[Blue Jade, Part 3/5]
Title: Blue Jade, Part 3
Fandom: Kuroshitsuji
Author: Araine
Rating: M
Word Count: 5,389
Warnings: Prostitution, non-explicit, consensual sex between an adult and a minor, some blood, lots and lots of opium
Summary: As a serial killer hunts down Chinese girls in London's East End, Ranmao remembers how - from a Taoist temple in the Kunlun mountains - she became a prostitute in Shanghai, met Lau, and how together they left China.
Shanghai, 1881
Lihua and I trained diligently, eventually moving on from breathing and onto more complex kung fu. As I remembered more of what I had learned in the temple, she grew steadily more impressed Lau continued to pay her without comment. To Ying’s displeasure, Lau seemed to have no scruples in taking liberally from the Trading Company’s coffers. I got the impression that Ying meant to complain extensively to Lau’s father, but had no authority to actually stop Lau from dipping into his family’s company for his own generous bribes.
I did not know how much money he was paying to Master Zhang and Tianfeng, but it must be a lot.
But what Lau did with his own money was not my business. Even if he bankrupted himself, I was in no worse position than I had been before - in debt and working nights for my freedom. But for Lau, money was never an object, so it was a moot point.
And then - two months after we had arrived in Shanghai - Lau said that Tianfeng had been asking after me.
“Me?” I asked.
“You came along on our journey east,” he said. “He’s been asking after your welfare.”
I looked at him, trying to scrutinize his contented smile. Lau did not look all that concerned about what Tianfeng wanted. But the man had hardly spoken a word to me over our journey eastward.
Lau chuckled. “Don’t worry, Little Kitten,” he said. “He wants to offer you up, as a token of my good faith. But he wasn’t the one who bought your debt.”
I looked down at my hands. Thus far, I had not been much use to Lau. I was learning kung fu again, but I was still barely more than an amateur.
“And is that what… you want?”
Lau shrugged. “I haven’t decided what to do with you yet,” he said. “Until I decide that, you’re mine. I’m not going to offer you up to anyone.”
I nodded. “Do you think I should show up, though?” I asked.
Lau looked at me through a cat’s sly eyes. “It might be fun,” he said, after a moment. “Wear a qipao, I think. It will be like feeding them vinegar.”
The next night, I pulled on the same amber-colored qipao that I had worn for the Mid-Autumn Festival, the same one that showed off my legs and my developing figure. If Lau wanted to make the other Qingbang envious, then this was the perfect outfit. I did my hair with an ornament made of amber, in a more traditional style, though I threaded several long thin braids throughout.
Lau smiled when he saw me, and he wrapped an arm over my shoulders, leading me to the waiting rickshaw. I stepped in nimbly, my knee flashing out of my skirt for a second before I arranged myself. Lau sat next to me.
“Perfect,” he said, pressing one hand to where my skirt had flared and shown my leg. “Play with them a little like that tonight, Little Kitten.”
I moved my knee away from his hand deliberately. “How long are you going to call me that?” I asked him.
“When you’re an adult cat,” he said teasingly.
I crossed my arms at him in a pout, but he was jovially oblivious, watching the streets pass by with an amused expression on his face. He pointed out the buildings to me - some that I had seen before, but never recognized, others that I had never noticed. Many of them were related to trade. Many others were gambling halls and opium dens. I wondered how many of those he had visited recently.
The Xuhui District was much as I remembered, with walls separating the tree-lined streets from the vast and sprawling estates, shingled roofs atop them, and circular doorways providing breaks in the architecture through which guests could enter. We reached Master Zhang’s estate at the end of one long street and exited the rickshaw.
After the warm day, the evening was crisp and pleasant, and we ate outside. I was not the only woman at the table. Two women sat with Master Zhang - one who must have been his wife, the other young enough that I assumed she was his daughter. There were a few others wives, but other than Master Zhang’s daughter, none of them were as young as me. None of them were dressed as I was, either.
Tianfeng smiled wide when I approached, but said nothing.
We set to the meal in quick order. Master Zhang ate first, as the foremost among our company, and then the rest of us picked and choose from among the dishes arrayed on the table. The food was good - better than what I could get in the market or from Ying back at the Kunlun Trading Company. I ate eagerly, but politely, taking from each dish in turn in order to not show preference for one over another.
The conversation over dinner was brisk and mostly about the interlocking changes of the foreign nations, and what they had to do with our native China.
“The Manchu government is asserting itself again,” said a man wearing round spectacles that made his face look like an owls. “They regained much of the territory that China lost to Russia, after the Muslim rebellion-”
Another man, sporting a thin beard that covered his thin face, laughed. “What? All the way out there near Russia?” he demanded. “What about here in China? A foreign people shouldn’t rule China.”
The bespectacled man waved his chopsticks at the bearded man. “I agree,” he said arrogantly. “But China has been ruled by the Manchu for two hundred years. They’re not going to give that up easily, no matter how many rebellions the people mount.”
“Well,” Lau put in, “it all comes down to Heaven’s Mandate, doesn’t it?”
The bespectacled man looked at him, and I had the feeling that Lau was speaking out of turn.
Lau shrugged beside me, unperturbed. “If the Manchu have Heaven’s Mandate, then they will rule,” he said. “Same as the Europeans, same as anyone. Isn’t that what they say?”
The bearded man frowned. “The Europeans?” he demanded. “They’re worse than the Manchu.”
“And you live in Shanghai,” his wife needled him. “This city is overrun with Europeans. There isn’t much that we can do about that.”
“They do have superior military force,” Lau said amiably. “But that doesn’t mean we are out of options. The Europeans might change China for the better.”
The bearded man scoffed. “Well, aren’t you forward thinking?” he said. “Your hair is in a braid - how very Manchurian of you.”
Lau shrugged. “Just good politics,” he said.
“And what about your… girl’s dress?” the bearded man demanded. “Is that good politics, too?”
I looked at him sharply. It was the first time that I had been addressed for the entire conversation.
I could see Tianfeng smiling. “It is very interesting, Lau,” he said. “It couldn’t be for the benefit of our company, could it?”
Lau smiled at him, carefully blank. “I just like it,” he said. He slipped one arm around my waist. “It’s for me.” The implication - that I was for him as well - rang through his actions.
