Flower Net (Red Princess 1)

“My old friend, welcome,” Liu said bitterly.

Zai lifted his revolver to keep a bead on Liu. Hulan dropped

her father’s gun, looked around, found David, and rushed to his side.

“I’m all right,” David said. He looked up at Zai. “You followed us. The car outside Hulan’s house…”

“And many others,” Hulan’s mentor said, nodding. “I knew you would eventually come to Chengdu. I waited for you at the airport. From there it was simple. Hulan is a professional, but she wasn’t looking for me to follow her and I have more experience.”

“You let us come down here.” David lifted his good arm. His gesture took in the shed, the bears, Liu.

“When you drove off the main road, what could I do?” Zai then addressed Liu. “I think this was your main mistake. This place is out of the way, but the position…It is not what we learned in the army.”

“What are you talking about?” David was indignant. Hulan put a hand on him to calm him.

“This camp is down in a canyon and very remote,” Zai explained. “I couldn’t trail you then. You would have seen me. But from the main road I could watch without being observed myself. I followed your headlights as you made your progress. If you had gone very far, then I would have driven in. But when the lights stopped here, I knew I should walk. My arrival would be more of a surprise.”

“You knew everything,” Liu concluded.

“A long time ago,” Zai said sadly. “We have, after all, known each other many years.”

“I wanted you to pay and Hulan, too…”

“Liu, how many times did I try to tell you?”

The conversation had taken a turn. David felt Hulan pull away from him. She stayed very still at his side, listening.

“I know what I saw,” her father was saying. “I know what I heard. My daughter destroyed her mother, my wife.”

“No!” The syllable cut sharply through the room. “It was your own back-door ways that destroyed Jinli. You have never wanted to hear the real story, Liu. But this time you will. What happened to Jinli was your fault.”

“Never! It was you and Hulan!”

“I was there,” Zai shot back. “I saw it happen. Remember, we were together at the Ministry of Culture. I knew you were into schemes even then. I’m not talking about the ways you tried to get films made. We all did what we could in those days to bring honest stories to the people, not just propaganda. But you were my friend, and when others came to report that you had taken a bribe, that you were taking kickbacks from the workers, or that you were having an affair with Secretary Sung, I ordered them out of my office. They despised you for your crimes and I did nothing.”

“Ba?” Hulan sounded very young.

“It’s all lies,” her father said.

“It is the truth, Hulan,” Zai said. “You were a small child. You saw only your mama and baba. You didn’t know what was happening.”

Hulan looked confused.

Zai turned back to his old friend. “But I did and so did others. As the Cultural Revolution waged on, I knew it would be harder to protect you. Soon I began to hear rumors that the workers wanted to kill you. I refused to accept the reality. That is something I will have to live with for the rest of my life.”

Zai hesitated before going on. “Then one day Jinli came to the ministry. The vultures saw their opportunity. They circled around her. They recited your crimes. Let me tell you, Secretary Sung was the worst of all.”

Liu agreed. “She was such a pretty girl, but she had venom in her heart.”

With her father’s acknowledgment, Hulan suddenly realized that all the fond memories of her childhood had been false.

“They were holding me back, accusing Jinli and me of being fornicators, too.” Zai’s voice dipped as the images came back. “I can see Jinli on the balcony now, backing away, backing away, until she hits the railing, loses her balance…As she flailed, she looked about for help and no one stepped forward. Then she fell to the courtyard below.”

Zai looked up and saw Hulan across from him, tears streaming down her face.

“They said if anyone touched her, they, too, would learn to fly,” Zai continued. “We both remember how things were in those days. Those people spoke the truth, and no one wanted to risk death. Jinli lay in the courtyard for four days while I went to get you. Four days! Such a long time! But the people were so harsh, so unforgiving. These cruelties were common. Usually victims were just left to die, but I couldn’t let that happen.”

“When you were coming for me, she was lying there alone?” Hulan asked. “Ba, where were you?”