Page 21

Twenty-One

VERA

“What the fuck, Vera!” Selena snaps as she storms inside Vera’s teahouse.

Vera gapes at her in shock and horror. “You talk to mother-in-law like that?”

“What?” Selena says. “You’re not my—”

Tilly slides in front of Selena, standing between her and Vera. “Never mind that. Ma, Selena is just really worried about you. You didn’t tell us about your shop getting vandalized. Oliver called and told Selena about it earlier.”

“Yeah,” Selena says, craning her neck to glare at Vera over Tilly’s shoulder. “What the fuck? We’ve been over this, Vera. You’re not a PI, and you can’t let something like that go unreported. This is really dangerous. Someone out there wants to hurt you. How could you not tell us?”

Vera is still horrified by Selena’s show of extreme disrespect—when Jinlong’s parents were still alive, Vera had been the picture of perfect filiality. She practically bowed to them every time they spoke, and she never once called them by their names, never! It was always “Ma” and “Ba,” and she spoke to them with the deference one kept for deities. And here is Selena shouting at her and saying “fuck” to her. Unheard of!

“Ma,” Tilly pleads. “We’re really concerned about your safety.”

Vera gives herself a little shake, focusing on Tilly. “Don’t be silly. Why you have to be concern? I am okay. I can take care of myself.”

“You clearly can’t,” Selena says. “You need to come stay with us for a while, until we catch the perp who did this to your shop.”

Ever since Tilly moved out, all Vera has ever wanted was to be invited to be a part of his life again. If anyone had told her last year that she would one day be invited to stay at his house by his girlfriend, she would’ve cried with joy. But now, all Vera can think of is THE DISRESPECT!

“No, thank you,” Vera says icily.

Tilly closes his eyes for a moment. “Ma, I know you’re angry right now, and we can absolutely talk about it, but for now, can we put that aside, and let’s start packing your things, okay?”

Vera narrows her eyes at him. That’s his lawyerly tone of voice that he uses when he speaks to a difficult client. He’s trying to handle her. Hah, well, she’ll show him that Vera Wong is unhandleable. “Thank you for kind offer, but no. I am able-body adult, I don’t want to impose.”

“You won’t be imposing.”

“You know what is imposing?” Selena says. “Imposing is you doing your own investigation into an ongoing case when you have no authority and no expertise, and then getting yourself tangled up in the mess.”

“What you mean, no expertise? I solve Marshall Chen case, didn’t I? You all think his death is accident only, and if not for me, you would not have find out it is murder.”

Selena takes a deep, frustrated breath. “Yes, and we thank you for your service, but that was just a one-time thing. You’re not a trained detective, and I don’t want to see you get hurt.” The anger in Selena’s voice gives way to sadness. “Vera, you mean so much to so many people. You take such good care of everyone around you. All I’m trying to do is convince you to take better care of your own safety.”

The ice that has wrapped around Vera’s heart thaws a little. She sniffs. “Hmph. Well, I appreciate that. But I don’t want to stay with you.”

“Ma, why not?” Tilly groans.

“Because, how you can have sexy time with me around?”

“Oh my god.” Selena’s hand flies to cover her eyes.

“Your new house is very nice, but is a bit small, and the walls are quite thin. I think you feel too self-conscious with me there to have sexy time—”

“Please stop saying ‘sexy time,’?” Tilly begs.

“And then how I get my grandbabies?”

Tilly and Selena gape at her in complete horror for a moment, then Tilly quickly turns to Selena and says, “Please ignore what my mom just said. I know you’re not ready for kids, and I’m very happy to wait until—”

“What?” Vera squawks. “Not ready? Tilly, you how old? You think only women have ticking clock? Men also have ticking clock. Your sperm quality decrease as you age.”

“Oh my god, please don’t ever say the word ‘sperm’ to me again, Ma.”

“Well, I am just telling you, I know many men think they can take it easy, unlike women, they don’t have biology clock, but I am telling you, you do. And if sperm quality not good, then baby quality also won’t be good. I want good quality grandbaby.”

“Okay, maybe this conversation is no longer productive,” Tilly says in his lawyer voice again.

“Don’t worry about me, other people will come and take turn to stay with me. They sleep in your old room.”

“Who?” Tilly says. “Oliver?”

“Well, Oliver’s turn tonight, but last night was TJ and his daughter Robin, and night before was Aimes. See? I am in demand, I have revolving door.”

“Nope,” Selena says immediately, “that phrase does not mean what you think it means.”

“Is mean I am popular.”

“In a way,” Selena says carefully.

“And Selena, you shouldn’t be angry at me that I am investigating this case. I find out a lot of useful information about Xander Lin.”

“Oh? Like what?”

Vera cocks her head to one side and gives Selena a sly look. Aha. She’s about to start trading, and there is nothing Chinese mothers do better than trade information. “It depend on what you know about Xander Lin.”

Selena’s eyes bore into Vera’s. Vera returns the hard look with her own piercing gaze.

“Well, we know that Xander Lin wasn’t his real name,” Selena says.

Vera throws her head back and cackles. “That old information? I know that from very beginning. His real name was Thomas.”

Selena’s eyes narrow. “And how do you know that?”

“I cannot say my sources.”

“You know, this is getting real close to obstructing justice,” Selena mutters.

