The Opium Lord's Daughter

by Robert Wang

  Lin decided he would stay in Canton to offer advice and support to Chi San, but his services were never requested. Chief Investigator Cheng stayed with Lin Tse-Hsu and continued to serve him faithfully.

  Charles Elliot, who had taken command after the rear admiral determined he was too ill and left for England, was delighted by the news and felt that a settlement in favor of England was finally possible. Chi San let Elliot know he was ready for negotiations and suggested meeting in Macau, an appropriate, neutral location. Elliot rejected this idea, insisting instead that the meetings take place aboard the Wellesley.

  When the Chinese entourage arrived on board, Elliot made sure they saw the plentiful stores of gunpowder and cannonballs. He pulled the entire battle group into a tight formation, with marines and other landing infantry lined up on all ships. It worked—Chi San and his group were duly intimidated. In the captain’s dining room, Elliot served his guests a formal English luncheon that required the use of unfamiliar utensils. When it was time for negotiations, Chi San stumbled over his own words, confusing the translators. The battle was lost before it began.

  Enough time had passed, Elliot insisted, for the emperor to agree to his terms; otherwise, hostilities would resume. He demanded the immediate occupation of Hong Kong. In fact, he was halfway to moving his troops there already, with or without the emperor’s consent. Chi San lost ground on all issues and began to stall, first claiming that he was ill and needed time to recover, then asking for a recess so the emperor could discuss these matters further with his advisors. When Emperor Dao Kwong learned of the British demands, he became furious with Chi San. It was obvious that the British intended to increase shipments of opium through the four new open ports they wanted. Ceding territory to a foreign sovereign was unimaginable—allowing Hong Kong to become a base for illegal opium sales would be profoundly humiliating.

  Elliot lost patience with all this stalling and, true to his word, ordered an attack on several small island forts near Fu-Moon on January 7, 1841. These islands were easy prey for the Nemesis and the Wellesley and suffered substantial casualties. General Kwan Tien Pui watched in dismay as they fell, dreading an even stronger attack on Canton.

  Captain Bremer landed with a large party to formally take possession of Hong Kong without a treaty authorizing its occupation. When the emperor received word from a loyal subject whose report had not been altered, he was furious and issued another edict; this one discharged Chi San and sent reinforcements to Canton. Three imperial officials replaced him, and Chi San was shackled and returned to Peking in a prisoner’s cage for his failure to deter the British. Two weeks later, when Elliot learned of the latest imperial edict, he concluded that the time was right to launch an attack on the fortifications of Fu-Moon.

  “Once those miserable piles are down, we can take possession of Canton,” he told his aide with pride. “Don’t know why we bothered negotiating with the yellow bastards at all.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Fu-Moon, February 1841

  Pai Chu had never been happier in her life. For almost a year, she spent every day with Su-Mei in the little rented cottage outside Fu-Moon. They learned to grow vegetables and raise chickens, and Pai Chu took over the cooking. She knew Su-Mei’s mind was on the foreign devil Higgins, but she couldn’t suffocate the love she’d had for Su-Mei almost since their first meeting. In truth, it seemed to grow stronger during their idyllic time in the country. He might never come back, she thought often. And then we can stay together.

  She longed for Su-Mei’s touch—sometimes the desire for it made her unable to catch her breath, and on cold nights she wrapped her arms and legs around her sleeping friend, and it gave her a pleasure far beyond the shared warmth. Nothing in her convent education had taught her about physical attraction or carnal desire, and in her confusion, she tried to convince herself that these feelings were what all good friends felt for each other. After all, she’d never had a close friend before. But she couldn’t quite understand the blinding jealousy she experienced at the mention of Higgins’s name. It had to be because she cared so deeply about Su-Mei’s safety and happiness, she decided. She couldn’t let her dear friend make the mistake of marrying him and going off to England. And yet she had curious thoughts late at night of holding Su-Mei close, feeling her silken skin next to her own, and wrapping her fists in her long, fragrant hair. Why wouldn’t I want to touch her? she reasoned. Su-Mei is so lovely!

