The Goddess of Yantai

by Ian Hamilton

“I don’t know what’s more exciting, selling our business or meeting you,” Mrs. Sun said to Fai. “I’ve seen everything you’ve made, and most of them many times. You are a national treasure.”

  “Would the national treasure like a drink?” Ava asked, pointing to the bottles of red and white wine on the table.

  “If you’d rather have anything else, we’ll get it,” Mr. Sun said. “Scotch, cognac, beer . . . whatever you want.”

  “White wine is perfect,” said Fai.

  “For me too,” Ava said.

  “And we pre-ordered dinner,” Mrs. Sun said to Fai. “But if you want, we’ll get you a menu and you can choose something of your own liking.”

  “I’m sure I’ll like whatever you’ve ordered.”

  “It’s Yunnan folk cuisine. I’m from there originally, and it just seemed proper to celebrate our business deal by honouring what was my home, and where I met my husband.”

  “Actually, Ava and I were there a few months ago,” Fai said. “I was on a movie shoot in Kunming.”

  “I’m from a village that borders Myanmar, but I’ve been to Kunming,” Mrs. Sun said.

  “Yunnan borders Laos and Vietnam as well, doesn’t it,” Ava said.

  “Yes, and that’s why our cuisine is so diverse. It’s all a bit of this and a bit of that.”

  “I’m anxious to try it,” Ava said.

  Mr. Sun poured wine for Ava and Fai and then returned to his feet. “A toast,” he said dramatically.

  Everyone raised their glasses.

  “Ganbei,” Mr. Sun said. Ava blinked in surprise; she’d expected some kind of speech.

  As everyone drank, the food began to arrive.

  “Wild vegetable cakes and pork ribs in a black rosé sauce to start,” said Mrs. Sun. The servers portioned food onto plates, passed them to the guests, and then left the platters in the middle of the table.

  Ava put a rib to her mouth and found that the meat was so tender she could separate it from the bone with her lips. “Wow,” she exclaimed.

  Fai, who had as healthy an appetite as Ava, bit into a vegetable cake and was equally appreciative.

  Mrs. Sun smiled proudly. Mr. Sun refilled their wineglasses, something he would do many times over the course of the evening, and not necessarily because they were empty — he simply wanted to make sure their glasses were always full.

  The food began to arrive in earnest, and Mrs. Sun provided an ongoing commentary. They had pan-fried crispy chicken thighs served on a small mountain of scallions and herbs, Tibetan-style stir-fried beef, crunchy prawns with jizong mushrooms, a huge steamed cod served with what Mrs. Sun boasted were Yunnan black truffles, and, to end the meal, fresh rice noodles cooked with a variety of mushrooms.

  As much as they all ate and drank, the conversation never waned. Fai was the focal point for most of it and gamely answered question after question, although she danced around any that were too personal about her or fellow actors.

  When the last of the noodles had been consumed, the table was cleared of platters. The servers, accompanied by the man who’d greeted them at the entrance and another in a black suit, carried in a large mango cake.

  “We didn’t order that,” Mrs. Sun said.

  “Compliments of the management,” the host said. “And in honour of Ms. Pang eating in our restaurant tonight.”

  “That’s lovely. Thank you,” said Fai.

  “Ms. Pang, do you think we could inconvenience you for a few photos?”

  Fai nodded, and for the next few minutes she was surrounded by an ever-changing assortment of restaurant staff as she smiled for camera phones and other devices.

  “Is it always like this when you go out in public?” Suki asked when things had calmed down.

  “Yes, and that’s why I don’t go out much.”

  “It was very kind of you to come tonight. We appreciate it, and we’ll never forget it,” Mrs. Sun said.

  “Ava is a special friend. I couldn’t say no to her.”

  “Thank goodness for that.”

  “And now we have to call it a night,” Ava interrupted. “We have a business meeting of our own tomorrow and we need to be sharp.”

  “I’ll walk you to the door,” Suki said.