“Well,” Tianfeng continued, “she is a prostitute, isn’t she? Surely she’s used to the attentions of many men?” I flushed at his forwardness. “Or do you mean to tell me she’s had no customers? We could check, I suppose.”
I frowned at him. “I have entertained customers,” I said acidly. “But none of them would have been you.”
Tianfeng glared at me. “So you mean to be Lau’s kept pet?” he demanded.
I had no reply to that, but I did not need one. Master Zhang - who had remained quiet through the meal - raised one hand. “Enough,” he said. Tianfeng’s glare looked like it might burn through the table, and Lau’s arm tightened about my waist, but neither of them said anything more.
We respectfully returned to eating. But I did not miss the wary looks from the other women, after I had ousted myself as a prostitute, or the occasional glances from one of the men. I ate the rest of the meal in silence, until Lau announced that it was time for us to leave.
I stood up with him, eager to leave the expansive estate.
“Goodbye,” Master Zhang said. “My wife will walk you out.” He looked at us. “Remember, we will have the ceremony on the New Year. And the lovely Ranmao will join us, won’t she?”
Lau nodded. “Of course,” he said.
Master Zhang’s wife stood from the table, to show us out the door and to our rickshaw. She bid us a quick farewell. “Take care on your way,” she said, and she looked at me. “A girl like you can never be too careful of attentions from stray men.”
As we pulled away from the Zhang Estate, I wondered about that double-edged remark.
--
Crouch, spring, kick, land. The rhythm of the motion was inside of me, so that I barely had to think about it. After months of work, the movements had returned to my bones. Sweat beaded the back of my neck, and was immediately chilled by the cold winter wind coming off of the ocean.
“Again,” Lihua snapped.
I crouched and performed another furious, flying kick.
“Again!” Lihua called. She was circling me, watching my movements with her sharp eyes. I was still no master, but although Lihua was no less exacting than before, she also no longer looked at me in exasperation. Again and again I performed the same series of movements - crouch, spring, kick, land - until I could repeat them without thinking. As I moved, I began to channel my annoyance into my movements.
Crouch, spring, kick, land.
“It couldn’t be for the benefit of our company, could it?”
Crouch, spring, kick, land.
“A girl like you can never be too careful of attentions from stray men.”
Crouch, spring, kick, land.
“My mother never bound them, and now I’m too old.”
“You’ll never have a good marriage.”
Crouch, spring, kick--.
“Enough.” Lihua’s voice broke into my rhythm, and I felt the shock to my ankles as I landed on the ground, all the way up through my spine. “You can stop now.” I nodded, and broke my stance that I had used to break my fall. Lihua crossed her arms over the front of her own practice suit. “Are you alright, Ranmao?” she asked.
I was surprised. Lihua, while being my exacting teacher, had never reached out to me like this. “I’m fine,” I said.
“Hm,” Lihua said, and she seemed unconvinced by my confused reply. “Well, don’t be so concentrated on the power of the blows that you injure yourself. You want to focus on your balance.”
I hung my head toward the ground. “It’s just something that someone said,” I admitted.
“Oh?” Lihua asked with an arched eyebrow.
I laughed a little bit, although it died bitterly behind my lips. “It’s not even untrue,” I said. “I am a prostitute. And I would never have had a good marriage. I should expect other women to… to…”
“Yes, I suppose that is to be expected.”
I looked at her in puzzlement. “So you’re saying I deserve it,” I said.
“No,” Lihua replied. “I’m saying that is the way the world works. You are unmarried, in the company of a Qingbang, and a former prostitute, just as I am a kung-fu master whose school is gone, and an immigrant to Shanghai. We cannot change that this is where fate has brought us. You can learn to love it or learn to hate it, but either way, you have to live with it.”
I bit my lip, pondering these words.
“Are you rested?” Lihua cut into my thoughts.
I nodded, and put that lecture away for the moment, as I wondered what she would drill me on next. My frustration was not gone, but it was abated some, and I would have time to think about Lihua’s wisdom later.
“Good,” Lihua replied. And instead of instructing me, she went to the edge of the Kunlun Trading Company’s courtyard and brought out the twin hammers that I had first seen when I had seen her performing. She had brought them to every practice, but had rarely used them. As she gave one of the hammers an experimental swing, I wondered if we were going to have a practice fight.
Lihua returned to where she had been earlier. “These are chui,” she said, holding up one of the hammers. “The weapon that I know best. I will teach you their art.”
My eyes widened.
“Take your stance,” she said to me. “You need to be centered.”
I dropped down, and widened the space between my legs, bending my knees so that my center dropped. Lihua looked at me and corrected verbally. Once she was satisfied, I glanced warily at her.
“Now,” she said. “Take these.”
I reached out to take the first chui. I wrapped my hand around the iron handle, made sure of my grip, and then Lihua let go. Immediately, the end of the weapon dipped forward and hit the ground with a crash, damaging the pavement. A fleck of courtyard stone scratched my face.
“Hold it steady!” Lihua snapped at me.
I braced myself, more aware of the hammer’s weight, and slowly brought the tip of the weapon off of the ground until it was parallel. A moment later, I found the center of balance. It was still enormously heavy. Lihua inspected my grip, adjusting it.
“Good,” she said, when I had begun to sweat with exertion. “Now the other one.”
I bit back my complaint. Lihua handed me the other chui, and let it go. It did not drop to the ground like the first, but it was a close miss. Slowly, I found the center of balance while Lihua inspected my grip. My forearms began to ache.
“Now stay there,” she said. “Until I tell you to move.”
I took a deep breath to center myself, and counted the seconds as sweat beading down my neck and gusts of chill wind.
--
The New Year came fast. Ying oversaw the cleaning of the Kunlun offices with his usual brisk efficiency, and enlisted our help to do so. Lau, I learned then, was a skinflint cleaner and often employed me to observe his chores. These I did without comment. I had cleaned all of my life, both back at the temple and in the whorehouse. Though traditionally, the entire household is supposed to clean, it seemed natural to me that Lau might skive off.
The Kunlun Offices also hired cooks to help in preparing New Year’s food, which I was grateful for. I had no idea how to cook the many traditional New Year’s dishes, and I surely would have made them wrong and brought bad luck down on myself. Instead, I was treated to the many smells wafting from the kitchen, reminding me of the coming holiday as I went about my chores.
