The Golden Lotus, Volume 2

by Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng

  The end of the year was drawing near. The moon lit up the plum blossom by the windows, and the wind howled through the snow-covered eaves. There was the noise of fireworks everywhere, and every household set up charms and spells for the Spring.

  Ximen Qing burned paper offerings and went to Li Ping’er’s room to make an offering to his dead wife. Then he assembled the whole household in the inner hall. The servants, boys, maids, and serving women came to kowtow to Ximen Qing and Wu Yueniang. Then husband and wife distributed kerchiefs, handkerchiefs, and money to all their household.

  The next day was the first of the first month of the first year of the reign period Chonghe. Ximen Qing rose very early, dressed himself in his robes, and made sacrifice to Heaven and Earth. After breakfast, he got on his horse and went to the Censor’s office to wish Song a happy New Year. The ladies rose early too. They dressed up and put on flowers and ornaments. They wore silken skirts and embroidered gowns, and looked very beautiful and charming. They came to kowtow to Yueniang.

  Ping’an and one of the men from the office were at the gate to receive the New Year cards and write the names of the callers in a book. They were also ready to receive the officers and others who came to congratulate Ximen Qing at the New Year.

  Daian and Wang Jing, wearing new clothes, new hats, and new boots, were outside the gate, playing shuttlecock, lighting bonfires, and chewing melon seeds. The clerks came and everybody connected with the houses. They were received by Chen Jingji.

  About noon Ximen Qing returned from his calls upon the Censor and other officers. As soon as he had dismounted, Wang the Third came to offer his good wishes. Ximen Qing took him to the great hall, and there the young man kowtowed to him. Then Wang the Third asked to be allowed to see Yueniang, and Ximen took him to the inner court. When they returned to the hall, Ximen gave him wine.

  They had drunk only one cup when Captain He was announced. Ximen Qing told Chen Jingji to entertain Wang the Third, while he himself went to receive Captain He. Wang the Third went away when he had drunk a little more wine. Then Jing and Yun and Qiao came, one after the other. Ximen Qing was kept busy entertaining them until evening, and, by that time, he was almost tipsy. He spent the night with Yueniang.

  The next day, he went out again making New Year calls and did not return until late. When he reached home, Uncle Han, Ying Bojue, Xie Xida, Chang Zhijie, and Hua Ziyu were there, and Jingji was talking to them. When Ximen came in, they greeted one another, and wine was brought. Uncle Han and Hua Ziyu lived outside the city gates and they left early. But Ying Bojue, Xie Xida, and Chang Zhijie lingered. Uncle Wu the Second came. He went to the inner court to greet his sister, then joined the others. After a while he went away.

  By the time Ximen Qing took Bojue and the others to the gate, he was drunk. Daian was there, and Ximen squeezed his hand. The boy knew what this meant and said: “There is nobody there.”

  Ximen went at once to Mistress Ben the Fourth. She was waiting for him. Neither of them wasted any words: they undressed and set to work immediately. She was full of lust; she spread-eagled her thighs, opened her cunt with both hands, and let him reach her inmost recesses. Warm liquid oozed from her and wet the sheet. He put some powder on the head of his penis, gripped her body with both arms, and thrust so hard that the whole penis went in; not a hair’s breadth stayed outside. The woman opened her eyes wide and called him Darling. Ximen asked her what her maiden name had been. “My mothers name was Ye,” she said, “I was fifth child.”

  After that, Ximen Qing kept murmuring: “Ye the Fifth, Ye the Fifth.”

  Once, this woman had been a nurse. She had misbehaved with Ben the Fourth; then they had run away, and he had taken her to live with him as his wife. She was now thirty-two years old, and very well skilled in the arts of love. She called Ximen Qing by the sweetest names. He was delighted and yielded. He took his penis out of his trousers and was about to wipe it clean, but she interrupted him and said, “Don’t wipe it; I’ll suck it for you.” Ximen wished for nothing more, so she bent down, took the penis with both hands and sucked it until it was quite clean. Then he pulled up his trousers.

  “Why has my husband not come back yet?” Mistress Ben said.

  “I expected him before this,” Ximen said. “Possibly his Lordship Xia has kept him.”

