by Mingmei Yip
Would I be like Shanghai Lily, who saved everyone from the evil warlord? At the beginning of the movie, she is alone, then by chance, her former lover, the military doctor Captain Harvey, is on the same train. His love for her is rekindled, even though she tells him, “I am the White Flower of China. If you’ve heard of me, you can believe what you’ve heard. It took more than one famous man for me to become Shanghai Lily.”
It also took more than one man—Lung, Jinying, Gao, and now Edward—to change my name from Camilla to Jasmine Chen.
In the climactic scene, an evil warlord forces the train to stop and takes Captain Harvey hostage. To save him, Shanghai Lily acts by her own code of honor to offer herself to the warlord for the release of her former lover and the other passengers.
In the end, Shanghai Lily and Captain Harvey walk together arm in arm, lovers once again.
A happy ending. Would mine be as happy as Shanghai Lily’s? Then who’d be the man sharing my happiness—Jinying, Gao, Edward Miller?
After the movie, Miller drove us to a small, empty garden, one I’d never known about.
“Jasmine, it’s beautiful here tonight, let’s take a stroll.”
We got off and began a leisurely stroll under the moonlight among the fragrant flowers. The Chinese say, “A swallow, though tiny, has all the five organs.” Similarly, this park had a small rose garden giving out a pleasant fragrance, rock formations in oddly elegant shapes, even an arched stone bridge over a small pond.
Edward grabbed my hand in his so tightly, as if he feared to let go. Was this real or a dream? I decided to quiet my spy’s inquisitive mind, let go of my suspicions, and enjoy this rare moment.
I did not want to say anything about the movie to Miller, as it would be too easy to let out personal details I wished to keep to myself. So like the fictional Chinese prostitute in the silent movie, I kept my own mouth shut so as not to spoil this magical moment with a romantically inclined ambassador and the equally amorous moon. As if feeling the same, Edward gently led me behind a thicket of shrubs and kissed me on my lips, at first tentatively and then, when he could tell I was not resisting, with growing intensity.
When we sat down on a rock and paused for breath, my American lover startled me with an unexpected question: “Jasmine Chen, who are you?”
“You know who I am, Edward.”
He shook his head. “No, you’re a total mystery to me. You never let me come to the orphanage where you told me you live. And you don’t seem to have any family or even friends whom I could invite for lunch or dinner—”
“Edward, I told you my parents are dead, and I didn’t get on very well with the other orphans.”
“Jasmine, you know I really like you. Or let me be direct. I’m falling in love with you. So please tell me the truth about yourself and don’t break my heart . Is Jasmine Chen even your real name?”
I lowered my head so I didn’t have to meet his intense gaze. But he tilted my head so his eyes could penetrate mine.
“Jasmine, I would like to know you more. Could you let me in?”
His question brought tears to my eyes. I tried but failed to blink them back, so they coursed down my cheeks like two rivulets. I was reminded of when Jinying, now gone from my miserable life, had said the exact opposite.
After one of my performances, Jinying complimented me on letting myself shine through, rather than hiding my heart like the other singers. Hard for me to tell who was right about me, perhaps both in their own way.
Now Edward pulled out a handkerchief to wipe my tears. But his loving act only provoked more rain from my eyes.
“Please, Jasmine, I am here and I can help you.”
“Can you really?”
“Yes, but I want you to tell me the truth—the entirety of it.”
Something I never thought I would do. And if I did, what would be the consequences? I looked around at the deserted garden, wondering if we were being spied upon, even in this tranquil-seeming place.
But this was my chance to warn him that the gangs were already plotting against him. If he really cared for me, maybe that would dissuade him from his doomed plan to crack down on the gambling dens. Maybe he’d even take me to America with him so I could leave all my bad memories, nightmares, and evil deeds behind… And, since his Henry was adopted, he probably wouldn’t mind adding my little waiting-to-be-found Jinjin.
“Edward, all I can tell is that I’m a bad woman.”
He chuckled nervously. “How bad, did you kill someone?”
Instead of answering him, I said, “Edward, I know more than you think. It is hopeless for you to fight against the gangs…”
He looked touched. “I know about the relationship between the gangs and the corrupt government. Only a few weeks ago, a package with a huge red, lucky money envelope was delivered to my office. I knew it was a bribe, so I sent it right back. Not only that, I also attached a letter telling them that I’d soon start an anti-gambling campaign.”
“But, Edward, that’s suicidal! Trust me, if these gangsters get you, it will be a relief when you finally die!”
“That’s the reason their power keep expanding! Everyone’s afraid and so no one stands up to them. I may be the first ambassador to return the bribe. But there’s got to be a first one. Please, Jasmine, I don’t want to talk about the gangsters. I want to know more about you.”
Before I could stop, I’d already blurted out the truth about myself, not all of it, of course, certainly not about Jinying or Gao. I told him how I’d been forced by Big Brother Wang to spy on Master Lung, leaving out any mention of the shoot-out at the villa. Maybe I let out what I had bottled up for so long because he was a foreigner and an ambassador. And I really believed he was a man of honor, just as he had said. So I sensed it was safe to reveal my secrets to him. And my true self—if I did have one.
