Chapter One
Unauthorised Dinner
The man waiting for Suyin had laid a table for two. That was already suspicious. Her mother had said there would be chairs to carry.
There were chairs. They stood in a handsome stack against the wall, looking as if nobody had needed to move them for years. Between the two places on the pink table, a candle trembled in a dish. Someone had cut a cucumber into flowers.
Suyin adjusted the cardboard window under her arm. It was large enough to frame the man's head, which she did briefly, without meaning to.
He looked through it at her.
"Were you told about the chairs?" he asked.
"I was told to wear something nice in case the chairs were dusty."
He considered this. "Mine said there was a problem with the folding table."
"Is there?"
"Only what somebody has put on it."
From the little serving room came a noise like a bowl being placed down too firmly. Her mother emerged with both hands free and an expression that had clearly been prepared elsewhere.
"Suyin. You brought your window."
"You asked me to bring it."
"Yes. For Han to see. He likes things."
The older man following her looked faintly alarmed by this account of his interests. He wore a cream shirt, neatly pressed, and carried the rice as if it might help him through whatever came next.
"Very good window," he said.
