Summary

In Chapter 1, Yun Ling describes the circumstances that brought her to know Nakamura Aritomo, a Japanese gardener who had once served the Japanese Emperor. Ling's sister, Yun Hong, told Ling about this man who had “left his home on the rim of the sunrise” to live in Malaya. Ling was 17 when she heard the story and a decade later she met Aritomo. Thirty-six years pass to bring the story to the present moment in Ling's life.

She has returned to Yugiri where she lived for a time as an adult. The housekeeper, Ah Cheong, knocks on her door. Ling puts on a dressing gown and her gloves. Ah Cheong has brought chilled papaya for her breakfast. Ling goes onto the verandah and the property’s dilapidated appearance shocks her.

Just before her retirement as a judge on the Malayan Supreme Court, Ling attended...