  Heavenly Father, she prayed nightly, let Su-Mei see that the foreign devil will never return and that she belongs to me. Didn’t I save her life? And I would do it again—I would give her anything, my life even! She must stay with me, and we can dedicate our lives to serving Christ. We could be so happy together! We could even stay here and teach the villagers about the One True Faith. Deep in her heart, she suspected that Mother Amanda would disapprove of the depth of her feelings—her passion ought to be reserved for the Lord and her mission to carry out his work. But Mother Amanda was far away in Macau, and darling Su-Mei was so close.

  As for Su-Mei, she missed Higgins desperately and prayed daily for his return and for Da Ping to change his mind so they could all go to England together. Pai Chu’s moodiness and palpable dislike of the man she loved grated on her nerves, but Su-Mei tried to be compassionate. After all, Pai Chu did not have a handsome, kind lover trying to make his way back to her, and she suffered almost constantly from pain in her stomach and bouts of horrible vomiting.

  Da Ping was now almost fifteen years old. His dinners with Su-Mei had dwindled to once a month now, and every time, he asked for money for his “gambling debts.” Su-Mei only allowed him five mace of silver per visit, and she could tell something was wrong with him. He kept losing weight, and he was often lethargic and muddled in his thoughts. If she tried to talk to him about the way he handled his money, he complained about her nagging. Some things Higgins had told her about the habits and appearance of opium users began to take on a new meaning, and she thought more and more about poor Chu Sing.

  “Dearest Little Brother,” she said finally, “I can tell you are not yourself when you visit, and you lose an awful lot of money gambling. Tell me the truth, are you using opium?”

  “No, I am not! No!” scoffed Da Ping. “You insult me with these accusations. What do you know about being a soldier? It’s hard! I’m often sick and cold, and the work is exhausting. That’s why I’m so thin and why I don’t have the energy to walk all the way out here to see you, especially when all you do is nag when I get here.”

  “Don’t talk to me about pain!” shouted Su-Mei. “I saw our father, our mother, and the rest of our family beheaded in public, and I risked my life coming here for you, so don’t you dare belittle my suffering.” She paused and wiped away a tear. “I’m not giving you any more silver until you tell me the truth. I have always protected you, since you were born, and I always will. But I can’t help if you don’t tell me the truth. So, for the last time, are you using opium?”

  “Yes, all right, I’ve used it once or twice, but I’m not addicted,” he lied. “A lot of soldiers use it. It makes us feel braver, now that so many foreign devil fighting ships are here and it looks like there will be a war any day. It’s a trifling thing, just like a drink of strong liquor.”

  “Once or twice?”

  “Maybe three times.” Da Ping was on the verge of telling his sister about his addiction, but his courage failed him. He was petrified that war would break out and he would be on the front lines. Opium calmed his nerves and took the edge off his fear. And when it wore off, the fear was worse, and then all he could think about was getting some more.

  “Da Ping, you are the only man left in our family. You must stay healthy and safe. If you think war will break out, why don’t you just leave the army and stay here with me and Pai Chu? We can go to England when Talavas comes back for me. You will be safe there, and you won’t have to take opium, and we can build a new life together.”

  “But I don’t even know
where England is, and I’m afraid of these foreign devils,” he whined. “Honorable Father and Mother would forbid you to go; they would never allow you to marry a foreign devil!”

  “I think if our parents knew that we would be killed if we stayed in China, they would want us to go to England,” Su-Mei replied. “I know you’re afraid—so am I! But Talavas is a good man, and he’ll do his best to make us safe and comfortable. Da Ping, don’t you understand? I love him, and I want to live with him—and you! Stay here!” she begged. “Desert right now, and you won’t have to worry about those ships anymore.”

  Pai Chu, listening in on their conversation from outside, cursed Higgins for casting his spell on her beloved Su-Mei. He will never come, she comforted herself. The foreign devils lie.

