by Robert Wang
“Good morning, San San!” Master Wen called as he knocked at the door of the rented cottage. “Would you like some work today? I’ve got another order from the fort to sharpen swords, knives, and spears, and I bet your fingers are all healed up.”
Su-Mei opened the door, happy to see anyone at all other than the crows in the garden. Higgins had been gone for three days, and it felt like three years. She passed the time teaching herself to cook simple meals, relying on her scanty memories of sneaking into the kitchen of her childhood home and watching the servants from a corner. It was not going well; all the vegetables she cooked were raw and tasteless, and the cottage smelled of charred rice. She longed for noodles but didn’t have the slightest notion of how they were made. If she hadn’t watched Master Wen Jing light the kitchen fire for her the first time, she wouldn’t have been able to cook anything at all.
“Good morning, Master Wen! May I offer you some tea after your long walk?”
Wen Jing followed her into the small, tidy house and gratefully accepted a cup of tea.
“Master, I would be happy to sharpen some more weapons for you whenever you wish. I’m so grateful to you for helping me get in to see my brother.”
“What a relief!” He finished his tea and added, “I wonder what’s going on. General Kwan has been drilling his soldiers day and night, getting ready for something, and now he wants all these weapons made razor-sharp. I hope they’re not expecting trouble with the foreign devils—I heard there was some trouble in Canton with the foreign opium smugglers and the local dealers.”
He paused, not sure he should share such a gruesome story with a young woman, but the gossip was too juicy to keep to himself. “Did you hear this special emissary executed the entire family of the biggest dealer? And he’s the son of a high-ranking noble guan in Peking, so that must mean the emperor is serious about finally getting rid of the poison the foreign devils have been bringing in for so long.” He shook his head. “I can’t remember the last time a whole family was executed.” He noticed that his apprentice was looking even paler than usual. “Oh, San San, forgive me! I shouldn’t have told you such an awful story! You look unwell, young lady.”
Su-Mei struggled to put the images of her family’s execution out of her mind. “It’s nothing, Master Wen. I just feel so sorry for the opium dealer’s family. How horrible for his wife and children!” She smiled weakly and willed the tears not to fall. “Did you carry those swords all this way? I’ll get started on them right now.”
“I’ll come by tomorrow at noon, and you can help me bring these into the fort. Hey, maybe you’ll get lucky and see your brother again.”
“They’ll be ready, master,” Su-Mei replied. “And I feel lucky already.”
Pai Chu had been coming to the entrance of the fort every day for a week since her arrival in Fu-Moon. She sat at the same place, one that gave her the best view of the entrance, every day from midmorning until sunset, when she returned to the inn for a joyless meal of broth and congee and another sleepless night. She began to worry that she would run out of money before Su-Mei appeared. God would not let that happen. He will reunite us. And she has to come visit her brother sometime.
One rainy morning she almost decided not to come at all, to instead stay in her room at the inn all day with her rosary and her fears. At the last moment, she dressed and rushed out into the cold, damp street, only to see Su-Mei walking alongside a man, pushing a handcart stacked with swords and spears. The man carried a long spear across his shoulders with baskets full of knives hanging off each end.
Her heart began to pound. “Su-Mei!” Pai Chu shouted. “Oh, Su-Mei, thank God I’ve found you!”
Su-Mei tried to signal her friend to keep quiet, but Pai Chu was overcome with excitement and rushed into the street to embrace her, crying her name. Su-Mei put her arms around Pai Chu, shouting “Dear cousin!” She whispered into Pai Chu’s ear, “Call me San San. Don’t ask questions.”
Pai Chu nodded. “San San, I have been waiting for you here for a week!”
“Who is this woman, San San?” Wen Jing asked, confused.
“This is my cousin from Canton, Pai Chu,” she said. “When I was young and always getting sick, the fortune-teller told my parents to change my name to fool the evil spirits into leaving me alone. My birth name is Lo Su-Mei. It has been so long since we’ve seen each other, and Pai Chu was so excited to see me that she forgot to use my good luck name.”
