Of everything that happened that night, the greatest surprise came when Hao Min awoke the next morning and the girl was still there, beside him.

"I thought you would leave, after you had what you wanted," Hao Min confessed, when she opened her eyes.

The girl yawned. "Why would I leave? Why eat a meal I like just once?"

Hao Min frowned. Maybe not a port. Am I a tasty meal?

The girl stretched, then lay back on the pillow. She brought a hand up, tracing her nails against his chest idly. "Hmmm. Not bad. You lack experience. But you are very willing, and have impressive stamina." She winked. "Not many men outlast me."

Hao Min went through a whirl of emotion. Experience? Stamina? Not many men?

The girl yawned once more and went to crawl across him. "I will go bathe. What I wouldn't do for a hot bath."

"I have a basin," Hao Min said quickly, gesturing to where a large metal basin hung from the rafters. "I could fill it for you, and we can heat it over the stove."

"Would you?" the girl asked hopefully, blinking up at him. "I would be ever so grateful. It is almost the end of the month, and I do not want to go another month without—"

At her words, Hao Min leapt from the bed. "What is it?" the girl asked, surprised.

"Nothing. I- I just remembered something I have to do. In town." Hurriedly, he collected his clothes from where they had fallen, dressing even quicker than he had undressed the night before.

"Can't it wait until after my bath?" the girl asked plaintively.

"I am sorry, Little Ship. I will help you when I get back," Hao Min said. Grabbing his purse from its hiding place in the ashes of the cooking fire, he rushed out the door.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Hao Min took the road to the village across the peninsula. It made its way along a narrow treacherous path up and across the cliffs. But Hao Min did not want to risk sailing around the point and missing Gao Ran, and having the debt collector discover the girl still lying in his bed.

The wind was sharp, and Hao Min took tight turns, navigating closer to the point than was safe. He reached the harbor just as the village was starting to come awake.

Sailing past the harbor, he continued down the coast a short way, to where a ship was anchored. It was a huge barge, three masted, and attached to the land by a floating dock to allow patrons easier access.

Hao Min anchored his own ship a little way down the floating dock, where a number of other ships were moored. The he strode along the dock toward the great barge.

The Floating Flower. The largest brothel this side of Zhanghai.

The ship anchored here only part of the year. The rest of the year it trawled up and down the coast, carrying it's living cargo to anywhere lewd thoughts lingered.

Hao Min had not visited in many years. When he had last come, it had been night, and it had seemed a magical, if indecent place, dyed red by traditional lanterns. In the day, the deck looked sad. The red lanterns strung from mast to mast could not cast their glow onto the scene below. And so Hao Min only saw a barge, bare of all decoration.

He crossed the deck and made his way to the stair leading down into the ship.

At the bottom he pushed through a thick curtain and immediately was choked by the smell of incense that was typical of brothels. Those with an investment in the trade alleged it was an aphrodisiac, to stimulate the senses, but Hao Min knew it was really to cover the smell of the brothel's activities.

Holding a sleeve to his nose, he turned to the first woman he saw. "Where is Gao Ran—"

Hao Min stopped, and looked more closely at the woman beside him. It was hard, as she had turned her head, trying to hide her face behind her sleeve.

He knew this woman, beneath the over done make up. It was his old friend, and once something more than that. Hai Ling, the fishmonger's wife.

"Hai Ling...? What are you doing here?" Hao Min asked, confused. "And why are you..."

He stopped himself. He had been about to ask why she was dressed like all the other women, with a low cut gown of tight silk that left nothing to the imagination.

Hai Ling lowered her sleeve. "I- my husband, he had debts. I am just working here for a month, to help pay them. Just a month. And only at the door."

"Oh," said Hao Min, not sure how else to respond.

"It is just for a month. And only here, at the door, as greeter," she repeated desperately.

"Oh. Just for a month. That is good then. Where is Gao Ran?" Hao Min asked stiffly.

"Master Ran is in the back," Hai Ling said, inclining her head respectfully, and gesturing toward another curtain. She was clearly eager for the conversation to be over.

"Thank you," said Hao Min, hurrying through the dark room toward the curtain she had indicated.

The room was completely dark, any portholes sealed up or covered with black fabric. The only light came from low lanterns, red of course, that cast that same red glow from his memories over the scene.

In the shadows he could see dark shapes, and caught whispers of conversation. The man's voice was always low, and the woman's filled with flirtation and tittered laughter. A pointless, false courtship.

He thought of the girl. How she had laughed when the hammock had fallen the evening before. Of her soft sighs throughout the night.

Suddenly, he very much wanted to be out of this place and with his Little Ship once more.

Through the curtain Hai Ling had indicated was a small room, more of an alcove really, ringed by a bright blue sofa. On it Gao Ran was stretched out, a half clothed girl under his arm. Her lips were painted bright red, and too much kohl ringed her eyes, so she looked more like a badger than a human.

Gao Ran looked up from the badger girl when Hao Min entered. "Hao Min, old friend! You've come to visit us at last."

"Just to pay my debt," said Hao Min firmly.

"Are you sure?" Gao Ran said with a grin. "Don't want to sample any of our... other wares?"

The rat faced debt collector flicked the gown from the badger girl's shoulder as he spoke, exposing her chest and side. The girl didn't even blink her black ringed eyes at the violation, accustomed to it by now.

"I am sure."

Gao Ran sighed. "You are no fun. Fine. The usual payment then." He held out his hand.

Hao Min reached out, the amount ready to deposit into Gao Ran's hand. He had prepared it earlier, not wanting Gao Ran to see his purse, still fat with the coin he had won at cards in Cha Shou.

Gao Ran accepted the coin gleefully. Then his eyes narrowed. "You haven't been hiding anything from me, have you, Ren Hao Min? Some of the village children claim you have a woman living with you."

"Ah," said Hao Min quickly. "They must have seen me."

"You?"

"Yes. Sometimes I get an old robe, and put a bit of cloth around my head, and walk around like a lady. It is very freeing, actually."

Gao Ran's face twisted with scornful laughter. "I thought as much. What woman would be desperate enough to make a home with a stupid piece of pig shit like you?"

"What woman indeed?" Hao Min echoed.

He turned to go. Then he hesitated.

He turned back. "The woman by the door. Hai Ling. What is her husband's debt?"

Gao Ran snorted. "That fool. He needed money to place an order. Then, when it came time to collect, he assumed just asking nicely would get him an extension." Gao Ran smiled nastily. "We gave him more time. But we also took his wife, to remind him to hurry."

"What will happen to her, if he cannot pay?" Hao Min asked.

Gao Ran's smile turned nastier. "Well, she will have to work, of course, to pay her husband's debt. It is what a good wife should do, don't you agree? Why, are you interested in her? I only have her greeting customers at the moment, but if you offer me the right price we can come to an arrangement. I'm sure her husband won't complain."

Hao Min said nothing. Then, finally he asked. "How much does the fishmonger owe you?"

*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter: 1460
Total: 16,409