Chapter One: A Nine-Dollar Tip

The crystal lights at House of Lanterns made everyone look richer than they were. Lin Mo stood beside Table Twelve with a silver tray while Manager Cheng spoke through his earpiece. “Chairman Gu's important guests. Spill one drop, and don't bother clocking out tonight.” Four people had occupied the table from seven until eleven. Their leader was an old man in a worn gray suit, his cuffs rubbed pale, who ordered the restaurant's most expensive dry-aged steak. The other three barely ate. They kept asking him the same question. “You truly won't reconsider?” “The price is written on the check,” the old man replied each time. He asked Lin to recite every price: nine dollars for mineral water, sixty-one for the appetizer, two hundred ten for the wine.