Finale, page 15
“When I’m not helping out with the wedding, I can spend time with you. I’ll visit every day. We can meet in the mornings for jook.”
“I do not intend to live on congee alone,” he said, a tiny smile playing on his lips.
“You know what I mean.”
“I think I do,” he said, gazing at her.
“We’ll make the best of the time that is left together, and hopefully that’s longer than any of these doctors anticipates,” she said.
“I like your optimism, but there are some things I need to discuss with you,” Uncle said. “If we do it now, then we never need discuss these things again.”
“Do we have to, Uncle?”
“It would give me some peace. I have been thinking about these things for some time now.”
“Yes, Uncle.”
“You know that I have no family here. And I have been in Hong Kong for so many years that my ties to Wuhan are more wishful thinking than real.”
Ava nodded.
“I met with a lawyer after I first suspected there was something wrong with me, and told him to draft a will. When I get out of here I intend to finalize it. You will be named as my executor.”
“Uncle, I do not want to talk about your will,” Ava said.
“Perhaps not, but I do. And then, as I said, it will be done, and it will be one less thing for me to worry about.”
“Uncle, please,” Ava said, almost mournfully.
He hesitated, but resolved to continue, knowing there might never be a better time. “I am going to leave ten million HK to Lourdes, and I am giving her the apartment. If she wants to sell it and move back to the Philippines and live like a millionaire, she can do that. I am also leaving ten million to Uncle Fong. He did not save enough for his retirement, and he has no children to care for him. Ava, I need you to look in on him from time to time. He has been a good friend to me.”
“Yes, he has been a good friend,” Ava said, and to his satisfaction she seemed willing to listen to him now.
“Sonny is a different matter,” Uncle said hesitantly. “I am leaving him the car and some money, but we need to do more than that for him.”
“Like what?”
“You must hire him as your driver.”
“Uncle, I have no need —”
“Listen to me, Ava. Sonny is not a man to be left to his own devices. He needs structure; he needs to feel he belongs to something. If he is on his own, he will get into trouble, and the kind of trouble Sonny would get into would earn him more than a slap on the wrist. Ava, no one could be more loyal.”
“I know that, but how could it work? I live in Toronto, not in Hong Kong.”
“Things could change when I’m gone, especially if you go into business with May Ling.”
“Yes, Uncle, but that is beside the point. I have no plans to live in Hong Kong, so I don’t know what you expect me to do about Sonny.”
“Anything will do. Tell him he is working for you, but when you aren’t in Hong Kong you want him to drive for your father or Amanda Yee. Come up with something, anything. We need to keep Sonny occupied.”
“All right,” Ava said with resignation.
“You need to think about a future without me,” Uncle said, squeezing her hand again.
Ava lowered her head. “I don’t like talking this way.”
“You need to talk to Parker. He brings clarity to things,” Uncle said. “When I asked him what I should do about my condition, he told me I should get my affairs in order. I appreciated his honesty and I am taking his advice. You are going to inherit the bulk of my estate. What you do with it is up to you. All I ask is that you look after Uncle Fong and keep Sonny out of trouble.”
He watched Ava wipe her eyes and wished there had been another way to do this.
“Uncle, I don’t want any of this to happen,” she said.
“Neither do I, but here we are.”
“Ms. Lee,” a voice said from the doorway.
Uncle looked up to see a nurse standing nearby. She seemed angry, and he couldn’t understand why.
“We agreed to a five-minute visit with your grandfather. These are not our usual visitation hours,” she said to Ava. “You need to leave now.”
“I’m sorry, I lost track of time,” Ava said, standing.
Uncle looked up at her. “I am glad things are settled. I was worried about how I was going to tell you. You have made it easier for me.”
“I’ll be back tonight,” she said.
“At regular visiting hours,” the nurse added.
“At five-thirty,” Ava said to Uncle.
“I’ll be leaving here tomorrow,” he said.
“And I’ll be here to get you.”
“Ms. Lee,” the nurse said.
Ava bent over and kissed Uncle on the forehead. “I love you,” she whispered.
He watched her walk towards the door and felt a surge of emotion he hadn’t experienced since he’d lost Gui-San.
“Ava, I love you too,” he whispered.
She turned back to him. “Yes, Uncle, what did you say?”
“Nothing, my girl. Nothing at all.”
PART TWO
( 1 )
Kowloon, Hong Kong
January 2016
Since abandoning his chemotherapy treatments in September, Uncle had been careful not to fall back into his old routines. During the week, he ate congee most mornings with Ava, and a lot of white rice and other bland foods prepared by Lourdes for dinner. He had cut back on his cigarette consumption considerably, and most days managed to forego his beloved San Miguel beer. His weekends, though, were another story.
