Chapter 4: Side by Side

The Shao villa on Gulangyu had a ballroom floor and a view of the whole harbor.

A dozen guests in good silk sat in a ring of gilt chairs.

The host sat at the center, a heavy developer of fifty-eight whose father had died the winter before.

His son stood behind him with his arms folded.

Master Lu sat by the door, smiling at everyone.

Zhuang Bo lit the incense and set the brass lamp on a stand in the middle of the floor.

Sang Ruo went first.

He closed his eyes, touched two fingers to his temple, and swayed.

His left ear was hidden under his hair tonight, and he was listening hard to something.

"Your father is here," said Sang Ruo, in a low trembling voice.

"He's so proud of you. He says the company is yours, and he's glad you kept the old villa."

The developer let out a pleased sigh, and half the guests nodded.

"He wants you to leave the villa to your son," Sang Ruo went on. "He says it was never about the money."

It was smooth and warm, and it was what a rich man wished to hear.

Ye Ming sat in the second chair with his hands on his knees and his face blank.

"He's lying," said Gu Chen, so softly that only Ye Ming heard it. "The old man never said any of it."

"I know," Ye Ming answered, in his head, and felt foolish for doing it.

He did not need the voice to tell him.

He had watched the developer's son's jaw tighten at the word villa, and the developer's wife's hand go still on her bag.

"Teacher Ye?" said Master Lu, with a beautiful smile. "Will you add what you see?"

Ye Ming rose and went to the lamp.

The candle in the chimney leaned toward him, and every guest saw it.

He waited, and the room waited with him.

Then the cold came up at his ear, and the voice began to speak, level and certain.

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