The Palace of Heavenly Pleasure

by Adam Williams

  It was only after Nellie had hugged her and rocked her and soothed her, telling her over and over again, ‘It’s Dr Airton. You know Dr Airton, darling. He’s here to help, to help,’ that she had reluctantly allowed him to examine her. All through his ministrations she had watched him with suspicious, frightened eyes. What alarmed him most was the self-hatred, which she would occasionally display, slapping herself and hissing words that sounded like ‘Dirty. Dirty. Dirty,’ And ‘Wicked. Wicked.’ Nellie had told him that in the bath Helen Frances had frenziedly snatched the soap from Fan Yimei’s hands, and rubbed and rubbed it on her lower parts shrieking, ‘How can I make myself clean? When can I ever be clean?’ Fearing for her sanity, he had reluctantly concluded that the best salve for her at the moment was oblivion and, as Nellie had earlier predicted to Henry, his answer was to inject her with one of the vials of morphine in his medical bag. What he would do when he ran out of the drug he did not know, but at least it had had the merciful effect of sending her to sleep.

  And now she lay quietly with Nellie watching over her. Nellie was using this respite also to see to the needs of her own disturbed children. They were sitting at her feet, listening to her read from The Rose and the Ring, one of the books she had snatched off the shelf when she was hurriedly packing the suitcase before they left the mission. She hoped that the romance, a favourite of the children, would take their minds for a little while off the terrible things they had seen and heard in the afternoon. Sadly she noticed that they were barely concentrating: it would take more than the amusing adventures of Prince Bulbo and Princess Angelica to wipe away from their imaginations the scars of this all-too-real adventure—but she read on resolutely because she had no other remedy to hand.

  Outside her door Henry Manners, Dr Airton and Fan Yimei were standing in the darkening gallery. Dusk was falling. Bats were gathering in the violet sky outside the window. Henry had called the two others together to formulate a plan. He spoke quietly so that his voice would not carry into the children’s room. ‘Well, we couldn’t have contrived a more desperate situation,’ he said matter-of-factly, ‘but let’s not despair. We still have a chance of getting out of here. The Mandarin told me before he left that he was thinking of bringing our departure forward to tonight. That’s fortunate, if it’s true, because I doubt we could get through another full day here without being discovered. Unfortunately, he didn’t tell me what his plan is—but I expect he’ll send Major Lin to us after midnight. Doctor, have you your pocket watch?’

  ‘It’s just after eight,’ said Airton gruffly, peering at his timepiece in the gloom.

  ‘So we have four or five hours before he comes.’

  ‘If he comes,’ muttered the doctor.

  ‘Correct,’ said Henry. ‘If he comes. Fan Yimei, what are the chances of someone coming looking for Mother Liu or Ren Ren in the next few hours? When will they be missed?’

  ‘I don’t know about Ren Ren,’ she answered. ‘Mother Liu usually visits the customers in the dining room about this time and allocates the girls. But sometimes she has a headache and doesn’t appear.’

  ‘Good,’ said Henry. ‘Then she’ll have a headache tonight. What happens when she doesn’t appear?’

  ‘Ren Ren allocates the girls, and supper is brought to her in her room.’

  ‘And if Ren Ren is not there?’

  ‘I don’t know. Perhaps she passes instructions to the girl who brings up her supper tray.’

  ‘Well, that seems clear enough. Since Mother Liu won’t be inspecting any banqueting rooms tonight, we can assume the girl with the tray will be coming here in due course?’

  ‘I think so, Ma Na Si. And soon, I believe. It is already dark.’

  ‘Do you know which girl it will be?’

  ‘It depends on who is available, Ma Na Si. Not entertaining customers, I mean. Usually it would be Su Liping, her favourite, but sometimes it is one of the new girls who are being broken in.’

  ‘So a girl—maybe Su Liping—will come up soon with Mother Liu’s supper. What about our supper? Presumably someone is detailed to bring food to us as well. Will more than one girl come?’

  ‘I doubt it, Ma Na Si. Noone else knows you are here. I think that Mother Liu and Ren Ren themselves must have organised your food before now. They would not dare to let anyone else in on their secret. If any of the girls knew you were here the news would spread throughout the house within a day, and Iron Man Wang would know of it.’

