Chapter 288: Peach Blossom
The mountain vanished. Far, far off in the distance, a mountain range was just barely visible.
The sky, was no longer blue. Instead, it was as red as flame, because it was dusk.
The dusk carried with it the afterglow of the setting sun, which trickled across the land to blanket over a small county-level city. The walls surrounding the city had existed for many years, which was clear from their ancient appearance. They were covered with blotches and marks, evidence of the passage of time.
Atop the walls, a few guards lazed about. Occasionally the faint sounds of their laughter and chatting would drift down into the bordello below. There was a new girl in town, and their laughter contained the beauty of anticipation which comes in life.
Horse carts lined up to enter through the city gate; atop each cart sat a driver brandishing a whip and bellowing out directions to his horses as they ambled toward the city center.
The sun was setting, but oppressive heat still held sway over the land, turning it into something like an oven that wanted to bake the earth.
There was no wind or rain.
The only thing that existed was arid heat.
This walled city was not very large; it was only a county after all. People walked the streets in groups of two or three, cooling themselves with fans, occasionally cursing the weather.
The most lively places in the town were the teahouses, where a cup of cold tea could dispel a bit of the heat. On a sweltering summer evening like this, gossiping with friends and neighbors there was the primary pastime of the populace.
Other than the teahouses was the town bordello, which was a place for rich people. Many men who passed by couldn’t restrain themselves from glancing up at the gorgeously dressed young ladies who leaned against the wooden shutters up above. It was enough to make any man’s heart burn, and then cause him to think about how unbearable the weather was.
If a man’s wife walked with him past the bordello, her face would twist with jealousy and she would hastily pull him away. A more shrewish wife might look up at the licentious, headstrong girls up above and curse them a few times.
It was said that the girls in the bordello were as delicate as flowers and as refined as jade, almost inhuman. Inside, the rooms were filled with ice cubes and cute servant girls with fans. Because of this, rich customers had the luxury of enjoying an ice-cold breeze.