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“I told theela confirmed “He was brilliant”

“Angela told us he did work for you,” Hulan addressed Lily

“Freelance work Research mostly It wasn’t related to the Ba or this site, but he could do a lot of it on the Internet after hours, so it suited hi”

“What kind of research exactly?”

A shadow fell over Lily’s face “If you’re asking if it had anything to do with his accident, I can guarantee you that it didn’t”

“My brother was into all kinds of stuff,” Angela said with studied candor “And Lily’s right He loved the Internet He loved technology of all sorts He had one of those digital cameras, and he used to put snapshots on a website so all of his friends back hoela took another sip of wine “That’s how I knew about Lily and Catherine I recognized theht herself “They weren’t dirty pictures or anything like that! Just—oh, I don’t know—the hillsides, the dig, the people he was hanging out with”

“Actually, I felt he put up rather barren landscapes,” Lily said She thought for a moment, then added, “Those shots must have been taken in the area around Site 518 He probably posted them so his friends wouldn’t be envious”

Angela concurred “What better way to divert attention froues that he was living on aworse than academic jealousy Believe me, I know”

Lily’s responses to further questions about Brian were vague, perhaps out of consideration for Angela So he faded froaled them with tales of the Panda Guesthouse, which for hundreds of years had been the cos, an extremely wealthy and very corrupt faion

“In addition to his salt wells,” Lily explained, “Wang was a s had his own troops and a fleet that plied the river fro But his businesses aren’t what make him memorable He was reputed to be quite insatiable in his appetites He had close to fifty concubines and apparently took them in a variety of combinations You’ve seen the decoration in this place It’s beautiful and tasteful, but I’ve been in rooraphic scenes”

“What happened to the family?” Hulan asked

“During the revolution—Liberation, as you call it—estured delicately toward the veranda “All of the wo The blood was ten centiend”

“And Wang?”

“He got to see his women killed one by one They say that by the end of the massacre he’d completely lost his mind”

David watched Hulan through all of this The sih in different provinces and different ti