Mrs Spring Fragrance

When Wan Lin Fo is 16, his parents adopt a 13-year-old girl named Pau Tsu to be his betrothed. They are not yet married when Wan Lin Fo’s uncle brings his 18-year-old nephew to Seattle to expand his firm to the United States. Wan Lin Fo is a well-educated young man and grasps the intricacies of his uncle’s business as well as the senior partners. One of the firm partners is an American, whose daughter, Adah Raymond, befriends Wan Lin Fo. Wan Lin Fo, now 22-two-years old, tells Adah that she has inspired him to send for his betrothed:“Every time I come to this house, I see you, so good and so beautiful, dispensing tea and happiness to all around, and I think could I have in my own home and ever by my side one who is also both good and beautiful, what a felicitous life mine would be” (82). When Adah assumes that Wan Lin Fo had been in love with Pau Tsu before he left China, he answers: “No […] I was too young to be in love—sixteen years of age. Pau Tsu was thirteen. But, as I have confessed, you have caused me to remember and love her” (82).