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Richard: “I’m sure your cut of the deal will make the sadness easier to bear.”
James (laughing): “Fucking right it will.”
I’ve heard enough. “Let’s get out of here,” I whisper to Mushu, who nods. I put some cash down on the table, and then we stand and leave as discreetly as we can manage. Outside, I notice that Mushu’s grabbed our bottle of wine as she left.
“I’ve got good priorities,” she says when she sees me looking at the bottle.
“Never mind the wine. Oh my god. Richard Foreman and James.”
“Yeah, that’s messed up. So he’s trying to get this deal done behind everyone’s backs?”
“I don’t know if that’s possible. He’ll still need the board of directors to agree, but I think he’s going to let them think that it’s a similar deal to ours when it isn’t. He’s going to destroy their company,” I say.
“Damn, and for what?”
“Did you not hear them? For money. James is getting a cut on the side.”
“That little worm. We should march in there and tell him what a piece of shit he is.”
As much as I would love to do that, I force myself to take a beat to ponder. “No, we have the advantage. They don’t know that we overheard them.”
Mushu frowns. “Are you going to tell Shang?”
“I have to.” I take out my phone and call him. I’m so swept up in what I’ve just found out that I don’t even hesitate until I hear the dial tone. I fight the urge to hang up, but I stay on the phone, counting the number of rings. After the fifth one, he picks up.
“Hey,” Shang says.
“Shang, don’t hang up,” I say quickly. “It’s me, Mulan. Uh. Zhou. But I’m really Mulan. Uh, anyway, I need to tell you something about James and Wutai Gold. I heard—”
“Uh, Mulan, I’m going to stop you right there,” Shang says. “I cannot discuss matters of the company with you any longer. I’m sure you understand. And I still need some space to think. Have a good night.” With that, he hangs up.
I stare at my phone, emotions storming inside me. “He hung up.”
“Damn it. I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
I blow out my cheeks. “I—I can’t think about him right now. His family company is in trouble. I need to warn them.”
“Yeah, I don’t think any one of them is going to talk to you. Or me. Or anyone at Facai Capital.”
“Oh god, you’re right,” I groan. I pause. “Maybe Auntie Jiayi might talk to me.”
“Shang’s mom? Really?” Mushu looks skeptical. “I mean, no shade, but if I were his mom I wouldn’t talk to the person who hurt my kid.”
I wince. “I know. But she’s so kind and she seems to be the most levelheaded person in the family. Anyway, it’s worth a try, right?”
“Sure, I guess so. Are you going to call her now?”
“It’s so late. I’ll text her.”
It takes us over fifteen minutes to compose what we think is a decent enough text to send. I start off by apologizing for everything once more, then say I have urgent information about the company that involves Richard Foreman and James and that though I understand that Auntie Jiayi has no reason to trust me, I really need to relay the information to someone at Wutai Gold.
I hit send, and exhale. “There. That’s that. All right, I’m going home. With any luck, in the morning I’ll wake up and find that this whole day has been nothing more than a bad dream.”
Unfortunately, I don’t wake up to find that the previous day was just a dream. I do, however, wake up to a reply from Auntie Jiayi.
Auntie Jiayi:
Hello Mulan. We should talk. I will meet you at Lamian Paradise at eleven a.m.