The Lotus Palace Page 11

  Yue-ying’s pulse pounded. “He won’t.” Her throat was tight. “I won’t let him.”

  Mingyu swung around to face her. “I knew.”

  Yue-ying remained in the corner, her hands clasped in front of her. To anyone observing them, she was a servant awaiting orders. When Mingyu became like this, it was better to let the storm roll over rather than fight against it.

  “I knew from the first time he came to the Lotus and he saw you,” Mingyu said through her teeth.

  “You’re making things up now. No one sees me. They only see you.”

  “Lord Bai certainly noticed you. I could see it in his eyes. He flatters me because he is expected to, but he was seeking your attention the entire time. I thought you would be indifferent to his charms. That you wouldn’t be seduced so easily.”

  Yue-ying remained outwardly calm, though her stomach fluttered with a perverse thrill. Perhaps Bai Huang had indeed noticed her right from the beginning. “I have not been seduced by him.”

  “But you want to be,” Mingyu accused.

  Maybe she did. Being desired and seduced was better than being bought and sold.

  Mingyu stood and went to her. “You have to be careful, Yue-ying. Everyone has two faces in the North Hamlet. Everyone wants more from you than what they ask.”

  Bai Huang had claimed Mingyu was jealous of anyone taking attention away from her, but the truth was much more complicated. Mingyu had always been protective of her.

  “Tomorrow he will be chasing someone else. This is sport for young aristocrats like him. Their one chance to behave like scoundrels with no consequences. I see it every year—different faces, but the same poems, the same gossip, the same games of courtship.”

  “I know this,” Yue-ying said harshly. It was rare that she ever raised her voice against her supposed mistress, but Mingyu’s words stung with the pain of truth. Hadn’t Bai Huang all but admitted it? I wanted to see what would happen.

  “I know this,” she repeated, her tone subdued and brittle now. “I know a great many other things as well.”

  Yue-ying could have conceded this battle, like so many other sacrifices she’d made all her life, but something inside her refused. She wasn’t defending Bai Huang. She was fighting for herself, for the small pleasure of being kissed beneath a bridge by someone who was to her liking. Even if Bai Huang had known a hundred other bridges and a hundred other girls.

  “You warn me about the dangers of being seduced by a man as if I’m an innocent maiden when you know that I am far from innocent,” Yue-ying challenged. “You just choose to ignore that.”

  For a moment, Mingyu looked worried. She looked vulnerable. She looked as she had once looked a long time ago.

  “I am still here with you,” Yue-ying said gently. “I’ll be here tomorrow and tomorrow after that.”

  “Don’t be taken in by him. By his sweet words or that handsome face,” Mingyu warned, building the walls back up around her. “He’ll hurt you.”

  Maybe Yue-ying wanted him to. It would mean that she could still feel something.

  * * *

  MADAME SUN HAD to send someone up twice before they heeded her summons. The air between them was stretched to the breaking point as they descended the stairs. Mingyu walked with her spine stiff and her head tilted at a haughty angle. The pearl ornament in her hair swung restlessly with each step. Yue-ying followed a few steps behind, obediently carrying Mingyu’s stringed pipa. It was a smaller instrument and easier to transport than the zither.

  “You’re going to be late,” Madame scolded.

  Being punctual was not something Mingyu ever worried about. Banquets were notoriously laconic when it came to starting and more particularly ending hours—a habit that Madame usually profited from.

  So Mingyu breezed past Madame with only a cursory nod. It was the tall figure at the front door that brought her up short.

  “Lady Mingyu.” Wu Kaifeng bowed lower than was required. It was an awkward, exaggerated motion that, given his height, seemed almost like mockery.

  “Constable Wu.” Mingyu’s bow was considerably less pronounced to the point of being nonexistent. “Yue-ying did not tell me the head constable would see to this task himself.”

  “I hope the lady finds this servant acceptable.”

  “More than acceptable.” She continued past him.

  The carriage was waiting in the street. Yue-ying quickened her pace to come up beside the constable.

