The King of Shanghai

by Ian Hamilton

  She turned right when she left the courtyard and walked down the alley. As she neared the street, she saw the fruit vendor staring at her. Then he looked past her in the direction of the house. She imagined that Suen was standing in the entranceway, watching her progress. She nodded at the vendor and he lowered his head in acknowledgement.

  “Is this cart always here?” she asked.

  “Every hour of every day,” he said.

  “With someone tending to it?”

  “Of course.”

  “Who buys fruit at three in the morning?”

  “You would be surprised,” he said, smiling.

  Ava figured she had a long, quiet day ahead of her, with May tied up with Suki and Amanda with Chi-Tze and the Pos. She hadn’t relished the idea of spending it alone in the hotel. Besides, she needed a distraction, and what could be better than roaming the French Concession? She turned right onto a street that was lined with restaurants and shops, most of which wouldn’t have looked out of place in downtown Toronto. She stopped at an antique store, a shoe store called Louis, and several jewellery stores. She bought a white jade bracelet for Maria and a set of ivory mah-jong tiles for her mother. The tiles came with a certificate stating that they were more than two hundred years old, which made them legal to import into Canada. Ava hoped the certificate was authentic. The last thing she wanted when she got home was to be suspected of smuggling ivory.

  If the street hadn’t been filled with Chinese merchants and shoppers, Ava could have been in Paris. The architecture was almost entirely European, the buildings fronted by trees and red cobblestone sidewalks. She tried to imagine the neighbourhood a hundred years before, a Western atoll in the middle of a gigantic Chinese sea. What had life been like for the Europeans? Did they live in isolation or did their interactions with the locals go beyond commerce? I need to read more, she thought.

  As she continued to walk, thoughts of Xu and May and Amanda took turns occupying her mind. Xu’s talk about the chairmanship had rattled her and pushed aside thoughts about the dollar transfer, but now the money began to intrude. She wondered if they had been entirely wise to take his investment offer — not that the decision could be easily reversed. By now May had committed to Suki, and Amanda and Chi-Tze were negotiating in good faith with the Pos. There was no backtracking now.

  May Ling was proving to be a steadfast partner. She was consistent and solid, and Ava found that comforting. It was almost like her relationship with Uncle. No recriminations, no second-guessing, just total support. And Amanda and Chi-Tze were cut from the same cloth — well-educated, committed, hard-working, conscientious, and loyal. How lucky she had been to fall into the company of such accomplished women. And the Po deal offered up the opportunity to take advantage of the girls’ skills.

  Her thoughts were random and her wanderings equally so. Several times she left the main thoroughfare to explore side streets, and it was early afternoon when she found herself on Sinan Road, looking at a knot of people standing in front of a gate about halfway down the street. Curious, she went to see what the attraction was. The house number was seventy-three and a sign on the gate read residence of mr. zhou. The house was closed to tourists until one o’clock, which was five minutes away. Ava got in line behind six others.

  She knew very little about Zhou Enlai, other than that he had been premier under Mao and was supposedly a moderating influence on the chairman in his later years. From what she knew about those years from her mother and Uncle and from watching Gong Li films about the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, Zhou couldn’t have had that much effect on Mao — about twenty-five million people had died during those two calamities.

  At exactly one o’clock the gate swung open. Ava went to a booth on the left and paid the admission price — the equivalent of twenty-five American cents — and was handed an information pamphlet. She stepped into the front yard and found herself looking at a house that seemed as unlikely a home for Zhou as Xu’s seemed for him.

  The brochure said the house’s architecture was in the French style, but it seemed to Ava to have elements of Swiss or German design. The structure was three storeys high and the ground-floor entrance was under a small arch. The enormous windows contained at least fifty panes of glass. There was a white wooden structure like a picket fence below each window, a feature she identified with German homes. The house was constructed of grey brick and stone, its walls barely visible beneath thick layers of ivy.

  A guide stood at the front door. She waited until all the tourists had congregated and then launched into a well-rehearsed presentation. It turned out that the house had never really been Zhou’s home. It was actually the Shanghai office of the Communist Party of China, and Zhou had bunked there during his visits to the city in 1946 and 1947. The guide went on for more than fifteen minutes, describing Zhou’s conversion to Communism and his rise in the party. He had also spent time in Shanghai in the 1920s as a spymaster, but he didn’t live at 73 Sinan Road; in fact, he had changed his address virtually every day.

  They were then led through a series of small rooms with bare wooden floors, plain walls, and odd pieces of unadorned wooden furniture. Zhou had stayed on the ground floor. The guide led them into his bedroom, where the furnishings consisted of a chair, a small dresser, and a single bed. She picked up two threadbare blankets that were on the bed and held them to the light coming from the window. The other tourists oohed, and one said it made him proud to see how the country’s first leaders had made so many sacrifices. Ava decided she’d had enough.

