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To start, Yaozu suggested, “Why don’t we sit down? Join me at the table, and we’ll have a conversation. ”
“About what?”
“You. Coming here. What you want, what you expect. What use you can be. ”
“To you?”
As if he were mildly surprised, Yaozu said, “To the city, of course. Think of it that way. If you aren’t any use to the city, then you aren’t any use to me. ”
“I heard Zeke isn’t any use to you. ”
“That’s true, he’s not. It’s strange, really. Given his parentage, you’d think he’d show more … potential. However, given that his mother is so popular with the Doornails, there’s no sense in throwing the lad back over the wall. ”
Rector squirmed. “Aw, Zeke’s not so bad. ”
“If I thought he was, I’d have done something about it. But you’re not here to talk about Zeke. You’re here to tell me what you’re doing inside my city. So far as a land of opportunity goes, you could’ve picked greener pastures. ”
Rector shrugged. He did his best to hold eye contact, but it was hard. Yaozu had a stare that could pierce granite. “I … I turned eighteen, and got thrown out of the orphan’s home. Didn’t know what to do, or where to go,” he said, repeating the line he’d been feeding to others.
Yaozu steepled his fingers, and leaned back in the chair. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, he said, “I believe … most of that. ”
Rector fidgeted in his seat, a hard-backed wooden thing that hadn’t been designed for comfort. He tapped his foot against the nearest table leg, then stopped himself and asked, “What part don’t you buy?”
“The part you aren’t selling. Did you come here because of Zeke, or because of the sap market? I know you were selling it, in the Outskirts. Big Pete Holloway said one of his boys supplied you, and that you did a fair amount of business with Harry, the chemist from Vancouver who set up shop in the Outskirts. ”
“I did better than fair,” Rector argued, on the off chance this was some kind of job interview.
“No, let’s leave it there. If you hadn’t smoked up most of your profits, we could perhaps call it good. ”
Rector swallowed. He couldn’t think of a reply, so he didn’t give one.
“It’s written all over your body,” Yaozu continued. “Your skin—the color’s changing, very slightly, around your eyes and mouth. Your gums are receding. Your hair, it’s very exuberant. But it’s been falling out, hasn’t it?”
“Maybe. ”
“Maybe,” Yaozu echoed with something perilously close to disgust. “You’re a user, Rector. A longtime user with heavy appetites and, I’d wager, a rather serious addiction. Addicts aren’t any use to me, Rector. Do you understand? I can’t trust addicts. Their minds are too far gone for detail-oriented production work, and they steal too much when they sell. ”
“I never stole anything. ”
“You skimmed. Extensively. Please don’t insult me by lying about it. ”
Rector didn’t like the way Yaozu said please. It didn’t sound like a request. It sounded like a bullet. “All right, I smoked and I sold. You want me to pay it back? I don’t even know how much I took over the last few years. ”
Yaozu shook his head. He squeezed the spot between his eyebrows and sighed. Rector got the distinct impression he was giving this man a headache, and that headaches and Yaozu were probably a bad combination.
He continued, “I can work it off, if there’s debt you’re worried about. I’m an excellent salesman. ”
“I bet you are. But since you’re now officially a grown man, with a troublesome birthday behind you, perhaps we can wipe the slate clean. Just this once. Consider it a birthday present. ”
“What? Really?”
“It’s no great risk for me to make the offer. If you persist in being trouble, or making trouble, then I daresay the slate won’t stay clean for long. But should you feel inclined to turn over a new leaf, then there’s no time like the present. Tell me, Rector. Are you interested in a new leaf?”
“Yes sir. Very much, sir. ” He’d never called a Chinaman “sir” before, but, like this whole leaf-turning thing, there was no time like the present to start.
He nodded slowly. “Well, that’s something. You still have the self-preservation to lie on the fly, so you’re not as far gone as I’d feared. ”
“You … you’d feared?”
