Peach Blossom Pavilion (8 page)

Pearl snatched out her fan, flipped it open, then began to fan furiously while half-nudging the young man away with her hip. "Yor! When does our famous gifted oil painter pay attention to a plain woman like me?"

"No, Pearl, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, the lady of my dreams."

Pearl waved him a dismissive hand. "Then you better go to sleep now and I'll see you later in your dream."

The man had a trapped expression. Pearl cocked an eye at me while motioning to him. "Jiang Mou, let me introduce to you my little sister Xiang Xiang." Then she turned to me and spoke commandingly, "Xiang Xiang, pay respect to Mr. Jiang, the most famous oil portraitist in Shanghai. So if you're lucky and behave, maybe someday he'll be willing to paint you and make you very famows.

"Will you, Mr. Jiang?" I asked, feeling color rising in my cheeks.

"If your sister says so," Jiang Mou said as his eyes kept moving all over Pearl.

Pearl continued to make small talk with Mr. Jiang while throwing him flirtatious glances and brushing his body with her smooth arms and fingers. Finally she whispered something into his ear and made a dismissive wave, at which the famous portraitist sauntered away like an obedient dog.

Pearl turned to me. "Xiang Xiang, now why don't we start to read again?"

The lantern I'd picked was in the shape of a rooster, its riddle was written in walking-style calligraphy:

Its body can break the bellies of evil spirits Its breath roars like thunder Its sound rips up the sky and tears off the earth But when you look back, it's already a heap of ashes. (an object)

I yelled to Pearl, "Firecrackers!"

She turned to look at me appreciatively, "Good, Xiang Xiang, now read this one." She pointed to a phoenix.

Face as beautiful as the crescent moon and ears alert as a night owl's. Ten thousand arms reach for ten thousand desperate voices. (a personage)

Again I blurted out, "Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, who listens to the cries of the needy and goes to help! "

Pearl cocked an eye at me. "Very good, you're really smart, eh?" Now she pointed to a lotus. "Then what about this?"

Just then a loud explosive sound shattered the air.

"Oh, my heaven!" Pearl screamed, "someone's got shot!"

"How do you know?"

"This is not the first time that it happened. It's too terrible. Let's go find out who's the lucky one." Pearl grabbed my arm and we sped to the source of the sound.

b

Spring Moon

)earl and I shoved through the hovering crowd and gaped. What stared back at me was a pair of sad, flickering eyes. They were the same eyes that, from underneath the bamboo grove, had followed my every move.

Pearl sighed, yet her voice didn't sound very upset. "I knew sooner or later something like this would happen to Spring Moon."

I craned my neck to take a better look and saw the sad-eyed girl squirming and moaning on the ground. Blood oozed from her arm, staining the green sleeve of her dress.

I blurted out, "Oh, heaven, we should call the police! "

A coarse voice roared. "Who said call the police?!"

I felt my sleeve tugged. Pearl shot me a razor-sharp look to shut me up.

The evening suddenly turned icy.

Coarse Voice laughed an air-shredding laugh. "Ha! Ha! Ha! Doesn't everyone here know that I am the police chief?"

I followed the voice until my gaze fell on the most evil face I'd ever seen. It belonged to a dark, solid man with a prominent jaw protruding from a wide, uncouth face. His eyes were mere slits, with the pupils darting like mice trapped in a narrow trough. His square body, stuffed into a stiff uniform the color of chicken shit, gave the impression of a corpse.

Then, more to my surprise, nobody-none of the sisters, servants, Fang Rong, Wu Qiang, nor the guests-offered to help the poor girl. Everyone just stood there, their feet rooted to the ground and their eyes trapezing between Spring Moon and the police chief.

While his eyes scanned the onlookers like machine guns firing muted shots, everyone lowered their heads to stare at their shoes. The chief spat at Spring Moon, his saliva spraying in all directions and flickering in the lanterns' light. "Fuck your mother, stinky slut. Has no one taught you never to say no to a police chief? Eh? You stinky stuff!"

Fang Rong shoved away the others and went up to Spring Moon, but to my utter shock and surprise, instead of offering help or comfort, she also spat on her-more vehemently than the angry corpse. "You cheap, stupid, short-lived bitch! Don't I always tell you never say no to our noble guests!?" Then she turned to the police chief, her lips curling into a grin so huge I feared her teeth might be all squeezed out. "I'm so sorry, Chief Che, but I swear to you on the honor of Buddha and Guan Yin and the righteous White-Browed God and all my ancestors that this will never happen again."

The chief shot Fang Rong a murderous look, while swinging his gun. "Is that how you teach your daughters? To play ladies when they're whores?"

A deafening silence. Fang Rong and Wu Qiang plopped down, engaging themselves in a succession of frantic kowtows.

Mama's voice spilled fear. "Sorry, Chief Che, it's all our fault. Tonight I promise we'll whip this slut to death to teach her a good lesson."

Mama kept apologizing, while the police chief kept fuming. He cursed incessantly, his body shivering and his high-booted feet fidgeting. When the cold breeze blew in my direction, a strong stench of alcohol wafted into my nostrils. Everyone remained deadly quiet, intently watching what was going to happen next. It astonished me that, amid this crisis, some sisters looked entertained, as if they were watching a Peking opera comedy.

