Deng Qiao, owner of all of the cotton mills within sight of Langshan MountainâWolf Hillâat the fringe of the Yangtze riverside town of Nantung, sighed as he wiggled his hips into the pillows and held his young consort's silken black-haired head in his lap. Ping, the singer musician, who Qiao had bought from the Cut Sleeve Nanleshijiaâmen's pleasure houseâwas working vigorously on trying to bring Qiao's cock alive, but it was slow going.
Ping lifted his head and looked up into Qiao's eyes. Seeing concern there, he asked, "Why so sad, sire? Am I not pleasing you?"
"You always please me, little songbird," Qiao replied. "It is only a small spasm. It will pass. Please continue. Your lovely mouth is taking my mind off the world."
What Qiao didn't say was that it was more than a small spasm he was feeling in his chest. He was feeling a hint of the inevitable. And above that, he was thinking of Ming Lei, the accursed pirate, who had begun to worry the shipping off the mouth of the Yangtze River. He had lost two cotton goods shipments in the last full phase of the moon, and his fortune was beginning to sift through his fingers.
Qiao cursed his luck. Forty years building his fortune and begetting sons off of the ugly but fruitful and wealthy Meilin, and now, when he had entered the reward-enjoyment phase of his life, the double curse. He had nurtured the young and handsome Ping, knowing full well that someday he could leave his family behind at the court of the King of Wu in Gusu and retreat to his Nantung home with a little songbird like Ping, to enjoy his mature years fucking how and who he pleased. And it wasn't just that. He truly loved Ping; he had desired him for years before he could touch him, acting as the patron for the young man's training at the
nanleshijia
âthe men's pleasure houseâall for the privilege of taking that first bite of the peachâdeflowering Pingâand then savoring it for years afterward. And then, when Ping had matured enough, Qiao had extended the invitation of sharing the Tea of the Full Moon with him, afraid, even though he was the patron summoning a
jinan
âa male prostituteâhe had paid for, that there would be a form of rejection. He was confident that Ping would accept the offerâthat was his responsibility to his nanleshijia masterâbut Qiao loved Ping and wanted it to be a union of mutual acceptance and desire.
Ping had been as shy as a bride. Handsome and beautifully formed, Ping had been demure and had trembled even before the touch. He had sat there, on the nanleshijia pavilion platform, under the moon as it opened wide into full blossomâjust as Qiao envisioned Ping opening wide to him, and tasted of the tea Qiao had offered, the specially imbued tea that heightened some senses and dulled others, hardened the yang chu, the cockâand loosened inhibitions and opened the channel.
Ping was already sighing softly as Qiao moved his hand within the folds of Ping's
hanfu
-ceremonial robe. The youth flinched as Qiao took a nipple between his thumb and forefinger and rolled itâbut Ping did none of the things that signaled rejection or reluctance. In his courtesan training, Ping had been closely instructed in all forms of the foreplayâeverything short of the biting of the peach. Instead, he moaned in a sound that came up from the very depths of him. Throwing all caution and ceremony aside, Qiao clawed at the sash of both his and Ping's hanfu, and he was pulling the loved one he had waited forânot patientlyâbut waited for, for years, into his lap and was assaulting Ping's virginal hole with his ready cock, barely giving the younger man sufficient time to open to him. This was the point at which Ping had not gone beyond in his training, but this was what Qiao had paid for.
The hard, throbbing yang chuâthe erect cockâforced itself in deep and the thrustings were frenzied and resolute while Ping's writhings were pained and passionate, building up to Ping collapsing, fully open and vulnerable to the assault, allowing his patron into his soft core, and Qiao crying out and quickly releasing his seed, a dream he had built up to for several years. Ping lost his
chenchieh
, his chastity, quickly in a violent, passionate taking. But, though he cried out upon full possession and panted heavily and whimpered at the taking, Ping gave himself fully, giving Qiao no cause to lessen his love or his insatiable desire for his handsome vassal. And thus was how Ping rose many levels of importance in the House of the Cut Sleeve.
Although it was customary for patrons to visit their jinan at the house of pleasure and even for the jinan to entertain men other than their patron, Ping had been separated from the opportunities of the nanleshijia and become Qiao's Nantung retreat consort in exchange for comfort and a position in the household and a promise of a large inheritance. But now, a few short months later, Qiao was having trouble performing as he desired.
The second curse was connected with the first. Qiao was dying. Knowing that something was wrong inside, he had accepted the diagnosisâeven had resigned himself to it beforehand. But he was keeping it to himself. In his world any sign of weakness could be a death sentence, a massive shock to the balances within a large household. His golden years would not be gold; they would not even be silver. They would be bitter, and they would not even be years. Bitter fruit. Bitter fruit indeed. He sighed again, willing his cock to harden, wanting to forget the real and the ironic in fucking the handsome Ping.