Courtesans and Opium

by AnonYMous

  With Felix watching over the bags, Lu Shu arrived at Ridge Street, passed by the Taiping dock, and called in at the Yichang Guesthouse. Wang Fu stood by the gateway until he saw the bearer emerge with only his pole and ropes. Confident that Lu Shu was staying there, he went back and reported to his mistress.

  Mistress Lu was both angry and distressed—angry because Lu Shu was so worthless, ill-educated, and full of ignorant opinions, but distressed also because he was the only son on her side of the family, and judging from this behavior of his it would be impossible to preserve the family heritage.

  It was the second watch before her husband returned and she could tell him what had happened. “The little swine is admittedly no good,” said Xiong Dajing, “but what your brother did was simply too ridiculous. Having given him a lot of money and sent him to Yangzhou to buy a concubine, why couldn’t he write and let me know? If I’d known, I could easily have found someone for his son and sent him home again. He would never have been allowed to stay in Yangzhou all this time! Now he’s spent all his money, so it’s no use even bringing the subject up. Let me go to the Yichang tomorrow and ask him to come and stay with us for a few days while I urge him to go home. That would prevent him from going from bad to worse in that inn. If he continues to behave in this disgraceful manner, we’ll never be able to face his parents.”

  “I’m positive the wretch won’t come back.”

  “In that case, we’ll have to think of something else.”

  Early the next morning he went to the guesthouse, where Felix told him, “Sir, my master hasn’t returned from last night.”

  Xiong Dajing gave a thin smile. “Tell your master that I came here in person to ask him to return to our house and stay with us. My wife may have said some critical things, but I hope that for my sake he’ll come back. There should be no animosity between family members. Tell him that from me.” Felix promised to do so.

  Xiong Dajing then returned to his office and attended to business. On three successive days he called at the Yichang without finding Lu Shu in. He asked Felix if he had passed the message on. “I’ve told him several times,” said Felix, “but he’s never said a thing.” Xiong Dajing went home and wrote a letter describing in detail what Lu Shu had been doing in Yangzhou, his refusal to take correction, and his move to an inn in a fit of pique, then had a servant deliver the letter to Lu Shu’s family in Changshu.

  Let me turn to Lu Shu, who, after the scolding from his aunt, had left in a rage and moved into the Yichang Guesthouse. He rented a single room, settling on a rate of two hundred cash a day for the room and board of both master and page, then went back to the Jinyulou, where he sat for quite a long time in Fragrance’s room before she finally joined him. “What were you doing that took you so long?” he asked.

  “Oh, some hooligans came to Sister Cloud’s room downstairs to get a free tea party and smoke some free opium, and I was called in. If you don’t treat people like that with a little courtesy, they get mad and start a quarrel, and before you know it you’ve got to host a banquet and take the loss. It’s far better to go through the motions just to get them out the door and save trouble, rather than…” She stood up as Mother Xiao came into the room. “Godmother, please sit down.”

  Mother Xiao took a seat and turned to Lu Shu: “Master Lu, the other day I spoke to you about several dozen taels that you owe us. Did you bring them with you?”

  “As I told you the other day, I’ve sent someone home for money, but he’s not back yet. As soon as he gets here, I’ll pay you.”

  “You speak of getting money from home, Master Lu, but do you know when it will arrive? We can’t wait any longer. I can’t tell you how many bills need to be paid with that money! Please go to a money shop, any money shop, and exchange something for money. I need it right now. If I didn’t need it so urgently, I wouldn’t keep on about it, or even mention the fact that you owe me anything. I’d be most grateful if you’d help me out by tomorrow at the very latest.”

  After she had gone on and on in this vein, Lu Shu finally said, “All right! All right!” She continued her litany of demands and exhortations as she returned downstairs.

  “And what about my gold headband?” asked Fragrance.

  “I’ll have it for you within a few days.” She gave a sardonic smile, which made Lu Shu feel distinctly uncomfortable. He had supper there and stayed the night.

