After that, China relied on me a lot to trade with England. Of course, he would personally speak with England every so often (once or twice a month), but their conversations were private.

I met with England every other week.

He had made the effort to at least learn a little Chinese, so I made the effort to speak English.

"Hello," I greeted him one day. Every time I spoke English he cracked a grin from my accent. As if he could speak Chinese better then I.

Our meetings were routine. He would ask for a specific item on day X, I would mention a price (in silver. China didn't have much interest for England's wares, and oftentimes only asked me to request silver), and we would haggle. Then the next meeting I would have the items and he would have the money, and the process would repeat itself.

But today was different.

"I don't have enough silver," England said in broken Chinese.

"Don't have enough?" I repeated (correctly). "What do you mean?"

"I don't have enough," he repeated, though this time in English. "It's difficult obtaining silver."

All I heard was "something something something silver." I wasn't supposed to accept anything but silver, since that was what we agreed upon, but, much like our first official meeting, England pulled out a small velvet bag—this time crimson.

"I do have this, though." He kept his voice calm.

"That is what?" I asked, my gaze incredulous as I clutched the small box of black tea to my chest. It didn't look like anything valuable.

"This is opium."

"Opium?" I parroted. What on earth did I need that for?

"It's a drug that—"

"I know what it is," I interrupted. I wasn't stupid. "I want opium why?"

England looked at me up and down. I had grown slightly since we first met; I almost reached his shoulders. I was wearing much finer clothing (thanks to these trades), and I actually filled them out, thanks to being a bit healthier.

He smiled, softly, at first, but then it turned into an unabashed grin.

"Well, I thought that you might enjoy this substitute for my lack of payment. I'll even give you this for free, and come back tomorrow with your final proposition. Does this sound fair?"

I was able to piece enough English together to know what he was saying. "I still do not understand. I want opium why?"

"China seems to find a use for it, though he doesn't want to admit to this." His grin was wider. "Go on, take it."

I heard "China," "use," and "take," so, naturally, I took the bag. England then fished around in his coat again and pulled out a pipe. It looked worn down, like it was used excessively. He shoved the pipe in my hands and almost made me drop the bag. That scared him a little—no. It scared him quite a lot. Apparently the opium was worth more then I had originally thought.

Opium. It was a powerful drug. But I never mingled with it, because China forbade it. Once he caught me with some I had found in his room, and I received a smack by his slipper. I daren't go into his room again after that.

I didn't pay the opium any thought after that; I guessed that he was just protecting my health.

I looked at England, then at the velvet bag, then at England. He didn't make a motion for the tea in my grasp, so I guess I had to trust him with his offer of coming tomorrow.

"Tomorrow, then?" he asked, raising an eyebrow in question.

"Yes," I replied, nodding my head in affirmation. With that, England turned on his heel and left, his coattails fluttering behind him.

I watched him for a brief moment before looking down at the opium-filled bag, then the pipe. Wait…..Wasn't there supposed to be a lamp that heated the opium? If anything, China had one in his room. But that meant going into his room, and risking the chance of being beat soundly again (and justly so).

I decided to take the chance, anyways. Besides, curiosity gnawed at my insides.

…

China wasn't in his bed chambers, much to my relief. It looked like it was used recently though, what with the sheets on the bed disheveled and the throw pillows tossed to the floor. Hopefully he wouldn't return for a while.

I set the box of tea and the pipe down, still clutching tightly to the crimson bag by the drawstrings. China would want the lamp to be hidden. So first I checked the bureau; if the opium came from England, maybe it was in English furniture.

No such luck.

Then I checked the less obvious places, such as under the bed and behind paintings (in case there was a safe?).

Still nothing. I was probably going to have a better chance giving up the search for the lamp and negotiating with England to—

I tripped over one the rug's upturned corners, revealing a loose floorboard. Maybe this was where the opium lamp was.

I bent over to move the floorboard, and sure enough there it was. I took it out of the hollowed-out cavern, replaced the wooden board ever so carefully, and made it look like no one was even there. Picking up the pipe from the dresser, I found a corner of the room where I could lay comfortably and take the drug into my system.

I didn't notice China standing over me for quite some time. When I did notice him, he didn't look happy at all. But thanks to the drugs, my body was numb enough to not care.

It was sickeningly wonderful.

