The Corpse Reader by Antonio Garrido

shouted one of the sailors. “The cargo will be ruined!”
    Cursing, Wang immediately ordered them to move close to shore, just in case. Luckily, they weren’t far from Jianningfu, the main confluence of rivers in the region where there was a large town; they’d be able to get repair materials there. Being near the shore, though, would also make them easy prey for marauding bandits; the captain told everyone, Cí and Third included, to keep their eyes peeled.

    The Jianningfu jetty, when they got there, was a hive of dealers, hawkers, livestock, beggars of all kinds, prostitutes, and peons. The stench was of rotten fish, cooking oil, and unwashed, rancid bodies.
    As soon as they docked, a small man with a goatee rushed over demanding the docking fee. Wang drove him off with a few kicks; they weren’t stopping to do business, Wang roared, but because some idiot, probably a local, had damaged the barge.
    After leaving the younger of the sailors to guard the boat with Cí and sending the older sailor, Ze, to buy bamboo and hemp for the repair, Wang went for provisions. The younger sailor grumbled over being left behind, but Cí was pleased since he wouldn’t have to wake Third, who was fast asleep again, nestled between two sacks of grain. There was a bracing breeze coming off the mountain, and Cí covered his sister with an extra blanket. The younger sailor stood watching the prostitutes go by with their makeup and bright clothes, and he soon spat out the straw he’d been chewing, announced he was going for a stroll, and jumped down to the dock. Cí didn’t mind being alone; he decided to make himself useful by scrubbing the deck.
    When he looked up, a girl was standing beside the barge. She wore a threadbare red robe that made no secret of her curves. Her smile showed off a full set of teeth. He blushed when she asked if it was his barge.
    She’s even prettier than Cherry.
    “I’m just, um, looking after it,” he stuttered.
    She made Cí nervous. Aside from Cherry, the women in his family, and a few glimpses of the courtesans in Lin’an when he went to the tea shops with Judge Feng, he’d barely had any contact with women. The girl strolled a few steps away from the barge, and Cí watched her hips sway. When she turned and approached again, with her eyes fixed on his, Cí didn’t know where he was supposed to look.
    “So, is it just you traveling?” she asked.
    “Yes…I mean no!” Cí noticed that she was looking at the burn scars on his hands, so he hid them behind his back.
    “But you’re all alone now,” she smiled.
    “Y-yes. The others have gone to buy tools.”
    “What about you? Don’t you get to go ashore?”
    “They told me I have to watch the barge.”
    “So obedient!” She came closer. “And have they also said you aren’t allowed to play with the girls?”
    Cí couldn’t think of an answer; he was being pulled into the girl’s spell.
    “I…I don’t have any money.”
    “
You
don’t need to worry about that.” She smiled. “
Good-looking
guys get a special. Wouldn’t you like a nice cup of hot tea?” She pointed to a cabin nearby. “My mother makes a peach tea—that’s how I got my name: Peach Blossom.”
    “I really can’t leave the barge,” said Cí.
    She smiled and walked slowly to the cabin. A few minutes later, she emerged with a teapot and two cups. Blushing as he was, Cí couldn’t hide how much he wanted her.
    “Don’t just stand there,” she said. “Give me a hand up.”
    He offered her his hand while trying to hide the worst of his scars beneath his sleeve cuffs. One quick heave and she was aboard. She leaned over the side to get the tea, took a seat on a bale, and offered him a cup.
    “Come
on
, I’m not going to charge you for it.”
    Offering tea, he knew, was a tactic used by all “flowers,” as the prostitutes liked to call themselves. Surely, he told himself, he could accept a cup of tea without any obligation, and anyway, he was thirsty for one.