by Jeannie Lin
A servant brought tea. Awkwardly, I set the box in my lap as I took the cup. Chang-wei seated himself beside me, resting his hand over his knees. He still wore the state robes designating him as an imperial official just as the rest of the crew were in military uniform.
“Are you well?” he asked as if this were merely a social visit in my family’s parlor.
“I wasn’t harmed.”
“Inspector Aguda promised me his men could track you through any part of the city. When they reported they’d lost you, I was—” His voice rose fiercely, and he made an effort to bring it under control. “I was furious.”
It was hard to imagine Chang-wei losing his temper. He carried himself with so much control. Every action and word was well thought out. Perhaps that was why he was able to retain a position with the imperial government while Yang, with his brash attitude, had no choice but to flee.
Chang-wei drank his tea now while I did the same. He appeared deep in thought.
“So that is what Yang looks like now,” he said after a while.
“Yang claims he’s rejected any allegiance to the empire—but he did give me his formulas,” I added hastily when I saw Chang-wei raise his eyebrows.
I hadn’t meant to mark Yang as a traitor. It was difficult to tell where Chang-wei’s loyalties lay, but I couldn’t forget that he wore an imperial insignia.
“Yang Hanzhu gifted his work to you, not to the Emperor,” he replied. “This was what we had set out to achieve, but I confess I had hoped for more.”
“More?”
“We could have used Yang’s knowledge and skill. He’s a brilliant scientist, but it’s clear to me that he has no desire to reconcile with the imperial court.”
Brilliant scientist. I shuddered to think of what experiments Yang had engaged in. The subjects kept in cages, dosed with opium until their minds were lost.
“Yang did mention you briefly,” I ventured.
“I’m certain he did not have favorable things to say.” He set his tea aside, agitated.
“He told me not to trust you.”
I watched Chang-wei carefully as we spoke. After my final discovery on Yang’s ship, I had to look at everyone with new eyes.
He appeared wounded. “Soling, everything I’ve told you has been the truth. Even when Inspector Aguda wanted to keep information from you, I gave you the truth. You do believe that, don’t you?”
He regarded me so intently that I felt my face heating. It was hard to decipher my feelings about Chang-wei. I had never known him beyond a name, yet we still shared so much of our past lives.
“I didn’t realize there was ill will between you and Yang,” I said, deflecting.
His tone became curt. “We’ve never gotten along.”
“Why not?”
“Yang doesn’t make himself easy to work with. He can be stubborn, disagreeable. His ideas are for his own glory, where we at the Ministry of Science should be working for the glory of our empire.”
“You were right then, that Yang would only give up his secrets for personal reasons.”
I still didn’t understand what made him decide to relinquish the formula, but Yang was unpredictable. It gave me hope that he wasn’t completely lost, but we’d never know now. He’d escaped once more to the seas.
Chang-wei looked to the box. “If I may have a closer look?”
He held out his hand, but I held on to the box and its contents. “After this, the crown prince will have no further use for me?”
“I don’t suppose he would. You’ve done everything he’s asked.”
“I can go then, without any further requirements.”
Given that I was on an imperial ship and at the mercy of the Emperor’s men, a formula scribbled on a scrap of paper was a meager bargaining tool, but it was all I had.
“If that is what you wish. You’ve more than done your duty.”
“And you’ll keep my brother from the factories? My family will be taken care of?”
I knew I was asking for too much. The crown prince had commanded me to take on this task. It was my duty. I had no right to demand a reward for accomplishing it.
“I told you I would help you if I could,” he replied stiffly.
This time I did hand the steel container over. Chang-wei wasted no time in opening it to retrieve the contents. He unfolded the paper and held it up to the light. I could see from the ragged edge of it that Yang had torn it directly from his journal.
“Is that what you needed?” I asked when the silence became uncomfortable.
“We won’t know until we test it,” Chang-wei concluded. He folded the paper back up and carefully tucked it into his sleeve. “But this is promising. I have to get this to the Ministry laboratories in Peking.”
And after that, the formula would travel to the towering factories churning with black smoke, where conscripted laborers would slave away producing the raw materials for the Emperor’s war.
It really wasn’t my concern. It was the sovereign’s duty to wage war against the invaders. It was my duty to make sure my family was cared for.
“Mister Chen,” I began.
“There’s no need to be so formal—”
“It appears you have command of this ship.”
“At the present time. The crown prince has granted me temporary authority.”
I fixed my gaze firmly onto him, emboldened by the daring of my recent escape. I would no longer be kicked back and forth between two players like a feathered jianzi.
“Let me use this opportunity to congratulate you on your respected position as well as the promotion that this formula will likely earn you. Now, if you could tell me, Mister Chen, how fast can you get me home?”
***
I expected Chang-wei to make up some excuse or argue, as Yang had, that I needed to be protected. Instead he retrieved a scroll from the cabinet and unrolled it over the captain’s desk.
“This is Canton,” he pointed out. “This is approximately where we are.”
