The room was dimly lit, a musky fragrance lingered in the air. It was quite an exotic sight, silk curtains and shawls were draped elegantly across the expanse. A large rosewood table stood in the middle of the room, offering alcoholic beverages and bowls of dried fruits, several low seats with comfortable cushions surrounding it.
A little stage for performances was positioned at the front of the room, with yellow decorative lanterns hanging from the ceiling to highlight it.
The burning sandalwood incense was unable to cover up the scent of sweat and human musk.
In the middle of the room were several men, some seated while others were standing. They were viewing the stage performance in a rather unreserved manner. A few of them were dressed in military outfits, with their hair tied up in a bun, a chest metal plate protecting their form, and a sword at the side, while others wore naught but a simple garb made of cotton or hemp. Cheers and shouts could be heard over the sounds of the Pipa and Flute players on the stage. Each of the musicians was a beautiful girl in a pink translucent dress. They were young girls but dressed as adults, with rouge on their lips and black liner to highlight their eyes.
An older yet just as beautiful woman, wearing a red garment ascended the stage. Her foreboding presence made the room fall silent. She lifted her hand delicately up in the air for attention, showing her pale and dainty wrist adorned with golden jewelry.
"As you all know, my respected gentlemen, tonight we have acquired new goods for our fine establishment." She began explaining, cheers already sounding off in the background. The folks were eager for new nightly entertainment.
The red clad woman smiled faintly, presenting her newly acquired wares. "Many of our new girls are young and yet untouched. A bidding taking place, starting with our lowest fees for our regulars, mid fees for deflowering the newcomers, and the highest fees for our courtesans." She winked playfully, getting the crowd all the more riled up.
The bidding commenced. In preparation the musical performers left the stage and the red clad madam escorted ten young girls underneath the lanterns to be displayed, describing each of their merits in hopes for the men to bid a higher sum.
Li Meirong peeked through the white veil covering her face, she hadn't had the opportunity to figure out what was happening before she was already forcibly dressed by several girls in attendance and rushed to the stage with the rest of the 'livestock'.
By her side a red dressed woman, taking off the veil of the girl to her left, pointing out physical characteristics and describing the girl as untouched.
The winning bid for the girl was high, reaching close to 25 silver taels for her first night.
Li Meirong shuddered. There has to be some terrible misunderstanding going on! She was so stressed out she accidentally bit her bottom lip.
The sudden discomfort brought her to a realization.
This is not a dream.
She spaced out while recollecting the events which occurred to her in the past hour.
One moment she was going home from work, a regular modern 25 years old office worker from the suburbs, and the next she was stuck in this place, straight out of an ancient period drama.
Could she have possibly died?
She remembered it was an unexpectedly rainy day, everyone was huddled up together waiting for the train. With each passing second she felt herself being pushed around in the crowd until she lost her footing as she was about to tumble onto the railroad tracks. The last thing she could remember were the beam lights of the train rushing towards her.