  “I’ll think about it,” promised Da Ping to get his sister to stop bothering him. “I just hope we don’t have to fight the foreign devils. I heard their ships are huge, with the biggest cannons!” Da Ping often thought about deserting and running off to Macau—maybe he could even convince Su-Mei to go there instead of England—but he always found a good excuse to put it off for another few days.

  Da Ping knew very little about what was going on with the foreign devils and the ships because Magistrate Chi San had done his best to keep the common people in the dark about his negotiations with Elliot. Some news leaked, of course: Da Ping knew about the invasion of Chusan and how many British battleships had arrived in Canton, and he relayed this information to Su-Mei. She prayed that her love would be on one of those ships at the same time that she prayed the war would not happen. When Elliot had attacked the small islands near Fu-Moon, only a month before, word spread quickly, and the atmosphere at Fu-Moon grew tense. Pai Chu tried to persuade Su-Mei to return to Macau, but she refused to go. How would Talavas find me?

  Remembering his complaints about the cold, Su-Mei gave Da Ping a full tael of silver to buy a warm blanket, which he promptly spent on the finest opium he could find. What good was a blanket, he reasoned, when a ship like the Nemesis waited just outside the river mouth?

  Higgins paced back and forth on the decks of the Wellesley, wrestling with an impossible dilemma. The battle group had been given its orders to prepare for a major attack on Fu-Moon. The thought of deserting his post and somehow getting to shore to make sure Su-Mei was out of harm’s way crossed his mind, but he knew that if he deserted, he would put his crew in danger, and he would be hung if he was caught. If he and Su-Mei managed to get away, they would never be able to return to England, and they certainly couldn’t live in China. Macau was not an option—that would be the first place the military police would look. If he executed his orders, innocent people would die, possibly including his beloved. His battle group would win easily, and the casualty rate would be high on the enemy side. Higgins’s head began to pound, and he felt a twinge of nausea.

  It’s do or die: no choice but to execute my orders and hope the battle ends quickly, he concluded. Maybe the Chinese will be smart enough to surrender. But the Chinese were a proud people, he knew, and they would fight a foreign invasion until they had nothing left.

  Su-Mei and Pai Chu heard the cannons firing, and ran into the house in terror. Su-Mei prayed urgently to God to keep her brother safe and to guide Higgins to her. She had begun to formulate a plan to sneak into the fort and get Da Ping out when there was a knock at the door. She rushed to open it and found the knife sharpener panting and out of breath.

  “San San, I hope you don’t mind if I stay here until the cannons stop shooting,” gasped Wen Jing. “I’ve never seen so many ships—or such big ships—in my life. They’re destroying the fort. General Kwan and our soldiers are doing their best, but it doesn’t look good!”

  Su-Mei panicked. “My brother is there! I have to get to him!”

  “It’s not safe, San San! Everyone is leaving Fu-Moon to find shelter. You must stay here until it’s over.” He leaned against the wall, getting his breath back. “You won’t be able to help your brother if you’re dead.”

  “No, no, I must go!” She grabbed her coat and tried to move past Wen Jing.

  “San San, I admire your courage and love for your brother, but no. Stay here!”

  “Master Wen, he is the only family I have! I can’t just sit here while he’s in danger.”

  Wen Jing shook his head at the foolishness of women. “I cannot let you go alone. Let me take you into Fu-Moon by a different path. No foreign devil will see us coming.” He sighed. “You’re a good sister to worry, especially considering your brother is a trained soldier and you are just a woman. But I must insist that we wait until the cannons stop firing. It won’t be safe for us until then. You won’t be able to find your brother in this chaos, anyway, not until the fighting has stopped.”

  “Yes, all right, that makes sense. We’ll wait till the cannons stop. Thank you for helping me, Master Wen. I can never repay this kindness.”

  “My wife and daughter were killed in that horrible typhoon two years ago, little San San. I feel guilty every day that I couldn’t protect them, so I know what it feels like for you.”

  The cannons didn’t stop firing for a day and a half, and Su-Mei prayed constantly for her brother’s safety and Higgins’s return. Pai Chu’s prayers were for Higgins to die when his ship was destroyed and for Su-Mei to come weeping into her arms for solace. I will show her true love. Wen Jing had no use for prayers, so he helped around the house, drawing water, feeding the chickens, and preparing meals that the two women were too distraught to eat.

