Nick returned to the hospital and found many soldiers standing at the entrance with lanterns in hand. Like someone entirely unrelated to the matter, he walked past the doorway.
Once he reached a deserted spot, he blew out his lantern and craned his neck to peer toward the hospital.
Then someone patted him on the shoulder from behind. Nick nearly drew his Spanish folding knife.
"It's me." The provincial graduate stepped into the light and pointed at his own nose. "Follow me."
With that, he took the lead into another alley.
Nick followed the provincial graduate. After about two minutes, they reached the second floor of a building from which they could see part of the hospital.
Cao Xi stood with his hands behind his back, pacing circles in the courtyard, while the priest stood motionless where he was, his expression grave.
"He's waiting for me," Nick said, looking at Cao Xi.
"Commander Cao is searching all suspicious foreigners," said the provincial graduate. "Have you heard of the Empress of China?"
In 1784, after the Americans had just completed the American Revolutionary War, Philadelphia merchants Robert Morris and Daniel Parker boarded the oceangoing sailing ship Empress of China, jointly outfitted with the New York Company. On George Washington's birthday, they loaded more than forty tons of American ginseng and departed New York Harbor, rounding the Cape of Good Hope before arriving in Guangzhou.
After more than half a year of rough sailing, the Empress of China first reached Macau. The wildly excited Americans fired thirteen cannon shots in salute to the city, representing America's thirteen states. A week later, it reached its final destination, Guangzhou, and repeated the stunt. This time, it gave the Guangzhou residents celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival quite a fright. They thought pirates had arrived, or that