In Autumn Wind Teahouse, a hubbub filled the hall. Ci in a red thin dress was twanging the Chinese lute with her slender fingers and crooning a song, with a white flower in her loose hair. No one cared what she was singing. After the song, she went into a room and rested for a while, and then came out to sing again. The last song she sang was sad, but no one understood her feelings.

“The candle has burned right down.

The pattern of cannas on the painted screen appears as a blur in the dim light.

I dream about my hometown Jiangnan. The green plums in the trees have ripened.

I’m playing the flute on a little boat drifting along with the waves in the rain at night.

Voices come from the post house near the bridge. Someone is telling his unforgettable story with a local accent.”

T/N note:

Jiangnan: regions south of the Yangtze River.

Ci wandered from Jiangnan to Tange Town. At that time, her hometown suffered from a plague of locusts. There was gloom above and darkness below, with no light from the sun. The locusts flitted about in the air and destroyed all the crops and vegetables. Every time Ci raised her head, she felt frightened because she saw lots of winged insects fluttering. A few days later, she was ravenous and began to eat raw locusts. She chewed the locusts and greenish liquid filled her mouth. She couldn’t help but vomit up the locusts, but for survival, she had to force herself to eat them. Afterward, an outbreak of pestilence followed. Villager began to eat carrion and died one after another. The living people ate the dead bodies and after they died, they were eaten by others. Anyway, each human being has to die.

The night was very still and the moon cast a faint light over the ground. Ci was digging a pit for her dead family members, her fingers bloody. She needed a deep pit to bury them so that the bodies wouldn’t be dug out and eaten by other hungry villagers. There was nothing left but a Chinese lute in her house. Ci wrapped the lute in a cloth, walked out of the house with it, and then set fire to the house without hesitation.

It was a hot summer day when Ci arrived at Autumn Wind Teahouse. She looked terrible. Her fingernails were so long that they had even been curved; her hair came to her feet; and there were many lice on her torn quilted jacket.

Ci begged a waiter, “Please give me some food.” With that she scratched the noxious sore on the crown of her head and the wound started discharging pus and blood, which rolled down her ears.

The waiter kicked Ci down and cursed, “You dirty beggar! Get out of here!”

Ci struggled to her feet and stretched out her hands. “Please give me some food. I beg you.”

The waiter flew into a rage and picked up a broom to drive her away. “Get out of here!”

Li Qiufeng, who was counting the income with an abacus at the counter, heard the noise outside the gate and became annoyed. He stood up and saw a beggar standing at the gate. Different from other ordinary beggars, she carried a Chinese lute.

“Raise your head,” Li Qiufeng commanded while twisting a long hair in the fleshy nevus on his chin.

Ci raised her head and gazed in fear at the man who looked ugly and ferocious, and then extended her hand to him, “Sir, please give me something to eat. I’m so hungry.”

Li Qiufeng fixed his eyes on the woman. Although her hair was untidy, she had bright eyes and graceful eyebrows with a good figure. It was summer now but she still wore a torn quilted jacket, which made her ridiculous.

“What’s your name?” Li Qiufeng asked.

“My name is Dong Ci,” she answered in a low voice.

“San, take her to the backyard and give her two steamed buns to eat. Then, go to tidy up the woodshed. I will go to see her later,” Li Qiufeng said to the waiter and swung his sleeves.

San glanced at Ci with contempt and said, “Follow me. My master is kind-hearted. You are lucky to meet him.”

Ci followed him to the backyard. The sun was strong and she felt her ears burning. A fly on the crown of her head was sucking the pus and blood from the noxious sore. ‘My master is a lecher. This woman is the eighth female beggar he has taken in. When he is tired of her, she will be driven away,’ San thought.

“Stay here. I will fetch you some steamed buns.” With that, San slowly walked into the kitchen.

Ci felt a bit dizzy. Her lips were chapped and the taste of blood in her throat made her uncomfortable. She swayed as the houses around seemed to swim before her eyes.

Then she fell down to the ground and everything went black.

San looked at Ci who seemed in a coma and kicked her in the shins. “Don’t play possum. Get up off the ground.”

