The Golden Lotus, Volume 2

by Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng

  “Master,” Bojue said to Scholar Wen, “you see how these little strumpets carry things to extremes.” There was no escape. He knelt down. Zheng Aiyue pulled up her sleeves and held out her slender hands.

  “Now, you rascally beggar, will you ever be rude to me again? You must promise out loud, if you wish me to drink the wine.” Bojue could not help himself. He promised that he would never be rude to her again. Zheng Aiyue slapped him twice, then drank the wine.

  Bojue got up. “Well, most excellent little strumpet,” he said, “are you going to drink all the wine and leave none for me?”

  “Kneel down again,” Aiyue said, “and I will give you another cup.” She filled one and poured it down Bojue’s mouth.

  “Oh, you little whore,” he cried, “you’ve spilled it all over my clothes. Let me tell you this is the very first time I’ve worn this suit. If you make a mess of it, I shall have to ask your sweetheart to buy me another one.”

  They laughed and went back to their places.

  It was getting late, and lights were brought. Ximen Qing called for the dice box. He asked Scholar Wen to throw first, but Wen declined, saying it was not fitting that he should throw before his master. So Ximen Qing and Wu Yin’er played. They used twelve dice and played Catch the Red. Meanwhile, the four players sang and played. The wine was passed around again. Wu Yin’er went to Scholar Wen and played dice with him and Ying Bojue, while Aixiang went to Ximen Qing and guessed fingers with him. Then Aiyue went back to Ximen and played dice again. Wu Yin’er devoted herself to Li the Third and Huang the Fourth and offered wine to them.

  Zheng Aiyue went to her room and dressed again. She put on a double-breasted coat of figured satin, a skirt of the color of the finest down, with blue spots and golden fringe. Her trousers were embroidered; her shoes scarlet, designed like a phoenix’s bill. Upon her head she wore a small white sealskin cap. In the candlelight she looked more beautiful than ever. The sight of her aroused Ximen Qing’s desire. He had drunk deeply, but he remembered what Li Ping’er had said to him in his dream: “When you are away from home, never drink too much.” He got up and went to the inner court to wash his hands. The old procuress sent a maid with a lantern to light him, and Aiyue followed him. When he had done what he went to do, she held his hand, and they went together to her room. Moonlight was pouring through the windows, and the candles were burning brightly. The air was as warm as Spring, and sweetly perfumed. Ximen Qing took off his outer clothes and sat with her upon the bed, his legs intertwined with hers.

  “Will you stay the night?” Aiyue asked.

  “No, I must go home,” Ximen said. “Wu Yin’er is here, and that makes me a little uncomfortable. Then I have to remember my official position. The Inspector is coming this year, and I must not run the risk of any scandal. I can only come to you in the daytime.” He thanked her for the cakes she had sent. “But when I saw them,” he said, “I could not help feeling sad. The Sixth Lady, when she was alive, was the only person who ever made them for me. Now she is dead, there is no one in my house who can do it.”

  “They are not hard to make, if you are careful about the right proportions,” Aiyue said. “The melon seeds I sent you, I cracked with my own teeth. But I hear Beggar Ying ate them all.”

  “He did. The rascal took two handfuls and left me hardly any.”

  “Lucky for him,” Aiyue said. “I might have sent them especially for him! Thank you very much for the coated plums. My mother took some and found them very good indeed. When she has a coughing fit, she coughs all through the night and upsets everybody in the house. But one of those coated plums in the mouth keeps her throat moist. My sister and I did not take many of them. We gave the jar to my mother because we thought it was good for her to take them morning and night.”

  “Tomorrow, I will send another jar for yourselves,” Ximen promised.

  “Have you been to see Li Guijie lately?” the girl asked.

  “I have not seen her since the funeral.”

  “Did she send any tea for the fifth week’s mind?”

  “Yes, Li Ming brought it for her.”

  “I will tell you something,” Aiyue said, “if you promise to keep it secret.”

  Ximen Qing asked what it was, but Aiyue thought for a while and then said she would not tell him. “If I do,” she said, “it will look as though I talk about the other girls behind their backs.”

  Ximen put his arms around her. “Little oily mouth, tell me what you were going to say. I won’t say a word to anybody.”

  They were talking when Ying Bojue burst into the room. “Ah, you good people! So you leave us behind and come here to talk secrets to one another?”

