by Jeannie Lin
“It’s not unusual for a man like the magistrate to frequent Pingkang li,” he said, sliding in beside her on the bench. “You know, he asked about you.”
Her head turned sharply. “Magistrate Li? What did he say?”
“He asked how I knew you.”
“What did you say?”
He shrugged. “I don’t remember.”
Wei-wei appeared skeptical, but he didn’t want to recount how Li Chen thought of him as her servant. That rankled more than it should have.
“Li should be here soon,” she said, turning her attention back to the Heavenly Peaches. “He left right before me, but he would have had to return home first.”
“You followed him here?”
“Magistrate Li is hiding something and I don’t trust him,” she insisted, her eyes flashing. “He came to our house as a guest and lied about the jade seal.”
Magistrate Li dining at the Bai mansion. The thought was a punch to the gut. “What did he say?”
“That the seal was fake and he was too busy to be bothered with that case any longer.”
Gao snorted. “A hundred taels of silver tells a different story.”
She stared at him. “A hundred taels?”
“That’s the bounty for whoever catches the killer. Li also enlisted an army of constables to take two witnesses into custody last night.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I was with him.”
She fell silent, pondering the information. He found her even more intriguing dressed in men’s clothing. Maybe it was sentimentality on his part. This was how Wei-wei had looked the first time he’d seen her.
Gao was tempted to speak ill of Li Chen, as if that would give him any chance, but in the end, he needed to be honest with her. And with himself.
“Wei-wei, Li Chen is working hard on this case. He’s dedicated to solving it — so much so that he’d listen to a scoundrel like me. I have a feeling he lied to try to shield you from unpleasantness. That’s the proper thing to do. That’s what I should do.”
She looked downward. Her lashes looked impossibly long in the shadows. When had he ever noticed a thing like eyelashes before?
“When are we going to talk about it?” she asked softly.
“Talk about what?”
“Yesterday. That was the first time I’ve ever…done that.”
He knew what she was speaking of and his body knew, tightening at the mere memory. Her eyes had been red and swollen and he’d still found her tempting. Her lips had been so warm.
“The second time,” he argued. “The first time you were sitting on a crate, by a street vendor selling pastries.” He could still smell the warm honey.
She did not like being contradicted. “That wasn’t the first time. That was only an attempt. A failed one.”
“I didn’t think you remembered.”
Wei-wei fell silent.
He wanted very much for the next time to be right now, even if it was only an attempt. He swallowed, his chest ready to burst. From the corner of his eye, he saw Li Chen entering the pleasure house.
“There he is,” he said with a tilt of his head.
She turned to look, leaving him with the graceful curve of her neck and he was awash with regret. He wanted to go on this adventure with her, just for the sake of being with her, but that would be foolish.
“Wei-wei, you’re out here alone, and it’s after curfew. You need to get home.”
“I have a ward pass,” she insisted.
“The streets here are not a safe place at night. You know that.”
She let out a breath. “I don’t trust him, Gao. He’s hiding something.”
“Or you’re overly eager to see something sinister in his motives because you don’t want to be married.”
Her jaw set stubbornly. “That’s not true.”
She really didn’t like not getting her way.
“I don’t like the man either, but at least I know why.”
“Why?” she demanded.
He locked eyes with her. “Because I wish I could be him.”
“No, you don’t.”
“And you know why.”
She blinked back sudden tears. “This has nothing to do with all that.”
“It’s not the worst thing in the world, marrying a rich and powerful man.” He meant to sound reasonable, but it came out bitter. “You’ll be cared for. Li probably has a thousand books. You’ll have all the things you desire.”
“Not all the things,” she said quietly.
Whenever she needed to act out, she always came running here. Running to him. This is why the wealthy were drawn to the Pingkang li. To throw themselves into oblivion. And the scavengers in the pleasure houses and gambling dens were waiting to profit. Scavengers like him.
“I’ll take you home, Wei-wei.”
She looked to the upper floors of the pleasure house where Magistrate Li had disappeared. Warm light glowed from the windows and music floated through the air. More patrons continued to stream in.
“This is a chance to find out who Li Chen really is,” she insisted, her jaw set.
“Wei-wei—” he warned.
“We can go in together.”
He barked out a laugh.
Her eyes flashed with anger. “Fine. I’ll go in alone.”
She sprang to her feet and marched toward the House of Heavenly Peaches. Gao watched as she crossed the courtyard with an impressively cocksure stride. But she still didn’t look remotely like a man. At least not to his eyes. On top of that, her name wasn’t known there. She didn’t have an introduction. He waited for her to be turned away.
Wei-wei reached the entrance. A hostess greeted her at the door. She would be coming back any moment now.
On the other hand, she had the clothes. She certainly had the attitude. The pleasant manners.
He shook his head and swore as the conversation went on. Then the hostess smiled brightly and beckoned Wei-wei inside.
Chapter 11
Wei-wei tried not to look too wide-eyed as she passed through the curtains into the pleasure house. It was like passing through clouds into another realm. The interior was lit as bright as day with rosy lanterns in every corner. Across from the entrance, a brush painting spanned the entire wall depicting the Peach Blossom Spring, an idyllic land where the ground was covered with petals. As the fable went, a forest of peach trees hid the mythical heaven on earth from the outside world.
