Dubian Che returned to the villa at three in the afternoon, carrying several bags of things.
The heavy mahjong table was still basking in the sun on the villa's terrace, but the players were nowhere to be seen.
In the yard, the hammock suspended between two chestnut trees swayed gently, with shadows of the leaves falling into it, and the person in the hammock was awake.
"Good thing it's not autumn," Dubian Che thought to himself.
Otherwise, along with the sunlight and the shade, there would be ripe chestnuts falling into it too, the kind with spiky shells.
"Good afternoon, Miss," he said.
"Good afternoon, Sir," Miss Kiyono's cool voice answered, as transparent and dazzling as the sun shining on ice.
And she herself was the same, like a block of ice basking in the sun.
Dubian Che walked up the steps and pushed open the door into the villa.
Only Mrs. Jiutiao was inside, watching television.
"Hasn't she woken up yet?" Dubian Che asked.
