Year of the Golden Dragon

by B. L. Sauder

  “Ah, good. Lao Ming wait for young master to wake up,” the man said.

  The way he spoke reminded Alex of Wai-gong, his other grandfather. He’d lived in Toronto for years, but still spoke English as if he’d just arrived in Canada. “I talk three kind Chinese, and little bit English,” he would say. “Canada people lucky if they speak only one language.”

  Alex peered up at him and asked, “Where’s my brother?”

  “With Madam Ching.”

  Alex’s stomach heaved. Just the mention of that woman’s name made him feel sick. He groaned, but tried to sit up.

  Lao Ming pushed him back down on the bed. Alex was surprised to feel how strong the old man was. He looked pretty feeble.

  “Do not worry,” Lao Ming said. “Lao Ming make sure no harm come to young Emperors.”

  Huh?

  “Lao Ming sees young master has jade box.”

  Alex saw the man looking at the carved wooden box sitting on the table beside him.

  “Jade is not in box,” Lao Ming frowned, but in a kindly way. He looked very concerned. “Where is jade?”

  “A girl who told us she was our cousin stole it,” Alex said.

  “Chen Hong Mei?”

  “I don’t know. She said her name was Lily. That’s why Ryan agreed to come here,” he said as he reached for the box. “Ching Long told us that his mother –” Alex’s stomach clenched again and he winced. Why was he reacting to Madam Ching this way?

  “Now, now,” the old man said, patting Alex’s arm. “You are safe with Lao Ming. Madam Ching does not know Lao Ming is loyal to Chen family and Emperor’s sons.”

  There was a knock at the door.

  Lao Ming said quietly, “Shh. This our secret,” then went to the door and unlocked it. Ryan and Madam Ching, this time with a kitten in her arms, entered the room.

  As soon as Alex saw the woman, his head started pounding. He pulled the covers up and held them tight under his chin. He glanced at Ryan, whose face was blank and still, except for the little movements in his jaw. Alex could tell that his brother was grinding his teeth. He’d seen this expression of Ryan’s many times before. Ryan wasn’t scared. He was furious.

  Barely looking at Alex, Madam Ching asked, “Feeling better now, are we?”

  Alex’s stomach gurgled as he watched the woman tickle the Siamese kitten under its chin.

  Ryan came and stood next to him. “How are you feeling?” his older brother asked.

  “Ryan,” Alex whispered. “I want to get out of here. I feel really, really sick.” A cold sweat was making him shiver.

  Madam Ching moved to the other side of the room, looking completely unfazed. She opened a drawer in the bureau. “There are clean clothes for you here,” she said.

  Alex looked at Ryan, but he only shook his head for Alex to be quiet.

  Madam Ching moved over to a wardrobe and opened its doors. “There are also more here,” she said.

  Alex saw several long-sleeved white shirts, a few pairs of trousers and two dark-coloured blazers hanging inside. They must be Ching Long’s old clothes.

  “Now then,” Madam Ching said, “I will leave you in the capable hands of Lao Ming. Is there anything else you need?”

  “Yes, there is,” Ryan said. “We need to talk to Hong Mei. She’s got our jade and we want it back.”

  Madam Ching’s face contorted and her eyes grew enormous. She walked to Lao Ming and handed the kitten to him.

  “What did you say?” she asked, moving quickly to Ryan and Alex.

  “I tried to tell you before,” Ryan said, backing away from Madam Ching, but still placing himself between her and Alex. “We want to see Hong Mei.”

  Alex hid behind Ryan, his teeth chattering. How could he have thought she was beautiful? She had the face of a witch. The woman looked like she wanted to tear Ryan up into little pieces.

  “What?” Madam Ching hissed. “What did you say about the jade?”

  “My brother and I usually wear jade pendants,” Ryan said. “They were –”

  “I know!” Madam Ching yelled. “Just tell me where they are. Don’t you have them in there?” she asked, pointing with a long, red fingernail to the box that Alex held in his quivering hands.

  “No,” Ryan said.

