Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Only later did I learn that Father had sold me to Yihong Tower.

Daoist Master Li of Jade Cloud Temple was said to possess miraculous powers. He could make mutes speak and cripples stand. Father was tempted by the stories and wanted the Daoist master to treat Sixth Brother’s foolishness.

But setting up an altar for a ritual cost a great deal. After borrowing from everyone they could, Father and Mother were still short one string of cash. So they hardened their hearts and sold off the extra mouth in the family.

I knew that once I was sold, I would never be able to go home.

That was what had happened to my four older sisters. I never saw them again.

I clung desperately to Father’s hand, sobbing as I begged him not to sell me. I promised I would be obedient and never be greedy for food again.

But Father still left without looking back.

That night, two brothel lackeys beat me with sticks because I had cried too loudly and startled the guests.

Little by little, I accepted my fate.

I thought I would have to become a prostitute too, but after the madam had me washed clean, she smoked her pipe and looked me up and down. Then she shook her head and said, “Her face is passable, but she’s too thin. Looks like a little skeleton ghost. Let her work as a rough servant first. When she turns twelve, we’ll put her name up for sale.”

And just like that, I had a mistress: April Charm.

Even the prostitutes of Yihong Tower had their ranks. April Charm had once been the top courtesan, but after more than a dozen abortions, her qi and blood were badly damaged. On top of that, she was getting older. Her figure had gone out of shape, and her face grew sharper and meaner by the day.

Men were always after something fresh. She had trouble finding new patrons, and even her regulars stopped coming, so her temper worsened. She often cursed the younger girls for stealing her customers.

But she could never win an argument with them. It just so happened that I came in to bring her a bed warmer.

She snatched it from me, poured the hot water all over my body, and dug her sharp nails into my neck. “What are you sneaking around eavesdropping for? You unlucky little thing!”

It hurt terribly.

Father had been wrong. At Yihong Tower, I didn’t get to eat meat. I only got beaten.

Fortunately, I had thick skin and a tough hide. I could take a beating well.

Still, those two years at Yihong Tower were not entirely without gain.

After seeing all kinds of people from every walk of life, I also learned how to read the room.

For instance, whenever I saw a man with a jade pendant at his waist, I would kneel, knock my head on the floor three loud times, and call out, “Good fortune to you, my lord, young master.”

If I was lucky, I might even get a big chicken drumstick.

April Charm was utterly contemptuous of this. She slapped me several times and cursed, “Born with the cheap bones of a whore.”

I thought that once I turned twelve and my name was put up, I would no longer have to live at April Charm’s mercy. I would be able to eat meat without kowtowing.

Even though I did not want to sell myself.

But that thought came to an end one night at the close of my eleventh year.

April Charm took me to a dinner hosted by an old patron of hers.

During the meal, the old man kept glancing at me. He even touched my face and said with a lecherous smile, “I never noticed before. This little girl is actually quite pretty.”

April Charm did not dare make a scene at the banquet, but the moment we left the residence, she shoved me to the ground and beat me.

“You heartless whore! I’ve raised you all this time, and you dare kick over my nest and seduce my man?”

Heaven knows why I dared fight back. I pushed her and said, “I didn’t!”

A crowd gathered on the street to watch the excitement. They were delighted to see two women fighting.

When April Charm saw that I actually dared to raise a hand against her, she flew into a rage. She took off her red satin embroidered shoe and lashed it viciously across my face.

Just then, a girl’s voice rang out from the crowd, clear as pearls and jade. “Stop!”

When I looked up, I saw Miss Zhao. She was seated inside a sedan chair, holy and beautiful as the Nine Heavens Xuannü.