“I don’t see any difficulty about it,” Bojue said. “My sister-in-law died on the seventeenth day of the ninth month, and the fifth week’s mind will be on the twenty-first. You have this reception on the eighteenth and the service on the twentieth. That does not seem too late to me.”
“Very well,” Ximen said, “I will send a boy to explain matters to the Abbot.”
“There is another matter,” Bojue said. “His Holiness, Huang, who has been deputed by his Majesty to go to Taian to offer incense, and also to accomplish the solemn sacrifice to Heaven that lasts for seven days and seven nights, is staying at present at our temple here. Before he goes away, you might get Abbot Wu to invite His Holiness to come and hold a service here. We should be only too glad to have a cleric of such great renown.”
“Yes,” said Ximen, “everybody says that Huang is a real saint. I would ask him to come, but Abbot Wu, you know, sent me a number of presents the other day; he displayed the portrait of my dead wife, and his priests came to the funeral. There was nothing I could do in return for all these attentions except to ask him to come and perform the sacrifice. If I now invite Huang, I don’t know how I can make things right with Wu.”
“Ask Wu to arrange the whole affair,” Ying Bojue said, “and suggest that he invites Huang for the final ceremony only. If you spend a few more taels, there need be no difficulty. And, after all, you are spending money for your wife and not for anybody else.”
So Ximen Qing told Chen Jingji to write a letter to the Abbot, requesting him to invite Huang, and saying that the day for the service would be the twentieth. Twenty-four monks would be wanted and the service should last for a day and a night. Five taels more were sent with the letter, which Daian was ordered to deliver on horseback immediately. Ying Bojue went away and Ximen Qing joined Wu Yueniang in the inner court.
Yueniang told him that Ben the Fourth’s wife had brought her daughter Changjie to present her on the occasion of her engagement. They had brought two boxes of presents with them. Ximen Qing asked to whom the girl was engaged.
Mistress Ben the Fourth and her daughter, who was wearing a red silken gown, a yellow skirt, and many ornaments upon her hair, came and kowtowed to Ximen Qing. Yueniang stood beside them. “I hear,” she said, “that Magistrate Xia has made choice of this young lady. The arrangement was yesterday, and the wedding is to be upon the twenty-fourth. He gave only thirty taels of silver for her. She is good to look upon, and no one would think she was only fifteen. She seems more like sixteen or seventeen. She has grown so much in the short time since I saw her last.”
“He told me the other day,” Ximen Qing said, “that he was thinking of securing two young ladies and having them taught music, but I never thought of asking who they were.”
Wu Yueniang entertained Mistress Ben the Fourth and her daughter, and Li Jiao’er, Meng Yulou, Pan Jinlian, Sun Xue’e and Ximen Dajie came and joined them. When Mistress Ben went away, Yueniang gave her a complete outfit of heavy silk and a tael of silver. Li Jiao’er and the other ladies all gave her something: flowers, ornaments, kerchiefs, powder, or something of the sort.
In the evening, Daian returned and said that Abbot Wu had accepted the silver. “His Holiness Huang,” he said, “is still here and will remain until after the twentieth. They will come on the morning of the nineteenth and prepare the altar and the dais.”
The next day, Ximen Qing gave instructions to the cooks, insisting that everything should be of the very best. At the great gate he set up a seven-storied pagoda, and, before the great hall, one of five stories.
On the seventeenth, there came two officers from Song to see what preparations had been made. At the upper part of the hall they saw a peacock screen. The floor was covered with colored rugs. The chair cushions and tablecloths were all embroidered. The food that had been prepared for the Grand Marshal was the finest imaginable and the delicacies were delightful to eat as well as to look at. Two smaller tables were set for the two provincial officers, and there were a few other tables for provincial officers of rank. Outside the hall, in the temporary building that had been put up, were a number of tables for five courses of food and five of dessert for the officials of the eight districts. When the officers had finished their inspection, Ximen Qing gave them tea, and they went back to report to their superiors.
