“You’re the one who made the deal, brother,” said Guet Imm.
Neither of them was especially cheerful, but Fung Cheung was too amazed by their windfall to take notice.
“Six taels for a few pebbles!” he marvelled. “The woman must be crazy.”
“Who knew there were still such pious people in the world?” said Ah Hin. He gave Guet Imm a shining look. “This good luck is because of sister. Madam Yeoh would never agree to pay so much if anyone else asked.”
Guet Imm glanced at Tet Sang. When he stayed silent, she said, “Actually, the six taels is not just for the relics.”
“The sarira are a great treasure,” Madam Yeoh had said. “But the living light of the Pure Moon is embodied in her votaries.”
She gazed at her courtyard with its graceful blossoming plants, her face troubled.
“These days, it is hard to know how to be a person,” she said. “To avoid doing wrong is not easy, never mind doing good. I have been praying for guidance—a light in this darkness. Now the deity has sent you to me. It’s a sign.”
Tet Sang looked at Guet Imm, but she had gone opaque. He could no more tell what she was thinking than one could discern what lay at the bottom of a moonlit pond at night.
He could act as though he had not heard, or treat the proposal as a joke. But Yeoh Gaik Tin was a powerful woman doing them a great favour. What was more, she was sincere. She deserved a real answer.
“Madam Yeoh honours me,” he said finally. “But I am not qualified to advise anyone, much less Madam Yeoh.”
“You underrate your own powers,” Madam Yeoh began, but Tet Sang raised his hand.
“You must understand. I am not being modest,” he said. “I am not what Madam Yeoh thinks me. I belonged to a tokong once, yes. But that tokong is gone. Now I belong to nothing.”
He braced himself for doubt, questioning, challenges. To his surprise, Yeoh Gaik Tin laughed.
“What?” said Tet Sang crossly when she didn’t stop laughing.
“Sorry, sorry,” said Madam Yeoh, sobering up. She lifted grave eyes to Tet Sang. “This has been a long war for everybody. Who among us has not changed? But you shouldn’t need me to tell you that the deity doesn’t let go of her people so easily.”
She rose. Tet Sang and Guet Imm got to their feet, exchanging an uncertain look.
“I want six hundred cash for Sister Nirodha and her friend,” Madam Yeoh told a servant. To Tet Sang she said, “My people can bring the rest to you if you tell me where to bring it, or you can come and pick it up tomorrow. The eight hundred cash you took already I must hold back for my father, so the balance will be four thousand, six hundred only. Do you want it in taels or cash?”
“Cash will be fine,” said Guet Imm quickly. “The deity keep you in her regard, sister!”
Madam Yeoh waved away Tet Sang’s stammered thanks.
“I won’t call yousister,since you asked,” she said. “But think about my offer. It is not a condition. Either way, I will pay. But Heaven wished us to meet today. These things don’t happen for no reason.”
Now, her eyes on Fung Cheung, Guet Imm said, “Yeoh Gaik Tin made us another offer. She wants a spiritual adviser.”
Fung Cheung raised an eyebrow. “A spiritual adviser? What for?”
“To join her staff,” said Tet Sang, before Guet Imm could reply. “To these rich people, piety is just one more thing to collect. A religious in the house makes them look good to their friends. So, we’ve agreed to supply her with a nun.”
Guet Imm’s head came up. “You have?”
“Sister Guet Imm is going to stay with Madam Yeoh,” said Tet Sang.
“What?” said the brothers.
“What?” said Guet Imm.
Fung Cheung was the only one who showed no surprise. “Makes sense.” Guet Imm’s career interested him less than the arrangements for collecting the remaining monies from Yeoh Gaik Tin. “Tomorrow, how many people should we send? I can go also. I’m interested to meet this Madam Yeoh.”
Tet Sang had no chance to answer in the clamour that rose from the others.
