by C. T. Hsia
CHENG YING: We are grateful to you, Marshal, for thus elevating us.
TU ANGU (recites:)
Because Zhao Dun was the one distinguished at court,
I could not help but to treachery resort.
Now that I’ve nipped this tiny bud,
There will never be any feud of blood. (Exits.)
ACT 4
(TU ANGU enters with SOLDIERS.)
TU ANGU: Twenty years have already gone by since I killed the Zhao Orphan. There is this child of Cheng Ying whom I adopted and call Tu Cheng. I’ve taught him all eighteen branches of the martial arts, and there is none for which he does not show aptitude. He masters whatever he touches. This child even surpasses me in archery and horsemanship. With his help, before long I can plot to assassinate Lord Ling and take over the whole domain of Jin. I can then let the boy fill all my present positions. Only then can I be really content. The boy has just gone to the parade ground to practice archery and horsemanship. I shall discuss this with him when he gets back. (Exits.)
(CHENG YING enters with a scroll in hand.)
CHENG YING (recites:)
Sun and moon the aging of men hasten.
Time and tide ripening youth beckon.
Too many things I’ve kept in my heart,
Not too much do I dare to impart.
How quickly time passes! Since I came to the Tu household, it has already been twenty years. I have raised my child and he has reached the age of twenty. His official name is Cheng Bo. He studies the art of letters with me, and practices military arts with Tu Angu. He has quick intelligence and a strategic mind, and is skilled in archery and horsemanship. Tu Angu is very fond of him; little does he know the inside story. However, there is one thing that bothers me: the child does not know it either. I’m already sixty-five. If something should happen to me, who is going to tell the boy that he should avenge the Zhao line? I have been turning this over in my mind and can’t sleep day or night. Now I have made a drawing on this scroll depicting those loyal officials and brave generals who suffered wrongful deaths back then. If the child should ask me about it, I shall then explain these events one by one. He will then certainly achieve vengeance for his parents. I’ll just sit in the study and wait. When the boy comes back, I will know what to do.
(MALE LEAD dressed as CHENG BO enters.)
CHENG BO: I am Cheng Bo. On this side is my father Cheng Ying, on that side, no less my father, Tu Angu. I practice military arts during the day and study the art of letters in the evening. I’ve just returned from the parade ground and am going to see my father on this side. (Sings:)
[Zhonglü mode: Powdered Butterflies]
Leading some soldiers under my command,
I feel not the least bit of fear should killing be in demand.
Every day, in books on the art of war practice I find.
Relying on how
I deftly tackle the foe
And ably endurance show,
Soon enough we will bring the various domains to submission.
Who can equal my father in valor?
I shall support him with utmost fervor.
[Intoxicating Spring Wind]
The sage ruler Lord Ling of Jin I serve,
The worthy minister Tu Angu I assist with verve.
For prowess civil and martial that let me confront ten thousand foes,
My father on me praise bestows, praise bestows.
As the sayings go, “The horses are strong, the soldiers brave,”
“The father is loving, the son filial,”
Why should we fear “subjects shamed by their ruler in distress”!57
CHENG YING: Let me unroll the scroll. Woe indeed! Just because of this Zhao Orphan, so many worthy ministers and heroic men met death. Among them was even my own son, who died for him.
CHENG BO: Guard, take my horse. Where is my father on this side?
SOLDIER: He is reading in the study.
CHENG YING: Announce me!
SOLDIER (reports to CHENG YING:) Cheng Bo is here.
CHENG YING: Send him in.
SOLDIER: Sir, he wants you to go in.
CHENG BO (greets CHENG YING:) Father on This Side, I’ve just come back from the parade ground.
CHENG YING: Go and have your meal.
CHENG BO: As I was coming out the door, I couldn’t help thinking that my father on this side is usually happy when he sees me, but today he looks very sad and cannot stop his tears. What can it be? Let me go back and ask him. (To CHENG YING:) Has anyone given you grief? Tell me, I will not let him off easy!