  Early the next morning he went to the Futura, greeted the others, and joined them at their table. After they had had their breakfast, he drew Yuan You aside. “I’ve spent all my funds, and Mother Xiao is badgering me for money. Let me put this to you: I’d like to borrow twenty or thirty taels at any rate of interest you care to name. When my money comes in, I’ll pay back both principal and interest without fail.”

  “I do have a few taels, but they’re all out on loan and can’t be recalled at short notice. The other day two interest payments fell due, but because I was always off at Qiang Da’s enjoying myself, the debtors never came to see me. Instead they brought their payments to the house, where my wife received them. They add up to about a dozen taels in all. Let me go home and collect them. We’ll meet here again tomorrow, and you can have the money then. As for your talk of interest, don’t be ridiculous!”

  “I’d be ever so grateful.” The two men returned to the table, where they joined in the conversation before going their separate ways.

  Yuan You’s wife, Mistress Du, had quarreled with him more than once because he frequented the brothels and often stayed out overnight. His parents had tried to intercede, but to no avail, and by now they had become accustomed to the situation and simply let the pair go on quarreling. Yuan You, who had now been away from home for three nights in succession, returned this evening because he had promised to lend Lu Shu some money. After supper, he went to their room and said to his wife, “—— and —— brought in their interest payments. Get them out for me.”

  “What do you want them for?”

  “Brother Lu has asked if he could borrow some money. I agreed, and that’s why I need the payments. I’m going to put them together and lend them to him.”

  As soon as she heard the name Lu, Mistress Du realized that he was one of her husband’s carousing companions, and anger welled up inside her. “This fellow Lu is from out of town, he’s not in business here, and he spends all of his time drinking and whoring. If you give him a loan, what security will you have?”

  “When I was in Changshu, I was indebted to him and his father for many great favors. Now that he’s here in Yangzhou, how in good conscience can I turn him down the first time he opens his mouth and asks to borrow a few taels? Moreover, he says he’s sent someone home for more money, and as soon as he gets it, he’ll repay me. But even if he didn’t repay it, I’d still feel honor bound to lend it to him.”

  “What a clever answer! It doesn’t occur to you that we never used to have any property of our own. All we had was the money we raised on the clothes and jewelry from my trousseau. At first you said you’d lend it out at interest to supplement the income we got from the family. But these days you’ve become so obsessed with playing around that you can’t even be bothered to go and collect the interest. Fortunately, the debtors were honest enough to bring the money here. I don’t know how many nights in a row you’ve spent with those whores, or how much you owe them, yet you come home and tell lies like this to trick me out of the money, just so that you can play the tycoon. Even if this story about Lu were true, I still wouldn’t make that kind of loan. With him it’s a case of ‘hit a dog with a meatball, and you won’t see it again.’ I’m going to keep on at you about this. I won’t wait until I’m dead for that interest money. Hurry up and recall those damned loans for me. If you’re willing to die, I’m willing to bury you. Once I have the money back, we’ll see just how much longer you can go on playing the phony tycoon! One of these days you’ll make me so furious that I’ll go storming down to those whores and vent my anger by tearing the witches to
shreds!”

  “A wife ought to know something about the Three Obediences and the Four Virtues. When people hear such jealous talk as that, they’re bound to laugh at you.”

  Stung by the accusation of jealousy, Mistress Du began to wail. “You fool around all the time, sleeping with those whores, and never once have I interfered. You come home today and want to trick me out of some money so that you can go back to the whores and get yourself off.1 You’re not afraid of spending all your money; you can live off your whores. But we wives are helpless. Where can we go? I give you just a few words of advice, and you accuse me of being jealous!

