Shao longed for many foods now, but more than anything else he craved fresh fruit. Oranges especially, the sweet juicy segments and fragrant peel. At New Year’s, his grandmother would give out oranges to all the children. But they weren’t allowed to eat them until she had taken out her ivory-handled knife and sliced each one into eight segments. When she handed Shao his cut orange she would say, “Here, have a duck, have a duck!” Then the old lady and the boy would giggle together in delight at this private joke because he had once confided to her he thought oranges more delicious than roast duck.

The other thing Shao missed was the news. He had never done without a daily newspaper. But Zhongmiao was just a small fishing village, a place where few could read. News arrived by word of mouth, more rumor than news by the time they heard. For Minghua 123 this was unacceptable, so Old Fan, one of their laborers, made the four-hour walk to Hefei every other day. He left in the morning and returned late in the afternoon with a bundle of newspapers. Sometimes Cook Tam went along to replenish their supplies. On such occasions they would take a handbarrow, Old Fan pushing, Cook Tam riding in comfort. Sometimes the cook sent his assistant, a scrawny young man nicknamed “Bantien,” which meant “Half the Day,” because the cook complained it took half the day for the assistant to achieve anything.

Shao could always tell by the number of students loitering in the yard whether it was time for Old Fan to return from Hefei. When he appeared at the factory gates, the large man was always besieged by students eager to snatch a look at the headlines, entreaties to let them see the front page before he delivered the papers.

“It’s your professors who pay for these newspapers, Young Masters,” he would say, swatting them away. “You can read the news when the professors are finished.”

But on this afternoon, when Old Fan and Bantien walked through the yard, both were untypically silent. Old Fan gave a copy of Xinwen Bao to Chen Ping, the first student who stopped him. Chen Ping unfolded the newspaper and cried out in dismay.

“Shanghai has fallen!”

The shout brought students running. The battle for Shanghai had dominated front pages since August. The Battle of Jiangyin to prevent Japanese warships from moving up the Yangtze River. The Battle of Luodian, a suburb of strategic importance. The heroic, doomed defense of Sihang warehouse, which the government had hoped would spur support from Western allies.