Ying took the New Year’s Eve meal with us and the other Kunlun employees who lived in the offices, though I believe our inclusion was more out of obligation to the holiday than any kind of genuine affection. Even after months working with Kunlun, I did not know many of the employees, and so I spoke little. But I went to bed full and happy.
I woke the next morning to find a red envelope beside my head, sitting atop a pile of gorgeous lavender silk. With shaking hands, I snatched up the envelope and peered inside. As I had suspected, money was tucked neatly inside of the decorative red paper. I drew a shuddering breath.
I had received gifts before, trinkets and clothes. But I had never had any money to my name, even pocket money. Impulsively, I stuck my nose into the envelope and breathed in the smell of the silver. Then, feeling foolish, I tucked the envelope under my pillow and unfolded the pile of silk.
It was in three parts. The lavender qipao on top, which was shorter than anything that I have ever worn, and painted with butterflies. Then there was a navy jacket that would cover my arms. And last, a European-style corset with a long white lacing that looked extraordinarily complicated.
I drew my lower lip into my mouth and held up the lavender qipao, examining it. It was barely more than a scrap of fabric. The qipao might be on the cutting edge of fashion, and Lau might like showing me off, but this seemed to be going too far. But I had no other new clothes to wear for New Year’s day, so I set down the qipao and began to remove my sleepwear.
The qipao and jacket were easy, but as I had predicted, the corset was a lot more complicated. I could not keep it in place and tighten it at the same time. After my fingers became tangled in the lacing for the fifth time, I sighed and left my tiny room.
Lau was waiting out there, reclining in a chair, wearing his own new clothes - a green-and-gold suit. A smile stretched across his face, and I could feel his eyes as they swept across me. “Oh,” he said. “It looks good.” A hot flush crossed my cheeks.
“Can you help me?” I asked.
“Mm,” Lau responded. He stood up, and beckoned me to turn around with his finger. I did so, and he adjusted the corset. “Hold it there. Breathe in.” I pressed my fingers against the corset to keep it in place and filled up my lungs. I could feel his fingers as they skimmed across my back and criss-crossed the lacing. I tried hard to ignore the shivers going up my back.
And then his arms looped around my waist and when they came around to my back they skimmed my sides. I breathed sharply, which caused the corset to tighten alarmingly.
I could hear Lau’s chuckle against my ear. Suddenly I realized that he was much closer than I had thought. My mouth felt dry. I swallowed.
His hands wrapped around my front twice more, and then he quickly tied a bow in the lacing. My face felt hot and my head felt light, which might have been from the restriction of the corset.
I turned around to face Lau.
“You’re stunning, Little Kitten,” he said. “You’ll be the envy of the New Years celebrations.”
I looked down at myself. “I thought it was improper to tell a lie on New Years day,” I said.
Lau just smiled inscrutably. “Shall we go see the Lion Dance together?”
I nodded eagerly.
--
It had been a spectacular week of celebrations for the New Year. This was our second Lion Dance, and instead of the new lavender qipao I was wearing a longer green one, embroidered with gold bamboo leaves, though two long slits up the sides made it nearly as revealing. I chewed on sugared lotus roots, already full to bursting from all of the feasting but I did not care.
Lau had barely eaten at all today, and I had not seen him touch his opium pipe. But his mood was still jovial as ever, and he wrapped one arm around my waist - a gesture that was becoming increasingly distracting. I turned back to look at him. His normally braided hair had been tied into a knot at the top of his head, and he was once again wearing white monks robes.
It seemed strange, to wear something so austere during a holiday.
Lau had barely eaten at all today, and I had not seen him touch his opium pipe. But his mood was still jovial as ever, and he wrapped one arm around my waist - a gesture that was becoming increasingly distracting. I turned back to look at him. His normally braided hair had been tied into a knot at the top of his head, and he was once again wearing white monks robes.
It seemed strange, to wear something so austere during a holiday.
Slowly, I scanned his face. His long lashes fluttered against one another, and I wondered if he was watching the Lion Dance.
I turned back to watching myself, my eyes following the many colorful dragons made out of sturdy cloth and bamboo, all with two dancers underneath. Until this year, I had never seen a New Years festival quite like this. Even watching the people was entertaining, as the streets were overwhelmed with Chinese and foreigners alike.
Lau settled his hand on my shoulder. “Time to go, Little Kitten,” he said. His voice was barely audible over the clapping of the crowd.
I turned around, puzzled. “Go where?”
“To the temple,” Lau said. I turned around and followed him out of the crowd. Our vacated spots were quickly filled by more spectators who wanted a better view of the dancing lions.
“Why are we going to the temple?” I asked him.
“It’s time for me to take my vows.”
Because of the holiday there were no rickshaws to take us to the City God Temple, but the walk was not far to the Foreign Concession. Fireworks flashed and banged above the temple, reflecting over the water, obscuring the reflections of the strung red lanterns. Everything was lavishly decorated, and people milled about the temple in celebration.
“You’re going to take your vows in this?” I asked, gesturing to the huge crowd. It did not seem very conducive to an elaborate ceremony.
“Don’t worry,” Lau said. I followed him as he weaved through the crowd, and he went straight inside of the temple. I looked up at the lavish architecture, at the golden dragons entwining about the pillars and the lintel, bringing luck to the temple. It was beautiful. But I had little time to stare, as we passed by quickly.
I knew something was different when the temples lavishness decreased - not by too much, but by enough. I wondered if Lau knew where he was going, or if he had taken us to the priests quarters by accident. But he walked with confidence, and then he turned through what seemed like a wall.
I gaped for a moment and rushed forward, looking around and wondering what he was doing. And then I saw him - standing in the midst of a tiny alcove that nearly blended into the wall. I gaped at him.
“What is it, Little Kitten?”
I closed my mouth. “Nothing,” I said.
Lau rolled his shoulders, and then turned around and headed deeper into the alcove. I followed him. Quickly, we reached a tiny staircase that seemed to get damper as we went down. I realized that we were heading down into the base of the temple, which was built on the river. And then we emerged in a wide room that smelled of incense and opium, with one jade Buddha at its head. It was filled with white robed men kneeling, and several others - mostly women, though some friends - that knelt near the back. For as many people who filled the room, it was eerily silent.
Reluctant to break the stillness, I took my cue from the others and separated from Lau, joining the people at the back of the room. He joined the other white-robed men.