Wen Jing nodded and smiled. It was a common practice to change a child’s name to improve his or her fortune. “So should I call you San San or Su-Mei?”
“Please call me San San—that’s the name that has kept me alive and healthy so far.” Su-Mei smiled, but she felt the weighty truth of those words.
Pai Chu had kept quiet during the explanation, but she could no longer contain herself. “Cousin San San, you have no idea how worried I’ve been. I am so relieved to finally find you!”
“Well, you know I came here because my brother Ming Ming is here. I came to tell him about Honorable Father, but I decided to stay for a while.”
“How is Cousin Ming Ming?” asked Pai Chu. Questions were flooding her mind, but she bit them back. There would be plenty of time to find out everything once they were alone.
“He is well,” said Su-Mei. “But I must help Master Wen bring these weapons inside the fort now. Why don’t you wait here for me, and then we can talk? I want to hear all your news!”
“Can’t I come in with you, Cousin San San? I can help carry your baskets, and I have missed you—and Cousin Ming Ming—so much.”
Su-Mei shook her head quickly and looked meaningfully at the knife sharpener. “No, I am sorry, cousin. The general is very strict about visitors. I’ll return very soon.”
“I will be waiting right here when you do.” Pai Chu’s face blazed with emotion. Su-Mei thought she might cry or burst out laughing right there in the street.
What is wrong with her? Su-Mei wondered, but she had no time to think about it because Master Wen Jing was at the gates to the fort, waiting for her to catch up.
It was very rare that a woman was seen inside the fort, and certainly never one as young and beautiful as Su-Mei, so she attracted the attention of several men who were off duty, who promptly alerted their comrades. Before long, dozens of soldiers seemed to have urgent business in the quadrangle. Da Ping was among them.
“Big Sister!” Da Ping was there beside her as soon as she’d set the cart handles down. “I’m so happy to see you—did you bring any silver?”
“I’m happy to see you too, Little Brother,” she said. “Why do you need silver? Don’t they pay you?”
“I just need it, Sister. I lost all my pay gambling with the guys, and now I need to repay them.” Da Ping looked thinner than ever, and his face was pinched and grayish.
“When did you start gambling, Little Brother? You know it’s a terrible habit!”
Da Ping scowled. “Everyone here gambles when they’re off duty. If you don’t join in, you can’t make any friends. I don’t need a lecture—I just need money! Please,” he added, trying to soften his tone.
Su-Mei, a little startled, pulled out the pouch she carried in her waistband. She opened it to show the five taels of silver inside and was about to ask Da Ping how much he needed when he grabbed all of it.
“Thank you, Big Sister. I will repay you soon.”
She waved the idea away. “How often do you get leave?”
“We get one day every half month. Why do you ask?”
“So I can bring you to the cottage I’m renting and we can spend some time together, silly!”
Da Ping looked uncomfortable. “I usually have plans with the guys. We look forward to it. We can have dinner if you’d like, but I’ll be busy during the day.”
“Very well.” Su-Mei tried to hide her disappointment and hurt. “So when is your next leave?”
“In three days.”
“Then I will be here in the late aftern
oon, and we can have dinner at the inn. I really want to talk to you,” she said, hoping he would get the hint.
“Sure, that sounds good,” he said absently. Da Ping had dropped the silver into his trouser pocket, and now he held a palm over it, as if fearing it would fly away.
“San San! Time to go now,” called Wen Jing from the gate.
“I’ll see you soon, Little Brother,” said Su-Mei. “Try not to gamble away all your money before then.” She forced a smile and followed the knife sharpener out.
“Thank you, San San. Here are ten copper coins for your hard work,” said Wen Jing. “I’ll leave you now so you can catch up with your cousin.” He took the handles of the cart from Su-Mei and trundled off to his usual spot on the street. “Nice to meet you, miss,” he called to Pai Chu, who had appeared, as promised, as soon as they were outside the gates.
“Where is Higgins?” were Pai Chu’s first words. She entwined Su-Mei’s arm in her own, pulling her a little off balance. Su-Mei wanted to pull away but didn’t want to upset her.
