Chapter 30
Caroline had held out friendship to Lisan. Had offered her the chance to leave Shanghai, to travel and see the world. Lisan
wasn’t sure yet. But tonight, when she and Caroline went to the Astor House Hotel, at least she would be away from Lennox
Manor, break free from the feeling that now jangled at her nerves like a fire alarm. Get out. Get out.
She needed to start packing for Caroline, but first there was Ju Ming’s letter to post. She nearly rang for Xiao Wu, then
realized all the servants were gone. She hurried out to the gate and gave the gatekeeper a coin to take the envelope to the
nearest letter box, which was out by Jessfield Road.
The elderly man fidgeted, looked down. “I won’t be coming back, Miss,” he said.
Another defection. She felt in her pocket for another coin, handed it to him. “That’s all right. I will tell Chin. Just make
sure you post that letter.”
Lisan would pack for Caroline while she and Mason ate lunch.
Then she would pack for herself, a task that would take all of ten minutes.
Switching on the attic light, she looked around at the stacks of miscellaneous furniture, avoiding the pile of framed pictures in the corner.
She pulled out a valise and a small suitcase for Caroline, then paused for a moment at the door on her way out.
Her eyes swept the attic, trying to identify the prickling sensation that had prompted her to look around a second time.
Something about the crates from New York.
The lid was back on the wooden crate, the one containing the Dominics’ china, crystal, and silverware.
Lisan had deliberately left the wooden lid offset, the way she’d found it when she discovered the missing knife. Now the lid
was neatly pulled over the rough slats of the container. Had one of the departing servants helped himself to some valuables
before leaving? She lifted the lid and looked inside. The box with the carving set was back in place, tucked against the other
boxes. She opened it, expecting the fork to be gone as well. Instead, the carving set was complete, both knife and fork. Someone
had taken the knife and then put it back.
Lisan stared at the box, recalled what Caroline had said about small items going missing and then being returned. It had almost
been enough to make her believe in ghosts. The knife had been returned very recently. The most rational explanation was that
one of the servants had stolen the knife and then his courage failed when Chin began asking questions and he returned it.
She would tell Chin, put his mind at ease.
She took the luggage to Caroline’s dressing room and started packing. She only had to bring just enough for a few days and
it didn’t take long. Fortunately Caroline kept all her jewelry in a leather case like a hatbox. Lisan laid the case on top
of the valise, straightened up, and stumbled, a moment of light-headedness. She hadn’t eaten a thing yet today.
Her own packing could wait; she would make herself a quick lunch from the food Zhao had prepared.
There was a forlorn air to the kitchen, the empty chairs pushed neatly under the long tables, all the pots and pans put away.
Only the smell of cooked rice and spices lingered to remind Lisan of the many convivial meals she had shared in there, the stove presided over by Zhao the cook, waving his ladle occasionally to make a point.
To her delight, Yao was standing at the stove, boiling water for tea. She couldn’t contain her relief at the sight of him.
The morning post had brought him a note from Master Liu and he had left Lennox Manor right away.
Yao held out a paper bag of dried sour plums, her favorite snack. She took one, savored its sour-salty taste before opening
the pantry door. There she found some of Zhao’s chicken and sticky rice, wrapped in bamboo leaf packets. She longed to eat
them steamed and hot, the fragrance of bamboo leaves infusing the rice, but cold would have to do. She unwrapped one and put
half in a bowl for herself, half in another for Yao.
“It’s very quiet,” he said, pouring water into a teapot. “Have we lost more servants? I ran into Chin on Brenan Road—he said
he was going to the market to buy fresh vegetables for dinner. ”
“It’s just the two of us now and Chin,” she said, handing him a bowl and chopsticks. “Even the gatekeeper has gone. Why did
Master Liu want to see you?”
“News from Fourth Uncle,” he said, digging into the rice. “The Pinkerton detectives found Prince . . . your father.”
The detectives had sent a brief telegram to let Master Liu know they’d located Mr. Zheng. He’d been injured in a riot but
was recovering very well.
“Yes, and a lucky thing it was,” Yao said, shaking his head. “I heard rumors about a massacre in Mexico but had no idea Prince
Tsai had been caught up in all that horror.”
Three hundred Chinese killed. Shopkeepers and market gardeners, from an immigrant community with its own bank and a doctor.
A community that had been peaceful, thriving, self-sufficient, and hardworking.