The minutes dragged by slowly, and several more white-robed men joined us. And then the entire room swelled with anticipation, and I turned toward the stairwell, from which six men dressed in elaborate hanfu filed in. Master Zhang followed them. They stood at the front of the room, and the white-robed men all bowed deeply to them.
My eyes flickered to the other spectators. They were all absolutely still, like they had become statues to decorate this sparse room.
The older men wearing hanfu lit several sticks of incense and placed them upright beside the jade Buddha, where I noticed three stone tablets sat at his feet. The incense began to fill the room with a sweet scent. One of the men in a brown hanfu, his beard long and shot through with gray, stepped out of the line and said, “Master Zhang. I, Master Zhou, have been given the honor of introducing these initiates to you, so that they might become one of our brotherhood.” He procured a scroll, and proceeded to read off the names of all of the applicants, who bowed with their heads to the floor when their name was called. My eyes sought out Lau. It seemed strange to me, that he might bow like that.
At an unknown signal, another man stepped forward - this one wearing a blue hanfu. “You may now bow before the altar, representing our patriarch Luo, as well as his three progenitors, Wen, Pan and Qian.”
The white-robed men stepped forward one by one, bowed three times before the altar, and then lit a stick of incense which they left burning at the altar. Then they went to the hanfu-robed men, one by one, and murmured something that I couldn’t catch, before bowing three times before each of them, their heads touching the floor. I watched, mutely, wondering if all of that kowtowing made their knees hurt on the rough wooden floor.
When the initiates had all finished with their bowing ritual, the man in the blue hanfu gestured toward the door, and two monks carrying a large, heavy copper bowl and a third with a copper ladle entered the room, set the bowl down at Master Zhang’s feet, and then bowed out of the room.
“This is the mouth cleaning water,” the blue-clad man said. “After you have been purified by this water, you will be reborn as a member of the Qingbang, you will be one of us.”
Once again, the white-robed initiates went one-by-one to take a drink from the copper ladle. I watched Lau as he took the copper ladle and tipped it up to his lips and drained it. I saw his Adams apple bob, and when he returned to his place there was the barest hint of a smile on his features. He looked, in many respects, smug. Eventually, this ritual finished as well.
Master Zhang stepped forward now, taking charge of the ceremony for the first time. “Do you, new disciples, agree to follow all of the rules of our ancient Qingbang society, over which you have been instructed these past months, that are designed to keep our solidarity of spirit?”
“Yes.” The crowd of white-robed initiates gave their reply in unison.
“And do you agree to accept all punishment for transgressions - which may result in death, or in banishment, or some lighter punishment dependent on the crime, with a face that befits a member of the Qingbang?”
“Yes.”
“Do you swear to never decieve your teachers, or disgrace your Qingbang ancestors?”
“Yes.”
“Do you swear to respect your Qingbang elders, and to deal fairly with your Qingbang brothers?”
“Yes.”
“Do you swear to keep all of the society’s secrets, even from your families if need be?”
“Yes.”
“And do you swear to uphold the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and sincerity, and be a moral example for all of your Qingbang brothers?”
“Yes.”
Master Zhang smiled. “Then, with these people whom you trust as witnesses, you are now members of the Qingbang.” He gestured to another hanfu-clad man, this one in red. I realized that he had been at the dinner I had attended with Lau and Master Zhang - the one with the beard. “Now your may retrieve your scrolls from Master Shao.”
Again one-by-one, the newly minted disciples exchanged red-wrapped parcels of money for a scroll carefully bound with red ribbon. I watched Lau as he took his. There was a glint in his eyes that I could only recognize as triumph.
--
It was the fourteenth day of the New Year’s celebrations, and the day afterward would be the last. Lau was out to gamble with his Qingbang fellows. I stayed in our apartment above the Kunlun Trading Company offices, just resting before the lively day that was to come tomorrow. Festivities had never been this lively, back in the temple, or the little town in Anhui.
It was strange to think how far I had come, from then. I had not even thought that Lau liked me.
Whenever we traveled together, he held his arm around me, like a lover might. He gave me clothing that was more and more revealing every time. I was now fifteen, and I had nearly grown into my looks. It seemed preposterous to think that he didn’t want me. But at the same time, he had never propositioned me.
It was almost insulting.
I sighed.
And jumped, as the door opened and Lau entered our shared rooms. I could feel my face growing hot, and was suddenly uncomfortably aware of myself. He was struggling with a long package wrapped in silk, strapped over his shoulder.
I moved forward to help him set the package on the floor. As I took it from him, I brushed against his shoulder.
It was uncomfortably warm.
“What is this?” I asked him
“I brought a present for you, Little Kitten,” he said.
“I’m not that little,” I said. “I’m fifteen now.”
Lau chuckled. “Don’t you want to know what it is, Little Kitten?” he asked.
I thought about belaboring the point, but let it drop. I knelt down and began untying the silk from around what turned out to be a wooden box. The silken wrapping slithered away when I untied them. I reached for the lid of the box and lifted it, peering inside curiously. Then I gasped.
“I had them made especially for you.”
There were two matching chui, like Lihua had trained me with. But these were decorated at the ends with blue and white cloth stretched over the ends, and two tiny tassels dangling off of the end. I picked one up out of the box, and tested its weight. It was just as heavy as the ones Lihua owned, and I could feel the strain on my muscles.
I settled the chui back in the box, not wanting to drop it. And then I turned to Lau, a smile tugging at my lips. “Thank you,” I said.
Lau had already drifted away. I set the chui aside for the moment, thinking that I would need to find a place to store them. But not now. I turned to Lau. He was lighting his opium pipe. I studied his features for a moment - his long neck, the long braid down his back, his eyes nearly fluttering shut.
“Do you think of me like a child?” I asked him.
“Hmm?” he asked.
“What do you see, when you look at me? A child, or a woman?” I demanded. “You call me Little Kitten, and you haven’t touched me once-“
“I see you,” Lau said.
I stopped speaking. And then I took a deep breath, to steady myself, as I made a split second decision. Part of my mind was telling me that I might regret this, but I pushed that aside. I crossed the room to Lau.
“Then you won’t mind if I do this,” I said. I straddled his reclining body, pushed his opium pipe away, and kissed him. His lips tasted syrupy sweet, with what I realized was opium poppy. He kissed back lazily.
“Well, this is unexpected, Little Kitten,” he said.
“I’m not that little,” I said. I began undoing the clasps of my qipao.
