Captive Bride (5 page)

“While the payment for your services goes to your master, the gifts you may keep. One day, when your beauty has faded and your body is no longer tight and pleasing, you will have the money from selling those jewels. If you’ve been an obedient servant, your master might let you live out your days quietly, rather than be banished to the row. There are worse places Bonnie Dee

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than here where you have a soft bed, good food and pretty clothing.”

Madam Teng had already explained to her about the unfortunate girls who were penned like animals to serve men’s appetites. It was very likely the fate of most of the women Huiann had seen on the ship. So, if she was a devoted courtesan and followed Fuhua’s dictates, she might end up years later like Madam Teng, a stone-hearted, soulless woman who schooled younger women about the life of a prostitute.
That
was something to aspire to.

The rest of her lessons were about the sex act itself.

Madam taught her what men liked in bed, how to fellate them, how to pose herself to please them, how to masturbate herself for their amusement, and which of her orifices she could expect them to enter with their cocks. Her explanations at first made Huiann blush furiously, but after a while her embarrassment at hearing such things faded. There was no longer any room in her for girlish innocence. She must be smart and sly and use whatever skills she could to get free of this place. If she couldn’t find a way to escape before her virginity was sold then she might have to pretend to settle into this life for a time. Maybe one of the men she met could be prevailed on to help her.

Huiann finished the meal on the tray Madam had brought to her. The food here wasn’t like home, but it was filling and that was all that mattered. She’d only saved the bits she thought would hold up for a few days without going bad, rice mostly and the chewy bread. She didn’t know what would happen if she did escape Xie Fuhua’s prison. The little food she’d saved wouldn’t last long and, as he’d pointed out, she had no 40

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relatives or friends in this foreign place. Strangers would be afraid to take her in. She couldn’t speak English and had no idea how the city was laid out or where she might go for aid. But none of that mattered.

She would still run away the moment she got a chance.

For now, she waited and learned about her body and men’s bodies from Teng. Madam had explained that a bidding war was going on for Huiann’s virginity.

The master was entertaining proposals from several interested men and seemed pleased with the way Huiann’s price was rising. Madam had heard him say she was a good investment, and she reminded Huiann that she must live up to the expectations of whichever man won her.

“Every man is different. They enjoy different reactions from women, but all are the same in one regard. They want the illusion they are the best lover you’ve ever had. That is what they pay for and that’s what you will give them. And remember that in America you’re no longer the daughter of a merchant.

You’re related to royalty. These men want to believe they’re fucking a princess so you will always exhibit elegant manners and demure behavior.” Putting her tray aside, Huiann walked to her window as she did dozens of times each day and tested the strength of the bars while staring down at the street.

She’d memorized the buildings she could see from the window and planned to run to the pawn shop if she escaped. There she might be able to trade her expensive gown for a peasant smock and hide more easily among the people.

She’d only been out of this room when she was taken for interviews in Xie’s office. She wondered Bonnie Dee

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about the other rooms, the other courtesans who worked for him. Sometimes she heard faint voices, laughter or cries through the wall. Maybe she wasn’t the only one who wanted to escape from here. After she finally met the other women, maybe they could work together to be free.

Just then the shrill song of a cricket started up as if to approve her thought. A good omen. Huiann searched the room for the little harbinger of luck but couldn’t find it, and then the door opened behind her, making her stomach drop. She was in a state of constant anxiety now. Waiting for what would happen next seemed almost worse than the sex Teng described.

If a horrible stranger poked his stalk into her lotus at least it would be over with and she wouldn’t have to fear the unknown any longer.

“Prepare yourself. Another potential client has come to call.”

For the fourth time in as many days, Madam had come to take her down to Xie’s private office to be shown like a thoroughbred horse. Each time Huiann stood dressed in a scarlet bridal gown before Master Xie and his guest. They would stare at her while her flesh burned from humiliation. The man might tell her to raise her face so he could see it, or he might come close and lift her chin with a finger while her flesh crawled at the touch. When the client was finished assessing her merits, Madam Teng led her back to her room for more training and hours of speculation about her possibilities for escape.

