The Concubine's Daughter (39 page)

Steeling her resolve, Li entered the kitchen to ask for peppermint tea to ease her nausea. Ah-Ho appeared instantly at the sound of her voice. Grim-faced, she neither looked at nor spoke to Li, but addressed the most ju nior kitchen maid “Where is old dog bones, that her illustrious mistress should soil her silken slippers on the floor of this humble kitchen?” Suddenly, as surely as pointing a blade, she stared directly at Li. “Tell old dog bones to fetch her tea.”

Li heard tittering from the scullery and saw the cook smirking over her stove. The
mooi-jai
stood frozen, looking from one to the other. Li stared back at Ah-Ho, wanting to challenge her but acutely conscious that to do so would end badly. “The old one is resting. Please have hot peppermint tea sent to my sitting room.”

Ah-Ho let seconds tick by before answering, “I do not believe we have peppermint. I shall send the
mooi-jai
to buy some. It may take some time.”

“Then I shall have raspberry,” Li replied instantly.

Ah-Ho put a finger to her lips in an insolent manner. “Let me see.” She shook her head in mock regret. “I am sorry. Raspberry is never used in this house.”

“Very well, I shall have ginger tea. Surely you have ginger in your storeroom. If you do not, I shall have to ask your master to review the ordering of such simple supplies.” Li turned and left the kitchen without another word.

When the tea arrived an hour later, it was stone cold. Li lifted the lid from the cup to find a large cockroach floating beneath it, heavy with the pod of its eggs. Li saw it as the test she had always known would come, a reminder of who she really was. Even Ben’s care, love, and protection, even carrying his child, could not change the truth: She was a farm girl of no breeding who had been denounced as a fiend by her own people. In daring to rise above her station, she had committed the unforgivable sin of challenging and offending those around her.

The pregnant cockroach, dead in her cup, said all of this. As she stared at it, the fear and humiliation that had followed her for so long froze to an icy core that left no room for hesitation. She returned to the kitchen. Ah-Ho was seated at her special table with the cracked marble top, a jar of green tea halfway to her lips.

“There is a cockroach in my tea. I thought of keeping it until the master returns, so that he may see how filthy his new kitchen has become, and how careless those in his service are from their weeks of idleness in Macao. But I think the cockroach found its own way into my cup without your notice. Could this be so?”

Li’s words met with a silence so hostile that only the hens clucking in the courtyard could be heard. All work in the kitchen had stopped dead. Ah-Ho’s wide white face showed no response. The big kitchen clock ticked away the long seconds, as two red blotches slowly colored Ah-Ho’s cheeks.

When there was no reply, Li spoke again, her words clear and unhurried. “You will stand on your feet when I am speaking to you.” She waited for an agonizing moment as the spots of color spread, and slowly, her eyes murderous with hate, Ah-Ho rose to her feet. “I will have a tray
of hot peppermint tea with two cups brought to my room by your own hands without delay. You may then take away the cockroach, and nothing more will be said about it. I do not wish to trouble the master with such small matters, but there are things that you and I must speak of before he returns.”

Li turned abruptly and left the kitchen, feeling strangely calm. Within moments Ah-Ho appeared with the tray of tea. Setting it down, she straightened up to confront Li with naked hostility in her eyes.

Li was prepared. She indicated a chair, her tone deliberately calm and free of challenge. “Please, Ah-Ho, sit with me and take tea. It is time for us to talk, before—”

Ah-Ho cut Li short with a dismissive wave of her hand, closing her eyes and jutting out her chin as though the one before her were not there. “We have nothing to talk about that is not already known, but I come with a warning that you must heed.”

“Then please summon the Fish. I would have a witness to what it is you have to say.”

Ah-Ho laughed harshly. “You think she is not already listening, as she does to everything that is said among those of us who earn our silver?” Raising her voice, she called out mockingly, “Old dog bones, do you hear? I know you stand outside this door. Come and join us. We must not keep our mistress waiting.”

Ah-Ho pretended to bow as the Fish entered the room to stand to one side of her mistress. Ah-Ho leveled an accusing finger at her. “You will say nothing in my presence; you will do as you always do and listen to things that are not your business.”

She turned back to Li, but the Fish stepped between them, her small frame straight and held with dignity. “You may speak to me as a dog without a home, because I do not hear you. You grow fat on the work of others and take from them to fill your pockets, but you will not speak of threats to my mistress—”

Ah-Ho’s fury hissed through clenched teeth. “I do not hear the whimpering of an old Tanka bitch—”

Li quickly took the Fish by the arm, urging her to say no more. Ah-Ho
turned back to Li. “Do you truly think that because you are taught to speak the words of the
gwai-lo
by the backside of a baboon, you are superior to those who have served Di-Fo-Lo for years?”

The head amah made a show of composing herself, drawing a deep, shuddering breath and folding her arms. “Do you think you are the only one who listens to the witness of others, as you rely on the word of old dog bones—that I do not know that you have humiliated Elder Sister Ah-Jeh, the benevolent superintendent of Ten Willows, and squeezed the merchant Ming-Chou? That you have used your powers and your treachery to enrich those unfit for his service?”