After my punishment (five cracks of the bamboo rod across my backside; it didn't hurt because of the opium), China demanded that I tell him what I was doing with the Opium and I why I took it from his room.

"But all I took was the lamp," I corrected. China faltered.

"What do you mean by that, aru?" he questioned, hand tightly gripping my shoulder—partly because I could barely stand myself.

"England gave me the opium and the pipe." I felt myself sway, and if it wasn't for China keeping me up, I would have just fallen and fall asleep right then and there.

"England…..gave you…?" China was talking to himself, it seems, so I didn't answer. All I knew then was that the effects of the drugs were ebbing and the lashings were beginning to sting.

"This is unacceptable!" China left my room to go confront England about this. I, in the meantime, crumpled to the floor and felt no need to follow China. I was just so...tired. I didn't notice my eyelids getting heavy, and the last thing I remember before blacking out into sleep was thinking about how nice the opium was.

No wonder China wanted to keep me from it.

"Hong Kong."

I was shoved by someone...Feminine voice...Taiwan.

"Hong Kong," she repeated, more urgently.

"Hm?" I sat up. My body ached, party from the way I had slept, partly from the opium. "Yes, Taiwan?" I heard the slow drawl of my own voice.

Taiwan narrowed her eyes at me. "China is very upset with England. He forbade you and him to exchange anything but silver. What on earth happened?" Her voice was high with nervousness and concern.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and looked around the room. It was actually my room I was in now, not China's. Had he carried me?

"Where is...?" I asked, avoiding her question.

"China and England are discussing something," she informed me, tapping her foot in frustration. "What happened?" she repeated.

I looked to the floor in embarrassment. She had caught me between a rock and a hard place. "England gave me something he shouldn't have," I said. This made her curious.

"What was it? No, what is it?" she asked, her eyes a-twinkle. I shook my head no, but doing that made my head hurt, and I groaned in pain. This only made her curiouser.

"Oh, Hong Kong, you must tell me, now!" she reasoned, crawling onto my bed and leaning her whole body into me, her hands on my legs and her face in mine. "I need to know! Really, I do."

I watched her expression for a fleeting moment, her dark eyes growing darker as time passed.

"Fine," I sighed breathily. "Drugs."

And now England had hooked not only China and me, but Taiwan as well. China didn't know that his subordinates were smoking it, though. We kept our meetings hidden from him.

I traded every other day with England, as normal, and China still met monthly or whenever, and our trades were strictly with silver (which meant England bought less), but England and I had devised a way to trade in secret. He would give me a note hidden among the silver coins of what he wanted, I would smuggle it from the palace or wherever it happened to come from, and I would leave it in a hidden area. The next day, where the item was, there was opium. I relished these moments of finding the opium, because it meant China had not caught wind of our illegal trades.

I have to take a moment to say that if you think England seems like a horrible person for getting children addicted, your thinking is marred. I knew perfectly well what I was doing was wrong, and so did Taiwan. We took the risk, anyways. He was just doing trade, finding what interested us.

I had become a drug addict.

And then. Then, on the eighteenth of March of the year eighteen thirty-nine, China and England were officially at war. I had caused a lot of the problems leading to this, like going behind China's back, against the laws prohibiting the opium, and feeding my addiction with slander and lies.

England won. It had taken only three years.

I was there when China was forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing. China wasn't able to write well, because England was able to wound China with a bullet to the shoulder, but he managed.

"The reparations..." China muttered, looking over the paper once he had signed it, "They-"

"Six million silver dollars," England mentioned, noticing my presence (or maybe he had known I was there all along), "and three million from what Hong Kong owes me." He leaned over the table, his hands folded over one another. "Twelve million in compensation for the cost of the war itself."

"That's...That's twenty-one million dollars, aru." China's face had gone pale.

"Don't forget," England continued, "I now own-"

"Hong Kong," China finished, his eyes flickering to me for a second. "Is that all, aru?"

Is that all? Was that really what China had just said? I would have lashed out in outrage at how I was being passed so easily, so carelessly, like I wasn't worth the trouble.

"Come here," England called to me in his native tongue. China had apparently already signed my life over to the victor, and was watching me through narrowed eyes, expecting me to obey.

I did. I didn't want to, but I did.

"all shall be granted." China said, now in English. "It is settled—it is finished."