  It took a while to say goodbye to everyone, but eventually Ava and Fai made it to the door of the private room. Suki said to Ava, “The real estate appraisers start their work tomorrow. We’ll have numbers in a day or two.”

  “That’s great.”

  “And your meeting tomorrow, is it about PÖ?”

  “You could say that.”

  “Good luck.”

  “We may need it,” Ava said.

  As Ava and Fai worked their way back through the restaurant, they drew the attention of all the staff and most of the customers. Ava wasn’t used to being gawked at and found it uncomfortable. Fai acted as if she were oblivious to it all. The host nodded at them when they reached the front of the restaurant and asked if they wanted a taxi. When Ava said they did, he ran out the front door to hail one.

  “I’m not used to being spoiled like this,” Ava said.

  “I feel smothered rather than spoiled,” Fai said as a taxi arrived.

  They sat in the back and Ava got out her phone. There were two text messages from Derek that made her smile. She was amazed by the kind of information available to people who really knew how to use a computer. She was reasonably competent, but Derek was outstanding. Then again, why wouldn’t he be? He’d never held a regular job, and now, as a stay-at-home dad, he had lots of time to devote to his computer skills. Great start, she texted back. See if you can find some names and more pics to attach to your second message.

  As Ava put her phone back in her bag, Fai’s rang. In all the time they’d been together, Ava couldn’t remember that ever happening.

  “Wei,” Fai said, and then listened intently for about a minute.

  Ava turned her head away, not wanting to intrude.

  “Yes, I did call him earlier today,” Fai said finally. “I’m meeting him tomorrow and we’ll get things settled.” She listened again and then said, “You’ll have to handle that yourself. I have my own issues to resolve.”

  “Was that Chen?” Ava asked when Fai ended the call.

  “Yes.”

  “What did he want?”

  “He talked to Mo and knows that I’m meeting him at a hotel tomorrow. He has his own meeting scheduled later in the day, but he still wants me to make it clear to Mo that he had nothing to do with your visit,” she snapped.

  “Why does that make you sound so angry?”

  “Because although he thinks I’m going to have to debase myself, all he cares about is that I make Mo so happy he’ll be able to cover his own ass.”

  “Why do you keep him around?”

  “I need an agent, and from what I’ve seen, he’s no different than the others when it comes to protecting his self-interest.”

  “From what you’ve told me, it sounds like he hasn’t done that great a job for you financially.”

  “I think that’s mainly because of the market. Chinese actors who are restricted to China can’t command the same kind of money as those who break out in Europe or North America,” Fai said. “And until PÖ came around, I was unwilling to do a lot of commercial or promotional work. I have colleagues who spend every weekend at the opening of some shopping mall or fast-food outlet. That isn’t for me. Maybe it’s my ego talking, but I have a brand I want to protect.”

  “China’s best actress?”

  “Best film actress, anyway. And one reason I’m thought of that way is the roles I’ve taken. As you know, I don’t do comedy,” Fai said with a little laugh as she squeezed Ava’s hand. “More seriously, after the first few films with Lau Lau, it was Chen who went over the scripts and made recommendations to me. Despite
everything else, he has a wonderful sense of what will make a great movie, and he has a tremendous eye for roles that will enhance my career.”

  “Then I guess you should keep him.”

  “After tomorrow he may be the one making the decision about who keeps who.”

  ( 15 )

  Ava’s mind was so full of the day lying ahead that she had trouble sleeping. Three times she got up, went downstairs, and checked her phone for messages from Derek. He didn’t disappoint her. He sent a steady stream of information by text, and finally an email that summarized what he’d found, with four photos attached. She couldn’t have asked for more. It seemed to her that if Mo really loved his son as much as he was supposed to, they had a lot of leverage to apply. Now it would come down to how well she used it.

  She was sitting at the kitchen table with her notebook open in front of her when Fai came downstairs just before eight. Her hair was tousled and her eyes bleary, and she was wearing only underpants and a thin T-shirt that accentuated her breasts rather than covered them. Ava raised her head as Fai leaned down to kiss her.

