by AnonYMous
Lucky waited until he had left, then settled her account with Qiang Da, paid the various small debts she owed to others, gathered up her baggage and the articles from her room, collected all her valuables, and that night took a boat back to Yancheng with her father.
Wei Bi spent the next two days finding a house and furnishing it. He also hired a maid to attend on Lucky. On the third day, full of joyous anticipation, he presented himself at Qiang Da’s, where Sanzi ushered him into Lucky’s room. As soon as he walked in the door, he noticed that the scrolls on the wall and the coverlet on the bed had been changed. A maid followed him in and offered him tea and tobacco, and several prostitutes came to keep him company. “Master Wei,” said Sanzi, “your favorite has gone back to Yancheng with her father, but I’ll introduce you to someone else. I wonder which courtesan will have the good fortune to take your fancy?” Astonished and deeply frustrated, Wei Bi could not even tell others about his experience lest they laugh at him. Although several courtesans were there in the room, he felt not the slightest interest in talking to any of them. After forcing himself to sit there for a while, he stood up and said, “I’ll be back to impose on you another day.” After leaving Qiang Da’s, he went to Jia Ming’s house to look for Jia and arrange to go to the Futura teahouse, where each man unburdened himself of his grievances.
People who grieve shouldn’t meet and converse,
For grief that’s spoken of only gets worse.
If you are wondering what they said to each other, please turn to the next chapter.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Yuan You falls ill in celebrating midautumn;
Paria prays to the gods while burning incense at night.
Wei Bi had invited Jia Ming to the Futura teahouse for a talk. “I did so much for her these last few years!” exclaimed Jia Ming. “When I had a bad foot, she visited me every day to prepare and apply the medicine and to nurse me. When I had trouble with my eyes, she slept on my bed at night and licked my eyes until the fifth watch. We were together all the time, and she swore vow after vow that she would live and die with me and never part from me for an instant. And so I thought she was sincere, and I spent my money freely on her—I don’t know how much it came to altogether! But then she meets this man Lu, has two assignments, and suddenly, without even forming a friendship, goes off with him! It just goes to show that, no matter how sweet their words are, all courtesans are deceivers. But I haven’t seen you these last few days. How is your favorite?”
“Don’t ask about her!” said Wei Bi with a sigh. He detailed all the various favors he had done for Lucky, stressed how close and loving she had been to him, and then told how she had cheated him out of his money and gone back to Yancheng with her father.
Jia Ming was appalled. Both men expressed themselves angrily, and the more they did so, the more resentful they became. “You and I are to blame for getting so attached to the brothel scene,” said Jia Ming at last. “We brought this frustration on ourselves, but now it’s over and done with, and it’s no good talking about it. I haven’t seen Brother Yuan the last few days. Why don’t we go and visit him?” Wei Bi agreed and took care of the bill.
At the house where Yuan You and Paria were living on Old Lane they rapped on the door, and Maid Wang ushered them in. Yuan You came forward to welcome them, and they greeted one another. Jia Ming and Wei Bi called out to their sister-in-law, asking her to come out and exchange greetings, but Paria addressed them politely from the next room and chose not to come out, a decision that impressed them greatly. Because Jia Ming was an opium smoker, Yuan You invited the visitors into the reception room, where he told Maid Wang to light the opium lamp on the platform bed. The three men had not seen each other in several days, and they chatted casually until Yuan You asked about Phoenix and Lucky. Each man then gave a detailed account of his experience.
“They say love is free in the pleasure quarter,” said Yuan You, “but actually it’s determined by our past lives. One woman marries somebody else, another one goes off home. In my humble opinion, brothers, if you look at your experience in the right way, you’ll see that while you do miss the women in some respects, the karmic debts you owed them are now wiped clean. I would urge you not to be upset.”
This idea came as a revelation to both Jia Ming and Wei Bi. “So it’s a good thing, then, karmic fate? Our debts are paid in full! From now on we’ll think of the women as if they had dropped dead of a sudden illness. We won’t mention their names again.”
