Chen stood at his post on the Great Wall secretly admiring the delicate gold beaded necklace. Jai Li had given it to him just before he left for his term of service as a guard on the wall. She wanted him to think about her while he was away. It was a curious, foreign object that Chen inquired about. Jai Li explained that her grandfather had acquired it for her grandmother from a passing foreign merchant many years before, as a token of his affection for her grandmother.