Chapter 3

I nudged his sleeve.

“Song Shan, thank you.”

“For what? I wasn’t the one who bought your freedom.”

“I mean it. Someone really did come to buy my freedom.”

“Good. He kept his word!” A lovely smile curved Song Shan’s lips.

It made my heart skip a beat.

On Mid-Autumn, the madam had approached me very cautiously.

After the trouble I caused the day before, she couldn’t swallow the prospect of keeping me.

“Girl, our little establishment can’t accommodate someone like you.”

“Go. I won’t even ask you to repay your purchase price.”

“I just want to run my business in peace. I’ll take the loss and spare myself a disaster.”

But I didn’t want to leave.

I was used to the food and slept well there.

I said,

“I don’t want to be one of the girls serving men. But what about working as a guard?”

“If anyone makes trouble at Spring Breeze House, I’ll take care of it. How’s that?”

The madam shook her head like a rattle drum. Her sagging cheeks looked ready to fling tears of misery everywhere.

She was about to refuse when a servant ran up with a message.

Someone at the entrance was asking specifically to buy Chunniang’s freedom.

Buy someone’s freedom?

Mine?

I was quicker on my feet than the madam and flew to the door.

The person who had come was a monk.

He said that three years earlier, a benefactor named Song had hurried to Xinshou Temple in the middle of the night and offered to pay for repairs.

He had only one condition.

On Mid-Autumn three years later, they were to deliver the chest he had sealed to Spring Breeze House.

It was to buy the freedom of a girl called Chunniang.

He made every monk swear before the bodhisattva before he felt safe enough to leave the mountain.

So that was why I hadn’t seen Song Shan for several days.

He must have gone up to the temple.

Without him in his room, the passage hadn’t opened.

The passage let people through but couldn’t carry objects. That was why he had thought of this arrangement.

I smiled to myself and stroked the dust-covered chest.

I pictured him riding out of the city, traveling beneath the moon.

Two yellowing paper seals secured the chest.

The strong, elegant handwriting made me think of his handsome face.

A pity I couldn’t read.

I carefully peeled the seals away and opened the chest.

My eyes were dazzled.

What I saw wasn’t silver-white.

It was gold, filling my vision.

A clamor erupted beside me.

The madam shrieked.

“Oh! Gold!

“There must be ten thousand taels at least!

“Incredible!”

I clasped my hands in salute to my own god of wealth.

“Song Shan, you’re far too generous! This is enough to buy Spring Breeze House itself.”

“I didn’t know what it would cost to buy your freedom. I put in as much as I could.”

Song Shan was even more likable when he wasn’t being so solemn.

With that money, I was not only free but rich.

I also told him I had spent it all.

Because I really had bought Spring Breeze House.

I gave the madam a sum of money and sent her off to retire.

Then I bought every girl’s freedom.

Those who wanted to leave could go wherever they pleased.

Those who wanted to stay would share the good and the bad with me and earn some honest money together.

I intended to turn the brothel into a grand restaurant.

I changed its name too.

From Spring Breeze House to Spring Mountain House.

Song Shan smiled and nodded.

“A fine change. No longer a breeze caressing willows, but a mountain standing firm.”

I said,

“I didn’t think that deeply about it.

“I just thought that since you paid for it, I had to put your name on it.

“We opened a few days ago, and business has been surprisingly good.

“There are so many customers I can barely keep up. I’m so tired I just want to lie on the bed without moving.

“The trouble is, Spring Mountain House is in your future.

“Even if we make a profit, I have no idea how to give you your share.”

Song Shan’s eyes curved into two crescent moons.

“A few more rites for my soul and a little more paper money burned for me will be plenty.”

The faint light in his eyes fell on my face.

My heart burned and ached.

I clapped a hand over his mouth.

“Song Shan, what happened at the execution ground won’t be your future.”

This time, I was here.