Shuli Go Stories Vol. 4: A Week's Bliss

Part 13

They took a rickshaw to the Golden Slumbers, but didn't rush the young man pulling them. Lian wanted him fresh and told him they'd pay him double if he got them to the edge of the city in under twenty minutes from the Golden Slumbers.

Lian kept a tight watch out for Duan or any thugs he might hire to impede their progress, but there wasn't any sign of them. The night was still and quiet as a whole, a regular work night in a city that made most of its living off of men and women who worked hard from sun-up to sun-down and then recuperated overnight. There were only a few pedestrians and even fewer carriages out that late in the evening.

They made it to the Golden Slumbers just after 10:30 by Lian's estimation. Her mind was acutely focused on time, and she kept a very accurate internal clock. She would know down to the minute when Mei finally broke contact with the brothel. They approached at the back, the two high stories of old white stone standing tall above them both as they disembarked from the carriage and instructed the driver to take a breath. There were no guards. No sign of life at all except the two women and the driver. Lian didn't like it, didn't like what it implied: that Duan already knew everything he wanted to know.

Mei made her way to the wall of the building slowly, and Lian followed behind. Their steps were audible, each settling of a foot and the rustling of their clothes seemed to shout in the middle of the quiet night. It gave their approach weight, as if they were about to steal something priceless. Which they were.

Mei reached the wall and paused. Lian stood next to her and looked to the woman, then to the wall, and back. Mei's face was unreadable, but her eyes were not. They were staring at the wall with a mixture of feelings, and Lian realized that of course this would be the place Mei would have some difficulty leaving. The one place that had been her home.

"Are you scared?" Lian asked.

"...No," Mei responded, more fact than confidence in the word. She breathed in deeply, then raised her hand up and pressed her palm to the stone.

Lian watched, then did the same, both of their hands on the cool wall. There was a thin texture to it, small pockmarks and grime where the street had eaten away at it over the years. It was old stone, Lian realized. Older than she expected.

"Goodbye," Mei whispered, and dropped her hand.

Lian dropped hers, grabbed Mei's, and they were off. They boarded the rickshaw again and commanded the driver to hurry. His legs were thick and his cart was well-oiled. The bearings in the wheels rattled occasionally but he didn't slow down, just ran and ran and ran, impressing even Lian. They made it to the hole in the wall in the twenty minutes. Lian was encouraged they were making good time.

There though, Lian finally found someone waiting for them. Not at the hole itself, but on a balcony a street over. Mei didn't notice – her face was focused beyond recognition – but Lian didn't miss it. As she paid the driver his double wages and then followed Mei into the abandoned drain, she saw the man on the balcony wave something into the air. It would not be a clean escape.

The drain was a narrow dirt semi-circle of a cave that ran under the walls and was held up by rotting wooden planks for another two hundred yards after that. It was only two feet tall and just as wide, so they were forced to crawl the length of it in complete darkness. Mei went first, but despite having gone out this way before, she seemed unfamiliar with the curve of the tunnel, and more distressingly, she was scared. Her breathing was hard and fast after the first fifty yards, and she stopped more than once to catch her breath in the stagnant, almost putrid air. There were mounds of dirt and tree roots that jutted their way through everything, bringing a stop to their progress every five yards. Mei had to constantly navigate through the debris and obstacles, pushing and pulling in the dark, removing her bag and then pulling it after her.