Today Madam presented Huiann with a white gown to wear. “This man is a Westerner. To them white 42

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symbolizes a woman’s purity. This is what their brides wear.”

Dressed in the lacy white gown, Huiann followed Madam down the corridor and back staircase to Xie Fuhua’s den. She noted every door or window they passed, trying to get a sense of the layout of the house.

It would be too ironic if she had a chance to run and got lost in the labyrinth of rooms, never making it outdoors.

Standing on the moss-green carpet, Huiann stole surreptitious glances at the Yankee who’d come to bid on her. It was her first chance to see an American up close. At the wharf she’d been too distracted to study the foreign faces before being hustled into the waiting carriage.

She held her lips steady, stopping them from twisting into a disgusted grimace. The man was ugly.

His face was round and his features overly large.

Bushy eyebrows jutted over strange gray-green eyes, and a thick moustache covered his upper lip. Long sideburns furred his cheeks but his hairline receded, revealing a bright pink scalp. He was tall and wide across, stretching his waistcoat with a belly like a pregnant woman’s. The thought of this man touching her was utterly repugnant.

Xie Fuhua spoke with the man in English. The cadence of the foreign tongue sounded slow and drawling to her ears. She listened to each sound as though she might be able to make sense of the words if she listened hard enough.

After the men talked for a few minutes, the Yankee approached her. She smelled his cologne, his sweat and cooking odors clinging to his clothes, as well as Bonnie Dee

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the sharp odor of burned tobacco. He reached out a hand and it took all her strength not to cringe from it.

He touched her hair, toyed with the tiny white shells on a string that adorned it, and tipped her face up with one fat finger under her chin. He traced the same finger along the bridge of her nose then over her red-painted lips.

Huiann stared at his ear rather than his eyes, focusing hard and willing him to stop touching her before she screamed. At last he turned away and spoke to Xie again as he walked back to his seat and lowered his bulk into the chair.

She was dismissed and returned to her room.

In her too-soft bed that night, Huiann dreamed she was home. Her sisters and mother were pestering her about something, perhaps about the forthright way she spoke or how she neglected her household duties.

There was always something. But then a great storm came. The river flooded and carried her family away.

She waded through waist-high water, fighting the current, desperate to find and save them, but knew by the ache in her heart that they were gone forever. She woke with her cheeks wet with tears and the ache in her chest still there because the nightmare was true.

She would never, ever see her family again.

Late that morning, Madam Teng entered her door without knocking. The expression on her face was as close to excitement as it ever got.

“Why are you still in bed, lazy girl? An agreement has been made and a client chosen for you. He wants you to be brought to his house to fulfill a particular fantasy. You won’t be the first ‘bride’ he has acquired 44

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from Master Xie.” She clapped her hands. “Get up!

You must be made ready for him.” Several maids hurried into the room, setting up a copper tub and filling it with urns of hot water. Like a doll, Huiann was stripped and guided into the bath.

Strangers’ hands scrubbed her body and washed her hair, dried her and perfumed her. They dressed her hair in an elaborate coiffure and clothed her in the same white gown.

Huiann’s stomach dropped. The choice of garment could only mean the Westerner was her buyer.

During all these preparations, Madam continued to remind her of her duties. “You must be aware of the man’s expectations from every tiny signal he gives you.

Some men want a virgin to cry out in pain as he enters her. The ravaging of her untouched body is what gives him pleasure. Others might want you to react with joy, as if this is the moment you’ve been waiting for all your life. You must ignore any discomfort you experience and concentrate solely on what he wants you to be.”

As the tirade of advice went on, Huiann’s clean, scented body grew increasingly tense. Her muscles quivered with the fear she held inside. Her mouth was so dry she couldn’t swallow, and her mind felt like a flock of wood pigeons bursting up from the ground to disperse in all directions. She had to center herself and start thinking of a way to use this situation to her advantage. For the first time in almost a week she would be taken outside of the house. If there was ever a time to escape, this would be it.