  “I didn’t mean for you to go to all this trouble,” she whispered.

  “No trouble,” he said in a tone that wasn’t exactly unpleasant. Every exchange with him was a battle. He gave away nothing in his voice or expression.

  She went ahead to Mingyu, who had already seated herself. The awning had been taken down for the evening and Yue-ying could see the orange-purple sky peeking through the buildings as the sun set. Constable Wu remained in the street to accompany them on foot, his hand resting casually near his sword.

  “Come up here with us,” Mingyu invited. “It’s a long way and I would want you to save your strength to fight off any bandits and wrongdoers that might accost us.”

  Yue-ying sighed in irritation. Mingyu was the one who had insisted on an escort, but now she was treating it like some sort of joke.

  With his long legs, Wu climbed up into the carriage without need of the step stool and positioned himself immediately behind the driver in the seat opposite them. Mingyu remained silent, looking out into the street. Defiantly, Yue-ying did the same. She turned her head to watch the rows of shops flow by.

  All the warmth and euphoria she had felt beneath the bridge had faded away. Mingyu drew the entire world around her like stars circling the Earth. If she was upset, then no one else was allowed their happiness.

  At least Wu’s presence assured their earlier argument would not resurface. Hopefully the discussion about Bai Huang would die away, to become yet another topic they avoided speaking of. Some things were meant to go unspoken, even among the closest of people.

  The first part of the journey was dreadful. There was a lantern hanging on the carriage to provide light. Wu Kaifeng kept his hands on his knees, his glance occasionally flickering to one side of the carriage and then the other. Anyone who happened to approach them was likely to get his hand sliced off.

  “You are from Suzhou,” Mingyu said to him after the long pause.

  “I am.”

  “I hear the women are beautiful there.”

  “Not more or less so than anywhere.”

  Mingyu laughed. “He speaks only when required and not one word more.”

  Yue-ying didn’t answer. She didn’t think she was supposed to.

  “Tell us about all the dangerous outlaws you’ve arrested in the North Hamlet,” she taunted.

  Yue-ying wanted to pinch her; Mingyu was being combative on purpose.

  “Not many at all.”

  “Oh, we must be quite safe, then.”

  “Very secretive, more like,” the constable replied. “The citizens of this ward would rather a crime go unpunished than upset the peace by reporting it.”

  “Well, Magistrate Li speaks highly of you,” Mingyu said, now trying to smooth over the rough edges of the conversation.

  “He brought me here because there were a high number of questionable cases in the area,” he said.

  “Questionable?”

  “Take the case of the body that was found in the river. The man was drowned before being dragged back into a boat. Then whoever did it took time to hide the body, which is unusual for street thieves. He was dead for a week before the earthquake shook the boat loose from wherever it had been lodged. The body had begun to decay, becoming black and putrid, yet no one reported anyone as missing during this time.”

  They were both staring at him in shock. Talk of death and tragedy was taboo. Maybe it was a good thing that Constable Wu didn’t speak very often.

  Mingyu looked a little pale by the time the carriage stopped for i
nspection at the ward gate. They had been issued a pass to allow them through after curfew. The city streets outside the ward were wide and empty aside from foot patrols at this time of night. The carriage rolled northward toward the lavish residences located near the imperial palace.

  “Well, this has certainly been an interesting ride,” Mingyu remarked sarcastically as they arrived at the banquet.

  Yue-ying bit her tongue. Mingyu had demanded protection, not entertaining conversation.

  The mansion was practically a palace itself. There were several courtyards within the surrounding wall. The spacious garden had been set up with banquet tables, and courtesans moved between them, pouring wine and providing stories. Lanterns were hung throughout the gathering, casting a warm glow over the guests. The darkness of night was no deterrent for celebrating such an occasion. The party was hosted by Duke Chou of Taiyuan, who had been newly promoted to chancellor, one of the highest positions in the imperial court.

