A Duck and a Gilded Invitation

The plums had to be aged three years. Shen Yan visited four dried-goods shops before he found them. The shopkeeper drew a ceramic jar from the back of a shelf and named a price of eight hundred yuan. Shen touched his nearly empty wallet and started to put it back. Then she recognized him. “You're little Shen from Night Voyage. Your father cooked my daughter's month-old celebration.” She cut the price in half and slipped two darker plums into his bag. “Don't ruin it,” she said. “Your father's preserved-plum duck could make people swallow the words they didn't want to say.” The diner named by the book did not arrive until Friday evening.