“You got official seal. If Beijing government want to, it can revoke. You win trial, but they don’t even give you chance for trial. These papers okay for America; legal Chinese documents. Exit visa, too, legal.”

Nola looked up at the sky. It was clear and high and dotted with millions of shiny stars. This was the moment she would remember forever, when Lulu legally became her daughter. No champagne toast, only the Milky Way, distinct with its arching clusters of stars. If it weren’t for the basket, she would have jumped for sheer joy.

“Thank you,” she said, directing the words both to Ming-Ji and to all the powers that had brought her here.

Silhouettes materialized from one of the boats. From another direction came three uniformed men. Beside her, she heard Ming-Ji’s quick intake of breath. Nola took a step backward, and again her foot sank in mud. The silhouettes from the boats scattered.

“What’s the matter?” Nola whispered.

“Problem.”

Nola dared not pull her foot out of the mud as a policeman beamed a flashlight into her and Ming-Ji’s faces, then locked it on hers.

Ming-Ji pulled up all four feet, ten inches of herself and spoke quickly. She elbowed Nola, who stood still, the cold mud seeping over the rim of her right sneaker and the light beam piercing straight into her skull. “Money,” Ming-Ji told her when Nola seemed too dense to respond.

Should she put her hand in her pocket? The men might think she was about to draw a gun. But when Ming-Ji elbowed her again, Nola pulled out three hundred-dollar bills. Ming-Ji’s imperceptible nod told her that was enough. She handed a bill to each man, and they turned and disappeared behind a mess of fishnets.

Ming-Ji helped her back onto the flat stone and sneered in the direction the men had gone. “Corrupt cops. They come, always, ask for money. First one cop, then two, now three cops. Next time four cops come.”

“How often do you make this bone-breaking trip?” Nola shook her sneaker and scraped its sides against the stone to remove the mud.

Ming-Ji tucked her hair behind her ears and tied a scarf over her head. She buttoned the top of her cotton jacket, and went on muttering. “This town too far for the law. Like in many Chinese villages, people buy public positions because they get private profits. Capitalism as old as China, but it show in ways the West won’t tolerate.”

“So much for totalitarian government control except when it comes to one baby.”

“I sorry it cost you more money,” Ming-Ji added.

“I’m enormously grateful to you for coming up to Shanghai, then making this long trip down here—and for everything else.”

“Daniel wanted to save you. Not like what happened to his other wife. You are good woman, even if you are very famous.”