Intrigues in a Slum House
Keyword(s):
Zhou Enlai tried but failed to protect Jack, and so in 1969, Jack and Yuan-tsung were evicted from their apartment and forced to live in a corner room at a slum house on Sheep Market Street. Most of their neighbors came from the urban underclass; among them were a retired prostitute, a semireformed thief, a laundress who doubled as a bed playmate to her employer, and an old witch who practiced black magic. They were purveyors of gossip and became new sources of information for Yuan-tsung. A Japanese woman named Noriko, punching bag to her Chinese husband, became Yuan-tsung’s best friend and played a key role in her fight against the Red Guards.