Mingmei Yip - The Nine Fold Heaven

“Then why don’t you write something about it, your column has always been fearless.” But this was not the time to offend Rainbow, so I swallowed the rest of my sentence, “And making things up anyway in order to sell more papers.”

Her answer surprised me. “Because I’m protecting you.”

“How?”

“Obvious. “If I fan the flames of this drama in my column, Chief Li will definitely use all his means to find and kill you.”

”But why would he do that?”

“To please his new partner, your old boss Big Brother Wang.”

“Then why hasn’t he already done so?”

“Because there’s no extradition law in Hong Kong. So he would be wasting his time to try to get you. But now you’re back…” She paused to give me a significant look, to suggest that I was stupid or that I was under her total mercy—or both.

I took a big gulp of my champagne to soothe my tightened nerve. “So you’re not going to write about—?”

“You think I have the heart to harm you, Camilla?” she said, her eyes filled with tenderness, or an imitation of it. “Have you heard of the saying, ‘A knife’s sharp tooth but a tofu heart’?”

This means though a person’s speech is vicious, her heart is tender.

“Then what do you want?”

“You know what I always want.”

Damn, of course I knew. She’d tried her best to seduce me in the past.

“Rainbow, but that’s not going to work and you know it.”

“Who’s talking about eternity here? Nothing is going to last forever anyway. As you well know, having studied the Book of Changes . But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a few moments together, does it?”

I definitely didn’t want to have sex with her and even less to become her kept woman as the price of her keeping my secrets. But maybe I would have to until I could find a better way out. Anyway, as a spy, I’d had to endure far worse. In my life, the question was never right or wrong, but surviving. Compared to what I had been through earlier in my life, having sex with one more person, man or woman, should not be a big deal.

She went on. “As you well know, love cannot prevail against power. Believe me, Camilla, there’s no exception to this. You must have read stories of the high government scholar-officials who fell in love with the wrong woman? The courtesans would bewitch the besotted man with singing, dancing, playing music, and frolicking in bed. Everything that the scholar’s wrinkled old wife could never imitate. However, at the end, who’d be at this man’s deathbed? The wrinkled old wife, of course, whose rival would either go back to the prostitution house or enter a nunnery.”

“Rainbow,” I was getting impatient, “just tell me what you want to say instead of beating around the bush.”

She held up her champagne flute and looked at the bubbles, to create suspense, I supposed, or to annoy me. Then her next statement gave me a jolt.

“Camilla, I want you to be my spy.”

I’d planned so long and worked so hard to cut myself off from my former life, I was not going back to it under any circumstances!

“Is this a joke?”

“You came back to Shanghai. It’s your own fault.”

“Who could I possibly spy on?”

“Your new lover Edward Miller.”

“What?!”

“Don’t act so shocked, Camilla. If you could spy on a gangster, surely you won’t have any problem spying on an ambassador. Besides, he’s infatuated with you, so it should be an easy job.”

“How did you find—”

She smiled triumphantly. “Our spying Pink Skeleton Empire doesn’t get its name for nothing.”

“But I’m not going to harm him.”

“Relax. No one is going to harm anyone. You heard of the bombing at the embassy?”

I nodded. I did not tell her I had also witnessed it.

She went on. “Someone is not happy with the ambassador. Miller is new here and quite decent—really, I should say naive, or even stupid, for a diplomat. His predecessors, including the last one who had a heart attack and dropped dead, all reached accommodation with the black societies and made out rather handsomely as a result.

“But this Edward Miller wants to clean things up, especially the gambling. Can you imagine how many enemies he’s already making, eh?! Worse, he’s not even a real ambassador, only an acting consul! Why doesn’t he just have a good time here, including enjoying a few pretty Chinese girls, then go home to his erotic memories and his profits?”

I suppressed the itch on my hand, which was longing to give her a slap, but instead calmly asked, “So what do you want me to do?”

“See what his plans are and persuade him not to pull the tiger’s whiskers.”

“I don’t think I have that kind of power.”

“Don’t underestimate your power over him. Many less beautiful than you have toppled whole countries. You know the Thirty-six Stratagems —one of the best is the Beauty Trap. It worked on Master Lung, right? All you have to do now is get some information from a lonely American who happens to be the Consul General, or at least the acting one. That’ll be a piece of moon cake, right? Anyway, the gambling business has been going downhill for a while, so it’s time to profit from it while we can. You understand?”

I nodded. “Yes. But why do you care? Gambling and Edward Miller have nothing to do with you.”

“I have some interests here. I loan money to some of the gentlemen who gamble. But no one can know about this.”

”You’re not afraid that I’ll tell?”

She laughed. “Not at all. You shouldn’t forget that I have my poisonous pen.” She paused, then made a sweeping gesture. “And my Pink Skeleton girls.”

I sighed inside. Now I could feel the nails of the tiger’s paw.

She spoke again. “If Miller stops his silly crusade against the gambling dens, he can go home rich and it will be a win-win situation for all parties. If not”—here she stopped and gave me a direct look—“I don’t want to imagine the consequences.”

Raising one immaculately painted brow, the gossip columnist patted my hand sympathetically. “Now, go get some rest, Camilla, you look tired. You like Miller anyway, so you can have a good time while you carry out your assignment.”

I nodded. As if I had a choice.

It was not until almost two weeks after the bombing that Edward Miller had time for me. Because the consulate was still being heavily guarded by the Shanghai police, he suggested we meet at his governess Emily’s place.

“Jasmine.” Edward kissed me after we sat on the governess’s floral-patterned sofa. “Sorry that I couldn’t see you earlier. There were so many things to take care of after the bombing.”

“Do you know who did this?”

“Someone very evil. Just think about it, who has the guts to bomb a consulate? Of course, it could be the anarchists. Since I am new in Shanghai, this whole thing really alarms me. What goes on here is impossible for a foreigner to figure out. There are wheels within wheels. China is so complicated and entangled. Anyway, let’s not talk about unpleasant things.”

The ambassador tilted my chin and looked into my eyes. “Jasmine, tell me how have you been?”

Of course I wasn’t going to tell him I’d actually witnessed the bombing with my old lover, Gao. Nor about my search for Jinying. And certainly not that I was now being forced to spy on him.

“I’ve been worried about you, Edward. But things are fine with me,” I lied. “What about you?”

“Jasmine, don’t you worry about me. Henry and I are fine too. Only that I might not be able to see you as much as I want to. There are so many meetings and things to take care of.”

“It must be boring to be in meetings all the time.” I wanted to probe but not awaken any suspicion.