She felt his hands slide inward to the inside of her thighs, and he opened her even wider. Then he let his mouth explore. She mimicked his actions, swirling her tongue when he did, sucking too. And when he began pressing his fingers deep into points between leg and pleasure grotto, she began fondling his dragon pearls. Bit by bit, she lost herself in the sensations.
She felt the yin flow pouring into him from his first taste. She opened herself willingly, giving him all she had. But as she opened herself to give, she was shocked to feel the tangy burn of his yang. It began as a prickle of energy at the roof of her mouth, but the more she let her yin pour down to him, the more his yang energy flowed upward into her.
She felt it as a fire in her mind, like a lava fountain that saturated her brain and made her dizzy. She knew it was not her own yin fire. His was a darker power, essentially alien to herself, and yet a perfect complement. She began to suck harder, using hand and tongue to accentuate his power. She heard him growl, a low vibration of hunger that trembled through his mouth to her yin source.
The contractions began immediately. Her yin loved everything he did. His dragon seemed to agree, for his buttocks began to flex in time with her. His dragon pressed rhythmically forward, deeper into her mouth, and as he moved, his yang did as well. It penetrated her mind, mixed with her yin, and pushed them ever higher. She felt Ken Jin with her as well, not just in body, but also in spirit. They were rising together.
They were climbing to Heaven. With every push of their hips, with every amazing wave of power, they were ascending to the Immortal Realm.
"My God! Oh my God!"
The words barely penetrated her consciousness. Her breath was so fast; the roaring in her ears so loud. But a movement from the corner of her eyes continued the disruption. A movement that should not have been there, a presence that violated this holy space.
She lifted her eyes. She didn't stop what she was doing, she couldn't. She didn't want to, but she raised her gaze to see...
A woman she didn't know. She was older, overly painted, and in a cheap gown that was too small for her ample breasts. And she was giggling even as she clutched the arm of... Charlotte's father.
Jan 4, 1895
To Wen family patriarch Wen Feng Jin:
Happiness and much luck this new year! I know my monthly package comes early, but I am especially excited for the imminent celebration. I shall be in Peking for the holiday and cannot wait to meet my fiancée at last.
In much anticipation.
Wen Ken Jin
(Attached, seven bolts of red silk, richly embroidered for the New Year's celebration, four sacks of rice, and another three of flour. Five baskets of fresh fruits and vegetables make the full offering of twelve. All is delivered by an armed escort.)
* * *
January 9, 1895
Dear Sir, Wen Ken Jin:
Woe has befallen our household! Dearest Jan Wan has fallen ill. Such was the excitement of your gift and the anticipation of your arrival that she overset her delicate constitution. The entire household is in fear that any excitement will end her tenuous hold on this life altogether. Pray do not come this holiday. We cannot risk the joy your visit would bring.
In desperate fear,
Wen Feng Jin
* * *
January 13, 1895
Dear Wen patriarch Wen Feng Jin:
I cannot have a wife who falls ill every time I come home. Perhaps she would be better pleased with a different husband.
Regretfully,
Wen Ken Jin
* * *
January 20, 1895
Dearest Wen Ken Jin,
Congratulations on an excellent new year! Jan Wan has graciously accepted your suit! She wishes most anxiously to see you this holiday.
We are, of course, worried about the excitement, but feel that you should see the glorious beauty of your wife-to-be. Pray come on the fourth day of New Year's celebration, as is appropriate for a distant friend of the family. She will see you from two to three in the afternoon.
In great joy,
Wen Feng Jin
Dizziness or light-headedness can result when the energy bound up inside a point is released and then circulates throughout your body. The circulation of this vital energy can refresh your whole body, clear your mind, and make you feel new again.
Acupressure for Lovers
Michael Reed Gach, Ph.D.
Chapter 12
It was working. Ken Jin could feel the power—so alive, so filled with light—as it circled between them. They were flying to Heaven. Soon he would be whole again.