CHENG YING: Even if I tell you, it wouldn’t do your parents any good. You’d better go and have your meal. (CHENG YING covers his face in tears.)
CHENG BO: This is indeed confounding for me! (Sings:)
[Welcome the Immortal]
Why are you hiding your tears?
(CHENG YING sighs.)
Why this drawn-out sighing?
Just as I, with pressed palms, move forward urgently and bow low,
I noticed my father on this side—
Sorely vexed, he is in deep distress,
Seething in anger, his rage seeks redress.
Who is it that has dared to give you grief?
I bow my head and wonder:
Since no one has given you grief—
How did words of discord tear you asunder?
CHENG YING: Cheng Bo, you read in the study. I shall go to the rear hall for a while before I come back.
(Leaves the scroll behind him and withdraws.)
CHENG BO: Well, he has left a scroll here. What kind of document can this be? Let me unroll this and see. (Looks.) How strange! That one in red leads a fierce hound, which pounces on that man in purple. Then here, another man holding a melon-shaped mallet kills the hound. This one supports a carriage that is, oddly, missing a wheel. This one smashes his head against a locust tree and dies. What story is this? But there are no names written anywhere. How am I to know? (Sings:)
[Red Embroidered Shoes]
Painted here are several mulberry trees darkly green
And a group of farmers in a boisterous scene.
In grating motion, this one relentlessly steadies the carriage with one wheel.
Another lifts a melon-shaped mallet in his hand,
Yet another dashes against a locust tree and dies.
And then there’s a fierce hound that keeps pouncing on the one in purple.
Let me look again. This general has a bowstring, some poisoned wine, and a dagger before him. And he takes the dagger and cuts his own throat. Why does this other general fall on his sword? And there is also this physician kneeling, a medicine chest in hand. This woman, with a baby in her arms, looks as if she is entrusting the baby to the physician. Ah! So this woman hangs herself with a sash from her skirt. How pitiful! (Sings:)
[Pomegranate Blossoms]
I see here a man in a short embroidered robe,
Reaching for the bowstring and poisoned wine, dying by the dagger.
Why is there another general who cuts his own throat, all covered in blood?
This one holding a medicine chest kneels and bows low.
That one clutches a baby only to let it to another go.
Pitiful is this fine lady adorned with pearl and jade—
What wrong drove her to take the sash and hang herself?
I ponder for a long time without solving the mystery.
What’s painted baffles me like a riddle—a confounding history! (Speaks:)
On closer look, the man in red is really vicious. He is giving a while-bearded old man a terrible beating! (Sings:)
[Fighting Partridges]
When I see this villain wearing red
Thrashing and humiliating the white-bearded one,
How can it not make indignation churn my insides,
And fill my vital organs with anger?
If I am at all related to this family,
I would not be a real man unless I kill
this traitor.
I would surely dare to take up their cause.
But which kin is this lying in a pool of blood?
Whose ancestors are these executed in the marketplace? (Speaks:)
I simply cannot make much sense of it. When my father on this side comes out, I’ll ask him to explain it and dispel all confusion.
(CHENG YING enters.)
CHENG YING: Cheng Bo, I’ve been listening to you for a long while.
CHENG BO: Father on This Side, you should tell me the story.
CHENG YING: Cheng Bo, the story you want me to tell you in fact involves you.
CHENG BO: Then you should tell it all to your son, from beginning to end.
CHENG YING: Listen, Cheng Bo, for it’s a long story. In the beginning that man in red and this one in purple were both ministers at court. However, as leaders of civil and military affairs, the two were at odds and had been enemies for a long time. The one in red thought, “He who strikes first will gain the upper hand, he who is slow to act will in calamity land.” So he sent an assassin, Chu Ni by name, to climb over the wall, armed with a dagger to assassinate the one in purple. But who could have known that the old minister in purple was burning incense every night and praying to heaven and earth, showing in his prayers that he was concerned only for the good of the domain and harbored no self-interest. That assassin thought to himself, “If I kill this old minister, it would go against the will of heaven. This I definitely could not do. But if I go back to the man in red, I would die anyway! Have done! Have done!” (Recites:)
Sharp dagger in hand, he was in secret hiding.
