Moon Princess (4 page)

‘Come on,' said Lihua in Chinese, patting Sienna's shoulder. ‘We've got lots to buy today – not long until the Moon Festival now!'

Sienna would have liked to talk to the boy, but she was afraid Lihua might tell Ling, and that she would stop Sienna's trips outside. Instead, she quietly raised her hand in passing and waved to him as they walked away. He returned the gesture.

Next weekend Dad was at home, working on the computer while Sienna watched TV. He sat down beside her and gave her hair a quick stroke.

‘What do you say to the two of us going for something to eat?'

Sienna jumped at the chance to spend some time with her dad. ‘Yes, please! Maybe we can go to the restaurant opposite?'

‘Really?' her dad asked in surprise. ‘The old cookshop? Well, if that's what you want, then at least we won't have to battle through the traffic.'

They put on their shoes and took the lift down. But, to Sienna's disappointment, the boy wasn't sitting outside the restaurant today. An old man with white hair and not many teeth looked up in surprise as the two foreigners came into his restaurant.

Dad tried to exchange a few words with the man, but he couldn't understand the dialect in which he spoke. Sienna knew her father spoke good Mandarin, or Standard Chinese, but the old people in Shanghai communicated almost exclusively in
Shanghai hua
– Shanghainese.

The man pointed to the menu, a few photos on the wall. Sienna and her father ordered fried noodles and sat down on plastic stools as the man disappeared through a saloon door into the kitchen.

‘Sienna, there's something I need to tell you,' Dad began hesitantly. ‘I know the move hasn't been easy for you, and that I'm working a lot at the moment …'

Sienna swallowed and twisted her hair nervously between her fingers.

Her father continued, ‘The bank's sending me inland. To Henan. That means I'll be away for a few weeks. Can you manage without me?'

Sienna continued fiddling with her hair. She would have liked to tell her dad how much she needed him – that he
couldn't
go. That he couldn't leave her alone with a bully like Ling. She would've liked to tell him about the photograph too. But she knew he wouldn't listen. Instead, she raised her head and met his eyes defiantly.

‘Of all places, do you have to go to
Henan
?'

Dad stiffened for a brief moment. Sienna knew both of them were thinking about her mum. That she had been in Henan when she disappeared.

He swallowed quickly and said, ‘Yes, Sienna, I do have to go there. But it's for work – in a different part of the province. It has nothing to do
with your mother.'

And what if you simply disappear there too, and I never see you again?
Sienna wanted to yell. But she could see tears welling up in Dad's eyes, and he grasped her hand. Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, ‘Are you going to look for Mum? Perhaps if you—'

‘Please, Sienna. Don't start that again. The police have done everything they can.' Dad was squeezing her hand so tightly now that it hurt.

At that moment the fried noodles arrived. Sienna glanced up, startled, and found herself looking into the face of the boy.

‘
Man man chi
,' he said politely, and sat down behind the counter.

Sienna struggled to concentrate on the food, but she could feel that the boy's eyes never left her for a second. He was looking at her as if he'd known her for a long time.

When Dad got up to pay, the old man came out of the kitchen. As Dad handed over the money to the man, Sienna felt the boy appear beside her. He looked afraid as he put a finger to his lips, passing her a small piece of paper that
had been folded over many times. Sienna looked at him questioningly, but the boy disappeared into the kitchen and she saw him raise his hand shyly in farewell.

4 Qiezei – Thief

A
few days after her father had left for his trip, Sienna was lying on her bed, staring at the piece of paper the boy from the restaurant had given her, as she had done every day since she'd received it. The paper was crumpled and looked as if the boy had been carrying it around in his pocket for a long time.

It was a photograph of a small statue. The figure was wearing a long robe, covering its head and back, and stood on the back of a dragon.
Sienna couldn't be sure but she thought it was a woman. Her delicate face betrayed no emotion, and yet Sienna had seen the expression in countless pictures her mum had sent her from research trips in China of statues and other pieces of art. Strangely, the colour reminded Sienna of moonlight, shiny-white and silvery.
Surely she's royalty
, Sienna thought. Wasn't there a story of a moon princess?

‘It definitely looks Chinese,' she murmured to herself. She had never been
that
interested in her mum's job. Nevertheless, she had always liked to sit on her mum's lap and look at photos from her mother's trips to China. Mum had tried to get her interested in temples, statues and paintings. She'd even sent photos of artworks she was working on, along with her letters and emails. This always made Sienna feel part of her mother's world, even though she was a long way away.

‘Oh, well,' Sienna sighed, and shuffled over to the edge of the bed. She let her head hang down to look underneath, and saw nothing but a few balls of dust. The silver tin containing her mum's letters had gone!

Sienna felt panic rise within her. Her heart raced. She always kept the tin in the same place. Shufang, she knew, had cleaned her room several times. But she didn't seem to bother cleaning under the bed, and even if she had, the tin had always been left untouched.

A thought occurred to Sienna. Could her father have taken the box away with him … ? She shook her head. Even though he didn't like Sienna to talk about her mum, he wouldn't take away all of her most precious mementoes, would he? Sienna decided she had to ask him. Even if he was on a business trip hundreds of kilometres away!

She called her dad using her mobile, but no one picked up. Instead, she listened to a recorded message in Chinese. It obviously wasn't possible to leave a message either. She'd try calling on the landline, just in case.

Sienna crept into the hall. Ling didn't allow her to leave her room in the afternoons, but Sienna wasn't sure whether Ling was even at home. Trembling, she lifted the receiver and dialled Dad's number. The same Chinese recording.

