

‘Did you just say that your husband isn’t in Hong Kong?’ Louise said.

April watched the chef. ‘He had another emergency at work. We had a couple of days together, then he had to rush off to China.’ She brightened. ‘But he says he’ll definitely come to Australia to see me at Chinese New Year. Because I’m his family.’

Louise and I shared a look.

‘Are you still working as nanny, Emma?’ April said. ‘Yep.’

‘What about your study?’

‘Still doing that.’

‘What gym do you go to?’ Louise said. ‘Gym?’

The chef put some prawns on the plate and expertly moved them around.

‘You’ve been working out,’ Louise said. ‘You’ve lost a lot of weight.’

‘I run around the Peak,’ I said. ‘That’s all.’

‘Not learning martial arts off your Mr Chen?’ Louise said.

I didn’t reply.

Louise grinned. ‘I want some good news soon, Emma.’

‘Never going to happen.’

‘How about you come along with me on Saturday night then and I introduce you to a couple of new guys at the bank? Both of them are really cute.’

I hesitated, then, ‘Not Saturday. I’m busy.’

‘Don’t moon over him if he isn’t going to do anything about it, Emma.’

‘I have study to do.’

The chef placed the cooked prawns on our plates. April picked up a piece and delicately dipped it into the garlic sauce. She popped it into her mouth. ‘Eat. This is good. Fresh.’

Louise and I tried the prawns as the chef cooked some chicken fillets.

‘You have to go and see Aunty Kitty, Emma, she has something for you,’ April said.

‘Geez, April, I resigned from the kindergarten nearly a year ago,’ I said. ‘Why doesn’t she just give up?’

‘She says you have an award or something. Because you were such a good English teacher. She says you have to go to her house and collect it,’ April said. ‘Apparently it’s a prize or something. A holiday.’

‘You can have it, whatever it is.’

‘You mean it?’

‘Yeah.’

‘You’re too generous, Emma,’ April said. ‘I’ll go and collect it for you.’

‘Okay, whatever,’ I said. ‘I don’t have time to take a holiday right now anyway.’

The chef placed thinly sliced beef on the plate, then put long-stemmed enoki mushrooms in the centre and rolled the beef around them. It cooked very quickly.

My mobile phone rang and I answered it. ‘Emma.’

‘Hello, Emma. It’s Jade. Can you talk?’

‘I can talk, but nothing special.’

‘Okay. I was just wondering—I have an appointment with the tailor tomorrow afternoon and thought you might like to come along and have some cheongsams made at the same time. We could have lunch, then go and choose some silk and have some dresses made for you.’

‘Sounds great. When? Where?’

‘Can you meet me at the Princes Building? Noon?’

‘Sure. But I need to clear it with Mr Chen first.’

‘Don’t worry, I just asked him, he said it’s okay. He said something about buying your own clothes for a change. What does that mean?’

‘Don’t worry about it. Is he there? Let me talk to him.’

‘No, he’s not here, I just talked to him. I need to run. See you tomorrow?’

‘Sure. Bye, Jade.’

I snapped the phone shut, then checked to see if it had recorded her number. The call wasn’t there.

The chef broke a couple of eggs on the teppan, stirred them around, and made fried rice for us. ‘Last dish.’ He bowed crisply. ‘Thank you.’

‘I have to go soon,’ April said. ‘I need to go to the Consulate and do some paperwork for Andy.’

While April was in the ladies’ room Louise and I shared speculation.

‘Do you think it’s possible that he’s genuine?’ I said. ‘And that the emergencies are for real?’

‘Not in a million years,’ Louise said. ‘Something is definitely going on here. He’s avoiding her.’

‘If he married her for the Australian passport, he’d have been over there months ago. She must be a cover for him.’

‘The funny thing is,’ Louise said, ‘she doesn’t really seem to care. She’s quite happy to be married to a man who avoids her, provided he visits her at Chinese New Year.’

After lunch I wandered through the shops of Causeway Bay for a while. I went to the computer mall in Windsor House to buy a few pieces of hardware for my computer, a new DVD drive and some more memory. I’d asked Gold to upgrade the machine but he never seemed to have time.

