Mr Lee swallows and looks away, down the street at the mess of honking cars and coolies pulling rickshaws. Still not looking at me, he hands me a bag of wax-wrapped cubes. ‘Sea salt caramels,’ is all he says.
I glance at him every few minutes. His expression is sombre, and his attention is far away. He doesn’t tease or taunt me. He’s almost indifferent to my presence. This new Mr Lee worries me. I cast about for something to say.
‘I think my fear of water started at the Hulijing Court,’ I offer to the heavy silence between us. From the corner of my eye, he straightens and turns my way.
The caramel bag crinkles as my grip relaxes. ‘Something happened there. Lady Soo had something to do with it, but I can’t remember what, no matter how hard I try.’
‘Do you haveanygood memories of your time there?’ he asks.
‘I remember I loved rainbows. Which is strange because I can’t bear the rain.’
I unwrap a caramel, focus on the sweetness to rid myself of bittersweet feelings, and offer the bag to Mr Lee.
The way he looks at the bag makes my heart hurt. There’s a heavy sadness in the line of his eyes, the way his lips tighten ever so slightly. He reaches for a caramel and turns the small cube around in his fingers.
‘These are my little sister Ruxi’s favourite sweet. I used to buy them for her when she was young.’ Mr Lee takes a deep breath. ‘In fact, all the places I took you today were places she used to love. But she’s very ill now. She’s not a bad person but she had a hard life. Fell into opium to dull her disappointments. She ended up on the streets and got mixed up with the triads before our father was able to extricate her.’ He fists his hand around the caramel. ‘She’s broken, body and soul; I don’t think she’ll live out the year.’
A breeze ruffles his hair as we pass a trio of young women strolling arm in arm down the street, laughing as they talk, wholly absorbed in their own joy. I wish I could be so sure of my place in the world, so protected from outside judgement and expectations.
‘Ruxi is about their age.’ He nods to the women who have paused to admire the colourful display of a shop window. His gaze swirls with loss and regret. ‘I petitioned Yan Luo Wang to allow me to pay her karmic debt. I don’t wish for her to reincarnate as a cockroach.’
‘I don’t understand – your sister could easily work off her debt herself,’ I say. ‘It wouldn’t take long, and Big Wang takes good care of the indentured ghosts.’
He shakes his head. ‘I’m her brother. I should have been there to look out for her. Mother passed when Ruxi was twelve. Shortly after, Father sent me to Europe and then America to university. He was busy with his business, and wasn’t as careful as he should have been when choosing a match for Ruxi. Her husband was violent and cruel. I didn’t know how hard things were for her. If I had come home when she asked, I could have helped her. But by the time I did, it was too late.
‘So I made a deal with Yan Luo Wang. The work I do for him will atone for the sins she committed while under the thumb of the triads. I ensure my little sister’s next life is filled with all the joys she lacked in this, and he gets his Central Bank of Hell.’
I gaze at him, horrified.
He gives me a lopsided smile. ‘The Central Bank of Hell is in very safe hands. Even H. H. Kung, Chiang Kai Shek’s Minister of Finance, defers to my advice. And now, this three-day trip home to Shanghai means I am off the hook for the one hundred and fifty years of indentured service that had originally been part of our deal.’
I sputter. ‘One hundred and fifty years? What on earth has she done to rack up so much karmic debt?’
Mr Lee opens his mouth to answer, and I hurriedly put a hand up. ‘No, I don’t want to know. I don’t care about that, or the Bank. You came to Hell without a Lei talisman. You could have died. If someone else had met you at the docks...’ My throat goes tight, remembering thatIalmost drained him. ‘Why would you risk so much?’
‘She’s my sister,’ he says simply.
I collapse against the rickshaw seat. All that for his sister? No one has sacrificed themselves for me. I am puzzled and envious that such depth of loyalty exists.
Mr Lee blows out a long breath, as if cleansing himself of his pain. ‘My turn to ask you a question.’
‘What do you want to know?’
He gazes at me and murmurs, ‘So much.’ But his expression lightens, and he nods towards the paper bag with my books. ‘Why that book?’
‘I want to learn how to make friends.’
‘But you seem to know everyone in your Shanghai.’
‘Sure, but that doesn’t make us friends.’
‘What about Lady Gi?’
I scoff, nearly choke on a caramel. ‘Her? We aren’t friends.’
‘Well, you’re not super chummy, but you seem to know each other pretty well.’
My shoulders twitch. ‘We play kanhoo a lot.’
