by AnonYMous
Lu Shu paid Fragrance for both assignments and also tipped the staff on her behalf. She said her good-byes and insisted that he escort her back. Although he expressed reluctance, in reality he was eager to do so. “Brother Lu,” said Jia Ming, “since Miss Fragrance wants you to escort her, why don’t you go? We’ll meet again tomorrow at the Futura, with those who arrive first waiting for the others.”
Lu Shu took his leave and, with Felix in attendance, waited for Fragrance to enter the sedan chair, then followed her to the Jinyulou.
At Qiang Da’s house Wu Zhen lay down to smoke on Cassia’s bed, and she persuaded him to stay the night. Yuan You, who was rather drunk, declared that he was not going home that night. Wei Bi was invited by Lucky to stay over, and though at first he was reluctant, he later accepted. “We three will all be staying,” said Wu Zhen. “I expect Brother Jia will stay, too. Miss Phoenix, why don’t you have a word with him?”
“I’m like the fish that was only too willing to be caught on Jiang Taigong’s10 hook,” she said. “If Master Jia cares for me, he’ll stay even if I don’t invite him. But if he doesn’t care for me, he won’t stay no matter how often I ask him.”
“Since my three brothers are staying over, I really should keep them company,” said Jia Ming. “But there’s something important I need to tell my family, and I simply must go back. There’s no need to make a fuss about this, Brother Wu; my friendship with Miss Phoenix is based on a tacit understanding we have, not on whether I stay the night.”
“Quite right, Master Jia,” said Phoenix. “We understand, we understand, the time is not at hand. There’s plenty of time! Since Master Jia has serious business to attend to, I wouldn’t dream of trying to get him to stay.”
“Very touching indeed,” commented Jia Ming, proceeding to say his good-byes.
Since he had not brought a page with him, Wu Zhen gave instructions to his own page, Fazi: “Light a torch and escort Master Jia back to his house, then go on home and see that they take care with the fires and candles.” Fazi picked up a torch and accompanied Jia Ming. Yuan You and Wei Bi also sent their pages home. Wu Zhen lay down on the bed and satisfied his habit, Paria invited Yuan You into her room, and Lucky invited Wei Bi into hers.
Wei Bi noticed that Lucky’s room was furnished in exquisite taste. Six paintings of beauties hung on the walls, as well as a pair of scrolls on applegreen wax paper.
A silken palindrome there was, woven with great skill;
I had a dream of Mount Wu, but no cloud did I see there.
The first line of the attribution said, “Composed by Miss Lucky,” while the second line read, “Written by the Layman Who Dreams of Flowers.” Lucky asked Wei Bi to take a seat and sent someone off to buy four plates of pastries. She also lit the opium lamp on the bed and invited him to smoke. He took one draw, reluctantly, and then said, “I really don’t want to smoke any more.” After satisfying her own habit, Lucky washed herself and removed her hairpins and earrings, powdered her face and rubbed some rouge on her lips, and made ready for bed. And there I shall leave her.
Let me turn to Yuan You, who, on entering Paria’s room, noticed several pictures of beautiful women on the walls and nothing else. “Why don’t you have any scrolls?” he asked.
“Oh, I’m an uncultured sort of person. No one ever gives me any.”
“There’s no call for such modesty. I’ll get you some tomorrow.” Since Yuan was rather drunk, he had two cups of hot tea, but his face still felt blazing hot, as if he were about to vomit. He lay down on Paria’s bed and told her how dreadful he felt. She sent the maid off to heat up a bowl of vinegar broth, which she handed to him. She herself did not smoke, but since Yuan You had had too much to drink, she lit the lamp, prepared a pellet, and urged him to do so. But the opium only made him more dizzy than ever. “I really can’t anymore,” he said. “I feel as if I wanted to vomit. You’d better make up the bed and let me lie down.”
Paria at once called in the maid, removed the opium lamp, and helped him to his feet. The maid brushed off the bed and covered it with a thin silk bedspread. Yuan You staggered outside to relieve himself, then undressed and lay down. No sooner had his head hit the pillow than he fell into a deep sleep and began a thunderous snoring. Paria took her time washing herself, removing her jewelry, powdering her face, and rubbing a little rouge on her lips. Then she shut her door and got into bed.
