The room the inn keep showed them to was spacious. The wooden walls were hung with tapestries and embroidered cloths to add an air of majesty. There was no furniture save a chest, a washstand, and a large bed stood against one wall, covered with an embroidered silk quilt. To Hao Min's unaccustomed eye the room looked fit for a king. In actuality, he knew a real king would not deign to stay in such a room.
Three windows looking out over the harbor below let in the red light of the setting sun. Hao Min could see the mast of his own ship bobbing among the others.
Hao Min bent at the waist, carefully putting the girl's feet back on the ground. As soon as he set her down, her curses turned to accusations once more.
"You cheated! You must have been counting cards!"
"You were the one counting cards!" Hao Min replied in a low voice, as soon as he had checked to make sure the inn keep had gone from outside the door. "And you could have gotten caught too! What do you think those men would have done if they found out you were cheating them of their money?"
"Hah, those bunch of meager fishermen and traders. What could they have done?" the girl said with a snort, crossing her arms.
"Even a meager fisherman can turn to violence when angry," Hao Min responded, trying to keep his own voice neutral. Certain the innkeep was gone, he closed the door.
"Oh my. And do you turn to violence when angry, fisherman? That is something I would like to see."
Hao Min froze. Slowly he turned and, feet heavy, walked across the room to stop in front of the girl. She watched as he raised one hand and brought it to her chin, tilting her face up toward him. Then he lowered his face to hers.
The girl's smirk was triumphant. "Is this what you really want from me, fisherman? I knew it. No one is so kind without—"
Hao Min brought the thumb from her chin to rest against her lips, stilling them. The girl stopped talking, but her smirk stayed.
He leaned closer. His breath moved along her jaw, purposely warming her skin. He heard the girl's own breath grow faster, felt it flutter against his thumb. It smelt of wine and meat from the bar below.
One of the girl's hands found its way through the open folds of his shirt, and he felt light fingers trace along his ribs. "Go on then fisherman. Let me see your 'violence'," she encouraged.
He leaned even closer. He brought his mouth to her ear.
"Hao Min," he said, lips brushing against the shell of her ear. "You have to call me Hao Min. And you owe me a name."
Extracting her hand from his shirt he stepped away and went to the window. He looked down at the harbor below, picking out his small boat in the red light of the fast setting sun.
"I will sleep in my ship," Hao Min said, turning back to the room. "If you need me, you can call out the window. It is near enough."
The girl stared at him in shock as he walked past her to the door once more.
"Lock the door after I am gone," he said.
He reached for the handle. "If you go to your boat, you can sail away, for I will not be here in the morning," the girl's voice said from behind him.
Hao Min slowly turned, mind whirring. "If you leave without repaying me for my net, I will report you to the magistrate for cheating at cards." It was a low move, but he had nothing else. No other card to play.
The girl laughed. "Do you think the magistrate will care? And I payed you for your stupid net. Your purse is full of gold."
"I won that gold. Fairly. And it is still not enough to pay for the net," Hao Min said, frowning.
The girl laughed once more, and came toward him, slowly, just as he had prowled toward her a moment before. "You know what I think? I think you do not care about the net. You are just lonely, and do not want me to leave."
Hao Min said nothing as she slipped her hand beneath his shirt once more. Her small hand was cool against his burning skin.
"Are you lonely, fisherman? Do you want me to keep you company?" As her finger traced along the ridges of his muscles, her other hand reached to the ties of his leggings, tugging softly at the laces.
He bit back a groan, but could not stop his body from responding to the proximity of her fingers. The girl noticed with a chuckle. Her fingers shifted from tugging at his laces to stroking against the now bulging cloth.
The next groan he couldn't bite back. Give in, a voice urged. Fold.
No. For Hao Min knew if he did, she would most certainly not be here in the morning. It was his final card to play.
With great effort, he caught both the girl's hands and wrapped them in one of his own.
"Hao Min. You have to call me Hao Min," he reminded her. "You are drunk. Lock the door. I will come to get you tomorrow morning when it is time to leave."
And before she could do anything else, he whirled and slid through the door.
Shutting the door quickly behind him, he took a deep breath, then turned and walked down the hallway, the girl's mocking laughter fading behind him.
*~*~*~*~*~*
It rained that night, and there was thunder, though it did not pass directly overhead.
The fisherman rose at first light, weary from being tossed about in his small boat. The tarp had kept the rain from falling on him, but wet had seeped into the woven mat he had slept on, and had permeated his clothes, till even his skin felt soaked with damp.
With a yawn he rose and hopped to the dock.
He made his way up to the clothier first. Cha Shou was waking as he went, cats running back to dark corners as men left their homes to go to the sea. Their women waved to them briefly, before bustling about to begin the chores of the day.
The fisherman waited outside the clothier for them to open. When they did, he was pleasantly surprised to find his order already completed. He paid with his newly acquired coin, and tipped well to thank them for their speed.
On his way back down to the docks the town had fully come awake. It was a sunny morning. The sky seemed extra bright, as though the rain the night before had washed it clean. Men laughed and joked as they made their way to their jobs. A stall selling fresh melons had been set up in the town market. He bought one and tucked it under his arm along with the paper package of clothes, then dodged a cart piled high with bright green cabbages and continued toward the sea.
Outside the inn, he took a deep breath and went in.
He nodded to the inn keep behind the bar, making his way across the now empty tavern to the stairs. Then he climbed them, stopping outside the door he had so hurriedly shut the night before. He knocked, and when no response came, went in.
The room was empty. The bed was made, as though not even slept in. Or perhaps the occupant had left so long before, the inn keep had already changed the linens.
Hao Min cursed.
The melon and package suddenly felt heavy under his arm. How stupid. He should have known. Should have played his hand better. Folded, when he should have called. Or bet, when he should have folded.
Either way, he had lost.
Grimly, he made his way back down the stairs. The bar keep nodded to him once more, looking at him strangely. Perhaps because of the expression on his face, or perhaps because his 'wife' had left without him.
Back outside in the sun, Hao Min took a deep breath.
There was nothing for it now. He might as well return home. And really, he had not really lost so badly. All he had were some clothes too small to wear, and a net that needed mending.
The girl would have left eventually. He had called her Little Ship for a reason. It was better she sailed away sooner then later.
He would make her a good memory. Yes. He started toward his ship—
"Fisherman!"
Hao Min tried to keep how his heart leapt from showing on his face. He turned, watching the girl walk calmly up to him in the new morning light.
"Where were you? I went to your ship, but you were not there."
"I went to get your clothes. And then you."
The girl held out her hands for the package. "They were quick," her eyes shifted. "You got a melon as well."
Hao Min held the green sphere out awakwardly. "For you."
The girl laughed. "Thank you. Though I would have preferred melon wine."
Hao Min nodded, and smiled crookedly. "I thought you had left."
The girl frowned. "How could I? You said you would turn me in, if I left without paying for your net."
I didn't really mean it, and I thought you knew that. He was sure he had misplayed his hand, and she had left. But no, she was still here, standing in front of him.
Whatever the reason, I will just count it as luck for now. He looked down at the girl. She was squinting up at him in the bright morning light. Her carefree smile did not match at all with the woman who had laughed mockingly at him as he fled her chambers the night before.
You confuse me no end, Xiao Chuan.
The girl's pretty lips were moving. Hao Min blinked. "Did you hear me, fisherman? I would like whitetail for breakfast. Can you catch some on our way?"
The fisherman smiled. "It is not the season. But I will do my best."
*~*~*~*~*~*
Chapter: 1730
Total: 12,882