The Paper Daughters of Chinatown - Heather B. Moore Page 0,55

are bruise free right now is because of the amount Huan Sun paid for you. As long as you keep him happy, you will be spared punishment.”

Mei Lien swallowed against the slow burn in her throat. “Thank you for your kindness.”

Ah-Peen Oie nodded, then released Mei Lien’s chin. Her gaze trailed to the bureau. “The water is from Huan Sun. Be sure that you show your deep gratitude when he returns tonight. I will not have a dissatisfied client in my house.”

Mei Lien paced her room the rest of the day. She took only half the dose of opium offered, and she fought the threatening headache. But the extra water helped, and the floating white magnolia gave her renewed determination. She didn’t want to be dependent on the opium. Mei Lien wanted to be stronger than her addiction so that when she left this house, her journey wouldn’t be controlled by her physical dependency. She could do what was required to pay off her contract; she could survive and return to her mother.

Click. Click.

Mei Lien turned from the darkening window to see Huan Sun enter her bedroom. Her skin heated with expectation, and her pulse went from walking fast to running. She bowed and greeted him, and Huan Sun returned her greeting with a smile.

“I brought you something.” In his hands, he carried a wide bowl painted with bonsai trees.

He approached Mei Lien, and her curious gaze fell to the contents. Inside the bowl, dirt had been layered with gravel. The top of a plant had emerged from the base, and Mei Lien knew immediately what it was. “A lotus?”

Huan Sun’s expression was pleased. “Yes. Now we need to add water. And it requires sunlight.”

This Mei Lien could not do. “I cannot open the drapes.”

Huan Sun set the bowl atop the bureau, then moved past her to the window. He tugged the drapes aside. Through the grate, the gilt-edged mauve of twilight glowed. “I will speak to Ah-Peen Oie. The lotus is my gift to you, and if it’s not cared for properly, it will die.”

Mei Lien couldn’t stop the hope that had slowly uncurled as a flower might after a cold rainstorm. “She might insist that it be kept in the dining room.”

Huan Sun turned. “It belongs here. I will speak to her.”

Mei Lien wanted to believe that Huan Sun could make such a request, and perhaps he could.

“Now.” Huan Sun approached her. “You should add the water.”

Mei Lien picked up the vase, which was nearly empty. She poured the remainder of the water into the bowl until the bud looked like it was floating, although it was still attached to its base.

Would the lotus really thrive and bloom in this small room with barely any light?

Huan Sun gave her a proud smile. “The lotus reminds me of you, blossom. Right now it’s hiding in the dirt, but soon it will bloom.”

Was this what it was like to be wooed? Except—that was impossible because Huan Sun was paying for her. Yet . . . “Thank you, it is beautiful already.” And it was.

Huan Sun took his place in the chair where he had sat the previous night, and Mei Lien sat opposite him on the bed. The room seemed smaller than before, the distance between them much shorter, and she wondered when he was going to tire of that chair.

She didn’t know if she should start the conversation, but she did anyway. “What did you do today?”

Huan Sun owned a tailoring shop, and he told her of the customers who had come in: from the servant of a very particular housewife to a member of the tong. Huan Sun’s detailed stories captivated Mei Lien. She felt as if she’d been to the shop herself.

“There is an important banquet next week that Ah-Peen Oie is hosting for the tong,” Huan Sun said. “I have many orders for making new clothing and repairing traditional costumes.”

“The banquet is here?” She thought of the one member of the tong she had met—Zhang Wei. Having a whole host of them in the house would be disconcerting, but she wouldn’t be at the banquet anyway.

“Ah-Peen Oie is a grand mistress of Chinatown,” Huan Sun said. “I think everyone fears her a little.”

Mei Lien pressed her lips together to let the urge of complaining about her mistress pass. “She has forbidden me from all banquets.”

Huan Sun studied her, his gaze moving over her from head to foot. “You are very beautiful. Perhaps she doesn’t want the