Violet gets out of a carriage at a house that looks nothing like the American Consulate. Two smiling women usher her inside as Fairweather flees. The house has a sign identifying it as The Hall of Tranquility, and Violet recognizes it as a second-rate courtesan house. The owner is called Mother Ma. She informs Violet that she will become the house’s virgin courtesan. After throwing multiple tantrums, Violet becomes more cooperative. She encounters a woman called Magic Gourd, who was once one of the Cloud Beauties at her mother’s house. Now too old to be an attractive courtesan, Magic Gourd is a maid in Mother Ma’s house. She helps Violet adjust to her new life. The girl’s virginity won’t be sold for another year, so they have time to plan an escape.

Magic Gourd learns that Fairweather tricked Lulu into leaving Shanghai so he could turn her house over to the Green Gang in exchange for canceling his gambling debts. He arranged for Lulu to receive a false letter from the consulate saying Violet had died in a carriage accident and never boarded the ship to San Francisco. The Green Gang forced all the other inhabitants of Lulu’s house to work for them.