The Bitter Tea of General Yen Page #4

But your Dr. Strike,

he is unreliable as a friend.

And also as a lover.

He will betray you

every time for his god.

The subtlety of you Orientals

is very much overestimated.

I can't get the connection.

East or West, men seldom deviate very

far from their main passion in life.

You might as well know once and for all

that Bob Strike has everything I want,

or ever will want, in a man.

Put it on the table.

Come in.

Here are your

rings, Mah-Li.

But the general

gave them to you.

Well, I'm giving them back

to you, general or no general.

Miss Davis?

Will you send them to my parents

when you get back to Shanghai?

They live in Xuzhou,

and they're very poor.

I will write the address.

Why don't you

take them yourself?

That's impossible.

Impossible? What's the

general going to do with you?

You've got a chill, Mah-Li.

You go right straight to bed.

I'll order some hot tea.

No. Don't bother.

See? I have my hot-water bottle.

That'll keep me

warm long enough.

They aren't going

to take me far.

Goodbye, Miss Davis.

Look here, Mah-Li.

I've wanted to tell

you from the first

that if I could ever help

you in any way, I would.

That's what I came to China for,

to help people.

You are very kind, but I'm waiting

for the guards to take me away.

Guards?

What guards?

Where are they taking you?

Not far.

Oh, no, they won't.

You stay right here, Mah-Li.

I'll go and see the general.

What's the idea, Miss Davis?

Isn't it long past your bedtime?

Is that any of your business,

Mr. Jones?

Now, you don't fool me

even a little bit, young lady.

Mah-Li's been spilling grief, and you're

all steamed up with Christian charity.

Then it's true?

Sure it's true, but you keep out of it.

Besides, the general's

gone to bed.

If you think I'm going

to let that child be...

Now, Miss Davis,

maybe you think I acted pretty rotten

tonight, but I know what I'm talking about.

Mah-Li's not your kind.

She's just a conniving, little dame who

deserves every bit that's coming to her.

Including murder, I suppose.

Now, you let the general

be the judge of that.

He runs his own show out here,

with about 50 centuries

of authority back of him.

You missionaries come out here and expect

to convert 500 million people overnight.

Why, changing a leopard's

spots is duck soup

compared to changing China.

You know, you're lucky

to be alive out here yourself.

Now, you go back to your

room, go to bed and behave.

Not until I've seen the general.

I'd like to see the general.

Please, Miss Davis.

Have a little common sense.

You have no right to go

to his room in that getup.

Besides, I know

the general is a nice fellow.

He's well-educated,

has lovely manners.

But don't forget

he's a Chinaman.

If you're through, Mr. Jones,

I'll do as I please.

All right, young lady.

It's no skin off my nose.

Well, Miss Davis.

What have I done to deserve the

honour of your visit at this hour?

You've ordered

the murder of Mah-Li.

Well, couldn't we speak

of something more pleasant?

Here I have some

excellent brandy.

It's supposed to be

over 1,000 years old.

Would you like to try it?

You're murdering her just to

satisfy a cruel, jealous revenge.

May I?

Mah-Li has been betraying

military secrets to my enemies.

Can't you silence her

in some other way?

Yes.

In the old days,

in the days of the Manchus...

I could have had

her tongue cut out.

But now, since you missionaries

have taught her to read and write,

she's a constant menace

as long as she's alive.

I feel sorry for you, General Yen.

A powerful man like you

afraid of a poor little slave.

The only way to get

loyalty is to compel it.

Take Captain Li,

for example.

He's the only son of a very powerful

family which claims to support my rule.

All right, I believe them.

But as evidence

of their good faith,

I made them place him

in my hands as a hostage.

Now, if they would betray me,

the life of Captain Li enables

me to save my own face.

That's the way

we get loyalty in China.

That's why China is 2,000 years

behind the times. Don't you see...?

Why are you so

interested in Mah-Li?

I'm just as much

interested in you.

Oh. I am deeply flattered.

But not deeply moved.

Can't you forgive her?

She's only a child.

You can always do so much more

with mercy than you can with murder.

Why don't you give her

another chance?

Oh, I know you feel that she has deceived

you and sold information to your enemies,

perhaps even been unfaithful

to you. All that's dreadful.

And if it's true, you have a certain

justification in wanting to crush her.

But I want you to think of all

those things and then forgive her.

I don't know how you feel

about Mah-Li.

I mean, whether you love

her as... Well, as a lover.

But that's of no importance.

I want you to see the beauty

of giving love where it isn't merited.

Any man can give love where he's sure

it's returned. That isn't love at all.

But to give love

with no thought of merit,

no thought of return,

no thought of gratitude even.

That's ordinarily

the privilege of God.

And now it's your privilege.

Oh, general, with all you have within

you, your superior brain, your culture,

how can you be so blind

to spiritual greatness?

Do this thing I ask you.

Do it for me.

Do it even blindly if you must,

and I promise you, I'm so sure of it,

I promise you that for

the first time in your life

you'll know what

real happiness is.

You'll know that I...

I have one of my own.

That's what you said

to me that day.

You must be sincere,

Miss Davis.

I don't believe a word you say.

But when you ask me like that,

I forget I am General Yen.

Then you won't have her killed?

But I ask myself,

what do you get out of it?

You've hardly known her

more than a few days,

and still you act as if she were

of your own flesh and blood.

She is. We're all of

one flesh and blood.

Really?

Do you mean that?

Of course I do.

Words.

Nothing but words.

You came in here to preach.

Not my words. The one who first

spoke them gave up his life for them.

What are you willing

to give up for them?

What do you mean?

Surely your pleasure

wouldn't be complete

without some

sacrifice on your part.

Sacrifice?

Yes.

You are so interested

to save the life of Mah-Li.

Are you willing to be a hostage

for her future loyalty?

Like Captain Li?

I expect nothing from you.

Nothing but words and phrases

you learned in Sunday school.

You don't believe in them

any more than I do.

You were wrong when you said

I resent missionaries.

I despise them.

There should be another

Great Wall to keep your kind out.

You've already got

a Great Wall around you.

And it isn't built

of mud and stones.

It's made of ridiculous pride

and inhuman cruelty.

You won't allow one single

human feeling to reach you.

You want me to be

hostage for Mah-Li?

All right. I'm not afraid of you.

I'll answer for her loyalty.

Say, what the sam hill

is going on here?

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