Chapter Eleven
Dao Bin prompted the Chinese official to stay in the room. Clarity was preparing a platter of fruit for each as slowly as possible, in order to keep listening to the conversation. She kept her head low, ensuring her cap hid her features.
"Your high eminence would like to enjoy the company of women before leaving town maybe?"
The face of Jiang Xiong glittered with a shade of lust. Marriage with his wife was dull, and no extra official activities were possible in China, where microphones and cameras were placed everywhere.
"What can you offer?"
"With great difficulty, I have gained status as a shareholder of a very special adult film making company, Telval Film Studios. They make adult films unlike any other right here in Singapore. And the women are unlike any other women found in escort services."
"How so?"
"Many of them are part of a unique harem, known as the Skyline of Kuala Lumpur. They offer unique services to elegant gentlemen and high ranking members of society, willing to spend the time with them. This will be all unofficial of course." Jiang Xiong gave Dao Bin a frowning look, looking at a prospectus depicting the billionaire's Rolls Royce.
"Singapore dislikes adult films, how are you dealing with this?" Dao Bin smiled faintly, without offending the official.
"The censorship authority is becoming more lenient to western-type films. We are negotiating with them distribution of our latest feature here, based on the high erotic quality of our content."
"I'll give you a call if I decide that you can send a girl from Telval to my hotel. I may get a separate room for her. Why have you gotten involved in this business?"
"Prominent members of Singapore high society are involved, through a group which has been making an entry here in the last few months, known as the Privilege Club. And the Enlightened Jade Dragon Society has women who are involved with the films. I don't want to be caught on the other end, watching adult content, unapproved by Singapore officials, or involved with people involved with this Privilege Club without knowing about it or who they are. This way, I know who the ladies are and I know the content, the government of Singapore may not be against a guardian of official values, even if those values are erotic in nature."
Jiang Xiong refused a second offer and left the room, leaving the billionaire with Clarity. Bowing in front of the wealthy businessman, Clarity brought him a platter of fruit and left the room. She walked with the food trolley outside the office, immediately leaving it behind a door leading to the emergency stairs of the building. Taking off her apron and waiter coat, she pressed the elevator button to reach the twenty fourth floor. A gold plate with the name Telval Film Studios hung below the On-Q intercom showing closed-circuit television. A woman's voice asked for her name.
"I'd like to take part in the casting for 'Golden Lamp of Casa Mollino'," said Clarity. The woman did not say anything.
"Who is your reference?" Clarity was caught off guard. She knew that mentioning the wrong reference meant her cover would be unveiled. She remembered a name among the list of candidates, the name of an actress.
"The Skyline of Kuala Lumpur, Moisture Jenkins, priestess of ecstasy."
The intercom buzzer rang and the door opened. Clarity stepped inside the office and was welcomed by a good looking secretary wearing an embroidered high cut dress. On one of the walls, Clarity saw posters of well known adult classics directed by Andrew Blake and Cameron Grant, films such as The Dinner Party, the Fantasy Chamber, and Hidden Obsessions, all of them high quality adult features shot on film. The secretary, who was in her twenties, led her to a dimly lit room furnished with a long credenza, sleek chairs and sofas, and a rectangular table made of marble, oozing of contemporary taste. The walls were decorated with intricate wood panels, customized. Several women wearing feather ornaments shown during Trinidad and Tobago carnival and showing scanty small thongs or microkinis, sat or lied down on the chairs and sofas, sending the impression of a harem casually going about its day. Clarity counted eight women, all of them nubiles, none of them members of the Skyline of Kuala Lumpur harem. She noticed one of them, wearing an ornamental gold costume and flashy yellow-feathered carnival head gear. The woman was familiar, Xiaolu walked towards her and began undressing her in one of the corners of the room, ensuring her head gear stayed in place.
"What are you doing here? You were supposed to be in the offices of Hunan."
"I was there," said Clarity, "saw Dao Bin. What are you doing here?"
"I get information on Madame Wa and her Secret Society, the Shade of the White Lotus. She sends women here before initiating them with esoteric practices. That's how I learned you were coming to Singapore. Madame Wa cannot see you. Kneel down."
Clarity knelt under a table and saw how Xiaolu took her shoes, pants and panties off, leaving her wearing her bra and socks. The sleek silhouette of Madame Wa emerged from the door, giving directions to the various women shooting the casting scene. Clarity peeked from under an ornate square end table with inlaid stone top, seeing the familiar faces of Shalia Owell and Elsie Chu on the doorstep of the room. Madame Wa began speaking to Shalia Owell.
"Do you want to be part of the film?" Asked Elsie Chu.
"Where is this going to be shown?" Shalia Owell looked uncomfortable and excited at the same time.
"Everyone who is a member of the Privilege Club has to be cast in a Telval Film."
Elsie Chu gave Shalia a bottle of perfume shaped as a diamond, with a stunning flower on the lid made with Swarovski crystal.
"Use the name on this bottle if you decide to be part of the cast. You can get in touch with Madame Wa, she does some of the scripts. You'll be cast and put in touch with other prominent ladies of Singapore and Malaysia. All of them affluent, like you."
"Are you telling your husband about this?"
"No, but I know he has used escort services linked to Telval before. If he cheats on me, I have a right to do this as well."
The logic to Shalia was unappealable. She raised her smartphone and took a photo of Madame Wa, who was brushing with oil the bum of a candidate bending on a table, while the girl applying for the casting rubbed an oil lamp made of bronze, symbol of God's light, truth, and spiritual illumination.