Courtesans and Opium

by AnonYMous

  “Let me ask your advice on something,” said Qiang Da. “I would very much like to get Cassia to pay the whole forty thousand that we promised them. If you will help with that, of course there’ll be a present for you.” Yu agreed to help.

  Calling Cassia in, Yu Jiafu said, “Your share of that money we promised the runners the other day amounts to forty thousand, and they’re coming for it today. Do you have it ready?”

  Cassia was stunned, but she didn’t dare ask for further details. Unfortunately for her, there was no way she could raise forty thousand at short notice. She had to get Sanzi to take some of her clothes and jewelry, and even the patterned coverlet from her bed and her chiming clock, to the pawnshop in order to raise twenty-four thousand, which she handed to Yu Jiafu. “Godfather, please take this as an initial installment. Give me three more days, and I’ll find some way to get you the rest.” At first Yu deliberately withheld his approval, but eventually he took the money. At the teahouse he gave it to the runners, promising to clear the rest of the debt within three days.

  Hoping to get Wu Jingyu to borrow the balance for her, Cassia told Sanzi to invite him over. Wu Jingyu, however, after conspiring with the runners to arrest her patron, was too embarrassed to meet her. A few days after the event he had sought out the runners in order to collect his share of the money. Bao Guang had begun by blaming him. “You had a grudge against Wu Zhen, but you didn’t attack him yourself; you used us as a cat’s paw. You got us excited with your talk of a wonderful opportunity, but all we found was a fool with no money. Now we’re burdened with the task of referring the case to higher authority at a cost of over a hundred thousand. Luckily we’ve got ourselves some side benefits, and we’ve made a bit of money at Qiang Da’s. Yu Jiafu is also getting us something, but it’s not even enough to take our colleagues to dinner. If it were not for our friendship, we’d hold you responsible for all this. But that you should actually want money from us—that’s just plain stupid!” Wu Jingyu had argued his case again and again, until finally some of those present managed to scrape up a thousand cash for him. His was a case of ruining another without benefit to himself.

  And so he was in a dejected mood when Sanzi came to say that Cassia wanted to talk to him. He had heard that she had pawned her clothes and jewelry and was still unable to cover the debt she owed the runners. Her sending for me must mean that she expects me to find some way of raising the money, he thought. When I think of how many garments I’ve received from her, how much money and opium, how many nights I’ve spent with her free of charge, I did a terrible thing when I got her steady client arrested and involved her in paying off the runners. I’ve actually ruined that woman! But I have no money to help her out and no way of raising a loan. How can I possibly go and see her? “Tell Miss Cassia that I’ll be along right away,” he said to Sanzi.

  Cassia waited for two days, but he still did not appear. As soon as her creditors heard that she had pawned her clothes and jewelry, they began pressing her for payment. The balance owed to the runners was due the next day, and she had no chance of borrowing it. She cried all night.

  Early the following morning she asked Sanzi to take some odds and ends of hers to the pawnshop, raising over a thousand cash. She hurriedly washed and combed herself, then wrapped the pawnshop money in a linen kerchief, which she tied around her waist. To Qiang Da she said, “I’m going over to Wu Jingyu’s to get him to borrow some money for me. I’ll be back soon.” Because she often went out, and also because she was not going very far, he did not send anyone with her.

  Once outside, she walked along the base of the city wall and through the Great East Gate, leaving the city by Tianning Gate Street. Recalling what Wu Zhen had said in the Duke Shi Shrine, she walked along the moat through the gateway of the shrine in the Scripture Repository and continued on to the east. At the Bianyi Gate dock she came upon a boatman from Yancheng whom she happened to know, and he invited her on board and asked what she was doing there all alone. “I have a heap of debts,” she said, “and my creditors are hounding me for money. There’s nothing I can do about it, so I’m running away. I want to go home.” She took the thousand cash from the kerchief around her waist and handed it to him. “If this isn’t enough to take me back, I’ll find the rest for you when we get to Yancheng.” By a lucky chance, the boatman had finished loading his boat and was about to leave, and he was more than happy to do a good turn that would cost him nothing. Setting off at once, he took her back with him to Yancheng.