  ‘Good. That’s one thing less to worry about,’ said Henry. ‘We only expect the one girl, then, with Mother Liu’s supper. We can fool one girl, can’t we, Airton?’

  ‘Can we? I don’t see how.’

  ‘I also wonder, Ma Na Si,’ said Fan Yimei. ‘Whoever comes will expect to see Mother Liu in her room.’

  ‘Not if you meet her at the top of the stairs and tell her Mother Liu doesn’t want to be disturbed. She’ll leave the food outside Mother Liu’s door. You pass on the instructions to her for the evening. She goes down again. Normal routine’s maintained.’

  ‘That might work with one of the new girls, but not Su Liping. She would certainly suspect something if it was I who told her this.’

  ‘Then it will have to be Mother Liu who tells her herself.’

  ‘But how, Ma Na Si?’

  ‘With my gun trained on her head she’ll say anything I tell her to. Come on, Doctor, we’d better move the crone to her own room. Sounds as if we’ve little time.’

  ‘Manners, are you mad?’ The doctor could hardly restrain his loathing of the man, and after what had happened earlier, he certainly had no confidence in his leadership. ‘This is a desperate scheme. What if Mother Liu blurts out that she’s speaking under duress? What if this girl, whoever she is, isn’t fooled? Even if it works, there’s Mother Liu’s son’s disappearance to consider. What if Iron Man Wang sends one of his men up here looking for him?’

  ‘Then we’ll probably be discovered, Airton, and we’ll all die a horrible death. Have you a better idea? We’ll be discovered for certain if we don’t try to do something.’

  ‘We don’t even know if the Mandarin really will send anyone for us tonight. Have you his guarantee on that?’

  ‘Dr Airton, I can’t guarantee you anything—except that I’m not going to give up while there’s the remotest chance of us getting out of here alive. If Lin doesn’t come for us, we’ll have to determine a way to get out of here ourselves. But with Iron Man Wang’s thugs roistering below we can hardly do that now. We can only take each threat as it comes. The first is to deal with this blasted supper tray. Will you help me get Mother Liu, or not?’

  Airton reluctantly assented, and while Fan Yimei waited at the top of the stairs, they went together to Henry’s room where Mother Liu lay trussed on the bed. The eyes above the gag blazed malevolence, but she was otherwise calm. The doctor untied her while Henry trained the revolver on her. ‘Get up,’ he ordered. She obeyed. ‘Tie her hands behind her back,’ Henry instructed. Airton did so. Taking her arm, he steered her towards the door. Henry followed behind. ‘If you make one false move, I’ll put a bullet in you,’ he threatened. At Mother Liu’s hobbling pace they moved into the corridor.

  It was nearly night now, and the gallery was swathed in shadow. Fan Yimei had thoughtfully brought out a lantern from Mother Liu’s room and was hanging it on a hook on the wall. The yellow light illuminated her face. Mother Liu recognised one of her own establishment. She started with anger at the betrayal, mumbling something incomprehensible but vitriolic through the gag, and Airton could feel the fury in her quivering arm and shaking body.

  Rage made her obstinate and she fell forward on her knees, refusing to go further. ‘Get up,’ Henry shouted. She refused, struggling as the doctor tried to lift her. Fan Yimei saw what was happening and, having secured the lantern, ran back to help.

  They froze when they heard the clumping on the stairs. They were too late.

  In the dim lantern light they saw a slight, pretty girl appea
r out of the darkness, stumbling under a heavy tray weighed down with dishes and a covered teapot. They saw her eyes widen when she noticed the two foreign men flanking the feared figure of Mother Liu, and she too froze, her mouth opening in wonder and alarm.

  Henry ran forward. The girl dropped the tray, and turned to run away, but he caught her arm, pulled her round and pressed the gun to her forehead. ‘Don’t make a sound,’ he hissed.

  ‘Jesus and Maria,’ she whimpered in her fear, ‘please don’t hurt me.’

  This time it was Henry’s turn to show amazement. ‘What did you say?’ he whispered, lowering the gun.

  ‘Please don’t hurt me,’ she mumbled, through sobs. ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’

  ‘You said, “Jesus and Maria.” You’re a Christian. Fan Yimei, what’s a Christian doing here?’

  ‘I don’t know her, Ma Na Si,’ said Fan Yimei. ‘There have been several new girls brought in recently by Ren Ren and his men.’

