“No, no,” her mother said. “He’s been sent by the secret police. We must get out.” Her porcelain spoon rattled against the bowl, her voice grew shrill.

“Then let’s move,” Lian said, putting an arm around her mother. “We’ll move to the other side of town. We’ll be invisible as foxes in hiding.”

She suddenly felt very old.

Her mother maintained a veneer of calm to the outside world; she was disciplined when it came to concealment. But Lian learned to recognize the early signs of panic. The quick, nervous movements of her mother’s hands. The way her mother’s eyes darted around, searching for hidden terrors. After seven years and four homes her mother was still cautious, but less inclined to panic. Each change of address seemed to ease her mother’s mind, as if each move put more obstacles between her and her demons.

When Lian won her scholarship to Minghua University, her mother made a small celebration dinner, all Lian’s favorite dishes. River shrimp stir-fried with green peas, a hearty Harbin-style chicken stew, a simple salad of shredded cucumber in a sweet vinegar dressing.

Then after dinner, Lian’s mother finally told her what happened seven years ago.

Her father had gone to Tientsin on business. He stayed with a cousin, the man in the long blue scholar’s robe who had come to see her mother. This relative was the only one who still spoke to her father. The others had shunned him after he’d married her mother, an orphan with no family and no dowry. In Tientsin, her father had indulged in his hobby of browsing for antique books.

“Your father was shot down in the street,” Lian’s mother said. “A police officer thought he was the Japanese spy they’d been hunting. A young officer, who realized his blunder almost immediately.”

But the authorities still accused her father of being a spy.

Her father’s cousin had military connections and was able to unearth the truth. It was a delicate time for the Tientsin police. The young officer was nephew to the chief of police, whose career was on the brink after a series of highly visible and embarrassing mistakes. The family was ready to compensate Lian’s mother if she promised silence. They threatened her if she made a fuss.

“But I’ve known people like that before,” her mother told Lian. “Even if you cooperate, they don’t trust you. Sooner or later, they find a way to get rid of you. We had to disappear.”

Lian washed the last bowl. “Mother, if you want me to stay, I can attend Beida University instead and live at home.”

“No, no. You must go to Minghua University,” her mother said. “I’ve made you sacrifice too much already.” Her eyes filled. “I know how much you’ve worried and watched out for me. But I’m better now.”