Lovely Blossoms

Fen Hua's eyes scanned the crowd. Everything felt surreal. Dreamlike. Peoples faces all blurred together, the sound melding into a single loud voice.

'This is really going to happen,' she thought. Maybe in the back of her mind she had hoped a valiant hero would come and save her. She hadn't realized there was any hope left in her until it was completely gone.

"We'll start the bidding at two-hundred and fifty gold pieces," the slaver called out. She had no idea what spiel he had used to sell her, her mind was blank, lost in the magnanimity of everything that was happening.

"I'll give one-twenty-five," a plump woman called out. She had a dark shade of red lipstick, and dark pink powder on her cheeks. She was clothed in bright silk cloth, and her head was filled with elegant and expensive accessories.

"I won't even acknowledge that as a serious bid," the slaver said casting the woman a disdainful look.

"Two-hundred," another woman called out. This woman was thin and delicate looking, but her face was hard and worn out. Her eyes were deep pits of hardship, worry lines creased her brow and the sides of her lips.

The slaver glanced at this woman. She seemed somehow familiar to him. Another number was called out by another bidder, but he was lost trying to recall where he had seen her before. The tiredness of her.....the sadness radiating from her eyes....for the first time in a very long time, the Slaver felt ashamed of himself.

He looked away, his hands balling at his side.

"Two-hundred gold pieces," his voice was quite and weak. He turned back to her. His mother. A woman he hadn't seen in many years. So many years he wondered if she even recognized him. He thought back to the day he left. The way she crawled after him, her hand reaching out in desperation.

"Please Xiaodan," she pleaded, "don't go." He had looked at her, his heart racing, a feeling of disgust rushing through him at the sight of her.

"There is nothing for me here." He snapped, "All that is here is a whore for a mother! I won't stay. I won't live like you!"

He was just a young boy at that time, barley twelve. It was his first time seeing what his mother did at night. It wasn't something he could forget. He blamed her, he thought she had a choice in the matter. It was only years later, when he was guilty of doing the same thing, that he realized she had never had a choice. The tears that fell at the sight of him leaving, these were tears from a lifetime of pain, and last vestige of happiness being stripped away.

There were times when he had thought of going back for her. Maybe even giving her a little money, setting her up somewhere.... but his greed, and the many excuses that he found always stopped him.

Looking at her now, that small frame, and those hands that had held him when he was little...

"Give me the money and go," he demanded of her. He didn't know why she wanted her, but if she wanted her, it was the least of the least he could do.

Fei Ling watched as Fen Hua was taken away. His heart ached a little more with each step she took from him. He found himself reaching out a hand in her direction. He hoped she would turn back and look at him. The feeling was like a fire burning inside of him. He just wanted to see her eyes, he wanted to know what she was feeling at that moment, that she would be ok. But she never did turn around and he was left with a feeling of heaviness and regret.

Fen Hua walked quietly behind the woman who had bought her. Beside her was a man holding the rope that bound her hands. He was a large man, but aged, at least in his fifties. He seemed kind enough, considering the circ.u.mstance.

"You see here girly," he said picking at a tooth. "We were told to bring back a young girl to wait on the new little lady of the house. Was about to buy another one till, Li Li seen sumthin when she looked at you." He shook his head, "Never seen that look on her face before."

"Enough Da Cheng," Li Lie snapped, Fen Hua was surprised to see the older woman had been crying. "For someone named intelligent, how can you be such a dummy!"

Da Cheng chuckled and pointed at Li Li with his thumb, "She likes to say things like that, but she's not a bad ol' gal. Just got some bad luck in life." He stared at the back of Li Li with obvious regret.

Fen Hua wasn't sure how to respond to him, so she just nodded her head.

"There now, nothing to be afraid of with us at least. There are plenty ah places that are much worse then ours. The master is firm, but fair, and the First Lady of the house is as gentle as a dove."

Fen Hua couldn't help but feel hopeful about what he was saying. Maybe things wouldn't' be so bad after all.

"The one's you got ta watch out for are the Second Lady Suyin and the Second Lady's son Liang Wenqian. Those two are always up to no good."

Fen Hua couldn't help but think about her old family, the original Fen Hua's family. She wondered if every household had some evil wife behind the curtains somewhere.

The three continued to walk through the dusty hot city for at least thirty minutes. When they stopped they were at a small inn. A few pieces of silver were tossed to the owner and they were led to a room upstairs.

That night Fen Hua stayed up, unable to sleep. The sound of Li Li and Da Cheng's snoring weren't loud enough to drown out the sounds from the tavern below them. Laughter and shouting continued for the entirety of the night, and when it was time to leave, she could barley keep her eyes open.

Luckily they headed to a carriage, where Da Chen got into the drivers seat, and Fen Hua and Li Li stepped inside. The feeling of relief entering that carriage was instantaneous. She hadn't realized how tense the city and all the people rushing about had made her. She leaned her head against the side of the carriage and turned towards Li Li who was staring out the window, curtain drawn as if waiting for something.

After a few moments she let the curtain fall, her hands shook so she held them together. "Get a move on it already Da Cheng!" Her voice sounded harsh, but somehow Fen Hua was able to pick out the undeniable sound of vulnerability.