In October, Uncle had confided the details of his condition to his old friend Fong, and since then the pair had begun meeting regularly for dinner on Saturday nights. These weekly dinners were the one time in the week that Uncle risked upsetting his stomach. He would have a few beers, smoke some cigarettes, and eat food that had more flavour and texture but still wasn’t overly spicy. Uncle and Fong took turns choosing the restaurant for their Saturday night dinner, and this week Fong had selected a hot pot restaurant in Hong Kong’s Central District that they both liked. Uncle was known to the owner, and he and Fong were quickly seated when they arrived. Within minutes of sitting down, two cold beers were on the table in front of them, and a flame was lit under the pot containing the chicken broth. Fong ordered platters of shrimp, beef, squid, mushrooms, and tofu, and when the server left, he raised his beer bottle to Uncle. “Here’s to a fine meal, and may we have many more,” he said.
“Indeed,” said Uncle as he sipped carefully.
“When I spoke with Lourdes earlier today, I asked about Ava. She told me she hadn’t been around very much this week,” said Fong, putting down his bottle after a healthy swig. “That’s unusual, isn’t it? I thought you saw her every day.”
“Her half-brother Michael is marrying Amanda Yee today. Ava is the maid of honour. She’s been tied up all week with the preparations.”
“Am I remembering correctly that Amanda is one of Ava’s new business partners?”
“She owns a small part of the business. Ava and May Ling Wong gave it to her rather than making her invest, since Amanda is the one who’ll be running things on a day-to-day basis. May Ling is still strongly involved, of course, but she and her husband live in Wuhan,” he said, and then paused before adding: “And while Ava has been spending a lot of time with me lately, when I’m no longer here, she’ll return to Toronto.”
Fong flicked a hand in the air as if to swipe away Uncle’s last remark. “With Amanda marrying Michael, that is adding more complications to Ava’s already complicated family life,” he said.
“Her rather prominent role in the wedding isn’t going to make things any easier either,” said Uncle. “She’ll be meeting her other half-brothers for the first time, and I imagine she’ll run into Elizabeth Lee.”
“Her father’s first wife?”
“Yes, and the one he still lives with. Marcus sent Ava’s mother to Canada decades ago. Mind you, he looked after her very well, along with Ava and her older sister, so I give him credit for that.”
“Is Ava close to him?”
“I don’t know how strong the emotional attachment is,” Uncle said. “I do know that when the brother, Michael, ran into trouble last year, Ava came to his rescue at her father’s request, so there is at least a sense of family obligation.”
“I hope the wedding goes well,” Fong said. “I hate the thought of Ava being disrespected. You know how awful first wives and their families can be to kids from a second or third marriage.”
“I hardly slept last night worrying about it,” Uncle said with a wan smile. “I know she’s strong, but I can’t help feeling protective.”
“You made . . . you are a great team,” Fong said, correcting himself. “When you retired as Mountain Master, many of us were concerned about how you would fill your days. None of us expected that you and Ava would accomplish the things you did.”
“We did a lot of good, didn’t we?”
“And you made a lot of money.”
“That’s true, but it was never about the money. Not really. At the start it was about helping friends in need, and then after Ava joined forces with me, the jobs we took on were really just my way of keeping her close.”
“You were always more than just partners.”
“It’s true. And it began almost from the moment I first spoke to her. I hadn’t met her in person yet, so it was on the phone. She was in Shenzhen chasing down the same thief that Andy and Carlo were after. She had already impressed them with her fighting ability, but now she was haranguing them about the money. She felt they had settled for too little and wanted to go after more. I was brought in to make a decision. I remember the conversation like it was yesterday. Ava was polite, respectful, and stated her case in such an intelligent and logical way that I gave in to her without argument. She ended up finding more than twice the money the boys had agreed to take.”
“When did you actually meet her face to face?”
“The next day, after I arranged for her to be released from jail in Shenzhen.”
“I don’t know that story.”
Uncle smiled. “She and Andy were attacked by the thief’s bodyguards outside his office. Ava put them both on the ground, but it turned out they were off-duty cops, and she was arrested. I had to call in a few favours to get her out of that jam. Later that night we met for dinner, and my earlier impressions of her were strengthened to the point that I offered her a job before dinner had even ended. She said no.”
“She did? What changed her mind?”
“The next day I offered her a full partnership, and when she still hesitated, I asked her to take on one job with me as a trial run. She accepted and we never discussed our business relationship again. We simply moved on to a second job and kept on going for another ten years.”
Their food arrived, and talk dwindled as portions of shrimp, mushrooms, beef, and more were put into the broth to cook. When they bobbed to the surface they were deemed ready to eat, and were plucked from the pot in small mesh baskets, then dipped in a variety of sauces. Fong had made a sauce laden with chili peppers for himself, while Uncle mixed light soy and oyster sauce together for his.
“Do you want more?” Fong asked when the beef and shrimp platters were depleted.
“I’d better not, but I’ll have another beer,” said Uncle.
When two more beers arrived, Fong put down his chopsticks and asked, “Are you still planning to go to Shanghai?”
“Yes, I intend to go sometime in the next week or two. It has been nearly six months since I was there.”
“Does Xu know about your . . . condition?” asked Fong.
“No.”
“I’ve never met him,” said Fong, deciding not to follow up on his question. “Is he anything like his father?”
