Mr Lee steps in. ‘My humble greetings to the virtuous Lady Gi and Ah Lang.’
Gigi narrows her eyes at Mr Lee in a way that raises my hackles. I plant an elbow on the table.
‘Uh uh,’ I say, wagging a finger at her. ‘None of that nonsense you pulled last time with Mr Lee. Or my fist will have something to say to your nose.’
‘You wouldn’t dare.’ Gigi puts a hand on the table, leans towards me, challenge in her gaze.
I plant my other elbow, interlock my fingers. ‘You really wanna try me? You have such a pretty nose; it would be a shame to ruin it.’
After a moment, she withdraws her hand. ‘Big Wang said we should enjoy Shanghai.’
‘He sent you to spy on me, didn’t he?’ I say.
Gigi doesn’t answer. Instead, she smooths the non-existent creases from the shimmering silk of her sleeves.
I make a disgusted sound. ‘I bet Big Wang said he’d put in a good word with Daddy if you did him this favour.’
Gigi’s face contorts in anger. ‘You’re such a rotted know-it-all,’ she hisses at me.
‘Ah, there you are, Gigi. I missed your ugly face.’ I lean forward and pat her cheek. Her eyes look like they are going to pop out of her head.Hee hee.‘Hells, you are so easy to wind up. It’s why you always lose at cards.’
Gigi stands abruptly, but Ah Lang gives her a rotted doe-eye look, and she lets him pull her back to her chair. ‘I’m doing this for Lang, not for you.’
‘Fine,’ I say, crossing my arms.
‘Fine,’ she says, crossing hers.
Ah Lang sighs wearily as he glances between the two of us. ‘Big Wang was worried about you. And he heard there were quite a few hulijing still in yang Shanghai. Thought it would be prudent to have a couple extra Celestials on standby.’ Ah Lang addresses Mr Lee and pretends not to notice Gigi and I glaring daggers at each other. ‘He heard I was visiting Hell and asked if I would join you both. In return, he said he’ll do what he can to convince the Jade Emperor to let Gigi return to the Celestial realm.’
I am perplexed and discomfited by how much debt Big Wang is incurring to keep me safe.
‘We’re planning to visit Hokkien Market first thing tomorrow,’ I say. ‘It’s just inside Zhabei, across Soochow Creek. The woman who sold Mr Lee the fake talisman has a stall there.’
‘No,’ Gigi says. ‘We are not doing any of that. We are having fun here. We’re not traipsing around playing detective.’
‘Yes. Yes, we are,’ I insist. I will not have Gigi thwart my plans.
Ah Lang pats Gigi’s arm. ‘We can go together after breakfast, petal. Big Wang did say we should keep Lady Jing company.’
‘Hells no. We came here to help her enjoy Shanghai. Not be depressed. I know where Zhabei is. We had reams of ghosts pouring into Shanghai after the Japanese bombed it into rubble and smoke.’
Ah Lang looks helplessly at Mr Lee, who returns an equally helpless expression.
‘Well, why don’t we enjoy Shanghai tonight, and decide in the morning. How about that, my petal?’
I gag. Before Gigi can retort, the waiter arrives with a tray full of drinks. The waiter names each cocktail as he places it on the table ‘Gin Sling, Suffering Bastard, Conte Verde, Madame Meng, Bee’s Knees, Hanky Panky, Grasshopper, Yinyang, Scofflaw.’ The list goes on until he has two glasses left on his tray. A tall flute filled with a gently carbonated deep red liquid.
‘Oxblood,’ he says as he nudges the flute into the already overflowing mass of glassware on the table.
My fangs nudge out. ‘That one’s mine,’ I say.
The waiter places the last one on the table with a flourish. It’s a simple martini glass with a bright orange liquid. He flicks a lighter and blue flame races across the drink’s surface. ‘Flaming Bitch,’ he announces with a flourish.
‘That one’s yours.’ I point at Gigi, cackling.
Her eyes flare, but at another rotted doe-eyed look from Ah Lang, she folds her hands in her lap and says with prim congeniality, ‘I ordered one of everything. And the Oxblood especially for you.’
I pull awhateverface, but Mr Lee elbows me. With a snort, I give her a sloppy hand fist salute and mutter from the corner of my mouth, ‘Abundant gratitude blah blah blah.’
