The Rebellion Engines

by Jeannie Lin

  As I came near, I could smell the smoky perfume of burning incense. There was a shrine with a raised altar inside. Ming-fen stood before it, head bowed, three joss sticks of incense set between her fingers. Wisps of smoke rose from the smoldering sticks, and through the haze I could see a painting of a lotus flower on the wall.

  The lotus was a sign commonly used by the followers of the enlightened Buddha. In the center of the petals was a circular design with a center hub and spokes radiating outward. I went shock-still, blinking at it.

  It was the same design Little Guo had worn. The dharma wheel, a symbol representing the wheel of time.

  Backing away, I stood in the alley and waited for Ming-fen to complete her prayer. A startled expression crossed her face when she saw me, but she composed herself quickly before coming forward.

  “Mei-mei—”

  I didn’t have the patience for niceties at the moment. “Are you White Lotus?”

  She turned and kept walking, her head high. “You make it sound like an accusation.”

  It was an accusation. “Gatherings of the White Lotus sect are outlawed.”

  “The Qing call anyone they don’t like White Lotus.”

  Ming-fen pulled ahead and I watched as she left the narrow lane toward the main road. I considered leaving her and returning to the warehouse to tell Chang-wei of this, but what did I know really? I hurried to catch up with her.

  “But you are White Lotus, aren’t you?” I asked, in a calmer tone.

  “If that’s what you want to call it.”

  I knew a few details about the followers of the White Lotus. It was a Buddhist sect that worshiped a goddess they called the Eternal Mother. That in itself sounded harmless enough, but the White Lotus Society had its roots in rebellion. Long ago, the White Lotus sect had fought against the Mongols and the Yuan. Now the sect continued to oppose the Manchu and the Qing.

  There had been an armed rebellion organized by the White Lotus Society about fifty years ago. After the sect was defeated, it had gone underground.

  “You were sent to spy on us,” I accused.

  “Sent,” Ming-fen scoffed. “There’s no dark shadowy overlord plotting to overthrow the Emperor. No one sent me to do anything.”

  “Then what is your business here?”

  She stopped and turned to face me. “Mei-mei, we should find a more private place to talk.”

  “Like your secret shrine, Jie-jie?”

  Her lips twitched. I wished Ming-fen wasn’t so much taller than me. She gazed down at me now and, though neither of us wavered, she maintained the advantage.

  “There are more opium dens in Shanghai than White Lotus shrines.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “The White Lotus isn’t what the Emperor needs to worry about. Between the Small Swords and the Taiping, there are much more dangerous enemies.”

  I wasn’t convinced. Jiang Wen and Little Guo had infiltrated the Five Factories to cause death and destruction. Weren’t they also White Lotus?

  We had reached the street that led to Burton’s mercantile. Ming-fen sensed my hesitation.

  “Whatever you may think of the White Lotus sect, I’m alone in the foreign settlement, cut off from my people in Old Shanghai. We aren’t an army with marching orders, Mei-mei.”

  “Your goals are fundamentally opposed to ours.”

  “And what are my goals?” she asked lightly. “What are yours?”

  When I didn’t answer, her tone shifted, becoming serious. “I think what I want is probably not so different from what you want. Come back to the store so we can speak in private. I swear on my family that no harm will come to you.”

  If I reported to Chang-wei that we had a spy in our midst, we would need to restrain Ming-fen somehow. We’d likely lose our ties to Burton and the entire mission would be in jeopardy. It was too much to risk on the slightest suspicion. I had to be certain of who she was.

  “I know you have knives hidden beneath your sleeves,” I told her.

  I’d observed Ming-fen carefully the last time we’d been out together. She wore loose sleeves and kept her arms covered. It was more than just a sharp tongue that kept the charlatans and con men away.

  “You have a poison dart gun,” she replied casually. “And a bladed fan hidden on you. Come up for tea.”

