White Tiger

fitting it’s not funny.’
    ‘Get over it.’
    ‘No.’ Bai Hu gestured towards Simone and me. ‘They have to do housework?’
    ‘He vacuumed under the mats,’ I said. ‘I did the study.’
    ‘ You did housework, Ah Wu? This is ridiculous,’ Bai Hu said. ‘Let me lend you one of mine.’
    ‘You want to give us a housekeeper?’ I said.
    ‘Of course,’ Bai Hu said. ‘What about the dinner tonight? You have, what, about ten coming over? Who the f—’ He stopped. ‘Who’s going to cook that? You’re going to make poor Emma cook?’
    ‘If I let Emma cook we’d all be dead of food poisoning by morning,’ Mr Chen said. ‘I can do it myself. I’m quite capable.’
    ‘I do not believe this.’ Bai Hu waved one hand. ‘There.’
    ‘That was totally unnecessary.’ ‘The hell it was.’
    A smiling Filipina came out of the kitchen and bowed to each of us in turn. ‘How many for dinner, sir?’
    ‘Twelve,’ Mr Chen said. ‘Vegetarian.’
    She nodded. ‘Very good, sir,’ and went back into the kitchen.
    ‘You shouldn’t make her work over the break,’ I said.
    ‘Not a problem, Emma, she’s a tame demon,’ Bai Hu said. ‘You know, if word got out about him doing this, he’d never hear the end of it.’
    ‘There is no higher honour than preparing a meal for the ones you care for, and you know it,’ Mr Chen said.
    Bai Hu growled and shook his head. ‘Nobody would eat it, Ah Wu, they’d be too embarrassed. Now, let’s set up these tables.’
    Later that afternoon the doorbell rang. I ran to answer it.
    ‘Madam Zhu Que,’ I said, saluting.
    ‘Hello, Emma,’ Zhu Que said. ‘What happened to Ah Wu’s seals?’
    I closed the door behind her. ‘A demon attacked us when he was on the Mountain. It blew the seals.’
    She held out a bag of oranges. ‘Could you take these?’
    Mr Chen came out of the training room. Zhu Que fell to one knee and saluted him. ‘Xuan Tian.’
    He nodded back. ‘Zhu Que. Gung hei.’
    She rose and held her hands out. A box wrapped in red and gold paper appeared in them. ‘Cookies. For the Princess.’
    ‘Daujie,’ he said, speaking Cantonese. ‘We still have an hour before dinner, and the other game in the training room needs a fourth.’
    ‘Is the Tiger on that table?’
    ‘No.’
    She nodded. ‘Then I will play.’ She held a lai see out to me.
    I shook my head and raised my hands. ‘Not necessary, my Lady.’
    ‘Take it,’ she said, pushing it towards me with a small smile.
    ‘Take it, Emma,’ Mr Chen said.
    I sighed with exasperation and took the lai see. That was the fourth one I’d received that day.
    ‘Lady,’ Mr Chen said, indicating the training room.
    She nodded and headed down the hall to the mah jong games.
    ‘They’re just having fun,’ Mr Chen whispered to me. ‘Let them. You’re a younger unmarried member of the household.’
    ‘They’re just tormenting me,’ I whispered back. ‘That too.’
    ‘You have any idea how much is in these?’
    ‘If there’s less than five thousand dollars in any of them except the Tiger’s, tell me.’
    ‘How did you know the Tiger didn’t give me that much? He only gave me twenty dollars, a token.’
    ‘You work it out, Emma.’ He left me and went into the training room.
    ‘Oh.’
    Qing Long and Zhu Que were mortified when I sat at the table with everybody for the New Year feast.
    ‘You always allow Retainers to share meals with your Generals, Ah Wu?’ Qing Long said.
    ‘She is a member of the family,’ Mr Chen said, and that was that.
    Two weeks later we went to collect Leo from the airport. He insisted on driving us home and Mr Chen didn’t argue.
    ‘Did you have fun?’ I said. ‘Did you see everybody? They didn’t try anything, did they?’ Leo pointedly ignored me.
    ‘Did you just go to Chicago, or did you go anywhere else?’
    Leo drove without saying anything. ‘Did you see your brothers and sisters? Do you have any brothers and sisters?’
    ‘Leave me alone,’ Leo snapped.
    ‘You will show us photos though, Leo,’ Mr Chen said. ‘Yes, sir, I will,’ Leo said with resignation. When we were home, and Leo had put his bag in his room, Simone and I sat on either side of him on thecouch. Mr Chen leaned on the back of the couch, looking over our shoulders.
    ‘This is my mother and two of my older sisters.’ He pulled out another photo. ‘The other sister, and my brother.’
    ‘How many nieces and nephews do you have, Leo?’ I asked, seeing all the smiling