  “You were up and down all night. What was going on?” Fai asked.

  “I was getting ready for today’s meeting.”

  “And are you ready?”

  “I think so. My friend in Canada was able to provide information about Mo’s son that should get his full attention.”

  “What kind of information?”

  Ava opened her phone, accessed the messages from Derek, and showed a series of photos to Fai. “His son is obviously the young Chinese man.”

  Fai shook her head. “Are those real?”

  “Yes,” Ava said, and switched to some different photos.

  “Mo would never want anyone to see those.”

  “That’s my hope.”

  “You aren’t certain?”

  “I don’t like to take anything for granted, and I don’t know him well enough to predict his reaction. But if he loves his son as much as we’ve been told, it’s hard to believe he won’t co-operate.”

  “Then why do you seem so anxious?”

  “Well, I’m praying that we never have to use this information beyond our meeting with Mo. The idea of its becoming public is repugnant,” Ava said. “Anyway, I’m always like this when I’m getting ready for a big meeting. I need to burn off some energy. I’d like to go for a run.”

  “I wish I had some energy. I keep thinking about Mo and the film. It’s exhausting — I didn’t get out of bed like you, but I hardly slept.”

  “It will be over today,” Ava said.

  “I guess that’s true, one way or another,” Fai sighed, and then turned towards the window. “I don’t know where you could run around here. The streets are crowded, and the only park nearby is hardly big enough for twenty couples to dance in.”

  “Maybe I’ll just do some bak mei exercises in your courtyard. Would that bother the neighbours?”

  “They’d probably find it entertaining, and I’d enjoy the distraction.”

  “Then that’s what I’ll do,” Ava said and stood up. She left the kitchen, went upstairs, and put on her Adidas training pants and a black Giordano T-shirt. When she returned to the kitchen, Fai was standing at the window with her back turned and her shoulders slumped. Ava started to speak and then stopped. There was nothing she could say that wouldn’t sound trite. The only thing that would ease Fai’s stress was eliminating the Syndicate’s power over her.

  Ava stepped into the cobblestone courtyard and walked towards the centre. She turned in the direction of Fai’s house and saw her face in the kitchen window, staring out at her. She waved, then closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and began to immerse herself in the art of bak mei.

  It was an ancient martial art that had originated in southern China. It was conceived as a marriage of Shaolin and Taoist philosophies, a combination of the body’s inner mental and outer physical strengths. Its proper application was lethal, and for centuries bak mei was forbidden and only practised in secret, its techniques passed on from father to son or, in Ava’s case, from mentor to student.

  Specializing in hand strikes and low, powerful kicks at close range, the art was typified by explosiveness. What made it even more effective was that those explosions came from positions that seemed soft and relaxed, until it was too late for the target to react to a finger jab, an elbow strike, or the classic and highly destructive phoenix-eye fist. Ava’s favourite practice method was to mimic the tiger, and for half an hour she did that, coiling and recoiling with such sudden ferocity that she knew she must look strange to onlookers. When she finished, she closed her eyes, let her arms dangle loosely by her side, took some deep breaths for several minutes, and then turned and walked back to Fai’s blue door.

  The door opened before she got to it. “I’ve made a couple of movies that had kung fu in them, but I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Fai said.

  “It’s called bak mei. I started to learn it while I was a teenager. It has saved my life more than once.”

  “No wonder I feel so safe around you,” Fai said with a smile.

  “What’s made you so cheery all of a sudden?” Ava asked.

  “Two cups of coffee and watching the woman I love look so terrifyingly silly in front of the entire courtyard.”

  “I’m glad I could provide everyone with some cheap entertainment.”

  “I haven’t offended you, have I?”

  “Of course not.” Ava laughed. “And as silly as it might have seemed, that workout cleared my mind and invigorated my body. I’m ready for Mo.”

  “How invigorated are you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Do you want to share a shower?” Fai said, reaching for Ava’s hand.

