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everybody in Peach Blossom was busily preparing for the Lunar New Year. Mama had ordered the servants and maids to wash windows, scrub floors, and polish furniture. Doors were hung with colorful lanterns and pasted with red scrolls for good luck. Servants took out the red drape embroidered with one hundred fruits (for longevity) to cover the big luohan chair in the welcoming-guests room. The sides of the chair were tied with two poles of bamboo symbolizing frequent promotions (since bamboo grows high). On New Year's Eve, we all sat and waited to see which guest would arrive first and be the one to light the red dragon and phoenix candles.
    On New Year's Day, male servants lit firecrackers to send off the old year, welcome the new, and scare away evil spirits. Laughter, jokes, and words of good luck filled Peach Blossom's guest, business, and banquet rooms. After Mama and De had led us to pray in front of all the gods and goddesses, Aunty Ah Ping brought out four big silver trays filled with dim sum. In the spirit of the new year, customers indulged themselves in spending sprees-overpaying for the food, tipping everybody in sight, and gambling for high stakes.
    On the tenth of January, I counted my lucky money and was elated to find almost ten silver coins-only to have it snatched away by Mama. To pay bills, she said. Feeling distressed, I went to the kitchen to find Guigui for solace. The puppy was so happy to see me that even in the middle of gobbling down the leftover food, he looked up and wagged his tail.
    I picked him up and rubbed my face against his warm, fluffy fur. "Guigui, have you been a good baby?"
    He nodded, then licked my face, leaving bits of half-chewed meat on my cheeks.
    A few days later, when the tumult of the New Year had finally died down, I went to Pearl's room for another pipa lesson. It surprised me that Pearl didn't have her pipa out as she usually did. Instead, she was carefully penciling her brows in front of the mirror, while humming a tune. Why was she fretting over two thin lines instead of tuning the four strings?

    I put on my best smile. "Sister Pearl, aren't we having a lesson today?"
    She lifted her brow and cast me a curious glance in her gilded, elaborately carved mirror. "Forget the pipa lesson. Tonight I'll teach you some other lessons instead."
    Before I could ask, "What about a fucking lesson?" she squinted at me with her elongated phoenix eyes. "I heard that you were locked in the dark room some time ago?"
    I nodded.
    "So have you learned your dark room lesson?"
    I couldn't think of anything to say, so I nodded again.
    "Why did you run away?"
    "To see my mother off."
    "That was a high price to pay."
    I remained silent; she asked, "Where did she go?"
    "To take refuge as a nun in a Buddhist temple in Peking."
    Pearl burst into laughter until tears rolled down her cheeks. Her hand trembled and made a wrong move, leaving her brow crooked. When she'd finally calmed down, she pulled a silk handkerchief from her jade bracelet to dab her eyes and wipe her brow.
    "Sister Pearl, why is it so funny?"
    She tapped a red-nailed finger at me in the mirror. "Ha, don't you think so? Your mother's going to be a nun and you a whore, huh?"
    "But I'm not-"
    "Xiang Xiang, do you think you're being fed and clothed and given art lessons here for nothing? You think Peach Blossom Pavilion is a charitable organization? Or a government-sponsored art studio?" She rapped my head. "The earlier you are disillusioned the better, you understand?" She paused to redo her brow. "You know, sometimes it's not too bad to be a prostitute. Especially if you become famous and meet someone who's so rich and loves you so much that he'll redeem you and take you home as his fifth or sixth concubine." She turned to pinch my cheek with her spidery fingers. "Is that clear, you little whore?"

    As I was about to protest, suddenly I remembered my mother's saying.
Try your best to get along with everyone, otherwise you won't have a roof