Savory Death 3
“What!?”
The gambling den owner’s face twisted into pure incredulity at the woman’s refusal. He glared at her as if she’d just spouted the most absurd nonsense imaginable. The woman, apparently terrified by her own bold shout, curled up tighter into the pile of straw and trembled.
“I—I’m sorry!”
“Do you even know who these people are, you insolent girl? You’re going with them this very day!”
The owner’s furious voice lashed out at her again. Sister, unable to watch him browbeat the woman any longer, stepped in and explained carefully.
“Miss, I promise you the finest treatment—not only from the owner, but for yourself as well. If you have family, we’ll need to check, of course, but we can arrange for them to live with you in the Sichuan Tang Family as well.”
The woman didn’t even pause to think.
“N-no. I don’t want to.”
“For heaven’s sake! Am I going to have to drag you out by force again today!?”
“E-even so, no! I—I absolutely will not go!”
Their conversation ran in perfect parallel, so Sister first confirmed the woman’s exact situation with the gambling den owner. Officially there were no slaves in the Central Plains, yet people bound by debt and forced to work like slaves certainly existed. Judging by the woman’s appearance and the way the owner treated her, she looked half-slave… yet her flat refusal of our offer suggested she wasn’t one either.
“Is this woman bound by debt? Or is she working off someone else’s obligation? Is there some special reason she must stay here?”
The owner waved both hands frantically, as if the very idea were outrageous.
“Not at all, not at all! How could that be? She has no debts. She isn’t even a hired hand drawing wages, either.”
“?”
Neither in debt nor formally employed—an oddly ambiguous answer. The owner continued.
“W-well… about five years ago, I suppose? She showed up saying she’d work for free if I just gave her something to do. But her face… ahem… she couldn’t serve customers, so there was nothing for her but menial chores. Just another mouth eating my rice…”
According to him, years earlier she had appeared at the gambling den’s entrance, begging for work with no wages required. The place also sold women to customers on the side, but she couldn’t take clients, so they put her in the kitchen. Then complaints about the food tasting strange got her kicked out of there as well, leaving her solely in charge of the reeking cricket pens.
I was still thinking how bizarre that all sounded when Gu Pae’s voice cut in.
“Young Lady, may I step forward for a moment? Looking at that woman… I see the man I used to be, before I entered the Tang Family.”
He sees himself in her? A hairy middle-aged man and a gothic-looking girl whose face was almost completely hidden by hair so that only her eyes peeked out—how those two could resemble each other was beyond me. But Sister’s eyes lit up as if something had clicked.
She nodded at once.
“Please do.”
Gu Pae turned to the owner with a proposal.
“Master, would it be all right if we took the woman with us for just one day? Not permanently—we’ll feed her something good and try to persuade her.”
“Persuade her? Hah! Just step outside for a minute and I’ll thrash her until she follows you. Where’s that stick… ah, this broom’ll do! Ptooey!”
Gu Pae clearly intended to show her a proper workplace and tempt her with good food, but the owner snatched up a broom lying on the floor and even spat on his palm for grip. When he started toward the trembling woman, Sister stopped him cold.
“Wait. I’d prefer you didn’t lay a hand on her. She may become one of our people, and I have no wish to see her injured.”
“A-ah, of course, of course! This fool was too hasty. Na-ok! Go with these people and come back later!”
“I-I don’t…”
The woman started to refuse again—then suddenly shuddered as if struck by lightning. Her eyes, ringed with dark circles, flew wide open between the strands of hair and locked onto Gu Pae. A moment later she nodded rapidly.
I had the distinct feeling Gu Pae had just used sound transmission.
“Then we’ll take her for the day. Agreed?”
“Of course, of course!”
“We’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
The woman’s vacant eyes now held the look of someone completely entranced. Moments earlier she had refused with every fiber of her being; now she followed Gu Pae as if she had fallen head-over-heels for him, gazing at him with dazed devotion.
We put her in the carriage and left—not for the Sichuan Tang Family, but for a street inside Chengdu lined with high-class restaurants and medicine shops. At the far end stood the magnificent gate of a siheyuan courtyard house, a luxurious physician’s clinic attached to one side. Familiar faces came out to greet us.
“You’ve arrived, Young Lady!”
“Yes. We’ll stay the night—prepare rooms. First, though, show us to the reception hall. Tea and some light refreshments, please.”
“At once!”
Tang Family warriors stood guard; I must have looked puzzled, because Gu Pae explained.
“This is essentially the Sichuan Tang Family’s branch in Chengdu. That clinic is run by the family, and this house belongs to us as well. The two inns, eight medicine shops, and five restaurants you see along this alley are all Tang property. I’ll show you the merchant company and escort agency later.”
An entire alley belonging to the Tang Family. Honestly, I’d always wondered how the household kept running when Grandfather and Father-in-law did nothing but circulate inner energy and practice martial arts like daily calisthenics. So this was the secret.
Which meant, of course, that everything here would one day belong to Sister… and Sister was…
An involuntary cough escaped me.
Ahem…
A short while later we followed a warrior into the reception hall. Light food and tea were served, yet the woman showed no interest in either. Her eyes never left Gu Pae. At last he gave an awkward smile and spoke.
“All right. Why don’t you tell us what’s going on? We might be able to help. It certainly looks like a matter of deep grievance. Don’t be afraid—this is the Sichuan Tang Family.”
After a moment’s hesitation the woman slipped from her chair, prostrated herself, and pushed back the hair that had hidden her face.
“That is…”
“How did a woman’s face come by such wounds?”
