by B. L. Sauder
Hong Mei, Ryan and Alex were standing beside a street vendor selling steamed buns stuffed with barbequed pork.
“They’re a bit different than the ones we get back home, but they’re still good,” Ryan said, reaching for another one in the plastic bag he held.
“Yes, the kind Mama and I eat are also not the same,” Hong Mei said. “Ours have different spices, I think.” She sighed, wishing she was with her mother right now. Everyone around them – those standing in line to get pork buns or other savoury and sweet snacks, families sitting together in the restaurants along the street, or others who were making their way toward the river – were all with the ones they loved. Tonight was New Year’s Eve, and no Chinese would dream of not being with their family.
Brushing off her hands, Hong Mei said, “We can at least thank Madam Ching for not letting us starve. That was the last of the money she gave me before I went to Hong Kong to meet you.”
“That seems like a lifetime ago,” Ryan said.
She nodded. He and Alex were probably feeling just as lonely as she was. “Yeah, well, let’s not forget that she left us to rot in the royal chamber. Who knows if anyone ever goes in there?” Alex said.
The three of them looked at one another.
Ryan broke the silence. “It was quite a hike here. How much time have we got?”
Hong Mei looked down at her watch: 3:11:23.
“A little more than three hours,” she said.
“Where do you think the old hag is, anyway?” Alex asked.
“She’s got to be here somewhere,” Ryan said. “But if we still have that much time until midnight, we’d better not find her too soon. No telling what she’d try next.”
“I think we should go right down to the river, and stay out of sight there.”
Alex bit his lip and said, “But what’ll we do if we see her?”
“Nothing,” Ryan said. “We just have to make sure she doesn’t see us.”
“What if Black Dragon sees her and not us, and thinks we’re not coming?” Alex asked, his voice getting higher with each word that he spoke. “What if she shows him the jade and says we’ve let him down?”
“That’s when we’ll make our move,” said Ryan.
“But he’ll see that we don’t have the jade! He’ll see that she does!” Alex squawked.
“That is why we must stay hidden. We want to make sure to surprise Madam Ching and show Black Dragon that we have come as promised. We will tell him, in front of Madam Ching, that she stole the jade and means to keep it,” Hong Mei said.
“Don’t start freaking out now,” Ryan said to Alex. “We’ve been talking this through the whole way down.”
Hong Mei looked at the two brothers. They were lucky to have each other. She’d never really thought about having a brother or sister, but right now, she wished she had one.
“It’s easy to talk about it, Ryan. I’m just scared it’s not going to work,” Alex said, his voice no longer squeaky, but very, very low.
“It is a good plan,” Hong Mei said.
“It’s our only plan,” Alex grumbled.
“C’mon. Let’s get closer to the river,” Ryan said.
The threesome looked over their shoulders and left the outdoor food stall. They mingled with the hundreds and hundreds of other people making their way to the river. Everyone wanted to find a good spot for their families to watch the fireworks, set to start at exactly midnight.
Hong Mei looked at the other revellers and saw that everyone was dressed up in their new clothes. She thought about the red turtleneck and trousers that she’d been wearing for the last three days. They’d seemed so special when she and Mama had bought them.
Ryan must have seen the look on her face, for he came close and took her hand. “Are you okay?”
Her heart scrunched in her chest. “Yes. Are you?”
He sighed. “I’m just thinking about Uncle Peter and Aunt Grace. They’ve probably got every policeman in Hong Kong and Kowloon looking for us.”
Hong Mei couldn’t trust her voice, so she only nodded in reply. It must be terrible for the boys’ family. At least her father knew what she might be up to, and had hopefully convinced her mother that she was okay. Maybe he could even see her with his second sight and would know that she and the other heirs were doing their best to complete their unenviable task.
Hong Mei looked at Alex walking beside her with his head down. Taking his hand, she squeezed it and smiled. He didn’t return the smile or the squeeze.
After walking for about half an hour, they came to a walkway that ran along the riverbank.
