I began to peel off my clothes.
Fang Rong walked around me, poking and pinching my body here and there as if she were choosing a piece of pork for dinner. After more squeezing and kneading, she nodded; a satisfied smile broke out on her face. ‘Ha,’ she muttered as if talking to herself, ‘Big Master Fung must be a clairvoyant to pay so much for a thirteen-year-old.’
Just then the door swung open and in walked Wu Qiang. Instinctively I tried to snatch up my clothes to cover my nudity.
‘Leave that on the floor! Now let your de examine you.’
I felt so humiliated that tears pooled in my eyes. My clothes fell on the floor and lay there like a crumpled human form.
Mama’s voice roared next to my ear. ‘What do you feel so embarrassed about? It’s only your de. Haven’t you just told me you slept with your own father? Now stand still and let your de look at you.’
Though I looked down at my toes so I didn’t have to catch Wu Qiang’s penetrating glances, I could still feel his hungry eyes ravaging all over me. My body began to tremble. I swung my arms to wrap them around my chest.
Wu Qiang pulled my arms off. His voice was smooth while his eyeballs dropped to my nipples. ‘Xiang Xiang, don’t worry. Sooner or later, all young girls have to become young women.’ His hand was warm on my bare shoulder. ‘It’s no use to play lady when you’re going to be a whore.’
A smile broke out on Fang Rong’s face. ‘Wu Qiang, be gentle, she’s just a little virgin.’
Now De split his lips to reveal white, uniform teeth. ‘Yes, you’re right, just a little virgin.’ Seconds passed before he turned to Mama and said, still smiling, ‘So, what do you think?’
Mama nodded appreciatively. ‘Good, everything up to par – fine bones, smooth skin, tender flesh.’
De tousled my hair and added, ‘Also soft, silky black hair.’ Then he reached to touch my pubic hair. ‘Soft and glossy here, too.’
Mama shot him a sharp look. ‘I can see that myself.’
De nodded. ‘Yes, of course, of course.’
There was a dead silence; then, under Mama’s icy stare, De excused himself.
After he left, Mama said, ‘Put your clothes back on.’
I did. Now the same pair of eyes cast me a meaningful glance. ‘Xiang Xiang, you’re an extremely desirable virgin except for one thing.’
‘What is it?’
‘That’s it, too many questions! A virgin should be docile and gentle. Before you meet Big Master Fung, you better learn how to behave. Now go to Pearl and ask her how being nice and gentle to a jade stalk will bring you lots of money, let alone endless pleasures.’ She winked. ‘Pearl is an expert in the secrets of the bedchamber. Ha! Ha! Ha!’ After that, she picked up the books, thrust them back into my arms, and gave me a push toward the door.
Pearl was preening in front of the mirror. After I closed the door, she stared at my hair and exclaimed, ‘Xiang Xiang, you look very pretty!’ She patted the chair next to her. ‘Come sit by me.’
A long silence passed during which she was staring at my hair in the mirror.
‘Sister Pearl, don’t you like my new hairstyle?’
Pearl didn’t answer my question; her expression turned sad and serious. ‘Did Mama also buy you ice cream, feed you with soup, then show you those strange books?’
I nodded.
‘Xiang Xiang, you’re going to be fucked by a man!’
‘No, I’m not!’
‘Hai, my little sister, why do you think they’ve been treating you like a princess?’
‘I think because … because I’m just lucky.’
‘Lucky, eh?’ She sneered. ‘If there’s luck in this whorehouse, then we’d all be princesses, not prostitutes. But too bad, because you’re going to be a real whore, you understand? Do you want me to draw out the entrails for you?’
Silence dropped in the room like a gutted corpse.
‘And this,’ she snatched the books from my arms and threw them on the table, ‘is to prepare you to change from a virgin to a woman;’ she paused to cast me a bitter glance, ‘or from a virtuous woman to a wicked whore.’
She picked up one of the books and flipped through the pages with the illustrations. ‘If you study all these positions thoroughly and master them, they’ll help you to become prestigious, so prestigious that men will pay several silver coins just to sniff the fragrance wafting from your body, and lots of gold ones to taste it!’
I gasped for air, reluctant to face the ugly truth that I’d been so stubbornly avoiding.
‘Xiang Xiang.’ Pearl patted my head. ‘It’s no use to worry too much, just learn it, all right? I’m right here to help you.’
I nodded, squeezing out a bitter smile.
‘Good. We’ll start the lesson now.’ She winked. ‘There’s a saying “Die under a peony grove and be a licentious ghost,” meaning a woman can make a man so happy that he doesn’t mind dying while having sex with her.’
I was silent, trying to absorb what she’d said.
Then she began to explain to me words like red pearl, lute strings, slippery noodles, and all the strange metaphors such as chopping open the melon and tasting its juice; the jade stalk delving into the golden gate; yin juices flowing like a well …
By the end of the lesson, I was in awe of Pearl’s deep knowledge of these abstruse matters but completely exhausted.
Suddenly Pearl exclaimed, ‘Oh damn! Xiang Xiang, now I have to entertain a big shot. So why don’t you go study and come back to my room tomorrow?’
When I was at the door, she called to my back.
I turned and saw her sad face.
‘Xiang Xiang, I like you very much.’ She paused, then said, ‘You better grasp your last chance to enjoy your girlhood—’
I didn’t know how to respond.
‘Now why don’t you go and have fun with Spring Moon?’
‘But if Mama knows, she will—’
‘Don’t worry, since I’m sure Big Master Fung has already paid a lot for you, she’ll be in a good mood and won’t be too harsh on you. Go and have fun in the garden near the temple.’
But I’d heard that garden was haunted by some ill-fated sisters who’d committed suicide! Of course, no one dared to ask Mama whether it was true or not. But when I turned back to ask Pearl, she’d already shut the door.
I pushed open the door to Spring Moon’s room and stepped inside. She was sitting on her bed, which was strewn with several books that looked familiar to me. She shifted her body and patted the empty space next to her. ‘Xiang Xiang, come sit down.’
I sat, then gestured to the books. ‘You understand all of them?’
‘Of course I do, Xiang Xiang.’ She looked at me curiously. ‘You mean you don’t?’
‘Only some, but then Sister Pearl explained everything to me.’
I went over in my mind