Li smiled. “My pleasure.” He nodded acknowledgement to Professor Jiang and they exchanged a few words. He nodded to the others around the table until his eyes fell on Margaret. The clear contempt they held for her had an almost withering effect and she flushed with embarrassment and lowered her eyes. And she wished with all her heart that she had never come to China. When she looked up again he had gone. A buzz of conversation broke out around the table and Bob pulled up a chair beside her.

“Not the most auspicious of starts,” he said through clenched teeth.

“I didn’t invite him,” she said.

“You didn’t have to engage him in open warfare.”

“I wouldn’t have had to if you people had had the balls to tell him where to go.”

“We couldn’t!” Bob was in danger of raising his voice. He stopped himself and lowered it again. “McCord has connections in this town. His whole rice project had the backing of Pang Xiaosheng, former Minister of Agriculture, now a member of the Politburo—and a national hero. It was Pang who persuaded the leadership to do the deal with Grogan Industries, and it’s Pang who’s reaped the rewards. He’s the bookie’s favourite to be the next leader of the People’s Republic.” Bob stopped to draw a grim breath. “And you don’t fuck with people like that, Margaret.”

It was dark outside as Li and Yongli escorted the now semiconscious McCord through the tunnel from the restaurant to the street. A sleepy trishaw driver lingering in the carpark raised a hopeful eye, assessed the situation, and relapsed into a semi-slumber. The traffic had not abated, and the street was still crowded, ablaze with the lights of neons and vehicles. Li waved at an air-conditioned taxi, but it was occupied and sailed past. He turned and whispered to Yongli, “He’s going to be pretty disappointed when he finds out that Lotus isn’t waiting for him back at the hotel.”

Yongli shrugged. “I’ll give her a call. She’ll take care of him.”

Li looked at his friend with complete incomprehension. “You’d ask her to do that?”

“Why not? The guy’s drunk. It’s not as though he’d be any threat. She’s dealt with him before.”

Li shook his head. He knew he would never understand his friend’s relationship with Lotus. He waved down another taxi, but a black Volvo with darkened windows swung into the space at the kerb and blocked it off. The taxi driver honked his horn furiously, but decided against an argument with the Volvo and screeched away in a temper. A large, uniformed chauffeur stepped out and took McCord’s arm from Yongli. “I’ll take Dr. McCord,” he said.

“Back to the hotel?” Yongli was puzzled by the sudden appearance of the chauffeur-driven limousine.