Chapter 4 #2
Iris and April hadn’t always been close.
When April was a kid, Iris had been too obsessed with her son, Wayward, to pay attention to anyone else.
April was certainly not lacking in attention either, what with Roses painstakingly molding her protégée daughter in her own image.
But these days, Iris and April had found themselves allies of circumstance, sidelined together by a more favored faction in their family.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” April said. “Meadow is sick and everyone else is at work today, so I had to find a sitter.” She had
not meant for it to sound so accusatory, but the truth was the truth.
Iris flagged down the oven cart, ordering sizzling turnip cakes, freshly fried by the old cook. “I remember when you had not
one, but TWO nannies! You were such a young, glamorous mother.” She smiled. This dig was a bit more intentional. After all,
she was here to help April, even if April did not know it yet.
April blanched, remembering her place. “Well,” she said more gently, “since I don’t work anymore, Mom says I don’t need any
help with Meadow. You know how she is. She’s never forgiven me for leaving the company.”
Iris wondered to herself if this was the dilemma that April’s husband, Cristiano, had called her about. She leaned in. “Your
mom wants you to return to work at Sunfang Global?”
April shook her head bitterly. “Why would she? Now that I am out of the way, she has her successor in place.”
Iris was immensely relieved. That meant her son, Wayward, was not involved in whatever mess this was. She sighed sympathetically
and patted April on the wrist. “You’re upset though. I can tell. Is everything all right?”
With her chopsticks, April poked at the untouched food on her plate, not sure how to respond. Everyone knew that Auntie Iris
was clever, but she was also an unknowable wildcard, and April had learned early in life to choose words wisely in her presence.
At the same time, April had always believed that her alliance with Iris would prove fruitful someday at a pivotal moment.
Perhaps, she thought, we have finally arrived at that moment.
“It’s about Master Chu,” April relented. “Mom’s been talking to him.” She waved off a waitress offering a tray of steaming egg tarts.
“That old fortune teller? She talks to him every day, no?” Iris replied, surprised to hear his name invoked.
April rubbed her forehead, wondering if she was about to sound crazy. She lowered her voice and spoke in Mandarin. They’ve been talking about hungry ghosts. She laughed apologetically, hoping it was as crazy as it sounded.
But Iris did not laugh. Hungry ghosts? she repeated, mystified.
This was not an ideal reaction. April looked around the restaurant. “Do they serve alcohol here? I think I’m going to need
a drink.”
Hungry ghosts? Iris blinked rapidly as her ingenious mind calculated all the possible scenarios of what her big sister might
be up to. Within ten seconds, she was hit by a tidal wave of revelation as she accurately deduced exactly what was going on,
but it was quickly replaced by abject horror.
With those two words from April, Iris finally knew exactly what her sister Roses was planning. And it had everything to do
with her Wayward.
“Half a century ago, Sun she was also Wayward’s boss. How could he say no to her?
April was still raging. “And now all she does is hang that hungry ghost shit over me. I don’t understand why women like her perpetuate ideas like that, why we destroy each other for the sake of
unborn boys!”
Iris only wanted to flee. She had to get to Wayward somehow, and fast. “When China went through the Cultural Revolution,” she said, “we left many things behind. Sadly, those superstitions of hungry ghosts were not one of those things. Our lineage is only continued through men, those who can pass down the family name.” She shrugged