Jinghua~
The gate around the manor is back, which is a relief. Our privacy is restored. Qing Yuan and A-li are playfully bickering like siblings, accusing each other of cheating during their late night dice game. While they argue, I hear something that she doesn’t. I wordlessly move my body instinctively in front of hers as a hissing sound rustles over our heads.
A messenger arrow from the general’s Ghost Soldiers finds its target landing in the plum tree behind us with a thud. Standing on the raised tree planter, Qing Yuan seizes the arrow with both hands. With some force, the bamboo shaft, featuring a field point tip, comes out of the dense hard lumber, revealing its yellowish brown interior. He unfastens the paper scrolled around the cylinder, reads, and hands it to me. It explains an unknown female has been hanging around the manor and moving closer than before. She is currently hiding between the row of drying beddings and the ceramic pots full of pickled food items out back.
Such cryptic communication may seem dramatic, but for the clandestine army that serves the Grand General solely and operates as a different sect under the White Tiger banner, everything about them is concealed under a veil of secrecy. The identity and exact number of members in the faction is known only to the General. Each soldier is a martial arts master of the highest level in the pugilist world. It is said that one elite guard alone can hold off an army of three hundred. Their presence here is a testament to the Grand General Bai’s concern for A-li’s safety.
Qing Yuan signals to me and quietly walks around to the back. He returns moments later, holding onto a struggling rag-a-muffin of girl. He is restraining her, but there isn’t any tension in his grip. The smooth backside of his hand doesn’t show a single raised vein of exertion as his fingers loosely cling onto her dress rather than her biceps, but she’s snarling and spitting, screaming as if she’s undergoing torture. Her lips are curled back, exposing her teeth.
She moves in an erratic circle, kicking up grass and dirt. A cloud of dust swirls around her, creating a hazy puff as the girl desperately fights to break free. Profanity violently erupts from the agitated girl’s lips, the ugly words piercing the still evening air like shards of glass. “Let me go, you son of a whore! Get off me, you fucking bastard!” She screams, spitting like a viper. Saliva flies, landing mostly on her as she spits at Qing Yuan, holding her. Her body shakes and contorts while she continues to struggle. But then, in an instant, her gaze sees and locks onto A-li, and her stamina dissipates like smoke.
She lurches forward dramatically as if thrown, collapsing to the ground, landing with a loud thud on her stomach, her thick body clumsily giving way like a haphazardly dropped sack of rice. Sobs wrack her body as she cries out for A-li, referring to her as her older sister. She screams. “Jiejie! Help me!” These men are hurting me! Jiejie, it’s me, your sister, Meili!”
A-li~
While I calmed Meili down, Mrs. Ma and Little Min filled the bathtub. They heaved buckets of boiling water from the kitchen and drew cold water from the well outside without a single glare of vexation or word of complaint. They didn’t ask who Meili was when I blushingly thanked them for the day and sent them away. Now it’s just Meili and me in the bathroom.
We might not be biologically related by blood, but I consider Meili my sister. I’m relieved to see her. “What happened?” I ask as I shampoo her greasy and crimped hair. I can feel bits of dirt and twigs with rough textures coming off of her, rubbing against my hands.
She tells me about her dramatic escape. On the night the men came for us, she jumped out of the horse-drawn carriage that held our other siblings captive and hid in a forest where hungry wolves howled endlessly. Since then, she spent the last few months in the capital struggling. She had begged and lived on handouts and settled with street children her age for protection before she ended up in Qingshui City.
Meili has always had the knack of exaggerating. Although her story sounds embellished, it is unfortunately plausible. Wasn’t Jinghua sent to Qingshui City for this very reason? Wasn’t he sent to find and stop such violations and criminals? And how else could she, a naive girl who knows nothing of the world, have ended up this far from the capital unless someone coaxed her with lies and brought her here?
Though a sensitive question, I pose, choosing my words carefully, thoughtfully. “Meili, did you see an older man called by minister or Lord Shao? Were you brought here after being told you were being taken to an orphanage? Has anyone forced themselves on you here or made you do things against your will?” Meili cries in her cupped hands and tells me. She and some others were tricked with promises of jobs working as nannies or seamstresses, but they had been brought to Qingshui City and held against their will in some building in town. They have been starved, abused, but she can’t recall any details such as names, locations or general descriptions of her captures.
