"Is that so?" he muttered, trying to collect himself.She laughed and sat down. "Oh yes, that's what he said and I'd like your sustenance also—I'm starving, aren't you? Honorable Goldtooth has ordered a morsel or two to whet your appetite: quick fried prawns with peapods, shredded beef in black bean sauce, some deep-fried dumplings Shanghai style, quick fried vegetables spiced with Szechuan cabbage and tangy Ch'iang Pao chicken." She beamed. "I'm dessert!"FRIDAY5712:35 A.M. :Irritably, Banker Kwang stabbed the doorbell again and again. The door swung open and Venus Poon screeched in Cantonese, "How dare you come here at this time of night without an invitation!" Her chin jutted and she stood with one hand on the door, the other imperiously on her hip, her low-cut evening dress devastating."Quiet, you mealy-mouthed whore!" Banker Kwang shouted back at her and shoved past into her apartment. "Who's paying the rent? Who bought all this furniture? Who paid for that dress? Why aren't you ready for bed? Wh—""Quiet!" Her voice was piercing and easily drowned out his. "You were paying the rent, but today's the day when the rent was due and where is it, heyaheyaheyaheya?""Here!" Banker Kwang ripped the check out of his pocket and waved it under her nose. "Do I forget my fornicating promises— no! Do you forget your fornicating promises—yes!"Venus Poon blinked. Her rage disappeared, her face changed, her voice became laden with honey. "Oh did Father remember? Oh I was told you'd forsaken your poor lonely Daughter and gone back to the whores of 1 Blore Street.""Lies!" Banker Kwang gasped, almost apoplectic even though it was the truth. "Why aren't you dressed for bed? Why are you wear—""But I was called by three different people who said you'd been there this afternoon at 4:15. Oh how terrible people are," she said crooningly, knowing that he was there though he only went to introduce Banker Ching from whom he was trying to borrow funds. "Oh poor Father, how dreadful people are." As she talked placat-ingly, she moved closer. Suddenly her hand snaked out and she snatched the check before he could withdraw it though her voice continued to be sweet. "Oh thank you, Father, from the bottom of my heart… oh kol" Her eyes crossed, her voice hardened and the screech returned. "The check is not signed, you dirty old dogmeat! It's another of your banker tricks! Oh oh oh I think I shall kill myself on your doorstep … no, better I shall do it in front of the TV camera, telling all Hong Kong how you … Oh oh oh. .. ." Her amah was in the living room now, joining in, wailing and caterwauling, both women swamping him in a swelter of invective, challenges and accusations.Impotently he cursed them both back but that only made them increase their volume. He stood his ground for a moment, then, vanquished, pulled out a fountain pen with a flourish, grabbed the check and signed it. The noise ceased. Venus Poon took it and examined it carefully. Very very carefully. It vanished into her purse."Oh thank you, Honorable Father," she said meekly and abruptly whirled on her amah. "How dare you interfere in a discussion between the love of my life and your mistress, you lump of festering dogmeat. It's all your fault for spreading other people's cruel lies about Father's infidelity! Out! Fetch tea and food! Out! Father needs a brandy . . . fetch a brandy, hurry!"The old woman pretended to buckle under the assumed rage and scuttled out in pretended tears. Venus Poon cooed and bustled and her hands were soft on Richard Kwang's neck.At length, under their magic, he allowed himself to be mollified and helped to drink, groaning aloud all the time at his ill joss and how his subordinates, friends, allies and debtors had maliciously forsaken him, after he alone in the whole Ho-Pak empire had worked his fingers to their tendons, his feet to the flesh, worrying over all of them."Oh you poor man," Venus Poon said soothingly, her mind darting while her fingers were tender and deft. She had barely half an hour to reach her rendezvous with Four Finger Wu, and while she knew it would be wise to keep him waiting, she did not want to keep him waiting too long in case his ardor lagged. Their last encounter had excited him so much he had promised her a diamond if the performance was repeated."I guarantee it, Lord," she had gasped weakly, her skin clammy with sweat from two hours of concentrated labor, feeling herself afloat with the immensity of his at long last explosion.Her eyes crossed as she remembered Four Finger Wu's prodigious efforts, his size, conformity and undoubted technique. Ayeeyah, she thought, still massaging the neck of her former lover, I will need every tael of energy and every measure of juice the yin can muster to dominate that old reprobate's yowling yang. "How is your neck, my dearest love?" she crooned."Better, better," Richard Kwang said reluctantly. His head had cleared and he was well aware that her fingers were as skilled as her mouth and her peerless parts.He pulled her down onto his knee and confidently slipped his hand into the low-cut black silk evening dress that he had bought for her last week and fondled her breasts. When she did not resist, he slipped one strap off and complimented her on the size, texture, taste and shape of the whole. Her warmth shafted him and he stirred. At once his other hand went for the yin but before he knew it she had neatly squirmed out of his grasp. "Oh no, Father! Honorable Red's visiting me and as much as I wa—"Eh?" Banker Kwang said suspiciously. "Honorable Red? Honorable Red's not due till the day after tomorrow!""Oh no, he arrived with storm th—""Eh? He's due the day after tomorrow. I know. I looked at my calendar and made sure before I came here! Am I a fool? Do I fish for a tiger in a stream? We have a long-standing date tonight, all night. Why else am I supposed to be in Taiwan? You're never early and ne—""Oh no it was this morning—the shock of the fire and the greater shock that you had forsaken me, br—""Come here, you little baggage—""Oh no, Father, Honorable R—"Before she could avoid him, his hands darted out and he sat her back on his knees and began to lift her dress but Venus Poon was an old stager in this kind of warfare and champion of a hundred jousts, even though she was only nineteen. She fought him not, just pressed closer, twisted and got one hand on him, caressingly, and whispered throatily, "Oh but Father, it's very bad joss to interfere with Honorable Red and as much as I desire your immensity within, we both know there are other ways for the yin to titillate the vital vortex.""But first I wan—""First? First?" Pleased with herself, she felt him strengthening. "Ah, how strong you are! It's easy to see why all the weevil-mouthed baggages want my old Father, ayeeyah, such a strong, violent, marvelous man."Deftly she revealed the yang. Deftly she dominated it and left him gasping. "Bed, dearest love," he croaked. "First a brandy then a little sleep an—""Quite right, but not here oh no!" she said firmly, helping him up."Eh? But I'm supposed to be in Tai—""Yes, so you'd better go to your club!""But I—""Oh but you've exhausted your poor Daughter." She feigned weakness as she tidied him and had him up and at the door before he really knew what was happening. There, she kissed him passionately, swore eternal love, promised that she would see him tomorrow and closed the door behind him.Shakily he stared at the door, his knees gone, his skin clammy, wanting to hammer on it to demand rest in the bed he had paid for. But he didn't. He had no strength and tottered to the elevator.