In 1940s Shanghai, beautiful young Jiazhi spends her days playing mahjong and drinking tea with high-society ladies. But China es occupied by invading Japanese forces, and in wartime things are not always what they seem. Jiazhis life is a front. A patriotic student radical, her mission is to seduce a poweful employee of the occupying government and lead him to the assassin In 1940s Shanghai, beautiful young Jiazhi spends her days playing mahjong and drinking tea with high-society ladies. But China es occupied by invading Japanese forces, and in wartime things are not always what they seem. Jiazhis life is a front. A patriotic student radical, her mission is to seduce a poweful employee of the occupying government and lead him to the assassins bullet.Yet as she waits for him to arrive at their liasion, Jiazhi begins to wonder if she is cut out to be a femme fatake and coldly take Mr Yi to his death. Or is she beginning to fall in love with him? A passionate tale of espionage, deception and love, accompanied here by four further short stories by Eileen Chang.