“We haven’t seen each other in days,” said Yuan You. “Stay and have a simple meal here tonight so that we can talk.” They accepted the invitation, and Yuan You sent someone out to a restaurant to buy several dishes.
As they were drinking their wine, Jia Ming asked, “Have you had any word from Brother Lu since he went home?”
“He hasn’t written, but the other day I met a friend from Changshu and I asked about him. He told me that since Brother Lu came back from Yangzhou, he has been severely punished by his father and confined to the house. He has now developed chancres all over his body, and they don’t know if he’ll survive. I’ve felt wretched ever since I heard that.”
“We don’t know that it’s true,” said Jia Ming, “but if it is, and he loses his life to syphilis at such an early age, his death would have to be laid at Fragrance’s door. I wonder where she is now. A treacherous woman like that does an immense amount of harm.”
“Brother Yuan said just now that these things are determined by our past lives,” said Wei Bi as the two men sighed. “How true that is!” After supper the visitors took their leave.
Time flew by, and soon it was the Midautumn Festival. Early that morning Yuan You returned to pay his respects to his parents and then went on to Jia Ming’s house to wish him compliments of the season. He found Jia Ming at home, and they exchanged compliments. Yuan was invited in, and a servant offered tea and tobacco. “When I think back on the time when Brother Lu was here in Yangzhou, we’d carouse and enjoy ourselves day and night,” said Jia Ming. “What fun it was! But since he left, and since Brother Wu was framed and sent into exile, Cassia has gone back to her family and Lucky has cheated Brother Wei out of his money and returned home. Only you, by taking our sister-in-law as your wife, have gained your heart’s desire. Now, don’t take me wrong when I say this, but the fact that you and your principal wife don’t get along is the one flaw in an otherwise perfect arrangement. My own lover ignored the affection we felt for each other and actually married someone else. For the first few days after she left, I couldn’t get her out of my mind, day or night. I felt as if I’d suffered a dreadful loss. Then I heard what you said at your house about karmic debts being paid off, and I had a revelation; I saw her as dead and no longer gave a thought to my broken heart, but last night as I was gazing up at the full moon, I started thinking of her again, I don’t know why. Then in a playful mood I wrote a lyric that I’d like to show you for your opinion.”
“I have no talent for that sort of thing, but I’d still like to hear it.” Jia Ming went into the study and fetched a sheet of waxed writing paper flecked with gold, which Yuan You studied:
Amid the cricket’s chirp
And the cassia’s scent,
A goose’s honking sends my thoughts elsewhere.
I call to mind our boundless love when first we met,
Until her sudden parting
Left me in despair.
I hear the tinkling of the chimes,
On and on without an end.
So hard to bear!
She’s gone,
And I’m alone in an empty house,
Wandering here and there.
I wonder how you are,
And ask the moon.
I saw you in the moon’s light once,
In your heart confiding
Some secret care.
It’s good to dwell on old friends,
On the Yangzhou of yesteryear.
(TO THE TUNE “REMEMBERING THE FLUTE MUSI
C ON PHOENIX TERRACE”)
Yuan You praised it repeatedly. “The wording is fresh and original. Your foolish love and her faithlessness come through very clearly. Wonderful! But since she’s been so disloyal and ungrateful, you really oughtn’t to be hankering after her.”
“She’s a heartless monster, that’s what she is! She took all the favors I had done for her over the years and cast them to the winds, then went off with someone she hardly knew! No one hankers after her! Last night I just chanced to think of what happened between us and dashed this off for my own amusement.”
They exchanged some more conversation, and then Yuan You got up to take his leave. “I’ll say good-bye now. I still have to go to Brother Wei’s and wish him compliments of the season. I’ll see you in a day or two.”
“In that case, I won’t try to persuade you to stay. I’ll go over to your house and wish them compliments of the season.”