Yuan You’s first sleep lasted until well after the second watch, at which time he awoke with his hangover gone. I need not recount in detail what then took place under the bedclothes.
Paria got up and washed herself, then went back to bed and drifted into a sound sleep. She felt that she was holding hands with Yuan You as they strolled about enjoying the scenery. Coming to a garden that was perfectly serene, they noticed an ornamental rock jutting from the ground. It was covered with ancient trees that towered into the sky. Beside it was a tall building, and they climbed up it, still holding hands. At the top they found a tablet with the words “Hall of Romance” inscribed on it in large characters. On each side of the couplet were the lines:
Clouds and rain—how absurd that men never tire of courtesan love!
Gold and silver—what a shame romantic debts are so hard to repay!
As Paria and Yuan You leaned over the rail enjoying the view, they saw below them a large pond. Red and white lotus flowers covered its greenish waters, as did the blue lotus with its green leaves, among which were many double flowers that were both fragrant and vivid in color. A clear scent wafted up from them. A pair of mandarin ducks were sleeping together on the pond, their heads nestled one against the other. As the two observers took in the scene, the sound of a crossbow rang out from behind the rock, and a single pellet hit the ducks and killed them both.
Startled awake by the sound, Paria found herself bathed in sweat. She heard the watchman’s gong down on the street—it was midnight. Yuan was sleeping soundly, and she didn’t like to disturb him. As she reviewed the scene from her dream, she feared it did not bode well. A multitude of thoughts assailed her, and suddenly she recalled something. The nun Nirvana from the Temple of the White-Robed outside North Gate had come by the previous day asking for alms. She claimed that the predictions given by the bodhisattva Guanyin in her temple were wonderfully accurate. I don’t know what this dream means, thought Paria, or whether it points to a good or a bad future for me. I’ll call a sedan chair tomorrow and go over to the temple, where I’ll get myself a fortune slip and ask the bodhisattva how my life is going to turn out. She tossed and turned and never did get back to sleep, and when daybreak came, she quickly got up.
By that time Yuan, too, was awake. When he had dressed and washed himself, Paria brought him some of the lotus seeds simmering in the pot and also filled a beaker with tea. Because Yuan had drunk too heavily the day before, he had not had anything for supper, so now he felt quite hungry and really needed his breakfast. As he ate, Wei Bi came in with Lucky, and Wu Zhen with Cassia. They exchanged congratulations, and much joking and laughter ensued. Wei Bi and Wu Zhen urged Yuan You to finish dressing and accompany them to the teahouse on the Parade. Cassia and Lucky returned to their own rooms to wash and do their hair.
After Paria had combed her hair and washed herself, she changed into new clothes. She explained to Qiang Da that she wanted to go to a temple to burn incense and asked Sanzi to call her a sedan chair. Then she set out with Maid Wang for the Temple of the White-Robed outside North Gate. Maid Wang rapped on the main gate of the temple, and as Paria stepped out of the sedan chair, two elderly women servants opened the gate and welcomed her in. At the Great Hall, the abbess, whose name in religion was Nirvana, came forward and greeted Paria in Buddhist style. She returned the greeting and asked for some candles and incense, which she lit and burned before the image of the bodhisattva. Kneeling on the prayer mat, she kowtowed several times, then asked the abbess for the fortune container. Holding it up in both hands, she offered this earnest, silent prayer: “Thy di
sciple was born into a distinguished family, and she deplores the sad fate that has brought her to prostitution. She is seventeen years old, is drifting aimlessly through life, and is unmarried. She wonders how the rest of her life will turn out. Last night she received a strange portent and does not know whether it bodes well or ill. She has come here today to kneel devoutly before thee and seek thy guidance. If she can escape the sea of woe,11 issue a ‘best of the best’ fortune to her. If she is destined for a lifetime in the brothel, give her a ‘worst of the worst.’ In the latter case she is determined to cut off her hair and become a nun. She will definitely not remain very long in the world of romance.”
