The Crystal Ribbon by Celeste Lim

Author:Celeste Lim
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2016-09-09T04:00:00+00:00

Given the nature of its business, the chinglou, of course, was most active at night. It closed around dawn and reopened the following evening at dusk.

It was already dawn when I was finally allowed out of the study. I dragged my feet up the stairs to the landing on the highest floor, where the main sleeping quarters were. The ten courtesans had four rooms in between them, and I was to share a small room at the end of the corridor with three other young girls who were also maidservants.

When I slipped into the room after washing and changing, the other girls were already getting ready for bed, and had even laid out an extra mattress on the wooden floorboards. There were two older girls and a sweet-looking one who looked hardly over ten. She patted the vacant mattress next to hers. “Over here, Jing. That’s your name, isn’t it?”

I nodded as I walked over.

“I’m Xiaoyi.” The girl’s big eyes narrowed into half-moons, and I couldn’t help but return her smile, despite how rotten I was feeling inside.

“Qia Mama kept you in the study for an incredibly long time,” said one of the older girls called Shuang as she smoothed out her braid.

Who?

She noticed my puzzlement. “I mean Madam Qia, but only outsiders call her that. All her daughters call her Qia Mama. It’s a rule.”

Another word caught me. “Daughters?”

Shuang shrugged. “We’re not really her daughters, but all the courtesans under a baomu’s wing are called such.”

I sighed. No, thank you. I didn’t want a mother like that at all.

I looked around the room. It was spacious, big enough for more than four girls, and relatively bare save for three shelves against the wall on one side. There was a sliding door that led out onto a small balcony, and I couldn’t resist going over and looking out. There was no wind, but the frosty temperature made me shiver. I glanced down and found that the balcony overlooked the back alleys. Was it possible…?

“It’s too high to escape from.” Shuang spoke abruptly and made me jump.

I shut the door and turned to them. “Haven’t any of you ever thought of running away?”

There was a sharp intake of breath among them. Xiaoyi covered her mouth and made a gesture that meant quite clearly that I wasn’t supposed to speak of such things. The other girl, who looked about fourteen, tilted her head in a puzzled expression. “But why would we run away?”

I frowned. But before I could answer that peculiar question, Shuang waved impatiently. “Oh, Miao, be quiet.” She came over and placed her hands on my shoulders. “Listen, Jing. If there’s any idea left in that head of yours about running away, my sincerest advice is to get rid of it right now.” She said this with such a solemn expression that I swallowed. “Not only is Yuegong Lou impossible to escape from, Qia Mama makes sure that all misbehavior is well and severely punished.”

At that point, Xiaoyi, who was

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