  Mingyu introduced herself to the steward and flowed into the banquet as if she’d been born to nobility. She was brought to the head table to be introduced to the Duke and his inner circle. Yue-ying drifted to the corner of the garden, preparing to become invisible.

  “There is something I did not bring up in the carriage, Miss Yue-ying.”

  She started at the gravel of Wu’s voice. She’d heard no warning footsteps or the clearing of a throat. The head constable materialized beside her like a granite statue, dark and imposing.

  He stood with his back to the wall and raked his gaze slowly over the gathering. He made her nervous, as if he were the judge of the underworld there to demand retribution for old, undiscovered transgressions.

  “About the body in the canal—a puncture wound was found at the juncture of his neck and shoulder.” He tapped the spot at the base of his neck. “Upon further investigation, I found this embedded in him.”

  He reached into the fold of his robe and pulled out a bundle of cloth. She unwrapped it to find a broad silver pin the length of her third finger.

  “I considered it might be a weapon, going so far as to check the wound for traces of poison. There was none,” he assured her.

  Poison? What sort of crimes did the constable typically encounter?

  She picked up the pin very carefully with two fingers, turning it over and holding it close to inspect the surface. “This is from a lady’s hair ornament.”

  The long, pointed tip, which was meant to be fixed into a coil of hair or a bun, was intact, but the topmost edge was jagged. The ornament had been snapped off.

  “At first I assumed the drowned man was a vagrant or some unfortunate who had stumbled upon thieves in the middle of the night,” Wu said. “The presence of this, an expensive piece of jewelry, changes everything. This was stabbed into him with enough force to break it in two. There was a struggle before he drowned.”

  A shiver ran down her spine. Whoever had worn the ornament was involved with murder.

  “The pin is made of pure silver. Very expensive. Considering where the body was found, this ornament likely belonged to a courtesan. One who was successful enough to afford such extravagance,” Wu concluded.

  Mingyu glanced over at them with a curious look. Yue-ying quickly wrapped the pin back up and returned it to the constable. “Why are you telling me this now?”

  “I know very little about women’s jewelry. I was hoping you could help me.”

  When Wu spoke, his eyes didn’t liven his face or emphasize his words. They remained fixed upon her. Yue-ying finally recognized that it wasn’t merely a quirk of his character. Everything he said was indeed part of an interrogation. All that strange talk during the carriage ride about the dead body found in the canal—he was watching closely to see how they would react to it. Surely he didn’t suspect her or Mingyu?

  Then she realized he suspected everyone.

  “There are hundreds of these in the quarter,” she replied. “There’s no way to tell who this belonged to.”

  “One murder shortly after another in the Pingkang li. It makes one wonder if there is some connection.”

  The killing would have happened around the same time as the banquet on the pleasure boat. Just weeks before Huilan’s death.

  “Maybe this man attempted to grab some woman and do unspeakable things to her,” Yue-ying said. “She had to defend herself.”

  “Then why not report it to the magistrate?” the constable asked.

  She looked over to where Mingyu was entertaining. The Pingkang was its own world and the constable was an outsider. Bai Huang had said as much.

  “Because we’re afraid,” she said evenly. “We’re all afraid.”

  The earthquake had dredged up all the hidden secrets of the quarter. Two murders, occurring so close together. One was a stranger who meant nothing to anyone except the grim-faced constable who was ruthlessly dedicated to his duties. But Huilan was well-known and beloved. Or at least she had been.

  “Miss?” A maidservant approached them. “Our steward needs to speak with you. Some issue with the banquet fee.”

  “The fee?” Payment was always handled between the host and Madame Sun.

  Yue-ying excused herself from Constable Wu and followed the maidservant into the interior of the mansion. The entrance hall was similarly lit with lanterns, though all of the guests had congregated outside in the garden. She was asked to wait in a sitting room and was in the midst of studying a scroll depicting a flock of cranes on one wall when an arm wrapped around her waist.

  With a gasp, she dug her elbow back, colliding against solid bone and muscle.

  “It’s me,” Bai Huang said with a laugh. He loosened his hold on her as she twisted around.

