Year of the Golden Dragon (26 page)

“We need to go north,” Hong Mei said.

“How do you know?” Ryan asked. “Have you been here before?”

“Not to this part of Xian, but I’ve been to where the old palace stood. I know a little about
feng-shui
and how people, particularly an emperor, would have had his homes set up. We are now on Lishan Mountain. According to tradition, the Emperor was buried in the eye of a dragon-like shape. The river should be to the north of us.”

“How far north?” Alex asked.

“That, I don’t know,” she said.

“Well, let’s get going,” Ryan said.

“Do you think if we see anything to eat along the way, we can pick something up?” Alex asked.

“Yes,” Hong Mei said. “Do you like Chinese food?” she asked.

“Not really, but I’ll eat anything right about now,” Alex said.

Chapter 23

Beauty and the Beast

“Do you feel better now?”
Hong Mei laughed as Alex rubbed his stomach.

He nodded, but his mouth was too full to speak.

Hong Mei, Ryan and Alex were standing beside a street vendor selling steamed buns stuffed with barbequed pork.

“They’re a bit different than the ones we get back home, but they’re still good,” Ryan said, reaching for another one in the plastic bag he held.

“Yes, the kind Mama and I eat are also not the same,” Hong Mei said. “Ours have different spices, I think.” She sighed, wishing she was with her mother right now. Everyone around them – those standing in line to get pork buns or other savoury and sweet snacks, families sitting together in the restaurants along the street, or others who were making their way toward the river – were all with the ones they loved. Tonight was New Year’s Eve, and no Chinese would dream of not being with their family.

Brushing off her hands, Hong Mei said, “We can at least thank Madam Ching for not letting us starve. That was the last of the money she gave me before I went to Hong Kong to meet you.”

“That seems like a lifetime ago,” Ryan said.

She nodded. He and Alex were probably feeling just as lonely as she was. “Yeah, well, let’s not forget that she left us to rot in the royal chamber. Who knows if anyone ever goes in there?” Alex said.

The three of them looked at one another.

Ryan broke the silence. “It was quite a hike here. How much time have we got?”

Hong Mei looked down at her watch: 3:11:23.

“A little more than three hours,” she said.

“Where do you think the old hag is, anyway?” Alex asked.

“She’s got to be here somewhere,” Ryan said. “But if we still have that much time until midnight, we’d better not find her too soon. No telling what she’d try next.”

“I think we should go right down to the river, and stay out of sight there.”

Alex bit his lip and said, “But what’ll we do if we see her?”

“Nothing,” Ryan said. “We just have to make sure she doesn’t see us.”

“What if Black Dragon sees her and not us, and thinks we’re not coming?” Alex asked, his voice getting higher with each word that he spoke. “What if she shows him the jade and says we’ve let him down?”

“That’s when we’ll make our move,” said Ryan.

“But he’ll see that we don’t have the jade! He’ll see that she does!” Alex squawked.

“That is why we must stay hidden. We want to make sure to surprise Madam Ching and show Black Dragon that we have come as promised. We will tell him, in front of Madam Ching, that she stole the jade and means to keep it,” Hong Mei said.

“Don’t start freaking out now,” Ryan said to Alex. “We’ve been talking this through the whole way down.”

Hong Mei looked at the two brothers. They were lucky to have each other. She’d never really thought about having a brother or sister, but right now, she wished she had one.

“It’s easy to talk about it, Ryan. I’m just scared it’s not going to work,” Alex said, his voice no longer squeaky, but very, very low.

“It is a good plan,” Hong Mei said.

“It’s our only plan,” Alex grumbled.

“C’mon. Let’s get closer to the river,” Ryan said.

The threesome looked over their shoulders and left the outdoor food stall. They mingled with the hundreds and hundreds of other people making their way to the river. Everyone wanted to find a good spot for their families to watch the fireworks, set to start at exactly midnight.

Hong Mei looked at the other revellers and saw that everyone was dressed up in their new clothes. She thought about the red turtleneck and trousers that she’d been wearing for the last three days. They’d seemed so special when she and Mama had bought them.

Ryan must have seen the look on her face, for he came close and took her hand. “Are you okay?”

Her heart scrunched in her chest. “Yes. Are you?”

He sighed. “I’m just thinking about Uncle Peter and Aunt Grace. They’ve probably got every policeman in Hong Kong and Kowloon looking for us.”

Hong Mei couldn’t trust her voice, so she only nodded in reply. It must be terrible for the boys’ family. At least her father knew what she might be up to, and had hopefully convinced her mother that she was okay. Maybe he could even see her with his second sight and would know that she and the other heirs were doing their best to complete their unenviable task.

Hong Mei looked at Alex walking beside her with his head down. Taking his hand, she squeezed it and smiled. He didn’t return the smile or the squeeze.

After walking for about half an hour, they came to a walkway that ran along the riverbank.

Alex asked, “Why are there so many people down here?”

“They’re waiting for the fireworks,” Hong Mei said.

“Let’s go over to that stone bridge and see if we can see Madam Ching,” Ryan said.

“No, it is too open there. We still have,” she checked her watch, “more than two hours. We must find her, but she cannot see us.”

The three of them stayed close together and peered across the river and along the banks where they stood. They tried to stay hidden behind other people. Hong Mei was glad that more and more people were arriving.

