That’s because you’re in love with him,Sui Chan would point out if she were here. She was the only friend I’d told about Tommy.
I did like Tommy. But I’d promised myself never to get married, never to fall in love.
After a moment, he pulled away from me. “Here’s your payment,” he said, handing me an envelope. “You made the campaign a big success.”
I counted the bills inside. Three hundred Hong Kong dollars!
“Happy?”
I nodded, beaming.
“How about you treat me to a drink, then? It’s sweltering.”
We found a small cha chaan teng a few streets down, and Tommy ordered our favorites, along with two egg tarts. When my red-bean ice arrived, I hardly touched it.
“Your drink is melting,” he commented. “Are you nervous your family will see the posters?”
Normally I would be, but right now, the Peaksoy posters were the least of my concerns.
“I’m your friend, Ying. Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”
I sipped my red-bean ice, letting the sweet cold numb my agitation. “Would you ever get an arranged marriage?”
“What?” Tommy choked on his drink. “Are you—”
“Not me.Lily.” Her name tasted salty, like tears. “My family’s found a husband for her, and they’re sending her off to live with his family.”
“I’m sorry to hear it.” Tommy pursed his lips. “Arranged marriages aren’t as common as they were before the war, especially in Hong Kong. But they still happen.”
“Why Lily?”
The question was more to broadcast my distress. I didn’t expect him to have an answer.
“I have an idea,” he started. “It’s just a rumor. Maybe you’ll have heard it by now...”
“I haven’t.” I touched his arm, then leaned my good ear forward. “Tell me.”
He said quietly, “Some people are saying that your uncle colluded with the Japanese during the war.”
My uncle?
My uncle had died mysteriously during the war, and that was all I knew about him. There was no altar to him in the house, Gu Ma never mentioned his name, and if the topic came up, she quickly changed it. In the past I assumed it was because she didn’t like to discuss the dead, for Gu Ma was superstitious in that way. She didn’t even stock melon in the kitchen because the word was inauspicious-sounding.
No, I did know one thing about my uncle: He’d had an associate. Zhou Hin Kong.
I suppressed a shudder. “They think he was a collaborator?”
“I don’t know much,” Tommy admitted. “My mum said something about him and your aunt helping spread sympathizer propaganda and outfitting Japanese soldiers with goods from their factory. There’s also a rumor that they allowed them to traffic opium through your factory.”
Opium had been banned in Hong Kong for years, so I’d assumed Baba got his from the black market. Plenty of people did.
Then I realized.Wewere the black market!
“What’s the matter? Ying, you’ve gone pale.”
I wasn’t listening. I’d fallen back in time to the day the Japanese raided my home and I’d hidden in the cupboard, praying I wouldn’t die by their blade. The air at once tasted sour, and bile crept up my throat. There was no word despicable enough for a traitor such as my aunt. To think I was related to her! I couldn’t speak.
“I’m sure the rumors will go away eventually,” Tommy said quickly. “The government’s only beginning their investigations—it could take a while.”