  “Oh yes,” Ava said, without hesitation.

  ( 16 )

  Ava walked by herself to the end of the hutong to catch a taxi. It was only eleven, but she was nervous about traffic and wanted to give herself ample time to check into the Kempinski.

  She’d left Fai sleeping in her bed, where she’d nodded off after the shower and lovemaking. Ava had thought about waking her to say goodbye, but instead left a note on her dresser saying she’d phone her as soon as the meeting with Mo ended.

  She caught a taxi right away, and it took only a few minutes to get to the Kempinski. It was just south and a little east of the hutong, directly across Renda Huitang West Road from the Great Hall of the People. The actual name of the hotel was Kempinski Hotel Beijing Lufthansa Center, and from a distance its plain, primarily beige-tiled exterior looked like something Ava might have seen in Germany. As the taxi neared the entrance, she saw that on either side of the revolving doors the hotel operators had made a concession to something more Asian, with large, brightly lit blue glass walls decorated with cartoonish-looking golden lions.

  The hotel lobby was long and narrow, its grey and beige marble floor flanked by recessed concierge and check-in desks. The upper half of the lobby’s walls were clad in wood, again suggesting a Germanic or perhaps Scandinavian influence.

  Ava checked in, declined an offer from the clerk to accompany her to the room, and then headed for the elevator. She exited on the fifth floor and made her way to the room, which was at the end of the corridor. During the final years of her business partnership with Uncle, and as her wealth had grown, she’d become accustomed to staying in suites at five-star hotels. There wasn’t any need for a suite for the meeting with Mo, so she’d booked a single room. As she opened its door, the difference was immediately apparent.

  The room was smaller and more cramped than she’d imagined. It was dominated by a king-size bed. Facing it was a desk that ran along almost the entire wall. At the farthest point from the door, a small oval table sat next to the window. There were two small chairs on either side of the table and a high-backed black leather office chair pressed agai
nst the desk. She pictured Mo sitting with his back to the window, with her and Lop facing him. Their faces would be well lit and he wouldn’t have much else to focus on. Certainly the plainly furnished, monochromatically brown and beige room wouldn’t be much of a distraction.

  Ava sat at the desk and took out her phone and the Moleskine notebook. She called Fai first.

  “Wei,” Fai said after four rings, her voice heavy with sleep.

  “I’ve checked in. I’m in Room 520.”

  “I didn’t even know you’d left.”

  “I didn’t want to wake you. You looked so peaceful.”

  “I wish you had.”

  “I’ll remember that for next time,” Ava said. “For now, I need you to contact Mo, give him the room number, and confirm that he’s still coming here at two.”

  “I’ll text him in a few minutes and I’ll get back to you as soon as I get an answer.”

  “That’s perfect.”

  “I hope it is. I mean, I hope everything goes the way you think it will.”

  Ava looked at the Moleskine and the notes she’d made in preparation for meeting Mo. “Things never go exactly the way they’re expected, but I’m flexible enough to adapt on the fly.”

  Fai sighed. Ava sensed some hesitation in her manner, but then Fai said, “I’ll text him right now.”

  Ava ended the call and stared at her notes. What if he didn’t come? That was the one contingency she hadn’t considered. It’s too soon to start worrying about that, she thought as she called Lop.

  “Are we set?” he asked before the first ring concluded. Ava imagined him waiting by the phone all morning.

  “Yes, I’m checked in. Head over now and I’ll meet you in the lobby,” she said. She had considered meeting in the room, but she had things to do downstairs, and there was something off-putting about the idea of sitting with him in what was essentially a bedroom.

  “How about your sources in North America? Did they come through?”

  “Yes.”

  “Great. I’ll see you in about twenty minutes.”

  “That was abrupt, even for Lop,” she murmured to herself as he ended the call. Was he having second thoughts? If he was, it was a bit too late for that. She calculated that twenty minutes should give her enough time to download and print Derek’s messages and the attachments.