  After lunch that same day Yu Jiafu arrived at Qiang Da’s and asked him, “Has Cassia got together the balance that we owe the runners? There’s also something I need to tell you. The prefect has put out a notice banning prostitution. He’s sending out a number of deputies to search for opium. Hurry up and get all the girls in the house to lie low and avoid the storm. Magpies don’t have much in the way of brains. Don’t let any trouble occur, or it may be too much for you to handle.”

  Qiang Da at once sent Sanzi over to Wu Jingyu’s to fetch Cassia, then told Paria and Phoenix, who were in the house at the time: “There’s another ban under way, and we’ll have to close down for a while. I’ll send Miss Lucky to her foster mother’s. You two had better think where you want to hide out for the next few days.”

  Yuan You happened to be in Paria’s room when she heard the news. “The house has to close down,” she told him. “A few days ago I asked you to look into renting a place for us. Did you find anything?”

  “There’s an empty house on Old Lane with three jian1 and two side rooms. The landlord is a friend of mine. You could move in there on a temporary basis, and then I’ll put down a deposit and close the deal. I’ll borrow some furniture, and you can live there.”

  “Hurry up and talk to him about it. I need to be out of here by tonight.”

  Sanzi returned and said to Qiang Da, “Wu Jingyu told me that Cassia never went to see him. I didn’t believe him, and I searched through the whole house, but he was right; she wasn’t there. I don’t know where she could have gone.” In a state of alarm, Qiang Da sent people out in all directions to search for her, but no trace of her could be found. He was forced to find some other way of raising the sixteen thousand, which he handed to Yu Jiafu to give the runners. Needless to say, Yu deducted a broker’s commission.

  Let me turn to Phoenix, who, after hearing Qiang Da say that he had to close down, was hesitating over where to go when Jia Ming happened to come in. He had no sooner sat down than she said, “You’ve arrived just at the right time. Master Yu came along today and said that the prefect has issued a ban on prostitution as well as opium. He told Qiang Da to close down for a few days. Qiang has sent Lucky to stay with her foster mother and told Paria and me to find somewhere to lie low for the time being. Master Yuan has found a house for Paria, and she’s moving out this evening. That leaves me as the only one with nowhere to go. As I told you, my mother-in-law, husband, and brother-in-law are renting a tiny shanty with room for only one bed. If I go there, where am I going to sleep? As for another brothel, well, all crows are black, so I suppose if our place is closing down, the others will have to close, too, so that’s out of the question. I’m in a bind, and I’m worried about what to do. If only I’d known this earlier, there was an opportunity the other day that I could have taken.”

  “What opportunity was that? You never told me.”

  “I heard that someone from Shanghai had come to Yangzhou to hire girls and was willing to put up an advance of forty silver dollars. He wanted me to go, but I refused. Had I known about this, I’d have accepted.”

  “Why didn’t you go? What a pity you couldn’t see the advantages! You could have taken the forty dollars, given twenty to your mother-in-law and husband to live on, and used the other twenty to buy yourself some more clothes and baggage. You could have stayed awhile in Shanghai, where I expect conditions are a bit better than here, made a few taels, and then come back. Wouldn’t that have been a good idea?”

  “I did g
ive it some thought, but there were several reasons why I couldn’t go. First, you and I are lovers; we’re never apart. How could I bear to leave you and go off somewhere else? Second, if I did well there, fine, but if I didn’t, how could I pay back the forty dollar advance? It would amount to being sold to Shanghai! Besides, what about all those debts of mine? My creditors would never have let me go.”

  “Don’t say you can’t bear to leave me—that’s pure blarney. Tell me, how much do you owe altogether?”

  “All told, thirty or forty thousand.”

  “If you’d told me that you wanted to go to Shanghai, I could have called all your creditors together and taken over your debts, paying them off for you. That wouldn’t have been a problem.”