Lau chuckled. “I suppose not,” he said.
Part Four
Fandom: Kuroshitsuji
Author: Araine
Rating: M
Word Count: 5,389
Warnings: Prostitution, non-explicit, consensual sex between an adult and a minor, some blood, lots and lots of opium
Summary: As a serial killer hunts down Chinese girls in London's East End, Ranmao remembers how - from a Taoist temple in the Kunlun mountains - she became a prostitute in Shanghai, met Lau, and how together they left China.
Shanghai, 1881
Lihua and I trained diligently, eventually moving on from breathing and onto more complex kung fu. As I remembered more of what I had learned in the temple, she grew steadily more impressed Lau continued to pay her without comment. To Ying’s displeasure, Lau seemed to have no scruples in taking liberally from the Trading Company’s coffers. I got the impression that Ying meant to complain extensively to Lau’s father, but had no authority to actually stop Lau from dipping into his family’s company for his own generous bribes.
I did not know how much money he was paying to Master Zhang and Tianfeng, but it must be a lot.
But what Lau did with his own money was not my business. Even if he bankrupted himself, I was in no worse position than I had been before - in debt and working nights for my freedom. But for Lau, money was never an object, so it was a moot point.
And then - two months after we had arrived in Shanghai - Lau said that Tianfeng had been asking after me.
“Me?” I asked.
“You came along on our journey east,” he said. “He’s been asking after your welfare.”
I looked at him, trying to scrutinize his contented smile. Lau did not look all that concerned about what Tianfeng wanted. But the man had hardly spoken a word to me over our journey eastward.
Lau chuckled. “Don’t worry, Little Kitten,” he said. “He wants to offer you up, as a token of my good faith. But he wasn’t the one who bought your debt.”
I looked down at my hands. Thus far, I had not been much use to Lau. I was learning kung fu again, but I was still barely more than an amateur.
“And is that what… you want?”
Lau shrugged. “I haven’t decided what to do with you yet,” he said. “Until I decide that, you’re mine. I’m not going to offer you up to anyone.”
I nodded. “Do you think I should show up, though?” I asked.
Lau looked at me through a cat’s sly eyes. “It might be fun,” he said, after a moment. “Wear a qipao, I think. It will be like feeding them vinegar.”
The next night, I pulled on the same amber-colored qipao that I had worn for the Mid-Autumn Festival, the same one that showed off my legs and my developing figure. If Lau wanted to make the other Qingbang envious, then this was the perfect outfit. I did my hair with an ornament made of amber, in a more traditional style, though I threaded several long thin braids throughout.
Lau smiled when he saw me, and he wrapped an arm over my shoulders, leading me to the waiting rickshaw. I stepped in nimbly, my knee flashing out of my skirt for a second before I arranged myself. Lau sat next to me.
“Perfect,” he said, pressing one hand to where my skirt had flared and shown my leg. “Play with them a little like that tonight, Little Kitten.”
I moved my knee away from his hand deliberately. “How long are you going to call me that?” I asked him.
“When you’re an adult cat,” he said teasingly.
I crossed my arms at him in a pout, but he was jovially oblivious, watching the streets pass by with an amused expression on his face. He pointed out the buildings to me - some that I had seen before, but never recognized, others that I had never noticed. Many of them were related to trade. Many others were gambling halls and opium dens. I wondered how many of those he had visited recently.
The Xuhui District was much as I remembered, with walls separating the tree-lined streets from the vast and sprawling estates, shingled roofs atop them, and circular doorways providing breaks in the architecture through which guests could enter. We reached Master Zhang’s estate at the end of one long street and exited the rickshaw.
After the warm day, the evening was crisp and pleasant, and we ate outside. I was not the only woman at the table. Two women sat with Master Zhang - one who must have been his wife, the other young enough that I assumed she was his daughter. There were a few others wives, but other than Master Zhang’s daughter, none of them were as young as me. None of them were dressed as I was, either.
Tianfeng smiled wide when I approached, but said nothing.
We set to the meal in quick order. Master Zhang ate first, as the foremost among our company, and then the rest of us picked and choose from among the dishes arrayed on the table. The food was good - better than what I could get in the market or from Ying back at the Kunlun Trading Company. I ate eagerly, but politely, taking from each dish in turn in order to not show preference for one over another.
The conversation over dinner was brisk and mostly about the interlocking changes of the foreign nations, and what they had to do with our native China.
“The Manchu government is asserting itself again,” said a man wearing round spectacles that made his face look like an owls. “They regained much of the territory that China lost to Russia, after the Muslim rebellion-”
Another man, sporting a thin beard that covered his thin face, laughed. “What? All the way out there near Russia?” he demanded. “What about here in China? A foreign people shouldn’t rule China.”
The bespectacled man waved his chopsticks at the bearded man. “I agree,” he said arrogantly. “But China has been ruled by the Manchu for two hundred years. They’re not going to give that up easily, no matter how many rebellions the people mount.”
“Well,” Lau put in, “it all comes down to Heaven’s Mandate, doesn’t it?”
The bespectacled man looked at him, and I had the feeling that Lau was speaking out of turn.
Lau shrugged beside me, unperturbed. “If the Manchu have Heaven’s Mandate, then they will rule,” he said. “Same as the Europeans, same as anyone. Isn’t that what they say?”
The bearded man frowned. “The Europeans?” he demanded. “They’re worse than the Manchu.”
“And you live in Shanghai,” his wife needled him. “This city is overrun with Europeans. There isn’t much that we can do about that.”
“They do have superior military force,” Lau said amiably. “But that doesn’t mean we are out of options. The Europeans might change China for the better.”
The bearded man scoffed. “Well, aren’t you forward thinking?” he said. “Your hair is in a braid - how very Manchurian of you.”
Lau shrugged. “Just good politics,” he said.
“And what about your… girl’s dress?” the bearded man demanded. “Is that good politics, too?”
I looked at him sharply. It was the first time that I had been addressed for the entire conversation.
I could see Tianfeng smiling. “It is very interesting, Lau,” he said. “It couldn’t be for the benefit of our company, could it?”
Lau smiled at him, carefully blank. “I just like it,” he said. He slipped one arm around my waist. “It’s for me.” The implication - that I was for him as well - rang through his actions.
“Well,” Tianfeng continued, “she is a prostitute, isn’t she? Surely she’s used to the attentions of many men?” I flushed at his forwardness. “Or do you mean to tell me she’s had no customers? We could check, I suppose.”