Suddenly, Alex shouted, “Ryan! Look over there! Across the river!”

“What?”

“Have you found her?” Hong Mei asked.

“Not Madam Ching,” Alex said, jumping up and down and waving, “Aunt Grace!” he shouted. “Aunt Grace!”

“What? Where?” Ryan stood up on tiptoes, straining his eyes to look for her.

“There, across the river. Do you see her hair? Over there. Uncle Peter is standing right beside her.”

Hong Mei felt Alex pulling her hand.

“C’mon. Let’s go,” he started shouting out again. “Aunt Grace! Unc –”

Hong Mei clamped her hand over his mouth. “Shh! It could be a trap!”

Alex flashed her a hateful look as he pulled her hand away. “How can it be a trap? Madam Ching thinks we’re still inside the royal chamber,” he said.

Hong Mei pulled Ryan and Alex away from a few in the crowd who had begun to watch and listen to them. Most were probably curious as to why three Chinese kids were using English together. Hong Mei dragged them further away. The last thing she wanted was for them to draw attention to themselves.

“We don’t know if Madam Ching knows if we have escaped or not,” she said. “She might have discovered it and sent for your aunt and uncle.”

“How could they get here so quickly?”

“I don’t know,” she said. Hong Mei looked at Alex’s twisted face. He looked like he was suffering excruciating pain.

“Where are they?” she asked. “Can you quietly point them out to me?”

Ryan pointed through a space between several people in front of him. “Over there. Do you see that blonde woman? You can’t miss her. She’s the only foreigner there.”

Hong Mei peered to the other side and easily spotted the worried-looking aunt and uncle. But her glance did not rest on them. She felt her heart fly up into her throat. Standing next to Aunt Grace and Uncle Peter was Mama. And Baba.

“My parents,” she barely whispered. “My parents are also here.”

She watched as the foursome across the water pointed and talked together. How did they all know to come here? Had Madam Ching tricked them?

“Please,” Alex begged, “please, I have to go over there. They’re here looking for us.”

Hong Mei turned to see Alex grab his brother’s arm. “Ryan, come on. They’re right there.”

Ryan’s shoulders fell and his face crumpled. “I know, Alex. I see them, too.” His voice cracked. “But we can’t. We have to go through with this. Maybe Madam Ching brought them here and it’s part of her plan.”

Hong Mei stared across at her parents, longing to swim right over to them. She wanted to feel them next to her, saying that this was all a bad dream. She wanted them to say that she and Ryan and Alex didn’t have to do any more. They could all just go home and forget this whole thing had ever happened.

She blinked hard, focusing on Baba’s face. He’d aged, but still looked like the father she remembered. He turned toward her, as if he sensed that she was there. Saying nothing to the other three he was with, Baba looked straight into her eyes. She felt as if he had wrapped her in his arms and hugged her close.

She imagined his voice in her head, and his words were, “We are here for you. I believe in you.”

Hong Mei felt her heart soar.

She looked at Ryan and Alex and said, “I think Lao Ming brought them here. It’s not a trap. Our parents are waiting for us.”

“How do you know?” Alex asked.

“I don’t know how I know. I just do.”

She saw Ryan and Alex frown at her.

Alex asked, “Are they going to help us?”

“No, they cannot,” she said.

Hong Mei saw his face fall. Ryan must have too, for he put his arm around his brother’s shoulder.

More and more people were crowding the riverbank now. Hong Mei looked at her watch: 1:22:39. There was a little more than an hour until midnight. Where would Black Dragon be?

She said out loud, “If you were Black Dragon, where would you wait for your precious treasure to be returned?”

Hong Mei saw Ryan thinking, but Alex kept looking longingly across at his aunt and uncle.

Ryan said, “We know that Black Dragon gave the jade to the Emperor while they stood on the riverbank. But that could be anywhere along here.”

“Legends say that dragons live in the deepest part of the river. We’ve got to find that section, I guess,” Hong Mei said.

“How are we going to do that?” Ryan said.

“That’s easy,” Alex said. He nodded over at the other side of the river, down a hundred or so metres from where Hong Mei’s parents and their aunt and uncle stood. “Old Madam Ching’s already got it figured out.”

Hong Mei and Ryan looked across the river toward where Alex had nodded. There stood Madam Ching and Ching Long. Their helpers were nowhere to be seen. Had they also been “detained,” like the security guard?

Hong Mei shuddered, but said in as calm a voice as she could, “Let us make our way closer to them.”

Ryan and Alex both sighed, but they nodded in agreement. All three of them took another look at their families before Hong Mei led the way toward the bridge downriver. What would they do when they got really close to Madam Ching? Should they announce themselves and tell her they were there to help her?

No. She’d never believe that.

The goons weren’t there. They could try to steal the box and run.

No, that was too risky. They couldn’t possibly get close enough.

She nibbled at a fingernail. Master Chen had said Madam Ching was treacherous and evil. Hong Mei didn’t know if she could be evil, but she could try to be deceitful. Hadn’t Madam Ching got her way by lying to everyone?

An idea began to form in Hong Mei’s mind.

They reached the bridge and raced across it, trying not to be seen by the two Chings. When they got to the other side, the three of them walked in single file and stayed close to the trees lining the path. Hong Mei could see Madam Ching and Ching Long. They did not look her way, but seemed to be concentrating only on the water in front of them.