Chapter 21 - Blossom Scent Parlor

Lu Na looked up and saw someone that stopped her breath. It was a man dressed in a very rich dark red tunic that was like the one Sun Ren wore, except there were no family names stitched to it. He had a small coronet on top of his head tied to his hair bun. And his face was both youthful yet lined with experience. The man’s movements had eloquence and grace with every step.

“Aren’t you lucky Na Na? You keep meeting all these gorgeous men. It makes me wish I was out there instead of you.”

“Shut up spirit,” Lu Na muttered.

“Are you the one that had this beggar bring me here?” the man asked.

“Yes. Are you Sun Bofu?”

“Before I answer that, this man has said you offered him something for his services. You should pay him first.”

Lu Na took out the two silver sycee but hesitated.

“Well, I asked him to bring me Sun Bofu. How do I know you’re Sun Bofu?”

“I did as you asked. I showed him the dagger. He’s here. Now give me my money,” the beggar said.

Lu Na looked between the two and placed the two silver sycees back into her chest pocket.

“Prove it. Who are you?”

The man smirked.

“So you’re not as foolish as you seem.”

“I’m not foolish.”

“Says the woman trapped in a constable’s iron cage and trying to negotiate with a beggar.”

Lu Na couldn’t say anything to that. She didn’t know how she ended up in this situation when three days ago she was the Young Miss of a rich merchant without a care in the world. Instead, now she shared a smelly cage with a Buddhist monk.

“Then fine. I’ll tell you this much. I am Sun Bofu’s representative. He’s too important to meet everyone that wishes to see him, especially if you might be an assassin. Anything you tell me is the same as talking with him. Good enough?”

Lu Na peeked into the teahouse to see that the constable was still enjoying his tea. The constable sat with a large teapot and some pastries stacked high.

“Okay, if you’re his representative, then tell me the name of his sister.”

“Sun Ren,” the man replied.

“That’s an easy one. Tell me about the dagger I gave the beggar.”

The man took out the dagger from his chest pocket.

“This dagger was the only reason I am talking with you right now. It is the personal dagger of Sun Ren and the only way you’d have this is if you killed her. And while I see you have a powerful summoner in that cage with you, I doubt you two would have killed her from in there.”

Lu Na liked what she heard so far. There was only one last question she had that would really convince her that this man was with Sun Bofu.

“What is that dagger coated with?”

The man paused for a second, staring at the edge of the dagger before sheathing it. He looked between Lu Na, Hen Li, and the beggar.

“Sun Ren told you about what it can do to spirits?”

Lu Na nodded.

“Then you know that’s a Sun family secret. Did she tell you how it was made?”

Lu Na shook her head.

“That’s good. I would have had to kill you if you did. Then fine, let me introduce myself so that you can pay the beggar and have him be on his way. My name is Zhou Gongjin. I’m the personal retainer of Sun Bofu under the leadership of Marquis Sun Wentai.” Zhou Gongjin took out a flat piece of metal from his chest pocket and showed a seal with the Sun family name on it and underneath that claims that he’s a retainer.

That was enough for Lu Na. No one would dare make one of those unless they wanted to die a horrible death. Not only that, the piece of metal they used was worth more than a horse. No one would use something to trick a woman currently trapped inside an iron cage.

Lu Na took out the two sycees and passed it to the beggar.

“Thank you, Young Miss. Thank you Young Master,” the beggar said. He grabbed the sycees and sprinted away.

“Now that the offending odor is gone, you still haven’t told me what happened to Sun Ren,” Zhou Gongjin said.

“The Wintersweet Sect kidnapped her after they attacked my home. Sun Ren was staying with me in my Lu compound.”

“Oh. I told her not to stay there. But I assume there’s a lot more to this story, otherwise you wouldn’t be in a constable’s iron cage.”

Lu Na nodded.

Zhou Gongjin sighed.

“I hate dealing with these constables, but since Sun Ren gave you this dagger and told you the secret behind them, then that means she trusts you enough for me to help you on behalf of his brother. Give me a minute.”