The next day the provincial dignitaries came with a host of officers to await the arrival of the Grand Marshal’s boat. They had with them a yellow banner with the words imperial commissioner, and before them was carried the imperial decree. The officers, guards and soldiers of every kind were in full dress, marching behind their banners. The procession stretched for miles.
Then came Grand Marshal Huang. He wore a robe with the scarlet dragon embroidered upon it and rode in a sedan chair carried by eight men. Another eight men marched beside it. This chair had a silver top and the canopy above it was tea-colored. A host of officers and attendants followed, all mounted upon splendid horses. The procession was as fine as a bouquet of ten thousand flowers. They marched along to the strains of martial music. The road was strewn with yellow sand. As the procession advanced, there was such a silence that even the dogs did not bark or the cocks crow. Not a soul dared step forward.
They passed through Dongpingfu and arrived at Qinghe. The officials of the district knelt on either side of the road, till the Grand Marshal’s guard called out: “Stand up, stand up!” Messenger after messenger was dispatched to Ximen’s house.
At last they arrived, and the noise of the music was great enough to reach the skies. Beside the gate, in double ranks on either side, stood officers robed in black. Ximen Qing himself, also in black robes and hat, bowed low to the dust. The soldiers marched past, and the Grand Marshal’s chair appeared. The Grand Marshal came in, followed by a crowd of people of high and low degree. He entered the great hall and the music played again, stringed and wind instruments together.
First, the Governor of Shandong, Hou Meng, and the Censor, Song Qiaonian, came to greet the Grand Marshal, and he returned their salutations. Then the Provincial Treasurer of Shandong, Gong Qi; State Counselor He Qigao; Provincial Treasurer Chen Sizhen; State Counselor Li Kanting; Counselor Feng Tinggu; Counselor Wang Boyan and a number of other provincial officers came to salute his Excellency, and he received them with pleasant affability. They were followed by the Prefects of the eight Prefectures. These made reverence from the courtyard, and the Grand Marshal bowed low to them in return. The captains and military officers came then, but the Grand Marshal sat still and took no notice of them. All the officers went back to remain in waiting outside.
Ximen Qing and Xia came to offer tea to the Grand Marshal. The two officers of highest rank present, Hou and Song, themselves handed the cup to His Grace. The music played. Then they offered a golden flower, and wine in a goblet of jade. The Grand Marshal moved towards his table, and, when he had seated himself, the Governor, the Censor and the other officers sat down in due order. Ximen Qing sat down too. The manager of the company of actors brought his repertory and the dance began. Both dancing and music were extremely well performed. They played the first act of Pei Jingong returns the Girdle. When this was over, cooks brought meat, venison and pork, with all manner of sauces and dressings, soup, a hundred kinds of the richest and rarest of viands, with rice and shaomai. Then four actors, with zithers, flute, lute and cittern, sang songs unaccompanied by dancing. While two courses of soup were being served, the music played three times. Song appointed two officers to entertain the Grand Marshal’s attendants in the temporary rooms, while Ximen Qing had arranged for the entertainment of the military officers in the outer court.
The Grand Marshal bade his attendant to distribute ten taels of silver among the servants. Then he called for his sedan chair and prepared to leave. He could not be persuaded to remain longer, and the officers escorted him to the gate. Then the music played again; banners and insignia were ranged in order on either side of the street. Officials went forward to clear t
he way, and the soldiers set out with a fine martial step. A number of officers prepared to mount their horses to accompany His Grace, but this he would not allow. He stepped into his sedan chair and was carried away, and all the soldiers were ordered to escort him to his boat. The two senior officers, Hou and Song, had arranged for supplies of food, and these, with their cards, they entrusted to Hu Shiwen, the Prefect of Dongpingfu, and the Captain of the Bodyguard, Zhou Xiu, to take to the boat.
The Governor and the Censor returned to the hall and thanked Ximen Qing. “This has really put you to grave inconvenience,” they said, “and we do not know how to thank you. You must tell us whether the money we sent was adequate, so that we may make up any deficiency.”