Ah-Ho stepped closer to Li, leaning forward with a snarl of satisfaction. “You would turn upon your own father, leaving him a broken man.” She straightened, placing her closed fists upon her hips, her eyes withering in their scorn. “You have turned the head of a contented master and made him blind to your witchcraft. He showers you with gold and jewels, gives you privileges others have worked a lifetime for and will never enjoy, allows you to pick their brains, and gives you power over those who have been faithful to him.”

Ah-Ho stopped abruptly, fired by her emotion yet drained by its force. “This grand palace with its emperor’s garden, these treasures that surround you, even a shrine to spirits that have no place in it …” She spat at Li’s feet. “I piss on your shrine; it is nothing but a place for dogs to shit.”

Li too found anger burning within. “If you will not hear the truth from me, or give me the respect of your attention as I have given mine, you leave nothing now for me but to ask you to repeat these accusations to the master. We shall let him decide who speaks truth and who listens to the fairy tales of those who would bring trouble to his house.”

Ah-Ho’s solid body shook with a fury beyond her control. “Now you carry his demon brat, and once it is born he is lost to you forever. Bear him a child and both are doomed.” Ah-Ho advanced until her face was close to Li’s.

“Leave this place while you can. Return to the house of your father where you belong. Beg his forgiveness and use what you have learned to benefit those who deserve your help.” She straightened up with a snort
of mockery. “If he will not have you, then return to the gang of idiots you so enjoy and share your gains with them.”

Ah-Ho released a long, whistling breath. “You will not do to me what you have done to others. If I leave this house because of you, then you may truly fear me. A curse will come upon you and your whelp that even your lunatic mother could not bring forth. If you truly honor Di-Fo-Lo, it is you who will leave this house, not I. Consider this … run to Di-Fo-Lo with your whining and you will pay more dearly than you can begin to imagine. As long as you know where I am, you need fear nothing but your own thoughts. If I am cast out, then you need fear me.”

As Ah-Ho turned to leave, Li fought to control her answer. Every wound she thought had healed opened within her; every cut of the willow, every sneer and insult, every filthy hand that had mauled her returned with overwhelming force.

“You disappoint me, Ah-Ho. You are a fool as well as a liar. I have dealt with overfed fools before, so please, do not think I am afraid of you. I will give you one more day and one more night to think upon this. Until then I will say nothing to the master. Look upon me as what you see, not what you have heard. If you cannot see the truth, then you leave me with no choice.”

At dawn the following day, Li rose while Ben still slept, the marble terrace softly touched by the coming of first light. She descended the steps to the temple courtyard, the dank scent of marigolds strong among pockets of garden mist that stirred at her passing. Carrying a small gourd of rice wine, a bundle of incense, and fresh flowers, their petals barely opened, she reached in her pocket for the key to the shrine, her fingers suddenly lifeless as it dropped upon the flagstones. There was blood on the threshold; above it, hung from a string of copper bells, was the freshly severed foot of a fox.

Backing away from the gruesome talisman, Li hastened to awaken Ben, unable to put her horror into words. She led him hurriedly back to the temple, to find the fox paw gone and no trace of blood upon the flagstones.
He at first insisted on calling Dr. McCallum, begging her to lie down, clearly concerned for her state of mind. Only the speed with which she regained her composure convinced him that he needed to hear what she had to say.

“If you have ever truly placed your trust in me, I ask for that trust now. Never will it be so greatly tested.” They were seated at the round table in the pavilion, where nothing could be overheard. “I have asked the Fish to attend this conversation because she has witnessed all that has been said and done and has advised me many times to inform you.”

It took almost three hours to unspool the story of
sau-hai
and its influence on Ah-Ho, the veiled hostility toward Li and the open challenge so recently exchanged. She left much of this to the Fish, certain that Ben would know she was not easily deceived by her own people and had no other interest at heart than her loyalty to them both. As he listened to every threat and insult, the muscles in his jaw tightened and he was forced to look away, staring out to sea while absorbing every word.

Hamish McCallum took Li to his surgery in the Central District for tests and then to his club for lunch. When she returned, Ah-Ho and her closest followers were gone.

Ben said little of his parting with Ah-Ho, only that she had spoken strongly and scornfully in her defense. She knew nothing of a fox paw, she claimed, only that the
tai-tai
must be tired. Such visions were not unusual in one so young and heavy with her first child.

“That she lied to my face, thought me such a fool, disgusts me. I dismissed her without New Year considerations and no
lai-see
. She howled over that.” He allowed himself a wry grin. “I am afraid my ancestors are in for a rough time.

“I will have the office find replacements; please do not let this disturb you any longer.” He took her in his arms. “I am deeply sorry to have been so blind … you should have told me sooner.”

Li’s heart ached for his disillusionment. “Many times the Fish advised me to … it was something I thought that I could manage.” She searched
his face for its carefree smile, dismayed to have brought this trouble to him. “Believe me, I did nothing to provoke such things and tried everything to prevent them.” His smile broke through, as it always did.

“Must we hurry in finding others?” she went on. “We have no need of so many servants … the Fish is everything to me. The wife of Ah-Kin is an excellent cook and his son a good houseboy. There is only one other I would trust completely. Her name is Ah-Su, Number-Three Wife in my father’s house but unhappy there. She showed me kindness when all about me was despair. If you agree, I will write to her, but there is no need to hurry. Let us receive the New Year together, in our own way. If you will allow me, I will choose the time and find those we may need in this new year.”