Chapter 5: Feigning weakness
The merchant had inquired about their relationship and if he would be coming with her. Li Hua could have chosen to take him with her or insisted that she wouldn't come without him. That's what a good mother who loved her child would do, right?
Her reply was like a blade to his soul. She denied him, claiming he was a relative's child and that she would send him away when she became his concubine. Her betrayal cut deeper than any blade, leaving him raw and bleeding. His fingers trembled as he held the letter. A myriad of emotions surged within him. He chuckled softly his smile uglier than when crying.
To her, he was a burden. Her ten-year-old son was a burden that she was desperate to be rid of. Resentment burned within him. It was like a vicious fire consuming his reason. His laughter twisted, psychopathic and fierce as he clutched that letter tightly wrinkling it. He put back the box and the floorboard in their rightful place before getting up, emotionless and terrifying.
What he did next was as expected. He went to find the woman whose husband was entangled with his mother. In this era, men took in concubines all the time but taking a courtesan into the harem was frowned upon. No woman from a respectable family would allow that.
He took a cart the very next day to the nearby city and found the Madam inspecting her fabric shop. She didn't despise him for wearing patched-up clothes. Instead, she warmly invited him inside her shop when she saw him standing outside for a long time.
After drinking a cup of tea and eating the tastiest pastries he had ever eaten, she warmly asked what she could do for him. Her kind eyes glanced at the patches on his clothes. She thought he wanted help to get new clothes. Instead he explained who he was and handed her the letters.
Her gaze darted across the pages her demeanour changing drastically. Tears welled in her eyes and that night she threw the letters at her husband and confronted him about it.
The fight was so intense everyone in the city knew about it. Good news travelled fast but bad news travelled even faster. Soon enough the gossip reached the small town. Li Hua felt something was wrong. She felt like the other courtesans were whispering to each other but when she came closer they would pretend to be busy with something.
Before she could find out what it was they were hiding her door crashed open, splintering the silence. The woman who stormed in was no stranger to her. Li Hua was just surprised she would be here.
"You are her, right? Li Hua?" she spat, her voice a whip. There wasn't any need for her to answer because she had a striking resemblance to the cute little boy who paid her a visit. "You dirty vixen! Don't you dare think that you will set foot in my home!"
Li Hua's heart raced as she cowered pretending to be weak. Her lover had promised to keep her identity a secret and she would enter into his home as a poor young woman from a distant village but now her identity as a courtesan was revealed before she was even redeemed. How on earth this woman found out about her identity was what she wanted to know.
She endured her face being poked repeatedly and the insults being hurled at her. She knew her only way out was to cling to her act of feigning weakness.
"Madam," she whispered, her voice trembling, "please, I—"
But the woman's hand shot out, fingers like talons and continued poking Li Hua's forehead, each word a venomous sting. "You have bewitched my husband," she hissed. "You think you will succeed, huh? Do you think my in-laws will allow such filth that can't even take care of her child into the family? You delusional dumb bitch."
The other courtesans watching the good show giggled. They couldn't help but rejoice in her misfortune. Li Hua's pulse thundered when she heard her words. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe her son did this. That unlucky star had ruined her plans. How?
When she saw her lover rushing in breathless and dishevelled she lowered her head and cried silently her shoulders trembling. His eyes darted between the two women. One was his wife acting like a lunatic and the other was his fragile lover being bullied. "What madness is this?" he demanded his eyes enraged.
His wife pointed at Li Hua, her rage unyielding. "This is what you are doing behind my back? Huang Chao don't forget who brought your family out of the slump." The man's face froze. Indeed his marriage to his wife had helped his family business recover. His ties to her family of officials had opened doors he could never have imagined.
For a moment the voice of reason swayed his heart but then Li Hua tried to get up and she swayed, her knees threatening to buckle. "My lord," she murmured, her eyes fluttering. "I didn't... I didn't mean to bring you trouble. I—," she said before biting her lip looking aggrieved.
The merchant's face reddened. "You hurt her!" he accused, his anger flaring. "How vicious can you be to beat a fragile woman."
His wife scoffed, flicking her sleeve. "She's a viper," she spat. "Take her back to your family, if you dare. See how that turns out." After that warning, she walked away leaving her husband embracing that wretch pretending to be pitiful.
Li Hua clung to him her tears wetting his clothes. The merchant's gaze softened, guilt etching lines on his face. "Forgive me," he whispered, pulling her close. "I will protect you."
Li Hua spent hours putting on an act to coax Huang Chao and ensure that he wouldn't go back on his word. She was so good at manipulating him that he even paid a third of the money to redeem her to the proprietress before leaving.
As soon as she sent him off her smile, once enchanting, faltered, revealing the anger that was simmering beneath.
Ignoring the looks from other courtesans she walked back to her room. For the rest of the day, she lay sideways on the chaise facing the door waiting for her son to return. For others, they would cool down their anger over time but for her, it was the opposite. As the hours ticked by her rage intensified. It surged like a tempest, a storm of betrayal and fury. What happened next could only be described as gruesome.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Andru_9788
Andru_9788 Hello lovely angels. Let me know what you think so far. Reviews and collections will be appreciated.
Chapter 6: Was Li Hua even human?