I felt a coldness behind me as I walked back through Causeway Bay to the lay-by where Leo would collect me. I knew what it was. I quickened my pace without looking back, then dived into a tiny below-ground shopping centre selling Japanese collectibles and video games. The shopping centre had glass everywhere and I could see them following me.

They looked like perfectly ordinary Chinese men in their mid-twenties, but they were definitely following me. Two of them. I felt a jolt of panic, then calmed myself. As long as they thought I wasn’t trained in the Arts they wouldn’t come after me; it wasn’t honourable. I checked them: they were only small, about level five or six. I could take them if I had to.

The shops were in a loop and I wandered casually through, pretending to look at the collectible trading cards and gundam figures in the windows. The demons followed me.

They were still further back in the shopping centre when I reached the entrance again. I trotted smartly up the stairs into the busy Causeway Bay street and hauled my mobile phone out of the pocket of my jeans.

‘Yes?’ It was Leo on his mobile in the car.

I headed quickly down the street towards the lay-by where he would pick me up. ‘How far away are you, Leo?’

‘About five minutes. Is there a problem?’

‘There’s a couple of demons tailing me. About level five or six. If you don’t turn up soon I may have to face them.’

‘Don’t take them on, whatever you do,’ Leo said fiercely. ‘Go to the pick-up point and wait. I’m on my way.’ He hung up.

I hurried to the lay-by. Fortunately there were a large number of people there, waiting for taxis. There was the usual scramble every time a cab appeared; Hong Kong people would sometimes conveniently forget how to queue.

I nervously stood at the lay-by and waited. The demons positioned themselves across the road at the entrance to one of the shoe shops, leering at me. They didn’t make a move towards me.

The car appeared and I quickly climbed in.

‘Why did they follow me?’ I asked Leo when I was in the car. ‘They shouldn’t be coming after me; as far as they know, I’m not trained.’

‘They may try you out, Emma,’ Leo said. ‘It’s becoming obvious from the way you move that you’re trained.’

‘What?’ I cried, horrified. ‘They’ll attack me?’

‘I’m surprised they haven’t had a go at you already,’ Leo said. ‘I think it’s only a matter of time before something small gets sent against you, just to see if you really are learning from Mr Chen.’

I thumped the back of his seat, furious. ‘Why the hell didn’t you tell me?’

He shrugged. ‘We didn’t want to freak you out.’

I leaned back, crossed my arms over my chest and looked out the car window. ‘You will both thoroughly keep.’

‘He knew you’d react like this, too, and he was scared.’

I glanced at Leo. ‘He was scared?’

Leo’s expression didn’t shift. ‘When you get mad, you are extremely scary.’

I glared at him, then I couldn’t help it. I collapsed over my knees, laughing. The four-thousand-year-old God of the Arts of War was scared of me!

‘You are more and more scary every day.’

When I returned to the Peak I stormed straight into Mr Chen’s office without knocking. I leaned on the mess on his desk and glowered at him.

‘Don’t tell me—you were attacked,’ he said.

‘No,’ I said, ‘I was followed. Why didn’t you tell me?’

He just watched me silently.

‘You are scared of me.’

He smiled slightly.

‘You’re a god, John,’ I said, exasperated. ‘What the hell can I possibly do that you could be so scared of?’ He didn’t say a word. I spun and opened the door. ‘You could leave us,’ he said softly as I went out.

The next day at noon I didn’t see Jade arrive; it was as if she had been there all the time. She smiled and quickly embraced me. ‘Where would you like to go for lunch?’

‘How about yum cha?’ I said. ‘I haven’t had any in a long time. Mr Chen doesn’t go; nothing vegetarian. Are you vegetarian?’

‘Absolutely not,’ she said. ‘I know a good place nearby, excellent yum cha. Come with me.’

After lunch we dodged through the taxis and cars and went into the Landmark.

‘I bought that gold dress here,’ I said. ‘It cost a fortune. Since we’re doing these charity things all the time now, having something more comfortable would be good.’

Jade stopped and looked at me. ‘You go out with him all the time?’

I stopped as well. It had never occurred to me that she might be jealous. ‘As friends. That’s all.’

‘Good.’

She walked to the escalators and we rode them past the enormous Christmas tree that had been set up in the atrium.

