Yim-Fong said, “Through your own actions you brought bad winds and waters onto the family.” What’s that expression you kids have? Literally! Cheung loved his wife, but he resented her for being too clever. Though they remained married and continued to live together, things were never quite right between them after that. She couldn’t forgive him for shitting where he slept. And he couldn’t forgive her for pointing it out. It’s hard to fight back when your survival depends on the well-being of the one who oppresses you. It’s hard to fight back when you hate the one you love.

But on the day of the 1925 flood, one of the fire brigade men saw Cheung with his mother and thought he seemed a sturdy and responsible fellow with a lot of people depending on him. The fire brigade man, Edward Kerrison, went to talk to him and was impressed when Cheung squeezed out a few words of English. He asked Cheung if he’d like to come work at the Hong Kong Cricket Club, and so that is how Cheung got his job, which was how Tak-Wing became friends with the young cricketers, which, in turn, is how Tak-Wing ended up hanging out at the Repulse Bay Hotel, and hearing Emily sing. So, in a way, without those floods, you wouldn’t even be here. I can’t fully curse the destruction of the rice paddies because without them, I wouldn’t have you!

Ophelia has slurped down two bowls of tang tsai jook, even the boiled pork skin. It was delicious after all, with all the elements mixed together and extra lettuce for crunch. As before, Great-Aunt Violet has been talking and forgetting to eat. Ophelia is afraid she will burst while Great-Aunt Violet wastes away before her eyes. She usually has more self-restraint, but it’s as though she’s been starving for this particular food all her life.

“Gosh, it’s getting late,” says Great-Aunt Violet. “We better get going.”

“But what a happened to poor Ting-Yan and the shy brother, Tak-Tam?”

“I’ll tell you that story later. Surely you want to know what the white men at the Hong Kong Cricket Club thought of Emily and Tak-Wing’s little ruse?”

CHAPTER 10RESIDENT ROMEO AND JULIET

July 8, 1937

When young cricketers at the HKCC heard about the unsanctioned marriage, they were scandalized and delighted. It turned out they approved of the King and Mrs Simpson, and they approved of Emily and Tak-Wing too. Elizabeth Hancock, the president’s daughter-in-law, thought it so romantic. “Our own resident Romeo and Juliet!” she was reported to have cooed. If she’d seen the play, apparently she hadn’t stayed ’til the end.