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By Root 1189 0

ginger and ginseng, woks and teapots, bedmats and padded quilts, lanterns, chairs, ricepaper shades for the windows, shoes and clothing. I will find out immediately what ships are en route from the Orient and I will telegraph an order for their entire consignments, whether they dock at New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, or San Francisco. I will corner the market on all the next shipments into America. I will rent a warehouse and fill it with my goods. I will open a shop in a favorable location with good fung shui, where the crossroads meet and many people pass by. I will treat my customers with respect and give them good prices so when the other merchants are finally back in business it is Lai Tsin they will remember and return to.” He picked up his red bandana with his twelve thousand dollars and held it out to the Elder. “All this I can do, if the Honorable Grandfather grants me his assistance. And if the gods are willing.”

“And what makes you think that finally the gods are favorable to you?”

Lai Tsin thought over the old man’s question carefully and he knew there was only one answer. “My fortune has changed since I met the gwailo woman,” he said honestly. “She has much to teach an ignorant peasant like me. It was she who told me that I need no longer be a gambler. And it was she who showed me the way.”

The Elder said angrily, “A gwailo woman, Lai Tsin? A ‘foreign devil’?”

“Honorable Grandfather,” Lai Tsin protested quickly, “she is an orphan of the earthquake. She has a good heart and a sad life and we have helped each other. And even though she is the daughter of foreign devils, she has been kind to this lowly Chinese peasant.”

The Elder thought for a long while, sipping his tea and watching Lai Tsin. Finally he nodded. “I believe your story. And I see the cleverness of your plan depends upon its quickness. I am prepared to lend you an equal amount to your twelve thousand dollars. What guarantee do you give that you will repay the money?”

Lai Tsin sighed. “I have no guarantee, Honorable Grandfather. Just the knowledge that I will succeed.”

The Elder nodded approvingly again. “There are many who come to me for money who are not as honest as you, Ke Lai Tsin,” he said. “And for that you will have your chance. But in return for the risk, as well as repaying the money and lending an equal sum to the credit so others can benefit from the system, you will also pay five percent of your profits up to the sum of twenty-four thousand dollars into the association.”

Lai Tsin bowed respectfully again. “Honorable Grandfather,” he said solemnly, “the day I pay the five percent will be the happiest of my life.”

Annie had found a tiny room and invited Francie to share it, but she preferred her new life on the street. Little Son was playing with friends and Francie was alone. She tidied the shack, swept the floor, and went to fetch more water. Then she lay down on her bedmat, suddenly tired. But the problem she was refusing to face would not go away and she sat up again.

She stared at Lai Tsin’s straw pannier lying in the corner. She knew it contained his worldly possessions, and suddenly consumed with curiosity, she went to the pannier and opened it. His treasures were few: a pair of ivory chopsticks, the title deed from the Hong Kong land that he had won gambling, a long wooden box, and a dogeared sepia photograph of a pretty girl in Chinese robes. The girl was sitting on a chair with a scalloped paper fan clutched in her hand and Francie looked at her for a long time. She had the same dark almond eyes and oval face as Lai Tsin and she knew it must be his sister. She picked up the wooden box. It was about eighteen inches long with a curved lid. She hesitated; she knew she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t resist. She lifted the lid and looked inside. On the bottom lay a silky braid of glossy black hair bound with scarlet yarn.

“The braid was my sister’s,” Lai Tsin said from the door, and Francie jumped guiltily. She said, blushing, “I didn’t mean to pry. I just don’t know what made me do it.”

He shrugged. “Curiosity sometimes overcomes