Now there was no turning back, no time for regret. Only for figuring out my next move.
A long silence passed. He pulled me to him and hugged me tightly as if he feared even a slight breeze would blow me away.
The he kissed me with great tenderness. “Jasmine, is that true? You worked for one gang to help them eliminate the other?”
I didn’t reply.
“Does it mean that all you told me about yourself the first day wasn’t true?”
“No, Edward, it wasn’t lies.” I lied again. “I was molested by the Red Demons’ head. Only he didn’t kick me out, but instead forced me to be his spy.”
He sighed heavily. “Jade, how sad that a young girl like you had to endure all this suffering….”
I began to cry. “I’m scared, Edward. Now both gangs are after me.”
He thought for a while. “I don’t think so.”
“But why not?”
“Because the gangs are too busy killing each other to take the number one position. Jasmine, I am sure there are more important things on their minds than getting rid of a singer. They may want revenge, but they want money more.”
Of course, I’d been a minuscule bit of pretty fluff squeezed between two powerful machines. But I had even lost that status. Now I was out of sight and out of mind, at least I hoped that was all I was—just empty air between the two machines.
“So you don’t think my life is in danger?”
“Not if you’re telling me the whole story.”
Of course, I was too well trained to tell anyone everything, no matter what the circumstance. I’d left out a lot, not only my lovers and my baby, but also the large amount of money and jewelry I’d taken from Lung’s safe, and my escape to Hong Kong and return. And, most important, that my “real” name was Camilla.
I said, “But my boss has lost face. So he—”
“But since no one knows that you secretly worked for his rival, maybe he’s lost face to you, but not the public. Anyway, I’ll see what I can do.”
“Edward, I don’t think anything can be done.”
As if suddenly remembering something, he asked, “Jasmine,
you never let me know your address. So, where have you been hiding?”
“Please, Edward, I really can’t tell you that.”
“Jasmine, I’ll try my best to protect you,” he sighed, then pressed his lips tenderly against mine.
Soon his tongue was writhing agonizingly inside my mouth; one of his hands held my waist as the other one lifted up my dress and began its search. Aroused by this foreigner’s passion, I responded by pressing my small body against his muscular one and kissing him back with equal intensity.
After long moments, we finally released each other and he said urgently, “Tonight, let’s go to my place, I want you to stay with me.”
Feeling completely overwhelmed by my lies and this man’s love, I willingly let myself be led to wherever his desire was pulling.
* * *
Outside the small garden, Edward opened the car door for me, then walked to the other side. As he was about to open the other door, I felt something was not quite right.
“Edward, I think I just saw someone…”
“Where?” He started to look around suspiciously.
“We better leave—”
Alas, before he could reply, a tall masked man dashed out from behind some trees.
“Edward, watch out!” I yelled.
Then a big fist struck my head and I collapsed to the ground.
I heard Edward cry out angrily, “You leave her alone!” followed by a thud and a grunt. There was more yelling, fists striking flesh, car doors slamming, and then the engine roaring and tires screeching.
After that, deadly silence.
As I struggled to get up, I realized that I’d just lost another man from my life—I’d warned him, but to no avail.
Through the tears stinging my cheeks, I saw that Edward’s car was still where he had left it. Fortunately for me, the kidnappers had been in too much hurry to take his keys, or perhaps assumed that a woman would be unable to drive.
My hands were still shaking when I arrived at the governess’s cottage to tell her the terrible news. Emily Andrews’s face looked as pale as if it had been snowed on.
“Oh, my God, Miss Chen, how horrible, what happened?”
I told her everything I knew, which was not much.
“Who would do something like this?”
I knew it was one of the warlords, most likely my former boss, Big Brother Wang. Or maybe even Rainbow Chang’s Pink Skeleton Empire. After all, she had not hesitated to have me snatched so she could try to intimidate me. And she wanted me to help to get Edward out of her way so he could not interfere with her lucrative loan sharking. But, of course, I was not going to share these speculations with Emily, lest she suspect me.
“Emily, there’s a kidnapping almost every day in Shanghai. So I guess it must be one of the general’s enemies. Can you think of who this might be?”
Emily looked horrified by my remark. “But General Miller is such a nice and decent man!”
“Emily, around here nice people stand out, and so they attract attention from the wrong kind of people and get hurt!”
“Oh, my God! I must call the police.”
“Don’t worry too much, Emily. I believe the general will be safe—probably all the kidnappers want is money.”
“I hope you’re right, Miss Chen.”
There was probably a lot more to it than this, but I did not want her to be alarmed. Or to call the police, as they were probably in on it.
“Emily, can I give you some advice?”
“What’s that?”
“Please call the police later, not now. And please don’t let them know that the general was with me.”
“But why not?”
