by AnonYMous
There was one dragon boat with multicolored pennants of which the red had turned black and the white yellow, no doubt because it had only a few days before been released from the pawnbroker’s and still bore the marks4 of its detention. The boy at the stern had on a pair of well-worn trousers. The fellow standing at the dragon’s head was in his twenties. He had on a red straw sun hat with red tassels that he wore at a rakish angle. His tunic was of pale pink nankeen embroidered all around with black silk thread in a lamp grass pattern and fastened with red-bean and walnut-style buttons. Over it he wore a sleeveless jacket, no longer new, of medium-blue silk lined with white imported cloth. He also wore white nankeen trousers fastened by a belt of crimson nankeen and light-green silk, and a pair of worn over trousers of pine green imported crepe lined with crimson pongee. The feet of the over trousers still bore traces of where the broad, embroidered hibiscus trim had been removed. He wore flared lined socks of white Shanghai cotton and thin-soled leather shoes with images in reddish blue satin of the Eight Treasures. On his left thumb he wore an archery ring of imitation emerald, and on his left wrist a green porcelain armlet. In his right hand he held a black oilpaper fan with a black bamboo spine on which were depicted the one hundred and eight warriors of Outlaws of the Marshes. This young man stood in the prow of the dragon boat, fanning himself constantly, watching the people in the passing boats, and throwing out challenges to a contest.
There were nine dragon boats in all. Behind them was a small open boat with two bamboo baskets containing a dozen or more live ducks. There were also several large boats on whose bows were pairs of tall lanterns glued together from yellow paper depicting dragons in a variety of colors. The red lettering stuck onto the pictures of the dragons read, “By Imperial Appointment Pacifier of the Waves and Bringer of Children, the (such and such a color) Dragon.” Inside the cabins were incense altars with paper offerings dedicated to the image of the Crown Prince Spirit. There were also ten-piece bands and troupes from Suzhou popularly known as Mashangzhuang,5 who played their instruments and sang both grand opera as well as Xipi and Erhuang in the cabins.
The nine dragon boats went back and forth between Little Gold Hill and Lotus Flower Bridge, followed by the rowboats full of spectators. The large boat that Lu Shu and his friends were in had stopped by East Peak of Little Gold Hill, but it was not long before the fellow on the prow of one of the dragon boats noticed their boat moored there and realized that one of the passengers was the man who had deflowered Fragrance. He at once told his front oar to take two strokes to the right, bringing the dragon boat alongside, then hailed the passengers while his companions struck up their gongs and drums. The boy on his red bar at the stern began his acts, such as “The Red Boy Bows Low before Guanyin,”6 “The Carp Falls Back Three Times,”7 and “Zhang Fei Sells Meat.”8 When he had finished, the passengers handed out envelopes of cash. After that, all of the dragon boats with boys on the stern came alongside and had their boys perform.
The boat with the ducks also drew alongside, and two men leapt from it onto their prow, hailed the passengers, and called out to Fragrance: “Miss Fragrance, we’ve come specially to offer these prizes on your behalf.” They pulled up the two wicker baskets from their boat and laid them on the prow. The nine dragon boats then struck up their gongs and drums to herald the contest, rowing back and forth in front of them. The other pleasure boats heard that the contest was being held over there and came swarming along until they completely surrounded them. The two men on the prow of Lu Shu’s boat, seeing that a blue dragon had rowed close to them, seized a duck from one of the baskets and threw it into the river. On board the blue dragon one of the oarsmen, stripped to the waist, wearing nothing but a pair of close-fitting shorts, his queue bound up like a bunch of pickled vegetables, was squatting on his prow when he saw the duck thrown into the water and leapt in, seized it, and clambered back on board. That dragon boat then rowed away, and the green dragon boat that was behind it rowed up. The two men in the prow of Lu Shu’s boat seized another duck and threw it into the river. Someone in the prow of the green dragon leapt into the river and seized the duck, after which that boat, too, rowed away. Then there came in succession the red-gold, black, pale rose, jade green, yellow, white, and multicolored dragons. As well as throwing ducks into the river, the men in the prow also threw them to people waiting to catch them, who then leapt into the river themselves. The nine dragon boats came and went, and when each of them had caught two ducks, the men throwing them took their baskets back to their own boat. The passengers on Lu Shu’s boat said to them: “We’ll see you at the Cold Garden on the Parade tomorrow morning.” The two promised to be there, bowed, leapt back onto their own boat, and went elsewhere to stage another contest. The dragon boats moved off to the Lotus Flower Bridge area, while the pleasure boats scattered in all directions.