Then something changed. He felt Charlotte stiffen, her energy cooling, her power waning. Ken Jin increased his efforts, straining with tongue and lips, but something was very wrong. He opened his eyes, but there was little to see beyond her thighs, her pleasure grotto, her beautiful yin power.
A roar echoed through the room. It was loud and brutal and virtually incoherent, but Ken Jin understood the tone if not the meaning. "I will kill you!"
Ken Jin pushed upward at the same moment Charlotte leapt. He was pushing her behind him, and she was jumping in front, so she went straight up while he scrambled out from beneath. Then he was forced to catch her, though his still swollen dragon made his legs weak. It was a painful distraction that took his attention away from his employer's advance. Except, this couldn't possibly be Charlotte's father. Mr. Wicks was staying in Canton for three more days. He had plans with his mistress; he couldn't be here.
Except, his employer sometimes came back early from his trips. The man delighted in introducing his women to the Dragon chair. Up until now, Ken Jin had not minded. Mr. Wicks was easier to control when he had ready access to a variety of toys. And besides, his employer was the one who had paid for the expensive piece of furniture, on the condition that he could "store it" in Ken Jin's apartment.
And now Mr. Wicks was here, his latest mistress beside him, her mouth open in shock. "How dare you!" he bellowed, advancing with his meaty fists curled into weapons.
"Father, don't!" Charlotte rushed forward despite her nakedness, despite the fact that Ken Jin tried to push her behind him.
"Dead! Dead!" Mr. Wicks bellowed, his hatred pouring out at Ken Jin.
"We're married!" Charlotte cried.
Ken Jin jolted, shocked by her preposterous claim. Chinese and white did not marry. Servant and master did not mix. And yet...
"Father!" she cried again as she reached for the man's fists. He pushed her aside. Unfortunately, she had never been one to leave well enough alone. Instead of staying to one side, she leapt forward and grabbed hold of her father's massive upper arm. "He's my husband!"
"The devil he is!" the man snapped. Then when she didn't release him, he slammed his opposite fist down straight at her face.
The blow never landed. Ken Jin was there, catching his employer's arm well away from Charlotte. Mr. Wicks answered with another roar, and then the battle was joined. He lunged, dragging Charlotte with him as she tried to restrain him. Ken Jin did his best to protect her, but there was little he could do when she was so determined to place herself in the middle of it all.
In the end, he was the one who set her aside. He grabbed hold of her waist and lifted her bodily away, paying for the choice with a blow to his shoulder and another to his skull. But he had received much worse in his life. It was a small price for her safety.
"Get out," he said. "Get safe." At least, that was what he thought he said. He couldn't hear himself over the ringing in his ears.
"Get dressed!" her father bellowed, lunging again at Ken Jin.
Then the fight began in earnest. Ken Jin did not raise a hand. No Chinese man could raise a finger to a white and live, not in foreign-dominated Shanghai, and certainly not after debauching the white man's daughter. So Ken Jin fought in the way he had learned as a boy: by avoidance.
When Mr. Wicks attacked, he sidestepped. Mr. Wicks punched; he ducked. Every lunge was slipped around, every grab was
misplaced until the white man lost all sense of reason and began a wanton destruction of whatever he could find. Teapot and cups were smashed, cushions were torn to threads, and the Dragon chair was attacked. Fortunately, the piece of furniture was too strong to be demolished by Mr. Wicks's massive fists, but the sight of someone beating it hurt Ken Jin nonetheless.
And yet, he could only watch and silently thank the goddess Kwan Yin for sparing the sacred scrolls. The door to his bedroom was ajar, but Mr. Wicks was not rational enough to push through to the other room. He was too animalistic to do more than destroy the things in sight.
"Father, stop this!" Charlotte's voice was high and angry. "It's very common to marry a Chinaman," she pressed. "Joanna did it. I've done it. Everyone's done it."
"Hush!" Ken Jin hissed at her. She could not possibly expect her father to believe such nonsense. It did nothing but draw her father's fury to her.
