“Miss Hu?” A gentle hand on her arm. It was Sparrow. “Professor Kang asked me to find you. He has news about Miss Yee.”

“Maybe Colonel Chung has freed her,” Lian said. “Maybe he wants me to go with him to Changsha and get Meirong.”

Lian ran until she got to the barracks room that was both office and sleeping quarters for Professor Kang. She knocked on the door and the professor’s voice called out immediately for her to enter. Mr. Lee was there, too. The director of student services looked resigned and unhappy, not threatening. But Lian knew right away from the expression on the professor’s face that the news wasn’t good. Professor Kang cleared his throat.

“Colonel Chung wasn’t able to persuade the Juntong,” he said. “Yee Meirong is being taken to a reeducation camp.”

“Can we visit? Take her food?” she said.

“The camp is in a very remote location,” Mr. Lee said, “a hundred miles away from any town. Even if we got permission, it would be extremely difficult getting there to visit.”

“Of course, we’ll keep trying to get her released,” the professor said, “but apparently she isn’t helping her own case.”

No, of course not. Meirong’s vow to honor Wang Jenmei’s legacy only added to her determination. Even in death, Jenmei still had influence over Meirong.

There had to be something she could do for Meirong. Who never complained about the hardships of the road, who never asked to be her friend but just assumed they were. Meirong, who was so incurably stubborn. Lian couldn’t leave Minghua, not yet. She had to ask Mr. Lee if he’d been the one to report Meirong. Beg him to intervene. And she had to do it before she lost her nerve.

LIAN HAD ASKED to see Mr. Lee in private and now he stood behind his desk, looking out the window even though there was nothing to see. It was dark outside and the glass panes only threw back their reflections.

“Miss Hu. What can I do for you?” He turned to put his cigarette carefully on the ashtray and a long stick of ash broke off. He turned back to stare at the window.

“Meirong. Did you give her up to the Juntong?” she said.

“I like young people,” he said to her reflected image. “That’s why I took this job. But the war. War changes everything, you know.”

“You could’ve intervened,” she said, “you could’ve talked to her, warned her.”

“So could you,” he replied, his back still turned.

“I didn’t know she was in so deep. But she would’ve listened to you. You have authority.”

“Do you really think so, Miss Hu?” He turned around and tapped the remaining ash off his cigarette, ground it out. “Do you really think either of us could’ve convinced her?”