“Mr. Higgins had to return to his ship. He is sailing back to England. And oh, Pai Chu, I have the most wonderful—”
“Good,” Pai Chu interrupted. “So he is not here with you? Where are you staying? With the knife sharpener?”
“No, I’ve rented a cottage here so I can be close to my brother. Pai Chu, I—”
“Su-Mei, you are so smart and resourceful! You found your brother, and you even managed to find a house to rent!” Pai Chu was talking quickly and not looking at Su-Mei as they walked.
Su-Mei tried not to roll her eyes. “You know I couldn’t have done it without Mr. Heegan. Pai Chu, listen to me. I love him, and I’m going to go to England with him as soon as I can convince Da Ping to come with us. We’re going to be married!”
Pai Chu stopped dead on the dirt track. The wind blew through the tall grass on either side, oxen lowed in the field across from them, and seabirds flew screaming above. She heard none of it. She stood still, breathing heavily, staring at the ground.
“Pai Chu? Are you all right? Are you in pain?” Pai Chu had finally let her arm drop, and Su-Mei gently patted her shoulder.
“Marry him?” Pai Chu choked out. “A foreign devil?”
“Don’t call him that! He is a good man, and I love him.”
“Oh, Su-Mei, you can’t marry him,” said Pai Chu as though Su-Mei had announced she could fly. “I don’t even think it’s legal. And what if you do follow him to England, and he takes advantage of you, and then leaves you all alone in a foreign land with nothing?” She wanted to shake her. “Come back to Macau where you belong. You’ll have me and Mother Amanda and St. Anthony’s. Your brother will be fine here, and you can forget all about this Mr. Higgins, just like he’s probably already forgotten about you.”
“No, Pai Chu, you are so wrong about him. He has proven to me again and again that he loves me, and he is the only person I can rely on now.”
“The only person?”
“I mean, besides you, of course,” Su-Mei added lamely.
“Su-Mei, I would die for you. I almost did—don’t you remember?”
Su-Mei’s face burned with shame and a little trickle of anger that Pai Chu had chosen to remind her. “Yes, I do remember, and I will forever be grateful that you saved my life. And I’m so happy we’re sisters now.”
Pai Chu ground her teeth together.
“We’re here!” said Su-Mei with a gaiety she didn’t feel. “Look, there’s my house—and your house too, for as long as you’re staying.”
There was an unspoken question in her words, but Pai Chu chose to ignore it. She also decided to ignore the unkind things Su-Mei had said about not relying on her and leaving her for this foreign devil. We’ll have this time together, she reminded herself. And I’ll prove to her that I’m the only one who really loves her, the only one she needs.
Three days later, Su-Mei was waiting for Da Ping to arrive at the inn, the only real restaurant in Fu-Moon. It was shabby but clean, and she sniffed appreciatively at the aromas of garlic, hot peppers, and frying fish emanating from the kitchen. Pai Chu had stayed home, complaining of an upset stomach, and truthfully, Su-Mei was happy to have some time away from her. She wasn’t like this in Macau, she thought. We used to have so much fun together!
The time passed, and Su-Mei feared Da Ping wasn’t coming, but then she saw his gangly soldier’s body trot across the street, dodging the mud puddles, and into the inn. “Hello, Big Sister! Here I am!”
Su-Mei smiled to see him in such a good mood. “Hello, Little Brother. How are you? Did you enjoy your day out with your friends?”
Da Ping blinked. “What? Oh! Right. Yes, it was great. We men need to get out of the barracks sometimes and forget about this madness with the foreign devils.” He played with the vinegar bottle on the table. “Sister, I’m sorry to have to ask you again, but I lost a lot of money gambling this afternoon, and I need to pay my debt. I’ll need some more silver.”
“Brother,” Su-Mei said with some irritation. “I am not Father. I don’t have silver hidden in every room, and in case you didn’t notice, I have to pay for everything myself now. I make a few copper coins sharpening knives. Look at the cuts on my hands!” She held them out, palms forward. “You have a salary. I don’t. Why don’t you stop gambling and do something useful on your days off, like coming to my house and helping me with chores? I’ve learned to cook a little, and I would love to make dinner for you at my house instead of spending money eating in an inn.”
