After a terrible accident that she'd rather forget, Casey Leung abandons her life in Canada and boards a river boat in China. Reaching to touch the reflection of the moon in the river, she gets sucked into a water vortex and spat back out into an al...
Standing in the middle of the main room, Cui Xi held her notepad, thoughtfully contemplating the exposed rafters. Xiao Hei leaned up against what had once been the guest counter and Xiao Yu stepped in and shut the door behind her.
For a moment, all three of them scrutinized their new home, and then Xiao Hei folded his arms across his chest as his Mistress continued on from where she had left off earlier.
"Well, the most important aspect of a beautiful woman is her skin. So, in order to maintain good elasticity and youthfulness, two things need to happen: cleansing and moisturizing. That's what we are going to focus on first," Cui Xi decided.
Xiao Yu nodded.
"Then why are we trying to find a winemaker?" asked Xiao Hei.
"I need alcohol. Not just any alcohol. I need very pure, highly distilled alcohol. Xiao Yu this will be good for you too for disinfecting. I need it to keep everything clean..."
For a moment, she muttered to herself, making notes in English shorthand. Xiao Yu frowned at the mysterious squiggles.
"Rose water for toner...soybean oil for soap and moisturizer...I wonder if it's possible to get shea butter from Africa...does anyone even know to cultivate...oh, and aloe..." she continued, muttering to herself in English, making more scribbles with her pen – another special treasure that she had kept from her suitcase. When she had showed Xiao Hei the pen, he'd been fascinated, wondering how the ink had been pumped into such a small reservoir.
However, right now, Xiao Hei thought his Mistress looked to be possessed by demons, muttering in a language he didn't understand.
"I'll go borrow some servants from next door to start cleaning, ok Mistress?" he sighed, walking away. Using his boot, he shoved aside a piece of detritus on the floor and climbed the stairs to the mezzanine level.
"Got it..." she said absently, still scribbling.
"How did the talk with the old boss of the restaurant go?" asked Xiao Yu.
Cui Xi shrugged.
"It's all settled. I sold my left hand for it, but it's perfect. The main floor is huge and has a back room which is where we will keep stock and he had two kitchens! There's another in the back courtyard. This is perfect because the cosmetics work needs to be separated from our eating and cooking needs. The entire upper floor has multiple rooms and the mezzanine/balcony looks out onto the street – these would have been private guest rooms, but they'll be turned into our living quarters and a reception room. There's also a nice big room at the back, on the lower floor that connects out to a small courtyard and then a larger courtyard...I had no idea, but the larger courtyard actually connects to the pleasure house by a moon gate. These two buildings were probably built together and owned by the same people at one point, but then the restaurant part was sold."
"Hmmnn," said Xiao Yu.
Cui Xi stopped and looked up.
"Something bothering you?" she asked, poking her bottom lip with the back of the pen.
Xiao Yu smiled, shaking her head.
"No, I'm happy to have our own place separate from the pleasure house," she said, smiling widening.
"Good!" said Cui Xi. "A lot of my work will still be with the courtesans, but once the business is flourishing, I'll cut ties and we'll be upstanding business women!"
Xiao Yu giggled a little.
"Yes...an upstanding business woman who dances erotically in front of men..."
"Oi...you're not allowed to mock me!" Cui Xi laughed good naturedly. "But did you think about what I said? You should do work as a doctor and charge for it."
"I've thought about it and I'll do that," said Xiao Yu with a smile.
"I'll be glad when we cut ties," said Xiao Hei, coming back in followed by six maids. "One of these days someone is going to figure that out and it will be bad."
That's a different problem for another time...Cui Xi shrugged, then turned to the maids.
"Cosmetics Goddess!" they greeted. "Miss Lian and Miss Hong'er were able to spare us maids."
"Excellent! Xiao Yu, do you mind directing them?" Cui Xi smiled with real pleasure. Xiao Yu nodded and immediately gave instruction to the six maids.
Cui Xi got along fabulously with A'Lian and Hong'er and would remember to bring them something extra special for her next makeover with them.
Turning back to Xiao Hei, she frowned at him:
"Well don't blame me about the dancing. We have to make money somehow. How's your training coming? Are you useful yet?" she asked haughtily, sniffing a bit.
Xiao Hei reddened.
"Everything is healed. I'm just working on my strength," he mumbled. "Training is going well, Mistress."
"Good. I won't ask too much. However, if you are to survive your situation, you'll have to continue with practice. Be diligent. Anyway, the bow...you'll teach me?" she asked abruptly changing the subject.
He nodded.
She sighed, punctuating her last scribble with a tap of her pen on the paper pad.
At last! Something I can call my own...
"Ok. Let's get to work," she said, gesturing to the shop.
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