Of course, that was a fine saying by itself. Indeed, it was the most popular birthday wish because on this festive day, one eats gourmet food, consumes the finest wine and rarest tea, opens costly gifts, and basks in celebratory compliments. All the best things happen on this special day.
I had something else in mind for Wang. If they came to pass, he would not have any more years, or even days.
As soon as Jinying pulled up in front of the nightclub, a bodyguard came up and tapped on the window.
I rolled it down and bestowed my best flirtatious smile on him.
In a respectful tone, no doubt awed by the expensive Mercedes, he asked us who we were. I kept my smile sweet and seductive.
“We’re Big Brother Wang’s family, I am his sister-in-law’s sister”—I nodded my head toward Jinying—“and this is my husband.” Then I made a sweeping gesture with my hands. “You see this car? It’s our gift for Big Brother Wang.”
“I’m sorry that I have to ask. Can you show me your invitation?”
Of course Wang had never sent me one. I pretended to rummage in my handbag but couldn’t find any.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I forgot to bring it, how can I be so absentminded?”
I asked my “husband.” “Do you have it?”
He pretended annoyance. “Of course not. You were supposed to bring it!”
I thought for a while, then told the guard, “All right, please go inside and tell Big Brother Wang that his sister-in-law’s sister Jasmine Chen and Mr. Chen have arrived with their gift.“
I overheard another guard say, “If she’s only our boss’s sister-in-law’s sister, why would she buy him such an expensive gift?”
I smiled to my guard. “You know, Big Brother Wang saved my whole family from an evil criminal who wanted to take all our money. This gift is just a small token of our gratitude. Please go in and tell him, he’ll know who we are.”
Then into his rough hand—no doubt from roughing up Wang’s victims—I pressed a thick wad of bills.
“Of course.” He returned my sweet smile with a licentious one. “Please stay here.”
Waiting, Jinying and I watched as expensively dressed celebrities and dignitaries arrived and entered the restaurant. But this was more than celebrity gazing on my part. I knew we would not be killed in front of all these famous and powerful guests.
Soon the bodyguard came back. “Big Brother Wang said you can leave the car in front of the restaurant. But I have to check the car before I can let you in.”
So we got off and waited patiently for him and his colleagues to inspect the car quite thoroughly—opening the trunk and the hood, lifting up seat cushions, and crawling underneath. After they finished, they said we could go in.
I pointed to the side entrance. “The car has to be left here. When your boss comes out to see it, he’s not going to want to wait. And keep the other cars away so his expensive birthday present doesn’t get scratched.”
“As you say, madame.”
The guard hopped into the car and, driving slowly and carefully, parked where we had indicated. When he returned, Jinying held his hand out for the key, but the guard said it had to be left in the car in case Wang wanted it moved.
Now that we had taken care of the car, it was time to enter the restaurant. Of course I was not so naive as to think that Wang would just let us inside without being searched, even though the car was clean.
Two new bodyguards came and led us into the restaurant through the side entrance. Once inside, Jinying and I were taken to separate rooms to be thoroughly searched. As usual, I had to strip off all my clothes to prove that I hadn’t hidden a weapon or poison somewhere—inside my bra’s padding, my dress’s buttons, even my gold bangle and long, dangling earrings. The one who searched me showed his passion for his job by eagerly rubbing my breasts, bottom, and between my legs. Obviously I never liked this sort of thing, but it had been part of my daily routine when I was Lung’s mistress, so I’d become resigned to it.
With Gao it had been different. His image flashed in my mind and I suddenly missed him terribly. He was also a bodyguard, but unlike these animals, he had never been disrespectful or rough with me. He’d always made me feel like a lady, not a mistress or a marginal woman. He loved me, but never took advantage of his position. Though he was familiar with my naked body, he even turned around to let me put my clothes back on after he’d searched me. I’d returned his kindnesses by saving his life, as he had saved mine. But I wondered where he was now and reflected that we would probably never see each other again in this life.
Just then the bodyguard shouted, “Done, now put your clothes back on, quick!”
When we emerged from the room, Jinying and the other bodyguard were already waiting for us. The look on my lover’s face showed that he guessed what had happened to me in that room and was not happy about it. But I had no time to worry about his feelings, for we’d soon meet Wang and Lung. I had my own worries: What if Lung didn’t show up at the banquet table—maybe Wang had already killed him and this was just a trap for us? Maybe my former boss only pretended to be superstitious and wouldn’t mind killing people on his birthday?
But I had a perfect plan that would even fool heaven. Or so I hoped.
As we entered the big hall, our noses were greeted by the fragrance of flowers and perfume competing with the odors of food, alcohol, and cigarettes. A band boomed out cheerful and boisterous Chinese folk tunes. There were many tables; at each were seated expensively attired men and their lavishly dressed and bejeweled women. Some of the latter were young and beautiful, others less so—the first wives.
These rich, powerful men could easily rid themselves of these no longer desired first wives—there could always be an accident off a balcony or into the angry-waved Huangpu River. This would end the nagging, but then there would be the fear of a yellow-faced old hag coming back for revenge as a ghost.
There was another reason—these women might be fengshui wives, somehow the source of their husbands’ wealth and good fortune over the years. So later there would be concubines to serve their fleshly needs, while the first wives served the necessary function of bringing good luck.
After all, no rich and powerful man would be stupid enough to discontinue his good luck by cutting off from his first wife, who might be good in luck, though not in bed. But if she looks a little worn after all that you have put her through, you don’t need her to warm your bed, because replacements are readily at hand in the form of concubines. And when the concubine gets a little long in the tooth, then there can be concubine number two, number three, number four… The number can go on indefinitely in proportion to the thickness of your piles of money.
So no sane man would ever dump his fengshui first wife. Because when she leaves, she might take all his good fortune with her.
I suddenly thought that if Master Lung had taken me as his wife, decades later, my fate would have been the same as these rich but miserable women of a certain age. I’d be like a lucky amulet, necessary but kept out of sight. Because these rich and powerful men never take their first wives out for pleasure, but only so they’ll be praised for their virtue.
I sighed inside.
Jinying cast me a worried look. “Are you all right, Camilla?”
I acknowledged his worry with a tense smile.
Wang’s honorable guests were busy socializing between sips of champagne, imported liquor, mao-tai, wine, and aromatic tea, and so I was relieved that no one seemed to pay us any attention. As on the outside of the restaurant, red banners covered with auspicious couplets and fresh flowers were everywhere. But I didn’t see the little poem that I intended to change from good luck to bad: