Chapter 5

Chen Shi had grown greedier and greedier. For taking my pulse, he wanted more than half my wealth.

“Miss Lizhi,” he said, “keeping this secret for you could cost me my head. I deserve this little bit of money.”

I wanted to give him a couple of blows, but then I saw all the little children in his back courtyard and lowered my hand.

When Xiao Zhao ascended the throne, he had granted Chen Shi one wish for saving my life. Chen Shi hadn’t asked anything for himself. Instead, he had asked that Pei Yin, a military officer’s daughter, be allowed to fight openly on the battlefield.

Xiao Zhao’s elder brothers had destroyed one another before the officials brought him out to be emperor. Led by the Chancellor of the Right, they wanted him to sit obediently on the throne as their puppet.

Allowing a woman onto the battlefield was Xiao Zhao’s first fight against the civil and military officials of the whole court. It had been a hard fight, but we had won.

Now Pei Yin commanded the northern frontier.

Tongcheng was the safest town near that frontier. Chen Shi had come here two years ago to grow medicinal herbs, treat the sick, and look after children.

Children whose parents had both died in the war.

He did need money.

“If I give it to you,” I asked, “do you know how to make it grow?”

His eyes lit up. “I’d almost forgotten. You’re an excellent hand at making money.”

I took over half of Chen Shi’s herb fields to grow the herbs the capital’s noblewomen loved for beauty treatments. He lost his temper. “Miss Lizhi, you can’t do this. The soldiers at the front need medicine for their wounds.”

I rolled my eyes. “Before a soldier is wounded, he’s a human being. He needs food, clothing, and armor and weapons to keep him alive. Xiao Zhao has even driven me away. Do you think he can get those things for General Pei out of that pack of corrupt officials?

“Since the court is dragging its feet over military pay, money is far more important than those herbs of yours. Physician Chen, you know how to grow herbs. But leave supplying an army to me.”

I had grown up in a merchant family, then managed palace affairs for two years after we left the Cold Palace. I knew better than anyone how to make money from the great and privileged.

Chen Shi agonized over it, but he couldn’t win an argument with me. I even forced him to write down several formulas for nourishing face cream and lip rouge. Ten days later, carrying the finished products and accompanied by a maid, I walked into a pleasure house.

The madam had once been a cultured courtesan and had a little more conscience than most. She never forced her girls to sell their bodies, so business wasn’t good. However much men praised celebrated courtesans, if they couldn’t have them, they generally wouldn’t spend a fortune.

But the women inside were exactly what I needed. Their faces were pleasing without being stunning; any true beauty without equal couldn’t have stayed here anyway. They knew poetry and etiquette and could hold a lively conversation. Because they rarely sold their bodies, they had less of the practiced air of the pleasure trade.

Compared with men, the lawful wives who ran the capital’s households were far better suited to be their customers.

I would have the women try the face cream and rouge for a while. Then, with their newly cared-for, delicate skin and red lips, they would draw those ladies’ attention.

Madam Feng’s eyes lit up as she listened. Cautiously, she said, “Madam, you’re very talented. But you must know that courtesans belong to a degraded hereditary status. Under the rules, it’s hard for them to obtain travel permits.”

Travel permits were difficult to get, but not impossible. By raising the subject, she was asking me for a promise—a promise to help the women of the house leave that status behind.

Cultured or not, a courtesan was still a courtesan. Madam Feng might not force them, but there were always powerful men whom even she couldn’t resist, and those men would.

No woman had willingly come here. In this house especially, all of them had ancestors who had committed offenses and were registered, generation after generation, as entertainers. Even money couldn’t buy their freedom. That register pinned them down like the Mountain of Five Fingers.

One of the bolder women peering in from outside came straight into the room. “We know you came from the great physician’s place, Madam. He’s a good man, so you must be, too. If some of the money we earn can be spent on those children, I’ll take this work even if we can’t be freed.”

“What nonsense are you spouting? Madam hasn’t even said anything yet!”

Madam Feng was flustered, but it was for the women’s sake.

After the first, a second and a third stepped forward. Smiling bitterly, they said, “Of course we know you’re thinking of us, Madam Feng. But how hard is it to leave the register? The prefect himself must approve it. This life will be much the same whatever we do. We might as well do something good for those poor orphans and earn a better place in the next one.”

They were still about to argue when I turned to the maid who had come with me. “General Pei, with character like theirs, are they worth your help?”

The room fell silent at once. From Madam Feng to every woman there, they all looked at Pei Yin with excitement. With me, there had still been caution and requests. In their eyes as they faced Pei Yin, there was only pure admiration.

They admired her so much that they didn’t even dare speak freely. After a good while, Madam Feng stepped forward. “General Pei is an example to all us women. If this is something you want done, Singing Phoenix House will brave ten thousand deaths for it.”

Pei Yin saluted them with clasped hands. “Business is Miss Lizhi’s strength. I’m only lending a little help. You’re generous women, and I won’t let you work for nothing. I’ll find a way to deal with the prefect.”