LITMIR.BIZ

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It was time for merchants to close shop, for city dwellers to make their final purchases and return home.

      The silence afterward was a resting period before the drinking houses set out their lanterns and the banquets began. For now, the streets were dim and vacant and Mingyu could watch the pattern of the trees against the buildings.

      Summer was gone and autumn was here. The celebration banquet season was over and now began the time when graduates of the imperial exams vied for official assignments. The parties at this time were more intimate affairs where introductions and connections could be made.

      “You are beautiful tonight, Elder Sister.”

      Little Hong’s eyes glowed with admiration as she looked covetously over Mingyu’s silk robe and the jewels in her hair. The girl was eleven years of age that year, a good time as any to begin her training. They were sisters by profession, not blood. Both of them belonged to the same foster mother.

      “Are we going far tonight?” Hong asked.

      “Not far. The gathering is at a public garden in the northern part of the ward.”

      “Will there be many gentlemen there?”

      “Yes.”

      Little Hong brightened. “Distinguished scholars? Men of high rank?”

      “Of course.”

      Little Hong leaned over, looking left and right to try to take in the sights around them. They had just left the main section of the Pingkang li, where most of the pleasure houses were located and where the two of them resided.

      “Be mindful of the pipa,” Mingyu said gently when she saw how the girl had the strings pressed against the side of the carriage. “The guests will be very disappointed if I cannot play tonight.”

      “Oh, yes! I’m sorry, Elder Sister.”

      Hong settled back down into her seat, cradling the instrument in her lap. To the girl, this trip must have seemed like freedom. The courtesans of the Lotus Palace were only allowed to leave if hired out for an event or by special permission.

      Mingyu had been in her place once, but it seemed so long ago. Now she was part of the cycle, training another girl into the life: bondage and servitude on one side, poetry and music on the other.

      Shops and buildings flowed by on either side of them like an endless river. Mingyu closed her eyes again only to be jolted forward when the carriage lurched to a stop. Little Hong yelped beside her and clutched the pipa to her chest. As they righted themselves, Mingyu could hear the driver yelling at someone.

      A boy dressed in ill-fitting rags crouched beside the front wheel. He whimpered as the driver shouted.

      “What are you doing, boy? Get out of the street!” The driver made a threatening motion with his crop, but the child remained in the dirt with his hands clutched around his knee.

      “Uncle.” Mingyu deliberately used the familiar honorific to address the driver. “Uncle, the boy is terrified.”

      “Don’t be fooled, Miss. This street scum is just playing the victim.” He glared back at the boy. “Get up, runt.”

      “Are you hurt, child?” She rose to step down from the carriage, holding the edge of her robe away from the dirt as she bent down.

      “Be careful,” the driver warned from behind her. “He looks ready to snatch your purse.”

      The boy looked nothing of the sort. He stared up at Mingyu with eyes as large as quail eggs. There was a smudge of dirt across one cheek and his bottom lip trembled.

      At that moment, an ominous shadow fell over Mingyu, engulfing both her and the child.

      “The carriage driver is right. The boy is pretending.”

      The deep gravel of the voice set the hairs of her neck on edge. Mingyu let her mask fall in place before straightening to greet the newcomer.

      “Constable Wu.”

      “Lady Mingyu.”

      She hated to be seen lowered before anyone, most of all this demon. His skin was bronzed from being out in the sun like a common laborer and his demeanor was darker still, black as night. Wu Kaifeng towered head and shoulders over her, as he did over everyone in the quarter. Most found him intimidating, but her reaction was much more alarming. She had been drawn to him from her very first sight of the constable. Wu was not a man to be ignored and certainly not a man who could be wooed simply by her beauty or reputation.

      When Mingyu had been imprisoned over a year ago on suspicion of murder, Wu had been her jailer. Though she was cleared of any wrongdoing, she’d never forgotten his bleak expression as he’d questioned her or his unyielding touch as he’d bound her hands.

      Mingyu tilted her chin up to meet his eyes, refusing to show any fear of him now. “Thank you for your assistance, Constable, but it won’t be needed. Unless you wish to arrest this child for being unfortunate enough to be injured by our carriage.”

      “The boy is lying,” Wu repeated. “I saw him hiding on this very corner the other day, watching as you drove by.”

      She turned toward the urchin. “Can you stand?”

      Mingyu offered her hand, but the boy shook his head feverishly and struggled to his feet by himself.

      A wagon carrying baskets of produce had to veer to the side while their carriage was stopped in the middle of the road. Mingyu ignored it and focused on the poor creature in front of her.

      “Where are your father and mother?”

      “You are very kind, Miss,” he murmured.

      The driver snorted loudly.

      “He’s luring you in,” Wu Kaifeng stated.

      Funny that the constable would assume she was naive. Mingyu had grown up in this quarter. It was her domain and she wasn’t sheltered from the realities of the crowded capital. She knew what her life would have been if Madame Sun hadn’t purchased her and provided for her. There was the street or the brothel.

      Maintaining her pleasant expression, Mingyu opened the drawstring on her silk bag and fished out a few coins to press into the boy’s hand. “Be careful, little one. Go home now.”

      The little rat at least affected a slight limp as he ran off into the alley.

      “He’s on the next street over now, begging coins out of another soft-heart.” Wu wasn’t smug or snide or superior as he said it. He was just as he was—hard and without emotion.

      “No one has ever accused me of being soft-hearted, Constable.” She faced him to make sure she had his full attention. “I know that boy was watching me the other day. I also know he wasn’t the only one watching.”

      Wu Kaifeng started at her insinuation, but recovered quickly. His expression became once again impenetrable.

      Indeed, she had also seen the constable at the roadside stand, staring at her with something akin to interest. No, that wasn’t possible. More like a bird of prey sighting a mouse. Her pulse had quickened at the single glimpse.

      “Of course, the constable must believe that he’s entitled to stare for as long as he pleases,” Mingyu taunted. “Everyone else seems to think so, as if I were a painting on the wall.”

      “It’s difficult to look at you,” he admitted with a bluntness that stole her breath.

      “Meaning?” she asked.

      His gaze remained focused on her face, but an odd light flickered in his eyes. Reflexively, her hand flew to her throat before she caught herself. It was a bad habit, a show of weakness.

      Curling her fingers tight, Mingyu let the hand drop to her side. “If there’s nothing else.”

      She didn’t realize until she spoke that her throat had gone dry. She was almost to the carriage

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