Chapter 2

Brother Cheng owned a vast twelve-story bathhouse complex in Zhengzhou, offering everything from food and drink to entertainment.

The ground floor was a dazzling, gilded lobby. Above it were slot machines, foot baths, lavish buffets, every kind of massage, and steam rooms.

The upper floors were a hotel.

The woman who watched over the business for him in Zhengzhou was Ren Tian.

She had started out as a college girl, and Brother Cheng had personally raised her to her present position. She was older now, but the affection between them remained. Once she clung to him, he couldn’t tear himself away.

I gave Secretary Wang, who worked at Brother Cheng’s side, a gold bar. From him I learned that whenever Brother Cheng visited his Zhengzhou establishment, his favorite entertainment was the bathhouse’s dance show, especially dances inspired by Dunhuang’s flying apsaras, with floating silk ribbons and bodies half veiled, half revealed.

I found a private instructor and practiced from dawn until late at night for a month. Then I followed him to Zhengzhou, bribed the troupe manager, and took the place of one of the dancers.

The lights came down. I swept my long sleeves around me, bent at the waist, and played the pipa behind my back.

When the music ended, my veil fell. Brother Cheng sat there staring at me, utterly transfixed.

He immediately had the room cleared. He held me close and nuzzled against me as though the past month’s neglect and distance had never happened.

I made my eyes misty and timid as a deer’s. “Brother, did you miss me?”

He didn’t answer.

I knew then that I had crossed a line.

So I could only coil around him like a snake and kiss his Adam’s apple, then his neck.

When I stood, my legs gave way—letting him see the blood from my dance-worn feet soaking through my white stockings.

Softly, I said, “Brother, Honghong came from nothing. I’ve drifted for so many years, and everything I’ve eaten, worn, or used was given to me by someone else. This past month is the one thing Honghong fought for herself. Think of it as my greeting gift to you, Brother—something I earned cleanly.”

Something stirred in Brother Cheng’s eyes.

Without wasting a word, he pulled out his wallet and flung it in front of me. “Take however much you want.”

I lowered my eyes with a smile. From a hidden compartment in the wallet, I took only a photograph of him alone.

Brother Cheng had his arm around me as we went downstairs, and by chance we ran into Ren Tian.

The instant she saw me, the smile collapsed from her face.

Instinctively, I stepped back.

Brother Cheng put an arm protectively in front of me and scoffed. “What’s so frightening about her?”

Ren Tian could only force a smile. She called me Honghong and said, “It’s just as well you’re here to keep Ah Hao company for me.”

Brother Cheng frowned.

After he went out, Ren Tian had someone bring me a box of emergency contraceptives. I obediently took the pills, then threw the box into the most conspicuous wastebasket I could find.

When Brother Cheng returned, he slapped Ren Tian across the face without a word.

On the fourth day, I coaxed him into having wild sex with me in the car. When we were done, I took off my lace panties and stuffed them into a gap beside the driver’s seat.

Brother Cheng had bought that car for Ren Tian. I knew that after she found the panties, she would check the car’s surveillance footage.

And what a show it would be.

Ren Tian was clever, but she had one flaw. With her college background, she considered herself refined and superior. After spending so many years as a boss under Brother Cheng’s patronage, her head had begun to float into the clouds.

I was different. I knew exactly what I was.

I was only a pet.