In the morning, Siu-Wai called everyone to a delicious breakfast of tang tsai jook with side dishes of roasted pork, oily stick, and freshly picked vegetables from the village field.

Ting-Yan came late to the table, looking pale and a little bedraggled. She hadn’t slept well either.

Her mother scooped her a bowl of congee and poured her a cup of tea. She ate silently and did not say a word.

Everyone else watched her. No one else could eat.

When she’d finished the first bowl she held it up for another serving.

“Silly child!” snapped Siu-Wai, unable to stand it any longer. She rapped the girl on the head with a chopstick.

“Truly,” said Captain Lee.

Both Yim-Fong and Tak-Tam were silent out of politeness, though they both also felt like they might burst at any second.

“Okay,” said Ting-Yan.

“Okay, what?” said Siu-Wai.

“Yes,” said her father, “okay, what?”

“Okay, yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“I’ll do it. I’ll marry Tak-Tam. Life must go on.”

Tak-Tam wasn’t sure how to feel. The reply, though affirmative, was hardly a ringing endorsement.

“Child, are you sure?” Yim-Fong asked.

“Yes,” said Ting-Yan, a little grimly. “I’m sure.”

“If you don’t want to marry me, you can say no,” Tak-Tam said. “You mustn’t sacrifice yourself.”

She looked him squarely in the eye. “I’m sure,” she said. “What more do you want from me?”

The whole group was quiet for a long moment. Finally, Siu-Wai took the situation in hand. “Well, she’s sure. Then it’s time to celebrate!” She brought out all the candy and cakes and other gifts that Yim-Fong had brought and a bottle of Yellow Crane Tower rice wine that she had been saving for just this occasion. The parents laughed and told jokes and everybody ate sweet things until their bellies ached and their heads spun. Eventually, Ting-Yan began to smile, and then Tak-Tam could smile too, and so that was that.

CHAPTER 17POSSESSED BY LAUGHTER

July 15, 1937

Because of her tendency to seasickness, Kwan Siu-Wai was unable to go back to Hong Kong Island with them on the tang tsai. She gave them fried egg sandwiches, a bag of dried squid, some boiled eggs, and a bunch of small heung tsiu bananas to eat on the boat, and an enamelled vacuum flask decorated with peonies, containing tea.