  Alex stared at the woman’s hands. They were like claws. He had a flash of memory. Those hands with their long, red fingernails. He’d seen them before. He’d seen them holding a lighter.

  Alex screamed just as Madam Ching lunged forward and snatched the box out of his hands. She snapped the lid open. When she saw there was nothing in the box, she threw it across the room.

  “Where is it?” her voice was shrill. “Are you wearing it?” She reached for Ryan’s collar.

  He moved away. “We don’t have it, okay? Hong Mei stole our jade.”

  Alex was shaking so uncontrollably he thought he would explode.

  Lao Ming came to stand between the boys and Madam Ching. He lowered his head and spoke to her in Mandarin.

  Alex held his breath and watched Madam Ching thinking.

  Finally, her voice velvety again, she said, “Xiexie, Lao Ming. You are always so helpful. I know I can leave this with you, for I must find out what has happened to our Miss Chen.

  “Make sure they dress appropriately for the banquet, won’t you? I especially want them to wear the cashmere jackets I had made. We might not have the jade with us tonight, but my financiers are still expecting to dine with the Emperor’s heirs.” At this she smoothed her shiny red dress and took the kitten back from the old man. She kissed the top of the little cat’s head before smiling tightly at Ryan and Alex. “You won’t give Lao Ming any trouble, will you? It’s not a good idea to upset a Shao Lin gong fu master.”

  Madam Ching laughed as she walked out.

  As soon as she’d gone, Alex let his breath out and said, “Ryan! It was her. I saw her.” Alex’s heart pounded and he felt the tears welling up in his eyes. “She’s the one I couldn’t remember. She’s the one who started the fire!”

  Ryan’s face went deathly white. Alex watched his brother stare back at him.

  “Are you sure? How can that be?” Ryan whispered.

  “I don’t know, but I swear I remember.”

  They both turned to Lao Ming. He nodded and said, “I am sorry. What the young master say is true.”

  Ryan sat silently with Alex for a long time. Nobody said anything until Lao Ming gently urged them to get ready for the banquet. The old man said it would anger Madam Ching if they were late.

  •~•

  Just after seven o’clock, Ryan and Alex waited outside the entrance of the dining room, guarded by two large men. Before leaving them to check the food, Lao Ming had stopped them at the door and inspected the brothers again. Just when he was about to nod his approval, he caught sight of the peppermint in Ryan’s mouth.

  “Bu-bu-bu! No, no, no!” the man said, shaking a finger at Ryan. “Not nice to eat before dinner.” He held his palm out, just under Ryan’s chin, and said, “Give to Lao Ming.”

  Alex watched as Ryan kept his mouth clamped shut.

  “Give!” the old man said. “Young Emperors do not eat sweets.”

  Ryan pushed the mint out with his tongue and let it drop into Lao Ming’s hand.

  Wow. Ryan had actually listened to the old guy.

  While they stood in the doorway, Alex saw a big round table in the centre of the room, where a dozen or so adults were seated.

  Madam Ching glided toward them. Alex instinctively moved back toward the door.

  “Qing-jin-lai. Please,” Madam Ching said. “Come in.”

  Ryan and Alex cringed and looked at one another. They knew they had no choice.

  As the brothers moved toward the table, Madam Ching raised her voice and said, “Introducing Ryan and Alexander Wong – heirs to the Imperial throne and keepers of Black Dragon’s jade!”

  Chapter 17

  Friends and Foes

  Crash!

  H
ong Mei fell hard against a wall.

  Quack! Quack! Quack!

  She felt the beating of wings all around her. Covering her head with her arms, she scrunched herself into a ball.

  Things calmed down after a few moments and Hong Mei peeked out. It was smelly and dark. Where am I now? The light from the jade had dimmed. She broke the disc apart and put the pieces back into her pockets.

  “Ow!” Hong Mei whispered loudly. Something had pecked her burned arm. “Shoo!” she said as she edged along the wooden wall towards a door. A duck pen?

  “There, there,” she said to the beady-eyed fowl watching her. “I’ll just let myself out.” She fiddled with the door handle and managed to turn it. She backed out into the night.

