Venture Within the Dark Shadows of the Palace

The Young Successor

She stared into the skies, dark as they were. Gwen was pitiful, indeed, she thought. Widowed as she was, Gwen had no means of supporting her little child. The girl's first step into the gamble house only proved a pain against her will, for gambling was not on her list of valid actions. But she needed the money quick, didn't she? Before Gwen sold her daughter to the brothel, she must emerge with the money.
Oh, darn! She just slipped. She must get there on time, before the place closes!
She placed a bit of her precious savings on the table, avoiding the whispers of the folk women. So what if Grandpa was the Imperial Advisor? That didn’t mean she was rich!
She placed a number of bets on the guess that the number on the dice was a big number. This was a traditional guessing game whereby the player either bets on the number on the dice to be big or small. Though she won, her winnings were just a small amount of money as her winnings were based on how much she had betted. “Well, “the curious man who was in charge of the game inquired, “Not enough for a newcomer like you?”
She shook her head, expecting the man to present her a better offer.
“You’re a village girl indeed. Here, that man sitting way back there is the son of the proprietor. If you beat him, you may make a little fortune. But, if you can’t, you have to do as he wishes.”
The girl pictured herself dressed indecently serving customers with cups of wine. “No way!” Then, she thought of Widow Gwen and her daughter.
“Well, okay,” she muttered reluctantly. “But what do I have to beat him at?”
The man looked solemn. “Checkers.”
As the girl was making her way towards the other man, the “curious man” stopped her in her tracks and whispered, “Be wary. He likes girls.”
How sickening, the girl thought to herself. But, a little perseverance will do me good.
The next minute passed in a vacant room with the man losing a series of three games to the girl, the former at the same time, with his other hand, fiddling with the bow on her garment. Judging by the man’s indecency, he was capable of undoing her robe while she played, unaware of the man’s clever fingers. The man then pretended to moan, “What kind of game is this? It’s so difficult to win!”
The door swung open, just as the man finished his work on the girl. Another man, who was younger, stood at the door and shouted, not too loudly: “Dou Jiang, return me the money you owe me!”
Startled by the commotion, the girl stood up. Jiang shouted, “I’ve the money! Come on in!”
As the man rushed in, he tripped over a section of the carpet and fell, crashing down on the girl, whose garment was starting to unfurl. The girl gave a shrill scream like one who had just seen a cockroach. The man struggled to stand up but just as he was doing so, he realized he was pressing down on the girl’s garment with his right hand and worse, she had been indecently exposed within his eyes. “Pervert!” the girl yelled. “Help!”
“Get her, Junhe!” Jiang shouted. “She’s a prostitute after my money!” When the girl was on her feet again, she realized the bow that was used to tie her garment was missing. On looking towards Jiang, she caught sight of the bow on the floor not far from him. If she was to run out with her hand covering the part exposed, she would risk a loss of reputation.
While covering herself, she crawled towards Jiang, who automatically extracted a thick dagger. “Come any nearer, and I’ll send you to Hell!” yelled Jiang. Terrified by the fact Jiang was armed and also needing to obtain her bow, she had to ignore him and try to get the bow. At the same time, Junhe was standing there in a daze. The girl decided to seize the opportunity to turn towards Junhe for help.
“Don’t believe him,” she yelled. “He’s lying to you! See, he hasn’t paid you the money he owes you, and he –“
“Don’t believe her! You saw her standing up with her garment open. She’s after my money and yours too!”
“Don’t believe him, I did nothing of the sort!” yelled the girl, still trying to grab her bow. She was successful, but as she did so, she heard a whisper from Jiang, “Just admit defeat and spend the night here with me, and I’ll pay you triple the amount I promised.”
“Don’t be silly, big Brother (an address used in politeness for those older)! Dou Jiang won’t pay you back your amount!” she quickly added, ignoring what Jiang had just said.
“Who says I won’t?” snarled Jiang. “Come on, Junhe! We’ve been friends for so long. Don’t you believe the words of a stranger – “
BAM!
“What are you doing? Why did you whack me?”
Junhe focused his attention on the fact that the girl was now fitting the bow into her garment and fastening it in haste. It then dawned on him that Jiang, after so long, had not changed his old ways. And, so, he was not going to help him despite the fact he was not getting any money.
“Don’t confuse me, Jiang.” Junhe maintained his composure, his hand having slipped a few seconds ago and landed his weapon on a side of Jiang’s head.
He then closed a pressure point on Jiang’s abdomen. Jiang fainted instantly. The girl, thinking she was his next victim, started for the door.
“Miss? Miss?” Junhe shouted. “I’m very sorry for what had happened –“
But she had gone, with an absolute terror of being reported to the authorities by Junhe. After all, hadn’t Dou Jiang claimed she was a prostitute after his money?

“What’s wrong?” Ji Shen asked. The girl was now spooning large amounts of rice and vegetables into her mouth. It was not like of the Li Yu he knew, Ji Shen thought. The Li Yu he knew was often in a cheerful mood and was no glutton. Li Yu, having known Ji Shen a long time, finally broke down and told him.
“Don’t worry, that whatever Junhe won’t be able to report you to the authorities without sufficient proof. Plus, he didn’t know your name and address. But, actually, why did you head on to the gamble house just to earn a few bags of gold coins?”
“Phew, thanks goodness he didn’t manage to have me at hand.. Huh, what did you just say? A few bags? You have too much money on your hands?”
Ji Shen looked at his feet, embarrassed. “Well, what did I just say? No, I meant..” The confusion was silenced by Li Ji-Su’s abrupt entry into the eating-house. Li Yu failed to realize this was her known favorite place for having meals and misunderstood that the crowd of folk women had informed Li about her emergence at the gamble house. She started to panic.
Shen winked at Li and then disappeared. Fearing Li who could often be very strict about traditions, Li Yu excused herself, “Oh, Grandfather! I forgot I’ve something to do at home!”
“Li Yu!” Annoyed, Li tried to catch up with her, sickly at his age.
I wonder if Grandpa knows what happened. Yu thought, alarmed as she visualized her grandfather beating her with his walking-stick and driving her out of the house.
She slipped and fell, scraping herself on the rocky pavement. Li was soon next to her. “Yu, you idiot! I just came to tell you Widow Gwen is fine, with some money from an anonymous friend.”
Widow Gwen!! The entire fluster at the gamble house had resulted in her forgetting about Gwen’s dilemma. Well, everything was all over now that she was fine.
As she got up to enter the house, Li then said, “Hey! Wait! That’s not all.”
“There is more?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. I know of your seventeenth birthday coming up. “
“Huh? I have a gift from Grandfather for the first time?”
“Not a gift, but a post.”
“A post? Well, Grandfather, I know I have managed to take the exams by disguising myself as a male, and thereby obtained a scholar post in the past, so are you telling me to take a higher exam?”
“No, silly..! I’ve been through 20 years of being Imperial Advisor. It’s finally time for me to have a successor.”
“Successor? Me?”
Li smiled. “Observe my broad smile, and you will know the answer.”