  The store had closed, but Mister Lawrence remained inside straightening up and sweeping after the day’s work. Ming-fen passed by him wordlessly on the way to the stairs while I bid him a hello, as it was one of the few things I knew to say.

  Once upstairs, Ming-fen prepared tea and poured the steaming water into blue and white cups decorated with an elaborate pagoda design. “This style of porcelain is in high demand with foreigners,” she explained.

  We retreated to her room which had become my room as well.

  “Jie-jie,” I began.

  “Mei-mei.” She drank her tea slowly, regarding me over the rim.

  “What is it you want from me?”

  “Do you have family?”

  I tensed. “I do.”

  “And you’d do anything to protect them?”

  I didn’t answer. For the last few days, Ming-fen had taken me around the settlement, making an effort to get close to me.

  “My mother and father were imprisoned when I was very young,” she revealed. “The Qing condemned them as rebels and marched them away, leaving me and my brother to fend for ourselves.”

  “Is that why you joined the White Lotus?” I asked carefully.

  “The White Lotus has existed in some form for hundreds of years. One doesn’t join, one just is through upbringing or circumstance. It’s how we gather together and survive. It’s not my aim to overthrow the Great Qing, if that’s what you’re worried about. What I want is the same thing you want.”

  “What do I want?”

  “To protect the ones you love.”

  I hadn’t told her anything about Tian or Mother, but I didn’t have to. She was right that we both had people close to us we wanted to keep safe.

  “I’ve known for a long time that Chen Chang-wei is a government agent. I know he’s here to retake the Old City. I won’t interfere with his plans,” she said quickly. “In fact, I hope he does succeed in breaching the defensive wall.”

  Burton had said Ming-fen was dangerous in his half-joking manner, but he trusted her. On the other hand, I hardly trusted Burton.

  “You have reason to resent the Qing government,” I pointed out. “They tore your family apart.”

  A dull pang rose in my chest. In a way, hadn’t the same thing happened to my family?

  “I don’t believe in revenge,” Ming-fen said flatly. “And it was the Small Swords who tore my family apart.”

  I listened as she recounted the story of her brother and how they’d reunited when he came to find her at the mission. They had searched Shanghai and the surrounding areas in hopes of finding their parents.

  “In Shanghai, everyone belongs to some sect or gang. The different factions tried for a long time to recruit my brother because he was trained in White Lotus fighting techniques. He’d gained a reputation as a street brawler. When the gangs came by the neighborhood to extort protection money, he was the one who chased them away.”

  I wondered whether she was deliberately leaving herself out of the story. Ming-fen also had a reputation for being a protector in the lilong neighborhoods.

  “Ren is the only family I have left.” Her voice grew quiet as it always did when she spoke of her brother. “On the day of the Small Swords uprising, Ren cut his hair and joined them. Work had been hard to come by and we’d gone for so long without any news of our mother and father. I think he’d come to the decision that they were truly gone and this was the only way to avenge them.”

  “How can you say, after all that’s happened to your family, that you hope the Qing take back Shanghai?”

  She claimed to be above vengeance, but it was clear we were on opposing sides
. If one could even draw clear lines through it. I was Manchu. And Qing. My orders came ultimately from our Emperor.

  Ming-fen glanced at me, her eyes hardening. “There is only one thing I want and that is to reach my brother. Just tell me when and where Taotai Wu is planning to attack the Old City. If the loyalists manage to breach the walls, then I should be able to get myself inside as well.”

  “How can you possibly do that?”

  She stared back at me, unflinching, and I had no choice but to believe she could.

  “If I can see my brother,” she continued. “If I can just speak to him, I’ll have one last chance to pull him away from the Small Swords.”

  This was preposterous. The plan wasn’t yet established and, once it was, there was no way Chang-wei would give up that information to an outsider.

  “I don’t have any control over the assault,” I replied neutrally.

  “I think you can be very persuasive,” she insisted. “And I think you understand that there’s more at play here than red army versus green across a game board.”

  For once, Wei Ming-fen didn’t sound haughty or overbearing. She seemed earnest, but I still didn’t know if she could be trusted.