Zhou Gongjin entered the tea shop and waved the constable over. They talked, Zhou Gongjin laughed, before producing a gold sycee. He handed it to the constable and they both laughed together. Minutes later, the constable came over and unlocked the iron cage.

“It was a simple mistake,” the constable said. “My colleague must have eaten the wrong breakfast this morning, thinking a young woman like you could have caused that destruction. You’re free to go.”

Lu Na got out of the cage with the help of Zhou Gongjin. She stretched her legs and her neck, without realizing that she was getting used to the cramped space.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The constable stopped Hen Li from leaving the cage.

“He can’t go though,” the constable said. “Someone needs to answer for the wanton destruction of that street. I’m sure the magistrate would be fine letting her go as she’s no summoner, but he needs to answer for it.”

“But—”

“Amituofo.” Hen Li clasped his hands together and bowed his head. “It’s alright Lu Na. As long as you’re safe now, then my task is complete. The magistrate will understand that I was only defending myself. Besides, fate links us. I’m sure we will meet again.”

Lu Na nodded.

“I’m still waiting for you to teach me the summoner’s arts. So you take care of yourself, alright?”

“Amituofo.” Hen Li pressed his hands together and bowed.

“I guess we should both be moving along,” the constable said. He was touching his chest pocket, probably feeling the golden sycee Zhou Gongjin gave him. “I would hate for my colleague to catch up and realize that I am resolving this conflict without our magistrate’s approval.”

Zhou Gongjin smiled widely, his youthful appearance showing off the face of a prince.

“Of course. I wouldn’t want you to have a difficult time, Brother Wang. Have a good day.”

Zhou Gongjin walked away from the constable without another word.

Lu Na followed as closely as she could, but Zhou Gongjin’s legs were much longer than hers. She had to jog to keep up. Luckily for her, it didn’t take them that long to reach their destination.

Blossom Scent Parlor was the only building on the entire street. It was as easily as big as the Lu compound, but the design was entirely different. Instead of drab walls that went around the entire compound, the walls were painted with many blossoms on them. Each one hid a woman that was mostly covered by petals and nothing else. Every few steps, there were pink lanterns hanging to show that this was a brothel. There were women on the second floor waving at people in the streets, trying to entice them to come in despite it only being in the early afternoon.

Lu Na had seen nothing like this. She was amazed at how many of the women on the second floor were also showing off their spirits’ techniques to the people below. Unlike most people, these women were strong summoners, yet they became prostitutes. That was something she didn’t understand.

“We’re here. Touch nothing, say nothing, pretend you’re my follower. Got it?” Zhou Gongjin said.

Lu Na nodded. That wasn’t a hard request. The last thing she wanted to do was be mistaken for a prostitute. If her mother was here, she’d be ashamed at seeing her enter a brothel, but Lu Na told herself that she had no choice.

When they entered, the beautiful decorations didn’t stop outside. Every wood panel had paintings of Chang’e the Moon Goddess or another depiction of a beautiful woman. Lu Na saw some of them in the form of spirits and other mythological creatures.

“Ooh, I like this. It reminds me of myself,” her spirit said.

They had passed a picture of a naga, half woman, half snake. She was nude with a blossom leaf covering her body. The naga had her tongue out, showing off its length.

“I doubt you’re as pretty as she is,” Lu Na said.

“Oh, if you ever truly practice the summoner’s arts, I will show you my true form. Then you’ll eat your words. I’m prettier than that drawing will ever be.”

That was something Lu Na was looking forward to. Although she wasn’t sure if that was possible now that the constable took away Hen Li. She had to remind herself to bail out Hen Li after this was all over. Even if he didn’t teach Lu Na, that was the last she could do for saving her from the Wintersweet Sect.

Soon, Zhou Gongjin led Lu Na through the center courtyard of the brothel. It was something Lu Na had never seen in her life before. Instead of the usual main houses for family, there was a man-made moat right in the middle. Right above it was a large pavilion that housed multiple tables over the moving water. Four bridges connected in a criss-cross to the pavilion.

When Lu Na stopped to stare, Zhou Gongjin chuckled.