I frowned at him. “I have entertained customers,” I said acidly. “But none of them would have been you.”
Tianfeng glared at me. “So you mean to be Lau’s kept pet?” he demanded.
I had no reply to that, but I did not need one. Master Zhang - who had remained quiet through the meal - raised one hand. “Enough,” he said. Tianfeng’s glare looked like it might burn through the table, and Lau’s arm tightened about my waist, but neither of them said anything more.
We respectfully returned to eating. But I did not miss the wary looks from the other women, after I had ousted myself as a prostitute, or the occasional glances from one of the men. I ate the rest of the meal in silence, until Lau announced that it was time for us to leave.
I stood up with him, eager to leave the expansive estate.
“Goodbye,” Master Zhang said. “My wife will walk you out.” He looked at us. “Remember, we will have the ceremony on the New Year. And the lovely Ranmao will join us, won’t she?”
Lau nodded. “Of course,” he said.
Master Zhang’s wife stood from the table, to show us out the door and to our rickshaw. She bid us a quick farewell. “Take care on your way,” she said, and she looked at me. “A girl like you can never be too careful of attentions from stray men.”
As we pulled away from the Zhang Estate, I wondered about that double-edged remark.
--
Crouch, spring, kick, land. The rhythm of the motion was inside of me, so that I barely had to think about it. After months of work, the movements had returned to my bones. Sweat beaded the back of my neck, and was immediately chilled by the cold winter wind coming off of the ocean.
“Again,” Lihua snapped.
I crouched and performed another furious, flying kick.
“Again!” Lihua called. She was circling me, watching my movements with her sharp eyes. I was still no master, but although Lihua was no less exacting than before, she also no longer looked at me in exasperation. Again and again I performed the same series of movements - crouch, spring, kick, land - until I could repeat them without thinking. As I moved, I began to channel my annoyance into my movements.
Crouch, spring, kick, land.
“It couldn’t be for the benefit of our company, could it?”
Crouch, spring, kick, land.
“A girl like you can never be too careful of attentions from stray men.”
Crouch, spring, kick, land.
“My mother never bound them, and now I’m too old.”
“You’ll never have a good marriage.”
Crouch, spring, kick--.
“Enough.” Lihua’s voice broke into my rhythm, and I felt the shock to my ankles as I landed on the ground, all the way up through my spine. “You can stop now.” I nodded, and broke my stance that I had used to break my fall. Lihua crossed her arms over the front of her own practice suit. “Are you alright, Ranmao?” she asked.
I was surprised. Lihua, while being my exacting teacher, had never reached out to me like this. “I’m fine,” I said.
“Hm,” Lihua said, and she seemed unconvinced by my confused reply. “Well, don’t be so concentrated on the power of the blows that you injure yourself. You want to focus on your balance.”
I hung my head toward the ground. “It’s just something that someone said,” I admitted.
“Oh?” Lihua asked with an arched eyebrow.
I laughed a little bit, although it died bitterly behind my lips. “It’s not even untrue,” I said. “I am a prostitute. And I would never have had a good marriage. I should expect other women to… to…”
“Yes, I suppose that is to be expected.”
I looked at her in puzzlement. “So you’re saying I deserve it,” I said.
“No,” Lihua replied. “I’m saying that is the way the world works. You are unmarried, in the company of a Qingbang, and a former prostitute, just as I am a kung-fu master whose school is gone, and an immigrant to Shanghai. We cannot change that this is where fate has brought us. You can learn to love it or learn to hate it, but either way, you have to live with it.”
I bit my lip, pondering these words.
“Are you rested?” Lihua cut into my thoughts.
I nodded, and put that lecture away for the moment, as I wondered what she would drill me on next. My frustration was not gone, but it was abated some, and I would have time to think about Lihua’s wisdom later.
“Good,” Lihua replied. And instead of instructing me, she went to the edge of the Kunlun Trading Company’s courtyard and brought out the twin hammers that I had first seen when I had seen her performing. She had brought them to every practice, but had rarely used them. As she gave one of the hammers an experimental swing, I wondered if we were going to have a practice fight.
Lihua returned to where she had been earlier. “These are chui,” she said, holding up one of the hammers. “The weapon that I know best. I will teach you their art.”
My eyes widened.
“Take your stance,” she said to me. “You need to be centered.”
I dropped down, and widened the space between my legs, bending my knees so that my center dropped. Lihua looked at me and corrected verbally. Once she was satisfied, I glanced warily at her.
“Now,” she said. “Take these.”
I reached out to take the first chui. I wrapped my hand around the iron handle, made sure of my grip, and then Lihua let go. Immediately, the end of the weapon dipped forward and hit the ground with a crash, damaging the pavement. A fleck of courtyard stone scratched my face.
“Hold it steady!” Lihua snapped at me.
I braced myself, more aware of the hammer’s weight, and slowly brought the tip of the weapon off of the ground until it was parallel. A moment later, I found the center of balance. It was still enormously heavy. Lihua inspected my grip, adjusting it.
“Good,” she said, when I had begun to sweat with exertion. “Now the other one.”
I bit back my complaint. Lihua handed me the other chui, and let it go. It did not drop to the ground like the first, but it was a close miss. Slowly, I found the center of balance while Lihua inspected my grip. My forearms began to ache.
“Now stay there,” she said. “Until I tell you to move.”
I took a deep breath to center myself, and counted the seconds as sweat beading down my neck and gusts of chill wind.
--
The New Year came fast. Ying oversaw the cleaning of the Kunlun offices with his usual brisk efficiency, and enlisted our help to do so. Lau, I learned then, was a skinflint cleaner and often employed me to observe his chores. These I did without comment. I had cleaned all of my life, both back at the temple and in the whorehouse. Though traditionally, the entire household is supposed to clean, it seemed natural to me that Lau might skive off.
The Kunlun Offices also hired cooks to help in preparing New Year’s food, which I was grateful for. I had no idea how to cook the many traditional New Year’s dishes, and I surely would have made them wrong and brought bad luck down on myself. Instead, I was treated to the many smells wafting from the kitchen, reminding me of the coming holiday as I went about my chores.
Ying took the New Year’s Eve meal with us and the other Kunlun employees who lived in the offices, though I believe our inclusion was more out of obligation to the holiday than any kind of genuine affection. Even after months working with Kunlun, I did not know many of the employees, and so I spoke little. But I went to bed full and happy.