  “With your past, with your feelings about the Qing government, why did you help Taotai Wu escape during the uprising?” I asked.

  She looked surprised at the question. “To save a life.”

  “That’s not what the White Lotus believes,” I argued.

  “It is.”

  “White Lotus rebels infiltrated the factory where I was appointed. They sabotaged the facilities, set explosives that caused so many deaths.”

  Ming-fen grew quiet, considering everything I’d told her.

  “I’m not those men,” she said quietly. “They’re not like me, but I know who you’re talking about. They’ve come to Shanghai and I can lead you to them.”

  Chapter 22

  Several days later, Ming-fen woke me in the middle of the night. I was still dressed — I’d been expecting something to happen this night, but it was still disorienting to be roused awake in the dark. We slipped out onto the empty street under the faint light of a crescent moon.

  After some deliberation, I had decided to remain with Ming-fen in the rooms above the mercantile. Chang-wei and I agreed it was good to keep her close. If the information she’d promised us was merely a ploy, a lure, then it was a good one.

  Ming-fen held a lantern with the light dimmed as we moved down the road. It was late enough that even Shanghai’s night crowd had quieted. We went forth on foot toward what was supposed to be a secret meeting place.

  There was a chill in the night air and I pulled the edges of the coat tighter around me. It was from Burton’s inventory made of wool in the Western style. I was unaccustomed to the large buttons used to fasten it.

  Halfway down the road, Ming-fen suddenly stopped. “Your beloved is following us.”

  Butterflies fluttered inside my stomach. At the same time, an embarrassed protest came to my lips and my cheeks burned. I was supposed to deny that he was my beloved, right?

  None of that mattered. Ming-fen produced a small knife from somewhere and stood with it poised between two fingers, ready to throw.

  “I told him not to come,” I protested, then called out to him in the darkness.

  Chang-wei emerged from a side lane wearing dark clothing with a black scarf wrapped over the lower half of his face. He unwound it as he approached.

  “You’re a dangerous woman, Wei Ming-fen. I couldn’t let Soling go alone.”

  “I am dangerous,” Ming-fen agreed lightly, tucking the tiny blade back into its sheath, which was hidden in the comb in her hair. “I intended to take Soling and only Soling to the meeting place.”

  “I have no interest in chasing down every member of the White Lotus,” Chang-wei said. “I only came to find the men responsible for the sabotage.”

  Jiang Wen and Little Guo had managed to escape from Hubei and come to Shanghai.

  “We need to go quickly,” Ming-fen said, coming to a decision. “Before the meeting is over.”

  Chang-wei remained close to me as we traveled. Ming-fen took us through a maze of streets, down another alleyway, then to a structure on the corner that was larger than the usual lane house. There was an old buckled gate at the front and a stone pathway overgrown with weeds that led to the gathering place.

  Ming-fen turned to us. “Nothing happens here tonight,” she warned.

  Chang-wei nodded grimly. His hand moved inside his jacket to rest at the line of his belt. We were not to take any action here. By waiting, we risked giving the perpetrators time to escape, but we had given Ming-fen our word. Still, Chang-wei had come armed as a precaution.

  The building was dark and we stepped quietly through the gate. I could see light peeking through the slits in the doorway. As we moved closer, the faint scent of sandalwood and resin hung in the air. Muffled voices came from inside.

  We followed Ming-fen to the side of the shrine room. A shard of light seeped through a window that had been boarded up. Chang-wei directed me toward the opening. At the Factories, I’d had the most contact with Jiang and Guo and would know them on sight.

  There were about seven or eight individuals packed inside the shrine room, meeting by lantern light. I searched the assembly looking for a familiar face. I didn’t recognize anyone. Part of me was relieved, but one person remained turned away with his face hidden from view. From the set of his stance and those broad shoulders—

  All breath left me and I went completely still. Chang-wei sensed the change in me and moved in to take a look. I stepped aside with my heart pounding. I knew who that was. I prayed I was wrong, but I was certain without ever seeing his face.

