Chapter Forty-One: Three-Cup Limit

Pang Xi sat in the seedy brothel, ignoring the food and the women. He sat alone on the second story, which gave him a clear vantage point to the main entry, as well as the stage where girls were dancing to the tunes that musicians were playing on the lute and zither.  Every time one of the gaudy looking whores tried to approach his table, he chased her away until they all gave up on earning his favor or attention.

The thief whom he was supposed to meet had not shown up yesterday.  Under normal circumstances, he would never lower himself to return a second day, but this wasn't an average transaction, and a lot could happen on the road to South City.  Perhaps they had been delayed by rain, or perhaps the cart had broken and they had to stop along the way to make repairs.