The Golden Lotus, Volume 2

by Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng

  Ximen said to the workmen: “Make these boards up carefully and you shall have five taels of silver.” The workmen set to work with a will and soon had put the coffin together.

  Ying Bojue said to Laibao: “Tomorrow morning go and see Priest Pan. If he will come, bring him with you. We must avoid all further delay.” Then he stood with Ximen Qing and watched the carpenters working in the courtyard. It was the first night watch before he went away.

  “Come early tomorrow,” Ximen said to him. “The priest may be here early.” Bojue promised and went away.

  In the evening, old woman Feng and Nun Wang went to Li Ping’er’s room. They had seen Ximen Qing in the front court. They proposed to stay the night with Li Ping’er, but she would not allow them. “This is a foul place,” she said, “and it would be disagreeable for you. Go and sleep somewhere else.” Ximen, seeing that the nun and the old woman were there, went to sleep with Pan Jinlian.

  Li Ping’er told Yingchun to fasten the corner door and bolt it. Then she said: “Take a light and open my chest.” Yingchun took out some dresses and ornaments. Li Ping’er asked the nun to go nearer and gave her five taels of silver and a roll of silk.

  “When I am dead,” she said, “read the texts for me, you and a few other nuns.”

  “Lady,” Nun Wang said, “you are looking too far ahead. Heaven will take pity on you, and you will certainly get better.”

  “Keep the money,” Li Ping’er said, “and say nothing about it to the Great Lady. Tell her I gave you the silk for the sacred offerings you made for me.” Then she called old woman Feng. “Old Feng,” she said, “you are my old nurse. You waited on me when I was a child. Now I am dying. I have nothing to give you but these old dresses and this pin. I give them to you as a keepsake. And here is some silver that you may buy yourself a coffin. You need have no anxiety. I will ask his Lordship to let you stay on in that house as caretaker. I’m sure he won’t send you away.”

  Old woman Feng took the silver and the clothes and knelt down. Weeping, she said: “This is the end of me. As long as you have lived, I have always had someone to depend upon. If you die, I shan’t know where to go.”

  Then Li Ping’er called the nurse and gave her a purple silk gown, a blue silk skirt, an old silk cloak, two gold-headed pins, and a silver ornament.

  “You took care of my baby,” she said, “and even when my baby died, I still hoped you might take care of another child of mine. I did not want you to leave me while I lived. But there is no hope for me now, and I am going to ask your master and mistress to keep you after my death, so that, if the Great Lady has a child, you may nurse it. I give you these clothes as a little token of remembrance. Do not think that I am mean.”

  Ruyi’er knelt down and kowtowed. She cried. “I hoped that I might serve you always,” she said. “You have always been so kind to me. And it is really my fault that the little master died and you are so ill. Please speak to the Great Lady for me. My husband is dead, and, if I am sent away from here, there is nowhere for me to go.” Then Ruyi’er took the clothes and the ornaments and stood, drying her tears.

  Now Li Ping’er summoned Yingchun and Xiuchun. They came and knelt down beside the bed. “You two have served me since your childhood. You have served me well, but there is little I can do for you now. You have already clothes enough, and there is no need for me to give you more. Here, for each of you, are two pairs of gold pins and two gold flowers. As for you, Yingchun, your master has made a woman of you, so, of course, you will not leave here, and I will ask the Great Lady to look after you. And you, Xiuchun, I will ask the Great Lady to find a good home for you, for I would not have you stay on here to be ill used by anyone else. I don’t wish my maids to suffer when I am gone, and I don’t think you will find anyone else as indulgent as I have been.”

  Xiuchun knelt and cried. “Mother,” she sobbed, “I would like to stay here forever.”

  “Oh, you silly maid! Whom will you serve when I have gone?”

  “I will look after your tablet.”

  “My tablet will not be here for long. It will be burned and you will have to go away.”

  “Then I and Yingchun will both serve the Great Lady.”

  “That is one way,” said Li Ping’er.

  Xiuchun did not quite understand the situation. Yingchun took the ornaments and cried. She could not speak.