  Chang-wei recognized him as well. He looked at me for confirmation and I nodded, my hands clenching into fists.

  His size. The towering height. It couldn’t be anyone else but Kai.

  Taotai Wu came to the warehouse the next day with his brigade to apprehend Kai. I stood at the back of the room and Chang-wei looked on impassively as armed men entered the building.

  I’d wanted to be there, but had said nothing to Kai that morning. It was hard for me to even look at him. I think Kai knew something was wrong because I was so distant, but he didn’t try to run. He didn’t even fight as they clamped iron manacles onto his wrists. He glanced back once at me before the men dragged him away.

  “Yishi Jin,” he said heavily and my throat constricted as I held back tears.

  I half-hoped he would plead his innocence. Or, like Ming-fen had done, claim to be a religious follower of the Eternal Mother while not being part of the rebellion. He did none of that. Kai hung his head as he was marched toward the doors to the wagon outside. He stood head and shoulders above the brigade, but they outnumbered him. They were ready to shoot if he tried to escape.

  “Where are you taking him?” I asked Taotai Wu.

  He looked down his nose at me. His men weren’t part of the municipal police force or constables of the Shanghai circuit. They were imperial loyalists, recruited by Wu, and disconnected from any source of authority other than brute force. Though he was still circuit intendant, Wu had no true authority in the foreign concession. All he had was the vague expectation that one day he would be restored to his appointed seat. It was enough to grant him a small measure of power.

  It was enough power that Wu didn’t feel obligated to give me an answer.

  “We’ll find out what this scum has revealed,” Wu said, addressing only Chang-wei.

  “What of the others?” Chang-wei indicated the other workmen that Wu had provided. They had come from all over, within the city as well as from outside. Any one of them could be a rebel.

  “My people have been thoroughly scrutinized,” Wu replied sharply, implying that ours weren’t. “Pray that he hasn’t revealed too much and our mission hasn’t been compromised.”

  “We must assume that it is compromised,” Chang-wei warned.
“We have to terminate the mission. Reassess—”

  “That is not an option,” Wu said sharply. “Be ready to proceed on my word.”

  He turned to leave. Only when the wagon was gone did I find my voice.

  “They’re going to interrogate him,” I said weakly, my skin going cold. Interrogation meant torture. Kai was so strong, he would resist, which would only make it worse.

  “He betrayed us, Soling. He was allowed all over the Five Factories. He was brought into the citadel and was able to convey the layout to his cronies.”

  I’d thought of Kai as my friend from the first time we’d met. He’d set bones and closed wounds. We had cared for the injured together. I tried to tell myself it was all a cover, but I couldn’t forget how Kai had knelt over me on the deck of the war junk, with cannon and rifle fire all around us. He’d shielded me with his body without a thought.

  And yet there was nothing I could do to help him now.

  “Your mother was in that room when the explosive went off,” Chang-wei reminded me grimly.

  I nodded, feeling sick. “How can Taotai Wu continue? You have to assume the rebels know you’re coming.”

  “Wu isn’t risking his men,” Chang-wei pointed out. “That was the advantage of our approach. We’re only sacrificing heavy machinery. The loyalists will form their own assault once we’ve distracted the Small Swords. Taotai Wu will want to move even sooner now.”

  “What about Wei Ming-fen?” She was back at the mercantile, waiting for the aftermath of this morning’s capture.

  “We can’t inform her of our plan. It would be too dangerous for us. And for her.”

  He was right, but we owed Ming-fen something. “She just wants to find her brother.”

  “Wei Ming-fen is not your friend,” Chang-wei insisted. “She’s not on our side. She provided a potentially useful warning, or maybe she didn’t. Maybe she wanted you to trust her and Kai was an easy sacrifice. It’s best you have as little contact with her as possible. I’ve asked Burton to allow you to stay at his home until—” He paused, struggling for words. “Until this business is done.”