“You’re too kind.” Jia Ming saw him to the gate, where they bowed and parted.
After visiting Wei Bi’s compound, Yuan You returned to Paria’s and sent someone out for fruit. There was a brilliant full moon, and he set out flowers and fruit in sacrifice and burned incense and lit candles. After he and Paria had honored both the Emperor and the Goddess of the Moon, they brought out fruit and delicacies and drank together while enjoying the moonlight. When they were a little high, Paria said, “I used to feel sorry for myself because I was so ill-fated as to become a prostitute. I once read in the Ninety-nine Bamboo Branch Songs of the Yangzhou Pleasure Quarter a poem that went like this:
In vain do I sleep each day with clients,
For karma is make-believe when we meet.
Midautumn may be the Feast of Reunion,
But my union is still far from complete.
Every midautumn I think of that poem, and I always sigh and shed a few tears. But last year I had no client at midautumn, and I chanted this poem over and over again, reciting it the whole night, and the more I savored it, the more meaning I found in it. I think that the poet was able to understand the world of prostitution down to the last detail. I fully expected to grow old in the brothel, with no chance of escape. To my great joy, you plucked me out of the sea of woe, and now I have someone to depend on for the rest of my life. But tonight I ask myself before this full moon: can our union last?”
“Now you’re being silly! I do have a wife, but she and I are like strangers to each other. Since you’ve attached yourself to me for life, we can be together all the time for the rest of our days. Why do you have to come up with such an unlucky thought? Tonight, in the presence of the Moon Goddess, if I should have a single disloyal thought in my head, may I last no longer than this moon!” He took a large cup, filled it to the brim with wine, and offered it to Paria. She drained it, then filled another large cup and offered it to him, and he did the same.
She then filled a third cup and said to him, “Tonight, on the Feast of Reunion, I offer you this pledging cup. My dearest wish is that you and I may be together like a moon that’s perpetually full, so long as we both shall live.”
He took the cup from her and drained it in a single draft. “May your wish come true!”
He went on, “That poem you made up for the drinking game was concise and yet coherent. And since you’re fond of the poem you just quoted, I expect you’re a good poet. I’d like to hear a poem from you.”
“You’re making me out to be far cleverer than I am. What makes you think I can write poetry?”
“Don’t take me for a complete ignoramus! I really do want to hear a poem from you. If you won’t give me one, I’ll fine you a big bowl of wine.”
“I give in. If you insist that I make a fool of myself, please set the topic and the rhyme for me.”
“I don’t know anything about topics. Just take what’s in front of your eyes. And as for a rhyme, use the one in that bamboo branch song you just quoted.”
She thought for a moment before chanting a poem:
I once had a dream of mandarin ducks;
Our lives will surely accord with our fate.
We oughtn’t to waste this Reunion Day,
So in front of the moon let’s celebrate.
Yuan You praised the poem again and again. He drank a large cup himself, then handed one to her. Wine flowed freely, and they enjoyed so much talk and laughter that it was midnight before they knew it. By that time Yuan was hopelessly drunk, and Paria helped him to bed. Maid Wang gathered up the leftovers, wiped the table, and swept the terrace. Paria saw to the doors and the candles before going to bed herself. This was the Feast of Reunion, and after sleeping for a while, Yuan You awoke with a clear head, and he and Paria did a rather commonplace thing beneath the bedclothes that I cannot describe in detail.
Next morning when Yuan You got up, he had a slight cough but thought nothing of it. Six or seven days later, however, he began to bring up phlegm with specks of blood. Alarmed, Paria sent at once for a doctor, who came and examined Yuan You and said there was trouble in both his liver and his lungs. He must take care that the condition not persist, for it would lead to his vomiting blood and become very serious. He wrote out a prescription, and Paria sent someone out for the ingredients, then fanned the brazier and herself decocted the medicine. Yuan You took it, but to no effect. This situation continued for days, with Paria diligently calling in new doctors and making up new prescriptions. After half a month had gone by, Yuan You began to vomit a great deal of blood. Paria grew even more alarmed and called in several doctors each day to examine him and write prescriptions. But whatever medicine he took, it had no more effect than a stone cast into a pond. After a month, his breathing also became labored, and he began to take less and less food and drink. He was now too weak to get up and move about, and gradually he became emaciated. His condition was growing steadily worse.