After finishing her prayer, she shook the container until a slip fell onto the ground. She picked it up, kowtowed a few more times, then stood up and handed both container and slip to the abbess, who glanced at it, found the matching fortune in the fortune box, and handed it to Paria. “Congratulations, miss!” said the abbess. “It’s the best of the best.”
Paria read it:
Prediction no. 81. Best of the best.
If not a marriage bond, it’s still a bond;
On heaven depends all your karmic fate.
Seek office or profit, and you’ll succeed;
A son you’ll bear, and illness will abate.
After she had read the fortune, she put it quickly away. Nirvana invited her to the reception room, where a woman servant poured her a cup of tea and set out a covered tray. After exchanging a few pleasantries with the abbess, Paria took out the incense money and handed it to her. She also gave the servant an envelope containing a hundred cash.
“You rarely come to our little temple, miss,” said the abbess. “Today you’ve favored us with a visit, so we’ve prepared some coarse plain noodles for you. We hope you’ll honor us with your company.”
“Thank you ever so much, Your Reverence. I’ll come back and impose on you some other time.” She stood up and said good-bye. Nirvana saw her to the main gate and waited while she got into her sedan chair, then shut the gate behind her.
Paria returned with Maid Wang to Qiang Da’s house, where she paid for the sedan chair and changed back into everyday clothes. Seated in her own room, she took out the fortune and pondered its meaning. My purpose in seeking a fortune, she thought, was to learn about my future, and the first line of this one speaks of the marriage bond.12 By an extraordinary coincidence the man I slept with last night is surnamed Yuan, and it was right after sleeping with him that I had that strange dream. Perhaps the words “it’s still a bond” mean that the rest of my life should be spent with him? But mandarin ducks symbolize a married couple. If I share a marriage bond with this man Yuan, why were those mandarin ducks killed by a single pellet? Back and forth she went in her mind before she recalled something: husband and wife should be born together and die together. If I have a husband to depend on for the rest of my life, I’d be willing to die at the same time he does, just like those mandarin ducks. It would be better by far than living in this sea of woe! When can I get away from it? But I don’t even know if this fellow Yuan is married or not. Or whether he is well enough off. This is the great decision of my life, and I cannot treat it lightly. I’ll take my time and sound him out before deciding what to do.
So much for Paria’s thoughts. If you are wondering what motive Fragrance might have had for insisting that Lu Shu see her home, you must turn to the next chapter.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
A prodigal squanders money on a deflowering,
And a madam seeks a reward for her matchmaking.
Lu Shu escorted Fragrance back to the Jinyulou, where he took a seat in her room and bantered with her. She sent out for four plates of pastries and made a great fuss of him, biting open the melon seeds and handing him the kernels. As they frolicked about with much fondling and foot play, Lu Shu noticed that the bracelets she was wearing were made of silver. “Why aren’t you wearing gold bracelets?” he asked.
“Don’t be silly! Do you really think that if I had a pair of gold bracelets I wouldn’t want to show them off?”
“What if I were to get you a pair of gold ones tomorrow? Would you like that?”
“We’re in a relationship, you and I, and if I dress nicely and wear nice jewelry, it’s to your credit as much as mine. Other girls even ask their beaux for clothes and jewelry—it’s called making requests. But I’m too tonguetied and bashful for anything like that; I could never demand anything from anyone. But if out of your love for me you did give me a pair of gold ones and I said I didn’t want them, why then, I’d be the silly one!”
“So long as it makes you happy, I’ll order them tomorrow.”
“If you order gold bracelets, of course it will make me happy. If it didn’t, I’d be really silly! But there’s just one thing; I don’t want those cheap imitation ones that use gold plate. If you’re going to have them made, get solid gold, weighing at least eight ounces. Well, there you are, then! I’d be ever so grateful.”
“You’ll be pleased, I guarantee it.”
They went on bantering and frolicking with each other until nearly the fourth watch, when Lu Shu got up to go. Fragrance clung to him and said a great many inconsequential things before she let him leave. She saw him as far as the landing on the top of the staircase, and then, when he had just reached the foot of the stairs, she called him back up again. “What did you want to say to me?” he asked.
At first she said nothing. Then, after some time, she said, “Come earlier tomorrow. I have something important to tell you.” He promised to do so, then went downstairs once more and left the Jinyulou with Felix in attendance. A servant from the house escorted them as far as the Tianning Gate and shouted for the gate to open, allowing them to enter the city, while he returned to the brothel.
