Chapter 5: Pearls

Madam Xu, Xu Zhengyuan's mother, came to Sanlian Lane on Thursday afternoon, when school was nearly out and the shop was nearly empty.

She wore a grey wool coat and a double strand of pearls.

She had a driver who held the door and did not look at the noodle shop at all.

Mu Qing knew her before she was through it.

Six years had not touched her.

She was fifty-eight and straight-backed, with a smooth cool face and a mouth that was always about to say something reasonable.

"Mu Qing," said Madam Xu. "You look well."

"Madam Xu," said Mu Qing.

He did not say sit down, but she sat at table four anyway, and drew off her gloves one finger at a time.

Ran was at the next table with his reading book.

He looked up, looked at the pearls, and looked at the woman's chin.

"Boss," said Fan Yue, in a stiff, strange voice, from the till. "I'll go and, um, check the cellar."

"There's no cellar," said Mu Qing.

"I'll find one," said Fan Yue, and went through the back door.

Madam Xu folded her gloves on the table.

"You've done a very good job with him," she said, nodding at Ran without turning her head.

"March babies are delicate, and the hospital here is small. I'm glad it was kind to you."

Mu Qing's hands went cold on the cloth.

He had never told her the month, or the town, or the hospital.

He kept his face still.

"Thank you," he said.

"I won't waste your time," said Madam Xu. "You have a business, and I have a long drive."

She took an envelope from her bag and laid it flat on the table.

"My mother-in-law will be eighty-five on the twenty-fifth. The family is giving her a banquet at the old house in Ningbo."

She tapped the envelope. "The family would like to see the boy."

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