“Master Liu sent for me because he received a telegram from your father, who is safely back in America now,” Yao said. “He will be in Canada in time to greet you. Whatever Masako Kyo threatens, you’ll be safe.”
“You mean, no one would bother going all the way to Canada?” she said.
“Master Liu has a plan,” Yao said. “He will say that you went to Foochow to attend college on your scholarship. But you’ll
never reach the college. A young woman, traveling alone in dangerous times—anything could’ve happened.”
She nodded, understanding. “You know, Masako Kyo was here three days ago,” Lisan said, “the day Thomas Stanton died.”
“She came to see you again?” Yao’s eyes were intent.
She shook her head. “No, some nonsense to do with Mrs. Stanton. When Kyo left, Mrs. Stanton was extremely upset.”
“Well, never mind Mrs. Stanton. Master Liu wants you home right away,” Yao said. “He wants you safely in hiding until you
leave China. He sent me here with an automobile, which is just outside the gates.”
Fourth Uncle had reported that Masako Kyo was now in Peking, where she wouldn’t be able to resist boasting about her discovery:
that she knew how to bring Prince Tsai back to court.
“But what about Master Liu?” It occurred to Lisan that her guardian was also at risk. “Isn’t he also in danger? I mean, Prince
Tsai’s enemies, wouldn’t they also try and use him? Force him to tell them where my father is?”
“It’s hard to bully a member of the powerful Liu family,” Yao said. “Master Liu would simply deny Kyo’s assertions since she
has no proof. The problem will be if anyone from court sees you. The resemblance to your mother is her proof.”
“But I’ve been given another choice, you know,” Lisan said, making up her mind. “Yao, Mrs. Stanton wants to leave Shanghai and travel the world. She’s asked me to go with her, as a paid companion.”
“You can’t mean to actually go.” Yao looked at her, aghast. “It’s not what Master Liu wants. It’s not what your father wants.
I’m here to take you back to the villa.”
What they wanted. What they wanted. Those words, those assumptions. When she was so tired, when there had just been a death in the house. When Charles
and Rosalie and Lennox Manor were doing their best to drive her mad.
When Ju Ming was out there, following her heart and her adventuresome spirit.
“All my life, I’ve done what others wanted because I haven’t had a choice,” Lisan said. “Yao, when you saved me, you were
saving me from my mother’s decision to kill herself and her daughters. Her decision. Then I did whatever Master Liu wanted.
But Mrs. Stanton has given me another choice.”
“Lisan, it wasn’t for trivial reasons that your father brought us to Master Liu,” he said, his voice rising. “If his enemies
catch up with you, you’ll be putting your own father in danger. What sort of daughter are you?”
“Evidently not as good a daughter as you are a loyal servant,” she retorted, “therefore if I’m kidnapped, why should my father
turn himself in, reveal his whereabouts for such an ungrateful child?”
“Lisan, they could hurt you. Please,” Yao said, the look on his face so helpless that she nearly relented.
“Then we must convince them I’m only an orphan, a street urchin Master Liu took in,” she said, “and if everyone tells the
same story, they’ll believe it. Come, Yao. It’s the same tale the whole Liu family and their friends have believed for the
past decade. Now I must go and pack. We’re leaving this afternoon and checking into the Astor.”
“You can’t go with Mrs. Stanton.” He reached for her hand. “You may never see Shanghai again. I may never see you again.”
She pulled her hand away. “But, Yao, you’ve never really seen who I am. I’m not Prince Tsai’s daughter, I’m not. I don’t remember
anything of that life, even now. I have my own ambitions, modest though they are. Tell Master Liu that.”
“Lisan,” he said, “I’m going to drive away, run some errands for our journey, perhaps tell Master Liu what you just said.
And then I’m coming back, because you’ll have changed your mind by then. And if you’re not here, I’ll go to the Astor. And
by the way, I may not know everything about you, Lisan, but I know you’re intelligent and sensitive and compassionate. Please
don’t put your faith in a rich foreigner.”
Lisan stayed in the kitchen after Yao left, washed up the dishes. She had wanted to run after him, tell him the only reason
she’d leave China was for him, not for a father she didn’t know. That she was tired and on edge, sorry for losing her temper.
But that she’d meant what she had said about wanting a choice.
The door to the dining room was closed. Caroline and Mason were in there with the lawyers. Lisan checked the breakfast room,
saw the morning paper still lying on the sideboard. It was unlikely either Caroline or Mason had bothered reading any newspapers