  “When a woman marries, she always wants the best from her husband, but I’ve had a wretched fate. During the years when you were always getting into trouble, you were tried and locked up in jail, and I was scared out of my wits and couldn’t sleep at night. Later, when you were sentenced to exile, I was left at home living on gruel and soup, waiting anxiously until you had completed your sentence and could return. And what did you say to me then? You said that you would stop leading a riotous life, that you’d pull yourself together and put your mind to making a living. I thought then that you were that pearl beyond price, a prodigal son who had turned over a new leaf. But you tricked me into pawning all the clothes and jewelry from my trousseau. You said you would lend the money out at interest to supplement our family income and enable us to get by. But ever since this Lu fellow arrived in Yangzhou, he’s been the bane of our existence. You’ve taken some drug that’s affected your mind, that’s what you’ve done—you’ve lost your soul to those whores. And I let you do it! And now today you want to trick me out of my money again! What hope do I have? I don’t want to go on living anymore!” She tried to ram her head into his stomach.

  From listening to her tirade, Yuan You was already in an angry mood. He was on the point of standing up and striking her when she came charging at him. Turning aside, he grabbed at her hair. Her jade hairpins fell and shattered; her silver ear picks were flung to the floor. More furious than ever, she tried to grab his queue, but instead her nails made two scratches on his left cheek. He became angrier still and, gripping her hair, threw her to the ground, then sat astride her and was about to pound her with his fists when Maid Chen came rushing in and pinned his arms behind his back, while he reeled off an endless string of curses. His parents, who were deeply distressed that he and his wife were constantly quarreling and would never listen to reason, at first ignored the quarrel, but when they heard their son throw his wife to the ground and prepare to beat her, they feared it might lead to serious trouble and rushed forward and shouted at him. Not daring to argue with them, Yuan You relaxed his grip, then stood up and went outside. His mother pulled Mistress Du to her feet and tried to calm her, but she was in such a rage that she flung herself down on her bed, clothes and all. Husband and wife were now on even worse terms than before.

  If you are wondering what happened, please turn to the next chapter.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Yuan You makes plans to marry a concubine;

  Paria swears an oath to take a husband.

  Yuan You had fought with his wife over money but had not dared defend himself against his parents’ reprimands. He managed to control his temper and, still seething, made his way to Qiang Da’s. As it happened, there were no clients in Paria’s room, and Sanzi showed him in, while the maid offered him tea and tobacco. Paria noticed his silence as well as the furious look on his face. She also noticed the scratches on his left cheek and wondered who he had been fighting with. After he had been sitting there for some time, she engaged him in a good deal of idle conversation before asking in a casual tone of voice, “What happened to your cheek?”

  “Don’t ask!” he said, both angry and embarrassed. “A good friend of mine wanted to borrow a few taels and I couldn’t very well refuse, so I promised to give him a loan tomorrow. When I went home today to collect the money, my shrew of a wife not only hid the interest payments that came in over the past few days, she went on and on making all sorts of unreasonable accusations. That got me mad, and I grabbed hold of her hair and was about to hit her when she put up her hand to ward off the blow and her nails caught my face. That made me even angrier, and I lost my temper and threw her to the ground and punched and slapped her I don’t know how many times. But then my parents told me off, and I let her up and came straight on here. From now on I’m going to treat that shrew as if she were dead. Fortunately, I’d just told someone to find me another place to live outside the compound. If I’m blessed by heaven, the family line won’t die out and I’ll have a son to carry on after me. I wonder who she’ll quarrel with then?” He was still seething with anger.