  So Li Ping’er gave them all her last instructions. In the early morning, Ximen Qing came. She asked him about the coffin. “We bought the boards yesterday,” he told her, “and the men are working on it now. Remember, it is to drive your illness away. When you get better, we shall give it away in charity.”

  “How much did it cost? I do not wish you to waste your money.”

  “Oh, not much,” Ximen Qing said. “A hundred taels, or something like that.”

  “It is a great deal of money for so useless an end,” Li Ping’er said. “Well, have it made up ready for my death.”

  Ximen Qing went out to see the carpenters at work. Yueniang and Li Jiao’er came to see her. It was clear that she was very ill indeed. “How do you feel today, Sister?” Yueniang asked.

  Li Ping’er took her hand. “Mother,” she said, “there is no hope for me.”

  The Great Lady wept. “Sister,” she said, “is there anything you would like to say to me? Here is the Second Lady, too. Tell us both.”

  “I have nothing to say,” Li Ping’er answered. “We have been sisters together for a few years and you have always been very kind to me. I had hoped we should grow old together, but the Fates were against me. My baby died, and now I am dying. When I am dead, my two maids will be left. The older of them has already been made a woman, and you will doubtless keep her in your apartments. As for the younger, keep her if you want her, but, otherwise, please find a young man for her and let her be free. I don’t wish people to speak of her as a maid without a mistress. I say this because she has served me so long, and I shall be the easier after my death for telling you. Ruyi’er does not wish to leave, so, Mother, for the sake of the care she took of my baby and for my own sake, keep her to look after the child you will bear.”

  “Sister,” said Yueniang, “think no more about any of these matters. I take them all upon myself. If you leave us, I will have Yingchun to live with me and Xiuchun shall wait upon the Second Lady. The maid the Second Lady has now is not as honest as she might be and she is lazy. One of these days I shall have to dismiss her. The nurse, Ruyi’er, as you have said, has nowhere else to go, and I will keep her whether I have a child or not. I will try and find a husband for her.”

  “Don’t worry about any of these things,” Li Jiao’er added. “The Great Lady and I will hold ourselves responsible. If Xiuchun comes to me, I will let her wait upon me, and treat her kindly.”

  Li Ping’er called the nurse and the two maids and bade them kowtow to the two ladies. Yueniang began to cry again.

  Meng Yulou, Pan Jinlian, and Sun Xue’e then came to visit Li Ping’er and she said a few kind words to each of them. Then all but Yueniang went away. “Mother,” Li Ping’er said to her softly, “if you bear a child, Mother, look carefully after him. Bring him up that he may continue the family after you. Do not be careless as I was, so that you suffer from the evil plottings of others.”

  “I understand, Sister,” Yueniang said. These words made a great impression upon her, and, when Ximen Qing was dead, the remembrance of them was the reason why Jinlian was no longer allowed to live in the family.

  While they were still talking, Qintong came and said they must burn incense. Priest Pan had come. Yueniang told the maids to clean the room, make tea, get pure water, and burn some precious incense. She and the other women went to the inner room to listen to what the priest should say. Ximen Qing brought him in.

  The priest came in by the corner door, past the screen. Before he entered the room where Li Ping’er was, he went backward two steps before the stairs. Then he murmured something; the servants raised the lattice, and he
went in. He sat down beside the sick woman’s bed. It seemed as if all his strength was concentrated in his two eyes; it was a sign that he was summoning all the power of spiritual vision at his command. He held a sword in his hand, and his fingers were bent in a definite and peculiar position. He murmured again, and it seemed as though his eyes saw through everything. Then he went to the other room and set out the table for incense. Ximen Qing burned some incense and the priest set fire to a charm. Then he cried:

  “Come quickly, all ye spirits that serve!”

  He cast around him a mouthful of water. Immediately there seemed to be a whirlwind of furious intensity outside the room, and in the whirlwind some of the marshals of the host of angels.

