"But as for a stage career," he continued in a sad voice, "I'm afraid that was your premier and last performance with the Cut Sleeve troupe. You cannot take two bites out of that peach."
"But what will happen to me?" wailed Jang.
"Did you see those other young attendants at the performance?" Hsiang asked. "Until you have seen another spring and if you remain lithe and in prime condition, you will be privileged to perform on that stage, perhaps even again with the imperial prince."
"And after?" Jang asked dully.
"With your training, you will go to similar troupes at lower levels of the imperial scale here. With luck, you can be taken individually by a man of importance. And you can hope to return to your village one day in honor and with riches above anyone else there. That's the Cut Sleeve world. We live in hope. And we serve as called."
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A very good story, but always with Chinese stories of this time,
I have trouble in accepting what ordinary people had to put up with, for the enjoyment of the powerful (rich / aristocrats / monarchy);
if one thinks about it, Jang was trained from an early age to come to this and only this - being raped by an old man ...
Was his future secure ? No, not even that ... it's really pathetic.
And it makes me angry. This is what real slavery's all about.
Of course, this has nothing to do with the author, who is of the first water !more...
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