Mei and Jun

[Marselle Qin]

As this is as good a place to develope their characters as any, and to muse about them...

In the old country, Mei was born to a mother who died in childbirth, in a poor farming district. Her father did his best to take care of their extended family, but when he became ill, it fell upon Mei to take charge of the care of her cousins and grandparents. When her grandparents passed, and with no way to run the household or provide for her two young cousins, the then-sixteen year old girl packed up their meager belongings, and brought her family to shanghai.

She found work wherever she could, though the options for a poor illiterate country girl were few and far between. She could have easily sunk to... lower professions, with her youth and beauty, but toughed it out, working as both a janitor in the city's subway and a dishwasher in the restaurant of the Hua Ting hotel. She eeked by, but managed to provide enough for rent and food for her small family.

[Marselle Qin]

For all of Mei's hardships in life, Jun had it much harder. An orphan, abandoned on the post office's doorstep as a victim of china's one-child policy, Jun grew up as a ward of the state in a poor, rural district. She was raised in an orphanage - the man who ran it, however, was a lecher and a drunk, and Jun's beauty as a child was a curse that got her... noticed. Repeatedly.

She ran away to the city at twelve - and found no respite there. She lived in the streets, just another urchin, before being noticed by the mistress of a brothel, and brought into her employ. Catering to foreign businessmen with illicit tastes, the brothel robbed her of what innocence she had left. After five years, and no longer young enough to please the clients, she was kicked out and forced to find a new way to get by.

That's when, working as a waitress in the Hua Ting, she met Mei - and despite their different backgrounds, and their view of life, the two instantly became inseparable. Pooling their salaries, the two women and their young charges were able to move into a larger apartment, with two beds and a bathroom - luxuries they had barely dreamed of.

Jun feels much more than filial love for Mei, who helped her escape from a life of sexual slavery. Though she's never come to terms with her feelings, she wants nothing more than to stay with Mei for the rest of their lives; the fact that Mei feels nothing romantic for the woman she views as a younger sister does nothing to lessen Jun's devotion.

[Marselle Qin]

When a fire ripped through the Hua Ting's restaurant, the two had to find another job - a tea house near their home had just opened, and they sought employment there. The owner thought little of them at first, but his mysterious lover Shih convinced him to take them on.

Tang Shih - the woman who would later change her name to Vivian - saw in these two rough women a set of pure souls, women who, despite all hardships, were still carrying on the work that heaven would have of them. As they worked in her lover's, then husband's, establishment, she trained them both in proper etiquette and poise, taking them under her wing. When the man passed away, she took them into her home, showed them a glimpse of her nature, and told them of her mandate - to burn away the sin of the world. Having each witnessed their own share of sin, the women agreed to join the lady as her personal retainers.

[Marselle Qin]

Today, in Los Angeles, Vivian supports the women as best she can - she gives them each a tidy salary, more than enough to provide for their family; the pair share an apartment above her tea house - Mei's cousins, two young boys, share bunk beds in a side room. She charges them no rent for the apartment, and also pays them more than enough for their family's needs. As much as she may wish to feel like part of that family - the boys, both twelve years old, call her "Wai po," or grandmother - she tries her best to remain distance, shielding them from the more grisly nature of her work.

Mei, now twenty, and Jun, now nineteen, are eternally grateful for Vivian's gifts, and would do anything to protect their matron. They work as waitresses in the tea house below, and while neither was well-educated, both have proven sharp at their jobs and at working the men who come to drink - though Mei is much more teasing at times, and Jun plays the part of the unobtainable beauty. More than anything else, the atmosphere they create draws people back into the small establishment.