Rose Lock - Chapter 7

Hua Manyi held the clothes and stood in the bathroom, still finding it a little unbelievable.

That woman had actually so selflessly given her private bathroom and bathtub for her to use. Lying in the warm bathtub, with steam curling gently and a faint fragrance lingering in the air, Hua Manyi felt somewhat lost in thought.

The running hot water was delivered through the showerhead. She used to use it every day at home, but ever since their house was raided, she had been barely scraping by, unable to even solve the problem of food and warmth. She had stunk for many days. After entering Feng Hai, to take a hot bath, she had to fetch buckets of hot water from the back kitchen herself and laboriously carry them to the bathroom.

This feeling of being enveloped by warm water was truly wonderful.

Hua Manyi sighed, raising a handful of water. Before she could put her hand down, her elbow seemed to hit something, and with a ‘pala’ sound, it fell from the windowsill. She picked it up and curiously unscrewed the lid to look inside.

It looked like a box of pomade, with a faint floral scent on it. She couldn’t tell exactly what kind of flower, but it was the exact same scent as the one on the woman, Auntie Gong.

With the mindset of “use it if it’s free,” Hua Manyi washed her hair as well. After cleaning up, she wrapped her wet hair in a towel, put on her pajamas, and prepared to come out. “I’m done washing, Auntie Gong.”

She tentatively called out, but no one responded. She pursed her lips, simply opened the glass bathroom door, and had taken only a few steps when she suddenly stopped.

By the bed, a familiar back was facing her, in the process of slipping off the luxurious qipao, revealing a fair, delicate back with fine, alluring lines. However, what drew Hua Manyi’s gaze was a mesmerizing rose tattooed on her lower back, just below the spine, lifelike and seductive.

Hua Manyi stared, dumbfounded.

“What are you looking at?”

Auntie Gong appeared before her at some point. The qipao was gone, replaced by a comfortable silk nightgown. This woman truly loved to smoke; even now, she still held a cigarette between her fingers, one hand across her chest, looking down at Hua Manyi with a lazy, imposing air, and an almost imperceptible hint of scrutiny.

Hua Manyi looked up at her for several seconds, meeting her gaze. She didn’t know if it was her imagination, but after prolonged eye contact, she would feel a kind of unbearable sensation. What exactly was unbearable, she couldn’t immediately articulate.

“Want a smoke?” Gong Yan followed Hua Manyi’s gaze to the cigarette she had just lit, raised an eyebrow slightly, and offered the cigarette to Hua Manyi.

“Try it?”

“I… I’ve never smoked.” As if enchanted, Hua Manyi hesitated before taking it, placed it to her lips, and took a hard puff, which immediately caused her to cough incessantly, making the woman in front of her burst into laughter. Like a frightened bird, Hua Manyi hastily pushed the cigarette back into the woman’s hand, clutching her towel, and fled in a panic.

In the middle of the night, Hua Manyi lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. One moment she was relishing the spicy taste of the cigarette, the next she was reaching out a finger from under the blanket to touch her lips. Had she just had an indirect kiss with Auntie Gong?

She had also eaten pastries her mother had eaten before, but she had never had the thought of an indirect kiss because of it.

Besides, Auntie Gong was a woman. Was she overthinking things?

Hua Manyi couldn’t figure it out, so she simply stopped thinking. Before falling asleep, she reviewed the dance steps and movements again, and only then did she fall asleep peacefully.

In the following days, Auntie Gong didn’t return to Feng Hai, saying she had other matters to attend to, and instructed Fang Yu to look after the dance hall and make sure nothing went wrong.

“What could possibly go wrong?” Xiao Xiao said dismissively.

Fang Yu playfully tapped her forehead. “Better safe than sorry. Be careful.”

“By the way, where is Manyi?”

Xiao Xiao indicated the lobby downstairs with her chin. Fang Yu leaned over the railing to look, and saw Hua Manyi in the audience, intently watching Guan Ling’s performance on the stage.

Guan Ling was another lead dancer at Feng Hai, along with Bai Jing and Xue Wenyan, but their fame was not comparable to Fang Yu’s, and they were under her guidance.

“What’s gotten into Manyi these past two days? She’s so obsessed with watching others sing and dance?” Fang Yu was puzzled.

Xiao Xiao shrugged and shook her head.

