A Loyal Character Dancer

hands were covered with the flour, and her face was speckled too. She did not give up. A couple of dumplings jumped out of her hands, large and irregular in shape.
     
    “Marvelous!” Yu applauded.
     
    “Great big dumplings for the chief inspector.” Catherine had a playful twinkle in her blue eyes. “The big guy in your bureau.”
     
    Then it was time to cook. Peiqin made for the kitchen. Catherine followed her. Peiqin felt embarrassed. It was not exactly a kitchen, merely a common cooking and storage area of the original hallway, now crowded with the coal stoves of the seven families on the first floor. The dish she had brought back from the restaurant had to be steamed on a neighbor’s stove. Catherine seemed to be cheerful, however, moving about in the cramped area, watching Peiqin put dumplings into water, arrange some in the bamboo steamer, fry some in the wok, and add various seasonings to the duck soup.
     
    “When will Old Hunter come home?” Chen asked Yu as they started to clear the table.
     
    “I don’t know. He left early this morning. I have not had a chance to speak to him. Do you have to return to the bureau?”
     
    “Yes, there’s something—”
     
    Their talk was interrupted by the appearance of the various dumplings on the table. Catherine carried bowls in both hands. Yu mixed dishes of red pepper sauce with peeled garlic. Chen opened a small urn of Shaoxing yellow wine. Yu also moved the table a few inches toward the bed. Chen sat on one side, Catherine on the other, and Yu and his son, on the edge of the bed. The side close to the kitchen was left for Peiqin, who had to cook fresh dumplings from time to time.
     
    “Fantastic,” Catherine said between bites, “I have never tasted anything like this in Chinatown in New York.”
     
    “You have to make the dumpling skin yourself,” Peiqin explained.
     
    “Thank you, Peiqin,” Chen said with half a dumpling in his mouth. “You always give your guests a special treat.”
     
    “I’ve never had fresh bamboo shoots before,” Catherine said.
     
    “Fresh bamboo shoots make a world of difference,” Chen said. “Su Dongpo once said, It’s more important to have fresh bamboo shoots than to have meat. It’s a delicacy for a highly civilized taste.”
     
    “Was he the same Su Dongpo you mentioned at the crab meal, Uncle Chen?” Qinqin asked.
     
    “Qinqin has a very good memory,” Chen said.
     
    “Qinqin has a great interest in history,” Yu said, “but Peiqin wants him to study computers. Easier to find a job in the future, she thinks.”
     
    “It’s the same in the United States,” Catherine commented.
     
    They finished all the dumplings.
     
    “Let’s wait a few more minutes for the duck soup.” Peiqin said, holding a small cup of yellow wine in her hand. “It takes time. So please recite a poem for us, Chief Inspector Chen.”
     
    “A good idea,” Yu seconded. “Like in The Dream of the Red Chamber. You promised last time, Chief.”
     
    “But I haven’t had much time for poetry.”
     
    The duck soup arrived. Peiqin ladled out a small bowl for Catherine. The black tree ears floated in the broth. She also brought an unusual dish to the table. “Our restaurant’s specialty, called Buddha’s Head.”
     
    It was a semblance of Buddha’s head—carved out of a white gourd, steamed in a bamboo steamer, covered with a huge green lotus leaf. Yu sawed a piece off the “skull” skillfully with a bamboo knife, put the chopsticks into the “brains,” and came up with a fried sparrow—inside a grilled quail—inside a braised pigeon.
     
    “So many brains in one head,” Catherine said. “No wonder it’s called Buddha.”
     
    “The flavors of those birds are supposed to mingle together in the steaming process. You can enjoy the different tastes in one bite.”
     
    “It’s delicious.” Chief Inspector Chen sighed with satisfaction, stood up, clanked a chopstick on the rim of the cup, “Now, with Buddha’s blessing, I have an announcement to make. It’s about our hosts.”
     
    “About us?” the Yus asked.
     
    “I went to the bureau this morning. Among other things, I attended a housing committee meeting. The committee has decided to assign Detective Yu a two-bedroom apartment on Tianling Road. Congratulations!”
     
    “A two-bedroom for us!” Peiqin exclaimed. “You are kidding.”
     
    “No, I’m not. It’s the final decision of the committee.”
     
    “You must have put up