She was taken in by the opulence. The sitting room was decorated with lacquered wood and pink curtains. It was a place of perpetual song and beauty, just like the story went.
A courtesan immediately took her arm. “Sparrow hasn’t seen you here before, my lord,” she cooed, settling in comfortably against Wei-wei’s side.
The girl, presumably Sparrow, was younger than Wei-wei. Maybe sixteen years of age. She was dressed in a soft yellow silk with green accents and her lips were painted into a red cherry blossom-shaped pout. She looked like a painting herself.
“The Peach Blossom Spring is famously difficult to find,” Wei-wei replied. She thought the analogy clever enough. As a young scholar, she would be trying to impress, right?
Sparrow laughed, emitting a sound like the tinkling of bells. “What’s your name, my lord?”
“I’m called Bai Chang-min, Pretty Sparrow.”
The girl affected a blush. Wei-wei didn’t know why Gao was so worried. This was easy so far.
“Let’s explore,” she suggested to Sparrow.
Sparrow had taken full possession of her. Arm-in-arm, the young courtesan led her up to the second level of the pleasure house. The ascent up the stairs gave Wei-wei a chance to search through the crowd.
“Is young Lord Bai visiting the capital?”
“Oh no, Chang’an is my home.”
“Then why haven’t you come to visit me?” she scolded.
“I’ll be certain to come more often.”
Not so hard once one got the rh
ythm of it. It was easy — all word play and no real meaning. No wonder scholars liked this place.
“Are you looking for someone?” Sparrow noticed how she was looking about.
“A friend,” Wei-wei said. “He drinks here frequently.”
“What is this friend’s name? Perhaps I can find him for you.”
“But we’re having such a pleasant conversation here.”
Wei-wei thought against volunteering too much information. She needed to stay somewhat hidden if she wanted to find out more information about Magistrate Li. Wei-wei managed to maneuver them to a seat in the corner. Sparrow called for wine to be brought.
The banquet was gathering around the center of the second floor where several large parties clustered together. Wei-wei searched through them, but still no sight of Li.
“We should play a game,” Sparrow said, sensing that Wei-wei’s interest was starting to wander.
“What game?” she replied absently. She’d finally found Li. He’d claimed to have a gathering to attend tonight, but he had moved to an adjoining salon for a private sitting. She spied him through an open doorway, speaking to a woman. Unlike the other courtesans who seemed to favor bright colors, Li’s companion presented a starkly elegant figure in black, interlaced with a leaf pattern in silver thread. A bright vermilion sash accented her waist.
Wei-wei started as Sparrow ran a manicured finger down her arm.
“It’s a guessing game,” Sparrow explained. The wine had arrived and she filled a cup for Wei-wei. “I get three chances to guess a secret about you.”
Wei-wei’s pulse pounded. Had she been discovered? “I have no secrets.”
In the salon, the courtesan had risen to face Li. Her demeanor held a cool detachment.
“We’ll see,” Sparrow teased. “You are afraid of spiders.”
“No.”
Little Sparrow really was charming and easy to be around. And extremely self-assured for someone so young. Wei-wei could see how Lady Mingyu became who she was after being trained in a house such as this one.
Sparrow was certainly making an effort of it. Unfortunately, Wei-wei had other motives. She looked around the room at the gathering banquet. Scholars and officials visited houses like these for entertainment, but also to make connections and feed their own reputations. The courtesans facilitated the exchange while singing and dancing around them.
“You have ten brothers.”
“No, only two.”
Wei-wei glanced again toward Li and his courtesan onto to find that they had pulled the curtain completely closed.
“I only have one try left. What could I possibly guess now?”
While she was distracted, Sparrow had inched closer. “You’re ticklish!” she guessed, pouncing.
Wei-wei managed to catch the courtesan by the wrists, but Sparrow had no intention of backing down. Wei-wei struggled to escape while the girl laughed at the sport of it.
“Alright, you win,” Wei-wei said, working to keep her at arm’s length.
“Don’t you like me?” Sparrow asked, pouting.
These games no longer suited her. “Yes, I like you. Now here’s my game. You tell me a secret.”
Sparrow narrowed her eyes craftily. “We don’t tell secrets.”
“Then tell me something everyone knows but me. That gentleman in the salon over there. Has he been here before?”
“Do I get a reward for winning our last game?”
“You didn’t win.”
“I did. You are ticklish.”
Brat. “Fine. What do you want?”
“Promise to come see me again.”
“I promise.”
Sparrow batted her eyes. “And bring a gift.”
Wei-wei was beginning to see what it might have been like if she had a younger sister. “Of course, a gift.”
Sparrow sat back on the seat, smoothing out her hair. “He’s been here several times this week, but if you want to be introduced, it will be difficult. He only speaks to Song Yi and he pays not to be disturbed. They’ll talk for exactly one hour and then he leaves. He doesn’t even want to hear her play a song or anything else.”
Her potential future husband was having an affair with a courtesan. Was that enough reason to convince her family to decry the match? Of course not. It was barely even scandalous.