  ‘What’s your name, girl?’ asked Henry gently.

  She sensed that he was not about to hurt her. ‘Phoenix, Xiansheng,’ she said, sniffing back her tears, ‘but my real name is Wang Mali. Or that’s what I was called before I was—I was brought here.’

  ‘Mali,’ repeated Airton to himself. ‘That could be the Chinese version of Mary. Where do you come from, child? What’s the name of your village?’

  ‘Bashu, Xiansheng,’ said the girl. ‘But I’ve been told that I must forget my past.’

  ‘Oh, Lord, Manners, that’s the village Elena was going to before she disappeared. There was a girl called Mary there. There were two sisters, Mary and Martha. Elena and Caterina often spoke about them. Answer me, child, whose daughter are you?’

  The girl was startled by his vehement tone. ‘Pastor Wang,’ she said nervously, and then her voice broke, and she sobbed, ‘But he’s dead. He’s dead.’

  Airton persisted. ‘And Sister Elena, child?’ His voice was fierce with the desire to know her fate. ‘Answer me. The foreign nun who used to visit you. What happened to her?’

  ‘She’s dead too, Xiansheng,’ she wailed. ‘They killed her after they killed Martha. In the church. They killed—they killed everybody, and they forced me to come here, and they made me—made me—’

  Airton’s shoulders slumped and he bowed his head. Although his reason had told him it was not likely, he had never received news of Elena’s death so a small part of him had continued to hope that she had somehow survived. Now his worst fears were confirmed. It was as if another hammer blow had beaten down on his head on top of all the other shocks he had received today.

  By now Mary was weeping uncontrollably. Fan Yimei relinquished her hold on Mother Liu, ran to her, and embraced her, pressing her cheek against hers. ‘Give me some time with her,’ she said, looking up at Henry. ‘I think we can trust this one. Don’t worry, I’ll tell her what to do. Let me calm her before she returns downstairs.’

  ‘All right, you can use Mother Liu’s room,’ said Henry. ‘Give her some of that tea if it isn’t all spilled. Airton, we’d better put that woman back in my room and truss her up again. Now she’s had her supper delivered.’

  Airton expostulated. ‘I will not have it,’ he cried. ‘Didn’t you hear the girl? Mary’s one of us, man. A Christian, and an innocent victim of cruel men who took her captive and sold her into harlotry. I knew her father. She was poor Elena’s friend. Now we’ve rescued her, we can’t just send her back again to men who’ll abuse her. We must protect her.’

  ‘Rescue her? Protect her? Do you hear yourself? We can hardly protect ourselves,’ said Henry acidly, ‘and we certainly won’t be able to protect her or anyone else if we’re discovered, which will be the certain result if your precious Mary doesn’t go downstairs and report that all is well. Listen, Doctor, four hours. That’s what we need. When the time comes we’ll try to take this girl with us. For now she’s more useful to us back in the brothel.’ Angrily, he walked back to Mother Liu. ‘What are you laughing at, bitch?’ Mother Liu had been watching the altercation between the two men with interest. Her eyebrows were raised sardonically above her cold, calculating eyes.

  * * *

  It was two hours later. Dr Airton was in his room with his family. On the bed, Helen Frances slept, lost in morphine dreams. Occasionally she would turn restlessly on the bed, shaking her head or beating her breast with her hand, and once she sat up, staring, wide-eyed, murmuring clearly but quite mystifyingly, the words, ‘Soap. Tom, please, give me more soap. Why won’t you give me more soap?’ and a tear rolled down her cheek. The doctor had another vial of the drug ready to hand, but her head sank on to her pillow, and she drifted back into her dreams.

  * * *

  Henry sat in the next-door room, guarding Mother Liu. She, too, was sleeping, her rasping snores muffled only slightly by her gag, which he had loosened so she would not suffocate. Fan Yimei was with him. Although they had much to say to each other, neither wanted to say it, so they sat in uncomfortable silence. Once Henry broached the subject they had last discussed fruitlessly on their final ride together before they were captured at the railway yard. ‘You know that you don’t owe me anything?’ he said.

  ‘If you say so, Ma Na Si,’ she had replied quietly.

  ‘For helping the boy, I mean,’ he had continued.

  ‘I understand,’ she had answered.

