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leave. He stared hard at me, then asked Uncle several questions. I strained to hear what was said, but the man’s
     voice was too low-pitched. Uncle was eager, though, I could see that.
    While they continued to talk, I studied the man. He was taller than Uncle – thin, with pockmarked skin and big hands. What
     I noticed most was that his eyes were cold – empty and cold. They allowed not a hint of expression as he talked to Uncle,
     which made me shiver nervously. I had long been the target of Uncle’s hostility and hard-heartedness and expected nothing
     different from him, but there was passion and anger in him as well. This man seemed to show no emotion of any sort.
    The man reached into his pockets and took out what looked like a photograph. Uncle studied it, then nodded approvingly, glancing
     sideways in my direction as he did so. The man pulled out his wallet and held out a roll of money. Uncle hesitated, before
     taking it quickly and putting it inside his coat. He shook hands with the man, then lifted up the rope and brought me over
     to his side.
    ‘Lu Si-yan, this is Mr Chen. You will go with him. He is in charge of you now. Make sure you bring honour to your family by
     your good manners and behaviour.’
    ‘I don’t want to go, Uncle. Please don’t make me go.’
    I begged with him, pleaded with him. I thought for a moment that he might change his mind when his face seemed to soften and
     he gazed at me briefly with concern. But he dismissed me quickly with a pat on the shoulder, and marched away without looking
     back. My new owner signalled for me to go with him. I lowered my head, not to show obedience, but to hide my tears.
    What was to become of me? I was eleven years old, far from my home, far from my family, in the hands of a stranger, and nobody
     cared. As I followed Mr Chen from the building, I was certain of only one thing: that no matter what happened, one day, one
     day soon, I would see my mother again.
    A taxi was waiting outside. Mr Chen opened a door and sat next to me in the back. We drove for a few miles in silence, darkness
     descending all around us, then I fell asleep. I woke when the car stopped and he told me to get out. We turned into a building
     and waited for the lift. The lift doors opened, I walked uncertainly into the dimly lit cage and, as my stomach rebelled against
     the upward motion, Mr Chen said, ‘You will work for my wife, Lu Si-yan. One day, when you are old enough, you will marry my
     son. Is that understood?’

Chapter Eleven
    When the Roof Fell Down
    The rain came first, in torrents. The leaky roof leaked more. We ran out of buckets to place under the ever-increasing number
     of drips. We used our soup bowls, running to empty them over and over again. We lay in bed at night listening to the tuneful
     plink, plonk, tink, plop. It was funny at first, until we had to empty bowls throughout the night as well.
    The roof caved in one morning, when Mother had gone to the village and Li-hu and I were splashing in puddles in the yard.
     There was a sickening creak, followed by a loud shudder, which fed into a resounding thud that sent the hens and ducks squawking
     into the shed. We spun round to find the inside walls of the house exposed – jagged splinters of wood dangling from the tops.
     A large section of roof was lying across our kitchen table and our bed. A great cloud of dust wheeled in the air before sprinkling
     down on us.
    Li-hu clung to my legs in terror, then, when the dust had settled, he pointed to our house and clapped his hands.
    ‘Look, Si-yan,’ he giggled, ‘no roof. The roof’s all gone.’ Then he burst into tears.
    I held his hand and stood there anxiously in the pouring rain, wondering what to do. Mother had feared this might happen.
    ‘I don’t know what we’ll do if the roof falls in, Si-yan,’ she had said. ‘We don’t have the money to get it fixed, and we
     can’t do it ourselves. If only the rain would stop, we could at least