I was surprised at how far the storm had swept us from the mainland.
“We’ll sail to Shanghai,” Chang-wei explained. “From there, I can transport the formula to the capital in two days’ time. We can also arrange to have you escorted back to your village.”
He didn’t apologize for the fact that getting the formula back to Peking was his primary objective. Given that he’d promised finally to send me home, I didn’t challenge him on it, even though there were many ports on the map that appeared closer to Linhua. I also didn’t ask him whether we would part ways in Shanghai.
“Is this plan acceptable to you?” he asked me quietly.
Were we wondering the same thing? Is this how we were meant to end? We’d finally come face-to-face again to just say farewell once more.
Chang-wei and I were still essentially strangers, and it was impossible for me to read his mood.
“It’s acceptable,” I replied and that was all we said of it.
The voyage aboard the imperial dragon boat was admittedly more comfortable than my passage on Yang’s ship. The vessel was more spacious, and I was given a private cabin that I kept to most of the time save for a daily outing above deck for fresh air.
A few days later, I was on deck watching the pattern of sunlight on the water when a shade moved over me. I knew it was Chang-wei even before he spoke.
“The sun can be harsh out on the open water,” he said, handing me a parasol.
I looked up as my fingers closed around the handle. The handle was fashioned from a thin reed of bamboo, and the canopy had a peculiar pattern. It took me only a moment to place it.
“Your falcon glider!”
“He was no longer of any service in his original form.”
“So you re-created him.”
I was delighted to see how the rattan frame had bee
n worked into the spines of the parasol, the panels recut and shaped to fit. The feathered pattern was still visible upon the silk, and I could see the outline of both eyes. Those had been repainted to look like the sun and the moon.
“But what if you had need of him again?” I protested.
“Then I’ll make a new one, as the situation dictates.”
His resourcefulness made me smile, but I kept my gaze focused out on the water.
“You know we no longer have servants to shield the sun at every step,” I told him.
In Peking, my family had traveled in sedan chairs, hefted onto the shoulders of carriers. A fine lady such as my mother, the wife of a high-ranking official, would shudder to find her pale skin baked dark like a common peasant. But I was no stranger to the sun on my back. My feet were toughened with callouses, my hands similarly rough.
“I can’t imagine what has happened to your family without feeling great sorrow,” he admitted.
I sensed he was preparing for something more. Chang-wei always became painfully formal when something bothered him.
“You must be wondering how it was that I came to be where I am,” he continued. “When so many others were stripped of their titles or branded as traitors after Wusong fell.”
“Like Yang Hanzhu and Old Liu Yentai?” I asked, finally turning to him.
A frown creased his brow. “Old Liu?”
“Engineer Liu is traveling aboard Yang’s ship as part of his crew. He mentioned your name.”
“Liu was my superior,” Chang-wei remarked with a hint of fondness. “A traditionalist from the older generation.”
“He seems to think engineering is a combination of tinkering and feng shui.”
Chang-wei chuckled. “There has always been a degree of mysticism and superstition within the Ministry of Science.”
“And you’re a nontraditionalist?”
I’d meant to tease him, but he grew quiet. I twisted the parasol in my hands, trying to find some way to recover the conversation. It was Chang-wei who spoke first.
“I don’t want you to think I’ve benefited from turning my back on your father’s memory. Or by exploiting the intimate knowledge I had of the members of the Ministry.”
“There is no need to apologize—”
I wanted to tell him that the past was the past. That I was no one to judge him, but Chang-wei went on.
“I don’t enjoy as much influence with the crown prince as it might seem, Soling. He trusts me, but only to a limited extent. I do what I can to keep your father’s old acquaintances protected. Inspector Aguda wanted to come along on this voyage to hunt down Yang, but I was able to persuade the crown prince to only send me.”
“Why are you telling me all this?”
“Because Yang told you not to trust me and I feel the need to defend myself,” he said, scowling.
With a deep breath, Chang-wei settled his hands onto the ledge. He appeared so torn that my heart opened a crack for him. Though he had claimed to have been honest with me, I knew there was still too much I didn’t know about him.
“Yang is a very dangerous man,” he began. “Because of what he knows. If he were to sell his secrets to the Yangguizi, our efforts to build a resistance would be crippled.”
“But Yang wouldn’t,” I assured. “He hates the foreigners.”
I didn’t mention that he’d confessed to hating the Emperor just as much.
“Yang docks at foreign ports. He sails among their ships, trades with them. The Ministry of Defense has considered having him arrested for that alone. I petitioned the crown prince to reconsider that and so many other charges, but it’s a difficult position for me to argue.”
He paused, his hands tightening on the wood. “Yang and I saw each other once after your father was gone,” he admitted finally.
I frowned. What could that matter?
“I knew Yang Hanzhu could be found among the foreigners,” Chang-wei confessed. “Because I spent some time among them as well. For that reason alone, our countrymen will never fully trust me.”