  “I’ve put too much onto you already. How could I do it again? When I come to think of it, what a miserable life I’ve led from childhood on, with my mother dying young and my father marrying me to the Lan family as a child bride! At six my mother-in-law took me to Qingjiang and made me learn how to play and sing. I can’t tell you how many curses and beatings I had to endure! At twelve I was forced to sleep with clients, and for years I had to earn my living in the brothel business, suffering untold misery. Only with the greatest difficulty did I manage this year to get back to Yangzhou. I’d rather beg for a living here than cast my bones away in some other place. Anyway, so much for that! In Yangzhou I have a loving relationship with you. I can’t rely on others, but I can rely on you. If I endure a few more years of misery and save up a few taels—and if you help me out—I’ll buy a girl for that devil of a husband of mine, someone who’ll work to support him. I’d be willing to join your household, even if I had to do the cooking—anything, no matter what. Even if it killed me, I’d die content. Surely I’m not condemned to this business all my life!” The tears streamed down her cheeks.

  Jia Ming surmised from this speech that Phoenix really did wish to marry him, and he felt a quiet satisfaction. “A relative on my wife’s side has a house of six jian and two side rooms on Ridge Street. It’s vacant at present, and he doesn’t have a tenant in mind. I’ll go and talk to him and ask if I can skip the deposit and be responsible for paying the few thousand a month in rent. I’ll also borrow some furniture from him. After that you can move in.”

  “Good for you!” said Phoenix. “Talk to him as soon as you can.”

  Jia Ming promptly went in search of his relative and explained that he would not be putting down a deposit but would pay four thousand a month in rent. He obtained the key to the house and also borrowed three tables. At the furniture store he chose a bamboo bed, a dressing table, six chairs, four stools, a tub, and a commode, then negotiated a price, agreeing to pay for the items at the next festival. He rushed back to Qiang Da’s and told Phoenix what he had done.

  She was delighted. She settled her account with Qiang Da and distributed some tips. A maid named Gao expressed a willingness to go, too, and Phoenix was happy to have her. She gathered up all the belongings in her room—scrolls, brass basins, lamp stands, teapot, and other items, then called for a sedan chair. She also called in porters to carry the baggage and the wickerwork chest and other items. Jia Ming led the way to the empty house on Ridge Street and used the key he had brought with him to open the locks on the front door. He paid the fare, and the porters carried the baggage into the house and piled it on the floor, then took their pay and left. Jia Ming borrowed a bench from a neighbor and told Phoenix to sit down. Calling Maid Gao to go with him, he went first to the furniture store and had the bed, tables, chairs, and so forth delivered to the empty house. Next he went to the relative’s house and asked the man’s servants to carry over the tables that he had borrowed. After that he bought pots, bowls and the like and had Maid Gao take them back to the house. He called someone in off the street to sweep out the house, set up the bamboo bed, hang the bed curtain, and arrange the tables, chairs, and stools, while Maid Gao prepared the bed for Phoenix. Jia Ming had the man he had hired get change for a dollar and buy charcoal, rice, fish, pork, vegetables, seasonings, and so forth and prepare dinner for them. He paid the man two hundred cash.

  He told Maid Gao to lock the doors and stayed there that night. Next morning he went to the agency and asked them to send him a manservant to cook and do odd jobs. Phoenix told her mother-in-law to leave the place where she was living and move in with her. She did so together with Phoenix’s brother-in-law, Lan Da, but her husband, Lan Er, refused to move in and demanded two hundred cash a day from Phoenix to live in his own lodgings and support his opium habit. Although Phoenix had steady clients who visited her, she was in love with Jia Ming and unwilling to have the clients stay overnight. For days on end she persuaded Jia Ming to sleep there and was entirely dependent on him for all her expenses. The pair were inseparable, and she was happier than she had been at Qiang Da’s as a split-fee courtesan.

  In her spare time she made him a pillow. As Jia Ming took it in his hands, he noticed that it had a covering of crimson imported fabric that was embroidered with black silk thread and had a green hibiscus-style trim. Its white imported-crepe top had lettering in black characters: “Cheek to cheek, willing to follow the embroidery thread; heads together, wishing to dispatch the golden needle.” Two seals in ancient script were embroidered on the sides in fine crimson floss silk; one said, “Perfect harmony,” the other, “Presented by Phoenix.” Jia Ming treasured the pillow, noting how perfectly the characters were embroidered and how skillful the strokes were. Later he took it home with him and put it safely away.

  “There’s something I need to say to you,” he said. “I’m afraid you won’t believe me, but if I don’t speak up about it, we may find ourselves in serious trouble.”