  Hong Mei closed the door and surveyed the courtyard, catching a glimpse of a cat slinking along one wall. There were voices coming from the building next to her. She crept towards the open windows and crouched there, listening to the sounds of people working inside. Hong Mei stretched up onto her toes and looked.

  In a large kitchen, several cooks dressed in white aprons and caps prepared food. Two people chopped onions and diced vegetables, while another two stir-fried in large woks. Wonderful aromas drifted out, straight up her nose. Hong Mei’s mouth began to water and her stomach growled.

  A man in a white shirt and black vest and trousers set a large soup tureen onto a trolley. He pushed the cart toward a swinging door and Hong Mei caught a glimpse of a dining room on the other side.

  Something brushed against her leg and she jumped. Looking down, she saw it was a black-and-white cat. It peered up at her with big green eyes and meowed.

  “Scat!” Hong Mei hissed. This was no time to make friends. Bending over again to move away from the window, she saw two more cats sitting by the kitchen door. They paid no attention to her but stayed focused on the action inside. Hong Mei looked up at the wall surrounding the courtyard. An orange tabby was strolling along the top of it. Wherever she was, the people who lived here sure liked animals.

  She scurried along the brick building to the dining room. The room’s windows were closed against the cold night air but she could hear a woman speaking.

  Madam Ching? Hong Mei wanted to look inside the room, but she was scared. Would Hong Mei be welcomed for bringing the jade – or would Madam Ching attack her, like those brutes at the airport?

  Hong Mei tried to make out what was going on. Nobody was talking now, and she heard the scraping of chairs and shuffling of feet. Cautiously, she raised her head to look in the window.

  There was a round table in the middle of the room. Ten or twelve elderly people stood around it, but they were looking toward the door. At what?

  Hong Mei caught sight of Madam Ching and was about to duck down again when she saw two boys. Ryan and Alex! Hong Mei watched as the brothers moved to the table and everyone took their seats.

  They’re all right, she sighed. But where were her parents? She couldn’t see them.

  Her insides rumbled again. It smelled so good. She wondered if she could sneak something out of the kitchen. Hong Mei crept towards the door, drawn by her hunger. The two cats were still there, but this time they looked towards her and suddenly darted away.

  Hearing a sound from behind her, Hong Mei was about to turn around when someone grabbed her. She opened her mouth to scream, but a hand clamped down over it. When she tried a gong fu move to release herself, she felt the grip tighten as her assailant dragged her across the courtyard.

  Hong Mei went limp, trying to make her body heavy and awkward to carry. It didn’t help. The person was incredibly strong. They came to a gate in the wall where she felt herself being pulled unceremoniously over the threshold. She was dragged a few more metres to a door in a small, windowless building. They stopped, but the hand stayed on her mouth.

  “You must not speak until we are inside this room,” a male voice said quietly. He spoke impeccable Mandarin, but his accent was unfamiliar. Hong Mei thought he must be from another part of China. “I will not hurt you,” he said. “I am a friend of your father’s.”

  Hong Mei tried to say, “Baba?” but the man pressed her mouth harder.

  “You do not listen. Be silent or I will have to gag you.”

  Hong Mei swallowed and nodded.

  He removed his hand, but he still gripped her tight with his other one. The old, bald-headed man opened the door and pushed her into the dim interior. Once they were both inside, he closed the door and locked it.

  “Are my mother and father here?” Hong Mei asked, forgetting to keep her voice low.

  The man clamped his hand across her mouth again. “I am helping you out of loyalty to your father. If I get found out, I will be killed. Do you understand?”

  Hong Mei nodded again, more slowly.

  “Let us try this again,” he said while removing his hand.

  Hong Mei took a big breath, but stayed silent, waiting for the man to speak. The skin on the man’s face and hands were filled with lines, but his body looked taut and tough. She wondered who he was and how he fit in with Madam Ching.

  “I am Lao Ming. When your father was young, I was his master at the monastery. It was there that he learned Shao Lin-style gong fu. And it is there that he has been staying, away from the authorities, but more importantly, away from Madam Ching.

