*
Lili would enjoy Puccini’s La Rondine, Pat was certain she would. He was pleased with his choice, it seemed as if the programming of the opera had been timed for Lili’s visit and the beauty of the music would mark the start of her visit.
The bank, as patron of the Royal Opera, had reserved seats in the grand tier, where they were guaranteed a perfect view, not only of the opera but also the magnificent opera house.
Pat desperately wanted to please and impress Lili. In spite of his meteoric rise to the summit of the City banking world, he had never quite shaken off his modest, straitjacketed, background and upbringing, on the edge of Limerick City in Ireland. Arriving at the Royal Opera House in the company of the beautiful daughter of a rich Chinese family was a sure sign he had made it. The twenty or so years age difference did not worry him in the slightest, at forty nine he was in good condition and felt he was at the prime of his life.
He was prepared to go to almost any length to make her visit to London a memorable one. Though a slight shadow of doubt lingered in his mind when he thought back to his own first reaction to Chinese opera, which time had done nothing to improve. There was a difference however: Lili’s education in Hong Kong and London had made her mind receptive to Western culture; the same could not be said for Pat, nothing in Limerick could have prepared him for Chinese opera.
As a young man in Ireland his only contact with China was the Jade Garden, a Chinese takeaway, near the Church of the Holy Rosary on O’Connell Street. He had to wait until his first visit to London to discover Soho for his first real, though very distant, contact with the heathen Middle Kingdom, as Brother McGuire at the Salesian College had called it.
After ten days in London Lili got down to business. Not only had her feelings for Pat been confirmed, she was also totally seduced by what he had shown her of his life in London. For a young Chinese woman, pushing thirty, Lili’s family was anxious that she marry, though the idea of her marrying a guailos was not what they had had in mind, even if he was rich. There were many thousands of very rich candidates in China to choose from. But times had changed and if mixed marriages in Guangzhou were rare, in Hong Kong they were more frequent and Lili knew she had the support of her brother and cousins.
In any case she had her own ideas. The globalised world was a small place and distances had shrunk with the speed and comfort of modern air travel. Lili could fly from one home to another in less than a day and in the kind of comfort tourist class passengers could only dream of.
Finding a home in London would not be difficult, at least for those with the money. It seemed straightforward to Lili, who formed a clear idea of what she wanted after having being invited by both Fitzwilliams and Tarasov to their respective homes in Knightsbridge.
“I’ll call Sarah Kavanagh and she’ll line up visits to suitable properties for us if you like.”
“Something traditional Pat, I wouldn’t want to be accused of being too bling back home. There’s been a lot of scandals, you know throwing money about, not to speak of corruption and all that. My father told us to be careful about conspicuous consumption.”
“Well you don’t have to worry about that here.”
“Well stories get home. Baidu loves it, I don’t want my photos posted by bloggers with those of government officials wearing very expensive watches or driving fancy cars.”
“Probably not good for business in Hong Kong?”
“That’s right. Recently expensive wines and shark fin soup sales are down a lot.” Then she added with a laugh: “Though I’ve heard they’re selling a lot of private jets today.”
“Coming to Europe to spend.”
“Like me.”
“It seems you prefer foreign brands,” Pat said pointing a finger at himself.
“Yes,” she said laughing, “and foreign cars.”
Cornucopia Page 8