Seeing the virtuous official, his regret was abiding.
We now know justice prevails as truly as the sun is bright.
That night Chu Ni dashed against the tree and ended his plight.
CHENG BO: So the one who smashes his head against the tree is Chu Ni?
CHENG YING: Isn’t it so! This man in purple once went to the countryside to speed the plow. He saw a strong man lying under a mulberry tree with his mouth open. He asked him why. The man said, “My name is Ling Zhe. Because I ate a peck of rice each meal, my master found me too costly to keep and drove me out. I thought I would pick his mulberries, but then he would accuse me of stealing, so I lie here and wait. If the berries fall into my mouth, I’ll eat them; if they don’t, I would rather starve than suffer humiliation.” The one in purple said, “This is a heroic man.” So he gave the starving man wine and food. The man ate his fill and left without even saying good-bye. The man in purple was not offended. Cheng Bo, this shows the magnanimity of the old minister. (Recites:)
To speed the plow as the ritual for early spring,
He made his rounds in the countryside before sunset.
To whom and for what reason did he wine and food bring?
Just so that the starving man under the mulberry tree should not fret.
CHENG BO: So the starving man under the mulberry tree is called Ling Zhe?
CHENG YING: Yes, Cheng Bo, remember it well. On another day, the Western Rong tribe sent a Divine Ao as tribute. A hound four feet tall is called an ao. Lord Ling bestowed the hound on the man in red, who was plotting to kill the man in purple. He had a straw figure set up in his back garden, dressed exactly like the man in purple, and put some sheep viscera in the straw man’s belly. Then he starved the dog for several days, cut open the belly of the straw figure, and let the dog eat his fill. He repeated this for a hundred days. Then he went to Lord Ling and said, “How do we know that there is no disloyal and unfilial subject in court harboring deceit and treachery?” The lord asked, “Where would he be?” That one in red said, “The Divine Ao you bestowed on me some time ago has the power to identify such a person.” The man in red then led the hound to court, where the one in purple was standing. The hound took him for the straw figure and pounced on him, chasing him around the palace hall. This infuriated a person standing close by, one Ti Miming, the officer of the palace guards. He raised his golden melon-shaped mallet and knocked the hound down. Then, with one hand grabbing the dog’s scalp, he rent the animal in two. (Recites:)
This treacherous man a thousand devious schemes did know,
Leaving no place for the loyal and just to go.
But fortunately, at the palace hall was a hero
Whose merciless hands in no time dispatched the Divine Ao.
CHENG BO: So this vicious hound was called the Divine Ao and the one who killed it was Ti Miming.
CHENG YING: Yes. Now the old minister had left the palace gate and was about to get into his carriage, only to find that the man in red had already had two of the four horses taken away and one of the two wheels of his carriage removed. Naturally the carriage would not move. At this moment, a strong man came forward. Supporting the single wheel with one hand, he urged on the horses with the other. First his clothes were torn off, exposing his skin, then successive layers of skin, flesh, sinew, and bone were scraped away, finally laying bare the marrow. But holding up the hub and pushing the wheel, he managed to help Zhao escape to the wilderness. You know who the man was? He was Ling Zhe, the starving man who lay under the mulberry tree. (Recites:)
From the palace gates the one in purple fled.
For the carriage of four horses and two wheels, one wheel is in its stead.
It was Ling Zhe who to the wilds the carriage relentlessly drove,
He did so to repay the kindness of a meal in the mulberry grove.
CHENG BO: I remember him. He is Ling Zhe, the one lying under the mulberry tree.
CHENG YING: That’s right.
CHENG BO: Father on This Side: this one in red, he was really ruthless. What was his name?
CHENG YING: That I don’t remember, Cheng Bo.
