Chapter Four: No Rent Charged in Dreams

Su Li slapped the photograph onto the counter while Wen Jiu was scaling a carp that knew how to swear. “Explain.” “Wait your turn,” Wen Jiu said. “She's my mother.” “The carp is a customer.” The fish splashed Su Li. “Why should a family drama cut in line?” On her second night as acting manager, Su Li began to understand why the rules did not forbid assaulting former managers. Presumably, each generation had wished to preserve that right for the next. Wen Jiu admitted only that the photograph was genuine. Su Wanqing had kept the Night Kitchen until she vanished into a breach beneath the old North Station twenty years ago. When Su Li asked why her mother had become a Spirit Listener or whether she had left a message, he replied that living