if he’d been less tired. In a good mood, Fung Cheung took scoldings well, but with the loss of face from this embarrassing revelation, being shamed could only make him angrier. Sure enough, he snapped:
“It wouldn’t matter if your nun didn’t fuck up the deal!”
“My nun? I told you not to take her on in the first place!”
“Who was the one who took her to town?” Fung Cheung retorted.
“You all sound like a married couple,” observed Guet Imm. Incredibly, she sounded amused.
This was not the kind of intervention Tet Sang had been hoping for. He and Fung Cheung both turned to glare at her.
“And you!” said Fung Cheung. “Who asked you to interfere in the deal?”
Guet Imm seemed genuinely mystified. “I’m a follower of the Pure Moon, brother. If I find out you’re selling the deity’s relics, of course I must interfere. Lucky I was there,” she added. “If the sale went through, who knows what would have happened? The deity is merciful, but she is like any god. You cannot cross the line.”
“Better to let the tokong goods burn, is it?” said Fung Cheung. “Or maybe the deity would prefer it if the Protector takes them and puts them in a museum in his country for unbelievers to look at? That’s his usual tactic. Maybe we can’t all chant sutras, but you’re not the only one who knows how to respect the gods. We didn’t simply decide to sell the goods to anybody. Yeoh Thean Tee would have looked after them properly.”
Guet Imm’s expression flickered. “Yeoh Thean Tee?”
“Even nuns have heard of him, hah?” said Fung Cheung.
He was not being serious. Yeoh Thean Tee was the head of one of the wealthiest families on the peninsula—and at one point, the Southern Seas’ most generous donor to the monastic orders. It would have been unheard of for even the most secluded anchorite not to recognise the Yeoh name.
“The Yeoh family paid for our turtle pond,” said Guet Imm. “Yeoh Thean Tee’s daughter was an acolyte of the Order.”
She seemed dumbfounded. After a moment, she said, “But he doesn’t live in Sungai Tombak, does he? I thought he was based in the capital.”
Tet Sang snorted. “You think Yeoh Thean Tee meets the butcher who supplies his siew yoke? We only talked to his agents.”
“You cannot make money if you offend the Protector,” said Fung Cheung. “But the Yeoh family has always supported the religious orders. They cannot say anything openly, but they don’t like what is happening to the tokong. They want to save the tokong goods for future generations.”
“Forget about saving the current generation,” said Tet Sang. “They are merely human beings. Not valuable.”
Fung Cheung rolled his eyes. They’d had this argument before.
“It’s not like you could put people in a sack and smuggle them out without the mata noticing,” he said. “Isn’t it better if the goods are saved at least?”
“So, they asked you to—what? Steal treasures from the tokong before the mata could get to them?” said Guet Imm.
“After,” said Tet Sang. “They asked for any sacred artefacts left in the tokong after the mata came.”
“And just so happen you had some sacred artefacts lying around?” said Guet Imm sceptically.
Fortunately, she was looking at Fung Cheung. His expression did not change.
“Just so happen we had some,” he agreed. “Lucky, right?”
Guet Imm gave him a look of suspicion. She opened her mouth.
“When Fate decides, it’s not for us to quarrel,” said Tet Sang. “It wasn’t humans who sent the Yeohs to us.”
He hadn’t planned to speak, and he heard his own words with surprise. To his disgust, he found he believed what he said, though until then, he would have said that he no longer followed any gods nor put much credence in their powers. He would have preferred to have been spared this self-knowledge.
Guet Imm looked equally surprised, but after a moment, she recovered her customary sangfroid.
“Maybe the Yeoh family is pious, but they were cheating you,” she said. “The statue was very good quality—handmade by northern craftsmen. You could have earned a tael from that alone.”
“Good thing we don’t have it anymore, then,” said Fung Cheung drily. “At least we won’t be cheated. Instead, we’re in trouble with the most powerful Tang family in the country. The Protector went to Yeoh Thean Tee’s eldest son’s wedding.”
A polite cough interrupted him.
“Cheung,” said Rimau. “We’re done.”
He jerked his head at the rest of the group. The brothers stood ready to leave with all they had strapped to their backs,