Secret of a Thousand Beauties Read Online Free PDF Page A

elongated eyes, slender figure, and, most of all, her regal manner and authoritative voice pulled my eyes toward her like metal to a magnet. Her aristocratic bearing led me to wonder how she came to be in this lonely, dilapidated house.
    Aunty Peony directed each girl to tell me how she came to be here. Purple’s husband had died six months after they’d been married at the age of eighteen. Her in-laws kicked her out of the house—accusing her of being the all-destroying star who’d brought the family bad luck, killing their first son, and depriving them of his grandchildren.
    When she was fourteen, Leilei’s parents lost all their money and sent her to learn embroidery from Aunty; she never heard from them again. Little Doll never even knew her parents; she had escaped from her oppressive orphanage and was found by Aunty foraging for scraps near a village temple. Although Aunty let her do some simple embroidery, her main jobs were cleaning and cooking. I spoke briefly about my life with my mean aunt and my escape from the ghost wedding. I kept waiting for Aunty to tell her story, but after a long silence she merely said that there was nothing interesting to say about herself.
    Anyway, there were enough other tragic stories gathered in this house to fill the evening. I wondered what evil qi and ill fate brought all these unlucky women to this house, including me. It was as if it were a contest as to whose story was the most tear-jerking.
    Purple’s gentle voice interrupted my thoughts, explaining that Aunty Peony was the head of this small community of unmarried woman embroiderers. The work was done for a very famous store in Peking, which not only sold it to the locals, but also exported it to foreign countries like America, England, and France.
    Purple complained that they were all underpaid for their hard work and skill, especially Aunty, who was the best even by international standards. The Peking company—Heavenly Phoenix—kept most of the money, even though the work sold for very high prices. However, all stayed because they had a better life here in this house than they’d led before. Here there was no controlling husband, jealous and abusive mother-in-law, or sexually harassing father-in-law. Here they could proudly live independent lives.
    I was thinking that they were not so independent as they worked hard for not much money, but before I opened my mouth, Aunty said, “Let’s eat. Tonight Purple and Leilei cooked two extra dishes to welcome our new guest, Spring Swallow.” She gestured toward the table. “We have shrimp stir-fried with turquoise tea leaves and sweet-scented osmanthus chicken.”
    “Thank you all for your kindness and hospitality,” I said, eyeing all the dishes as I sucked back my saliva.
    Aunty went on. “We also opened a new canister of the best Dragon Well tea.”
    After that, everyone picked up their tea cup, took a sip, and uttered, “Welcome to our humble residence, Spring Swallow!”
    Little Doll pulled my sleeve. “Sister Spring Swallow, can you embroider with us?”
    “I’d love to.”
    I looked over at Aunty Peony, but she pretended she didn’t hear anything. Purple put a few shrimp on top of my rice and watched as I chewed noisily. Aunty Peony cast me a disapproving look, took a small bite of her scented chicken, and chewed gently with her mouth shut. Swallowing quietly, she picked up her tea cup, holding out three fingers to imitate the shape of an orchid.
    After taking a delicate sip, she spoke through her heart-shaped pink lips. “Spring Swallow, if you share our roof and our dining table, you have to do something to help bring in money, either housework or embroidery.”
    I felt so delighted to hear this that I blurted out, “I’d love to embroider!”
    “Did you ever learn?”
    I nodded. “Yes, in elementary school.”
    I’d say yes to anything to have a roof over my head, let alone to learn embroidery. Both my chopsticks and bowl were suspended in midair as