Ci picked up the steamed bun on the ground and slowly struggled to her feet. She chomped hungrily through the steamed bun and choked on it, her eyes bulging. “Water…”

San replied impatiently, “There are some water in the woodshed. You can go there and have a drink.”

The woodshed was cool and tinged yellow by light filtered through the windows. There was a basin of water on the ground. Ci squatted down and kept drinking from the basin till her belly swelled up. San said mockingly, “It’s the bath water for you. How can you drink so much?”

Ci nodded, “Thank you.”

San snorted, “Idiot! You will have a hard time.”

The door was closed by him and a bit of a wind came in. Ci leaned against a pile of wood and fell asleep. No matter how hard life was, she could sleep soundly. In a dream she was in another world and lived a life of ease.

Li Qiufeng pushed open the door of the woodshed with a vermilion undergarment, a long white skirt and a pair of bright pink embroidered shoes in his hands. San followed him in with a wooden comb and a bronze mirror.

“Get up! You sleep like a log,” San shouted to Dong Ci.

Ci woke up and licked her dry and cracked lips.

Li Qiufeng said to San, “Go and fetch water.”

“Okay,” San replied and made for the door. When he walked out of the woodshed, he gave a snort of disdain.

Before long he came back with a big wooden barrel and began to fill the barrel with water. Through a haze of steaming water, he saw Ci trembling slightly.

San slavered, but soon came to himself and went out. In the yard, he kicked a stone and it bounded forth a long distance.

Ci took off her clothes and got into the wooden barrel with her eyes closed. A few lice immediately appeared on the surface of water. The lice were good at swimming, so they wouldn’t be drowned for the time being. The noxious sore on the crown of her head tickled because of getting wet. She couldn’t help but scratch it and blood was promptly pouring from the wound. Soon the water turned light red.

Li Qiufeng said, “Bent down!”

The girl had delicate skin, a slender waist and a jutting collarbone. He soaped her back which didn’t feel smooth because it was too dirty.

He picked up a crude brush which was used for brushing cattle and horses, and began to brush the dirt off her back, black water streaming down. Ci moaned with tears, “My back is paining…”

‘Only in this way can you be washed clean,’ Li Qiufeng thought and kept brushing her back hard.

After washing her body with the brush three times, Li Qiufeng finally stopped. San had aches in the arms because of carrying water continuously. He couldn’t help but complain outside the door, “I’m tired. Have you scrubbed her clean?”

Li Qiufeng smiled, “Yes.”

Ci climbed out of the barrel to get dressed, and then twisted her hair into a bun and pinned it at the back of her head with a silk flower hairpin. The clothes fitted her well and she smelled nice.

Li Qiufeng looked at her in surprise and said, “You are really beautiful.”

Ci knelt down and begged, “Master, please help me. I want to go on living.”

The flesh on his face slightly trembled. “I… I am getting old,” he murmured.

Ci was kneeling on the floor and stared at him with imploring eyes.

“You can play the lute in my teahouse. I will provide accommodation for you and besides, you can get 50 grams of silver per month.” Li Qiufeng raised Ci’s chin with his forefinger and continued, “Move out of the woodshed. From now on, you can sleep in the room for maids.”

Ci made a bow to him and followed San to the maid’s room. San asked curiously, “How about Master’s skill?”

Ci felt puzzled and asked, “What?”

San raised his eyebrows and snorted, “Don’t pretend. You know what I’m getting at.”

Ci stopped asking questions and expressed her gratitude to San for his help.

“Sooner or later you will be driven away.” San spat on the ground and walked out of the room.

San didn’t know that Ci looked like Li Qiufeng’s daughter who had died from tuberculosis. It’s natural for men to have a lust for women. A randy man would be kind-hearted when he was deeply touched. But when a gentleman was driven by lust, he would become a wild animal. The man who looked ugly and ferocious with a fleshy nevus on his chin, was not a bad guy.

In the evening, Li Qiufeng asked Ci to play the Chinese lute. When she finished playing, he gave her a bottle of ointment and said, “Apply the ointment to your noxious sore. The sore will soon heal up and your hair will grow back.”

“Thank you, Master.” Ci sensed that there was something strange in his attitude toward her, which mystified her.

“Before your recovery, stay in the room and practice the lute. Don’t worry about anything else.” Li Qiufeng pointed at the kitchen and continued, “Tomorrow you can go to the kitchen and eat with other servants.”