“What do you know about being in the army, Sister?” Da Ping snorted. “Soldiers support each other. Gambling is a great distraction from the hard work and the threat of war, and I need to play to be accepted by the more experienced soldiers. The recruits who don’t gamble have it a lot harder than the rest.”
Su-Mei sighed. “I don’t know anything about being a soldier, but our lives are different now, and when you’re out of the army, you’ll need to know how to save your money.”
Da Ping grimaced at the vinegar bottle and didn’t reply. A waiter arrived with dishes and set them down expertly between them. She noticed that Da Ping only pretended to eat, pushing the pork and vegetables around with his chopsticks, which irritated her even more because now she was paying for his gambling debts and his wasted food.
Yes, the silver from her father’s shop would last her a long time if she only spent it on food and necessities. She’d bought some seedlings and planted a vegetable garden so she could spend even less. She didn’t know how long she would have to stay in Fu-Moon, but she knew Higgins wouldn’t be able to return for some time. He’d told her that the voyage to England and back took four months each way, and he could only return if and when the British were trading with China, which seemed unlikely if they couldn’t sell their cargo of opium. He swore to her that even if he couldn’t get on a trading ship, he’d sail to China as a passenger. “Nothing will stop us from being together,” he’d said. And anyway, she wasn’t leaving for England without Da Ping. She prayed every night that he would change his mind and agree to sail to England with her and Higgins. My husband, she thought fondly.
Chapter Twenty
London, 1839
William Jardine left China for good in January 1839. He had become one of the wealthiest men in England from years of smuggling opium, but now this special emissary had put an end to that. His new goal was to promote the use of British military force against China, and the best way to do that was to convince Parliament that the squabble over opium was in fact a matter of honor and that war with China could only benefit Britain. His efforts would complement the lobbying that the opium traders had begun months earlier to sway public opinion toward the idea that opium was a harmless substance and its sale a legitimate business. Lord Palmerston had already received word from Elliot that China was cracking down on opium, and that was a state of affairs that could not stand. So Jardine must fan the flames of war to force China to repay him and his colleagues f
or the twenty thousand cases of opium that Special Emissary Lin had ordered to be washed into a creek and open more ports for the purpose of free trade with the West.
As soon as he arrived in London, he went into action. His first stop was his good friend and former banker John Able Smith, now a Member of Parliament. Smith counted Lord Palmerston among his close friends and arranged for Jardine to meet with him. Palmerston proved quite receptive to Jardine’s ideas on how to deal with China; it was no surprise that he preferred to maintain the China trade and avoid the disruption to the British economy that a sudden shortage of tea and other products would have caused.
Jardine, always methodical and prepared, arrived at their meeting with specific plans. First, he suggested a blockade of all the principal ports along the Chinese coast with ships able to destroy the Chinese navy if it tried to break through. A strong expeditionary land force would then threaten an inland invasion, which would force the Chinese into negotiations. Jardine even had the terms of a treaty in mind—it would include opening the ports of Foochow, Ningpo, Shanghai, and Kiaochow to foreign trade. And if that wasn’t enough, Jardine also presented Palmerston with a memorandum outlining the specific size of the British force needed to enforce these terms. He had worked out every detail on the proposed expedition to make it easy for Parliament to justify the use of force.
But Parliament wasn’t the only front for Jardine’s campaign. He launched a public relations juggernaut to sway public opinion on the matter. National newspapers picked up the cause, presenting Jardine’s case that the Chinese had confiscated and destroyed British property, which was a direct insult to the Crown. The heathen Chinese were threatening the lives of British merchants, announced pamphlets that were suddenly available at every bookstall. Curiously, the opium trade was never mentioned in any of these publications; they appealed instead to patriotism and national honor. Some of the more daring articles hinted at retaliation for these injuries. Jardine’s plan was to generate robust public support for military action against China before Parliament even opened the debate.