I woke the next morning to find a red envelope beside my head, sitting atop a pile of gorgeous lavender silk. With shaking hands, I snatched up the envelope and peered inside. As I had suspected, money was tucked neatly inside of the decorative red paper. I drew a shuddering breath.
I had received gifts before, trinkets and clothes. But I had never had any money to my name, even pocket money. Impulsively, I stuck my nose into the envelope and breathed in the smell of the silver. Then, feeling foolish, I tucked the envelope under my pillow and unfolded the pile of silk.
It was in three parts. The lavender qipao on top, which was shorter than anything that I have ever worn, and painted with butterflies. Then there was a navy jacket that would cover my arms. And last, a European-style corset with a long white lacing that looked extraordinarily complicated.
I drew my lower lip into my mouth and held up the lavender qipao, examining it. It was barely more than a scrap of fabric. The qipao might be on the cutting edge of fashion, and Lau might like showing me off, but this seemed to be going too far. But I had no other new clothes to wear for New Year’s day, so I set down the qipao and began to remove my sleepwear.
The qipao and jacket were easy, but as I had predicted, the corset was a lot more complicated. I could not keep it in place and tighten it at the same time. After my fingers became tangled in the lacing for the fifth time, I sighed and left my tiny room.
Lau was waiting out there, reclining in a chair, wearing his own new clothes - a green-and-gold suit. A smile stretched across his face, and I could feel his eyes as they swept across me. “Oh,” he said. “It looks good.” A hot flush crossed my cheeks.
“Can you help me?” I asked.
“Mm,” Lau responded. He stood up, and beckoned me to turn around with his finger. I did so, and he adjusted the corset. “Hold it there. Breathe in.” I pressed my fingers against the corset to keep it in place and filled up my lungs. I could feel his fingers as they skimmed across my back and criss-crossed the lacing. I tried hard to ignore the shivers going up my back.
And then his arms looped around my waist and when they came around to my back they skimmed my sides. I breathed sharply, which caused the corset to tighten alarmingly.
I could hear Lau’s chuckle against my ear. Suddenly I realized that he was much closer than I had thought. My mouth felt dry. I swallowed.
His hands wrapped around my front twice more, and then he quickly tied a bow in the lacing. My face felt hot and my head felt light, which might have been from the restriction of the corset.
I turned around to face Lau.
“You’re stunning, Little Kitten,” he said. “You’ll be the envy of the New Years celebrations.”
I looked down at myself. “I thought it was improper to tell a lie on New Years day,” I said.
Lau just smiled inscrutably. “Shall we go see the Lion Dance together?”
I nodded eagerly.
--
It had been a spectacular week of celebrations for the New Year. This was our second Lion Dance, and instead of the new lavender qipao I was wearing a longer green one, embroidered with gold bamboo leaves, though two long slits up the sides made it nearly as revealing. I chewed on sugared lotus roots, already full to bursting from all of the feasting but I did not care.
Lau had barely eaten at all today, and I had not seen him touch his opium pipe. But his mood was still jovial as ever, and he wrapped one arm around my waist - a gesture that was becoming increasingly distracting. I turned back to look at him. His normally braided hair had been tied into a knot at the top of his head, and he was once again wearing white monks robes.
It seemed strange, to wear something so austere during a holiday.
Lau had barely eaten at all today, and I had not seen him touch his opium pipe. But his mood was still jovial as ever, and he wrapped one arm around my waist - a gesture that was becoming increasingly distracting. I turned back to look at him. His normally braided hair had been tied into a knot at the top of his head, and he was once again wearing white monks robes.
It seemed strange, to wear something so austere during a holiday.
Slowly, I scanned his face. His long lashes fluttered against one another, and I wondered if he was watching the Lion Dance.
I turned back to watching myself, my eyes following the many colorful dragons made out of sturdy cloth and bamboo, all with two dancers underneath. Until this year, I had never seen a New Years festival quite like this. Even watching the people was entertaining, as the streets were overwhelmed with Chinese and foreigners alike.
Lau settled his hand on my shoulder. “Time to go, Little Kitten,” he said. His voice was barely audible over the clapping of the crowd.
I turned around, puzzled. “Go where?”
“To the temple,” Lau said. I turned around and followed him out of the crowd. Our vacated spots were quickly filled by more spectators who wanted a better view of the dancing lions.
“Why are we going to the temple?” I asked him.
“It’s time for me to take my vows.”
Because of the holiday there were no rickshaws to take us to the City God Temple, but the walk was not far to the Foreign Concession. Fireworks flashed and banged above the temple, reflecting over the water, obscuring the reflections of the strung red lanterns. Everything was lavishly decorated, and people milled about the temple in celebration.
“You’re going to take your vows in this?” I asked, gesturing to the huge crowd. It did not seem very conducive to an elaborate ceremony.
“Don’t worry,” Lau said. I followed him as he weaved through the crowd, and he went straight inside of the temple. I looked up at the lavish architecture, at the golden dragons entwining about the pillars and the lintel, bringing luck to the temple. It was beautiful. But I had little time to stare, as we passed by quickly.
I knew something was different when the temples lavishness decreased - not by too much, but by enough. I wondered if Lau knew where he was going, or if he had taken us to the priests quarters by accident. But he walked with confidence, and then he turned through what seemed like a wall.
I gaped for a moment and rushed forward, looking around and wondering what he was doing. And then I saw him - standing in the midst of a tiny alcove that nearly blended into the wall. I gaped at him.
“What is it, Little Kitten?”
I closed my mouth. “Nothing,” I said.
Lau rolled his shoulders, and then turned around and headed deeper into the alcove. I followed him. Quickly, we reached a tiny staircase that seemed to get damper as we went down. I realized that we were heading down into the base of the temple, which was built on the river. And then we emerged in a wide room that smelled of incense and opium, with one jade Buddha at its head. It was filled with white robed men kneeling, and several others - mostly women, though some friends - that knelt near the back. For as many people who filled the room, it was eerily silent.
Reluctant to break the stillness, I took my cue from the others and separated from Lau, joining the people at the back of the room. He joined the other white-robed men.
The minutes dragged by slowly, and several more white-robed men joined us. And then the entire room swelled with anticipation, and I turned toward the stairwell, from which six men dressed in elaborate hanfu filed in. Master Zhang followed them. They stood at the front of the room, and the white-robed men all bowed deeply to them.