The chief's venomous words rolled out across the chill night air. "Promise me you'll whip this slut till her skin blossoms and her flesh rots! And I mean it, you get it?!"

Now Mama and De yapped simultaneously, "You have our word, Chief!"

The dark face snorted. His voice slashed the night air like a sword. "Huh! If not," he swung his gun toward the two kneeling figures, "beware of your brains! "

The pitiful duo paraded more kowtows.

Then suddenly, hands shaking, the police chief turned to aim the gun at Spring Moon's head. A collective gasp resonated in the air. Spring Moon closed her eyes. The pool of blood slowly crept along the ground as if it had a miserable life of its own.

Eager faces, shining with curiosity, excitement, and fear, waited for the "bang!" to climax the evening. I felt my heart almost jump out of my chest.

Just then, to everyone's surprise, Pearl pushed through the group, stepped forward, and wriggled up to the police chief. The evil-faced stinking male turned to stare at her, now not quite sure whether to shoot or not.

Pearl wet her lips and put on her best smile. "Aii-ya, Chief Che," her voice sounded as if it had been soaked for hours in a honey jar, "why fret over a little girl? Didn't you just say that she's but a stinky stuff, a worthless slut, a whore?"

The chief kicked Spring Moon's shoulder; his boots glinted menacingly under the pale moonlight. "Yeh! Stinky stuff! Soondrop-dead bitch! "

Spring Moon moaned; Pearl quickly added, "So don't you think it's not worth your bullet, Chief? Besides, why fret over a piece of dirt, just needlessly stirring your qi and harming your health? It's not worth it at all." Now seeing that the police chief had calmed down a bit, she ventured to put her hand on his shoulder. "Chief Che, you came here to get entertainment, not to get angry, right? We need you to be happy so you can take good care of our society by protecting us against all wrongs." She turned to wink at the onlookers. "Right?! "

Everybody nodded and uttered a loud "Yes!"

Slowly, Pearl moved her hand to cover the gun, then began to caress the chief's arm while slowly guiding the weapon back to its holster-like a snake returning to its hole. After that, she slipped her arm around the chief's. "Come on, Chief Che, let's forget this piece of scum and have some fun. I'll treat you to a glass of champagne, or," she winked, "anything that takes your fancy." Now she ventured to touch the chief's cheek, her red-painted nails sparkling eerily under the yellowish lantern light. "I promise you the wine is imported from France and you'll love it just as you love justice." Her gaze swept around the audience before she turned back to the chief, wetting her lips. "And I'll never say `no' to a big-shot customer like you. Not that I'm stupid or smart, it's simply because I can't afford to turn down righteousness!"

"Well said!" The group clapped.

Finally, with a stunning smile, Pearl wriggled her water-snake waist and led the staggering police chief away.

Waiting until they were out of sight, people let out a collective sigh of relief. Then some stooped to examine Spring Moon. Blood continued to ooze from her arm where the bullet had grazed her. Some simply stared blankly, as if disappointed that the incident had turned out to be an anticlimax with no killing. Fang Rong ordered two of the guards to take the poor girl back to the pavilion.

I sneaked up to her and asked, "Mama, shouldn't we get her to the hospital?"

She shot me a dirty look. "Hospital? Ah, what big talk! But who's going to pay? You? All right, if you pay, then we'll send her to a hospital-"

"But Mama, I don't have any money! "

"Neither do I!"

Wu Qiang chimed in, "Don't worry, Xiang Xiang. We'll ask our herbalist to treat her; it's much cheaper."

"What about-?"

Mama snorted. "If she dies, she dies, that's her fate, nobody can change that, not you, not me, not Guan Yin, not Buddha, not a Western doctor nor an expensive hospital." She waved vehemently to the guards. "Take her back, now!" Then she spat on Spring Moon. "Stinky stuff! Bringer of bad luck! "

After Spring Moon had been carried away, Fang Rong put on a big smile, announcing to the sisters and the guests while frantically waving her hands, "Nothing happened; everything's all right! Now go back to the party and enjoy yourselves! "

Immediately the group dispersed-some customers went to drink; others watched Mr. Wu demonstrate calligraphy; yet others listened to the sisters sing and swing their curvy bodies to the rhythm of the music ...

It both surprised and disgusted me that people were indeed having a good time as if nothing had happened.

Since no one was paying any attention to me, I went to sit on a bench to calm myself. Spring Moon's image kept spinning in my mind-her sad eyes, her pained face. Who was she? How did she end up in Peach Blossom? Was her family so poor that they had to sell her into the prostitution house? But she didn't look poor-she had a smooth face and nice skin. Was her father also a criminal like mine? Had she been kidnapped by a bandit?

I sat in a daze I didn't know how long until I flinched from a slap on my shoulder. I turned and saw Fang Rong's menacing face hovering above mine. And an old man's wrinkled one next to hers.

"Xiang Xiang, what's the matter with you? Don't you know that you're here to work, not to relax?"

I sprang up in no time.

Mama turned to Old Wrinkles. "Look, Big Master Fung, this is our famous Xiang Xiang, face beautiful enough to outshine the moon and shame the flowers. Don't you think?"