  “You scared me!” She shoved at him. Her heart was pounding uncontrollably. All this talk of murder and stabbings. Still, the sight of him stole her breath. “What are you doing here?”

  “Don’t you know that the new chancellor and I share the same surname? The Duke of Taiyuan is a distant relative—a cousin of cousins. I have an impressive lineage.”

  She sniffed. He grinned.

  “I have to get back,” she said. “I can’t be away for long, especially when Mingyu sees that you’re here.”

  “Oh, so you’ve been prohibited from seeing me.” He leaned in close and lowered his voice. “No more kissing beneath bridges?”

  Her face heated. She turned to go only to have him catch her sleeve. It was a risk, having such long sleeves.

  “Why don’t we both stay back here? No one will miss us and you’re the most interesting part of the banquet anyway.”

  “Shameless,” she scolded.

  But there was no denying the flutter in her stomach or the skip of her pulse. She liked the way he teased her. She even liked the look of regret that passed over his face when he released her.

  “What is that brute Wu Kaifeng doing here? I heard he accompanied you.”

  “He’s here for our protection.”

  “Protection?”

  “Mingyu insisted she didn’t feel safe.” She frowned. “Her reasons are sometimes a mystery to all but herself. Whatever her mood was today, she refused to leave the Lotus without a bodyguard.”

  “Wu is like a great black spider. His presence would dampen the mood of any gathering.”

  “Black spider? Now that’s hardly fair,” she chided. “I really must go.”

  “Wait—” He caught her sleeve again, this time letting his fingers trail down to hook onto hers. “When can I see you again?”

  His proposal made her heart leap. They weren’t conducting an affair. It was nothing more than the touch of fingertips and the exchange of looks. One brief kiss in the rain. Another prolonged, passionate kiss beneath a bridge. She strung their moments together one by one like jewels on a necklace.

  Mingyu was right; she was allowing herself to be seduced. Not by Bai Huang, but by the thought a gentleman such as him could be attracted to someone like her. Of course it wasn’t anything more t
han a moment’s infatuation.

  “We shouldn’t be seen together unless you happen to be at the Lotus,” she replied firmly.

  “But you won’t speak to me at the Lotus,” he protested.

  Yue-ying wanted very much to be reckless and stay with him, if only for a few stolen moments, but she couldn’t endanger her relationship with Mingyu. Their bond was tenuous enough as it was. With her heart full of regret, she left Bai Huang standing in the parlor.

  She had been so distracted by his teasing that she hadn’t thought to tell him about the broken hairpin and the stranger in the canal. Perhaps it was best that she kept her suspicions, as vague as they were, to herself. Huilan could have left the pleasure boat that night and returned along the waterway.

  The problem was that Mingyu had been with her.

  CHAPTER TEN

  THE LAYOUT OF the pleasure quarter was easy to navigate. There were three main lanes. The more expensive establishments such as the Lotus Palace and the House of a Hundred Songs were located in the central and southern lanes. The lesser houses congregated along the northern lane.

  These courtesans were not as highly skilled and their patrons were the younger candidates or poorer merchants who could not afford the exorbitant banquet fees of the larger houses.

  Given his reputation for being indiscriminate, it wasn’t implausible for Huang to stumble into one of the houses of the northern lane. The headmistress took a look at the expensive material of his robe, recognized his name and his reputation for throwing money around, and immediately he found a lovely young lady at his arm leading him to a seat. Her perfume had a sweet, pleasant scent.

  “What is your name?” he asked as he reclined back onto the pillows.

  “Lin Li.”

  He rewarded her with a smile. “Very pretty.”

  Lin Li ducked her head shyly as she poured the wine. She wore little makeup and her face had a fresh, innocent appeal with dimples in both cheeks and a soft pink mouth. The house had only a single parlor for entertaining and three courtesans in addition to the headmistress. His attention was divided between the lovely Lin Li and Ma Jun, who was sitting at the center of the room with two men he didn’t recognize.