Li Mei joined them for lunch and served the food that was brought in by two other women. Dee tried to eat the food slowly, but it was the most delicious food she had ever had in her life. Jiaoshu and Li Mei exchanged smiles behind their teacups at the girl's voracious appetite. They both were happy to see the girl could use chopsticks with ease, leaving aside the fork, which had been brought in, just in case.

"Slow down before you choke!" Li Mei warned taking a slice of seasoned pork from her chopsticks with delicate grace.

Swallowing the mouthful she had, Dee looked abashed and murmured an apology into her rice bowl.

"Do not be sorry, little one. We just wish for you to take your time and enjoy the food. No one will take it away from you and there is plenty more where this came from," Jiaoshu said kindly.

Though she slowed her feasting, Dee still ate almost to the point where she felt sick. As the serving women came back in to clear the plates, she sipped the tea, feeling the warm liquid trickle down her throat and into her happily over-filled stomach.

"Now that we have eaten, I would like to ask you a few questions."

Oh no, she thought, the worst running through her mind. She knew she shouldn't have eaten so much. Her body felt sluggish now and even if she did try to escape she was certain she wouldn't get very far without getting a horrible cramp or throwing up.

"Are you alright, Dee?" Li Mei asked leaning across the table and pushing the girl's hair from her face.

"I'm ok," she lied.

The man quirked an eyebrow at Li Mei, looking from the woman to the girl whose face had paled.

"Dee, do you think I mean you harm? That I wish to ask you to do something improper?" Jiaoshu asked.

Eyes locked on her teacup Dee's lips barely moved as she whispered, "Yes."

"Dear little one, I would never harm a child or even think of using a child in that way. Buddha would not forgive me for an act so heinous." He sighed and Li Mei placed a hand over his. "Dee, I have watched you in the streets for the last two months. You've had it very hard, have you not?"

Blinking back tears, Dee nodded.

"I, too, came from the streets as a child. My parents were killed by sickness when I was a little boy in China. There was no one to take care of me so I ended up on the streets. That life is not so easy." Jiaoshu paused, sipping his tea as he thought over his next words. "I wish to make you an offer. You are free to take a few days to think it over and turn it down if you wish."

Dee nodded her understanding.

"What I wish to offer you is, not only a roof over your head, but a chance at an education. You will learn all that is taught in schools and you will learn at your own pace. I will also teach you self defense."

Tilting her head, Dee looked at Jiaoshu for a minute before speaking. "Why are you offering this to me? Why not some other street kid?"

"Because you are not like the others. They expect to be taken care of. You, on the other hand, chose to find your own way. The way you stalk tourists when they have food and wait for them to set it down is a very clever tactic. I have seen a few of the others try to copy this without success. They did not have the patience to wait for the people to set the bag down. Instead they tried to grab the food, which only made the tourists more wary and hurry out of Chinatown. Even when you picked pockets you did so with stealth."

She nearly choked on her tea at what she heard. He saw her do all this? All this time she had thought she was being so careful, yet this man had seen her stealing all along. Coughing, she cleared her windpipe of tea before asking, "What would I have to do?"

Here Li Mei chuckled behind her hand. "You said she was smart, Jiaoshu. Do not look at me as if you did not expect her to ask."

"True enough, Li Mei." He turned to Dee and continued. "What I wish for you to do is to train to become a member of the Jade Tiger Triad. I cannot guarantee that you would be accepted into it, but I would hope you would. Everything you need would be provided for you from your clothing and food to anything else you might wish. From watching you on the streets I do not think I would have to teach you to be stealthy. I would also expect you to help with whatever tasks Li Mei sees fit to set you to and to do so without complaint. I will not say that it will be easy; it won't. You will not be my only student, so there will be others your age around and there will be time for you to be a child."

"I understand," she said. "I can think about it, can't I?"

"Of course. I do not expect you to give me an answer right away. But I do hope you will stay with us while you think about it?" Jiaoshu asked.

"I can stay?" she asked.

"Certainly you may stay," Li Mei said patting the girl's hand. "Besides, I said I was going to have your hair cut tonight, did I not?"

"Yes. But not too much, please?"

Jiaoshu and Li Mei smiled.

~ ~ ~ The bed was soft and warm and it made Dee happy as she snuggled under the covers for the night. Her stomach wasn't in pain from gnawing hunger for once. Instead it was content in digesting the huge dinner she had eaten, topped off with coconut ice cream.

While she lay there waiting for sleep to claim her, she considered Jiaoshu's offer. He wasn't offering or asking for anything unreasonable and she was definitely used to doing chores. She missed learning too. Certainly it wouldn't take her that long to catch up to where the other students were would it? And he had said she could go at her own pace!

Smiling to herself, she hugged the soft pillow next to her and yawned. Tonight she would sleep on it and tell him her decision at breakfast.

~ ~ ~ "I want to stay," she said before even sitting down to eat.

Jiaoshu nodded. He had expected her to say yes. "Very well. Eat your breakfast and then you may go and collect whatever items you wish to bring with you."

Dee already had in mind what she would bring; her plush cat, her file from the orphanage, and the box she had saved from the candy.
Change of Seasons Main / Triad Main /