  ‘A lot has happened since then,’ he said. ‘It would never have worked.’

  ‘Yes, I understand,’ she had replied.

  He had relapsed into silence.

  ‘You must not blame yourself for what happened today,’ she said. ‘It is honourable to try to save a life, especially if it involves sacrifice. Your lady, too, was brave.’

  ‘You know, I never intended…’ He started, but could not finish the painful sentence.

  ‘You were not to know what would happen,’ she said. ‘The blame does not belong to you. And the lady, she will heal in time. And she may forgive you, if she is wise.’

  ‘The doctor will never forgive me.’

  ‘He has never suffered before,’ she said. ‘He was wise, but only in the wisdom of the daylight, where certainties glisten brightly in the sunshine. He was a healer, and believed he could cast his light into the darkest corners. But now he is challenged by another wisdom, that of the night, in which there is no light and where nothing is certain … It is hard for him.’

  ‘It is you who are wise,’ he said softly.

  ‘I have learned what sorrow is,’ she smiled, ‘yet I continue to live. Is that wise?’

  ‘That’s nonsense,’ he muttered. She did not answer. ‘You know that the Mandarin may not send for us today?’ he said.

  ‘It is better to believe he will,’ she said.

  ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘It is his messenger who concerns me. After what Lin did today I cannot let him live.’

  ‘Yet if you take Major Lin’s life there will be no one to save yours.’

  ‘Tricky, isn’t it?’ said Henry. ‘I’m not sure I’ll be able to control myself when I see him.’

  ‘You will,’ she said. ‘For you, unlike the doctor, are wise in the wisdom of the night.’

  ‘Am I?’ he said.

  ‘You have always shown yourself to be so. Ma Na Si, when are you going to ask me to go below?’

  ‘Could I ask you that? Wouldn’t it be dangerous? With Iron Man Wang and his men on the prowl?’

  ‘Yet if I do not go, who will lead Major Lin here? The Mandarin will have asked Mother Liu to see to it. They went to the gate together and he would have told her his plans. I imagine that it was her intention to inform Ren Ren and that was why she was looking for him when she and the doctor had their struggle. Unless someone is there to meet Major Lin, and inform him of the latest situation, then I fear that our plans may go awry.’

  ‘Cannot the girl, Mary, bring him?’

  ‘No, Ma Na Si. She will be entertaining customers. I have told her to be ready to slip away after midnight when h
opefully whoever she has been assigned will be sleeping, but we cannot rely on her any earlier. And Major Lin does not know her, or trust her, so it will be I who goes to the gate and waits.’

  ‘You are not afraid of meeting one of Iron Man Wang’s men on the way down?’

  ‘I know how to handle such situations. Believe me.’

  ‘You’re a remarkable woman,’ said Henry. ‘You saved our lives today, and you’re about to do so again.’

  ‘I killed two men,’ she said sadly. ‘I will have to live with that shame.’ She stood up abruptly. ‘Excuse me, Ma Na Si, but if I am to do this I must leave now.’

  He bowed his head. He had nothing to say.

  * * *

  She slid into the dark corridor. From the stairwell she heard a burst of singing and the shouts of men challenging each other in a drinking game. She pressed the inside of her robe to check that she had not lost the pouch which she had found in Mother Liu’s room, then slowly lifted the flap that covered the entrance to the stairs. She stepped into the corridor on the second floor. She could hear cries and laughter from the bedrooms on either side, but was relieved to see that the corridor itself was deserted. She hurried along it, but just as she reached the stairs she heard a shrill, jeering voice behind her. ‘Can I believe my eyes? What an honour! If it’s not the precious Lady Fan Yimei!’

  She turned, forcing a smile. Su Liping was standing in the doorway of one of the rooms. She was naked except for a skimpy doudu covering her breasts and abdomen. In her hand hung a pitcher of wine. From her red face and her slurred voice, Fan Yimei could see that she was drunk. This would normally have been against house rules, but Fan Yimei guessed that there was a different regime now that the brothel had been taken over by Iron Man and his followers.

  ‘So her superior ladyship has deigned to visit her humble sisters,’ continued Su Liping, enjoying her own wit.

  ‘I have just been summoned to see Mother Liu,’ said Fan Yimei quietly, ‘and was on my way downstairs.’