“Is not,” Vera says. “I know my rights.” She doesn’t. But she’s hoping she looks like she does. Sometimes, looking like you know things is more important than actually knowing things.

“All right, Thomas what?”

“Ah, that I don’t know. Okay, now you tell me what else you know.”

“Honestly? Not much else. We’ve been slammed with other more pressing cases, and this one looks like a suicide, so I don’t know why you’re so intent on digging. There isn’t much that’s suspicious about it aside from not knowing his real identity and that shady bunch of people you found.”

“Oh dear, and you still say you don’t need my help? You clearly need all my help. And that ‘shady’ bunch of people are people who are connected to him.”

Selena frowns. “No, they only appear connected to him.”

“You mean Aimes pretending to be his girlfriend and TJ pretending to have close working relationship with him?”

“Yeah, and then that old dude—”

“Qiang Wen? He is Xander’s grandfather.”

Selena shakes her head. “Nope.”

Now it is Vera’s turn to stare. “What?”

“He’s not his grandfather. I know it’s what Xander posted online, but he isn’t. They’re not related. We’ve talked to Mr.Li Qiang Wen and confirmed it.”

“WHAT?” Now Vera is angry. Apoplectic, actually. How many times has she spoken to Qiang Wen? How many chances has she given him to come out with the truth, and all this time, he’s chosen to remain quiet? This is a betrayal of their deep, long-term friendship! Okay, maybe their friendship is neither deep nor long-term, but still!

“I think you might’ve just landed Mr.Li in deep shit,” Tilly whispers to Selena.

Selena grimaces. “Sorry.” Then she gives herself a little shake and goes, “Anyway, please just stop whatever you’re doing, okay? The TikToks, the going to strangers’ house parties…I was fine with you snooping until you pissed off the wrong people and endangered yourself.”

“But is proof that I am on right path,” Vera says. “Speaking of path, I am going to go for a walk now. You two leave and go have sexy time.” She pushes them bodily out of the teahouse.

“Ma, don’t do anything brash,” Tilly says.

“And for the love of god, stop telling us to have ‘sexy time,’?” Selena adds. “And stop snooping.”

“Yes, yes, my goodness you two are too young to turn into such nags.” She locks up her shop. “Now stop worrying. Oliver will be here for dinner, he is big strong man.”

They both raise their eyebrows. “We are talking about the same Oliver, yeah?” Selena says.

“Yes, Oliver Chen. Asian Thor.”

“Oookay. Call us if anything happens. I mean it, Vera.”

“When she is going to start calling me Ma?” Vera grumbles.

Tilly grabs Selena’s shoulders and steers her away. “Okay, see you later, Ma!”

With an annoyed huff at their retreating backs, Vera starts marching down the street in the opposite direction with a strong sense of purpose. Elbows out, hands balled into fists, nostrils flaring. Fellow pedestrians who spot her in time scatter out of her path; the unfortunate ones who don’t are barked at. As Vera marches, she thinks about all of the things she will say to Qiang Wen.

How could you betray our friendship?

Maybe that’s a touch too dramatic, even for Vera.

You liar!

Hmm, has potential. But maybe the aggression is a bit high on that one.

Who are you, really? I don’t even know you anymore.

She wishes she had more time to work on this, but already she finds herself just one block away from Qiang Wen’s dumpling shop. Well, she’ll just have to play it by ear.

She barges into the shop, startling two women who are lining up for their dumplings. “Qiang Wen! We need to—oh, sorry.”

The two women gape at her. Behind the counter, Qiang Wen gapes at her. Vera gives the women a polite smile. “Sorry, I don’t mean to cut queue. Which dumpling you getting? I recommend pork and chive one. Very juicy and flavorful.”

“Um. That sounds good,” one of the women says. “We’ll get six of those, please. Thank you.”

Vera watches, still wearing a polite smile, as Qiang Wen fills a plastic container with the dumplings. She notices with satisfaction how he darts little scared glances at her as he works. Good, he should be scared. The women pay for their order and leave, still throwing worried glances her way as they scuttle out the door. The moment the door swings shut, the smile falls from Vera’s face, giving way to a truly impressive scowl.

“Qiang Wen!” she snaps, and Qiang Wen jumps. “You lie to me! You say Xander is your grandson, but he is not!”

She doesn’t quite know what she was expecting from Qiang Wen, but she definitely did not expect Qiang Wen to sag on his stool as though all of the energy has leaked out of his body. His head falls, and he mumbles, “In all the way that matters, he was my grandson.”

He sounds so broken, so empty, that Vera can’t help feeling strands of sympathy stirring within her. Argh! She is too softhearted, that’s the problem. Jinlong used to say that to her. “You are too generous, too kind, too good. People will take advantage of you.” Too good of a person, that is definitely Vera’s problem. But, no, she must harden herself now.

“You best explain yourself to me. You owe me that much.” Even as she says it, Vera thinks, Does he? He doesn’t really owe her anything. But it sounded good coming out of her mouth, and Qiang Wen doesn’t seem to have the wherewithal to refute her, so she decides she’s glad that she’s played that card.

“I will,” Qiang Wen says. “Take a seat.”

“This better be a good story.”

Then Qiang Wen talks, and it is a good story. Because it is almost exactly like her own story.