  “Why do you always poke your nose into other people’s business?” Aiyue said. “How dare you rush in here and frighten me like that?”

  “You dog!” Ximen said. “Go back to the front court at once. What do you mean by leaving Master Wen and Wu Yin’er to come and see what we’re about?”

  Bojue sat down on the bed. “Let me kiss your arm,” he said to Aiyue, “then I’ll go away and leave you to amuse yourselves.” He drew the girl’s arm from her sleeve and praised it. “My child,” he said, “one has only to see these hands of yours to realize that Heaven intended you for the life you lead.”

  “Oh, you rascal,” Aiyue cried, “no words are bad enough for you.”

  Bojue took her hand and bit it. She cried out and cursed him. “Oh, vile Beggar Ying, you never stop playing these horrible tricks of yours.” Then she said to Taohua, her maid: “Go after him and, when he is once outside the door, bolt it.”

  Then Aiyue told Ximen Qing all about Li Guijie and young master Wang. “Sun Guazui,” she said, “Pockmarked Zhu, Little Zhang and some others went with young Master Wang to Guijie’s place. He had given up Qi Xiang’er and taken on with Yuzhi, at the Qin’s place. At both places, he has spent a great deal of money and, recently, he had to pawn his fur coat for thirty taels. He stole a pair of his mother’s gold bracelets and gave them to Guijie for a month’s enjoyment of her favors.”

  “The wicked little whore!” Ximen Qing said. “I told her to have nothing to do with that young scamp. She promised me faithfully she would give him up, and swore she would never see him again. She has deceived me.”

  “Father, don’t be annoyed,” Aiyue said. “I will tell you a way to get even with young master Wang. You will have no more reason to be angry.”

  Ximen Qing took her on his knees. “What is your idea?” he said. “Tell me.”

  “I will tell you if you promise not to say a word to anybody else, not even Beggar Ying. I don’t want it to get about.”

  “I am not a fool,” Ximen said. “Why should I mention it to anyone?”

  “Master Wang’s mother, Lady Lin, is not yet forty years old,” Aiyue said. “She is a very fascinating woman. She pencils her eyebrows, paints her face, and gets herself up as cleverly as a fox. Her son spends all his time at the bawdy house and she receives gentlemen at home. She pretends to go to the nunnery, but, as a matter of fact, it is old woman Wen she really goes to see. That old woman arranges everything for her. I understand she is very expert in the arts of love. Now this is what I have to say. If you would like to make her acquaintance, it ought not to be very difficult. Then there is the young man’s wife. She is about nineteen years old, and a niece of Grand Marshal Huang of the Eastern Capital. She is as pretty as a picture. She can play backgammon and chess, but she might as well be a widow, for her husband, young Wang, never spends any time with her. She is a very disappointed woman and more than twice has tried to hang herself. Somebody cut her down. If you can only get hold of the mother, you will not have much difficulty in making sure of the daughter.”

  Ximen Qing was delighted with the idea. He put his arms around Aiyue’s neck. “How do you come to know all this, my child?” he said.

  Aiyue often went to Wang’s house herself, but she did not think fit to say so to Ximen Qing. “One of my friends told me,” she
said, “and once old woman Wen introduced me to her.”

  “Who was the man who visited her?” Ximen asked. “Was it Zhang the Second, the nephew of that wealthy Master Zhang of the High Street?”

  “No,” Aiyue said, “not that ugly fellow. His face is covered with pock-marks, and his eyes are all screwed up. He is not good-looking enough for an adventure of this sort. Nobody but the Jiang girls would take him on.”

  “Well, I can’t guess who the man is,” Ximen Qing said.

  “I will tell you,” Aiyue said. “He is a Southerner, the man who made a woman of me. He comes here on business twice a year, but he only stays here one or two nights. He is too fond of poaching.”

  Ximen was thrilled. “My child,” he said, “you seem to be very fond of me, and I am going to give you thirty taels of silver every month. You can give the money to your mother and then it will not be necessary for you to have any other visitors. I will come and see you whenever I am free.”

  “Why so much as thirty or twenty taels, Father? A few taels for my mother will be enough. I shall be glad not to have to receive everybody who comes, and to belong to you alone.”