She'd send him an email, then. The computer that they had brought over from the UK was kept in the living room, and as there was no sign of Ling, who had forbidden Sienna to use the computer alone, Sienna switched it on and opened the email program.

Dad had written her a message. In it, he said that China was completely different here, how difficult it was to get around, and how much he missed her. Obviously he was having great difficulty phoning, but Ling had kept him informed on how well Sienna was doing and what great progress she was making with her Mandarin.

Sienna grew angry as she read Dad's email. So he'd spoken to Ling on the phone, probably emailed her too – so why hadn't he wanted to talk to
her
, then?

She pounded the keys furiously:

Please call me. My tin box with Mum's letters in it has disappeared. Do you have it? I miss you, Love Sienna. Xxx

She heard a noise at the door. Ling was back! She'd never make it to her room in time. Sienna
quickly shut down the computer and hid behind the large armchair next to the window.

As usual, Ling was wearing shoes with sky-high heels. Each one of her footsteps clicked loudly on the hard floor as she walked into the room.

Sienna peered out cautiously from behind the chair, and gasped: her tin box was in Ling's hands!

Ling placed the box on the table, then closed the living-room door.
Probably doesn't want to be disturbed while she's reading
, Sienna thought bitterly. What was Ling up to? Why would she want to read her personal letters or look at her photos? Ling started rifling through the box impatiently, crumpling and folding the precious papers with her sharp painted nails, digging deeper.

Suddenly realization hit Sienna. Was there something in there that Ling didn't want Sienna to see … something she'd
already
seen, perhaps? Sienna's legs began to tremble. She was certain now; it
was
Ling in that photo of the car. The housekeeper knew something about her mother, and she was trying to hide the evidence!

Not for the first time, a desperate, hopeful thought rushed into Sienna's head:
Mum might still be alive!

At that moment, the bird's twitter of the doorbell sounded. Ling sighed irritably, shut away the papers before she'd had a chance to check all the photos and headed into the hall, leaving Sienna's box on the table.

Sienna heard voices, then Ling returned with a large man. He was Chinese, wore a black suit and carried a briefcase. A chunky gold ring shone on his hand, and a gold bracelet dangled around his wrist. He had piercing, bright blue eyes – Sienna had never seen a Chinese person with blue eyes before.

Ling took a calligraphy picture from its mounting on the wall opposite Sienna. There was a safe behind it! Sienna watched as Ling tapped in four figures, and although the housekeeper's back partly obscured her vision, Sienna knew the combination: 0505. The fifth of May, her mother's birthday. It was the only combination Dad had ever used.

Ling opened the door of the safe, and Sienna saw some of Dad's files and Mum's jewellery box,
which Ling drew out. She placed it on the table and opened it.

Sienna clenched her fists. First Ling had stolen her letters, and now she had more of Mum's stuff in her hands! Mum didn't wear it much, but she had inherited a lot of precious jewellery from Sienna's grandmother. When Sienna was younger, her mum had let her play with the sparkling necklaces and bracelets, as long as she was careful.

Now she saw Ling holding these things in her greedy fingers and Sienna felt herself grow hot with anger. How dare she!

The man had laid his briefcase on the table next to the jewellery box. He opened it, and Ling whistled softly through her teeth. Sienna tried to see the two of them properly, but the table was in the way. Risking discovery, she peered over the top of the armchair. Her breath caught in her throat.

Ling took a large necklace, heavy with gems, out of the man's briefcase. Sienna recognized it immediately: it had been her grandmother's! She remembered her wearing it on special occasions. But now the man reached into the
jewellery box and pulled out
exactly
the same necklace. How was that possible?

Ling and the man were speaking in an unfamiliar dialect that Sienna didn't understand. Finally the man grinned and drew out a large wad of banknotes. Ling put the money in her handbag and laughed. The man now took the necklace from Mum's jewellery box and packed it away. Ling was holding the other necklace in her hand. ‘Perfect,' she said in English.

As it dawned on Sienna exactly what was happening – that Ling was stealing her mother's necklace and replacing it with a copy – she forgot her fear and stood up. Ling and the man both turned suddenly in her direction.

‘What are you doing here?' Ling asked sharply.

‘What am
I
doing here?' cried Sienna indignantly. ‘
I'm
watching
you
steal from us! You've had Mum's necklace copied and you're stealing the real one. I'm telling Dad right now about this. You won't get away with it!' She had moved out from behind the armchair and was now close to the door.

‘And how are you going to tell your dad about it?' Ling asked mockingly. ‘Perhaps you're too
stupid to notice, but your father is very difficult to reach at the moment. The only person he speaks to is
me
!'

As Ling was talking, the man had started edging towards Sienna. Beads of sweat stood out on his round face and his blue eyes glistened. He was clutching something in his left hand. Sienna glanced down. A knife!

‘Dad will be home soon, and then you won't be able to stop me telling him the truth,' Sienna said, keeping her eyes on the knife and trying to stop her voice from trembling.

‘We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, as you Westerners say.' Ling laughed loudly and shook her head, her huge curls looking like dangerous snakes.

Sienna heard the key turning in the front door. It was only Lihua, the cook, returning from the shops, but Ling and her accomplice looked round hesitantly anyway and the man lowered the knife.

All at once Sienna knew what she had to do. She grabbed her tin box from the table. Then she made a dash for the front door, which Lihua had left open behind her, several shopping bags
waiting on the landing.

Before anyone could stop her, Sienna ran to the stairwell. She had never used the stairs here before, but she could press the lift button on every floor to slow down Ling and the fat man! She held the tin box close to her and raced off downstairs. Thirteen times she pressed the button to stop the lift; that should give her enough of a start.