Soon the sun set and the dark sky was covered in dark stormy clouds. Thunder rumbled, shaking the very walls. Rain cascaded in torrents that people couldn't see anything through the curtain of rain.
Li Hua was there lying in wait, her anger simmering like the thunderstorm outside. A flash of lightning formed a sharp crack in the sky illuminating the room and casting jagged shadows across her face.
Just then the door creaked open and Xiang Yu stumbled in, his tattered clothes clinging to his skin, rainwater pooling at his feet. His mother had told him that she wanted fresh loquats growing over the mountain. She complained that the ones sold by the vendors weren't fresh so he had to take a four-hour hike up the mountain and another four-hour hike back thus he had no idea that something happened.
His eyes widened as they met hers that were brimming with resentment. His mother was sitting in the dark, rage etched into her features. The lightning flashed again creating an eerie atmosphere. Li Hua's anger was a force of nature, and Xiang Yu, drenched and hollow-eyed had stepped into the jaws of a voracious beast.
The room crackled with tension, and the air charged like a lightning storm. Xiang Yu's body stood frozen, every nerve in his small body numbed. His senses had already warned him of what was coming. "Mother," he rasped, his voice barely audible but she paid no heed. She rose from the chaise, her movements deliberate, like a predator closing in on its prey.
Her hand once gentle when playing the guqin instantly turned vicious. She slapped him across his face sending him sprawling on the floor. The loquats he had had his hands scratched and knees scrapped for spilt from his sling bag, rolling across the floor like lost marbles.
Xiang Yu cupped his throbbing cheek the stinging pain making his ears ring. His eyes devoid of emotion watched as his mother locked the door. His weak body trembled involuntarily his breathing heavy. He crawled backwards biting into his lip tightly as though trying to suppress something dark from coming out.
The dimly lit brothel which was usually packed with travellers and merchants in town for business, was quite empty tonight due to the heavy rain. They were only hosting a handful of clients. A young woman sat gracefully, her delicate fingers playing soothing melodies from the pipa. The wine flowed and some perverted clients were groping the courtesans followed by flirtatious giggles.
Because of this, it was hard to miss the chaotic sounds coming from upstairs. There were the sounds of a chair being flung against the wall, a door being struck with force, and a table overturned followed by loud thuds. The women exchanged glances, their expressions telling.
A young courtesan burst down the stairs, her eyes wide. "Sister Hua!" she cried. "She's hitting her son!"
The other courtesans followed after her. They had expected Li Hua to react this way after what happened today. It's just that they expected a slap or two followed by some harsh scolding but what Li Hua was doing now was far from it. One of them tried to open the door but they found out that it was locked from the inside. It seemed Li Hua did it on purpose. She didn't want them to interfere.
In a panic, they frantically pounded on the door. "Stop!" they shouted. "Li Hua, that's enough!"
Desperation fuelled their efforts. They tried to break the door down but it remained stubbornly shut. One of the women ran to the proprietress' room and knocked frantically. The elder woman who was in the middle of entertaining her guest covered herself up and angrily rushed to swing the door open.
"What?!" she yelled angrily and the young woman who was trembling with anxiety, her eyes teary like she was about to burst out crying, tugged at her arm while incoherently explaining.
"Older sister Hua, is going to kill him," she said and the proprietress grabbed a bunch of spare keys ignoring her client who was struggling to pull up his pants.
She arrived at the end of the corridor, her anger palpable. "Li Hua do you want to anger me to death?!" she yelled as she unlocked the door. She pushed it open but something was jamming the door. A kang table was blocking the way but through the gap, the proprietress could see the scene within.
Li Hua stood there in a tempest of rage while her son lay unconscious on the floor. The havoc in the room demonstrated the violence that had unfolded in their absence. The proprietress pushed the door forcibly and it swung open, the Kang table being shoved to the side. The courtesans and some curious clients flooded into the room, their gasps echoing off the walls. Xiang Yu lay there alive but battered, his breath ragged.
"Check his pulse!" the proprietress shouted and one of the ladies knelt beside him.
"He is breathing, but—"
The proprietress' hand cracked across Li Hua's face, a slap that sent black spots dancing before her eyes. "You fool!" she spat. "Affecting business with your raucous behaviour! If you want to kill your son don't do it in my establishment. Do you want his ghost to haunt my establishment and ruin business?!"
Li Hua staggered, her cheek swollen. She was driven by madness and wanted her son dead. She wanted this unlucky star out of her life. Why that beast didn't take him along when he took the baby girl puzzled her greatly. Why leave her with this burden?
"Get him on the bed," the proprietress ordered her voice steel. Let me see the extent of his injuries." She had several skills and medicine was one of them. When the women fell sick she was too cheap to pay a physician to cure them so she learnt it from the town physician.
They lifted Xiang Yu from the floor and he groaned in pain. He was in so much agony that the room blurred before he passed out again. "Don't you have things to do?! Clear the room!" bellowed the proprietress and they all scattered like flies in fear. The room was left empty with only her, the unconscious Xiang Yu, the elder woman who helped around the brothel and Li Hua who was quite regretful. She wasn't regretful because she almost killed her son but regretful that he was still alive.
The proprietress inspected the broken boy and her blood froze with each second. Li Hua was not human at all. Who could do this to their flesh and blood?
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Andru_9788
Andru_9788
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