She tells me it was sheer luck. She had seen me through a window and escaped. Then she falls silent, as if she had lost all her energy and I think back to the rainy night I collapsed at the Bai manor gates after running away from the men Wang Guo sold me to. I had thanked the heavens when nobody had forced me to answer questions during those first days as I passed in and out of consciousness in my most fragile state. I have received goodwill and consider it good karma. I can extend the same compassion to Meili, giving her repose as not prying further, asking no more of her in this late hour.
I finish helping her bathe, then wrap her up in a thick towel like I did when she was little. From the ground by the tub, I pick up her discarded dress. Surprised to the dress doesn’t reek of body odor or sweat, odd, especially since it’s summer. They smell of smoke and sulfur and the smudges aren’t from dirt, but bits of glitter embedded in the fabric.
Jinghua~
Jinghua eavesdropped on A-li’s conversation with the Wang daughter from behind a privacy screen. Meili Wang mentioned being brought to Qingshui City by a man promising her a job as a nanny. A common ruse that was used by brokers to mislead girls needing employment. This part was believable. If she was truly abducted, she could be the one who could lead Jinghua to the people he was looking for. But he didn’t have any of A-li’s tolerance for the daughter of the man who had abducted her and he didn’t like A-li helping the girl bathe since A-li herself, a princess never had others serve her with such tasks.
“You can wear one of my nightgowns tonight and you must be hungry. I’ll get something for you to eat. I remember you sleep best with a full stomach, then you can sleep without worrying since I’ll be here. Tomorrow, I’ll go out and buy you new clothes, shoes, and pretty hairpins like the ones you always wanted.”
Jiejie, what if those men come looking for me? I’m scared. Can I sleep with you tonight like old times?”
“Yes, you can sleep with me.”
What was this bullshit he was hearing from the other side? Jinghua’s eyes rolled when he heard A-li. The forceful kicking of his boots against the wall behind him was loud enough for others to hear. She hadn’t asked his permission, but he made his opinions known, said, “No. You and I won’t sleep apart. It’s warm outside. She can sleep on the patio or kitchen floor.”
A-li rushed out from the bathroom. The front of her dress was a wet mess, and her straight hair was starting to form waves from the steam. “Jinghua..it’s the first night and Meili has been through so much. Just tonight, huh?” She pleaded with her lips and eyes, but Jinghua firmly said, “No.” He leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms. “Wife, you and I won’t sleep apart. End of discussion. You can stare at me with those puppy eyes as long as you’d like, but nothing will change.”
Her brows furrowed pensively, her bottom lip becoming full and swollen from friction as she chewed on the fleshly protrusion as she did when in thought. “How about the little extended chamber within our room? The one that looks like it was used as a nursery once. There’s a curtain so she can have her privacy and we will have ours. Tomorrow we’ll figure something else out.” She says, turning her big wide-eyed gaze at me, making it impossible for me to say anything but yes.
Meili~
The old Meihua no longer exists. She has undergone a remarkable transformation. Her emaciated frame, with jutting bones and pointed joints, is a thing of the past. Her shapely body now captivates the eye. As she folds over, leaning forward, the roundness of her bottom bells out, seductively pressing against the soft fabric of her creamy colored satin robe that is tied closed with a delicate sash that brings attention to her slender waist. Her round nipples, though soft, are visible firmly pressed against the thin material of her nightwear, and the raised bumps of her areola are distinguishable as her breasts sets pressure on the fabric.
Gone is the greenish dark circles under Meihua’s eyes that had been an endless source for laughs when I told the neighbors our father had blackened my sister’s eyes for being a lazy bitch and tramp. Her face, once stark and angular, a trait she alone inherited, now holds a softer, fuller appearance. Her fair complexion is the same, still light but is perfectly smooth, like flawless white jade, and her cheeks have a natural glowing rosy hue. Even her hair is different. Her hair, once mousy and thin, currently hangs dark, dense, and lush locks cascade down to her waist.
Meihua mumbles to herself about finding me the right nightgown. Her nimble fingers walking over neatly folded lingerie with cherry blossom stitching. The bureau behind her is a treasure trove of women’s finery. Expensive looking dresses hang. Pairs of satin shoes of all colors and supple, soft leather, like the ones made of deerskin, are set side by side. Pretty ribboned hats are perched atop the bureau. There are hooded cloaks like the ones rich women in the capital wore in an array of shades.
Meihua finally spots a nightgown and holds it up to me. She comments about how well the plain nightshirt suits me, while I privately try to figure out why her sleeping clothes are so much prettier than mine.
