IT WAS AFTER ten at night when they finally arrived – three men and a woman, faces shining and covered with sweat, their expressions displaying an alert restlessness. Everything about the short, pale, plump woman was blunt.

‘Our wait has finally produced some fruit. Have a seat.’ My youngest aunt, very polite, emphasised the word wait, as if to suggest our patience had reached its limits. She had specially rushed back from Beijing for this matter. Everyone had taken time off from work and suffered sleepless nights.