“Most poisoners are women.I saw that on television,” Shanlin blurted.
Leander put a hand on Shanlin’s knee to quiet him.
Father Xiaobo said, “But heartbreak grass has a long history of being used in assassinations.The Russians used it to kill a man recently.”
“It was many years ago,” Mother Huiling corrected him.
“My point is that assassinations are mostly done by men.”
Shanlin seemed unimpressed with this argument, but at least Leander’s hand on his knee kept him silent.
Leander changed the subject.“Your gift is most generous.Too generous.I could not accept.”The thick envelope had what appeared to be close to 100,000 yuan.Leander suspected 88,000 yuan since 8 was such an auspicious number.Even without a phone to check the exchange rate, Leander knew that was a ridiculous amount of money.
“You will,” Father Xiaobo said.“It would be a great dishonor to welcome you with less.”
Mother Huiling smiled warmly before dropping a verbal bomb into the conversation.“You must tell us about the Boon family.”Leander winced.He understood that for the Chinese, family was important, but he had no family to bring to this adoption.
“What’s wrong?”Xi whispered, unable to follow the Chinese conversation.
“They asked about my family,” Leander explained.Now Xi winced.Mother Huiling and Father Xiaobo glanced at one another with concern.
“Is there any difficulty?”Father Xiaobo asked.Leander knew he could not make himself sound unfilial under any circumstances.Insulting one’s parents or ancestors was not acceptable, even if one was a complete asshole who had left his pregnant girlfriend.And even if the other was his mother.He weighed his words.“America is a difficult country,” Leander said.
“China is also difficult,” Father Xiaobo said.“Mother and I were both alive when China was even more difficult than it is now.We understand difficult governments make for difficult choices.”
Leander wished they were not so understanding.Lying to people who made it this easy felt wrong.“My father vanished before I was born,” Leander confessed.Hopefully, that implied that the government had taken his father.Hell, for all Leander knew, that could be the truth.He doubted it, but it was possible.
Mother Huiling’s face twisted with sympathy, which made guilt knot Leander’s innards.
“And your mother?”she asked.
Leander rubbed a hand across his face.He could talk about her paranoid delusions, the days when she would whisper they were being hunted by everyone from aliens to demons that crawled up from hell.The nights they hid in random sheds and abandoned buildings.As a very young child, Leander had believed her.As he’d gotten older, he thought these were metaphors for the government.But now he saw they were nothing more than hallucinations that had tormented his mother.If the government had any clue Leander had talent, they would have arrested him the moment he went into care.
But that was not the story he wanted to tell.Finn was the only one he had confessed the full truth to—Finn who had parents that adored him and had changed his name and given him fake paperwork and driven him states away from their home to throw the government off the trail.Finn and Leander had both ended up at the same group home, but their paths could not have been more different.Feeling guilty, Leander stole just a small portion of Finn’s story for his own.
“She believed people had found us, that they were after us and that if we stayed together, she would only make it easier for them to capture me.She left when I was young.”
Father Xiaobo sucked air through his teeth.“It is a terrible thing when a parent believes they may save a child only by leaving them.”
Leander swallowed.He hoped somewhere in his mother’s addled brain, that was the thought.But he knew it was more likely her disease lied to her and told her Leander had become an alien or a demon or whatever phantom haunted her nightmares on that particular day.
Mother Huiling leaned forward and patted Leander’s knee.It was an awkward position that forced her to stretch across the table, one hand bracing herself on it.Leander shook himself out of his melancholy and smiled at her.“I am grateful the Nie family has accepted me,” he said.
“Of course, of course,” said Father Xiaobo.“Will you take the Nie name for your own?”
Leander froze.The question was so unexpected his brain struggled to craft a response, and he even had to think for a moment to make sure he hadn’t misunderstood.“I am grateful you have made such an offer,” he said slowly.
Father Xiaobo waved a hand as though dismissing the issue as trivial, even though nothing about family structures seemed trivial in China.“We know you are Western, and we would honor your customs as well.”
“I...”Leander had no idea what this would mean for his relationship with the Nie family, so he needed to wait until Heng came back so he could talk to him.“I must think on this and what my parents would have wanted for me,” Leander said, proud of himself for coming up with an excuse that saved all of them from embarrassment.
Mother Huiling patted his hand once more before settling back into her seat.“Auntie Daiyu says you are a skilled craftsman of baskets that can hold ling.”
“We can have many high-quality reeds delivered here for you, and we shall find someone to teach our grandson Shanlin how to speak Chinese as is proper,” Father Xiaobo added.
“I believe Pill Master Xiangren owes us a favor,” Mother Huiling said with a devious glint in her eye.“Would not two sets of language pills be an appropriate payment?”
Father Xiaobo smiled widely.“That is an excellent suggestion.”
