The Plum House

Everything was a blur as Alex felt the grip of Kanghui dragging him along the streets.

The eerie noises of ghostly whispers calling his name several times grew softer as the sorrowful tune of an erhu, a Chinese two-stringed fiddle, floated into his mind, clearing away the mind fog in his head.

He stumbled for a moment, to see the visibly clear faces of an irate Kanghui and a sneering Arahabaki greeting him. Arahabaki waved his hand over the eyes of Alex, who blinked.

"Looks like he snapped out of it," Arahabaki commented.

"W-where am I?" Alex clutched his head as his vision grew clearer and sharper with every tune of the erhu.

Then he looked around.

They were in the middle of the wide streets past a stretch of plain yellow painted two-metre walls. Alex noticed the walls on both sides, which stretched as far as five buildings each way, opposite it.

"Near the Plum House," Kanghui replied.

Against a part of the wall, Alex noticed an old male busker, seated on a small wooden stool, pulling the same sorrowful tune on his erhu instrument, while his small audience, a group of three bearded men, closed their eyes, swaying their heads to each mournful note in a trance-like motion.

"Tudigong," Kanghui went towards the old man and passed him a small bulging pouch.

Before Alex could say a word of thanks, the old man and his audience vanished.

"You KNEW," Arahabaki exclaimed in surprise.

"He is just a backup," Kanghui shrugged.

"Tudigong, the God of the soil and ground?" Alex covered his mouth.

"He can overpower the ghosts, since their bodies or ashes fall within his jurisdiction. The ghosts need to link their energies to their resting places. Easier to move past with his help," she said.

"What about mine tied to…"

"The Courts of Hell will sever those ties permanently, then you can move around here or other cities without fear," Kanghui cut him off. "At least we are in the portal's vicinity now."

Alex's eyes fell on the second and third storeys of a building were visible above the walls, which were reminiscent of a nobleman's mansion in the Chinese dramas he had watched as a kid.

A towering willow tree behind with its hanging branches over the wall, as though watching the world beyond with great interest, caught Alex's attention.

"Don't stare at it," Kanghui

He turned to her and said, "It's just a tree."

*THWACK*

Something sharp hit him at the back of his head. Alex yelped from the stinging pain and swung around while Arahabaki chuckled.

No one was behind him, except for the swaying branches of the placid-looking willow tree.

"… WHO HIT ME?"

Kanghui lifted her finger to point at the culprit - the willow tree. "Told you not to stare at it. Ah-Liu has a short temper."

"I learnt my lesson from your Da Siming's place," Arahabaki patted him on the back. "Trees here are nasty."

Before Alex could open his mouth to ask, she pulled him away to the covered entrance before he could react further. Alex bit his lips in frustration as Arahabaki continued snickering.

"Look, if I don't piss off Ah-Liu, you shouldn't too," Kanghui advised while Alex rubbed the back of his head.

"It's a tree! How can a tree…"

"That tree is your kind, our kind. You are new to the hidden dimension, so don't presume or assume too much," she replied, hauling him up three steps leading towards the large ornate brass doors.

In front were the wooden reddish pillars with their decorative edges. Two doormen revealed themselves standing on each side by the doors that revealed nothing. On each brass door was a fairy-like woman dressed in a hanfu, striking a dancing pose.

Unlike the other buildings, the doors were closed. On each side of the covered entrance were red lanterns hung at the top on each side of the covered entrance.

He looked up at the golden sign which was written in ancient Chinese script. Yet, he could understand what it wrote - 'The Plum House'.

Kanghui pulled a gold pendant from her pocket and flashed it to the doormen who immediately pushed the doors open, revealing a sprawling garden of flowering plum trees with their white or pink blossoms greeting them, lining a wide path towards the busy and loud entertainment house.

Before the doors had opened, there was no noise emanating from the entertainment house. Yet when they stepped through, the cacophony of music and talking hit him, like someone had suddenly jacked the volume up on a loud hailer.

"Why are we here?" Alex asked.

"Portal to the Courts of Hell is here."

"Are we taking a subway, bus or plane? Or fly Wuxia style  ...," Alex said sarcastically.

Arahabaki burst out laughing, "A-HAHA… boy here watches too many fantasy movies."