Huiann prayed for strength and guidance to her departed ancestors, especially her favorite Bonnie Dee

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grandmother, Mei, for whom her sister was named.

Grandmother Mei had been a smart woman who ruled her husband and household with a velvet glove over an iron hand. Huiann had the utmost respect for her and knew her grandmother’s spirit would help her survive this ordeal whatever the outcome.

Liu Dai accompanied Huiann and Madam Teng to Xie Fuhua’s office, where the man sat behind his desk, studying a ledger. He rose and came around the desk to stand before her, then reached out to touch a curled lock of hair resting against her cheek.

“Mr. Johnston will be pleased, although you’re a bit older than the girls he usually chooses. Chua Huiann, you’ve pleased me too. You’re a very self-possessed young woman. You’ve been obedient, haven’t tried to kill yourself or given Madam Teng any trouble since you arrived, and now you’re about to make me a good sum of money.” Huiann inclined her head slightly, her teeth clenched together and her jaw rigid.

Xie’s fingers tightened on the lock of hair and he tugged hard. “Today, however, it’s time for you to lose some of that composure. Mr. Johnston is a man who will want tears and protests and struggle. Be sure to give that to him or your punishment when you return here will be severe. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Master Xie,” she murmured, and it was easy to sound weakly submissive. Waves of helplessness swept over her. There was no way out of this. She would never get free. She was about be raped by a stranger and officially become a whore.

Liu Dai took her arm and escorted her to the front of the house. The shiny black carriage waited outside.

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Huiann and Madam Teng sat on one seat and Liu Dai sat across from them. The driver mounted the box and urged the pair of horses forward. Wheels clattered over pavement and the vehicle creaked and swayed.

The doors on either side of the carriage each had a window. Huiann looked through the smeary glass at the buildings and people and fought the hopelessness that seized her. She’d hoped there would be a moment between the house and the carriage when she could run, but Liu Dai had never released her arm from his hard grip. Maybe there would be a chance at the other end of the journey, when she left the carriage to go into the foreigner’s house.

Although she sat as still as a statue, her body hummed with energy. Blood rushed through her veins, leaving her hot and shaky. She felt as if she would suddenly burst into flame, leaving ashes behind that would blow away on a breeze. It had never occurred to her to avoid bringing shame on her family name by killing herself until Xie mentioned it. Perhaps she should’ve thought of that when she was in her room with some opportunities to carry it out.

The scene outside the window changed. The signs no longer had Chinese symbols. They’d entered another part of the city and drove along a busy street lined with shops. She could guess what they sold by the pictures on the signs over the doors or the displays in larger glass windows than she’d ever seen. Shoe repair. Eyeglasses. Hardware. A tailor. She distracted herself from her fear by studying the storefronts until she fell into almost a trance, dreamily gliding along the streets toward her destiny.

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The carriage lurched to an abrupt stop. Shouts and horses’ whinnies came from the road ahead. Huiann stared blankly out the window at vegetables and fruit in trays under the awning of a shop. Clothing, tools and other goods were displayed in the window.

When opportunity comes, seize the chance.

Grandma Mei’s voice sounded in her head as clearly as if the old woman was sitting beside her.

Starting from her daze, Huiann glanced at her companions in the carriage. Liu Dai was craning his neck to look out the opposite window. Madam Teng faced the same direction, asking what was holding up traffic.

Huiann grabbed the latch of the door and opened it.

She leaped through, her slippered feet landing on hard-paved road. Hiking her skirt up, she ran, with Liu Dai’s shouts sounding behind her. She zigzagged through the crowd of pedestrians, dodging around stalled vehicles and making an erratic path as a rabbit would when fleeing a predator. Surprise and speed were all she had in her favor. Liu Dai hadn’t expected any resistance. But both he and the driver would be on her heels in seconds and she could hardly blend into this crowd of foreigners, especially wearing a white dress that shone like a beacon.