  “I have worked with Madam Ching for many years. I understand the way this woman thinks, and she is very dangerous. There is nothing that she will not do to get what she desires. And what she wants more than anything is Black Dragon’s jade. Did you know that she is the one who set the fire that killed the parents of the Emperor’s heirs?”

  Hong Mei didn’t know this. She knew the boys lived with their aunt and uncle but she had no idea it was because their parents had been killed.

  “After years of searching for the separated jade pieces, Madam Ching discovered they were worn by the two brothers in Canada. She and two or three of her henchmen went there to steal the jade. By then, she’d decided to eliminate any chance of them reclaiming what was, until the Year of the Golden Dragon, rightfully theirs.

  “Her plan was to set the fire in the parents’ room so there’d be no chance they could save their children. Then, she would take the boys’ jade and lock them inside the house. However, everything went wrong about halfway through. The youngest one woke up and saw Madam Ching. Apparently he screamed so loudly the neighbour’s dogs started barking, so she fled.

  “Madam Ching decided that it was an omen. She would wait and draw up a better plan; one where she could use the scroll she had found in the boys’ house and taken with her.

  “She referred to the scroll and its legend as ‘proof’ for the existence of the jade and Black Dragon. She told her financial backers that their investment in ‘The Dragon Project,’ as she calls it, would earn them millions of yuan. She convinced them that a dragon, dead or alive, would attract thousands of tourists, foreign and Chinese. Of course this was just a ploy. She only wants you to lure Black Dragon to her so that she may bargain with him. Though why she gathers you here puzzles me. The prophecy…”

  But Hong Mei had stopped listening at the word bargain. “Please,” she whispered. “May I say something?”

  “You may speak quietly, but remember that we are in grave danger.”

  “I understand the jade has very special powers…” and she briefly told him about the two times she had used it. He listened with interest, but didn’t look surprised.

  “You, young Chen, were very fortunate with Madam’s men at the airport. They are all thugs. I am quite sure you would never have woken up again.”

  “Is it this power that Madam Ching wants so much? So much that she is willing to kill for it?”

  “Oh, it is not just what the jade can do. In fact, she is afraid of its power. She believes in the stories of people dying with it around their necks. That is why she has used you three heirs to bring her the jade, just in case there is any truth to it.”

  “To what
?”

  “She believes that the jade, if handled by someone who is not always honest, can bring bad luck, even death. One of the wives of an ancient emperor died with it around her neck.”

  “But Ryan, Alex and I are fine and we wear it.”

  “Yes, but that is because young people are pure at heart. Madam Ching is not and she knows this. And she is deeply superstitious. She doesn’t want to take any chances, not after she was nearly caught in Canada.

  “That is why she decided to act according to what was written in the scroll. She would go so far as to allow you three to get close to Black Dragon at the appointed hour. Just when you are about to hand over the jade, she will move in and make her deal with Black Dragon.”

  “What kind of –” But Hong Mei didn’t have a chance to finish. She was interrupted by a deep sound of a gong coming from one of the courtyards.

  “That is for me,” Lao Ming said. “It’s time to go and bring the young masters back here. In case someone follows me, you had better hide somewhere in this room.”

  Hong Mei nodded in agreement and said, “Lao Ming? Do you know where my mother and father are?”

  For the first time, the old man smiled. “Yes, they are safe and together.”

  Hong Mei thought she would cry with relief.

  “I must go and bring the brothers back here. After that I will bring you something to eat.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “Oh,” Lao Ming said. “Do not forget to tell the heirs about Master Chen’s box.”

  “What? What box?”

  “The one they came with,” he said looking annoyed. “Your grandfather’s box also has great power. How do you think they got here?”

  The gong sounded again. “We can talk about this when I bring your food.”

  Hong Mei watched the old man go out. She noticed he didn’t bother locking the door.

  Her head spun with what Lao Ming had told her. Master Chen’s box? She had thought it was Black Dragon’s. Why had Madam Ching given her a magic box? Why hadn’t she kept it for herself? And what kind of deal did she want to make with Black Dragon?