Yuan You told the boatman to set off, and they followed the dragon boats to watch the activity. It was the Yangzhou custom at the Duanyang Festival for everyone to flock to the river. The banks were lined with sightseers, men and women, some leading little boys by the hand, some carrying little girls on their shoulders. The women from the villages had calamus, mugwort, pomegranate, and buckwheat flowers hanging from their heads. Heavily waxed and powdered, they ran helter-skelter along the riverbank, wearing new blue cloth shoes decorated in a variety of colors with red embroidered heel straps, calling out to their relatives, pushing and pulling—and streaming with sweat from the strong sun. There were also a few drunkards, reeking of liquor, who careened into them. Petty tradesmen of all kinds did a brisk trade. It was the liveliest scene imaginable. A poet of that time wrote a regulated-verse poem entitled “On Watching the Dragon Boats at the Duanyang Festival”:
When we come to the Duanyang Festival,
The dragon boats’ colors dazzle the eyes.
Their pennants block the light of the sun;
Their gongs and drums to the heavens rise.
The custom of mourning Qu Yuan is old;
Men compete to be first to seize the prize.
That boy over there is truly daring,
As above the water on his swing he flies.
Lu Shu and his guests followed the dragon boats and watched as beside Lotus Flower Bridge prizes were thrown from other pleasure craft. They also saw a man somersault into the river from the prow of a dragon boat, then break the surface a long way off, a feat that is known as a Water Leap and is even more exciting than catching ducks.
As the sun set, the dragon boats began to stream back. When the guests on Lu Shu’s boat had had an evening drink and supper, they, too, ordered their boat to return. By the time they reached the Tianning Gate dock, the sedan chairs were already there waiting for the courtesans from the Qiang Da house. They thanked Lu Shu and Fragrance and asked their lovers to escort them back, but Wu Zhen said, “You go on ahead. We’ll join you before long, after we’ve seen Brother Lu back.” Each of the courtesans then whispered something in her lover’s ear before getting into her sedan chair and heading into town. Lu Shu took Fragrance’s hand and invited the others to go ashore and return to the Jinyulou.
Once back in her room, Fragrance called to the maid to light the opium lamp. Wu Zhen smoked for a while, then said to Lu Shu, “Brother, give me the six dollars for hiring the boat and another six dollars for tipping the boatmen, so that I can pay them off before they come here and demand more money. In addition, weigh out twenty-four taels and let me and Brother Yuan go to the Cold Garden tomorrow morning to pay off the men on the dragon boats. There’s no need for you to show up yourself; just wait for us at the Futura. If you do show up, I can’t imagine how much money they’ll ask for!”
“I’m ever so indebted to you two for taking this on,” said Lu Shu appreciatively as he handed him the money. “I’ll wait for you at the Futura tomorrow morning.”
Wu Zhen tucked the money away. As he was about to take his leave, Cloud and Lute, having changed back into their everyday clothes, came in
and thanked Lu Shu. “Brother-in-Law, you’ve been put to great expense today, but there’s one thing we simply have to mention. The tenth of this month is Sister Fragrance’s birthday.”
“I’m so grateful to you for telling us,” put in Jia Ming. “We had no idea. The four of us will send over a vaudeville troupe—octagonal drums, offstage mimicry, ice dish, bat and ball, greater and lesser magic, fan plays—for a full day’s entertainment.”
“But how can I let you go to such expense for her birthday?” asked Lu Shu.