As expected, Mr. Wicks spun, his fists already raised to strike. Charlotte stood tall and defiant, daring her father to hit her. Ken Jin stepped into the breach. He had done everything he could to draw the fight away from her, but this was a small room and neither Charlotte nor the other woman would leave. So he had no choice but to take the brunt of her father's attack straight on.
Ken Jin allowed the bearlike man to grab him. Then, at the last moment possible, Ken Jin shifted his weight and knocked Mr. Wicks's feet out from under him. The man went down with another bellow. Ken Jin shifted and pressed his knee deep between his employer's shoulder blades. Mr. Wicks could not rise until Ken Jin released him.
"Father—" Charlotte began.
"You are no daughter to me!" The raw pain in the man's voice made Ken Jin grit his teeth against guilt. Mr. Wicks had every right to be furious.
"That's right," Charlotte said, her voice commanding and calm. "I am married, Father. I am a wife now—"
"Enough!" snapped Ken Jin. "Lying will not help matters." Though he was tempted. Sweet Heaven, how he wished it were possible.
Charlotte stared at him in shock, and the agony in her face cut at his resolve. But one look at his employer told him it was too late. Even if the lie were possible, Mr. Wicks would never allow it. So he forced himself to turn away from Charlotte. His job and his future were gone. That was inevitable from the first moment she had stepped into his bedroom four days ago. All he could do now was make it easier on her. And that meant mollifying her father.
Ken Jin dropped to his knees and pressed his forehead to the floor directly in front of Mr. Wicks's face. "She is still a virgin and can marry respectably," he said to the floorboards. "I accept your punishment."
Mr. Wicks straightened slowly. His breath huffed like the great bellows of an ox, but he said nothing. Charlotte, on the other hand, was scrambling to her father's side, her words rushing about in the small room.
"Don't be ridiculous, Father. I chose him. I married him. It was a quiet little Chinese ceremony. I knew how you would react, so I didn't tell—"
A single blow across her mouth silenced Charlotte. Ken Jin heard it fall and had to force himself to stay still. It was a father's right to punish his daughter. Worse, if Ken Jin interfered now, it would likely make life harder for Charlotte later. So he remained in his kowtow and waited, though he tilted his head slightly to watch his employer.
"Come along, ducks," said the other woman. "We'll just go have a spot of tea somewhere. Leave your father to his business."
Ken Jin watched as Charlotte straightened. Her father's handprint burned bright red on her cheek, but it was nothing compared to the blaze in her eyes. "Who are you?" she asked, her voice tight.
"Me?" trilled the woman. "Why, I'm Maggie. I'm a friend of your father's, is all. A—"
"A strumpet," interrupted Charlotte as she rounded on her father. "You brought her into this house and you dare hit me? You're an adulterer!"
Mr. Wicks bellowed again, but his fist never fell; Ken Jin had hold of it again, though he had to launch himself up from the floor.
"Please, Charlotte," Ken Jin hissed as he steadied both himself and Mr. Wicks. "Leave. Let us discuss this."
"No!" she snapped, as he'd known she would.
"Then at least get dressed," he begged.
She looked down at herself, and color rose in her cheeks when she realized she was still naked. Maggie came to the rescue, handing over pants and tunic. Unfortunately, the woman didn't think to remain silent as everyone watched Charlotte hastily dress.
"I understand the lure, ducks, truly I do. But he is a Chinaman, and not a very rich one by the looks of things."
"We are married," Charlotte insisted as she pulled on her shirt. Then, when her head finally emerged, she looked hard at Ken Jin. "Tell them we're married, then make them leave."
He didn't answer her. Mr. Wicks radiated fury, but his violent impulses had been stopped. For the moment. So Ken Jin slowly released the man before donning his own pants. His employer's eyes followed his every move. Mr. Wicks's shoulders hunched and his face pushed forward. He looked very much like a mongoose squaring off with a snake.
"I can ruin you," Mr. Wicks suddenly said. "I will ruin you."
"You will not!" cried Charlotte, but her father ignored her.
