Chapter 23: Knowing Which Way the Wind Blows

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The burly man was moving too fast for the pain to register. His body simply went limp, and he tumbled forward, landing flat on his face.

It felt as though a hole had opened beneath his foot, through which all his strength was pouring away, not a trace of it remaining.

When the man lowered his head and saw blood gushing between his toes, he let out a terrible scream. “Ah! Aah! What kind of technique is that?”

What kind of technique?

An Chunfeng had no intention of teaching her anything, still less any interest in answering.

The bamboo skewer had pierced the flesh and broken off inside. If it was removed at once and the wound properly treated, the foot might recover after a year or two. If not, it might well be ruined.

One could hardly accuse An Chunfeng of cruelty. Had that kick struck another person in the chest, it might have broken several ribs at best; at worst, a blow to the heart would have killed them outright.

An Chunfeng clapped her hands and sneered. “Madam Zhuang, if you have anything else to say, say it all at once!”

In only two exchanges, both of her hired thugs were down. The stout woman no longer even had the heart to smoke; her face had grown grave.

She knew when to yield.

Pushing away the pretty boy clinging to her, Madam Zhuang said solemnly, “My lady, there must surely be some misunderstanding. I beg your forgiveness!”

During the fight, the courtyard gate had been left half open. Madam Zhuang had already glimpsed the walls within An Chunfeng’s residence, and her heart had turned cold.

She knew Pear Blossom Lane extremely well. This was no ordinary dwelling. The rent alone was at least one or two ounces of silver a month, and the other expenses were hardly insignificant.

Prices in the capital were high. One ounce of silver was enough to feed an ordinary family of five or six for more than half a month.

Besides, she had managed the courtesans in this area for many years. She had seen plenty of women kneeling and begging for mercy through floods of tears, but never one as fierce as this.

With such clean and decisive skill—she had thrown Pi Da and Pi Liu to the ground in an instant—she could easily serve as a personal maid to some wealthy young lady. Even the great households would pay handsomely for her. Whatever else happened, it was a far better path than becoming a lowly clandestine prostitute.

If she lived here selling cheap wine to men, without a patron to support her, she might not even earn enough to cover the rent.

To live alone outside—perhaps she was the kept woman of some noble personage…

At the thought, Madam Zhuang’s scalp prickled. Damn it, she had been careless!

This was the capital, where the nobles indulged in every sort of amusement. Some men favored wild women with a little martial skill, women who could turn a few somersaults. Keeping such a woman in the inner quarters was inconvenient, so they established a separate residence for her.

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The slightest carelessness could offend someone she could not afford to offend. Madam Zhuang no longer dared make reckless guesses.

An Chunfeng took one step forward, and Madam Zhuang retreated one step. Then her eyes shifted, and she called out, “My lady, it was Madam Lu who said you were receiving clients in secret and sent this old woman here to collect the money.”

Madam Lu!

An Chunfeng stopped and looked toward the black-lacquered door beside them, which was now swaying ever so slightly.

The pretty boy Weiwei reacted quickly. He crossed the threshold in two strides and seized Madam Lu from behind the door. “My lady, this is the woman who slandered you!”

Madam Lu had seen everything through the crack in the door. Now she was trembling from head to foot, her teeth chattering as she said, “She was the one who said she knew Huang San very well, and that they had once sworn to live and die together in the Hall of Yama. Huang San is a rotten man—he knows every courtesan here. Since we all make our living this way, I thought I should tell Madam.”

An Chunfeng was speechless. She had indeed said that she had met Huang San in the Hall of Yama. This calamity was one she had brought upon herself.

Madam Zhuang had already made up her mind. Hearing Madam Lu continue to argue, she raised her hand and slapped her viciously across the face. “You filthy harlot! I’ll teach that lying mouth of yours a lesson!”

Caught completely off guard, Madam Lu went rolling two full turns from the force of the blow. She spat out a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva and immediately began to sob.