  “In this house of Ximen,” said the priest, “a woman, Li, is ill. She has appealed to me. I bid you, bring the guardian of the soil and the six tutelaries of this household. Bring them that I may examine them and learn the reason for this illness. Go then, forthwith, and delay not.”

  The priest closed his eyes. His color changed, and he sat stiffly upright. He put his hands on the table and hammered with a piece of wood as a judge does when he tries a case. This he did for a long time. Then he came out. Ximen Qing invited him to go to the outer court and tell what he had seen in his vision.

  “This woman,” the priest said, “is suffering the punishment that has been due to her for several generations. She has been accused in Hades, and there is no devil’s work here. I can do nothing.”

  “Master Priest,” Ximen Qing said, “is there no sacrifice that you can offer?”

  “Hatred and debt,” said the priest, “always find their quarry. Even the officers of Hades themselves could do nothing.” But when he saw how very much in earnest Ximen Qing was, he said: “How old is the lady?” Ximen told him she was twenty-seven. “Well,” said the priest, “I will offer sacrifice to the star of her life, and we shall see the manner of its burning.” Ximen Qing asked when he would do so and what he would need.

  “Tonight, at the third night watch,” the priest said. “I shall need some white powder to mark the boundary. I shall make an altar and cover it with yellow silk. Then I shall arrange the stars according to their order and make an offering of five kinds of grain and soup and dates. I shall need neither meat nor wine. I shall need a lamp to represent the light of her life, and twenty-seven lanterns. I shall require an umbrella to cover the lanterns. That is all. You must fast, put on black clothes and come here to make your obeisance. I will offer the sacrifice. See that dogs and chickens are kept away, for I do not wish to be disturbed.”

  Ximen went at once to get everything ready. He went to his study, bathed, and changed into clean clothes. He asked Ying Bojue to stay with him. They had a vegetarian meal with the priest and, about the third night watch, the altar and the lanterns were made ready. The priest took his seat upon a dais with the altar of the lanterns below him. They were set out according to the position of the stars. Over everything were three large umbrellas and, around the dais, the master stars, twelve in number. Below them were the lanterns representing the life of Li Ping’er. These were twenty-seven in number.

  The priest recited a preamble. Then Ximen Qing, dressed in black clothes, came and knelt down. The servants all withdrew. None was allowed to remain. The lanterns were lighted. The priest sat on the seat, his head bent down, his sword in his hand. He murmured something, then gazed at the sky and set his feet in a certain position. Three times he burned incense that he might be granted knowledge of the three worlds. And every command he gave sounded like thunder. It was a bright clear night; the stars were shining in the heavens. Suddenly the whole world darkened and a mighty hurricane blew.

  This is not the roaring of tigers

  Or the muttering of dragons

  But a wind that rushes through the doors

  And around the screens

  A wind that blasts the flowers, rips off the leaves

  And drives the clouds to leave the mountains

  And send rain to the ocean.

  The wild geese have lost their mates and cry bitterly

  The wild ducks and the herons are frightened

  And seek trees for refuge.

  The angel of the moon shuts her palace door in haste

  And the immortal Liezi cries for help

  Away in the sky.

  Three times the wind blew. It was followed by an ice-cold blast that put out all the twenty-seven lamps. The priest saw a man in white garments and two black-robed attendants with him. They came, bringing a paper that they set down upon the table. The priest looked at it. It was the final judgment of Hades. There were three seals upon the paper. He came to Ximen Qing and said: “Your lady has sinned against Heaven. Our prayers are useless. The light of her life has gone out. There is no hope, and death is not far distant from her.”

  When he heard this, Ximen Qing bowed his head and was silent. He wept. At last he said: “Teacher, you must help her.”

  “It is the will of Heaven,” said the priest. “There is nothing I can do.” He asked to be allowed to go. Ximen Qing urged him to stay the night. “Being a priest, to walk through the dew and pass the night upon the mountains is nothing to me,” the priest said. Ximen Qing could not persuade him to stay. He told his servants to give the priest a roll of cloth and three taels of silver. “It is God’s will that I should make use of the knowledge I possess,” the priest said. “I have taken an oath that I will never take anything from the world. I cannot accept your gift.” But, being pressed, he told a novice to accept the roll of cloth and make a gown for him. Before he left he said to Ximen Qing: “Sir, you must not go to her room tonight. If you go, you too will have trouble. Be cautious! Be cautious!” He went out of the gate and walked swiftly away.