CHENG BO: And the man in purple, what was his name?
CHENG YING: His surname was Zhao. He was the late prime minister, Zhao Dun. Actually you’re related to him.
CHENG BO: I heard there was one Prime Minister Zhao Dun, but I never paid much attention.
CHENG YING: You must remember well what I’m telling you, Cheng Bo.
CHENG BO: There are other things on the scroll. Tell me more, please.
CHENG YING: The one in red killed all three hundred members of the Zhao clan, all except Zhao Shuo, who was the prince consort. The man in red then forged a decree from the lord ordering Zhao Shuo to take his own life by one of the three “gifts of death” from the court: a bowstring, some poisoned wine, or a dagger. Meanwhile the princess was pregnant, and Zhao Shuo left his final words: “After I die, if you give birth to a son, name him the Zhao Orphan and raise him to avenge the whole clan.” Then Zhao Shuo killed himself with the dagger. The princess, imprisoned in the palace by the man in red, gave birth to the Zhao Orphan. As soon as the one in red heard of it, he sent General Han Jue to guard the gates to the palace to prevent anyone from smuggling the orphan out. The princess had a trusted retainer known as Cheng Ying, a commoner physician.
CHENG BO: Father on This Side, would that be you?
CHENG YING: There are many people in the world who answer to the same name. This was another Cheng Ying. The princess, after entrusting the child to that Cheng Ying, hanged herself by a sash from her skirt. This Cheng Ying took the child to the gate and was stopped by General Han Jue. He searched him and found the orphan. But after Cheng Ying explained the matter to him in a few words, General Han drew his sword and killed himself. (Recites:)
Dauntless was the physician
Who smuggled out the orphan.
He encountered a general loyal and just
Who would rather die than see the orphan in captivity thrust.
CHENG BO: This general killed himself for the sake of the Zhao Orphan. He was indeed a remarkable man. I’ll remember that his name was Han Jue.
CHENG YING: Yes, yes. It was indeed Han Jue. However, when the man in red found out about this, he issued an order to the effect that all children in the domain between one and six months old had to be
brought to his headquarters and cut in three. He thought this way the Zhao Orphan would certainly be killed.
CHENG BO (angrily:) How ruthless that man in red was!
CHENG YING: Exactly. Now this Cheng Ying also had a newborn baby not yet a month old. He disguised him as the Zhao Orphan and sent him to Gongsun Chujiu in Peace Village.
CHENG BO: Who was this Gongsun Chujiu?
CHENG YING: He was an old minister who served with Zhao Dun in court. Cheng Ying said to him, “Your Honor, please keep the Zhao Orphan and report to the man in red, tell him that Cheng Ying is hiding the orphan. He will sentence us to death, my son and me. You can then bring up the orphan and have him avenge his parents. Isn’t this a good idea?” Gongsun said, “But I am too old. Cheng Ying, if you are willing to give up your son, you can disguise him as the Zhao Orphan and leave him with me. You report this to the man in red, and I shall die with your son. You can hide the orphan and see to it that he one day avenges his parents.”
CHENG BO: That Cheng Ying was really willing to sacrifice his own son?
CHENG YING: He was willing to sacrifice his own life, how much could his son matter to him? So he disguised his son as the orphan, left him with Gongsun, and then he informed the man in red. The man in red cross-examined Gongsun Chujiu and inflicted all kinds of tortures on him. He finally found the false Zhao Orphan and chopped him in three. Thereupon Gongsun smashed his head against the steps and died. All these happened twenty years ago. The Zhao Orphan is now already twenty years old. But if he is not equal to the task of avenging his parents, what good is there in talking about it! (Recites:)
Majestic in appearance, of impressive stature,
He has mastered arts civil and martial—but to what avail?
Where is his grandfather who in the carriage fled?
His whole clan—young and old—is among the wronged dead.
His mother in the palace by the neck was bound,
His father died by the dagger on the execution ground.
None of these wrongs have yet been righted with vengeance,