  “Say it anyway. If I feel I ought to believe it, I will. Otherwise, I wouldn’t believe it even if you said it twice over.”

  “Sitting at home here, you have no idea of what’s going on outside. So far as opium is concerned, the runners and deputies of both counties have seized a great number of people, beating them, clapping them in cangues, imprisoning them, and putting them on trial. They’re searching everywhere. I was given a prescription for an antidote by a friend, and I lost no time in making it up into a paste. When I took it, it tasted just like opium, without any unpleasantness, and now I don’t need to smoke anymore. But I’m worried about you. If you’re arrested, what will we do? I can’t get that thought out of my mind. But opium is the light of your life, and if I ask you to stop smoking, I know that you’ll never agree.”

  “If you can stop, why can’t I?”

  “With your habit I should think you’d find it very hard.”

  “One only has to be passionate about it. Let’s clap hands. We’ll soon see whether I can stop or not.”

  “If you stop, I’ll kill a chicken for you.”

  “Cut out the jokes and make up the paste.”

  From a paper folder Jia Ming drew out a prescription for an antidote. It read:

  Finest quality Korean ginseng, 8 qian

  Poria cocos, 1 ounce

  Finest Cortex cinnamoni, 3 qian

  Cortex eucommiae, 1 ounce

  Cortex magnoliae officinalis, 5 qian

  Radix dipsaci, 1 ounce

  Shanxi Shangdang ginseng, 2 ounces, 2 qian

  Inula flower, one 1-ounce silk packet

  Huaishan medicine, 1 ounce

  Golden chain fern, 7 qian

  Lappula echinata, 7 qian

  Licorice root, 7 qian

  Huai Radix achyranthis bidentatae, 1 ounce

  First decoct the above medicine and remove the sediment. Add five qian of opium ash and extract the juice, then add five ounces of brown sugar and five teaspoons of green ginger juice. Decoct until the mixture forms a paste. Before each craving, take a large teaspoonful of the paste mixed with boiled water. After three days gradually reduce the amount of paste, and you will no longer have the urge to smoke. Severe habits will require a month to be completely eradicated, lesser ones only half a month. Th
e cure works every time. On no account should it be regarded lightly.

  Jia Ming read out the prescription, adding: “The only ingredients on the expensive side are the Korean ginseng and the Cortex cinnamoni. If I get them at the herbalist’s, they’ll cost a lot and won’t be of the finest quality. Since you’re sincere about giving up opium, I’ll go to the Medical Materials Store on Huajue Lane and buy some good Korean ginseng, Cortex cinnamoni, and Cortex magnoliae officinalis.”

  Before long he was back with the three ingredients. He told the manservant, Zhang Er, to take the prescription to the herbalist for the other ingredients and also to buy ten or more catties of top-quality charcoal, as well as brown sugar and green ginger. Jia Ming fanned the charcoal stove, put the ingredients in a large copper pot, decocted them several times with water, and then cleared out the sediment. He weighed out five qian of opium ash and put it in the pot to boil, then passed it through a bamboo strainer, retaining only the liquid, to which he added brown sugar and green ginger juice. After large amounts of charcoal had been used, and after a great deal of time had passed, he finally decocted it in the form of a paste, which he put in a covered bowl.

  Whenever Jia Ming was in the house, Phoenix took the paste, but when he was out, she continued surreptitiously to smoke opium.

  After Phoenix had moved out of Qiang Da’s, Lucky took a small sedan chair to her foster mother’s, and Yuan You came to tell Paria that the matter of the house had been settled and the furniture borrowed and installed. Paria paid what she owed Qiang Da and distributed tips. A maid named Wang wanted to go with her, and Paria consented. Maid Wang gathered up her belongings from her room, called a sedan chair, and took a seat in it together with Paria. Then, with porters carrying her baggage, they left Qiang Da’s. Yuan You followed them to the house that he had found in Old Lane. He had already hired someone to sweep it out, set up the bed, and arrange the table and chairs. The porters brought in the baggage, which was duly checked by Maid Wang. After paying the bearers and porters, Yuan You told the man he had hired to go out and buy them firewood, rice, fish, pork, and so forth. When they had had their dinner, he sent the man off. From that time on he spent every night in the house and never went home.