‘What do you do for Christmas?’ I said. ‘What does Mr Chen do?’

‘Christmas?’ Jade looked at me blankly. ‘Christmas is about the same time as Winter Solstice, so we get together with family. But for Christmas?’ She shook her head as we stepped off the escalator at the top. ‘No. Nothing.’

‘It’s a big thing in Australia. It’s different, because it’s in the middle of summer, but we have a lot of traditions.’

‘It is a big festival?’

That stopped me dead. I’d never thought of Christmas as a festival. ‘I guess you’re right. It would be fun to share it with you.’

‘You are very generous, Emma—willing to share your family time with me.’

‘We’re all family. You, Gold, Mr Chen, Monica, Simone, Leo, everybody. We’re all family.’

She took my hand and squeezed it. ‘You’re right.’

She stopped in front of a tiny tailor’s shop with a couple of faded mannequins wearing tuxedos in the window. ‘This is it.’

She led me inside. The shop had bolts of cloth along the walls and a desk against the back corner. A door next to the desk opened and a tiny wizened old Chinese man came out. He grinned broadly and approached us. ‘Princess Jade. Welcome.’

‘Princess?’ I said, glancing at Jade.

She smiled and waved him down. ‘I am very low in precedence, Mr Li. Just Jade.’

‘How is your father?’

‘My father is well, thank you.’ Jade touched my arm. ‘This is my friend, Emma. Cheongsam, please.’

‘May I have your hand, please, miss?’

I held my hand out and Mr Li took it. He turned it over so that it was palm up and stroked it with the other hand. He didn’t stop grinning at me the entire time. It began to feel creepy, him holding my hand like that.

‘No need, Mr Li, Emma is human,’ Jade said. ‘The Dark Lord’s human nanny.’

‘I see,’ Mr Li said, the grin not shifting. ‘But she is trained. She has been trained by the Dark Lord himself.’ He gave me my hand back and gestured towards the back of the shop.

‘That’s right, she asked to learn,’ Jade said, smiling sideways at me.

‘Excellent,’ Mr Li said, grinning over his shoulder. ‘This way.’

He led us through the door at the back of the shop and I stopped dead.

We were in an enormous factory room. The far wall was so far away it was almost invisible. Rows and rows of young women worked on old-fashioned industrial sewing machines. Sunlight streamed in from windows set high on the walls. Outside, it had been a grey and miserable day.

‘Jade, this room is bigger than the whole shopping centre. Where the hell are we?’

‘This is the back room,’ Jade said. ‘Come. The silk is at the end.’

Some of the girls smiled up at us as we passed them. When we reached the far wall Mr Li sat us at a large high work table covered with books of fabric. He gestured towards the bolts of silk covering the entire wall behind us. ‘I will let you take your time and choose. Tea?’

‘Bo lei,’ Jade said. ‘We just had yum cha.’

Mr Li barked orders to the staff in Cantonese.

Jade sat next to me and pulled the fabric books closer. There must have been at least twenty of them.

‘God, there are so many,’ I said, overwhelmed.

‘No, it’s easy,’ Jade said. She flipped one of the books open. ‘This is embossed, not embroidered. Longevity.’ She studied me. ‘Do you know what that is?’

I shook my head, flipping through the pages of different-coloured silk, all embossed with stylised circular patterns.

‘Each pattern is a character for longevity.’ She pulled another book out and flipped it open. ‘Flower brocade.’ Another. ‘Dragons.’ She held the book up at the green dragon brocade. ‘I like this. I may have one made as well.’

‘Feel free to take a sample if you wish to make your own, Princess,’ Mr Li said as he passed behind us. ‘You know you do not require my services.’

‘Are you sure?’

Mr Li stopped and gestured towards the rows of busy young women. ‘I have quite enough work as it is.’

‘Is the Dark Lord’s suit finished?’

Mr Li’s face lit up. ‘Of course. I forgot. Let me fetch it for you.’ He chuckled. ‘Who would have thought of such a thing. The Dark Lord Xuan Wu himself requiring the services of a tailor. I must have a plaque made.’

‘You should see what he wears at home,’ I said, studying the silk in front of me.

‘He is the scruffiest Immortal on any plane,’ Jade said, and we giggled together.