Alex asked, “Why are there so many people down here?”
“They’re waiting for the fireworks,” Hong Mei said.
“Let’s go over to that stone bridge and see if we can see Madam Ching,” Ryan said.
“No, it is too open there. We still have,” she checked her watch, “more than two hours. We must find her, but she cannot see us.”
The three of them stayed close together and peered across the river and along the banks where they stood. They tried to stay hidden behind other people. Hong Mei was glad that more and more people were arriving.
Suddenly, Alex shouted, “Ryan! Look over there! Across the river!”
“What?”
“Have you found her?” Hong Mei asked.
“Not Madam Ching,” Alex said, jumping up and down and waving, “Aunt Grace!” he shouted. “Aunt Grace!”
“What? Where?” Ryan stood up on tiptoes, straining his eyes to look for her.
“There, across the river. Do you see her hair? Over there. Uncle Peter is standing right beside her.”
Hong Mei felt Alex pulling her hand.
“C’mon. Let’s go,” he started shouting out again. “Aunt Grace! Unc –”
Hong Mei clamped her hand over his mouth. “Shh! It could be a trap!”
Alex flashed her a hateful look as he pulled her hand away. “How can it be a trap? Madam Ching thinks we’re still inside the royal chamber,” he said.
Hong Mei pulled Ryan and Alex away from a few in the crowd who had begun to watch and listen to them. Most were probably curious as to why three Chinese kids were using English together. Hong Mei dragged them further away. The last thing she wanted was for them to draw attention to themselves.
“We don’t know if Madam Ching knows if we have escaped or not,” she said. “She might have discovered it and sent for your aunt and uncle.”
“How could they get here so quickly?”
“I don’t know,” she said. Hong Mei looked at Alex’s twisted face. He looked like he was suffering excruciating pain.
“Where are they?” she asked. “Can you quietly point them out to me?”
Ryan pointed through a space between several people in front of him. “Over there. Do you see that blonde woman? You can’t miss her. She’s the only foreigner there.”
Hong Mei peered to the other side and easily spotted the worried-looking aunt and uncle. But her glance did not rest on them. She felt her heart fly up into her throat. Standing next to Aunt Grace and Uncle Peter was Mama. And Baba.
“My parents,” she barely whispered. “My parents are also here.”
She watched as the foursome across the water pointed and talked together. How did they all know to come here? Had Madam Ching tricked them?
“Please,” Alex begged, “please, I have to go over there. They’re here looking for us.”
Hong Mei turned to see Alex grab his brother’s arm. “Ryan, come on. They’re right there.”
Ryan’s shoulders fell and his face crumpled. “I know, Alex. I see them, too.” His voice cracked. “But we can’t. We have to go through with this. Maybe Madam Ching brought them here and it’s part of her plan.”
Hong Mei stared across at her parents, longing to swim right over to them. She wanted to feel them next to her, saying that this was all a bad dream. She wanted them to say that she and Ryan and Alex didn’t have to do any more. They could all just go
home and forget this whole thing had ever happened.
She blinked hard, focusing on Baba’s face. He’d aged, but still looked like the father she remembered. He turned toward her, as if he sensed that she was there. Saying nothing to the other three he was with, Baba looked straight into her eyes. She felt as if he had wrapped her in his arms and hugged her close.
She imagined his voice in her head, and his words were, “We are here for you. I believe in you.”
Hong Mei felt her heart soar.
She looked at Ryan and Alex and said, “I think Lao Ming brought them here. It’s not a trap. Our parents are waiting for us.”
“How do you know?” Alex asked.
“I don’t know how I know. I just do.”
She saw Ryan and Alex frown at her.
Alex asked, “Are they going to help us?”
“No, they cannot,” she said.
Hong Mei saw his face fall. Ryan must have too, for he put his arm around his brother’s shoulder.
More and more people were crowding the riverbank now. Hong Mei looked at her watch: 1:22:39. There was a little more than an hour until midnight. Where would Black Dragon be?
