The Language of Threads Read Online Free PDF Page A

the botanical gardens, whether it had many rooms with the same thick, soft carpets she’d seen in Lin’s house, and a view of the harbor. She kept the note tucked safely in her pocket all day.
    For dinner, Pei and Ji Shen went to the nearby Star Village Restaurant to celebrate their good fortune. That night, Pei was too excited to sleep. Her heart raced. Their new life in Hong Kong would begin tomorrow. Pei inhaled the musty air, tried to find a comfortable position on the sagging cot, and then closed her eyes against all her fears.

Chapter Two
    1938
Pei
    The house on Po Shan Road was larger than Pei had expected. It stood grand and imposing behind a black iron fence that isolated its wide green lawn from the rest of Hong Kong. Beyond the gate was a long gravel driveway that led to its front door. Even from a distance, the house appeared enormous—three floors of white stucco with massive white columns gracing a large veranda, which wrapped around the house like protective arms. Pei stopped at the gate to catch her breath. All the blinding whiteness made her want to turn and run away, even as her hand pushed against the sun-warmed metal and the gate whined open.
    Pei’s quick steps crunched through the gravel up to the house. The grounds were well-manicured, with bauhinia, chrysanthemums, and pink and purple azaleas blooming neatly in place. Only when Pei had climbed the steps and reached the intricately carved front door did she remember she was supposed to go around and enter through the back.
    â€œCan I help you?”
    The voice startled Pei. She turned around to see a man in his fifties dressed in a baggy shirt and pants, wearing a straw hat and holding a shovel in his hands.
    â€œI’m looking for the back entrance,” Pei answered.
    The man squinted and smiled. “Then you’ve found just the opposite!” He pointed to a flagstone pathway that twisted around the house. “Just follow that walk,” he directed with a wave of his hand.
    Pei shifted from one foot to the other, trying to smile despite the heat. “Thank you.”
    The man nodded. Pei turned, nervous, and hurried down the steps to the stone path that led toward the back of the house.
    â€œOh, missee,” he suddenly called after her. “Be sure you ask for Ah Woo. Ah Woo will take care of you.”
    â€œThank you.” Pei relaxed and smiled. “I will.”
    With its faded brown color and unornamented wood, the back door might as well have been attached to another house. Pei looked around as if she were in yet another world. Not far from the door near a stone well, a large wooden washtub lay on its side. A cluster of chairs and baskets sat beneath a large willow in the near distance. Unlike the front yard, the back was spare and devoid of flowers.
    Pei knocked lightly on the door, then harder still when no one answered. Her heart was beating so fast she couldn’t catch her breath, and after a moment, she hurried over to the well for a sip of water.
    Just then the door swung open and a voice, sharp and stern, filled the yard. “Yes, what is it you want?”
    Pei looked up, still clutching the wooden ladle in her hand, water dripping from her chin onto her tunic. The woman who glared at Pei was no older than she, dressed in a white tunic and dark trousers, her hair pulled back in a chignon. “I’m here to see Ah Woo about a position in the household.” Pei quickly replaced the ladle in the wooden bucket. “I was sent here by Song Lee.”
    The woman studied Pei closely, her three-cornered eyes narrowingas they searched Pei’s face. “Wait here,” she finally said, and disappeared back into the house.
    Pei stood by the door, feeling hot and uncomfortable at the cool reception. She wondered if all the servants in the Chen household were as hostile as this woman with the dark, piercing eyes.
    The door swung open again and another voice sang out. “Ah,