When Lu Shu arrived at his uncle’s house, Felix rapped on the gate. “Oh, you’re back, sir,” said the servant on the gate. “You’ve been coming home late recently, and Madam was wondering where you’ve been. She’s questioned me about it several times. Of course, we servants would never dream of saying anything.”
“I’ve put you to a lot of trouble,” said Lu Shu. “I’ll see you get a good reward for it in the morning.”
“Not at all, sir. You’re your own master, after all.” Lu Shu ignored him and hurried off to the study.
He arose at dawn, washed, and went with Felix to the exchange on Progeny Street. There he traded a quantity of silver for eight ounces of gold, which he took to the jeweler’s on New Victory Street to be made into bracelets. He settled on a price for the work and paid over the money. He also gave Felix a hundred cash to get himself something to eat and told him to wait there while the bracelets were made. He himself went along Piney Wind Lane and past the garrison commander’s headquarters to the Futura teahouse.
He had arrived too early, and the others were not there, so he had a cup of tea while he waited. After some time Jia Ming came in. The two men greeted each other, and Jia took a seat and had a cup of tea. “After you took Fragrance back last night,” said Jia Ming, “the other three stayed over, and they’re still not here. When they come in, let’s penalize them by appointing them our hosts for the day.” Lu Shu agreed with a faint smile.
After a further wait, the three came in together. “Well, brothers,” said Jia Ming as soon as they had taken their seats, “you must have been worn out from your labors last night to sleep in so late. Are Brother Lu and I to congratulate you, or are you going to invite us to be your guests?”
“Enough of your jokes, Brother,” said Yuan You. “I’ll be the host today.”
“So long as I get something to eat, I’ll say no more,” said Jia Ming to general laughter.
By the time they had had their breakfast and exchanged some casual conversation, it was getting on for noon, and Yuan invited everyone to Qiang Da’s for lunch. No sooner were they in the door than he sent Sanzi off to fetch Fragrance. As before, the guests went up to Cassia’s room, where tea and tobacco were
provided and an opium lamp was lit for Wu Zhen. Before long Fragrance arrived and greeted everyone.
After wine and lunch, they left the table and sat talking and joking until the sun began to set, when Lu Shu noticed Felix standing just outside the door. Leaving the room, he called to Felix to accompany him some-where away from the others. “I had the people at the money shop check the weight, and it’s exactly right,” said Felix, as he handed over the bracelets.
Lu Shu nodded, glanced at the gold bracelets, put them in his sleeve, and returned to Cassia’s room. From his seat next to Fragrance, he caught hold of her hand and, unseen by anyone, slipped the bracelets into it. She understood and quickly tucked them away.
That evening, when the party broke up, Jia Ming and Wei Bi returned home, while Wu Zhen and Yuan You stayed the night. Once more Fragrance insisted that Lu Shu take her home. At the Jinyulou, he called for the servant who had escorted him the night before and enabled him to get through the gate. He thanked the man for his trouble and rewarded him with a tael.
He then asked Fragrance to take off her silver bracelets and put on the gold ones. Chatting and laughing together, they amused themselves until the fourth watch, when Lu Shu got up to leave. The same servant escorted him to the gate and saw him through it.
The next day Lu Shu invited everyone back to Qiang Da’s. He had Fragrance brought over and ordered lunch and dinner. The party went on all day, and when it broke up, some of them stayed the night, while others went home.
It would be tedious to describe in detail how the brothers ate and drank together every day and partied together every evening. Instead let me tell of Yuan You’s promise to give Paria a pair of scrolls. On reflection, it occurred to Yuan that he was none too familiar with literary composition and would not be able to come up with a matching couplet, so he sought the help of several highly cultivated friends. However, Paria’s name proved too difficult to find a parallel for, and after several days they simply dashed off a couple of lines and gave them to Yuan. With no idea of their quality, he bought two pairs of mounted scrolls and sent them to the calligrapher’s to have the characters properly written and the attributions added, then rushed excitedly over to Paria’s. She opened the first pair and read them: