The Nine Fold Heaven by Mingmei Yip Read Free Book Online Page B

between Jiangxi Road (West of the River) and Fuzhou Road (Lucky Prefecture), inside the American Settlement. Although in the past, as Shanghai’s famous Heavenly Songbird, I’d been invited to many rich people’s houses, the invitation from a foreign Consul General was something new for me. I felt both nervous and elated.
    The rickshaw let me off in front of a tall black gate with the American Eagle insignia. For a moment, I just gaped at the imposing building. It loomed before me, intimidating and aristocratic with its red fence, white walls, and blue-uniformed guards standing ramrod straight. Outside the gate, there was a grassy area enclosed with shrubs and trees—for dog walking or resting horses, I guessed. Since I was an hour early, there seemed to be no other arriving guests.
    One of the guards saw me and came over. I announced my name, handed him Miller’s signed name card, and told him I was here to sing at the party. The guard went inside and returned with a fortyish, red-faced foreign woman. I assumed she was the governess Emily Andrews, whom Miller had mentioned during our high tea.
    She smiled warmly. “Welcome, Miss Jasmine Chen, please come in. I’m Mrs. Emily Andrews, the governess.”
    At my most polite, I replied, “It’s so nice to meet you, Mrs. Andrews. General Miller has already told me about you.”
    I suddenly realized we were speaking English. I’d learned a little of the language during my training as a spy. Though I had no problem with simple conversation, I hoped I would not need it in a complicated situation.
    I followed the motherly figure through the gate, then walked along the path toward the entrance. Unexpectedly, Andrews led me around the building to a side door—the servant’s entrance, I supposed.
    Inside, she continued to lead me along branching corridors and closed rooms until we reached a long flight of stairs and ascended to the first floor. After some more walking, the governess stopped in front of a plain wooden door and opened it for me. Inside, the small room contained but a single bed, a desk, and a closet. Given the grandeur of the building, this plain room must have been intended for a minor guest or a servant. On the bed were laid out a dark blue silk dress and pair of lace gloves. Neatly placed on the floor was a pair of matching blue high heels.
    The governess smiled. “These are all for you, dear. You want to take a hot bath first?”
    Yes, why not? Although I’d already washed before I came here, why not another bath served by a foreigner inside an ambassador’s fancy house? Besides, as a spy, I was used to nosing around, even, or especially, in bathrooms where people like to hide their secret things.
    I nodded. “I’d love to.”
    “Good. I’ll take you.”
    She led me out of the “servant’s” room and took me to another floor.
    “Here is the bathroom. Go ahead in and get ready. I’ll send in the maid, Abigail, to help you.”
    Unlike the plain room, the bathroom was spacious and nicely decorated with clawed bathtub, gold-framed, full-length mirror, a Chinese blue and white vase with fresh flowers. This must be for an honorable guest’s bath.
    The maid, a rather dowdy girl probably fresh from the countryside, entered and took my clothes to hand up as I undressed. Then she took my arm and helped me lower myself into the steaming water.
    She asked, “Miss Chen, is that your perfume? Smells really good.”
    I smiled mysteriously but without responding.
    So she went on in another direction. “Here, we have hot water available for twenty-four hours!”
    I nodded again without replying. I wanted to focus on enjoying an ambassador’s comfortable tub, the steaming water, and the pleasant squishing of the sponge as the maid gently scrubbed my bare back, a comfort I’d missed since I was no longer Master Lung’s mistress.
    When finished, Abigail said, “Oh, I need to bring you some clean towels. Stay here, ma’am, I’ll be right back.”
    After she