I ask, “So, was that your husband?” and then say, “Your party looked like a wedding banquet, was it?” Pulling my nightgown over my head, I’m surprised by the size of her breasts. Recently, she used to be flat chested like a boy, but now she’s, as the boys would say, gifted up top. Her shapely body resembles the imperial courtesans I saw in the capital, while I could be mistaken for a frumpy old maid in this ugly nightgown that’s much too long for me.
“How did you meet someone like him and why does everyone call you A-li instead of Meihua? Why did you change your name?”
She tells me it’s late, and she’ll explain everything in the morning. As she tucks me in the beddings set on the floor inside the small chamber, she says the room served as a nursery but to me; it seems like it was used by a servant. She blows out my candle, the smell of her hair wafts in my face. I hear the faint rustling of the curtains as she pulls them shut.
Lying here, I can’t help but replay the earlier conversation in my mind. It had been too sudden. Her questions about how I got to Qingshui City and who brought me here had blindsighted me. I had not known what to say. It was like divine intervention. I was relieved by her bringing up the orphanage and my abduction. Being a victim is helpful for me — I think it is considerate of me. It’s a more favorable truth for a goody-goody like Meihua.
Meihua is a prude, a frigid fish, and the weight of her judgment can leave a lasting bitter aftertaste. She can make me feel insignificant and small. I know she would have probably passed out if I told her the truth. That I know nothing about an orphanage. There aren’t other girls being held and that I don’t know any sinister men, and that I willingly engaged in sexual activity with Anwei’er, a factory technician double my age, on the way to Qingshui city. He came for a job in the fireworks factory and I followed along because I was bored in the capital.
After we arrived, we discovered the workshop was closed down but remained in the building for several weeks. We slept in the factory because we didn’t have money for an inn until he left for the next city. He had wanted me to go with him and marry him. I wasn’t surprised by his reluctance to lose out on someone like me. It’s not every day one gets to marry a young, beautiful bride like me, but I chose to stay behind. I didn’t feel any genuine affection or loyalty towards him to stay with him.
He wasn’t my first love. He wasn’t even a love, and he wasn’t my first sexual experience. My first sexual adventures were the neighborhood boys in old Man Fung’s goat stable. Meihua had scolded me for getting goat feed on my clothes, not understanding how I became covered in hay, but I enjoyed being with them secretly. They made me feel special and pretty, even saying I was prettier than Meihua. They had even given me sweet treats like candied fruits. Meihua wouldn’t understand any of this, but what is this? She and her husband are whispering.
“A-li don’t say too much or volunteer any information. I want to hear what she says and not the words you put in her mouth.”
“How else would she end up this far from the capital? If she knows something and you solve this case. We can go home and tell everyone we’re married.”
“Love, we’ll tell everyone in due time. Regardless, we will get everyone’s blessings. Don’t worry about anything other than being my wife.”
The sound of bodies shifting on the bed fills the space, accompanied by the rhythmic creaks and squeaks of the mattress. While holding my breath, I creep and gingerly part the curtain. All the candles have been blown out, yet the lingering voices carry through the darkness. A deep, masculine groan that sends shivers down my spine is met and answered with a delicate, feminine moan. My sister’s sigh escapes her lips in an airy exhale. “Hush…she’ll hear us.”
“I don’t care,” he murmurs in between labored breaths. I can almost imagine his face contorted with lust and what he says makes my body squirm, arousing an inexplicable need within me.
My sister gasps and moans. “Jinghua, oh God.”
I’m burning up.
My nipples grow erect and my body feels hot. I become wet. The heat and wetness spreads, soaking and pooling around my sex. I can’t help but rub myself and squeeze my thighs together. The more I listen to his grunts, the wetter and harder my clit gets. I have to bite my lip to stop from crying out.
I have a sudden desire to be the one he is fucking, the one being pounded and filled by his throbbing cock. The sound of flesh slapping, his heavy breathing and grunts and my sister’s sighs, and cries.
The noises from their bodily pleasure become louder, impossible to ignore.
Then he peaks powerfully, and she cries out, calling his name over and over. My fingers are still between my thighs and I’m so close to orgasm, but the noise stops and the room falls silent.
My heart races and the muscles in my pelvic floor contract. I have to bite down on my finger to stop from moaning as my orgasm rolls through my body like a wave despite myself. I come hard and fast, shaking, gasping, and sighing, biting the fleshy part of my palm to muffle my moans.
I drift asleep to the chirping sound of the crickets outside, my heart still throbbing in my chest. I wonder what tomorrow will bring, but moreover, I wonder exactly what kind of man is my brother-in-law.