  Back on the street, she realized she was lost. In her wanderings she had strayed into an area that Suen hadn’t mapped. She put the map in her pocket and started to walk in the general direction of where she thought she had been. After ten minutes she came to a bakery that had the sign boulangerie above the door and a rack of baguettes in the window. The aroma of freshly baked bread wafted out onto the street. She couldn’t resist.

  A baguette, butter, jam, cheese, and two double espressos later she asked the woman behind the counter how she could get to the Bund. She left the store with a map drawn on a napkin.

  It took her close to an hour to get to the Peninsula. As she stepped into the lobby, her phone rang for the first time since she had left that morning.

  “Yes?”

  “Ava, it’s Amanda. Where are you?”

  “I just walked into the hotel.”

  “Are you alone?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m in Pudong and we have a big problem. I need you to come here if you can.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Things sort of blew up.”

  “Is Chi-Tze there?”

  “That’s part of the problem. When I called Gillian last night to say we needed more time to review the plan and that we were bringing in Chi-Tze to help, she didn’t say much. I knew she wasn’t happy about it but I thought she understood that it was necessary. Later I emailed all the plans to Chi-Tze and we spent a good part of the night going over them. When I picked her up at the airport this morning, she was primed for the meeting. However, Chi-Tze does not have the best social skills. I had barely introduced her to Gillian before she started grilling her on some details in the plan.”

  “And Gillian reacted badly?”

  “Not immediately, but Chi-Tze kept at her and I could see that Gillian was getting upset. Clark was in the room too, but not saying anything. I should have read his body language better.”

  “What happened?”

  “He exploded. He told Gillian not to answer any more questions. He yelled that the plan and his designs spoke for themselves, and either we wanted to do the deal or we didn’t. Gillian tried to calm him down but he stormed out of the room. At that point she said she wants a decision today and that it has to come directly from you or May.”

  “May is with Suki Chan.”

  “
How soon can you get here?”

  “I’m hardly dressed for business.”

  “That won’t matter to anyone.”

  “I’ll get a taxi right now.”

  “Thanks. I’ll let everyone know.”

  Ava turned and headed back towards the hotel entrance. A minute later she was in a taxi headed for Pudong. She called May Ling, but her mobile rang five times and went to voicemail. “This is Ava. Call me.”

  She leaned back her head and shut her eyes. Things were moving quickly and she felt slightly overwhelmed. Maybe she just needed time to adjust to the rhythm of the new business. Maybe six months of being idle had dulled her instincts. Whatever the cause, for the first time in years Ava felt she lacked control of the situation.

  The sound of her phone ringing broke her thoughts. “Ava, it’s May. Did everything go well with Xu?”

  “The money will be transferred to our bank account today.”

  “So, no nasty surprises?”

  “None.”

  “That’s great. Suki’s been on the phone with Beijing and we have a conference call set up with them for this afternoon. It looks like there’s a deal to be done there quickly.”

  “She’s okay with the dilution?”

  “All she cares about is growing the business. She’d rather have a small slice of a big pie than a big slice of a small one.”

  “I wish things were as settled with the Pos.”

  “What’s going on? Did Chi-Tze get here?”

  “Early this morning. She and Amanda went directly to Pudong for a meeting with them. It didn’t go well.”

  “What’s the problem?”

  “Evidently Chi-Tze aggravated the Pos. She was asking Gillian questions when Clark took offence and left the meeting. The end result is that Gillian is saying they want an answer today about what we’re going to do.”

  “That is sudden.”

  “We shouldn’t have told them yesterday that we would get back to them so soon. We raised expectations. Now, by adding Chi-Tze to the mix, we’ve muddied the waters and are looking indecisive.”

  “Still, Gillian is being unreasonable.”

  “Whether she is or not, we have to deal with it.”

  “What’s your plan?”

  “I’m on my way to the factory right now. I’ll sort it out as best I can.”

  “Ava, do whatever you think is right.”

  “What is your instinct telling you? Should we do this deal?”

  May paused. “If we do, it’s a leap of faith.”

  “That isn’t answering my question.”

  “I want to do it, but not at any price.”

  “Does the ten million bother you?”

  “No, I’m more concerned that the Pos treat us as true partners. That when it comes to any major expenditures or financial commitments, we have the control we discussed.”

  “Do you have a threshold in mind?”

  “Something that would be larger than their normal monthly operating expenditure. We don’t want to impede the running of the regular business.”

  “Okay.”

  “Ava, what do you want to do?”

  “Close the deal.”

  “Just like that.”

  “Yes. I don’t see any rational way to quantify the cost or the business’s potential. We either believe in his talent or we don’t, and obviously I am a believer. The only thing that might give me pause is if Gillian gets sticky about agreeing to the financial controls or if Chi-Tze finds something fundamentally wrong in their proposal.”