Ci immediately knelt and kowtowed to him. “Thank you, Master.”

Li Qiufeng let out a long sigh and left.

Autumn Wind Teahouse had never been so busy. The hall was crowded with guests. Ci was beautiful and really great at playing Chinese lute, so the guests liked to listen to her playing a tune while drinking tea. Li Qiufeng earned a lot of money from it, so he treated Ci as the apple of his eye.

‘From this we can see how important it is to have a special skill,’ Ci thought to herself.

San also had a completely new appraisal of Ci. Although he often deliberately made things difficult for her, she never got angry; instead, she always gave him a faint smile and said, “Thank you for your help these days.”

Besides, the old goat, Li Qiufeng, didn’t make a pass at Ci.

At the end of the month, Ci got the first monthly pay. She went shopping and bought a pair of cloth shoes for San. San was an orphan and became Li Qiufeng’s servant when he was a child. No one ever showed concern for him. San took one shoe and said with affected disdain, “Don’t you think it’s cool to have toes exposed in summer? The open shoe is called sandal.”

It seemed incredible that sandal was first invented by San.

Ci ****** the other shoe into San’s hands and said, “Try on the shoes. If they don’t fit you, give them to me and I will go to the shoe shop and exchange them for another pair.”

San held the shoes in his arms and ran back to his bedroom, and then burst into tears.

The other maids also received some small gifts from Ci. ‘My salary is higher than theirs. It’s good for me to establish a good relationship with them by giving them some gifts,’ Ci thought and gave the rest of her copper coins to a beggar on the roadside. The beggar kowtowed to her with gratitude. ‘Alas, we both have miserable fates. I’m naturally willing to help you,’ Ci thought.

At dusk, all the servants were eating in the kitchen. For the first time San put some food into Ci’s bowl with his chopsticks. The new shoes were comfortable to wear and San knew that Ci was kind to him.

When Li Qiufeng came to the kitchen, everyone stood up and greeted him, “Good evening, Master.”

“Ci, do you enjoy the food?”

Ci nodded, “Yes. Thank you very much for your concern, Master.”

“There are many guests outside.” Li Qiufeng gave a little cough to attract San’s attention and continued, “Ask the cook to prepare a dish especially for Ci from now on.”

San immediately replied, “Yes, I will.”

Ci put down the bowl and chopsticks and picked up the Chinese lute. “Master, I’m going to the hall to play the lute.”

“Just sit down and eat up your dinner,” Li Qiufeng said gently.

“It doesn’t matter. After all, we shouldn’t keep guests waiting.” Ci lightly wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and went straight to the hall.

There was a hubbub in the hall. When Ci walked in with the Chinese lute, the guests quieted down but soon the hall was full of noise again. These days Autumn Wind Teahouse got noticed by more people because of the beautiful woman Dong Ci and the tunes she played on the Chinese lute. Some guests who liked music could listen to Ci playing the lute. As for the guests who knew nothing about music theory, they were attracted by the beautiful woman. Li Qiufeng twisted the long hair in the fleshy nevus on his chin and felt delighted.

Ci’s lute was handed down from the older generations of her family. It was made of red sandalwood and had a clear and melodious tone. Ci had a sweet and light voice. The first tune she played was Bidding Farewell to A Departing Friend. There was no need for her to sing because it was an instrumental, so she was twanging the Chinese lute with her fingers while staring blankly ahead.

“Gosh, there’s a lot of noise. I can’t hear the music,” an angry, loud voice came from outside the door.

Stunned, Ci hit the wrong string of the lute. She raised her head and looked around. However, no one noticed her mistake.

A group of people who all looked cold and fierce stood outside the door. The speaker was a man standing in the middle of the group. Everyone in the hall quietened down at once and Ci also stopped playing the lute.

It seemed that the temperatures in the hall dropped suddenly. San, who was pouring tea into a guest’s teacup, froze. Soon the cup on the table was full and the tea was running over and streaming down onto the floor like a small waterfall.

Li Qiufeng subconsciously twisted the long hair on his chin hard and plucked it by accident. He felt a sharp pain in his chin and almost let out a cry of pain but finally he held it back.