  “Most certainly I shall give you thirty taels,” Ximen said. “Say no more about it.”

  They began to sport upon the bed. It was piled deep with coverlets. “Won’t you take off your clothes, Father?” Aiyue asked.

  “I am afraid I must keep my clothes on,” Ximen Qing said. “They will be out of patience waiting for us.” He pulled up the pillow for her. She took down her trousers and stretched herself upon her back. Ximen Qing lifted her dainty feet over his shoulders, then unloosed his blue silk trousers and put the clasp on his penis. The heart of the flower lay sweetly folded before him; the tender willow-like waist quivered.

  This is a flower so delicate

  It cannot endure violence.

  The wind of Spring blows over it unceasingly

  And when it reaches the flower’s heart

  Still seems unsatisfied.

  There are no limits to their love.

  Softly she calls him her precious boy.

  There are no words can tell

  The happiness of this night of Spring.

  For a long time their love followed its course to their great delight. Ximen Qing breathed heavily, and she made strange little noises without ceasing, her hair spread out over the pillow. “My love,” she murmured, “do not be so furious.” Then their satisfaction reached its height, and sperm flowed from him in a stream. The rain ceased, and the clouds dispersed. They rose, dressed themselves, and washed their hands. Then, hand in hand, they went back to the hall.

  Wu Yin’er, Aixiang, Scholar Wen and Ying Bojue were throwing dice and guessing fingers, all the time encouraging one another to drink, and being very merry together. When Ximen Qing came in, they rose and begged him to sit down. “A nice thing!” Bojue said. “You leave us here all this time and then come to have some wine. To steady your head, I suppose.”

  “We have been talking,” Ximen Qing said.

  “Talking indeed!” Bojue said. “I know the sort of secrets you have to tell one another.” He took a large cup of wine already warmed, and they invited Ximen to drink. The four players sang.

  Then Daian came and said: “The sedan chair is here.” Ximen Qing pursed his lips as a sign that he was ready and Daian went out to bid the soldiers light their lanterns. As Ximen had made clear his intention not to stay any longer, everyone stood up and drank with him. He ordered the four players to sing “When First We Met, Shyness Restrained Us.” Then Xiaochou took her lute and sang.

  When the song was done, Wu Yin’er offered Ximen Qing a cup of wine while Aixiang and Aiyue offered wine to Ying Bojue and Scholar Wen. Li and Huang drank too. The four players sang again. When the cup had been emptied, they urged each other to drink again and the wine passed around twice more. The singers sang two more songs, and the wine and the music were finished at the same time.

  Then Ximen Qing made ready to go. He told Daian to give packets of silver, some large, some small, to all who had waited on him. There were three qian of silver for each of the four players, five for the cook, and three for Wu Hui, Zheng Chun, and Zheng Feng. There were two qian for all the other servants, except Zheng Aiyue’s maid, Taohua, who was given three. They kowtowed to express their thanks. Huang the Fourth did not wish them to accept these presents yet. “Uncle Ying,” he said to Bojue, “won’t you say something to his Lordship? It is still early, and he must sit down, just to show that he enjoys our entertainment.” He turned to Aiyue. “Sister, you must help me to persuade him to stay.”

  “I have tried already,” Aiyue said, “but he will not.”

  “I shall be very busy tomorrow, and I must go,” Ximen Qing said. He bowed to Huang the Fourth. “I have had a very pleasant time,” he said.

  “Indeed I fear you have been starved,” Huang the Fourth said, “and that is why you won’t stay. It seems obvious that we have entertained you very poorly.”

  The three girls kowtowed. “When you get home,” they said, “please give our humble duty to the Great Lady and the others. When we are free, we will come to see them.”

  “Yes, do,” Ximen said. “Come any time and spend the day.”

  Lanterns were brought, and Ximen Qing went down the steps. Old woman Zheng came to make a reverence to him. “My lord,” she said, “why must you go in such a hurry? I fear our cooking cannot have pleased you. There is another course to come yet.”

  “I have had everything I wanted,” Ximen said. “Unfortunately, I have to get up very early in the morning to go and attend to some important business at the office. Brother Ying has nothing to do: ask him to stay.”

  Ying Bojue was going away with Ximen Qing, but Huang the Fourth stopped him. “If you go too, Uncle,” he said, “it will be the last straw.”

