"I've told you already. Mistress took all six of the madams for a walk to see the country in spring. I saw them leave in the direction of the west mountain." The servant boy kept his eyes on his hands as he prepared the tea.
"Buddha protects us." The man sighed in relief, touching his chest. "San Hua[1]'s axe stroke yesterday already touched on the barrier of perfection. If I hadn't been practicing every day, I wouldn't have avoided that blow."
The servant boy shook his head expressionlessly, thinking to himself: of course you practice every day, you practice climbing the brothel walls.
The boy wondered about how a man like his master, with his talent and status, was still willing to be bullied by that lioness shrew and the other little lion shrewesses. Outsiders mocked him for his fear of his tiger wife, and though he had threatened divorce ten thousand times, but he was still married to this day.