She said out loud, “If you were Black Dragon, where would you wait for your precious treasure to be returned?”
Hong Mei saw Ryan thinking, but Alex kept looking longingly across at his aunt and uncle.
Ryan said, “We know that Black Dragon gave the jade to the Emperor while they stood on the riverbank. But that could be anywhere along here.”
“Legends say that dragons live in the deepest part of the river. We’ve got to find that section, I guess,” Hong Mei said.
“How are we going to do that?” Ryan said.
“That’s easy,” Alex said. He nodded over at the other side of the river, down a hundred or so metres from where Hong Mei’s parents and their aunt and uncle stood. “Old Madam Ching’s already got it figured out.”
Hong Mei and Ryan looked across the river toward where Alex had nodded. There stood Madam Ching and Ching Long. Their helpers were nowhere to be seen. Had they also been “detained,” like the security guard?
Hong Mei shuddered, but said in as calm a voice as she could, “Let us make our way closer to them.”
Ryan and Alex both sighed, but they nodded in agreement. All three of them took another look at their families before Hong Mei led the way toward the bridge downriver. What would they do when they got really close to Madam Ching? Should they announce themselves and tell her they were there to help her?
No. She’d never believe that.
The goons weren’t there. They could try to steal the box and run.
No, that was too risky. They couldn’t possibly get close enough.
She nibbled at a fingernail. Master Chen had said Madam Ching was treacherous and evil. Hong Mei didn’t know if she could be evil, but she could try to be deceitful. Hadn’t Madam Ching got her way by lying to everyone?
An idea began to form in Hong Mei’s mind.
They reached the bridge and raced across it, trying not to be seen by the two Chings. When they got to the other side, the three of them walked in single file and stayed close to the trees lining the path. Hong Mei could see Madam Ching and Ching Long. They did not look her way, but seemed to be concentrating only on the water in front of them.
She checked her watch: 42:39 – there were less than forty-five minutes left until midnight. Hong Mei peered into the dark water and along the riverbank. Would Black Dragon appear on land as he had before, or as the water-dwelling creature of the old tales?
They were close now, very close. Hong Mei could see that Madam Ching’s usual poise had disappeared. She stood with her neck craned forward and her face furrowed with anxiety. Her hands were in constant motion as she wrung them over and over.
Ching Long paced back and forth between Madam Ching and the river, his eyes focused on the slow-moving water.
Alex came up beside her. “There she is,” he said, staring at Madam Ching.
“Yes, I know,” Hong Mei said. “It will be okay, Alex. I have a plan.”
“You do? I hope it’s a good one.”
“Me, too,” she said frowning.
“And which plan might that be?” growled a deep voice from behind them.
The three of them wheeled around to stare at Black Dragon. Alex grabbed Hong Mei’s hand and squeezed so hard that she thought her bones would break.
Black Dragon still wore his sunglasses and his tight, old-fashioned tunic. But his skin had changed. He actually looked much more reptilian this time and only partly human.
“Mighty Black Dragon,” Hong Mei said quickly. “May I introduce Ryan and Alexander Wong? They are the Emperor’s heirs.”
“Delighted,” nodded Black Dragon. “Let us move away from the crowd, shall we?”
Alex pulled back and Ryan shook his head. She glared at them and whispered. “There is nothing to be afraid of. This is what we are here for.”
“Now, now,” Black Dragon said in his low, gravelly voice. “Whispering is rude. Come along, now.”
Hong Mei pulled the reluctant boys along the path to a small break in the trees where Black Dragon led them.
After only a few steps, he stopped and turned to look at them.
“So, the heirs have come to honour their ancient ancestors by keeping Master Chen’s promise.”
Hong Mei cleared her throat, but hesitated. She felt Black Dragon move closer to her. “Miss Chen? Do you have something you wish to say?”
“Yes, Almighty Black Dragon.” Ryan and Alex leaned against either side of her.
“What is it?”