When he straightened, the look he gave me was as serious as I’d ever seen him. “Shanghai has the largest international settlement in the empire. It’s said that there are two cities: one that belongs to us and one that belongs to the Yangguizi. Whatever you may see or hear there . . . please remember I have the best interests of our kingdom in mind.”
I nodded, not quite knowing what I was agreeing to. He left me then, and when I turned back to the waves, I could just make out the dark outline of the shore in the distance. As grateful as I was to be returning to dry land, our conversation left me wondering whether I had made the right choice fleeing back into the Emperor’s grasp.
Chapter Fourteen
I was given two instructions upon disembarking in Shanghai. The first was to stay close.
“And don’t trust anyone,” Chang-wei warned.
The perils must have been real. He actually held a hand to the small of my back as we moved through the market area near the docks.
“We must go to the administrative yamen,” Chang-wei said. “They’ll help me relay my message to Peking.”
The streets of Shanghai swallowed us, and I was shoved against Chang-wei by the swell of the crowd. From the sheer number of shops and teahouses, Shanghai had to be unaccountably wealthy. Anything could be bought here among these lanes. The market vendors spied the insignia on Chang-wei’s uniform and immediately pressed close, holding out various trinkets.
Though I had heard the city was overrun with foreigners, I found myself surrounded by my own countrymen, through their style of dress was markedly different from Hunan province or even what I recalled from Peking. The colors were blinding, the designs ornate and the fabrics combined in a way I had never imagined: silk beneath leather, brocades and fastenings and buttons that looked like a puzzle in and of themselves.
A man crossed our path wearing a sash of imperial yellow, though it was obvious he was no more than a merchant. I looked to Chang-wei, but he registered neither surprise nor outrage even though the color was supposed to be worn only by those closest to the Emperor. This truly was a lawless place.
Chang-wei found the administrative compound and installed me just inside the gates after a quick word with the sentry stationed there. The building had the look of a fortress with so many armed guards patrolling the gates.
Whatever official business Chang-wei had to attend to took much longer than I expected. There was a long line of petitioners waiting to see the magistrate when we arrived. The line dwindled down by half, but Chang-wei still had not returned.
When he finally did reappear, I could see by his frown that something was wrong. Worry lines cut deep into his forehead, and he pulled me into the far corner of the courtyard before speaking.
“Rebels,” he said in a low voice as if the word itself were a curse.
This was nothing new to me. “There are always reports of rebels and bandits on the road.”
“This is something different. Something worse.”
“Where?”
Chang-wei ran a hand roughly over his face, and I knew the answer then. My pulse jumped.
“Is Linhua village safe? Mother? What about Tian?”
“We don’t know. Nothing is certain.”
“What’s happened? How many rebels could there possibly be?”
I knew I was demanding answers he couldn’t possibly have, but I was not going to back down. I would walk the entire way home if I had to.
“Miss Jin, you can’t go to your village. The rebels have taken over entire cities in the southern region of Hunan province. The reports say they’ve gathered an army.”
“I can’t just remain here and do nothing. I told Nan I would only be away for two days,” I protested helplessly. How many days had it been now? Almost a month.
My eyes stung with tears, and I knew I wasn’t making any sense. I didn’t fear rebellion. I feared not knowing whether my family was dead or alive.
“We’ll go to Peking first,” Chang-wei reasoned. “I’ve sent a copy of Yang Hanzhu’s notes to the Ministry, and the crown prince will be more than grateful for your contribution. You’ll be protected in the capital while the Emperor raises an army to defeat the rebels. Once he has regained control of the south, we’ll send out messengers to find your family.”
I shook my head even before he finished. “My family needs me now. Our village could still be untouched.”
Chang-wei’s jaw hardened stubbornly, but I could be stubborn, too.
I wasn’t going to hide in the capital while Mother and Tian were in danger. No one in Peking cared about people like us.
“If I lose them now, I may never find them.” When we’d been forced to flee the capital eight years ago, there was so much fear and confusion. You went where you were told, hoping that fate would be kind.
“I can’t let you go alone.”
“There must be someone going south. A merchant caravan.”
“No one is going blindly into rebel territory, Soling.” In his agitation, Chang-wei abandoned polite address completely. He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “I can find out if the governor of Shanghai will raise a militia to provide support.”
“I don’t want to be dragged into the middle of a war. I just want to find my family.”
I broke away from Chang-wei. I didn’t want him to see me so shaken. For the last years, I had been making decisions for all of us, but I didn’t know what to do anymore.
“Miss Jin.”
Chang-wei hovered just beyond my shoulder, not touching me. I didn’t turn to him. I would not allow myself to face him until I had some plan to show him I wasn’t giving up.
“There is someone who will go into Hunan,” I murmured finally.
The thought made me sick to my stomach, but I swallowed my tears as well as my pride. I turned to face Chang-wei. Behind him, the official business of the yamen continued without interruption. For these citizens, the threat of rebellion was far, far away.
