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The commissioner paid for a musician for the hour. I don’t want him complaining to Mother.”
“Can you not speak here? Is there a better place for us to meet?”
Huilan shook her head and smiled mysteriously at him. As she turned to go she paused to touch a hand to his sleeve, just over his wrist. “Thank you for your concern, Lord Bai. You are very kind.”
With that, she floated back toward the minister’s awning, a vision in red silk.
He remained nearby for a while longer, in case Huilan had a change of heart, but when she made no further attempt to communicate with him, he continued upstream along the canal. A group of exam candidates called him over to share wine. None of them had passed this round of examinations. Some of them would return to their homes; others would stay on to make another attempt. The setback was treated like a well-worn battle scar. They were young and invincible.
These young men were the same set who sought sport at the gambling houses and courted the young, lesser-known beauties of the Pingkang li. Huang had once taken on the city with the same exuberance, but he’d become much wiser and more reserved. Some might say he’d been taught a lesson he’d never forget.
A gasp of excitement rose from the crowd as the dragonboats came into full view. There were over fifteen in the race. They presented a dramatic sight side by side, all painted in different colors like a rainbow flying over the water. The rowers in each vessel pulled in unison while the beating of the drums set out a steady rhythm.
Out of the corner of his eye, Huang caught sight of a vermilion sash set against a leaf-green robe. Yue-ying stood beside her mistress now, holding a bamboo parasol to shade her from the sun. Lady Mingyu was carrying on a conversation with several scholar-gentlemen who appeared completely enraptured by her words while Yue-ying remained quiet in the background.
What would she be like when freed from beneath the hand of her dictatorial mistress? He wanted very much to speak to her alone again and find out.
He looked back to the racing dragons. As Yue-ying had predicted, the blue dragon was trailing and the orange was in the middle of the fleet, with little chance of pulling ahead. Her two choices for favorites were in the lead; green and gold. He doubted those were merely her favorite colors as she claimed. Yue-ying had shown herself to be neither whimsical nor impulsive.
First Huilan had sought him out with her veiled promises. Then a clever little maidservant had him completely beguiled. That was the problem when dealing with the ladies of the North Hamlet. Every look and word had two meanings. They did it deliberately to taunt young, impressionable scholars. As if women weren’t enough of a mystery already.
CHAPTER THREE
THE DAYTIME ACTIVITIES of the festival centered on the Grand Canal and dragonboat races, but once the sun went down the pleasure houses competed for the evening crowd. The Lotus Palace benefited from being one of the most recognizable establishments in the Pingkang li.
The building itself was two stories high and contained a number of parlors and a banquet hall suitable for entertaining, but the topmost tier was what gave the Lotus Palace its name. The deck was open on all sides, providing a view of the night sky. An octagon of painted beams supported the eaves, which curved upward to resemble the petals of a lotus flower. It was the perfect setting during the spring and summer for gazing at the moon and composing poetry over cups of warmed wine.
In addition to their usual patrons, the new county magistrate was hosting a banquet there—his first public gathering since taking office. Magistrate Li Yen had the disadvantage of not only being young for a man in his position, but appearing youthful as well. He was twenty-five years of age and it was widely believed he was only given his position due to family connections.
Yue-ying wondered whether the magistrate and his constables had discovered what had happened to the body in the river. The boat had been docked somewhere upstream and was dislodged by the earthquake, carrying the corpse down the waterway. There was little talk of it in the Pingkang li other than a few murmurings that he was likely a laborer who had been attacked by a street thief.
With the coming of the festival, the story was forgotten in favor of happier news. Tonight, Madame took the responsibility of greeting every guest and all of the courtesans were busy entertaining. That left Old Auntie and Yue-ying to make sure there was enough food and drink to keep things lively.
An area had been set up on the top floor for the banquet. Mingyu would serve as hostess while two of her courtesan-sisters attended to provide music and pour wine. Yue-ying was busy lighting and hanging lanterns onto the eaves.
“The Xifeng wine,” Mingyu reminded her as the time neared. Down below, they could already see the festival crowd beginning to gather.
Yue-ying headed for the stairs. The parlors on the second and first floors were filling quickly and the chants of a drinking game rang out. She passed by Auntie, who was balancing two trays of food.
The passage to the cellar was through the kitchen. It was a small area down a set of steps. She hung her lantern onto a hook on the wall as she went to the corner where the quality wines were kept. The jug was packed in straw and Yue-ying had started to dig it out when she heard a voice from behind. She spun around, pulse jumping.
“Is it the tremor of the earth, or the sight of you that unsettles me?”
Bai Huang had a shoulder against the doorframe. The lantern light revealed his characteristic grin.
“Lord Bai.” She breathed deep to steady herself. “The banquet is upstairs. You should join it.”
“I saw you coming down here and wanted to know your opinion,” he said.
Despite his pleasant tone, every muscle within her tensed. Yue-ying had long considered Bai Huang to be harmless. He was well mannered and carefree, nothing more than a bored aristocrat seeking diversion. His improprieties bordered on the ridiculous rather than the sinister, but noblemen did not follow maidservants into dark cellars with good intentions.
“Do you like the verse I recited?” he asked. “I composed it after our last meeting.”
“Your poetry is very dull, as always.”
He straightened a little, eyes wide with surprise. She regretted her bluntness immediately. Someone like her was never allowed to insult a man like Lord Bai, but her heart was beating too fast to think clearly. She needed to make it clear that she wasn’t Mingyu. She wasn’t a part of his games of courtship and seduction.
Back in the brothel, the men didn’t come to her for conversation. Though the customers were often merchants and tradesmen rather than gentlemen, scholars didn’t by any means find whorehouses beneath them. Men of rank might exercise good manners in public, but they experienced the full force of lust like any other man. Alone here, without Mingyu’s protection, Yue-ying was as helpless as she had once been, lying beneath men who weren’t looking for talent or beauty.
Keeping her shoulders squared, she started toward the exit. She wouldn’t show any weakness. She would show no emotion at all and he would see there was no sport to be had here.
Bai Huang remained at the doorway, his expression now more contemplative than flirtatious. She would have to get past him. She held her breath. Don’t slow down, she told herself. Keep moving.
At the last moment, he shifted his weight to block her path. “You didn’t get your wine,” he remarked softly.
She stilled like a hare under a falcon’s gaze. His beauty made him seem suddenly more villainous. He wouldn’t even have to use force. Lord Bai likely thought he could lure any manner of woman into his arms and they should be grateful for it.
“Move aside,” she said, her mouth pressed tight. Then she wondered if he was the sort of man who thrived on the conquest. She’d known those as well. She softened her tone. “If you please, Mingyu will be wondering where I am, Lord Bai.”
She added the honorific as an afterthought, hoping not to anger