It was evening now, and the heat of the day had begun to fade. The residents of the lane had all come outside to enjoy the cooler air. They had seen Madam Zhuang blocking the gate and had gathered in groups of three and five.

As befitted people of the capital, they were worldly and well-mannered. Even when watching a spectacle, they did not crowd too close, but stood at a respectful distance of several yards, neither near nor far.

They had not seen clearly how An Chunfeng had brought down the two burly men. But the sight of two men being driven back by a single woman left them astonished, and a thought arose in many minds at once:

Could this woman be one of those performers who sold their skills beneath the Bridge of Heaven?

The girls in the pleasure houses were versed in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Beneath the Bridge of Heaven, beside the imperial city, there were likewise women who performed handstands, somersaults, and feats with blades, spears, swords, and halberds. In their spare time, they earned a little easy money.

One person, not understanding, asked, “Was Madam Zhuang merely collecting her share? How did it turn into a fight?”

Someone who had witnessed the whole affair explained, “Madam Zhuang brought people to collect the money, but that woman doesn’t seem to be a courtesan. That’s why she got beaten.”

“Serves her right!”

Some people whispered their approval. They were respectable residents, after all, and they were deeply irritated by the disreputable characters constantly coming and going among the courtesans who lived in their lane.

Others expressed their doubts. “That woman doesn’t look very old, yet she’s already a widow. She neither returned to her husband’s family nor lived with her father or brothers, but came here alone to rent a house—and not just any house, either, but an old residence once belonging to the Music Office. She must be a courtesan. No wonder Madam Zhuang came to block her door.”

Everyone around him rolled their eyes. “What nonsense are you talking? How many houses on Chessboard Street actually belong to the people living in them? Aren’t they all properties sold off by the Music Office?

“Even the courtyard you live in used to be the sleeping quarters of the famous songstress Red Song! Once you rent or buy a place, it’s yours. You can do as you please. Does living there mean you have to sell yourself?

“You still have time to become a pretty boy yourself. Hurry and tell Madam Zhuang to put your name down, so you don’t get your door blocked and yourself beaten.”

The man who had raised the objection had no idea that his words had offended everyone. His face burned beneath the ridicule, and he withdrew from the crowd.

A sharp-tongued woman spoke up. “That girl isn’t decent either. She doesn’t look like someone who knows how to run a household. I’ve been watching her since the day she moved in! Every day she carries a food box back from outside, and I’ve never once seen her buy vegetables. There’s never even smoke from her roof. She clearly never cooks.”

Once one person began, others added their own observations. “She’s also been frequenting Lady Qiu’s cloth shop these past few days. I’d wager she earned enough money to buy her freedom and leave the pleasure house!”

So she was a courtesan who had bought her freedom with her earnings!

The authorities encouraged courtesans to leave the trade, so no one openly said much about it.

But where there was envy, there was mockery as well. In an instant, the onlookers were saying all sorts of things, revealing all sorts of thoughts.

An Chunfeng heard none of it. She was still standing at the doorway with the food box in hand, while the pale-faced Weiwei and the first burly man helped the other man to his feet.

A bamboo skewer was still embedded in his foot. The bleeding was not severe, but the leg could bear no weight, and he could only groan in pain.

Since there was no hope of collecting the money from An Chunfeng, Madam Zhuang rolled up her sleeves, wound Madam Lu’s braid around her wrist, and lifted the woman’s entire upper body off the ground. She snarled, “This whole mess was caused by you, you harlot. You’ll pay for the physician!”

Half of Madam Lu’s face was swollen. Bracing her lower back and shielding her braid, she burst into loud sobs. “This lowly woman’s last three-tenths of an ounce of silver has already been handed over to Madam! Where would I get money for a doctor? I only said one thing, but that woman—she, she’s the one who injured them. She should pay!”

An Chunfeng was about to carry the food box inside when she heard Madam Lu urging the stout woman to demand money from her. She turned around sharply. This matter had to be made clear.

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