Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Drunken Fragrance Pavilion did not close its doors until the fifth watch.

The walk-in clients used us up, wiped their mouths clean, got dressed, and left without a backward glance. The girls leaned in the doorway, calling after them in a chorus of farewells: “You promised you’d come back tomorrow! If you don’t, you’re a bastard!” “When are you going to take me out of this place?”

The moment the front doors shut, all that warmth cooled at once and turned into spat curses. “Pah, what the hell was that? Wouldn’t even give me one extra silver dollar! Tossing me paper notes-who wants those flimsy things?” “Shameless old bastard. His daughter is older than me, and he’s still out chasing women!”

I had an overnight guest, so I was not among them. I coaxed the client to sleep, then quietly took a candlestick and went downstairs.

Xiao Wan had been locked in the vegetable cellar in the back courtyard. I filled a kettle with water, swiped a cold cornmeal bun from the stove, opened the cellar door, and climbed down the ladder.

Xiao Wan’s hands were bound behind her back, and her feet were tied fast. She lay on the icy floor, her blouse torn to shreds. Whip marks striped her pale, tender flesh, along with bluish-purple bruises from being pinched and twisted. Blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.

She was still alive, but she looked dead. When she heard the noise and looked toward me, it was as if she had suddenly come back to life. She struggled to crawl in my direction, tears streaming down her face.

“Sister, sister, please save me. Please be kind and let me out. I’ll repay you, I swear…”

I pushed the spout of the kettle into her mouth. She gulped down a few mouthfuls of water. Then I broke off pieces of the cornmeal bun and fed them to her. “If I had the ability to send people out of here, I’d have run away myself. If you want to suffer less, then be more obedient. You’re young, after all-are you young? How old are you this year?”

“Eighteen.”

“Eighteen. What a good age. You’re young, so you can endure. There’s still hope. Endure for a few years, coax some client into taking you out of this brothel, and when you find a chance, run.”

“I’m only eighteen. Am I supposed to sink into this place for the rest of my life?” Her face shone with tears. She cried until she seemed half-delirious, mumbling in broken phrases. “Why is it that in novels, transmigration means Shanghai’s ten-mile foreign concession, romance, moonlight and flowers, and you can marry a warlord as his concubine? How did I end up living like this? Boo-hoo… I want to go home…”

I gave a cold laugh. “What Shanghai’s ten-mile foreign concession? Never heard of it! And I’ve never heard of any Marshal bringing a prostitute through his door, either. Good girl, someone fooled you! Who was it that coaxed you into thinking this bowl of flesh-and-blood rice tasted good? Whoever it was, they meant you harm.”

She seemed to sober all at once and glared at me with hatred. “Why didn’t you tell me from the start?”

I stood up. “What were you like when you first arrived? Didn’t Qiuyue try to advise you? Even if I’d told you, would you have believed me? Besides, you’d already signed the deed selling yourself. What could any of us do?”

Her expression froze. She murmured, “The deed selling myself…”

“It’s written there in black and white. You, Lin Zihan, are loose by nature, and because your family is poor, you willingly entered Drunken Fragrance Pavilion to take clients. If you fail to earn enough money, Mama has the right to sell you off. If she sells you to some lower-class place, then your life will truly be hard. The rest of us were forced down and had our fingerprints pressed onto those papers. But you looked at a contract like that and still signed it yourself? Can you not read?”

She cried even more desperately. “I can read! I can read! I went to school! But I don’t know traditional characters! And it was written vertically. I had even less patience to read it!”

I sighed and climbed up the ladder. “As long as the green hills remain, there’ll be no shortage of firewood. Take care of yourself.”

Behind me, she asked, “Thank you for bringing me food. What’s your name?”

I did not answer. I pushed open the cellar door and climbed out.

Her voice rose. “Sister, how did you know I was locked in here? You must have some ability, right? Please, I’m begging you, save me!”

I climbed out and fastened the door. Her faint cries for help were all that remained, and even those were shut away from me.

When I looked up, the sky had already taken on the hazy dark blue that comes just before dawn. The damp in the air had grown heavier.

I pulled my blouse tighter around myself and returned to my room. The client was sleeping soundly in my bed. I lay down beside him and fell asleep in the sour stink of sweat, trying my best not to think about what sort of man would be lying next to me tomorrow.

Trying not to think about Xiao Wan’s despairing eyes.