Author's note:
Hello, everyone! I'm back after several days.
I will return to posting one chapter per day.
Chapters 11-20 are out on my Kofi page if you're interested in early access.
You can copy this link to your browser:
https://ko-fi.com/whitelotuslady
Or you can find the link in my bio.
I hope you'll like this chapter.
*****
The experiment was not meant to work. At least, that's what most of the courtesans whispered as they passed each other in painted corridors.
Three fading women tied together with ink and wax? Ridiculous.
But within days, the impossible happened.
*****
It began when a minor noble, Lord Chen, came seeking a match for his only son. He had visited the Red Lantern House before, always drawn to fresher faces, but he had never entrusted them with a family alliance.
This time, he met Ping'er.
She was nervous, of course—her words catching like moth wings in her throat—but Lan Hua had prepared her.
"Speak little," Lan Hua had whispered beforehand, "and let the contract speak for you."
So when Lord Chen demanded guarantees, Ping'er unrolled the parchment. Neat lines, sealed in crimson wax, laid out every step of the process.
Advance payment. Terms of secrecy. Assurance of status-matched candidates.
Lord Chen's eyes had narrowed at first, then widened as he read further. This was no frivolous courtesan's promise. This was the language of officials, of merchants, of men who valued certainty.
By the time Ping'er finished, his hand was already reaching for the inkstone.
He signed.
And when he left, the down payment of silver he dropped on the table made Madam's eyes widen.
*****
The trial group rejoiced in secret. Under the old system, Ping'er would have scraped a few scattered coins, barely enough to keep her silk robes intact. Now, with the contract, the profit was larger—and more importantly, shared.
Rui Yun and Mei Xiu received their share that very night. It wasn't much, but it was enough to buy fresh rouge, finer combs, a hint of pride.
For the first time in months, they smiled genuinely.
"This… this works," Mei Xiu whispered, holding her silver with trembling fingers. "It truly works."
Rui Yun smirked, but even she couldn't hide her relief. "Perhaps this madwoman is not so mad after all."
Ping'er clasped Lan Hua's hands, her eyes shining. "Sister Lan Hua… thank you. I was nothing before, but today… today I feel like someone again."
Lan Hua only smiled, her voice calm. "This is just the beginning."
*****
By dawn, gossip had spread faster than fire in dry reeds.
"Did you hear? Ping'er secured a noble contract."
"Impossible. That stuttering girl?"
"Not impossible—Lan Hua guided her. And they shared the profit among themselves."
"Shared? Who does that?"
"Lan Hua does. They say she has a system."
*****
The Red Lantern House buzzed like a hive. Some scoffed, others whispered with envy, and a few—especially the struggling courtesans—looked at Lan Hua with something close to reverence.
Madam summoned her to the office before noon.
She sat behind the ledger, fan snapping open and shut, her expression unreadable.
"You dared much, Lan Hua," Madam said coolly. "Contracts, secrecy, shared profit. A dangerous gamble."
Lan Hua bowed her head slightly. "A gamble that paid, Madam."
Madam's fan stilled. "Yes. It paid."
For a long moment, the older woman studied her. Profit glittered in the ledger before her, undeniable. But what glittered brighter was the way the girls' eyes now followed Lan Hua in the corridors.
Reluctantly, Madam leaned back. "Very well. You may extend your experiment. Not to all, not yet. But more than three."
Lan Hua inclined her head, hiding her satisfaction. "I will not disappoint you."
Not disappoint, no, she thought. But replace—one day.
*****
Yue Niang heard the news that evening.
Her painted nails dug into the silk of her cushion as she listened to the whispers.
"Ping'er succeeded."
"Lan Hua's idea made it possible."
"Even Madam approved…"
Yue Niang's face remained a mask of elegance, her smile as sharp as ever. But inside, fury churned like storm clouds.
For years, she had been the jewel of the Red Lantern House. Patrons fought for her smiles, nobles showered her with gifts. She was unrivaled, untouchable.
Until Lan Hua.
Until that woman with her strange words, her ink-stained scrolls, her ideas that smelled of something not quite ancient, not quite courtesan.
Yue Niang lifted her cup, her voice smooth as honey but bitter as gall. "So the house now has a strategist instead of a courtesan," she murmured.
Her attendants tittered nervously, unsure whether to laugh.
But Yue Niang's eyes glittered. "Let her play her games. Ink may buy her a season of fame, but beauty is eternal. And I am still the most beautiful."
Yet even as she said it, a shadow of doubt coiled in her chest.
Because tonight, when the nobles entered the hall, their first question was no longer, "Where is Yue Niang?"
It was, "Where is Lan Hua?"
******
Lan Hua sat in her chamber, the contract box resting beside her. She traced the wax seal with one finger, her mind already leaping ahead.
The trial had succeeded. The house had tasted the stability she promised. And Madam—reluctantly impressed—had given her more room to move.
The path was open.
Now, she only needed to walk it—step by step, deal by deal, until the Red Lantern House belonged not to Madam, not to Yue Niang, but to her.
And when she finally lay her head on the pillow that night, she smiled into the darkness.
Victory tastes sweeter than any wine.