  He gave her two or three taels of silver. “I should have liked to give you some clothes,” he said, “but Ben the Fourth might find out, so I am giving you this money to buy some for yourself.”

  She opened the door for him and he went away. Daian was waiting in the shop and took his master into the house.

  If the upper beams lean to one side, the lower ones also will give way. Mistress Ben the Fourth had misconducted herself with Daian even before she had dealings with Ximen Qing. Now, as soon as Daian had taken his master into the house, seeing that Clerk Fu was not in the shop, he took two jars of wine and went with Ping’an to see her. They drank until the second night watch. Ping’an went to the shop to sleep and Daian stayed with the woman.

  “I have allowed your master to come to me,” she said to him, “but I am very much afraid my neighbor, Mistress Han, will tell the ladies. Then they will treat me as they treat Clerk Han’s wife, and I shall never be able to hold up my head again.”

  “The only two who count are the Great Lady and the Fifth Lady,” Daian said. “There is nothing wrong with the Great Lady, but the Fifth is very sly. This is what I should do. Now that it is the New Year, buy something for the Great Lady. She is very fond of fruit pastries. Spend a qian or so on them and some fine melon seeds and take them to her. On the ninth, it will be the Fifth Lady’s birthday. Take her some little presents and I will give her a box of melon seeds for you. That will stop their mouths.”

  The woman approved this plan, and the next day, when Ximen Qing was out, Daian took the boxes to Yueniang. When she asked where they came from, he told her Mistress Ben the Fourth had sent them.

  “Why should she spend her money buying things for me?” Yueniang said, “especially when her husband is not at home.” She accepted the presents and gave Daian two boxes of fruit and other things to take back, telling him to thank Mistress Ben the Fourth.

  When Ximen Qing returned from his round of visits, Abbot Wu called to wish him the compliments of the season. They took wine in the hall and Abbot Wu went away. Ximen Qing told Daian to take a horse and go to see old woman Wen. “Tell her I want to go and see Lady Lin,” he said. “What shall I do about it?”

  “You need not bother, Father,” the boy said, “I met old woman Wen riding past here on a donkey. She told me that Wang the Third is setting off tomorrow for the Eastern Capital to pay a visit to Marshal Huang, Lady Lin would like you to go and see her on the sixth. Old woman Wen will be there herself.”

  “Is this true?” Ximen Qing said.

  “Should I dare to lie to you?” Daian replied.

  Ximen Qing went to the inner court, but he had hardly reached his wife’s room before Daian came to tell him that Uncle Wu had come. Wu was dressed in ceremonial robes, wearing a girdle with a gold buckle. He made reverence to Ximen Qing and said: “It is entirely due to your kindness that I find myself in this position today. Thank you for the presents you sent me. I am sorry I was not at home yesterday when you called. Today, I have come especially to pay my respects. Forgive me for being late.” He knelt down and kowtowed.

  Ximen Qing knelt down too. “Uncle,” he said, “you have my heartiest congratulations. You must not worry about the question of money.”

  Wu Yueniang kowtowed to her brother. Uncle Wu hastily made a half-return to her, and asked her not to pay him the full honor. “That is quite enough for me,” he said. “Your brother and sister-in-law are always coming here and troubling you. Now I am old, I depend upon your generosity.”

  Yueniang said: “Brother, I only trust you will forgive me when I fail to do things to your liking.”

  “Sister,” Uncle Wu said, “you must not talk like that. Have
we not troubled you enough already?”

  “It is rather late, Uncle,” Ximen Qing said. “You can’t go anywhere else now. Take off your ceremonial clothes and come and sit down for a while.”

  They did not know that Meng Yulou and Pan Jinlian were there. When these two ladies found that Uncle Wu was going into the inner room, they came out hastily, kowtowed to Uncle Wu, and went away.

  Ximen Qing and Uncle Wu went in and sat by the fire. The table was set, and the two maids, Yuxiao and Xiaoyu, came and kowtowed to Uncle Wu. Yueniang offered her brother a small gold cup of wine. Ximen Qing took the host’s place, and Uncle Wu invited his sister to sit down. Yueniang asked to be excused for a moment and went into the other room for some fruit.

  “Everything seems to be going well,” Ximen Qing said to his brother-in-law as they drank their wine.