My eyes flickered to the other spectators. They were all absolutely still, like they had become statues to decorate this sparse room.
The older men wearing hanfu lit several sticks of incense and placed them upright beside the jade Buddha, where I noticed three stone tablets sat at his feet. The incense began to fill the room with a sweet scent. One of the men in a brown hanfu, his beard long and shot through with gray, stepped out of the line and said, “Master Zhang. I, Master Zhou, have been given the honor of introducing these initiates to you, so that they might become one of our brotherhood.” He procured a scroll, and proceeded to read off the names of all of the applicants, who bowed with their heads to the floor when their name was called. My eyes sought out Lau. It seemed strange to me, that he might bow like that.
At an unknown signal, another man stepped forward - this one wearing a blue hanfu. “You may now bow before the altar, representing our patriarch Luo, as well as his three progenitors, Wen, Pan and Qian.”
The white-robed men stepped forward one by one, bowed three times before the altar, and then lit a stick of incense which they left burning at the altar. Then they went to the hanfu-robed men, one by one, and murmured something that I couldn’t catch, before bowing three times before each of them, their heads touching the floor. I watched, mutely, wondering if all of that kowtowing made their knees hurt on the rough wooden floor.
When the initiates had all finished with their bowing ritual, the man in the blue hanfu gestured toward the door, and two monks carrying a large, heavy copper bowl and a third with a copper ladle entered the room, set the bowl down at Master Zhang’s feet, and then bowed out of the room.
“This is the mouth cleaning water,” the blue-clad man said. “After you have been purified by this water, you will be reborn as a member of the Qingbang, you will be one of us.”
Once again, the white-robed initiates went one-by-one to take a drink from the copper ladle. I watched Lau as he took the copper ladle and tipped it up to his lips and drained it. I saw his Adams apple bob, and when he returned to his place there was the barest hint of a smile on his features. He looked, in many respects, smug. Eventually, this ritual finished as well.
Master Zhang stepped forward now, taking charge of the ceremony for the first time. “Do you, new disciples, agree to follow all of the rules of our ancient Qingbang society, over which you have been instructed these past months, that are designed to keep our solidarity of spirit?”
“Yes.” The crowd of white-robed initiates gave their reply in unison.
“And do you agree to accept all punishment for transgressions - which may result in death, or in banishment, or some lighter punishment dependent on the crime, with a face that befits a member of the Qingbang?”
“Yes.”
“Do you swear to never decieve your teachers, or disgrace your Qingbang ancestors?”
“Yes.”
“Do you swear to respect your Qingbang elders, and to deal fairly with your Qingbang brothers?”
“Yes.”
“Do you swear to keep all of the society’s secrets, even from your families if need be?”
“Yes.”
“And do you swear to uphold the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and sincerity, and be a moral example for all of your Qingbang brothers?”
“Yes.”
Master Zhang smiled. “Then, with these people whom you trust as witnesses, you are now members of the Qingbang.” He gestured to another hanfu-clad man, this one in red. I realized that he had been at the dinner I had attended with Lau and Master Zhang - the one with the beard. “Now your may retrieve your scrolls from Master Shao.”
Again one-by-one, the newly minted disciples exchanged red-wrapped parcels of money for a scroll carefully bound with red ribbon. I watched Lau as he took his. There was a glint in his eyes that I could only recognize as triumph.
--
It was the fourteenth day of the New Year’s celebrations, and the day afterward would be the last. Lau was out to gamble with his Qingbang fellows. I stayed in our apartment above the Kunlun Trading Company offices, just resting before the lively day that was to come tomorrow. Festivities had never been this lively, back in the temple, or the little town in Anhui.
It was strange to think how far I had come, from then. I had not even thought that Lau liked me.
Whenever we traveled together, he held his arm around me, like a lover might. He gave me clothing that was more and more revealing every time. I was now fifteen, and I had nearly grown into my looks. It seemed preposterous to think that he didn’t want me. But at the same time, he had never propositioned me.
It was almost insulting.
I sighed.
And jumped, as the door opened and Lau entered our shared rooms. I could feel my face growing hot, and was suddenly uncomfortably aware of myself. He was struggling with a long package wrapped in silk, strapped over his shoulder.
I moved forward to help him set the package on the floor. As I took it from him, I brushed against his shoulder.
It was uncomfortably warm.
“What is this?” I asked him
“I brought a present for you, Little Kitten,” he said.
“I’m not that little,” I said. “I’m fifteen now.”
Lau chuckled. “Don’t you want to know what it is, Little Kitten?” he asked.
I thought about belaboring the point, but let it drop. I knelt down and began untying the silk from around what turned out to be a wooden box. The silken wrapping slithered away when I untied them. I reached for the lid of the box and lifted it, peering inside curiously. Then I gasped.
“I had them made especially for you.”
There were two matching chui, like Lihua had trained me with. But these were decorated at the ends with blue and white cloth stretched over the ends, and two tiny tassels dangling off of the end. I picked one up out of the box, and tested its weight. It was just as heavy as the ones Lihua owned, and I could feel the strain on my muscles.
I settled the chui back in the box, not wanting to drop it. And then I turned to Lau, a smile tugging at my lips. “Thank you,” I said.
Lau had already drifted away. I set the chui aside for the moment, thinking that I would need to find a place to store them. But not now. I turned to Lau. He was lighting his opium pipe. I studied his features for a moment - his long neck, the long braid down his back, his eyes nearly fluttering shut.
“Do you think of me like a child?” I asked him.
“Hmm?” he asked.
“What do you see, when you look at me? A child, or a woman?” I demanded. “You call me Little Kitten, and you haven’t touched me once-“
“I see you,” Lau said.
I stopped speaking. And then I took a deep breath, to steady myself, as I made a split second decision. Part of my mind was telling me that I might regret this, but I pushed that aside. I crossed the room to Lau.
“Then you won’t mind if I do this,” I said. I straddled his reclining body, pushed his opium pipe away, and kissed him. His lips tasted syrupy sweet, with what I realized was opium poppy. He kissed back lazily.
“Well, this is unexpected, Little Kitten,” he said.
“I’m not that little,” I said. I began undoing the clasps of my qipao.
Lau chuckled. “I suppose not,” he said.
Part Four