“Emily, even if the general and my relationship is innocent, it’ll be a scandal all over the gossip news tomorrow. What could be juicier than the American Consul General being kidnapped when he was accompanied by a young Chinese woman? And these gossip columnists will add anything their wildest imaginations can cook up to make the story as sensational as it is untrue. You don’t want a scandal that will smear your boss’s reputation, do you?”
“Of course not, Miss Chen.”
“Then please do as I say. Call the police later to report that the general’s missing. But absolutely don’t mention that he was with anyone, for all of our reputations.”
“But you drove his car back here, so how could he—”
“You can say that he went out by himself and didn’t come back. Anyway, give as little information as possible. The more one talks, the more trouble they will cause.”
“You’re absolutely right, Miss Chen.”
16
Farewell to Little Blind Girl
To my great sadness, there was no real news about where Edward was, or when he’d return, if he ever would. All the newspapers offered theories about who was behind his disappearance, but none said anything of substance. Of course, some of the papers were controlled by the gangsters and the rest were terrified of them.
Rainbow Chang’s column read:
The Ambassador Could Be Anywhere
The newly appointed acting American Consul General Edward Miller has been missing for more than forty-eight hours. He left home for a night out by himself and never returned.
You and I, dear reader, are asking ourselves: Where is our Consul General? Let’s hope we will not be seeing him soon in a funeral.
So it looks like—at least to me—that this is not going to be pretty. Ambassadors do not just vanish into thin air—even those who are “ghosts,” albeit white ones. So he must have been kidnapped. However, there has been no demand for ransom. So it is to be feared that what the kidnapper wants is his life—or his death.
But why would anyone want him dead? Because he got in the way of the wrong people, that’s why. We all know that Edward Miller wanted to “clean up” Shanghai. Alas, since he speaks Chinese, he should know the saying, “When the water is too clear, there’ll be no fish. When a man is too honest, he will have no friends.” On the other hand, “When a man is evil enough, no one will dare to be his enemy.”
Of course, these are no more than the conjectures of a silly gossip columnist. Maybe the general is, as you read this, perched on a mountaintop, meditating to calm his troubled mind, and will be back in Shanghai, unscathed and filled with the refreshing mountain energy. Who knows?
Things happen. But they can also not happen.
My dear readers, alive or dead, it’s your bet, so place it now!
More to follow…
Rainbow Chang
After I read the disquieting article, my heart galloped like a wild horse. I feared for Edward, but I was also relieved that Rainbow actually kept her promise not to reveal my relationship with the general in her column. I knew it was unlikely that Edward and I would ever see each other again. Whoever had taken him wanted him out of the way. And for myself, there was no assurance that Rainbow would not mention me in her next column. As she put it, things happen—or not happen, which was my hope.
A few days later, when I called Emily, someone at the consulate said she was gone but had left another number—an overseas one—if I wanted to reach her.
Something was very wrong.
I immediately took a rickshaw to the closest post office so I could place the call. A couple of minutes later, the operator handed me the phone.
Emily’s voice sounded so far and yet so close—like a dead person who’s here and not here at the same time.
She said, “Miss Chen, I’m so glad that you called. General Miller, Henry, and I flew on the China Clipper and are back in San Francisco.”
I knew that airplanes could go all the way to America in only a few days but was still surprised that she could be so far away so quickly. I was both relieved and sad that Edward had left China, but I knew that was the only safe option for him.
“But you must not tell anyone about this.”
“Trust me, Emily, I can keep a secret.”
She sighed. “Anyway, it doesn’t
matter now that we’re back here to where we belong.” She paused to inhale deeply, then said, “The kidnappers were gangsters!”
“Oh, heaven!” I exclaimed, though this was no surprise.
“They bargained with the Americans to recall General Miller in exchange for not harming him.”
“And the general agreed?”
“We don’t believe they would dare to harm General Miller, but we can’t take a chance either.”
“I’m so sorry to hear this, Emily. Can I talk to him—”
I was cut off by the governess. “General Miller asked me to tell you how sorry he is that things turned out this way. His new assignment is in Egypt, so he won’t be back to Shanghai. I’m sorry.”
“Me too, Emily, but I understand.”
I was sorry, of course, but I thought that it solved one problem for me—how to get rid of Edward when I found Jinying.
But my relief was short-lived. Despite myself, I could not stop the image of Edward from making my mind revolve as memories of our brief affair came and went like a lantern on a merry-go-round.
The following days, I lost my appetite and could hardly sleep. Maybe this was my fate: That I had to suffer the loss of all the men who truly loved me. However, I felt some comfort that at least Edward had not been tortured and killed as I’d feared. But I was sadder than I’d expected to realize that we’d never see each other again in this life.
Then I thought of Rainbow Chang. Now that the ambassador was out of Shanghai, she needn’t worry that anyone would try to clean up the city’s gambling business. I decided to call her to tell her that Edward was gone and also see if she had any more useful information.
But what the gossip columnist said surprised me. “Ha-ha! Camilla, sorry, but you’re wrong. I heard something very different.”
“What is it?” Of course I didn’t tell her that I’d got my news directly from Miller’s governess.