“The Ching woman is here, Honourable Black Dragon. She is here at the river with your precious jade.” Hong Mei saw Black Dragon pulling himself up taller. His tunic looked as if it was going to split open. “She stole Virtuous Black Dragon’s jade from us and left us to die in the Emperor’s tomb.” Hong Mei rushed on, “We heirs escaped once more and have come here to fulfill our duty.”
“And how will the heirs accomplish this, Young Chen?” he said. “You have only minutes left and you do not have Black Dragon’s treasure.”
Hong Mei felt the heat from his sentences and smelled the stench of his rancid breath.
“We will fight fire with fire,” she said.
Black Dragon did not reply. He only looked from one heir to the other.
“The heirs have come far since Black Dragon first met them three days ago. I believe you will complete this task. Go well,” he said. “Finish it.”
Black Dragon moved away from them and slunk further into the trees.
Hong Mei and the boys all shuddered at the same time.
“Please tell me your plan is an excellent one,” Ryan said to Hong Mei.
“It is. We go to Madam Ching,” she said.
“Are you crazy?” Alex cried.
“No.” she said. “But you’ve got to trust me.” She looked from Ryan to Alex. “Do you trust me?”
Ryan looked back at her and stared unblinking into her eyes. Hong Mei had never felt someone look at her this intensely, but somehow it felt good. She returned his steady gaze.
“I trust you,” Ryan said.
“I guess I do, too.” Alex said. “I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
“Let us go,” she said, feeling her heart swell.
The three of them walked toward Madam Ching. As they approached her, she seemed to sense them coming and turned to them. The worried look that Hong Mei had seen on the woman’s face instantly changed to one of fury.
Practically pouncing on them, she came within steps of Hong Mei, Ryan and Alex. “What are you doing here?”
“I am afraid that you underestimated us,” Hong Mei said.
“Perhaps, but it doesn’t matter now anyway. We still have the jade and as soon as Black Dragon makes his appearance –”
“Black Dragon has not yet come to you?” Hong Mei cried. “Why, we have already seen him.”
“You have seen him? How can that be? We are at the very spot he once met the Emperor and he has not surfaced.”
“Perhaps it is because you are not the ones who are supposed to be here. We were the ones to give back the jade.”
Madam Ching’s eyes flashed. “How dare you speak to me like that!”
“You are right,” Hong Mei said. “It was not polite of me. We will be leaving now.” She looked at her watch. “The fireworks begin at exactly twelve o’clock, right? That’s less than five minutes from now.” She smiled and turned to walk away, “Come, Ryan and Alex. Let’s find a good place to watch the show.”
“Wait!” Madam Ching said. “You cannot go!”
“Why not?” Ryan asked. “It’s finished now.”
“But what about the jade?” Madam Ching cried.
“It’s too late. We didn’t have it when we saw Black Dragon. He seemed sad, but he said it wouldn’t have any power now anyway.”
“You’re lying!” Madam Ching screamed.
Alex shrugged. “Let’s go, you two. We don’t want to be with her when the fireworks start.”
Madam Ching turned to Ching Long and yelled, “Do something, you idiot!”
Ching Long stood helplessly holding Master Chen’s box. Madam Ching grabbed it and opened it up.
“Oh, look,” Hong Mei said, peeking at the box from where she stood. “It’s not even shining anymore. It must be dead already.”
“No, it cannot be!” Madam Ching said.
The crowd had started counting down.
“You could keep it in your library,” Hong Mei said, mimicking Ching Long’s words.
Madam Ching threw the box down, sending the three pieces of jade flying out.
“Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight –” the crowd roared.
“Shame,” Hong Mei said, trying to keep as calm as she could. She could hear the beating of her heart over the sound of the counting.
“Fine,” Madam Ching hissed. “Take it and call him back. There is still time to bargain.”
As casually as she could, Hong Mei bent down and collected the three sections of jade, then gave Ryan and Alex theirs.
“Sixteen, fifteen, fourteen!” The noise from the people was tremendous. Everyone was watching the sky, waiting for the first blasts and bangs.