Wei-wei regretted their situation even more. Maybe Li Chen held some genuine feeling for this woman. He didn’t want to marry Wei-wei any more than she wanted to marry him.
Maybe Gao was right. She wanted so desperately to find some way to escape that she’d run here, to the pleasure quarter, looking to catch Li Chen in some bit of scandal.
She was spoiled. Used to having her way. Wei-wei had even managed to make things work out for her brother who had been betrothed before Wei-wei found a way for him to marry Yue-ying. The sun rose and set for her, but not this time.
“Lord Bai, you look so sad all of the sudden. Are you in love with Song Yi as well?”
Wei-wei blinked at her. “As well?”
“The magistrate isn’t the only admirer who has been demanding her time lately.”
“Who’s the other admirer?”
Suddenly, she straightened. “A courtesan must always be discrete.”
Wei-wei frowned. Something must have clipped Sparrow’s wings. The girl made an excuse about fetching more wine before rising to hurry away.
“Don’t be too disappointed. I hear a courtesan’s interest can be fickle.”
She looked up to see Gao standing over her, a hawk hunting among the chickens.
“You scared her away,” she accused.
Gao lowered himself beside her, his long legs jutting awkwardly from the low padded seat. His head arched slowly from left to right, taking in the surroundings.
“How did you get in?”
“I just walked in.”
His reception was probably not as welcoming as it had been for her, given he didn’t have a courtesan hanging on his arm.
“Have you uncovered some sinister plot?” he asked wryly.
Now that Gao was here, she remembered half the reason she’d stormed inside. He’d made her angry with his entirely rational outlook on the situation.
“Sinister indeed. The magistrate is enamored with a beautiful courtesan who he longs to spend time with. But because of his upbringing and class, he’s fated to marry someone like me.”
“You are well-matched for one another,” he remarked, his voice strained.
She slumped down, defeated. “Don’t say that.”
Gao leaned forward, bringing him eye to eye with her. “Are you hoping to get caught?”
Was she? She looked downward, staring at her hands. “Everyone in our house has been trained to look the other way because of my brother. Huang was always getting into so much trouble, but servants aren’t supposed to question their young lord. Meanwhile, Wei-wei was the dutiful daughter. She never did anything out of place.”
“She was just too clever to get caught,” Gao countered.
Wei-wei glanced up to see his half-smile. Something lifted inside her. Gao knew all her secrets. With him, she couldn’t hide. She didn’t have to.
“We should go before Magistrate Li recognizes you,” he suggested. “I have a feeling he won’t look the other way.”
Maybe that was exactly what she wanted. To be just as unsuitable for Magistrate Li as Gao was for her. But it was thoughtless and reckless and wouldn’t free her in the way she wanted. Mother would stop turning a blind eye. It would hasten Huang’s need to see her married off, now that the bad son had become the good son.
Suddenly, everything was wrong and out of place. She was wearing her brother’s garish robe while surrounded by perfume and pink curtains. Gao was the only part that made sense, his solid, silent and disapproving presence. He was the only one who dared to tell her she was on the wrong path. And he was right—she needed to go.
She nodded to Gao, and they stood to head for the stairs. They’
d almost made it there when a very sharp, very drunk voice cut through the din of the banquet hall.
“Ancient Well Baijiu!” the drunkard railed. “Nothing else is worth drinking. Go fetch…go fetch some from the palace if they’re out.”
“Ancient Well,” she murmured.
“What is it?” Gao asked.
A large banquet had gathered at the center of the room. There was a young man of around twenty years; top-knot disheveled, and swaying slightly on his feet. There were two bodyguards on either side of him. They weren’t outfitted in imperial armor, but did carry swords. Most of the courtesans of the House of Heavenly Peaches had attached themselves to the party while the bodyguards stood apart, keeping a watchful eye on their charge.
“Friend!” the drunken nobleman cried out. “You, over there.”
She tried to shrink back, but there was nowhere to hide.
“I know you!”
Wei-wei considered running away. Reluctantly, she turned around and sensed Gao doing the same behind her. His hand settled between her shoulder blades, but she didn’t know if it was in reassurance or a warning.
“You look familiar,” the young man drawled, beckoning her forward. “Come on over here.”
What choice did they have?
“Who is this?” Gao asked beneath his breath as they moved forward.
“Lin Yijin,” she muttered.
The feast Magistrate Li had been invited to was hosted by the hostage son of General Lin Shidao.
By the time they joined the party, someone had brought a jug of the Ancient Well spirits. Two serving girls were making the rounds to fill everyone’s cups, and Wei-wei was at a loss for how they could courteously remove themselves.
Lin Yijin craned his neck upward, staring at Gao.
“Your bodyguard keeps a pretty close watch, eh? I’ve got a pair myself.” He indicated the two stone-faced warrior figures flanking him. “Hard to have a good time with them around.”
Yet he seemed to manage. The two guards were outfitted with leather armor and an assortment of swords and daggers in their belts. Weapons aside, they looked large enough to crush a man with their bare hands.
“My elder brother used to drink with you,” Wei-wei offered, hoping that would clear things up quickly so they could go.