Shuli Go Stories Vol. 4: A Week's Bliss

Part 7

Lian left after breakfast the next morning to change her clothes and gather more money from her bank. Mei stayed in the room at the Golden Slumbers long enough to clean up slightly, and to pack her book into her robes, hiding it between the folds of her red dress. She walked through the brothel, giving a few hellos and goodbyes to other workers, then headed to the basement and the office there to deposit Lian's latest gold coin.

She expected Madam Cicao to be sitting behind the large desk, calculating the expenses and the revenues in her thick ledger. But instead she found Duan sulking behind the desk, staring at her, motionless except for the two fingers he tapped against one another to a point in front of his face.

Mei froze momentarily. I should have known, she chided herself for thinking she could avoid his prying. Then she convinced herself he couldn't possibly know everything, and nonchalantly walked up to the table and deposited the heavy gold coin on his table.

"A good night?" Duan asked between tapping fingers, the question not really a question.

"One gold not good enough anymore? Should I be charging more?"

"With that customer? Maybe. I'm sure she'd pay it."

"What customer?" Mei knew she wasn't good at bluffing, but she didn't want to admit just how much Duan intimidated her.

Duan laughed and put his hands down, reaching for the gold coin and playing with it, rolling it over his knuckles, back and forth, over and over.

"You should be careful around her. She's the type that can cause problems for a woman like you."

"I've had repeat customers before."

"Not a Shuli Go. At least not that I can remember."

Mei held back her frustration as best she could. But he seemed to know everything, and it enraged her to no end. At the risk of breaking face against him, she whipped up her robes and turned to leave. "I'll be fine."

She heard Duan go back to his tapping, this time on the two sides of the golden coin, a dull thud emerging from every strike of his fingers. She was breathing heavily by the time she got out of the basement, and her heart was thudding by the time she left the brothel. She pressed herself against the outside wall and tried to fight down the sudden rush of illness she felt in her stomach, the trembling in her vision. Duan was an evil man, who just so happened to hold her life in his hands, but he seemed more concerned about Lian than he had any of her other repeat clients.

Clients she'd had many times in the past. One man who spent forty gold coins to spend every night with her for a month. He'd proposed at least once every night the last week, sometimes multiple times a night. The last night he'd threatened suicide if she wouldn't marry him. A few days later a servant found him hanging in his home, next to his wife, whom he'd murdered first. Mei had felt bad for the man – he was bland, rich, ugly, and intelligent, a combination that rarely found a woman engaging enough to love and marry – but hadn't felt guilty in the least for leading him on. A man that smart and wealthy knew she was playing a part. It was his own desire to be lied to that drove him to death. She just happened to be the one he decided upon the first night. Other women in the Golden Slumbers had similar stories. Mei just had more than most.

She returned home to the quiet solitude of her walled off courtyard and the home behind it. It was there that she finally caught her breath and could push Duan out of her mind. She took Lian's book and searched for a place for it in her reading room – not much more than a few shelves, spots for a few candles, a small table, and a chair. Her library was already too large for the room, and the only place for The Shuli Go Training Guide was on top of a stack of other books on the table. She ran her hand over the cover for a moment, smiling.