Fang Yu went downstairs and walked up to Hua Manyi. “Manyi, what’s wrong with you lately? You’re not practicing your dance diligently. Although Auntie Gong hasn’t been checking because she’s been away on business, the first thing she’ll do when she returns is check your progress. How dare you be lazy here?”

Hua Manyi rested her beautiful chin on her hand, turned her head and glanced at Fang Yu. “Sister Fang, I’ve learned it all. I promise I won’t make any mistakes.”

Fang Yu was speechless. This was true; the girl was practicing even more proficiently than she was. Her progress these past few days had been remarkably fast.

“By the way, Sister Fang, when can I perform on stage like them?” Hua Manyi’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Sister Fang, Sister Fang, do you get money for each performance?”

“Why are you asking that? You’re still young, don’t think about things like that.” Fang Yu gave her a reprimanding look.

“But didn’t Auntie Gong ask me to learn these things so I could perform on stage?”

“Who said that? Auntie Gong never told me to let you perform on stage. Don’t go taking matters into your own hands.” Fang Yu, uneasy, warned her again. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you if Auntie Gong blames you later.”

“Alright.”

A week passed. The weather in Haicheng grew colder, even starting to sprinkle with fine snow. When she woke up, the streets were covered with a thin layer of snow.

The willow trees by the street wharf were suddenly bare, not a single leaf remaining, their branches heavily laden with white frost overnight, like candied sugar. The streetlights at dusk emitted an oily yellow glow, stretching the backs of the rickshaw pullers long and thin.

The Feng Hai Dance Hall was as lively as ever. Many cars were parked outside. Swaggering young gentlemen, scholarly-looking intellectuals, and men of all social strata—old and young, poor and rich—came in for a drink, to listen to songs, and to feast their eyes.

Tonight was Fang Yu’s main performance, but halfway through, she suddenly fainted. The backup dancers looked at the yelling, discontented guests below, exchanging glances, at a loss.

“What’s going on?!”

“What’s the meaning of this? I didn’t come here to see a woman faint! Hurry up and sing and dance for me!”

Fang Yu was carried away, and backstage fell into chaos. Guan Ling was forced to go out to stabilize the situation. “Gentlemen, Sister Fang Yu might not be feeling well today. How about this? Guan Ling will sing ‘Fragrance Everywhere in the Rose Garden’ for all of you, how about that?”

“How about ‘my ass’! I came here to listen to Fang Yu sing!”

“If you don’t come out, I’ll smash this broken dance hall!”

Someone was already enraged, picking up a wine bottle from a table and throwing it towards the edge of the stage. With a loud crash, shattered glass scattered around the stage, immediately triggering screams.

Guan Ling had never seen such a scene. Frightened by the loud noise, she ran off the stage, weeping.

Ah Hua, the waiter, also dared not approach. He ran to the counter, picked up the crank telephone, and hastily turned the dial to call Auntie Gong.

After dialing, he anxiously waited for a few seconds. When the call connected, a flat voice from the other end of the receiver asked, “What is it?”

“Auntie Gong, something terrible has happened—” Ah Hua nearly collapsed upon hearing Auntie Gong’s voice. “The guests suddenly—”

(The southern breeze blows cool The nightingale sings clearly The flowers beneath the moon all fall asleep Only the Night Jasmine Exudes its fragrance I love this boundless night And I love the nightingale’s song Even more I love the flower-like dream Embracing the Night Jasmine Smelling this Night Jasmine Night Jasmine, I sing for you Ah, ah, I sing for you I think of you …)

A clear, gentle, and beautiful singing voice came from the stage, like crystal-clear snowflakes in the vast, cold night, soothing and melodious, sinking into the depths of the lungs. In this winter night, someone thinks of you, worries about you, a heartfelt melody, a nightingale’s song to lull you to sleep.

Ah Hua looked towards the stage and saw a graceful figure glowing under the lights. Her skin was fairer than snow, and her stunningly beautiful face seemed transparent, tender and smooth. Her peach blossom eyes, like those of someone slightly tipsy, carried a captivating fragrance. A single glance was enough to be utterly captivated.

Her lithe figure was even more slender and delicate than Fang Yu’s, utterly mesmerizing.

Ah Hua held the receiver, lost in the song, unaware that the person on the other end had already hung up, cutting off the call.

Whether it was the song that calmed their hearts or the person who calmed their hearts, the originally agitated guests below the stage were like disarmed soldiers, abandoning their aggressive behavior, one by one sitting down, utterly entranced.

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