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The apartment felt frosty for the next few days, even though it was summer. Anyu’s untimely revelation of Samuel’s gambling habit had made her an outcast. The aunts turned their backs on her, the men avoided her, and Esther was as cold as an ice statue.

“How did you know?” Esther asked at the counter, her face puffy, dark circles under her eyes. She had been sleepless, tossing and turning in her bed.

It was early morning; there were no customers yet.

“He asked to borrow money from me on the first day I arrived.” Anyu stared at the glass case.

“He’s a good boy. He’s been following my father’s orders his entire life, hiding in a fishing village and then a cellar, and working as a jeweler, but he’s twenty years old.

He can’t live like a hermit; he wants to have a life outside the workshop.

He likes Shanghai. He would like to see some girls, have a drink with them.

Can you blame him? He tried so hard to stay away from the racecourse, believe me, he tried.

But life is a joke for a man without a passport, a man without a future.

Girls do not take him seriously. He’s miserable. ”

Esther was a caring sister who loved her brother, Anyu realized. Were all siblings like Esther? Anyu wished Esther were her sister.

“He promised me the other day he’d never go near the racecourse again. But then you told Father. He’s not going to forgive him, or me.” Esther’s voice cracked.

Isaac’s tears, and now this. Anyu wished she could dig a hole and bury herself. If only she could take back her words, or reverse time. If only there were something she could do to alleviate their pain.

A moment later, the shop’s door opened with a loud clash; Anyu raised her head, startled.

Five young Chinese men burst into the shop, a blur of long legs and out-flung arms. They all wore green cloth caps and were followed by a middle-aged Chinese man wearing a shimmering blue silk robe.

He was clearly the leader, tall, with a layer of gold bands encircling his thick neck.

He had a mean look, like a viper: his face was the shape of a triangle, and his ears stuck out like two small hands ready to grab.

Anyu didn’t know who the middle-aged man was, but she recognized the men’s green cloth caps. The notorious Green Gang that overran the city. Nervous, she looked at Esther.

Esther forced a smile. “Good morning, Mr. Du,” she said to the man with a triangle face. “It’s good to see you again.”

The gangster leader? Anyu was surprised.

But Mr. Du didn’t seem to hear Esther’s greeting.

Folding his hands behind his back, he inspected the glass cases in the showroom and the license on the wall and paced to the necklace section of the display.

He peered down. In an instant, his men swarmed around him, crowding in front of the glass counter near Anyu.

They nodded and laughed, their gaze glued to the jewelry, their eyes intense with greed.

“How may I help you?” Esther squeezed close to her, to Anyu’s relief.

“You’re the daughter, aren’t you? I remember,” a man in a collarless black jacket said. “Well, Mr. Du is just in the neighborhood, making some purchases, so he thought to stop by.”

“I’m honored to have Mr. Du in the shop.”

“You have it ready?”

“The fees? Pardon me. I thought they were due in two days.”

Usually, it was the job of the gang’s representative, a man in a robe with a mild manner.

“Correct. But since we’re here, we want to get our errands done and save another trip. Are you all right with it?”

“Of course ... I’ll get it for you right away.”

But Esther didn’t leave, and she looked at Anyu, hesitating.

Esther would need to get the cash from the house; she didn’t keep a large sum in the drawer at the beginning of the business day.

Uncle David would have had the fees ready had he been home, but he had left the shop with Isaac to meet Mrs. Brown, a woman whose name Anyu had heard often.

Samuel was nowhere to be found, and the two aunts were out shopping.

Anyu and Esther were the only people in the building besides the Green Gang.

“Miss?” Mr. Du’s man prompted.

Esther hesitated, torn between staying and leaving. She had never left Anyu alone in the showroom before. Eventually, she gestured to Anyu to stay put.

“I’ll be right back,” she said and then walked to the hallway.

Anyu felt outnumbered, watching the gang of five.

They were loud, tramping around, knocking the glass cases, and commenting on gold and silver and gemstones in the Shanghai dialect with which she was not yet familiar.

