Li Pen was a trained Shaolin monk. He was used to surprises, especially in this new country where he was the only one of his kind. But nothing surprised him more than discovering vegemite.

Dot, the companion of his master's lover, had set it out on the breakfast table. He only ate rice so he routinely ignored the offerings of a general population but when he smelt the savoury jar marked Vegemite set to his left, he was curious. She tapped it.

'It's new in the shops' Dot told him. A pleasant young woman with long plaited brown hair and respectable attire like a little brown wren, so unlike her mistress.

'Fortifying. Good on toast.'

Li Pen did not eat toast but he succumbed to the glutinous mixture and tasted a little from a spoon she handed him. It was glorious. She became his new favourite person.

Having been informed of his bodyguard's new obsession by the reliable Dot, Lin Chung immediately promised him a lifetime supply of it.

Li Pen was one happy monk.