Chapter 10: The Hall After Closing

It was not until the last customer had gone and the shutters were barred that Jinyu began to shake.

She stood in the middle of the empty hall with the card in her fist.

Her knees would not hold the weight of her.

"Sit," said a quiet voice behind her.

Qiao had come out of the kitchen with her glasses back on her nose and the blue headcloth hanging round her neck.

She did not wait for an answer.

She took Jinyu's elbow and steered her up the two steps onto the storyteller's stage.

Behind the heavy red curtain the old man kept his cushions.

It was a small hidden square lit by a single lamp, and no window looked into it.

"The constable's at the front," Qiao said. "He can't see in here."

"I thought he'd take Ruolan away. Right there, in my hall."

"I know."

"He used her name like a coin."

"I know." Qiao's fingers went to Jinyu's hair. "Let me."

She found the brass pin and drew it out.

The dark knot fell loose.

Qiao combed it through with her fingers, slowly, over and over, until Jinyu's breathing began to lengthen.

"You stood up in front of the whole lane," Qiao said. "For me."

"For Ruolan."

"Say it was for me."

Jinyu's laugh cracked into something else.

"It was for you," she said.

Qiao turned her around by the shoulders.

She looked at her for a long moment, and then she bent her head and kissed her.

It was gentle at first, only a brush of mouths.

Then Jinyu's hands closed in Qiao's gown and pulled her in hard, and the gentleness went out of the world.

They sank among the storyteller's cushions.

The lamp threw their shadows large against the red curtain, and the room smelled of old velvet, lamp oil and warm skin.

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