LEISURELY, from his loose sleeve, the
\nManchu drew a paper\u2014the paper which a few months earlier, Foh Wong had signed on the editor\u2019s request\u2014and which Yang Shen-Li now read aloud:
\n\u201cHerewith, for the sum of five thousand dollars, I employ Kang Kee to kill my wife\u2014\u201d
\nFoh Wong grew pale. He stared at the Manchu, who stared back. There was in their eyes the old hate that had never weakened. Alone they were with this searing, choking hate. The outer world and its noises seemed very far away. There was just a memory of street cries lifting their lean, starved arms; just a memory of river wind chasing the night clouds that clawed at the moon with cool, slim fingers of silver and white.
\nThen the Manchu spoke:
\n\u201cIf I lose my head, you lose yours. Only\u2014I am not afraid of losing mine, being a brave man, an iron-capped prince; whereas you, O coolie, are\u2014\u201d \u201cA coward,\u201d the other said dully.
\n\u201cPrecisely. But brave man and coward shall be united in death. Together our souls shall jump the dragon gate.\u201d Yang Shen-Li turned toward the door. \u201cI shall now go to the police of the coarsehaired barbarians, and\u2014\u201d
\n\u201cWait!\u201d
\n\u201cYes?\u201d
\nUnconsciously, Foh Wong used the words which, decades ago, in Ninguta, the Manchu had used:
\n\u201cIs there a price for your silence?\u201d
\n\u201cThere is.\u201d
\n\u201cHow much?\u201d
\n\u201cEverything,\u201d announced the Manchu, sitting down, slipping a little fan from his sleeve and opening it slowly. . . .
\nHe had not arrived tonight, he related, but twenty-four hours earlier. He had spent the time with Yung Tang, talking over the whole matter with him, and making certain arrangements. For instance, bribing a Chinese doctor who would certify that Foh Wong had died\u2014of heart failure.
\n\u201cYou,\u201d the merchant whispered, \u201cyou mean to\u2014\u201d
\n\u201cKill you? Not at all. Did I not tell you there is a price for my silence? And would your life be the
\nprice? No, no! Your life is sacred to me.\u201d
\n\u201cThen?\u201d
\n\u201cListen!\u201d Yang Shen-Li went on to explain that, with the help of the physician\u2019s certificate, Na Liu would be buried as Foh Wong, while it would be given out that she had gone to China on a lengthy visit. \u201cClever\u2014don\u2019t you think?\u201d he smiled.
\n\u201cBut what will happen to me? How, if I\u2019m supposed to be dead and buried, can I show my face?\u201d
\n\u201cYou can\u2019t,\u201d said the Manchu grimly. \u201cYou will live in the garret of your house until death\u2014may it not be for many years! You will see nobody\u2014 except me. You will speak to nobody\u2014except to me. Nobody will know that you are among the living\u2014nobody except me and Yung Tang. This shall be a bond between you and me. The moment
\nyou break it, I shall go to the police and\u2014\u201d
\n\u201cBut my business\u2014my money\u2014\u201d
\n\u201cI shall look after it. For before\u2014shall I say?\u2014 your death, you shall have made a will\u2014you are going to sign it presently\u2014making me trustee of your estate for your absent wife. You will leave her your whole fortune\u2014all, that is, save eighteen thousand dollars\u2014make it thirty-eight thousand\u2014 which you will leave to Yung Tang. . . . Hayah!\u201d\u2014 as the other began to plead and argue. \u201cBe quiet, coolie! For today I command\u2014and you will obey!\u201d
\nAND thus it is Foh Wong is cooped up in the sweltering garret of his Pell Street house, with the door locked and the windows tightly shuttered, and an agony of fear forever stewing in his brain. It is thus that Yang Shen-Li is lording it gloriously over Foh Wong\u2019s clerks, spending Foh Wong\u2019s money recklessly; and in the evening, after a pleasant hour or two at the Azure Dragon Club, mounting to the second floor, bowing courteously to his wrinkled old wife and asking her:
\n\u201cMoonbeam, was there ever love as staunch as ours?\u201d
\nAlways she gives a quaint, giggling, girlish little laugh. And at times, hearing the echo of it, Foh Wong wonders\u2014then forgets his wonder in his fear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LEISURELY, from his loose sleeve, the Manchu drew a paper\u2014the paper which a few months earlier, Foh Wong had signed on the editor\u2019s request\u2014and which Yang Shen-Li now read aloud: \u201cHerewith, for the sum of five thousand dollars, I employ Kang Kee to kill my wife\u2014\u201d Foh Wong grew pale. He stared at the Manchu,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pulp-classics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/astoundingoutpost.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/astoundingoutpost.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/astoundingoutpost.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astoundingoutpost.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astoundingoutpost.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/astoundingoutpost.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/astoundingoutpost.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astoundingoutpost.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/astoundingoutpost.com\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}