  “Don’t keep me,” Bojue said. “Try Scholar Wen. If you can persuade him to stay, I shall believe you are a hero.”

  Scholar Wen tried to slip away, but Huang the Fourth’s boy and Laian caught him by the waist and held him. Ximen Qing reached the gate. He asked Qintong whether he had brought anything for Scholar Wen to ride. “There’s a donkey here,” Qintong said. “Huatong is in charge of it.”

  Ximen called out to Scholar Wen: “There is an animal here for you to ride. You and Brother Ying stay. I must go now.” They all went with him to the gate. Zheng Aiyue was holding his hand. She gave it a squeeze.

  “Remember what I have told you,” she said, “but keep it to yourself.” She bade Zheng Chun go with Ximen to his house. Ximen got into his sedan chair and went away.

  Outside the gate, Wu Yin’er said good-bye to everybody, and was going home with Wu Hui when Zheng Aiyue said: “If you see Guijie, don’t say a word about this.” Then they went back to their tables; the fire was replenished, and more wine poured out. With music, songs and wine, they passed the time very pleasantly, and the party did not break up until the third night watch. The entertainment cost Huang the Fourth about ten taels of silver.

  Ximen Qing, with two soldiers carrying lanterns, reached home in his sedan chair, dismissed Zheng Chun, and went to bed.

  The next day, Magistrate Xia sent a servant to ask Ximen Qing to go early to the office. There was a thief to be tried. He went, heard the case and did not return until midday. When he had finished dinner, Shen Ding came with a young man named Liu Bao, whom Uncle Shen introduced as a cook for the silk shop. Ximen Qing agreed to engage him and went to the study to get a return card to give to Shen Ding. There he found Daian and asked him what time Scholar Wen had come back the night before.

  “I was in the shop,” Daian said, “and had been in bed a long time before I heard Qintong knocking at the door of the house opposite. I think it must have been the third night watch. This morning, I asked him if he had been drunk. ‘No,’ he said, ‘but Uncle Ying was, and he was sick all over the floor. Then Zheng Aiyue thought it was getting very late, and she sent Zheng Chun home with him
.’” This made Ximen Qing laugh. He called the boy closer to him.

  “You remember old woman Wen, who arranged my daughter’s marriage. If you know where she lives, go and tell her I want her to come and see me at the house across the road.”

  “I don’t know where she lives,” Daian said, “but I will ask Brother-in-law.”

  “Yes, make sure, and then go right away,” Ximen said.

  Daian went to the shop and asked Chen Jingji where the old woman lived.

  “What do you want with her?” Jingji said. “Go along East Street towards the south. Turn to the left when you have passed the bridge. You will find yourself on the Wangs’ estate. In the middle of it is a guardhouse, and, close by, a small stone bridge. Cross the bridge and you will come to a lane that passes a nunnery. Go up there and the third house you come to will be a bean curd shop. A little farther along is a house with red doors. That is the place. Shout: ‘Old Mother Wen,’ and she will come out to you.”

  “It sounds like a witch directing a tinker,” Daian said. “What a rigma-role! Tell me again. I shall never remember all that.”

  Jingji told him again.

  “A fine walk!” Daian said. “I must have a horse.” He went and got the big white horse, mounted it, whipped it up, and went off at a gallop. He followed all his instructions until he came to the guardhouse near the ruined stone bridge, and saw the red walls of the nunnery. He went up the lane until he reached a house with a sign to show that bean curd was sold there. Outside was an old woman drying horse dung.

  “Does an old woman named Wen live about here?” Daian asked her.

  “Yes,” the old woman said. “The next house on the other side.”

  Daian went on and came to a house with red doors. He jumped down from his horse and knocked at the door with his whip. “Is Sister Wen at home?”

  Wen Tang, the old woman’s son, opened the door and asked Daian what he wanted.

  “I have come from his Lordship Ximen to ask Madam Wen to go and see him at once,” Daian said.

  As soon as Wen Tang heard this, he asked Daian to go in. The boy tied up his horse and went into the house. Lucky papers were hanging up, and a number of people were engaged in reckoning up the amount of offerings. He waited some time, then a cup of tea was brought to him. “My mother is not at home, ” Wen Tang said, “but as soon as she comes back I will tell her, and she will come to see his Lordship tomorrow morning.”