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“I ae”
“I’ve coe”
They sat in a drawing roo trees Bees flitted frorant bloole the only disturbances Glass doors and silk curtains separated them from an adjacent study
“Apparently,” Ni said, “when you left the homeland, you decided that some of our artifacts would come with you”
Pau laughed “Do you have any idea what it was like when Mao was alive? Tell me, Minister, in your exalted position, as keeper of the Party’s conscience, do you have any conception of our history?”
“At the moment, only your thievery concerns me”
“I have been gone from China nearly three decades Why isimportant?”
He’d been warned about Pau Wen, a trained historian, skillful orator, andXiaoping had made use of his talents
“Your crime has only recently come to my attention”
“An anonymous informant?”
He nodded “We are fortunate to have them”
“And you make it so easy You even have a website All they do is forward an e-mail, with no name or address, loaded with accusations Tella false report?”
He wasn’t going to fall into that trap “On the walk in froate I noticed a pottery horse from the Han dynasty A bronze chiurine All originals, stolen by you”
“Hoould you know that?”
“You were the overseer of a number of museums and collections, an easy matter for you to appropriate whatever you may have desired”
Pau rose “Might I show you so, Minister?”
Why not? He wanted to see more of the house
He followed the older ered memories of his own fareen hills and well-tended fields For 700 years Nis had lived there, within a copse of bamboo that outlined fertile rice paddies There’d been a courtyard in that house, too One difference, though It wasn’t bricks, but pounded earth that had paved that space
“Do you live here alone?” Ni asked
So large a house would de appeared immaculate Yet he’d seen or heard no one
“More of that investigator in you Asking questions?”
“It seems a simple inquiry”
Pau smiled “My life is one of self-imposed solitude”
Not really an answer, but he’d not expected one
They wove a path around potted shrubs and dwarf yews and approached a tall black door, with a red disk, at the courtyard’s opposite side Beyond lay a spacious hall, supported by reen-colored fretwork One wall displayed bookshelves, another hung scrolls of Chinese script Soft light permeatedpapers He noticed the careful ork, the silk hangings, curio cabinets, hardwood tables, the objects displayed as if in a museum
“My collection,” Pau said
Ni stared at the trove
“It is true, Minister You saw valuable objects of art when you entered my home Those are precious But this is the real treasure” Pau motioned and they walked farther into the roolazed pottery model Han dynasty, 210 BCE”
He studied the sculpture, fashioned out of a liure of a man turned a crank handle for what looked like a rotary mill
“It shows so quite remarkable,” Pau said “Grain was poured into an open receptacle on top and thethe husks and stalk This type of machine was not known in Europe until nearly two thousand years later, when Dutch sailors imported it from China”
Another pedestal displayed a ceraht his interest
“That’s a Tang dynasty piece 6th to 7th century CE Notice the warrior on the horse His feet are in stirrups China developed the stirrup centuries ago, though it did not es The concept of a ht, on horseback, armed with lance and shield, would not have been possible but for the Chinese stirrup”
He gazed around at the artifacts, maybe a hundred or more
“I collected these frorave Many caht, I did have my choice from museums and private collections”
Pau pointed to a water clock that he said was froun barrels, porcelain, astronoenuity One curious iteht Ni’s attention—a small ladle balanced on a ss
“The coo The ladle is carved fro south While Western , the Chinese learned how to navigate with this device”
“All of this belongs to the People’s Republic,” Ni said