Beautiful peach blossoms

Chapter 1

That baby was me. And my mother truly did not know the hell she gave me when she truly left me. I wonder where l was in the story. Oh yes! So my mother had died, leaving her pitiful, weak and helpless baby in the hands of the demon owner of the prostitute house. The owner was ecstatic that she had finally got a few young babies to replace some of the older prostitutes later. She had about four girl-children and one male child. 

The owner, whose name was Bai Lang, took me to the smallest courtyard in this Chinese-style house. The courtyard was extremely small but clean and tidy. She called out to one of the nursemaids and left me in her hands. "Remember to take care of this baby well. She is the future of our Lianguan pavilion." The maid curtsied and rushed into the room to put me down and prepare a bed to sleep. Bai Lang promptly left and allowed me to live a relatively good life until l turned five.

During those five years, l lived with all the other five children and become quite close with all of them. Especially Yin Chinhua. She was my sworn sister and partner in crime. We went everywhere and did everything together. 'No one could separate us' is what l naively thought. But our childhood paradise crumbled on that fateful morning. The maid, who normally took care of us, was fussing around, dressing all six of us in our best clothes and making us look pretty. All in all a tiring ordeal.

We were made to stand outside the courtyard for inspection. 

At that moment, Bai Lang came to inspect all of us individually and see how life was going. She then made each of us sit down and started her speech: "Little children, today is the day you're going to learn to become useful to this pavilion. You must work hard not to disappoint! You will come up and l will give your alias name and colour. The colour represents my expectations of you in this pavilion. You have to live by it! After this, you will be assigned to shadow one of the main prostitutes of the pavilion. You cannot be servants and you have to learn quickly! Understood?"

We all nodded our heads vigorously, excited at our new roles. I turned to Chinhua and asked: "Hey! What colour do you want?" She shook her head: "I don't know. Each colour represents a certain trait. I know that if l was given white, l would fail to fit in that category for sure. I just hope Mistress Lang chooses for us wisely." I also thought about this and then shrugged.

The first person was the only boy in the group Gao Ling. He was a short effeminate boy with the prettiest brown eyes. He was given the purple colour which meant that he was expected to be noble and elegant. His alias name was Yue. He bowed and sat down again. 

The next two people were twins Murong Yu and Murong Xue. They were both innocent and lovely like blooming flowers yet still had an air of mystery. It was a fascinating combination. They hardly talked except for today. Mistress Lang used their names Yu and Xue as their alias. Yu was given blue and Xue green which meant that Yu meant to be cold and harsh like an ice queen whilst Xue would remain tender and naive. 

Yao Rong was next in line and she was as arrogant as those mistresses from the capital city. She treated everyone around her like slaves except the people that lived with her. It made everyone extremely confused. She was given red which meant she could maintain her arrogance but also allowed her splendour and good wishes. She was clearly favoured already. Her alias was Yang.

Yin Chinhua nervously held her skirts and walked up to Mistress Lang. She was examined thoroughly and Mistress Lang looked lost for a minute. She examined Chinhua again and gave her the alias Mei. My mouth opened in shock. Who cares about Yao Rong! Didn't this alias mean that Mistress Lang had high hopes for Chinhua? Mei did mean beauty. My mind went on overdrive. Chinhua was given the colour gold to signify grace and opulence. She walked back obviously pleased with her result.

It was my turn. I walked up to Mistress Lang and nervously held my breath. All the good colours had already been taken. Red, purple, gold, green, blue. All these meant that you could get a good person to shadow. Most of the people in these jobs hardly ever gave up their bodies. They were mostly performers or given away to clients. 

Mistress Lang looked at me. I stared back. Then from her bag, she brought out a cloth. Black. I was given the colour black. My face lost its earlier excitement and became pale with fright. 'Is this what she wants me to do?' Black meant seduction and allure. I was also given the alias Mei but mine was specifically Yao Mei. 

I went back to my seat and ignored everyone else. I was only five years old. 'How am l supposed to do this job?' This is the only question that ran through my mind as l sat waiting for my mentor.

Mistress Lang clapped her hands and six women appeared. Each of them wore the colours that had just been given. "Each child knows their colour! Walk to your new mentor!"

I looked up at the women and looked for my mentor. She was in a black and gold cheongsam that has a slit that went right up to her milky thighs. I walked towards her and knelt down: "Mistress." She smiled at me and allowed me to stand. "You cannot turn back now. You're now part of this colour. You know what that means." I blinked away my tears and nodded. 

"Then let us depart. You have a lot to learn."