  “Clark’s behaviour doesn’t alarm you?”

  “He’s temperamental — we saw that yesterday, to a lesser degree. I would like to know what’s behind this outburst, but I don’t think we can expect him to be any different moving forward. It’s part of the package.”

  “Do what you think is best,” May said.

  “I will.”

  ( 14 )

  The guard saluted and swung open the gate for the taxi. Amanda was standing in front of the main door, looking worried.

  “Where is Chi-Tze?” Ava asked as she got out of the cab and started up the steps.

  “In the boardroom. She’s by herself. Clark has left the building and Gillian is in her office with the door closed.”

  “Tough morning for you.”

  “A surprising one, anyway.”

  “Tell me about it in a bit more detail before we go inside.”

  Amanda sighed. “I had forgotten how formidable Chi-Tze can be. I know she’s tiny and looks like she’s barely out of her teens, but when it comes to business and business analysis, she can come across like a two-hundred-pound bully. That’s what happened with Gillian. Chi-Tze was super-aggressive with her questions, and I could see that Clark was getting agitated. I should have stepped in. But I didn’t and Chi-Tze kept going at Gillian until Clark exploded and left. Gillian ran after him. When she returned, she told us he isn’t coming back and that they need a decision today.”

  “Do you still want to do this deal?” Ava asked.

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Their behaviour didn’t sour you on it?”

  “We had some miscommunication we need to fix. I wasn’t clear enough with Chi-Tze about our intentions, and that’s why she went at it the way she did. She treated it like a case study at Brandeis — her objective was simply to find fault. If I had explained better . . .”

  “Okay, I understand.”

  “I think Gillian wasn’t pleased about her being here in the first place, but as I said, she did bite her tongue and try to co-operate until Clark got involved. She’s terribly protective of him.”

  “I noticed that yesterday.”

  “So what I’m saying is that I don’t put the blame on Gillian or Clark.”

  “Let me ask you again. Do you still want to do this deal?”

  “I do.”

  “Chi-Tze had time to go over the proposal and the due diligence. What did she think?”

  “That’s the crazy thing. She thinks developing the Po brand is a tremendous idea. She says there’s no Chinese designer who’s really made a mark on the world stage, and the timing is perfect to launch someone.”

  “She hasn’t seen the clothes.”

  “She took my word that we were all impressed with them. What she’s looking at is the soundness of the proposal and how Gillian wants to execute the plan.”

  “And you obviously think highly of her judgement.”

  “Absolutely. And she’s completely sold on Gillian’s business model.”

  “She didn’t tell Gillian how she felt, though.”

  “No. As I said, she didn’t have the chance. Things blew up before she could get there.”

  “Okay, I understand. Let’s go inside and see what we can salvage.”

  Amanda opened the door and they stepped into the small foyer. The offices were quiet, people hunkered down at their desks as if trying to stay out of harm’s way.

  “Does Chi-Tze understand why things went sideways?” Ava asked.

  “Yes, and she feels awful.”

  “Have you mentioned to her that we might want her to be our person inside this business?”

  “No.”

  “Good. Now you go and talk to her and I’ll speak to Gillian.”

  Ava could feel eyes on her as they walked down the corridor. In an office that size there wasn’t much that could be said and kept confidential. At the far end Ava saw Chi-Tze watching her though the glass wall of the boardroom. Ava waved and gave her a little smile. “I’ll come and get you when things are sorted,” she said to Amanda.

  She knocked on Gillian’s door. “Just a moment,” she said. Ava heard her end a phone conversation.

  The door opened and Gillian stood directly in front of Ava. “I’m sorry we h
ad to drag you all the way here,” she said, her face set firmly.

  “I was pleased to come. I just wish it were for a different reason,” Ava said.

  “Things got out of hand.”

  “So I heard.”

  Gillian backed into her office. “Here, take a seat.”

  “Is it okay to talk in here?”

  “The offices on either side of me are empty.”

  Ava nodded and sat down. “Amanda has explained to me what happened and why it happened.”

  “I have to say we were disappointed.”

  “Surely you didn’t think we wouldn’t have more questions after hearing your proposal.”

  “I told you that you aren’t the only people we’ve spoken to about the business,” Gillian said sharply.

  “You did.”

  “Well, aside from the fact that most of them wanted Clark to keep designing for their own labels, the chemistry just wasn’t right. All they could see was numbers and all they wanted to talk about was numbers. When I met Amanda and she told me about you and May Ling, I thought there might finally be a fit. I have to tell you, Amanda conducted a very thorough, professional, discreet, and sensitive due diligence on our business.”

  “I’m sure she’ll be happy to know that you think so.”

  “And in the talks I had with her, she came across as someone who cares about the soul of the business. I know soul might be a funny word to use, but Clark and I see the business as a living, breathing entity, full of people we’ve grown up with and love.”