“The madam of Blossom Scent Parlor made this especially for the Mid-Autumn Festival. She wanted her customers to experience what it was like to be Hou Yi as he crossed over the river to find his moon goddess, Chang’e. All they have to do is offer something of value in order to reach all the moon goddesses in the middle. What they do after that is entirely up to the customer.

“Yesterday, they had an archery contest where they made some soft arrows out of cotton where the customers claimed their courtesans with an arrow. Every arrow cost ten taels of silver and it drove the men crazy whenever they missed. It was such a sight.”

“Is this what Sun Bofu does with his free time? Spend it at a brothel and waste away with all these Moon Goddesses?” Lu Na asked. “Aren’t you afraid of the Goddess’ retribution?”

“Oh, so serious. Let me take you to Sun Bofu and you can see what he’s doing. Then decide for yourself what type of man he is.”

They walked upstairs to the second floor. Lu Na peeked down the hallway and saw many rooms. Many of them had blossoms painted over their doors. They didn’t stop there. Instead, they kept going up to the roof.

Two men guarded the entrance to the roof. They had swords pointed at Zhou Gongjin and Lu Na.

“Relax men, it’s me.” Zhou Gongjin pulled out his metal badge. One man took it and looked it over to make sure it was real. With a nod, he returned it to Zhou Gongjin.

“Young Master Sun has been waiting for your return, but she does not look like Young Miss Sun,” the guard said.

“There’s a complication. I would tell the other men to prepare to move out. We might have a rescue mission to launch.”

“Yes, sir.” The guard clasped his hands and bowed. He walked away first.

The other guard opened the door and allowed Zhou Gongjin and Lu Na through. When they reached the roof, Lu Na saw something she didn’t expect.

There was a large tent sitting on top. It looked like an army tent, like the ones she’s seen in books. It was close to the center, far away from the sides. With a building this big, no one could see it from the streets below. There were men training with spears all around.

“You have an army up here.”

Zhou Gongjin huffed.

“This is not an army. It’s only a few retainers of the Sun family that are stationed here to protect our interests. That’s all.”

Zhou Gongjin led Lu Na to the tent where there were two more guards. These two had swords on their hips. As they approached, they unsheathed them and stood in a defensive stance. They held sharpened swords, unlike the dull ones that Sun Ren and her bodyguards had.

Zhou Gongjin raised his badge again and put it away, but he didn’t move forward. Two other guards came out from the tent, one male and the other female.

“They’re going to search you, so just be calm and you should get in, unless you have dangerous weapons on you.”

Lu Na nodded. It wasn’t as if she had much of a choice, anyway. She didn’t have to be told that if she tried to run now, she would be cut down. She had nothing to hide.

The female guard walked over. She was dressed in the same dark red tunic as Sun Ren’s bodyguards. There was a small device in her hand that glowed yellow.

“Stay still,” the female guard said. She ran the device over her head and then down her body. When it reached Lu Na’s chest, it turned red. “What do you have in there?”

“Nothing.”

“Show me, slowly.”

One of the other guards approached with a sword.

Lu Na carefully took out a few bits of silver, her entire remaining wealth and the bar of null metal wrapped in cloth. She unwrapped the metal and showed it to the female guard.

“That’s it.”

The female guard gently patted her chest and then down the sides of her body. She came back up, patting her legs as well.

This was the first time someone was so close to Lu Na outside of her mother giving her a hug as a child. But there was nothing comforting about this.

“All she has is this metal bar stock. She’s got nothing else. I doubt she’d be able to use that as a weapon,” the female guard said.

“Very well, let her in,” the guard said. He sheathed his sword.

Soon enough both Lu Na and Zhou Gongjin were allowed into the tent. It was empty save for a few cots of guards sleeping side by side. They walked through it until they reached the other side. There was another door leading back down into the brothel.

Zhou Gongjin greeted a few people who were awake before going down. Soon, they were back in the brothel, surrounded by the beautiful decorations of blossoms and different paintings of animals.

Where were they going? Wasn’t Sun Bofu in the tent? Lu Na didn’t have a choice but to keep following the man, hoping that they would at least be able to help Sun Ren.