  While she listened to this tirade Paria was preoccupied with thoughts of her own. After I had that strange dream, she mused, I went the next day to burn incense at the Temple of the White-Robed and asked for that fortune. Since then I’ve been constantly watching to find out what this fellow Yuan is really like. He seems extremely kind and gentle, and he’s only ten years older than I am. As for his finances, he’s not rich, but judging from what he’s always saying, he’s capable enough and can earn a living. I’m seventeen, and I’ve been in the business for four years now. Think of it—when I arrived in Yangzhou and was indentured to one of the houses, I had several clients in the daytime and had to take another one overnight. Whether he was old or young, good or bad, I simply had to take him. If he was a decent person, it was bearable enough, but if he was bad, he wouldn’t care whether I lived or died. After catching many unmentionable diseases, after more than a year of misery, and after endless wheedling and deception, I managed to change my status to split-fee. I’ve had every kind of experience, both good and bad. Nowadays the fellows out there are more crafty than ever. Not only do they have no money to spend on you, they would dearly love to have you support them! Even more absurd, the Yangzhou custom is for a girl to take a private protector, but nine times out of ten the protector is no good. He will get jealous; he’ll want to make requests; and you will have to flatter him to the skies. If there’s anything not completely to his satisfaction, he’ll find some way to do terrible things to you; and you won’t be able to stand his filthy temper. But if you don’t have a protector, someone will want a special relationship with you while someone else is clamoring for a friendship, resulting in a stupid quarrel. And lately a new kind has emerged, men who band together in groups of three or four, full of threats and bluster. I don’t know what sort of vicious behavior they mightn’t be capable of. When they come to this place, they merely want to drink for nothing or get some free opium to smoke. I remember one day when several of them were having dinner here. They forced me to drink several large cups of wine, and afterward I vomited and nearly died of alcoholic poisoning. When I consider that both my parents are dead, and that I have no brothers or sisters but am on my own, even if I were to become attached to this dangerous scene, what would I gain by it? If my luck were bad and trouble broke out, I might not even survive. In these years of suffering, the one good thing is that I haven’t become addicted to opium. I live frugally; I’ve even saved up a few taels and bought myself some clothes and jewelry. Luckily, I’m not engaged to anyone and I don’t have a husband, so I can make my own decisions. I’ve long wanted to marry and escape from this sea of woe, but as the saying goes, “It’s easier to find a priceless gem than to meet a loving man.” In these years I’ve never met a truly understanding person. For some time I was thinking of marrying this Yuan, but when I heard that his wife was so jealous, I never opened my mouth about it. From what he says today, though, it seems that he has definitely decided to take a concubine. Fortunately, he means to find a place to live away from his house. If I go with him, no matter how jealous his wife is, I’ll be living somewhere else, and she won’t be able to run over every day and start a quarrel. Moreover, the bodhisattva’s fortune said I was to marry someone with the surname Yuan, and I can’t afford to let this opportunity slip. Time goe
s by so fast, and I’ve seen so many in this business who, once they start to go downhill, are scorned by everybody and reduced to begging in the streets. Now, there’s true misery for you! I once read a poem in the Bamboo Branch Poems of the Yangzhou Pleasure Quarters that ran like this:

  Money is easy to get, as you know,

  But how many save up for future needs?

  The opium habit makes your face look old,

  And who will love you when your youth recedes?

  When that happens, it’s too late for any regrets. Now that Yuan and his wife are at loggerheads, and he’s so full of enthusiasm for taking a concubine, let me gradually sound him out. By arranging a marriage, I’ll escape the fate of those who lose their youth and have nothing at the end of their lives.

  Now that her mind was made up, she proceeded to give him some highly disingenuous advice. “I don’t mean to criticize, but what your good lady said was perfectly correct. She’s afraid of your playing around and squandering money. Every woman, when she marries, hopes for the best from her husband. You stay out and don’t go home, but a wife has narrower concerns, and of course she’s going to tell you off! You ought to be more tolerant with her, but whatever you do, you should never raise your hand against your lawfully wedded wife. You were wrong to do that. Now, take your time, get a little rest, and pay attention to what I’m saying—Maid Zhang, come and fill up Master Yuan’s pipe! Enjoy yourself here for a while. I won’t invite you to stay on—you should go home soon. As they say, ‘Husband and wife should never let the sun go down on a quarrel,’ and ‘Otherwise the marriage will be ruined.’ An affair is actually better than a marriage in that respect; after all, it’s a temporary relationship that’s soon over, and then the lovers go their separate ways.”

  Yuan You gave a cynical smile. “Stop! Enough of this sanctimonious stuff! As the old saying goes, ‘Like supports like.’ I’m not just saying this for your benefit, but if I ever sleep with that shrew again, I’m not of woman born! You have another good client, and you’re just saying this to drive me away. Well, Mount Ling1 doesn’t have the only temples in the world—incense is burned everywhere—and I daresay there are other places I can go.”