“No,” Ji Yue said, trying to force power into her voice. “This is wrong. We are Imperial virgins.”
Someone responded, but she didn’t understand his words. The other men did, though, and their laughter boomed in the room. Then she saw something that brought true fear to her heart. It was hard to see clearly through the smoke and the press of men. The eunuch dragged her forward, pulling her relentlessly though she tried to struggle. She was moving to aline of men. Were they pulling off their pants?
They were! All in a line, Chinese and white, with their pants at their feet as they stood with organs proudly displayed. And like all boys, they laughed and mocked one another while each of the girls were dragged forward.
“What are you doing?” gasped one of the virgins. “I should not see this!”
At least Ji Yue was not the only girl who tried to protest. But not a one of them was able to fight. All too soon, she and Li Fei joined the others in a line that faced the men and their naked organs. She was pushed to her knees. Right before her eyes was a man–a white man with hairy legs and a terrible smell. His organ stuck out in front of her like a thin, red slug. Compared to Bo Tao’s penis, the man’s seemed like a thin writing brush.
She fought the urge to vomit, but she was held fast by her hair. Damn her hair! She should never have left it loose.
“This is wrong!” she said again, appealing to the eunuch Duan Xu. “Why would you shame us so?”
If he heard her, he didn’t acknowledge it. He was having too great a time laughing at the women. Ji Yue did not understand all the words, but she caught the meaning. They were judging the girls bodies in the most crude manner.
“I will not–” she began, but was rapidly silenced by a hard jerk on her hair.
“She needs more opium!” her eunuch captor called in guttural Cantonese.
“No!” she snapped. “No, I won’t!”
“Much more!” laughed a man with a pipe. Except he did not release his grip on it.
The white man leaned forward. “Do as you are told, virgin. Or we will chose another way to find our pleasure, and you won’t be called a virgin any longer.”
Ji Yue trembled. She did not doubt him for a second. Theywould rape her if she did not comply. But she feared they would rape her even if she did agree. Her only hope was to delay as long as possible until the men passed out from their drink and smoke.
“I am going to vomit!” she cried.
She was rewarded with a hard jerk on her hair. “Do so and you will lie in it as I spread your legs. Do you understand?”
She nodded as she blinked back her tears. Meanwhile, the eunuch Duan Xu took his place at the top of the double lines. “Virgins!” he called. “Listen, virgins! You are here because the Emperor has assigned you a special test to verify your skill as a wife.”
Ji Yue did not want to look at the man. She already knew what was coming, she had no wish to see the bastard’s gloating face as he spouted lies.
“Do you know what a wife does, virgins? I will tell you. A wife brings satisfaction to her husband.” One of the girls began to cry. Within seconds, the opium pipe was put to her lips. “Before you is a man’s organ,” continued Duan Xu. “The Emperor wishes to see who can bring that man satisfaction first. The winner will gain a special prize! Begin.”
No one moved. No one except the men who surrounded them. Ji Yue’s captor used his grip on her hair to move her face forward. The man in front of her thrust his hips at her, pushing his wet tip into her nose. She reared back, but there was no where to go. She could tell from the sounds that the other virgins were being treated with equal brutality. So she did the only thing she could.
She reached up with both hands. She took hold of the horrible thing with all her strength, and she squeezed. She even used her nails.
The white man screamed and hit her about the head. She saw it coming and avoided the first of his wild blows, butthe eunuch behind her still had a firm grip on her hair. The second blow caught her on the top of her head. That threw her far enough away that the white man was able to scramble backwards, pulling his organ from her grip. But she had not released him, and she felt her nails cut long scrapes off the narrow thing.
Meanwhile, she slammed her elbow backwards into her captor. She connected with his upper thigh, and he grunted in pain but he did not release her. He threw her to the ground. Her shoulder and head landed painfully hard, but at least she free. She tried to scramble away then, but she was too slow.
Someone grabbed her leg, twisting her painfully so that she landed on her back. She screamed and kicked, but someone else dropped hard onto her chest, pinning her to the ground. Her head was soon grabbed, as were both her legs.
And then another pipe was pressed to her lips.
