Perhaps you’ve heard already. Wei Daming was killed only a few days after he returned to the front.

Lian closed her eyes for a moment, then read Shorty’s words again. Daming was dead. She offered up a silent prayer to the gods. Before remembering it was no use anymore.

“Poor, dear Daming.” Lian sighed, sinking back on the settee. “We would never have made it back without his help.”

“Was he the young army doctor?” her mother said. “The one who was your classmate?”

“He never claimed to be a doctor,” Shao said, “but he did the job as best he could. Before he was expelled and joined the army, he was even more useless than Shorty. The war changed him completely.”

“I liked him,” Lian said sadly. “He had a good heart.”

“I should get back home, but I wanted you to know the news,” Shao said, lighting a cigarette. “The good and the bad. By the way, I don’t suppose you’ve seen Sparrow? She hasn’t been around all day.”

Lian had to resist putting her hand in her pocket to touch the note from Sparrow. Slipped under the door the day before. A note Shao couldn’t know she had.

LIAN HAD NO luck finding work in Shanghai. She had walked up and down the streets for the past few weeks, scanning signs for the names of businesses, climbing staircases to knock on door after door. If she saw a typewriter, she mentioned her mother’s qualifications. Any secretarial work was bound to pay better than the Mission.

Some factories had relocated inside the Settlement. Others in bombed-out districts were rebuilding, getting back into production. Even war could only put a temporary damper on Shanghai’s enterprising spirit. If she had to, Lian would do factory work. Hopefully somewhere inside the Settlement so she wouldn’t have to cross the gauntlet of Japanese soldiers and barbed wire each day. But the situation had become truly pressing. Right now, she’d be willing to take any job, inside or out.

She gave up for the day, walking home on a route that would take her past some stores. She had to get a block of tofu. Her string bag was rolled up in one pocket. Her hand reached inside the other pocket and touched the edges of Sparrow’s note. She had memorized the words, could see them in her mind’s eye, Sparrow’s neat, exquisite handwriting.

Lian, I will be leaving soon. Don’t tell Shao. I can wait for him. I have the advantage of eternity. You only have this life. You will know when I am gone.