Part 2, Chapter 12

Rejection and acceptance. Xiaomin and Shun

Ch 12

Xiaomin and Shun strolled hand in hand up the street, enjoying walking together. Every once in a while someone would give them an odd look, but it wasn’t strange for friends to stroll hand in hand. In some ways it was easier than in the palace. When people didn’t know they didn’t judge, but it was harder too. 

As they passed by the brothel a group of drunken men emerged onto the street. Smiling and stumbling the men kept attempting to flirt with Shun, trying to draw the shy maid off. Xiaomin tucked Shun’s arm into her elbow, escort style, but the men just turned their attention to her. Flirting and pushing. Xiaomin glared fiercely at them and the men moved away, but the mood suddenly seemed a little less festive. 

“It’s ok Xiaomin. I’m fine,” Shun said reassuringly. 

Xiaomin sighed.

They passed a couple kissing in the shadows of an alleyway and Xiaomin felt envy rise in her throat. She wished more than anything she could enjoy kissing her lover in the romantic atmosphere of the festival. Some things just weren’t fair.

“Xiaomin, do you see Xun or Leng Zai?” Shun asked, her voice was soft as always, barely audible above the happy hum of the crowd. 

Xiaomin looked around, the other couple had vanished and she had no idea how long ago. “Did you see where they went?” Xiaomin asked.

Shun shook her head. 

“Let’s look around.”

Xiaomin and Shun combed the marketplace looking for their friends, ignoring the invitations of merchants hawking their wares and the brightly lit displays of the entertainers. Xiaomin had almost given up when she heard Shun gasp. 

Standing directly in front of them was Shun’s father in a white and gold robe cut to show off his impressive figure. His eyes locked on his daughter for the barest moment before sliding over her as if she didn’t exist. In her mind Xiaomin heard his voice say again in that flat, angry tone “My daughter is dead.”

They had been together in the garden at the party of a mutual friend. Shun’s bare shoulder had been so beautiful in the moonlight and even in this moment Xiaomin could still remember the sweet, slightly salty taste of her skin. Then he had arrived, his fury had felt like the surge of a storm shattering that perfect moment. In the deafening silence he had raised his hand to strike Shun. Xiaomin had stood between them taking the blow. Shun’s father hadn’t stopped. Again and again he had tried to strike his daughter, maintaining that eerie silence, and again and again Xiaomin had stood between them. It had been the worst beating she had ever taken, but she couldn’t let this monster hit Shun.

Finally Shun had screamed. She screamed and screamed at her father. Defying him. Denying him. The other party members had rushed into the garden, dumbstruck at what they saw. Finally Shun’s father had spoken those four words, “My daughter is dead,” before turning on his heel and leaving the garden.

The entire nauseating scene played itself out again in Xiaomin’s mind in the course of that short stare. She turned, hugging Shun to her. As far as she knew Shun hadn’t seen her father since that night and Xiaomin was terrified about what seeing him now might do to her lover. Just holding her Xiaomin could feel her lover’s breath growing short and shallow, as if she had taken a fatal wound.

“Well, well if it isn’t my long lost sister,” said a nasty, nasally voice. A young man, barely old enough for the description strode up in his father’s wake. “Still with the ladykiller, I see,” he sneered. 

Xiaomin glared at him. Shun’s ethereal beauty looked odd in his more masculine features. The large, dark eyes and pointed chin made him appear weak instead of delicate. Or maybe it was the petty, spiteful expression on his face that made him look that way. Xiaomin wanted to punch him, but someone beat her to it. 

Two pinching fingers latched on to the young man’s ear. “And who are you to be talking to my girls in that tone of voice.” The fingers twisted.

“Ow. OW. OWOWOWOWOWWWWW!” Shun’s brother squealed like a pig. Xiaomin felt Shun peek out from where she had been hiding her face against Xiaomin’s side.

“These girls belong to the Emperor’s Palace, you nasty little man, and if you are rude to them in any way I will call the guards down on you like a shot!” Madam Lai shook him and he whimpered. “Understand?” 

“Yes! Yes! Now let me go!” 

Madam Lai flicked him away from her.

“I’ll tell my father on you! See if I don’t!” he shouted as he raced away to catch up with his father, who had disdainfully ignored the entire scene.

Madam Lai brushed her hands together, “No one messes with my girls,” she said firmly.

To Xiaomin’s surprise and delight Shun giggled.