Ximen Qing bowed. “I am grateful to you,” he said, “for entrusting to me so pleasant a duty, and making so magnificent a present. I only fear that, in my poor house, the entertainment has been unworthy of the occasion. Will you forgive me if there has been anything amiss?”
Song thanked him again, then called for his sedan chair and went away with the Governor. All the other officers hastened after them. Ximen Qing went back to the hall and gave food to the musicians and actors and they, too, went away. Four young actors alone were bidden to stay. Then all that belonged to the officers was taken away by their servants.
Seeing that it was still early, Ximen Qing had the tables cleared, and the food collected upon four of them. Then he sent boys to invite Uncle Wu, Ying Bojue, Xie Xida, Scholar Wen, the clerks, and his son-in-law, Chen Jingji. Many of them had risen before dawn that day and had been busy all the time, and he wished to offer them a feast in return. Before long, they all arrived and sat down to drink.
“Brother,” said Ying Bojue, “how long did the Grand Marshal stay? Was he pleased with his entertainment?”
“I am sure His Grace must have been pleased when he saw such a splendid feast,” Han Daoguo said. “The Governor and the Censor were perfectly satisfied. They thanked his Lordship repeatedly.”
“I can think of no other house that could offer so magnificent a reception,” Bojue said. “In the first place, no other house here is so spacious, and, secondly, no other house could welcome so many official people. You must have entertained at least a thousand today. Well, it may have been rather expensive, but your fame will spread throughout the province.”
“My old teacher Chen was here too,” Scholar Wen said.
“Who was your teacher?” Ximen Qing asked him.
“Chen Zhenghui,” Scholar Wen said. “He is the son of the censor, Chen Liaoweng, a native of Zhengcheng in Henan. When he was only eighteen years old, he passed the senior examination. Now he is President of the Board of Education and a very learned man.”
“He is about twenty-four years old now,” Ximen Qing said.
Food was brought in. While they were eating it, Ximen Qing sent for the four young actors and asked their names. They were Zhou Cai, Liang Duo, Ma Zhen and Han Bi. Ximen Qing said to the last of them: “Are you any relation of Han Jinchuan?”
Han Bi knelt down and said: “Han Jinchuan and Han Yuchuan are my younger sisters.”
The mention of the girls’ names reminded Ximen of Li Ping’er. It made him sad to think that on such a glorious occasion as this she was no longer with him. “Take your instruments,” he said to the boys, and sing ‘The Flowers of Luo-ang and the Moon of Liangyuan.’” Han Bi and Zhou Cai tuned their instruments and sang.
Flowers of Luoyang
Moon of Liangyuan.
Perfect blossoms we may buy and keep a little while
Bright moon, which, for a moment, we may borrow.
The flowers on the trellis seem so beautiful
We stretch out our wine cups to the full moon.
The moon is full, and then it wanes
The flowers blossom and then fade.
Parting is the bitterest thing in life.
The flowers fade, but Spring has still her beauty.
The moon wanes slowly, but the Autumn Festival will come again.
Only we mortals die and never return.
When the song was over, Bojue saw tears in Ximen Qing’s eyes. “Brother,” he said “you told them to sing that song. Are you still thinking about your dead lady?”
Ximen noticed the plates of dessert at the other side of the table. “Brother Ying,” he said, “you think my mind is always upon her. Look at those dishes. When she was alive, she used to arrange them with her own hands. Now she is dead, the maids do it. You can see for yourself whether the dishes are properly set out or even fit to eat.”
“Judging by this meal,” Scholar Wen said, “I do not see that you have any reason to complain of your ladies.”
“Brother,” said Ying Bojue, “you cannot get over your grief at her loss, but to talk in this way is hardly fair to the other ladies.”
As they talked and drank together, Pan Jinlian was listening to them behind a curtain, secretly. When she had heard what Ximen Qing said, she went straight to the inner court and told Wu Yueniang all about it.
