Soon the sun set and the dark sky was covered in dark stormy clouds. Thunder rumbled, shaking the very walls. Rain cascaded in torrents that people couldn't see anything through the curtain of rain.
Li Hua was there lying in wait, her anger simmering like the thunderstorm outside. A flash of lightning formed a sharp crack in the sky illuminating the room and casting jagged shadows across her face.
Just then the door creaked open and Xiang Yu stumbled in, his tattered clothes clinging to his skin, rainwater pooling at his feet. His mother had told him that she wanted fresh loquats growing over the mountain. She complained that the ones sold by the vendors weren't fresh so he had to take a four-hour hike up the mountain and another four-hour hike back thus he had no idea that something happened.
His eyes widened as they met hers that were brimming with resentment. His mother was sitting in the dark, rage etched into her features. The lightning flashed again creating an eerie atmosphere. Li Hua's anger was a force of nature, and Xiang Yu, drenched and hollow-eyed had stepped into the jaws of a voracious beast.
The room crackled with tension, and the air charged like a lightning storm. Xiang Yu's body stood frozen, every nerve in his small body numbed. His senses had already warned him of what was coming. "Mother," he rasped, his voice barely audible but she paid no heed. She rose from the chaise, her movements deliberate, like a predator closing in on its prey.
Her hand once gentle when playing the guqin instantly turned vicious. She slapped him across his face sending him sprawling on the floor. The loquats he had had his hands scratched and knees scrapped for spilt from his sling bag, rolling across the floor like lost marbles.
Xiang Yu cupped his throbbing cheek the stinging pain making his ears ring. His eyes devoid of emotion watched as his mother locked the door. His weak body trembled involuntarily his breathing heavy. He crawled backwards biting into his lip tightly as though trying to suppress something dark from coming out.
The dimly lit brothel which was usually packed with travellers and merchants in town for business, was quite empty tonight due to the heavy rain. They were only hosting a handful of clients. A young woman sat gracefully, her delicate fingers playing soothing melodies from the pipa. The wine flowed and some perverted clients were groping the courtesans followed by flirtatious giggles.
Because of this, it was hard to miss the chaotic sounds coming from upstairs. There were the sounds of a chair being flung against the wall, a door being struck with force, and a table overturned followed by loud thuds. The women exchanged glances, their expressions telling.
A young courtesan burst down the stairs, her eyes wide. "Sister Hua!" she cried. "She's hitting her son!"
The other courtesans followed after her. They had expected Li Hua to react this way after what happened today. It's just that they expected a slap or two followed by some harsh scolding but what Li Hua was doing now was far from it. One of them tried to open the door but they found out that it was locked from the inside. It seemed Li Hua did it on purpose. She didn't want them to interfere.
In a panic, they frantically pounded on the door. "Stop!" they shouted. "Li Hua, that's enough!"
Desperation fuelled their efforts. They tried to break the door down but it remained stubbornly shut. One of the women ran to the proprietress' room and knocked frantically. The elder woman who was in the middle of entertaining her guest covered herself up and angrily rushed to swing the door open.
"What?!" she yelled angrily and the young woman who was trembling with anxiety, her eyes teary like she was about to burst out crying, tugged at her arm while incoherently explaining.
"Older sister Hua, is going to kill him," she said and the proprietress grabbed a bunch of spare keys ignoring her client who was struggling to pull up his pants.
She arrived at the end of the corridor, her anger palpable. "Li Hua do you want to anger me to death?!" she yelled as she unlocked the door. She pushed it open but something was jamming the door. A kang table was blocking the way but through the gap, the proprietress could see the scene within.
Li Hua stood there in a tempest of rage while her son lay unconscious on the floor. The havoc in the room demonstrated the violence that had unfolded in their absence. The proprietress pushed the door forcibly and it swung open, the Kang table being shoved to the side. The courtesans and some curious clients flooded into the room, their gasps echoing off the walls. Xiang Yu lay there alive but battered, his breath ragged.
"Check his pulse!" the proprietress shouted and one of the ladies knelt beside him.
"He is breathing, but—"
The proprietress' hand cracked across Li Hua's face, a slap that sent black spots dancing before her eyes. "You fool!" she spat. "Affecting business with your raucous behaviour! If you want to kill your son don't do it in my establishment. Do you want his ghost to haunt my establishment and ruin business?!"
Li Hua staggered, her cheek swollen. She was driven by madness and wanted her son dead. She wanted this unlucky star out of her life. Why that beast didn't take him along when he took the baby girl puzzled her greatly. Why leave her with this burden?
"Get him on the bed," the proprietress ordered her voice steel. Let me see the extent of his injuries." She had several skills and medicine was one of them. When the women fell sick she was too cheap to pay a physician to cure them so she learnt it from the town physician.
They lifted Xiang Yu from the floor and he groaned in pain. He was in so much agony that the room blurred before he passed out again. "Don't you have things to do?! Clear the room!" bellowed the proprietress and they all scattered like flies in fear. The room was left empty with only her, the unconscious Xiang Yu, the elder woman who helped around the brothel and Li Hua who was quite regretful. She wasn't regretful because she almost killed her son but regretful that he was still alive.
The proprietress inspected the broken boy and her blood froze with each second. Li Hua was not human at all. Who could do this to their flesh and blood?