Yuan You’s father visited him daily. Returning from one such visit, he told Mistress Du that her husband’s illness was becoming worse by the day and that she should go to Paria’s house and see him. She could hardly ignore her father-in-law’s wishes and, calling a sedan chair and taking a servant with her, she went to Paria’s door, where she stepped out of the sedan chair and her servant took a message inside. Paria at once came to the door to welcome the visitor and, seeing who it was, called out, “Madam, please come in and sit down,” to which Mistress Du made no reply. Paria invited her into the reception room, then went into her own room and brought out a red rug that she spread on the ground. “Madam, please take a seat so that I can pay my respects to you,” she said, kneeling down before her. Madam Du still did not answer, nor did she return the greeting. The servant she had brought with her was so embarrassed at the sight that she went and helped Paria up, after which Mistress Du did take a seat. Paria herself offered tea, while Maid Wang filled the pipe with tobacco. Paria sent the maid out to the bakery to buy four plates of fine pastries as well as an extra four boxes.
Mistress Du noticed that the door on the eastern side of the room had a curtain, and since Paria had brought the rug from there, she concluded it must be Yuan You’s bedroom. She got to her feet and went in. Yuan You was lying on the bed. He had been most unhappy to hear of her arrival, and now that he saw her coming into the room, he turned over to face the wall and pretended to be asleep. Noticing that his face was a good deal thinner than it had been, she walked up to the bed and shouted, “Husband, how have you been these last few days? I’ve come specially to see you.”
Yuan You pretended to be sound asleep and did not utter a word, which drove her into a fury, and she turned and left the room. Maid Wang was just coming back with the pastries at the time. She set out the four dishes on the table and again offered Mistress Du tea and invited her to take a seat. Paria stood beside the table and with great deference offered the pastries to Mistress Du. “Do try some of these, Madam,” she said.
But Mistress Du would eat nothing. Pointing at Paria, she launched into a tirade: “You witch, you! You were the one wh
o brought my husband to the state he’s in! I’m here today for two reasons: first, to see how he is, and second, and especially, to hand him over to you. If he recovers, you will be left in peace, but if anything unfortunate does happen to him, don’t you imagine for one moment, you witch, that you’ll be able to keep a head on your shoulders!” With that, she stood up to leave.
Paria could not persuade her to stay. She told Maid Wang to light two sticks of benzoin and give them and the four boxes of pastries to the servant who had accompanied her. Paria saw her as far as the main gate and watched as she stepped into the sedan chair and left. Then she told Maid Wang to lock the gate and hurried inside again.
From his bed Yuan You had heard what his wife said to Paria in the reception room, and he would have dearly loved to go out and give her a beating, but his illness was so severe it made walking difficult, if not impossible. He lay on the bed angry and distraught, gasping and wheezing, scarcely able to draw breath. When he heard that his wife had left, he had to struggle for some time before he could even call Paria. She was coming back into the house at the time and, hearing his call, she rushed into the room.
“That shrew of mine said a lot of unreasonable things to offend you just now,” said Yuan You, “but for my sake don’t hate her for it.”
“You’re quite wrong there. What Madam said on coming here was not in the least unreasonable, and I would never presume to criticize her. To be fair, if it were my husband who hadn’t been home in a long while and had now come down with an illness in someone else’s house, and if I went there and saw that he was seriously ill, and he ignored me after I called out to him—then even I would get furious and say those things. Now, stop being angry and pay some attention to your health. So long as you get better, even if your wife screams at me every day, I won’t mind.” This response gave Yuan You an even greater regard for her kindness and virtue.