"Well, do you know how that portal works, then?" Alex snapped at Arahabaki, who stopped laughing.

With a frown, Arahabaki guessed, "Like Star Trek's 'beam me up, Scotty' transporter."

Alex nearly choked at the irony presented. Star Trek was his favourite childhood television drama. Then again, his situation was like the one presented in Star Trek's Voyager series. Like the series, he was now trapped in an unknown area, in over his head, unaware of who is friend or foe.

"Two wrong answers," Kanghui said. "More like Stargate. Minus the round metal parts."

Both Alex and Arahabaki nearly choked at her answer.

"I watch human television too," Kanghui said as they followed her to the side path leading to the entrance of the building, decorated by silk curtains drawn to the side.

A guzheng player was on the side stage opposite them, strumming the melodious tunes on the gossamer strings of the instrument before the entrance. As they entered the building, Alex gazed upwards at the three storey high open ceiling where there were life like carvings of fairies prancing around the clouds.

They walked past the tables filled with food and wine towards the front where an attractive woman dressed in the Tang Dynasty era finery stood. Behind her was a two way stairway, leading to the second floor. Alex wondered if the woman was a ghost or one of them?

Large doe-eyes with her straight high-bridged nose highlighting a rose bud mouth almost made her look like an anime-like. In her hands were was a silk fan with satin stitched scenery.

Her coiffed top bun had three luxurious looking gold gilded lotus hairpins. The pastel coloured dress she wore had very intricate silk embroidery with metallic threads. Alex hazarded a guess that the woman was likely the proprietress.

The proprietress' attention was on the individuals gathered around the tables. Around most tables, pretty women were teasing the laughing men with their fans or sheer silk handkerchief. One or two seemed more serious with men and women discussing something he could not hear.

No one took notice of their group. Or at least, they pretended not to. The proprietress turned her head to their group and bowed to Kanghui while casting a curious glance at Alex.

She approached Alex and lifted his face with her silk fan in front of Kanghui.

A sweet sour fragrance of plum gently tickled his nostrils and her mouth opened with a pleasant countenance. "My, he is pretty. Like a flower."

Alex raised his eyebrow. Should he feel complimented or insulted?

"He's fresh from the mortal realm, Meihua-gu," Kanghui said.

Meihua-gu? Alex thought quickly. Kanghui addressed the woman as a plum blossom aunt. Then again, he remembered from the Chinese dramas that they often renamed girls after seasons or flowers.

"A modern day ghost - how cute!" Meihua-gu laughed in a very feminine manner while covering her face with the fan.

"He isn't a ghost," Arahabaki interrupted. Then Meihua-gu smiled sweetly at Arahabaki.

"My… Kanghui, stop bringing all these handsome beings to me," Meihua-gu licked her lips and ran her fingers across Arahabaki's leather jacket.

"Baby, we can play if you want to," Arahabaki whispered loud enough for Alex to shudder.

Meihua-gu giggled jovially, holding the fan to her face as her fingers moved down his sleeves towards his wrist with its chain bracelet. Then she froze.

"Takamagahara's Arahabaki?" She retreated in an instant with her eyes opened wide.

Was she horrified by him? Alex wondered, while Kanghui did nothing.

"Pleased to meet you too," Arahabaki winked.

Then a smile broke out across her face. She whispered to Kanghui, "bring him around more often. Bad boys turn me on."

Arahabaki gave Meihua-gu a quick spank on her bottom and she jumped a little, still giggling like a high school girl.

Kanghui cleared her throat. "Time to go."

"Ah man," Arahabaki grumbled as he took an ivory white pendant offered by Meihua-gu.

"What are those plain colour pendants for? You gave a black to Yaso, she gives a white."

"Calling cards," Kanghui replied. "Like Yaso. He is free to wander in my territory with the card and Arahabaki gets to come here again with no need for my company since it falls on the responsibility of Meihua-gu to keep him restricted to the Plum house."

"Wait, you let a primeval being of destruction enter your home?"

"She lets Arahabaki enter," Kanghui muttered under her breath, annoyed. "Even I wouldn't give my calling card to him. Yaso, at the very least, doesn't have much of a temper."

"Hey, I am not that bad!" Arahabaki protested.

"Come along and stop looking." Kanghui called out from the second floor to the two of them as they hurried up the stairway.