Mr. Du browsed the necklaces before her, humming a popular opera tune she had heard on the street.

She was so close to the gang leader that she could smell his cigarette.

“This one. I want to see it.” The man pointed at a gold snowflake necklace. It was an expensive piece, worth seven hundred Chinese dollars.

“Ah. You’ll need to wait.”

“Wait?”

“I can’t take the necklace out of the case. I don’t have permission to do so.”

“Is it locked?”

It wasn’t. Esther had not known she’d leave the counter.

But Anyu held her ground. After months behind the counter, she had learned not to argue with a customer.

But her instinct told her it would be trouble to obey Mr. Du, and she was not going to break her agreement with Esther and upset her further. It was as simple as that.

“There you go.” Esther returned, panting. She must have run in and out as fast as her legs could carry her.

Mr. Du’s man took the bills. “A monthly fee of two hundred Chinese dollars to keep the robbers and thieves away. What a deal. Without us, your shop would have been robbed shirtless.”

“We’re grateful,” Esther said.

“That necklace, I’d like to see it,” Mr. Du said again. “Are you going to show me? Your inept assistant is not cooperating.”

Esther’s face reddened. Mr. Du didn’t offer to buy, but she couldn’t offend him. Hesitant, she slid open the cabinet door, lifted the necklace with two hands, and placed it on a silver tray on the counter. “Everyone loves this snowflake necklace. It’s so beautiful.”

Mr. Du nodded, held it in his hand, weighing it, and then bit into a link to test the purity of the gold.

He shook his head, unimpressed by the low grade of the metal, but he liked the necklace’s design, Anyu could tell.

Then his man in the collarless jacket asked to see a ring with a marquise-cut topaz.

Esther opened that case and took out the ring; she was perspiring, smiling awkwardly.

Then another man asked to see a gold bracelet at the end of the L-shaped counter. Esther wiped at her face, nervous, limping from one side to another. It almost felt like the gang was taking advantage of her disability, but Anyu couldn’t help; Esther had forbidden her to touch the jewelry.

Then, finally, the men seemed to have seen enough. They pushed the trays back to Esther and pulled open the door. “We’ll be back next month.”

The door shut behind them; Anyu felt like sitting down.

Esther was dabbing her face, putting the trays back. “Did you see that man? He’s frightening. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t say no.”

“I hope he’ll never come here again,” Anyu said, looking at the trays and stands inside a glass case, and then she noticed—the stand that had held the snowflake necklace was empty. “Where’s the necklace?”

“It’s somewhere.” Esther bent lower to see the jewelry, lifting the trays and reaching out to every corner of the shelves. She couldn’t find it.

“You showed it to Mr. Du,” Anyu said. “Did he give it back to you?”

“I ... don’t remember. His men were demanding to see other pieces. They distracted me.” She trembled. “Wait. I do remember ... He didn’t return it to me. He kept it.”

Anyu swallowed. The snowflake necklace was worth seven hundred dollars.

Esther covered her face with her hands. “I can’t believe this is happening. God! I’m so stupid! They tricked me. What am I going to do? Father is going to come back and he’ll find out. He’s going to be furious and he’ll never forgive me. He’s already angry with me.”

Anyu swallowed again. “It’s not your fault, Esther.”

“It is. I gave it to that gangster. It’s my fault.” Her shoulders shuddered.

Oh, Esther’s tears. Anyu had never thought she would cry, and she wished with all her heart she could comfort her.

But she didn’t know how. It was not something she had learned at home.

She had never soothed anyone before, and words felt meaningless.

Esther was right: Isaac would be furious at her, after she kept Samuel’s secret from him, after losing the necklace.

And there was nothing Anyu could do to help, unless she could put the necklace in Esther’s hands.

“I’ll get it for you.”

Esther lifted her head, her face damp with tears.

“I’ll get the necklace back. Then your father won’t know it was lost and he won’t blame you.”

“How will you get it back?”

“I don’t know. But trust me.” Then she ran out of the shop.