PROLOGUE

The Tang dynasty (618-907) is considered to be a golden age in Chinese history. There were notable developments during this time period, including the development of woodblock printing. Poetry and short story writing flourished.

During a dynasty previous to the Tang, the Sui dynasty, a civil service system was implemented that used a rigorous standardized examination system through which individuals were drafted into office. This system was highly competitive and allowed persons from outside the aristocracy to become officials in the government.

Chapter 1

August 2008, Silver Spring, MD

Home, sigh. Jennifer walked in her front door after a long day. With mail in hand and playing her usual balancing act, she opened the front door and kicked it closed behind her. A combination of odors from lemon-scented cleaner and last night’s curried chicken met her nose as she entered her condo. She dropped her keys on the table in the hallway and looked in the mirror above it.

Jennifer looked at her light-mocha colored face and dark-chocolate eyes and smiled. She ran a hand through her thick brown hair. At least it isn’t showing any signs of gray, probably the only thing I can be happy about today, she mused.

She walked into her kitchen. At one time, she was in great physical shape from running four to five miles a day. Recently, she’d been so busy with work, she hadn’t had the time to work out as much. She noticed a red light flashing on her landline’s answering machine. A message to offset the loneliness she felt as she faced another evening alone. Standing at the counter, Jennifer hit the play button and sorted through her mail. She looked up and noticed that the colors from the setting sun hit the brown and yellow hues of her living room quite well.

“Hey, it’s Jerrell. Calling to catch up. How ya doin’? I’m finally free, just ended a big case. Would love to celebrate with you…You have my number.” Click.

And I’m not going to call it, thought Jennifer. It took her three dates with Jerrell to figure out the relationship was going nowhere and that she was just his booty call. This was the fourth message he’d left since their last rendezvous. How long will it take him to get my message?

Jennifer was tired of her recent love interests: there was Jerrell, who really only wanted something physical; John, who wanted a sugar mama; and Anthony, the doctor who thought he was God’s gift to women. Jennifer preferred to be at home alone, reading a good book, than out with any one of these men.

God, I feel so stuck. My life doesn’t feel like it’s going anywhere. She was the only African American and one of the few women in her law firm. She had thought her career would have gotten further by now and that she would be working on more exciting cases. She was in her mid-thirties; by this age, her brother was a candidate for the bench. Now, he was serving as a judge in Chicago. Most of her friends were married and had children or a child on-the-way. It would be helpful if she were able to fill the void of a family, with an exciting career that was bringing her fulfillment. But this was not the case. No husband, no love life, no great career…

An avid fan of Olympic sports, Jennifer turned on her DVR to play some of the day’s Olympic events. The female marathon runners were running past a building in downtown Beijing, China. The building had a sudden familiarity for Jennifer, though she had never traveled to China. She thought about the Chinese history course that she had taken at Harvard; how much it had intrigued her and how much she wished she had studied something other than just Spanish and French in her formative years. Her firm was always looking for foreign language capabilities in the firm, why not try her hand at studying Mandarin?

Chapter 2

August 2008, Washington, DC

It’s time that I should be leaving you,” said Blair Rutherford. Matthew’s mother-in-law had been grating on his nerves for some time. His wife had died a little over a year ago, but Blair had to make one last extended visit to make sure her daughter’s estate was adequately handled. Still, Matthew had been grateful for help. His job had him working odd hours at times and it had been good to have an additional person around, regardless of how annoying.

“I know. And it couldn’t have been easy for you,” replied Matthew. He always felt that he had to speak somewhat formally to his mother-in-law. She had offered to pay for a nanny or au pair, but Matthew wanted to see how he would do without the extra help. And, he already had Camila, who did everything and was an excellent cook. Camila had known Laura well and had been there before her illness had taken its negative and final turn. Besides, she had known Madison since she was a few months old.
Matthew knew that he needed to bond with his daughter, Madison. And, he was afraid.

There was a steely silence; not unusual between Matthew and his mother-in-law. Blair hadn’t approved of her daughter’s choice. She couldn’t understand why her daughter had wanted to be a lawyer and she didn’t understand why she hadn’t married one of their wealthier friends’ sons. There were so many well-off men in her social set.

Matthew’s father had died when he was young. His mother’s parents had been middle-class and had helped his mother put him through school. Things weren’t that easy coming up for Matthew. His mother was now in a nursing home suffering with Alzheimer’s. And, his beautiful, brilliant, best friend, who had also happened to be his wife, was gone. Breast cancer. Neither had seen it coming nor had they understood what was happening.

Matthew was both pleased and fearful to see his mother-in-law walk out the door with her suitcases. He offered to help, but the hired limo driver carried the suitcases out to the car. Matthew looked at his daughter and held her even more tightly. Both adults had felt it would be best for the child to see her grandmother leave. Madison, who was nicknamed ‘Maddy’ by her mother, was neither happy nor sad, but laid her head on her father’s chest. Maddy followed her father’s lead and began to wave as her grandmother’s limo drove away.

Matthew walked back into the house carrying Maddy in his arms.

“Let’s make some dinner. How does that sound?” Matthew inhaled the fresh scent of his child.

“Okay, Daddy,” said Madison. Matthew was glad that his daughter wasn’t too difficult of a three-year-old. He held Madison in his arms as he turned into the house and closed the front door. He put Madison down and walked into the kitchen. Turning on today’s edition of the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Matthew looked into the refrigerator to see what Camila had made. He placed Madison in her booster seat, where she sat staring at him intensely.

“Look, Camila left something for us in the fridge!” Matthew loved his daughter fiercely. His heart filled up and felt like it was going to burst when he thought about her. Maddy was both her mother’s daughter and the apple of her father’s eye. Maddy’s eye expressions, the way she held her fork and her pencils, and her laugh, all reminded him of his beautiful wife, Laura, who was now gone. He looked at his daughter’s beautiful head of blonde hair and her clear blue eyes, his eyes and his father’s eyes…and wondered what the future had in store.