Noble House

Dunross stared back at him. "Honorable Jin-qua loaned the tai-pan, my great-great-grandfather, forty lacs of silver."
"Forty lac—$4 million. One hundred twenty years ago." The old man signed. His eyes slitted even more. Paul Choy was breathless, motionless. "Was a paper asked for? A debt paper chopped by your illustrious forebear—on the chop of the Noble House?"
"No."
"Forty lacs of silver. No paper no chop just trust! The bargain was just a bargain between Old Friends, no chop, just trust, heya?"
"Yes."
The old man's thumbless hand snaked out palm upward and held the half-coin under Dunross's face. "One coin, grant favor. Whoever asks. I ask."
Dunross sighed. At length he broke the silence. "First I fit half to half. Next make sure metal here same metal there. Then you say favor." He went to pick up the half-coin but the fist snapped closed and withdrew and Four Fingers jerked his good thumb at Paul Choy. "Explain," he said.
"Excuse me, tai-pan," Paul Choy said in English, very uneasily, hating the closeness of the cabin and the devil-borne currents in the cabin, all because of a promise given twelve decades ago by one pirate to another, both murdering cutthroats if half the stories were true, he thought. "My uncle wants me to explain how he wants to do this." He tried to keep his voice level. "Of course he understands you'll have reservations and want to be a thousand percent sure. At the same time he doesn't want to give up possession, just at this time. Until he's sure, one way or the other, he'd pr—"
"You're saying he doesn't trust me?"
Paul Choy flinched at the viciousness of the words. "Oh no, sir," he said quickly and translated what Dunross had said.
"Of course I trust you," Wu said. His smile was crooked. "But do you trust me?"
"Oh yes, Old Friend. I trust very much. Give me coin. If real, I tai-pan of Noble House will grant your ask—if possible."
"Whatever ask, whatever, is granted!" the old man flared.
"If possible. Yes. If real coin I grant favor, if not real, I give back the coin. Finish."
"Not finish." Wu waved his hand at Paul Choy. "You finish, quickly!"
"My … my uncle suggests the following compromise. You take this." The young man brought out a flat piece of beeswax. Three separate imprints of the half-coin had been pressed into it. "You'll be able to fit the other half to these, sir. The edges're sharp enough for you to be sure, almost sure. This's step one. If you're reasonably satisfied, step two's we go together to a government assayer or the curator of a museum and get him to test both coins in front of us. Then we'll both know at the same time." Paul Choy was dripping with sweat. "That's what my uncle says."
"One side could easily bribe the assayist."
"Sure. But before we see him we mix up the two halves. We'd know ours, you'd know yours—but he wouldn't, huh?"
"He could be got at."
"Sure. But if we … if we do this tomorrow and if Wu Sang gives you his word and you give him your word not to try a setup, it'd work." The young man wiped the sweat off his face. "Jesus, it's close in here!"
Dunross thought a moment. Then he turned his cold eyes on Four Fingers. "Yesterday I ask favor, you said no."
"That favor was different, tai-pan," the old man replied at once, his tongue darting like a snake's. "That was not the same as an ancient promise collecting an ancient debt."
"You ask your friends concerning my ask, heya?"
Wu lit another cigarette. His voice sharpened. "Yes. My friends are worried about the Noble House."
"If no Noble House, no noble favor, heya?"
The silence thickened. Dunross saw the cunning old eyes dart at Paul Choy and then back to him again. He knew he was entrapped by the coin. He would have to pay. If it was genuine he would have to pay, whether stolen or not. Stolen from whom, his mind was shouting. Who here would have had one? Dirk Struan never knew who the others had been given to. In his testament he had written that he suspected one went to his mistress May-may but there was no reason for such a gift by Jin-qua. If to May-may, Dunross reasoned, then it would have passed down to Shitee T'Chung, who was presently the head of the T'Chung line, May-may's line. Maybe it was stolen from him.
Who else in Hong Kong?
If the tai-pan or the Hag couldn't answer that one, I can't. There's no family connection back to Jin-qua!
In the heavy silence Dunross watched and waited. Another bead of sweat dropped off Paul Choy's chin as he looked at his father, then back at the table again. Dunross sensed the hate and that interested him. Then he saw Wu sizing up Paul Choy strangely. Instantly his mind leaped forward. "I'm the arbiter of Hong Kong," he said in English. "Support me and within a week huge profits can be made."
"Heya?"
Dunross had been watching Paul Choy. He had seen him look up, startled. "Please translate, Mr. Choy," he said.
Paul Choy obeyed. Dunross sighed, satisfied. Paul Choy had not translated "I'm the arbiter of Hong Kong." Again a silence. He relaxed, more at ease now, sensing both men had taken the bait.
"Tai-pan, my suggestion, about the coin, you agree?" the old man said.
"About my ask, my ask for money support, you agree?"
Wu said angrily, "The two are not interwoven like rain in a fornicating storm. Yes or no on the coin?"
"I agree on the coin. But not tomorrow. Next week. Fifth day."
"Tomorrow."
Paul Choy carefully interjected, "Honored Uncle, perhaps you could ask your friends again tomorrow. Tomorrow morning. Perhaps they could help the tai-pan." His shrewd eyes turned to Dunross. "Tomorrow's Friday," he said in English, "how about Monday at … at 4:00 P.M. for the coin?" He repeated it in Haklo.
"Why that time?" Wu asked irritably.
"The foreign devil money market closes at the third hour of the afternoon, Honored Uncle. By that time the Noble House will be noble or not."
"We will always be the Noble House, Mr. Choy," Dunross said politely in English, impressed with the man's skill—and shrewdness to take an oblique hint. "I agree."
"Heya?"
When Paul Choy had finished the old man grunted. "First I will check the Heaven-Earth currents to see if that is an auspicious day. If it is, then I agree." He jerked his thumb at Paul Choy. "Go aboard the other boat."
Paul Choy got up. "Thank you, tai-pan. Good night."
"See you soon, Mr. Choy," Dunross replied, expecting him the next day.
When they were quite alone, the old man said softly, "Thank you, Old Friend. Soon we'll do much closer business."
"Remember, Old Friend, what my forebears say," Dunross said ominously. "Both Green-Eyed Devil and her of Evil Eye and Dragon's Teeth—how they put a great curse and Evil Eye on White Powders and those who profit from White Powders."
The gnarled old seaman in the nice clothes shrugged nervously. "What's that to me? I know nothing of White Powders. Fornicate all White Powders. I know nothing of them."
Then he was gone.
Shakily Dunross poured a long drink. He felt the new motion of the sampan being sculled again. His fingers brought out the waxen imprints. A thousand to one the coin's genuine. Christ almighty, what will that devil ask? Drugs, I'll bet it's something to do with drugs! That about the curse and the Evil Eye was made up—not part of Dirk's bargain at all. Even so, I won't agree to drugs.
But he was ill-at-ease. He could see Dirk Struan's writing in the Bible that he had signed and endorsed, agreeing before God "to grant to whomsoever shall present one of the half-coins, whatsoever he shall ask, if it is in the tai-pan's power to give. …"
His ears sensed the alien presence before the sound arrived. Another boat scraped his gently. The pad of feet. He readied, not knowing the danger.
The girl was young, beautiful and joyous. "My name is Snow Jade, tai-pan, I'm eighteen years and Honorable Wu Sang's personal gift for the night!" Lilting Cantonese, neat chong-sam, high collar, long stockinged legs and high heels. She smiled, showing her lovely white teeth. "He thought you might be in need of sustenance."