“Oh, don’t be so conventional, Brother,” said Jia Ming.
Lu Shu could hardly protest any further. He asked Mother Xiao to come upstairs. “Since it’s Miss Fragrance’s birthday on the tenth,” he said, “please call the chef and tell him we’ll have noodles for lunch, with four dishes of cold cuts as well as small bowls of red and white stew. For dinner, have him prepare a banquet for several tables. We’ll also need to host the members of the vaudeville troupe. The food should be sumptuous, and also of the finest quality.”
Jia Ming and the other three brothers took their leave and went back to Qiang Da’s house in the city. Their favorites had told them on the boat that they would send away any other clients, so on arrival each one went straight to a private room. There the opium smokers smoked, while the others drank tea, and they all laughed and chatted before getting ready for bed.
The nights are short on such joyous occasions. Early next morning Wu Zhen got up and called Yuan You. As soon as they had washed, the two men left Qiang Da’s. First they visited the money shop, where they exchanged several taels and wrote a dozen notes discounted by ten or twenty percent, then went on to the Cold Garden teahouse. Inside they found more than ten tables occupied by fellows from the dragon boats. At sight of Wu Zhen and Yuan You, the men rose to their feet and waved. Wu Zhen and Yuan You saw that they were yamen runners and garrison soldiers, civil and military licentiates, and senior and junior guards at the city gates. Wu and Yuan exchanged greetings with them, then took seats in a separate room and had their tea. The men who had thrown the ducks into the water approached, sat down, and picked up the teapot to pour tea for them. Wu Zhen called for tea to be made, but the two said, “There’s tea right here. No need to make any more.”
Wu Zhen took out two notes and gave them to the men, saying, “Here, buy yourself something to eat and drink.” As they tucked the notes away, Wu Zhen produced another ten notes and said, “Please give these to the nine dragon boats and the duck boat.”
“That’s not enough!” they said. “We can’t do that.”
Only when Yuan You added two more notes, advising them to “take this and be happy with it,” would they accept the money. Wu Zhen paid for the two cups of tea, and he and Yuan You left the teahouse.
Two or three of the senior gate guards came out at the same time and said, “This plum has fallen into your hands, but it hasn’t been shared with us guards. My brothers and I would like to benefit, too.” Wu Zhen did not care to refuse and gave a note to each man, after which they returned to the teahouse.
Wu Zhen and Yuan You then went off and booked the vaudeville troupe for the tenth, after settling on a price. At the Futura they found Jia Ming, Lu Shu, and Wei Bi already there. As he joined them at their table, Wu Zhen said to Lu Shu, “It’s a good thing you didn’t go with us. They’d have had you pegged as a rich man, and heaven only knows what fantastic claims they’d have made on you. Brother Yuan and I had to reason with them again and again before we finally managed to clear things up.” Lu Shu thanked them, and they all had breakfast. Once more Lu Shu persuaded them to meet for lunch at the Jinyulou.
The next day he returned to his uncle’s to get more money and that afternoon went back to the Jinyulou. On going upstairs, he saw that Fragrance’s door curtain was drawn and heard talk and laughter from inside her room. Assuming she had another client, he did not care to pull the curtain aside and just go in. However, the maid, on seeing him standing at the door, said, “There’s no one in there, Master Lu. You can go in.” He pulled aside the curtain and walked in, only to find Fragrance with rosy cheeks and a flushed face sitting on the side of the bed. At an angle in front of the bed was a chair occupied by a man in his twenties. He had a snow-white, perfectly smooth complexion and a glossy pitch-black queue tied with an expensive braid. He wore a bleached white pongee tunic, black silk trousers, a sash of pink nankeen embroidered with the twenty-four jade green figures, pure white cloth socks, black satin garters, and thin-soled shoes embroidered in black, and he was massaging Fragrance’s feet. When Lu Shu came in, neither man noticed the other. The maid, who had followed Lu Shu in, called out, “Master Lu is here!” Fragrance winked at the young man and said, “That’ll do!” The young man scrambled to his feet, picked up his razor case from the table, and scurried out. The maid restored the chair to its original position and served tea and tobacco.