  “It is all due to you,” Uncle Wu said. “I have been to headquarters and I find that things are practically settled at the Capital. I haven’t yet been to my own office of the commissariat. Tomorrow is an auspicious day, and I propose to break the seals and then go home to prepare some boxes and send them to the granary. Then I will see all the keepers of the granary and give them their orders. Ding, who used to be in charge, was reported upon adversely by Governor Hou and dismissed. I have taken his place. I have to go through all the books and give instructions to the keepers. I am making a thorough clearance of old records and reports so as to be ready for the new harvest when autumn comes.

  “How many acres have you under your control?” Ximen Qing asked.

  “The system of local supplies for the troops to avoid the trouble and expense of transport was established in the most remote times,” Uncle Wu said. “Originally, contributions of grain were only made in autumn. Wang Anshi, when he was Minister, introduced the early grain system, which calculated for another contribution in the summer. In Jizhou, not counting barren land and marshes, we have twenty-seven thousand acres, and each acre must make a contribution of one tael and eight qian, so all together we have more than five hundred taels. At the end of the year we send the contribution to Dongpingfu. There, arrangements are made for buying grain and hay for the horses.”

  “Is there anything left over?” Ximen asked.

  “There are some people not on the register,” Uncle Wu said, “and people in general are very sly. If you treat them firmly and insist upon good measure, there is likely to be trouble.”

  “But I suppose there will be something to make it worth your while.”

  “To tell you the truth,” Uncle Wu said, “if things are properly managed, I think I ought to make more than a hundred taels every year, besides chickens, pigs, geese and wine. Those things are presents, of course, and do not count. But I shall have to rely upon your assistance.

  “I shall be very glad to do anything I can, if you can only make something out of it,” Ximen said.

  They drank until lights were brought, and then Uncle Wu went away. Ximen Qing went to Jinlian.

  The next day he went to the office, removed the seals, and set to work again upon official business. An invitation came from Yun Lishou asking him to take wine with the other officers on the fifth. Captain He’s wife invited Yueniang and the other ladies to visit her on the sixth.

  Ximen Qing went with Ying Bojue and Uncle Wu to take wine with Yun Lishou. Yun had borrowed a house and engaged musicians to entertain his guests. The party did not break up until late. All the time, Ximen Qing was longing for the morrow.

  The next day, Yueniang went to see Captain He’s wife. Ximen Qing, dressed in his finest clothes, mounted a horse, put on his eyeshades, and went to Lady Lin’s house. Daian and Qintong attended him. Wang the Third was not at home. Ximen sent in his card. Old woman Wen took it to Lady Lin. He was asked to go in, and taken through the great hall to the inner court, and into a room the floor of which was covered by rugs. The hangings and curtains were red. Lady Lin was wearing a scarlet straight-sleeved gown and her hair was piled up with pearls and ornaments. They greeted one another, then sat down and drank tea. The boys took the horse to the stable. After tea, Lady Lin begged Ximen to take off his ceremonial clothes and go to her room.

  “My son,” she said, “has gone to the Eastern Capital to wish his father-in-law the compliments of the season. He will be back after the festival.”

  Ximen Qing called Daian to take his long cloak. Beneath it he was wearing a white silk coat and a sky-blue gown embroidered with flying fish. It was very handsome.

  The table was set and maids brought wine and dishes. Lady Lin offered him wine with her delicate hands; passionate glances flashed from her eyes. They guessed fingers, threw dice, and talked sweetly to one another. Spring was in the air. Then they began to glance sideways at one another and their heads whirled.

  It was almost sunset. Silver candlesticks were brought. Daian and Qintong were being looked after by old woman Wen. Wang the Third’s wife was in another apartment. She was served by her own maids and women and did not come to them. Lady Lin closed the door. After that, no servant would dare to come in. Then, stirred by the wine, they went to the inner room, pulled aside the embroidered curtains, and shut the windows. They turned up the lamps and closed the doors. Ximen Qing took off his clothes and got on to the bed; Lady Lin washed herself carefully, and then joined him. Ximen had come for this purpose; he had brought his instruments with him. He had taken some of his secret medicine, and the silver clasp was ready for action. He pulled up her legs and put his strong prick before her cunt, then reared up and thrust it in noisily. The woman called him her darling without ceasing.

