The two men clapped as Young Master Tan entered the private dining room, and he gave them another bow, with a flourish and a cheeky grin.
"Prince, s'your turn," said Bai Li, who was by now feeling the effects of skolling a bottle of wine on his own. He was energised by Tan Bowen's antics.
"I'll go truth again," the Prince drawled.
As the early hours of the morning approached, he didn't have the energy to climb a human pyramid, he decided.
"Whass your ideal woman your highness?" asked Tan Bowen. "Your soulmate."
"Hmm. Less see. Beautiful of course. That's a given. Gentle. Innocent. Kind. And Virt…uous," he looked pensive as he imagined her.
"Height?"
"Small."
"Eyes?"
"Large."
"Talents?"
"Not necessary. Thad would be a bonus."
"Ohhh, you're not asking for much," Tan Bowen sighed. "That should be easy to find your highness. Specially when they line them up for you to look at and select your concubines."
"That will be a small recompense for having to move to Gu," the Prince said sadly. "And how can I know more than skin deep beauty from a line of women?" he complained.
His fiefdom was so remote there were few cultured pleasures to be had there, and the winters were long and hard.
"You can tell from the eyes!" Tan Bowen said earnestly. "Look into her eyes, it's all there. Don' be a maudlin drunk your highness," Tan Bowen swung his arm around his friend's shoulder. "We must see Bai Li perform a dare. Bai Li, Bai Li! Pick 'dare'."
"Alright," Bai Li said cheerfully, his eyes now looking dangerously glassy.
"Look how much more agreeable he is when he's drunk," said Tan Bowen to the Prince, pointing at Bai Li.
Bai Li smiled back agreeably.
"Bai Li. You must pluck a water lily and bring it back to give to a young lady."
"Ho. Where can I find a water lily at the end of winter, pray tell brother?"
"They grow all year round in the hot springs," Tan Bowen stated confidently.
"What about a young lady at this hour of the night?"
"It's almost dawn, so it won't be impossible."
Bai Li rose without a word and dropped off the canal-side of the balcony. The Prince and Tan Bowen rushed to look and found him running, or rather weaving, down the narrow canal front.
"D'you think he knows where he's going?" asked the Prince.
"He's a man on a mission!" said Tan Bowen. "Nothing is beyond our Bai Li! Well … a young lady might be beyond him. But no physical feat is beyond our Bai Li!" he punched his fist in the air and the Prince joined him in the gesture of support, cheering rowdily.
Five minutes later, Bai Li returned, running back up the alleyway with a beautiful pink water lily cradled in his cupped hands like a precious jewel.
He stood under their balcony and looked up and down the street. Not only were there no young ladies, but there were also very few men either, in the hour before dawn.
Tan Bowen peered back into the centre of the restaurant and spotted one of the acrobats, who was now moonlighting as a hostess.
"Bai Li," he shouted down at him. "There's a girl! Near the stage."
Bai Li darted inside and spotted the young woman, whom he immediately recognised as the smallest acrobat. The very girl whom Tan Bowen had sat upon!
She was now dressed in a brocade robe and had her hair in two sweet little buns. She looked very young.
Bai Li approached her with the flower in hand.
He ran his other hand through his hair nervously which ended up pushing his top knot off his head. His hair fell around his face just as he reached her.
"Oh ho!" laughed Tan Bowen. "A seductive manoeuvre Bai Li? What a devil after all!"
The girl looked startled when the tall, broad fellow with wild hair and a muddied red robe approached her with a lily.
He said nothing at all, and simply stuck out his hand with the flower in it. She looked at the flower then back into his face.
"Is this for me Young Master?" she asked tentatively.
"Take it!" he ordered fiercely.
"O…okay," she stuttered.
The minute she took the flower from him, he turned and ran off, sprinting up the stairs. Unfortunately, he tripped on the top step, a graceless stumble few who knew him had ever seen.
"Thank you, young master," she called after him.
He didn't look back.
The Prince and Tan Bowen were falling about the floor laughing as he returned to their room.
"What's so funny?" he asked cluelessly. "I did it, didn't I?"
His two friends laughed even harder at him.
"Bai Li drunk is like the rare blooming of a night flower," said Tan Bowen, elegantly gesturing from his prone position on the floor.
Bai Li pulled his ear in puzzlement at what could be so funny and sat back down.
"Tan Bowen," he asked, "truth or dare?"
Tan Bowen sat up, wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes.
"Okay, I'll take a dare, but this is one the three of us have to do together!"
"I'll do it!" slurred the Prince.
"And me," agreed Bai Li obediently.
"Excellent! The dare is …" he looked slyly at his friends; this was the coup-de-grâce. "The three of us have to climb unseen into the Mei Mansion and find their phantom little sister!"
You could have heard a pin drop.
The Prince and Bai Li stared at Tan Bowen in surprise. Even a drunken fellow knew this was wicked.
The Prince closed and reopened his eyes. "Alright. Less' do it. I have to admit I'm curious."
"Spying on a young lady's a crime. The Mei brothers will fight us to the death if they catch us," said Bai Li matter-of-factly.
"So, let's not get caught, goody two shoes," said Tan Bowen. "I thought you were a master martial artist?"
"I am. It's you I'm worried about. The Prince's lightness skill is very good. Yours … not so good."
"I've been practising. I'm much better than I was. Did you see me on the stage before?"
"You need to be better. You couldn't do it at all last time I checked."
"I won't let you down Bai Li. And if I do, you two have my permisssion to leave me behind."
"You said it," said Bai Li. "I won't feel bad for you and don't rat us out. Those brothers will really hurt you. Don't say I didn't warn you."
"Yes, yes. I've been warned. No more excuses. Less' go. It'll be daylight soon and we'll miss our chance."
"Are we planning to spy on a woman in her bed?" asked Bai Li, slightly appalled, as his delayed synapses kicked in.
Tan Bowen glared at him.
"I'm just saying," said Bai Li.
"You think too much, Bai Li."
"One of us has to," Bai Li replied.
"It's nearly dawn. We won't be spying on a woman in her bed then, will we?" slurred Tan Bowen.
"What about them?" Bai Li gestured at the Prince's guards who sat just outside the private room. The entourage would make them a conspicuous trio, if they weren't already.
"They won't be coming into the Mansion with us," said Tan Bowen sarcastically.
"You two are like a pair of old women," the Prince said happily.
How good it felt to be free of the palace and out on an adventure with friends.
The three young men set off down the road, a thin, pale blue light just breaking on the horizon.