“Let him say what he likes,” said Yueniang, “it’s no use your imagining you can do anything to stop him. While she was still living, she promised Xiuchun to the second lady. Now he says she has only been dead a little while and we must not give her maids to anybody yet. I said nothing, but you have seen for yourself what airs the nurse and those two maids have been giving themselves lately. If I begin to say a word to them, he says I am too rough with them.”
“Ruyi’er has certainly been different the last few days,” Jinlian said. “I am very much afraid she will turn out to be a troublesome baggage. He spends all his time with her. I hear, too, that he gave her two sets of pins and she put them in her hair so that everybody could see them.”
“They are a rubbishy lot,” Yueniang said, “and none of them seems to have any morals.”
CHAPTER 66
The Solemn Sacrifice
His breast is filled with a thousand griefs.
The sun seems to hang over the treetops
Green leaves give shade and Spring has come
The grass grows thick and the oriole sings.
He cannot hear her dainty footsteps
The music of her voice comes to him only in dream
The mountain masses beyond the gate
Cannot bar the way to sorrow.
Ximen Qing was drinking wine with Uncle Wu, Ying Bojue and the others. He said to Han Daoguo: “When will the boats be ready to start? We must see about getting the goods packed up.”
“Yesterday,” Han Daoguo said, “I had word to say that the boats will sail on the twenty-fourth.”
“After the twentieth we will have everything made ready,” Ximen Qing said.
“Who is going this time?” Bojue asked.
“Three in all,” Ximen told him. “I propose that Cui shall come back first next year with a cargo of merchandise from Hangzhou. Han Daoguo and Laibao are going on to Songjiang and elsewhere to buy cloth. We have silk enough already in store.”
“Really, you are a wonderful manager,” Bojue said. “The proverb says: A good businessman must think of everything.”
It was now the first night watch. Uncle Wu rose. “Brother-in-law,” he said, “you have been working very hard lately and we have all had quite enough to drink. I think we ought to leave you to rest.”
Ximen Qing would not hear of their going. He ordered the young actors to pour out wine and sing more songs. But after three more cups of wine or so, they went away.
Ximen Qing offered six qian of silver to the four young actors, but they declined the money. “We came on the instructions of his Excellency,” they said. “We have done no more than our duty. How can we accept a present from you?”
“It is true you have been on duty,” Ximen said, “but I see no reason why you should not take the silver.” The four actors took it, kowtowed and went away. Ximen Qing went to bed in the inner court.
The next day when he returned from the office, he fou
nd that Abbot Wu had sent one of his novices and two men to make preparations for the ceremony. Ximen Qing had monastic fare served to the novice, who afterwards went away. Ximen asked Scholar Wen to send invitations to kinsmen, friends and neighbors, both men and women. The cooks were instructed to make the necessary preparations and especially to prepare vegetarian food to be offered to the dead lady.
Before dawn next day the priests arrived. They went upon the dais, lighted candles and burned incense. Then they began to play their instruments and recite the appropriate prayers. Outside the gate hung a long banner with an inscription, and, on either side of the gateway, a scroll of yellow paper. Upon one was written: “By the gracious mercy of the Ruler of the East may the soul of this lady, in the light of dawn, ascend to the mansions of the blessed,” and on the other: “By the efficacy of the Nandan may she be granted forgiveness of her offenses, that her spirit, strengthened and purified, may mount to the Heavens.”
Over the dais on which the altar stood hung a scroll that announced that thirty-five texts, charms and spells were to be read to relieve from travail the soul of the dead lady, and that sacrifice would be made to bring her safely through the perils of Hades.
His Holiness Huang, wearing a scarlet robe with a gold girdle, and with many attendants following, arrived in a sedan chair shortly after sunrise. Abbot Wu and the other clergy went to receive him. They led him to the altar. Ximen Qing, in black robes, came to welcome him and offered him tea. The priests were given monastic fare beside the altar. The table on which the food was set was made of red lacquer and the table covers were all embroidered. Two boys waited beside the table. While the attendants were preparing the texts, Ximen Qing made his offering of a roll of gold silk.
The Golden Lotus, Volume 2 Page 22