“If you need to have your legs massaged at fifteen, what are you going to do when you’re old?” said Lu Shu.
“I called him in to shave me, and I felt tired and asked for a massage. It’s not something I do all the time!”
Lu Shu did not care to say more. He was still as infatuated as ever and for several days did not return to his uncle’s house.
On the morning of the tenth, after finishing her toilette, Fragrance changed her clothes from head to toe, dressing in the new garments that Lu Shu had given her for her birthday. Mother Xiao and the staff brought wine, candles, peaches, and noodles, and Lu Shu accepted them and handed out money in return. In Fragrance’s room, a pair of large candles were lit, as well as a tall birthday candle. Fragrance went downstairs and lit a candle and did reverence before the kitchen god, then received birthday wishes from Mother Xiao and Cloud, and finally went upstairs to greet Lu Shu. As they frolicked about, Lute came in to offer her congratulations, and the entire staff did the same. After that, Jia Ming, Wu Zhen, Yuan You, and Wei Bi came in one after the other. Then the men arrived with the props for the vaudeville performance and took them upstairs. Phoenix, Cassia, Paria, and Lucky each came in her own sedan chair. Stepping out of their chairs at the gate, they went up to Fragrance’s room and offered their congratulations, then set down the breakfast pastries that they had brought. After everyone had eaten, Fragrance said to them, “You’ve gone to such a lot of expense for my birthday!”
“It’s nothing,” they said.
As they chatted, eight or nine members of the vaudeville troupe,9 all wearing red-tasseled summer hats and formal gowns, came upstairs to offer their congratulations.
“Have you had anything to eat?” asked Wu Zhen.
“We had breakfast at the Baoshan teahouse on Lower Commerce Street,” replied one, who asked for four hundred cash to cover the cost. Then he moved a square table into the center of the middle room upstairs and spread a red felt rug on top of it. Two members of the troupe brought in a small lacquered tea tray covered with a silk cloth and placed it on the rug. The first man then stood beside the table and offered birthday wishes before raising the silk cloth, beneath which was a teacup of fine china that was turned upside down. With two fingers the man twisted the bottom of the cup, then raised it and placed it on the tray. He passed the cup from one hand to the other, then raised it again—and inside there was a gold cap ornament. He then covered the ornament with the teacup, made some idle remarks, and raised it again—and the gold cap ornament had changed to one of jade. He covered that with the cup, and when he raised it again, the jade ornament had changed to one of crystal. Again he covered it with the teacup, and when he lifted it, the ornament had turned blue. Once more he covered it and then raised the cup, and this time the blue had changed to crimson. “This is what’s called ‘climbing the ladder of success,’” he said, covering the crimson cap ornament with the teacup. He said a great many more things and then, when he next raised the teacup, the crimson cap ornament had turned into a gold seal. “This is what is called ‘The six states bestow their honors, and the gene
ral takes the seal of command,’”10 he said. He covered up the teacup with the silk cloth and removed it. Then the man standing beside him came to the center of the room and performed the acts “The Immortal Takes the Beans” and “Duke Zhang Receives a Belt.” When he had finished, he moved the table to one side.
Now two new performers came on carrying a red felt rug and stood in the middle of the room cracking jokes. One of them clapped his hands and patted his legs, chest, and rump before handing the rug to the other man, who took it and turned it over and over and then passed it back again. The first man threw it over his left shoulder and then spread it out on the floor, where it rose up in the middle. According to him, he breathed on it and uttered a magic charm. He then jerked the rug aside to reveal a large dish of longevity peaches, a large dish of steamed buns, and a big plate of Duanyang cakes, all of which he offered to Fragrance on behalf of the host. On her behalf, Lu Shu then rewarded the men with two taels. They picked up the red rug, handed it back and forth once more, spread it out, and underneath there was now a bowl of water with two live goldfish swimming in it. The audience burst into applause.