RETURN TO THE PALACE
Business man Bo snapped his fingers and one of the courtesans came running in.
"Go and call me Hao." He instructed.
The courtesan bowed down and ran out.
"If you are ever in need of services for pleasure you are free to attend." He said.
Mei-Ling's face went red. "Thank you. But I will do without it."
Then they waited and a young boy around the age of fourteen came in.
He bowed down to them
"This is Hao. He is the one who would come to collect the items from you." He instructed.
"Alright." Mei-ling said.
The boy was sent away and then Mei-ling put her hand through her clothes and she pulled out a large gold disk.
She handed it to him.
It was pay.
She had partly done jewelry and the gold disk was one she had found in her parents room in the space.
She had sneaked and hidden it inside her clothes.
He collected it and gazed at it.
He smiled greedily. "This is good pay."
"So the deal is set." Mei-ling told him.
"But of course." Business man Bo said.
"I'll expect you to bring the first batch in the evening before night time." She said.
Mei-ling left the whore house and covered her face properly hide her identity.
As she walked around she wanted to take some time to gaze around the beautiful village but she knew she could not.
She had to keep up with this charade.
She wondered about the man who had caught her in the market.
He had refused to follow her when she was in view of the town as if he was afraid of being seen.
Maybe he too was a thief.
Maybe he was a dangerous imperial guard and she has been crushing on him for no good reason.
Mei-ling prayed to herself that she would never see his face again.
Imagine if he saw her in the palace!
He would probably expose her!
She shivered and shook her head.
She would have to make sure that it never came to that.
Then she squeezed herself in the large crowd and found herself on her way back to the palace.
She passed a stall and saw a woman struggling with something!
"Look what you've done!" The woman cried. "You bad little dog! You've ruined my tomatoes! I'll give you the beating of your life!"
Had mei-ling just heard her say dog?
Mei-ling did a sharp U turn.
"Hey!" Someone she bumped into complained but she ignored them.
To her greatest joy, the woman was about to strangle a shi-tzu!