  Ximen burned grains of incense on her belly and by the hole of her cunt. He told her he was going to give a party and that he would like to invite her son’s wife and herself to come and see the lanterns. The woman was so enraptured that she promised they would both go. Ximen Qing got up, drank with her until the second night watch, then mounted his horse and rode home. He went out by the back way.

  When he got home, Ping’an said: “Eunuch Xue has sent a card to ask you to go to his country place to enjoy the signs of the approach of Spring. And Uncle Yun has sent five cards of invitation asking the ladies to a party.”

  Ximen went to Yueniang’s room. Yulou and Jinlian were there. Yueniang had returned from Captain He’s place and was talking to them. When Ximen came in, she rose and made a reverence to him.

  “Where have you been all this time?” she said.

  Ximen could think of no better excuse than that he had been drinking at Ying Bojue’s house.

  Yueniang told him about the party at Captain He’s. “Mistress He,” she said, “is very young. I don’t believe she is more than eighteen. She is as beautiful and charming as a painted figure. She is well up in affairs of the day as well as those of the past. She was so sweet and pleasant to me she might have known me for a long time. It is two years since she married Captain He. She has four maids, two nurses, and two serving women.”

  “She is a niece of Eunuch Lan,” Ximen Qing said. “When she married He, the eunuch gave her a very considerable dowry.”

  “Tomorrow,” Yueniang said, “your friend Yun’s wife has asked us to go and see her. There are five cards. Shall we go?”

  “Yes, indeed,” Ximen said. “All of you, if you are invited.”

  “I think Sun Xue’e ought to stay at home,” Yueniang said. “It is the New Year, and, if anybody should call, there would be no one here.”

  “Very well. Xue’e shall stay at home and the rest of you can go. Eunuch Xue has asked me to go and see him, but I don’t feel much like going. I don’t know whether it is the Spring air or not, but the last few days I have had a good deal of pain in my legs and loins.”

  “There may be something wrong with your lungs,” Yueniang said. “Don’t waste any time but get Doctor Ren to give you some medicine.”

  “Oh, I don’t think it is anything serious. If I leave it alone, it will get better of itself. If it doesn’t, I will ask him for something lat
er on. I think we might give a party for the Feast of Lanterns and invite some ladies, Mistress Ho, Mistress Zhou, Mistress Jing, Mistress Zhang, Mistress Yun, Lady Lin, Aunt Wu and Mistress Cui. What about the twelfth or the thirteenth? We can make a show of lanterns and have some of the actors from the royal household. Last year, we had a few large set pieces, and Ben the Fourth looked after them. This year he is at the Eastern Capital, and we shall have to find someone else.”

  “Since Ben the Fourth is not here, why not ask his wife?” Jinlian said. “She would do as well.”

  Ximen Qing looked at her. “You little strumpet!” he said. “You can’t speak three sentences without making yourself objectionable.”

  Yueniang did not seem to be very interested, and the matter dropped.

  “We have never seen Wang the Third’s mother,” Yueniang said. “What is the idea of asking her? I don’t suppose she will come.”

  “Since Wang the Third is now my ward, we may as well send her an invitation,” Ximen Qing said. “Whether she comes or not is her affair.”

  “I don’t think I shall go to Yun’s place tomorrow,” Yueniang said. “I am getting near my time. If I get into a crowd, people may talk.”

  “You need not worry,” Yulou said. “You are not very big. The baby is not due this month, and it is the New Year. Why not be merry and go?”

  Ximen Qing drank a cup of tea and went to sleep with Xue’e. When Jinlian saw this, she went away with Ximen Dajie. Ximen asked Xue’e to pinch and rub his body for a long time.

  The next day Ying Bojue came. “Mistress Yun,” he said, “has sent a card to my wife to ask her to go and help her entertain your ladies. But my wife has only a few old dresses, and this is not a very suitable time to wear them. People would laugh at her. I have come to see if you would mind lending her some of your ladies’ clothes and a few ornaments and things. Then she can wear them.”

  Ximen Qing said to Wang Jing: “Go and ask the Great Lady.”

  “Ying Bao is here with a box,” Bojue said. “Take it, Brother, and bring something back in it.”