Chapter 24: The Shrine

The shrine stood at the top of one hundred and eight stone steps.

The Su family climbed them in the cold before dawn.

Chairman Su went first with Lu Feng in a sling and a bag of oranges in his free hand.

Mrs. Su came next, holding her skirt.

Su Yu came last, carrying Su Lan on his shoulders and breathing hard.

"I could have delegated this," he said, at step sixty.

"To whom?" said Lu Chen, beside him.

"A porter."

"There is no porter."

"There's a man who sells tea at the bottom."

"He is seventy-one," Lu Chen said. "Own hands. One point."

"Is that for the climb?"

"It's for the climb, and for the fact that you have not once said you were tired."

"I'm exhausted."

"I know. That's the second point."

The shrine at the top was a small wooden hall with a red roof.

A stone lion stood on either side of the door, and an iron bell hung in a frame in the yard.

An old keeper in a grey robe met them at the gate, with a ledger under his arm.

It was the family register, the real one, and it was older than the Su Group.

Mrs. Su opened it with both hands at the last page.

Under the line for the current head of the house, in fresh black ink, were four names.

The Chairman. Mrs. Su. Su Yu.

And the fourth, written by a careful hand: Lu Chen.

Lu Chen stood in front of it and read it three times.

"The keeper copied it from the entry in our study," Mrs. Su said gently.

"He came to the house the week after you said yes. The Chairman made him write it at breakfast."

"I seconded it," said the Chairman, to the sky.

Lu Chen put out one finger and touched the ink.

It did not smudge.

Behind them the keeper cleared his throat and held out the bell rope.

"The youngest of the house rings the first strike," he said. "Held up, if need be, by someone who belongs."

Lu Chen took Su Lan from his husband's shoulders and settled him on his hip.