Chapter 15 - The Courtesan
"She grew up in a courtesan house." Wan Yi Jun repeated in his head as he kept staring at her incrudility as well as with a slight pang of pain that rose from deepest corners of his heart.
In the early history of imperial, courtesan houses were considered as entertainment centers where wealthy male clients often visited for female companionship. The highly skilled Courtesans who were trained in performing arts and conversation skills entertained their guests with their playful and flirtatious acts, unlike the traditionalist view of virtuous woman who were supposed to be modest and loyal.
However, a series of social reforms in imperial over the times have resulted has erased the existence of Courtesans from the country. In recent times, most of the people's who possess modernist societal views, often considers Courtesans as glorified prostitute who lives off wealthy patrons by selling their body and mind.
Not to mention that there was only a thin line of distinction between a courtesan and a prostitute in the eyes of common folk in the country.
And it was the same reason why it was nearly impossible for Wan Yi Jun to accept the truth that Ming Yue grew up in a Courtesan house.
"Do you want me to get out of the car?" Ming Yue asked with an innocent smile glistening on the corners of her mouth when she noticed that Wan Yi Jun had stopped the car soon after she revealed her past.
"I will look for a taxi or a bus from here. Thank you for the ride." She slightly bowed and reached out for the door. However, she couldn't open the door since it was locked by a central lock system that can be only unlocked by the driver.
"Can you please, unlock-" Even before she could request, a voice so gentle yet elegantly profound resonated in the car.
"Sorry." Wan Yi Jun who regained his bearings, quickly apologized when he realised that he asked something way more personal for a mere stranger.
"Oh it's alright. I can understand. You don't have to feel bad. I will get down here." She spoke in soft voice but broken sentence that held no anger or resentment towards him.
"No..no.. stay." He abruptly requested and prevented her from leaving the car with an apologetic tone. It was true that he was shocked, but he wasn't a ruthless person who would kick out a woman "I'm really sorry that I stopped the car out of nowhere. Let's go."
"Where...?" Ming Yue's thin eyebrows arched in surprise when she witnessed his sudden change.
"Young master Wan knows to apologise? Woah that never happened before." She wondered inwardly.
"Your home. Didn't you tell that you had to attend the ancestral rites?"Wan Yi Jun tried to remind the girl who was staring at him in confusion.
"You don't want me to get out?" Ming Yue asked again to confirm.
"I never asked you to leave the car." He paused for a moment and tried to recall their conversation. He was definitely startled by her revelation, but no, he never asked her to leave the car.
"Well, it is a common courtesy to leave if you are making someone uncomfortable with your presence." Ming Yue elaborated on the reason why she wished to leave. Even though it was just as random excuse that was part of her escape plan, she never expected to hear a meaningful response from him.
"You never made me feel uncomfortable." Wan Yi Jun stated with a faint smile and restarted the car, despite her efforts to leave without causing much hassle.
However, in the end Ming Yue gave upon trying and sat idle on the seat,
"Back in times, courtesans were considered as free spirited women who lived by their hearts. However, nowadays, especially in cities people are still prejudiced against us." She added as a matter of fact and went on with her monologue. "While men sees us a commodity for pleasure, women treats us a lowly creatures that leeches their men."
"Sorry to ask, but Courtesan houses are still operating? If I remembered correctly, government made a law to abolish certain practices and organisations that doesn't go well the modern image of the country." Wan Yi Jun pointed out with carefully chosen words.
"Yes...you are right. Courtesan houses doesn't exist nowadays...at least not in records." Ming Yue stated bitterly. " When the government implemented the law to abolish courtesan houses, they literally took it by meaning and destroyed everything, including the place where I lived." She informed with an aloof face. Even though she sounded plain, Wan Yi Jun did notice that Ming Yue's grip on ths paper bag has turned tighter as if she was having a hard time talking about it.
"I heard that government did provide financial support to restart their life."
"Yes. They did and some of us even started a new life with it. But on a longer run, who will give jobs for some barely qualified women? Most of the courtesans in my place and dragon city, started to work in factories or even worse, they became the part of hostess clubs and illegal brothels." She shared a brief note of a Courtesan's life after the criminalisation of such practices in the modern society.
"Were you…" Wan Yi Jun who unknowingly asked something and immediately regretted it.
"Sent to a factory or a brothel?" Ming Yue filled in the words which he feared to utter and tossed out a question. "Or am I a hostess who provides sexual favours somewhere?"
"No...I didn't mean like that." Wan Yi Jun immediately retorted. Till that moment, he just treated her as a naive girl who came from a faraway land.
"I was a minor who worked as a maid for young courtesan when they abolished our house." She honestly replied only to see dumbstruck Wan Yi Jun .
"You were a maid?" He inquired when he finally understood the reason why she appeared too humble and ready to help him with the chores even without he asked her to lend a hand.
"I never had any qualifications to be a courtesan." She admitted meekly and continued, "I was too bad at performing or entertaining guests and the biggest flaw, I didn't even had an attractive face so that someone might take interest. I was bad at everything so my place was always among the maids." She concluded without any hesitations.
As soon as the words left her mouth, Wan Yi Jun's forehead creased in confusion.
'She wasn't attractive?' That's not true. Anyone with a good eye sight could affirm that she was quite a beauty.
'How high were their beauty standards that a gorgeous girl like her failed to become a courtesan?' He wondered and immediately remembered the fact that she was a child at that time. 'Maybe, her features weren't prominent at that time to consider her as a pretty girl.'
"So did they send you to a shelter home?" He inquired calmly,
"Shelter homes, orphanages...it scares me." She retaliated in a barely audible voice, with her gaze buried deep into the paper bag on her lap. However, the very next moment her face brightened up like a summer sun as she spoke in a pleasant tone.
"There was a rich man who took one of the famous Courtesan in our house as his mistress. And my lady took me with her as a hand maiden."
"Were they good to you?" Wan Yi Jun who picked up the traces of joy in her voice beseeched, only to receive a question in return.
"How do you define good and bad?" Ming Yue asked, for an instant her dark eyes narrowed down to reveal a vicious glare that Wan Yi Jun failed to notice.
"You were only a child when all of these happened and you didn't even had a choice to live like others. So even if someone takes advantage, you weren't in a position to complain." Wan Yi Jun probed on an issue that most of the children who grew up in a vulnerable environment without a family or someone to call their own.
"I had a family." Ming Yue responded monotonously as if she read those things fumed in Wan Yi Jun's mind, brutal things he refused to speak aloud.
"I had friends and relatives who doted on me when my parents were alive."