Xu’s father — also named Xu — had been part of the Fanling triads with Fong and Uncle. The three men had been close friends, but when Xu the elder moved to Shanghai to start his own gang, Fong had lost touch with him. Uncle, however, visited him often. During those visits he had also established a strong relationship with the younger Xu, and when the young man had decided to follow in his father’s footsteps, Uncle had mentored him, and had even sponsored him when he took the Thirty-Six Oaths. When Xu the elder died, his son became the gang’s Mountain Master, and Uncle had adopted a role as his senior advisor.
“Yes, in some ways. Like his father, Xu is clever, hard-working, considerate to those who work for him, and he generates great loyalty and respect,” Uncle said. “But he has more ambition than his father, and can be colder, more calculating. That isn’t to say he’s sly, because he’s not; he’s actually very straightforward. But he isn’t a man to shy away from challenges, and he has surrounded himself with talented people who would do anything for him. I don’t believe there is a gang in Hong Kong who could defeat Shanghai in a turf war.”
“Does Xu have any ambitions in Hong Kong?”
“Only as a market for the high-end knock-off goods produced by his factories,” Uncle said, and then hesitated before deciding he could be completely open with Fong. “Strictly between us, I am trying to convince him to run for the position of chairman of the triad societies. He believes in the extended brotherhood, he has vision, and he understands that fostering co-operation between the gangs is the best way to build a strong collective future.”
“All things you believed in,” said Fong.
“Yes, and for good reason.”
“I’m not suggesting otherwise, but you know there are Mountain Masters who prefer to do things their own way. Not all of them accept your idea of co-operation or your vision for a strong collective future,” said Fong. “I’ve also heard that Li in Guangzhou wants the chairmanship.”
“He wants it so he can render it useless.”
“Maybe, but he’s smart and tough, and he has the support of many other gangs.”
“Well, the election is months away, so it is a bit soon to start speculating about who will run and what kind of support they can generate.”
“Is Xu leaning towards running?”
“I think so.”
“Then good luck in getting him to commit,” said Fong.
Uncle lit a cigarette and felt immediately queasy. He put the cigarette out and sipped his beer to get rid of the taste in his mouth. “Thank you, but convincing Xu to run for chairman isn’t the only reason I’m going to Shanghai,” he said. “I need to tell Xu that I’m ill, and I have decided that now is the time to introduce Xu to Ava.”
“They’ve never met?”
“I’ve never even mentioned her to him, or vice versa.”
“Why not?”
Uncle shrugged. “As you know, I have always endeavoured to keep certain parts of my life separate. There were things that I never felt the need to share. For example, until I took you to the Ancestor Worship Hall in Yuen Long, no one else knew about the niche.”
“And even after you left the gang, you never shared the name of your contact in the Hong Kong police department.”
“Tian knew, but he was the one who brought us together,” Uncle said, referring to the man who had been his triad mentor. “Tian was as tight-lipped and secretive as me.”
“But why would you keep Ava and Xu secret from each other?”
“They exist in different spheres. The only thing they have in common is me.”
“So why introduce them now?” asked Fong.
“Because I’m not going to be here forever, and I’m counting on them to support each other after I’m gone,” he said. “Maybe it’s an old man’s ego speaking, but Ava and I would never have been as successful as we were if, from time to time, I hadn’t tapped into my network of friends and brothers. And I like to think that my counsel has helped Xu become the Mountain Master and the man he is today.”
“So you want Ava to be able to use Xu’s connections, and you want him to use her as an advisor?” Fong said, sounding doubtful.
“Why not?” Uncle said briskly. “I don’t know what Ava will do when I’m gone, but if she decides to run a business with May Ling and Amanda in Asia, having strong triad connections would certainly be advantageous. As for Ava advising Xu, I’ve never met anyone in the brotherhood or elsewhere who thinks things through as thoroughly as she does. She could be an objective sounding board for him.”
“I do see the logic in that,” Fong admitted.
“And there’s something else. One of the challenges Xu is facing in Shanghai is what to do with all the money he’s generating. If he had a way to quietly, maybe even secretly, invest in legitimate businesses, it would be of tremendous help to him in the long term. Ava and May Ling are in the early days of their business together. I know they’ve each put in one hundred million U.S. dollars, but an infusion of another two or three hundred million with no strings attached could change the type and size of businesses they can invest in.”
“May Ling would have to be told about Xu, no?” asked Fong.
“May is pragmatic, and if Xu can convince Ava to take his money, then I’m sure Ava could bring May on side.”
Fong nodded and then furrowed his brow. “You seem quite pale, Uncle. Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m not used to speaking this much. It seems to have tired me,” he said. “I also shouldn’t have tried to smoke, or maybe it’s just that the food and beer are catching up to me.”
“Do you want to go home?”
“I think I should.”
Fong paid their bill, gripped Uncle gently by the arm, and walked him through the restaurant. Sonny was outside, standing by the Mercedes. As soon he saw them emerge from the restaurant, he rushed over to them.
“He’s not feeling terrific,” Fong said. “You should take him directly to the apartment. I’ll catch a taxi back to Fanling.”