  When the cannons finally stopped, the silence rang loud in their ears. Wen Jing had hoped Su-Mei would reconsider her plan, but she was more determined than ever to find her brother.

  “Pai Chu, it’s best if you stay here in case my brother comes on his own. If he does, please tell him to stay here and wait for me,” Su-Mei said. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  “Don’t go!” Pai Chu pleaded, a wild and scared look in her eyes. “He will be all right. What can you do to save him now? The danger is past, and I don’t like to be here alone!”

  “You can’t come with us, Pai Chu,” Su-Mei said flatly. “You can’t walk quickly without pain. And I need you to stay here.” Seeing the terror and hurt in her face, Su-Mei impulsively wrapped her arms around Pai Chu. She could feel her trembling through the thick layers of her coat. “You’ll be all right—you’ll see.”

  Tears filled Pai Chu’s eyes as she watched Master Wen Jing and Su-Mei hurry away. She felt a strangling fear unlike anything she had ever known, not alone in Canton searching for Su-Mei, not on the way to an unknown place called Fu-Moon. “Hail Mary, full of grace,” she began. “The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.”

  February 26, 1841

  Lee Da Ping, his hands shaking, watched as gray dragons breathed fire, spewing smoke that spun into rose petals and then burst into fireworks. He was very high on the last of his good opium, and when he raced to alert the general, he felt like he was flying. Will I make it in time? A flash caught the corner of his eye, but he heard and felt nothing as the cannonball hit. His severed head hurtled through the air, and the last thing he saw was his own body vaporizing into a pinkish cloud. For the briefest of moments, he was enveloped in a warm, comfortable glow. This is how it felt to be born, was his last thought, and it was the best feeling—a million times better than any opium high or even sex with Little Spring. It occurred to him that maybe, just maybe, he was about to learn a wondrous secret, the answer to a riddle that people had been puzzling over since the beginning of time.

  General Kwan didn’t need a teenaged, drug-addicted foot soldier to tell him he was outgunned in every possible way. Still, the general fought to a bitter and honorable end, which came for him in hand-to-hand combat. His body was found with a bayonet in his chest. Vice General Lo Ping’s body was nearby, opened by a gunshot wound and multiple knife wounds. These men and most of the garrison gave their lives in a doomed attempt to protect their motherland from foreign i
nvaders.

  When the landing force signaled the all-clear, Captains Elliot and Bremer went ashore to inspect the situation. Higgins, still reeling from the assault, had volunteered to be part of the group, hoping against hope that he would find Su-Mei alive.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Fu-Moon, February 1841

  Willard Bell had become separated from his unit after chasing down a few Chinese soldiers who ran away from the action. Yellow bastards, he’d given them what for. Their blood was still on his uniform trousers where he’d wiped his bayonet blade. And now he couldn’t tell which was the way back to the fort and that damp puddle of a town. Bell had joined the expeditionary force instead of serving time in jail for petty crimes. He had a violent streak and had been a bully for most of his life. He felt like he’d been walking for an hour when he spotted a small cottage with a vegetable garden out front.

  “Blimey,” he said. “Haven’t seen fresh greens in months.” He snatched a greedy handful of lettuce and a few carrots and began to stuff them in his mouth.

  A Chinese woman stepped out of the house. It took Bell a few seconds to realize she was shouting at him in English. “Sir, this is our garden—please leave!” she shouted.

  “Bloody hell!” he swore. “A Chinawoman who speakee English. Hey, China lady, me soldier.” He thumped his chest, then rubbed his belly. “Me hungry, want food!”

  “I know who and what you are, and I’m telling you to leave. Go back to your ship.”

  “Your English is bloody good, China lady! Why don’t ye invite me in for a cuppa tea, and we can have us a proper chat?”

  “Sir, I won’t repeat myself. Please leave!”

  “Now don’t be so bloody rude! I’m your bloody conqueror, so yer oughtter be nice to me.”