Chapter 5

As the crude cage cart set out, hoofbeats sounded faintly behind us.

Perhaps Anyang Ge had returned.

I leaned against the wooden bars. Perhaps he would come after me.

But no one came—not before they threw me into Huayue House.

They took me down from the cage cart and led me through a side door into a lavish building. Two women covered in white cloth were being carried out as I entered.

The woman who had bought me was the madam of a pleasure house on the Northern Capital’s courtesan street.

She had offered the highest price.

Her establishment boasted that all its women were aristocratic ladies of the Li Dynasty—noble blood, rouge from the south. Its prices were higher than any other house’s.

They said a single night with its leading courtesan cost a thousand pieces of gold.

Past the main avenue, plaques advertising houses of pleasure hung everywhere. This was the Northern Capital’s famous red-light district.

Now that I had passed through this door, Anyang Ge could sell every horse he owned and himself besides, and he still could not afford my redemption.

Madam Liu did excellent business.

The Northern Rong and the Li Dynasty had been at war for years. Plenty of men hated the Li with a passion. If they could not defeat its men, they could at least take their revenge on helpless Li women in a brothel.

Once inside a den of thieves, proud defiance only earned suffering.

I made myself docile. I pinched the corner of my sleeve and wept piteously. In return, I received a few soothing words and an assurance that Madam Liu was famous for knowing how to conduct business.

Still sniffling, I was locked in a room veiled with gauze curtains and beaded screens.

The interior was extraordinary.

A tabby cat sat tethered inside, meowing. Soft whips and feather dusters hung on the wall beside a bewildering array of jars and bottles.

A basin of water stood nearby, filled with gauze so thin it became transparent when soaked.

Every instrument a professional might need to break an unwilling woman.

At the center of the room stood an enormous bath barrel. A fire burned beneath it, keeping the water hot.

I went closer and saw several eels standing upright in the barrel.

Eels liked to force themselves into holes.

An ordinary woman might endure everything else. Faced with that, she would break.

I turned at once. “Tell me who I’m receiving tonight.”

A wise woman did not court immediate suffering. Even if I had to die, I did not want to die in this room.

Madam Liu laughed softly and dabbed her mouth with a handkerchief. “What a sensible darling.”

“Be obedient, and your mama will treasure you.”

She clapped. A thickset matron entered with several maids, each carrying bright and exquisite garments.

I pretended to hesitate. I fingered the cloth, then let it fall.

After I found fault with several outfits, Madam Liu realized I was no ordinary girl. She began questioning me about my identity.

Only then did I sigh. “It is a long story.”

I told her my name was Gu Zhilan and that I was the daughter of a minister of the Li Dynasty.

My family’s crimes had placed me on the convict register and sent me to the frontier. Once I had been a pampered noble miss. Now I was a criminal slave.

But since I was here, I might as well do something grand.

Madam Liu asked what I meant by grand.

I began explaining celebrity courtesans, strategies for conquering rich men’s hearts, investment and return.

At last, I summed it up. “Give me a day or two to make a name for myself. Wouldn’t that drive my price higher? Wouldn’t it raise Huayue House above every competitor?”

Madam Liu burst out laughing.

“A noble household does raise a different breed. Such courage, such spirit. You can keep your head and handle a situation. Not like that Zhang Yinhe who came in the other day. She cried and fought for half the night, and look where it got her.”

Zhang Yinhe?

That was my name.

I raised an eyebrow and turned sharply. “Where did this Zhang Yinhe come from?”

To convince me that resistance was pointless and win my willing service, Madam Liu allowed me a glimpse through the window.

There she was—the Gu family’s legitimate daughter, the real Gu Zhilan.

When the Gu family fell, Madam Gu had used my name to smuggle her youngest daughter out of the residence. Gu Zhilan had been removed from the slave register and entrusted to the ingratiating Cook Zhang, who was meant to take her to her married elder sister.

Instead, Cook Zhang coveted the travel money. She immediately sold Gu Zhilan. To secure a good price and prevent trouble, she sent the girl far away to a border city.

Now Gu Zhilan’s face was dull and sallow. Her old courage—the kind she had displayed only against those weaker than herself—was gone. Whenever a man entered her room, she put on a placating smile.

Nothing remained of the legitimate young lady raised in seclusion.

The situation had come full circle.

And because I had served as her substitute, the deed registering Zhang Yinhe as a slave had been canceled.

In the Li Dynasty, I was a free woman again.

Madam Liu impatiently asked what I planned to do next.

I told her I had a talent and asked for the chance to make Huayue House famous.

She asked if I played the zither, the seven-stringed qin, or perhaps the hammered dulcimer.

I told her I performed illusions.

Magic tricks, in other words—the sort of nonsense I had learned for the company talent show.

I demonstrated by pouring water from an empty cup.

Madam Liu promptly brought me twelve sets of flowing immortal-style gowns, had me scrubbed clean in the bath barrel, and told me to wait obediently for my debut.

“Good daughter, your mama will depend on you from now on.”

She began spreading rumors before my performance. I was supposedly the daughter of a powerful Li minister. At my suggestion, guests had to pay an application fee in advance just to enter.

Before I performed a single trick, a fleeting appearance on the balcony and a few carefully planted rumors had brought in several thousand taels.

Madam Liu’s smile nearly split her face. She treated me with increasing courtesy.

I responded by becoming increasingly demanding. I asked for one thing, then another.

This reassured her.

Human nature was peculiar that way. People with no apparent desires were difficult to control. Once you discovered someone’s weakness, you felt closer to them.

That was when I asked her to give me Gu Zhilan.

Madam Liu granted the request generously.

“You two are from the same place. I had her properly disciplined for you. From now on, she can serve at your side.”

Gu Zhilan’s cheeks were swollen. She glared at me through clenched teeth—until Madam Liu coughed. Then she flinched.

Madam Liu chided me indulgently. “How can you command a place like Huayue House if you cannot subdue a single servant? She was simply too delicate, so I taught her a lesson on your behalf.”

Fine words. In reality, she hoped Gu Zhilan and I would hate each other, making her an ideal spy.

Gu Zhilan was as vicious as her mother and rejected my overtures.

On her first day, she looked at my splendid clothes and jewels with a complicated expression. There was envy mixed with her anger.

The next day, her manner changed completely. She wept and said she had never meant to hurt me in the past. She tried to revive our supposed old affection.

On the third day, she cautiously asked whether I had any plans. Did I want to escape? She could keep watch for me, she offered.

Everyone knew what Huayue House did to women who attempted to flee.

I played with the gold chains, jewels, and jade ornaments on my table and sighed. “But if I leave, where else could I live so well?”

Her hand jerked in fury. Hot water spilled over it.

Under her breath, she hissed, “Bitch.”

Madam Liu, listening outside, became even more satisfied with me. To prepare for my performance, she made the unprecedented decision to let me help design the stage in the front hall.

Everything I requested was soon in place.