A mass of red burn scars was revealed. Beneath them one could still glimpse what must once have been a lovely face, but Song Na-ok’s features were now covered in pale, unmistakable burn marks.
Between Sister’s and Gu Pae’s pitying murmurs, her story began.
“My name is Song Na-ok. I come from Songga Village, not far from here…”
Her voice, for the first time, was clear and steady.
Song Na-ok and Song Na-eun, the two sisters, had been rather famous in Songga Village—a small farming settlement near Chengdu where almost everyone bore the surname Song. They were known for the fact that Na-ok had raised her little sister after their parents died early, and for the beauty of both girls. Their skin, white as jade, was especially envied; the villagers called them the Jade Sisters.
“Unni, you’ll come home early today, right?”
“Of course. The next village isn’t far. I’ll help with the feast and come straight back. I’ll bring tasty food, too, so just wait a little.”
“But I don’t want to be alone today of all days. I’d rather go with you and help…”
It was the day Na-ok had agreed to work for wages at a feast in the neighboring village. Her younger sister clung to her arm as she tried to leave, throwing a full tantrum. Na-eun was grown now, an adult, and insisted she could help, but Na-ok only stroked her hair.
It was their usual little quarrel, yet Na-ok knew exactly why her sister was so clingy today.
“I’m sorry it has to be today. But I don’t want you working hard on a day like this. I promised Mother and Father.”
“But I’m all grown up now!”
True enough—she was an adult. In her older sister’s eyes, though, Na-eun was still a cute child. And there was the promise Na-ok had made to their parents before the plague took them: she would raise her little sister well. She glanced at the small cages sitting in one corner of the room.
“It might be boring, but play with the crickets for a while.”
As if answering the call, the crickets chirped.
Chirp-chirp.
She had started raising them so her sister would have company whenever she had to go out to work. There were quite a few of them now, yet Na-eun still pouted.
“Even fighting crickets are more fun with two people. Hiiing.”
The reason her sister was so hard to leave behind today was simple: it was Na-eun’s birthday. With a sigh Na-ok stepped into the kitchen, retrieved the scented sachet she had hidden in a bowl as a birthday gift for after work, and tied it to her sister’s waist sash.
“You said you wanted this sachet last time, didn’t you? I bought it for your birthday present, but I’ll give it to you early. Be good and wait for me today.”
“Whoa—a scented sachet!? But these are expensive…”
Na-eun’s eyes went round as saucers as she stared at the gift now hanging at her waist.
“Last time I helped out at Uncle Ho-jung’s house—the one who works for the escort agency—and he said he’d bought it cheaply in Guangzhou and gave me one.”
“Th-thank you, Unni!”
Na-eun threw her arms around her sister’s neck, beaming. The sachet supposedly held powdered agarwood; a sweet fragrance mingled with her sister’s natural scent and washed over Na-ok. Only then did Na-eun finally see her off with a smile.
“All right. Come back as soon as you can.”
“I will.”
The feast in the next village turned out busier than expected. More guests arrived than the host had planned for, and the celebration stretched far past the promised hour. Na-ok earned extra wages and leftover food, yet she had promised her sister she would hurry home. Leaving the rest of the work party behind, she set off without even a lantern, walking as fast as she could by moonlight.
Today was her sister’s birthday. She wanted to celebrate with the delicious feast food before the day slipped away completely.
“Na-ok, it’s dark—you’ll hurt yourself. Slow down.”
“It’s fine, Uncle. She’s been waiting on an empty stomach all day. I have to hurry.”
The others tried to stop her, but Na-ok only quickened her steps, the moonlight her sole companion. Because she pushed so hard, she reached the entrance to Songga Village far ahead of everyone else.
Just as she stepped into the village and hurried inward, the bright moon slipped behind a thin veil of cloud. Rounding a corner, she collided with someone racing the other way.
“Urk.”
“Kyaah!”
Na-ok crashed into a figure who had been bolting out of the village entrance without a lantern. She apologized at once; the man snapped at her and then rushed off beyond the village.
“I—I’m so sorry!”
“W-watch where you’re going!”
Na-ok gathered the scattered food bundles and stood, tilting her head. Songga Village was almost entirely Song clansmen; outsiders were rare. And when she had bumped into the man, she had caught a faint whiff of the same scented sachet she had tied to her sister’s waist that morning.
The suspicion lasted only a moment. Men could wear sachets too. She brushed herself off, checked the bundles again, and hurried home.
When she reached the house, the front gate—normally shut—stood open. Inside, every light was out, and the silence was absolute.
Trying to save lamp oil? Or did she fall asleep waiting?
Her sister would certainly have eaten nothing while waiting for her. Na-ok first went to the kitchen, set down the food, and called out. She wanted to get something into the girl before putting her to bed.
“Na-eun! Na-eun! Wake up! Unni’s home!”
No answer. She stirred the hearth for a live coal, lit a lamp, and opened the bedroom door, expecting to find her sister deep in sleep.
“!”
Thud.
The room was stained red—far more than the lamp’s glow could explain. The lamp slipped from Na-ok’s stunned fingers and shattered on the floor. The house was a wreck, as if someone had fought hard. And the white skin that had once been the envy of every other girl in the village—skin like ice and jade—now lay cold and still darker still.
“Na-eun! Aaaaaaah…!”
A raw scream tore from Na-ok’s throat as she gathered her sister into her arms. Behind her the fallen lamp’s flame licked upward. And like a funeral dirge, the crickets began to fill the room with their song.
Chirp-chirp.
Chirp-chirp.