Chapter 12

The next day, I went to Ruyi Pavilion with my face veiled. As soon as I stepped inside, I heard Suli’s piercing voice: “You’ve got some nerve! Don’t you know your granny has connections? How dare you harass our girls-your hand will be chopped off! Bastard!”

Looking closely, I saw Suli straddling a fat man, slapping his face again and again. Several attendants tried to pull her off, but couldn’t, pleading with her to stop.

Suli’s image was completely shattered.

When she saw me, her eyes lit up. She suddenly jumped off, tidied her messy hair, and started dragging me around for a tour.

“All right,” Suli said, taking a sip of tea, “the contract is signed. From now on, you’re one of the girls at Ruyi Pavilion. You’ll need a few months of training before you can start working. During this period, you’ll still get paid-five taels a month. Once you’re on the job, you’ll get a thirty percent share of the tips.”

She had me learn to dance and play the pipa with the other girls.

She even invited a master from the opera troupe to train our eye expressions. Every day, we had to enter a dark room and stare at a burning incense tip for an hour as part of our eye training.

“Girls, don’t be afraid of a humble beginning-be afraid of having no ambition. Work hard, and you’ll meet a better version of yourself. Every tear you shed, every scar you bear, will make you unique.”

“You are the most beautiful, the best! Money is waving at you, and a wonderful tomorrow is right ahead!”

“Go for it! Go for it!”

Every time Suli came to see us, she would recite these lines with unwavering excitement and passion.

Suli said I had a pure and ethereal beauty, but there was a natural charm in my eyes and brows, and an overall sense of broken elegance about me. She seemed to value me especially.

It only took two months before she allowed me to take the stage and dance on my own.

But I never expected that on my very first performance, I would run into the person I least wanted to see.