Mr Li tutted and raced away to fetch the suit.

Jade turned to look at me. ‘We should choose a colour that suits your complexion first, and then you can select the design. You have beautiful white skin, Emma, what do you use to whiten it?’

‘Whiten it?’

‘You know, make it a lighter colour.’ She smiled and touched my arm. ‘Of course. I forgot. You’re European.’

‘You forgot for a moment that I’m not Chinese?’ She nodded, still smiling.

I threw my arm around her shoulder and gave her a quick friendly squeeze, making her smile widen. ‘I am absolutely delighted. I’ll take it as a compliment. Now…’ I flipped through the book. ‘How about this white silk? It’s beautiful.’

Jade’s face went strange.

‘Oh, of course, white is for funerals.’

‘Tai chi chuan uniform,’ Mr Li said as he charged past. ‘Suit coming.’

‘He is quite correct.’ Jade raised her voice. ‘And the suit had better hurry, we are nearly ready to choose.’ She lifted a book of silk and flipped it in front of me. ‘Dark blue suits you. Pink is lovely.’ She raised another book and opened it. ‘This.’

I looked down. She held a sample of black silk with large golden chrysanthemums against me. ‘The gold flowers bring out the highlights in your hair.’

‘And the black brings up her pale complexion.’ Mr Li dropped a linen bag onto the table next to us. ‘Lord Xuan’s suit.’ He nodded at the book of silk. ‘Lord Xuan’s colour. His livery. Most fitting.’

I hesitated.

‘Oh, black is for mourning in the West,’ Jade said, pulling the book away.

‘No, we wear it all the time anyway,’ I said. She put it against me again. ‘It really is perfect.’

Mr Li turned and barked some orders in Cantonese, and a whole bolt of the black silk floated off the shelves towards me. I backed away; the bolt was easily big enough to crush me

‘Stay still, it won’t hurt you, I have it,’ Mr Li said. He guided the silk to wrap itself around me, then waved one hand. A mirror appeared, floating next to the work table. It had no frame; it was as if the air itself was suddenly reflective.

‘Look, Emma,’ Jade said, and I turned to see.

They were right. The black silk suited me perfectly. The golden chrysanthemums shimmered against me, making my hair glow.

But it was Xuan Wu’s… John’s colour. I realised then, there was nothing I wanted more in the world than to stand side by side with him, wearing the black silk. Both of us in black. And have him smile down at me.

I wanted it so much it hurt.

‘I’ll have blue embroidered with small flowers, and pink embossed longevity,’ I said, pulling the black silk away. The silk unwrapped and floated from me.

‘You should take the black, it’s perfect,’ Mr Li said.

‘No. No black.’

‘Are you sure, Emma?’ Jade said, disappointed. I sat at the work table and opened the books I’d chosen. ‘This. And this. No black.’

‘The black is lovely on you,’ Jade said. ‘Maybe next time.’

‘Would you like a lift home, Emma?’ Jade said as we walked back through Central.

‘Leo is collecting me from Theatre Lane,’ I said. ‘I didn’t know you had a car.’

‘I don’t, I can’t even drive.’ Jade stopped at one of the designer shopfronts. ‘That jacket is beautiful.’

‘Oh my God, that’s real fur!’

‘The shoes are beautiful too.’

‘Animals had to die for that coat, Jade.’

Her eyes widened. ‘I never thought of it like that. Of course. And the shoes are snakeskin.’ She shook her head. ‘I didn’t even think of it.’

‘Some of my other Chinese friends are like that too,’ I said. ‘They didn’t connect the leopard-skin coat that pop star wore at those awards with—’

‘I saw that,’ Jade said. ‘Stunning.’

‘—with the fact that the pop star was wearing a dead protected animal. That was so wrong.’

‘You Westerners eat your pre-packaged cuts of meat, all clean and tidy, without thinking of the dead animal behind them.’

‘I suppose you’re right.’

‘It’s a cultural thing.’

‘I guess. Still like the coat?’

‘I adore it, but I wouldn’t buy it now.’ Her eyes turned inwards. ‘Leo is at Theatre Lane to collect you.’ My mobile phone rang. ‘How do you do that?’

‘Do what?’

I shook my head and flipped my phone open. It was Leo.