"I know you have invested your money as if it were mine, all under my name. I will keep it. All of it. You will have nothing."
Ken Jin swallowed and wondered why there was so little pain. All his money, all his plans would be gone. He'd be destitute once again. Why wasn't there more pain? The first time had cut him so deeply that he screamed for days. But now? Nothing. Nothing except the sight of Charlotte's steady, silent tears.
"Do you understand?" Mr. Wicks suddenly screamed. "You will have nothing!"
Ken Jin bowed. It was what servants did. They bowed. "Will you consider that adequate recompense?"
Mr. Wicks's eyes narrowed. His lip curled as he looked down at his daughter. "She is still a virgin?"
"No!" she cried, but Ken Jin's voice was lower and clearer.
"Yes," he answered. "There are doctors who can verify it."
"I will expect a clear accounting," her father continued, "down to every last groat. Then you will leave Shanghai. I never want to see your miserable face again."
"Of course." He would be left with nothing but the clothes on his back. Again.
"No!" Charlotte pushed forward, her eyes shimmering with tears, but her stance firm with her own fury. "We are marr—"
"Charlotte!" Ken Jin would not support the lie.
She rounded on him. "Fine! Then we will marry. You will get every last penny of your money plus a great deal more as a wedding gift. We will live together in..." She looked around at the destruction her father had caused and shrugged. "In a house. And no one..." She glared at her father and his mistress. "No one will say a thing to Mother about this, about today. We will be a happy bride and groom." Her voice shook when she spoke, and he knew she understood a small bit of the lunacy she proposed.
"I will disown you, you disgraceful slut!"
Charlotte reared back as if struck, but she was not silent. "I'm a slut? I'm not married to someone else. Mother loves you! Were you ever faithful to her? Ever?"
"Aye, ducks," drawled Maggie sadly from where she was inspecting the Dragon chair. "That's the way of it, all right."
"Do not think to speak to me in that tone of voice!" bellowed Mr. Wicks at his daughter. "You have behaved like a common tart. Worse!"
"I've been following my father's example!"
Ken Jin felt his chest tighten and his belly grow cold. The screeching, the threats, even the debris beneath his feet felt familiar to the point of dizziness. But he wasn't a child anymore, and his home would not descend into mindless violence. So he stepped into the space between father and daughter. There was little room between them, but he slid in nevertheless, holding back the father's blows and pushing the daughter backward, away from harm.
"Ken Jin!" the father cursed.
"Ken Jin!" the daughter p
leaded.
He answered neither of them until there was room to breathe and space to listen. Only then did he speak. "Do you know what it is to be a Chinese wife?" he asked.
It took a moment for Charlotte to process his words. He saw her glare shift from her father to him, then back again, before finally returning to his eyes. "You said something about a cage."
He nodded, hating that he had to disillusion her. Hating himself for the pain he had to inflict. "You would be a servant to the entire household. You would be insulted twice for every grain of rice in your bowl. Tears would be your tea, and bruises your mattress."
"But you wouldn't do that to—"
"I would have nothing to do with it," he answered. "It would come from my mother when I am away."
She lifted her chin. "I wouldn't live with such a shrew."
He paused, not wanting to say his next words. But she had to understand that her beautiful dream was impossible; they could never marry. "The abuse would come from my first wife."
She gasped. Even Mr. Wicks drew back in shock. "You're married?"
He shook his head, but kept his gaze steady. He owed it to Charlotte to look her in the eye when he delivered the news. "I am engaged. As she is Chinese and our arrangement is long-standing, she would be my first wife. You could only be a concubine."
"The devil you say," growled Mr. Wicks. Ken Jin ignored him, his attention riveted to Charlotte's stricken expression.
"You would have to break that engagement, Ken Jin. I will be your only wife."
He shook his head. "That is not the Chinese way."
"It is the English way!"
He nodded. The English married one woman, then slept with many without responsibility or interest in their care once the liaison was finished. He found it appalling and would not be party to it.
The Way of the Tigress 1-4 Page 109