Fortune Is a Woman - Elizabeth Adler [131]
Elder Brother had shouted his good fortune aloud to the village and as Lai Tsin walked back people rushed from their crumbling houses to stare at the rich man in his magnificent embroidered silk robes with the precious white jade button in his hat. “He is a Mandarin,” they gasped, “a man of learning and power. He has achieved much for the son of a mui-tsai.”
But Lai Tsin ignored them as he strode on toward the great Ta Chiang, turning only once to look back at the village. “Soon,” he promised, “all this will be no more. The wind will eat away the walls of clay, the sun will dry the ponds and the drought will wither the rice fields. Then the clay will turn to dust and the wind will carry it away, layer by layer until the great Ta Chiang rises to cover it.” As though already implementing his prophesy, the wind soughed along the arid little road, fluttering the dry trees as he lifted his eyes to the distant hill where his mother’s temple would stand. “And then there will be nothing left but the temple to the memory of the woman Lilin and her child. It is as it should be.”
Turning, he walked resolutely away. The junk was waiting by the riverbank and he climbed on board, and without a backward glance sailed back to Wuhu and Nanking and Shanghai. And then to Hong Kong and Francie.
Francie was alone with Edward Stratton. She told him about her problem getting enough cargo to fill their big new ship.
“We don’t want to steal the hongs’ trade—and anyway, that’s impossible,” she said. “All we want are the crumbs from their tables, the shipments that are too small or too much trouble. We can fill half the ship with our own goods, but it must sail with a full load or we will lose money.”
“I’ll help you,” Edward promised, “but only on one condition. That you come to the governor’s reception with me tonight.”
She laughed. She knew she shouldn’t, but she said yes.
Government House was an impressive white granite building set in its own gardens. Lanterns flickered in the trees, a string quartet played a selection of operatic melodies and the British governor, Sir Henry May, told Francie, laughing, that Edward was a good fellow and she had better hurry and say “yes” and put him out of his misery.
“Everybody’s here tonight,” Edward told her, scanning the crowd expertly. “All the taipans who have said no to you are going to change their minds tonight. All you have to do is charm them.”
It was true. All the men who had sent their underlings to offer her sherry and biscuits were only too pleased to be introduced to her at Governor Sir Henry May’s residence. Beautiful women were a rarity in Hong Kong—or at least beautiful ladies were, they explained to her. And when Edward mentioned her little difficulty with the family business and the need to fill the ship, they immediately promised to help. Even though they might not have any cargo themselves, there were plenty of the smaller Chinese traders who might need space on a San Francisco-bound vessel.
And when Lai Tsin returned a week later, Francie took him to their rickety godown. She unlocked the brand-new padlock and removed the chain while he looked on, mystified, and then she showed him the shelves filled with bales of goods and wooden crates. She told him the story and he congratulated her on her first big success.
There were two things left for Lai Tsin to do before he returned to San Francisco. The next morning he met Francie and they walked down Des Voeux Road, past rows of tall, important-looking buildings until they came to an empty, weed-strewn lot dotted with ramshackle mat sheds and rickety foodstalls. The aroma of ginger and spices wafted from blackened woks balanced precariously over a dozen charcoal braziers and the high-pitched Chinese chatter competed with the noise of the traffic and the grinding and hammering coming from the building sites across the road. Small children ran underfoot, smiling beguilingly up at them as they pressed a few coins into their hands, and curious faces stared after the beautiful barbarian lady and the Mandarin in his grand blue