  Ximen Qing went back to the courtyard. He saw that all the lanterns had been extinguished. This made him very sad, and he wept before Ying Bojue. “Brother, this is her destiny,” Bojue said. “We cannot take her back against the will of Heaven. You must not be so sad. The fourth night watch has sounded.” Then he said: “Brother, you are weary, go and rest. I will go away now and come again tomorrow morning.”

  “You must have a light,” Ximen Qing said. He ordered Laian to take a lantern and light Ying Bojue home. Then he went back to his study. There he sat by himself with the light of a solitary candle. His heart was torn by distress, and he could only sigh. He thought how the priest had said to him that he must not go to his loved one’s room. “But how can I desert her now?” he said to himself. “I will go and see her even if I die for it. She may wish to say something to me.” So he went to the sickroom.

  Li Ping’er was sleeping with her face to the wall, but she wakened when she heard Ximen Qing. She turned to him and said: “Brother, why have you come?” Then she asked him about the lanterns.

  “Be easy in your mind,” Ximen said. “There was nothing wrong with the lanterns.”

  “Brother,” Li Ping’er said, “do not try to deceive me. I saw him who is dead come with two others and stir up trouble for me again. He told me that you had sent for a priest to get me back from death. But, he said, the accusation against me in Hades had been accepted and I could not escape him. He went off in a raging fury and said: ‘Tomorrow I shall come and take you.’”

  Ximen Qing sobbed aloud when he heard this. “Oh, Sister,” he said, “do not worry about him. I had hoped that we should live long years together. I never thought you would go away and leave me. I would rather die myself. It would be better than this agony.”

  Li Ping’er put her hands upon Ximen’s neck. “Brother,” she said, “I had longed to live with you always, but now I am going away. Before I close my eyes I would say one thing to you. You have a great household, and you alone can control it. You must always be careful and not do things without thinking. And be kind to the Great Lady. I know that one day soon she will bear a child to you, and he will carry on your family after you are gone. You are an officer now, but you must not go drinking so much a
s you have been doing. You must come home early. Your household affairs are of more importance than feasting. If I could have lived, I would have given you counsel. When I am dead, I fear there will be none to advise you.”

  These words cut Ximen’s heart like a sword. “Sister,” he said, “I know it. But do not worry about me. Heaven has put an end to our happiness together. It will not permit us to be husband and wife any longer. This will kill me, even though it is the will of Heaven.”

  Li Ping’er spoke to him about Yingchun and Xiuchun. “I have spoken to the Great Lady,” she said, “Yingchun is going to serve her, and Xiuchun the Second Lady. The Second Lady has promised me.”

  “Say no more of this, Sister,” Ximen Qing said. “Nobody shall send your maids away when you are dead. I will not even allow the nurse to go. I mean them all to guard your tablet.”

  “What tablet?” said Li Ping’er. “There will be nothing but a wooden board, and it will be burned thirty-five days after my death.”

  “Oh, no!” Ximen said. “I shall keep it as long as I live and make offerings before it.”

  Then Li Ping’er said: “It is late now. Go and sleep.”

  “I don’t wish to sleep,” Ximen answered her. “I am going to stay and look after you.”

  “I am not likely to die yet,” Li Ping’er said, “and there is such a nasty mess here, it will make you sick. Besides, you will be in the way when the maids have to attend to me.”

  So Ximen Qing told the maids to look well after their mistress and went to Yueniang’s room. He told Yueniang about the sacrifice, and said: “I have been to her room. She is still able to speak quite well. Perhaps Heaven will, even yet, allow her to get better.”

  “Her eyes are sunken, her lips are parched, and her ears burn,” Yueniang said. “I fear there is no hope. She has the kind of illness in which she is able to talk up to the last moment.”