The Golden Lotus, Volume 2

by Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng

  When he came in,

  He took me in his arms and carried me

  And set me down upon his knee.

  I spread the silken coverlets, and that gay lover

  Well proved his valiance in the bed.

  He lifted up my feet, yes, lifted up my feet,

  Disordering my hair and putting out of place

  The knot that bound it.

  Their passage at arms over, Yuanxiao came and knocked at the door, telling them that Jingji’s wife had returned. He dressed hastily and went away.

  The bees that buzz so wildly and the merry butterflies

  We often see

  But, sometimes, they are hidden from our eyes

  When they plunge deep within the pear blossom.

  The three rooms on the upper floor of Jinlian’s apartments were arranged, with the middle one as the place for family worship, and the others as storerooms for drugs and incense.

  One day the Fates decided that something should happen. Jinlian and Chen Jingji were so much in love with one another that nothing could keep them long apart. Every day they met at her place. One morning Jinlian dressed and went upstairs to offer incense before the image of Guanyin. At the same time, Chen Jingji came to take some of the stores. So they met. There was nobody in sight, so Jinlian decided that she had burned incense enough. Instead, she threw her arms around her lover and kissed him, calling him her precious sweetheart, while he called her his own true darling. After a while they said to one another: “There seems to be no one here,” took off their clothes, and found a convenient bench. Then they began a merry game. Over his shoulders two small feet were raised and all was going well. But were it not for the unexpected, there would never be any story to tell. Just at the moment when their happiness seemed about to reach its height, Chunmei came with a box to get some tea. The couple were disturbed, but it was too late for them to do anything. Chunmei discreetly but hastily withdrew. Jingji put on his clothes again, and Jinlian did likewise. It was she who took the situation in hand.

  “Chunmei, my dear girl,” she called, “come here a moment. I have something to say to you.”

  Chunmei came back. “My dear good sister,” Jinlian said, “this gentleman, as you know, is not a stranger. I must tell you the plain truth. We are lovers, and we cannot do without each other. You must keep this to yourself and not breathe a word to a soul.”

  “Mother,” Chunmei said, “why need you say that? I have served you all these years. Do you think I do not know you well enough? Of course, I shall tell no one.”

  “If you really mean to keep our secret,” Jinlian said, “you must prove it to me. Here is the man, lie with him and I will believe you.”

  Chunmei flushed till her face was now pale, now red, but she could not refuse. Indeed she made the necessary preparations herself, lay down on the bench and yielded before the young man’s impetuosity. So that day, Chen Jingji came into full possession of two priceless pearls. What could he do but thread them?

  Afterwards, they went their ways. In the days that followed, the two women often brought the young man there, but they hid the matter from the maid Qiuju.

  On the first day of the sixth month, old woman Pan died, and the news was brought to Ximen’s household. Wu Yueniang prepared the prescribed offerings for the dead and told Pan Jinlian to take a sedan chair and attend the funeral outside the city. Two days later she came back and went to Yueniang’s room, and talked there for a long time. Then she left Yueniang, but when she had passed through the great hall, she felt sorely pressed by Nature, pulled up her skirts and gave herself relief beside the wall. After Ximen Qing’s death, few people came to see them, and the gate of honor and the doors that led to the great hall were kept shut. Chen Jingji lived in the rooms in the Eastern wing. He had just got up when suddenly he heard the sound of rushing water. Putting his head quietly out of the window, he saw that Jinlian was responsible for it. “What is this wild beast I see?” he laughed. “Mind you pull your skirts high enough. They might get wet.” Jinlian hastily arranged her clothes and went over to the window.

  “What!” she cried. “You still here! You are just getting up, I suppose. A nice life you lead. Is your wife about?”

  “Yes,” Jingji said. “It was very late when we came back from the Great Lady’s rooms last night. I had to go too, for the Great Lady asked me to go and hear the Hong Luo Sutra read by the nuns. I stayed so long, I was ready to drop, and this morning I did not feel like getting up.”

  “What a liar you are, you rogue,” Jinlian said. “I was not at home yesterday, but I swear you never went to hear any sutras read. The maids tell me you went to dine with Meng Yulou.”

  “Nothing of the sort,” the young man retorted. “My wife will tell you that I went to see the Lady of the House. I never went near the Third Lady’s room.”

  As he talked, he climbed onto the bed. His weapon was at the ready, and he thrust it through the window.

  “Oh, you, who will meet an early end,” Jinlian cried, “what do you mean by bringing out that old fellow. You gave me quite a fright. Take it back at once, or I will put a needle through it and hurt you.”

  Jingji laughed. “You don’t seem very fond of him today, but you must be generous and treat him kindly.”

  “Jailbird!” Jinlian cried. She took a small brass mirror from her sleeve, and set it on the windowsill, pretending to powder her face, but in reality doing something quite different. The young man found her attentions most pleasurable, and they were feeling very pleased with one another when they heard footsteps. Jinlian hurriedly took up her mirror and the young man withdrew. It was Laian.

  “Fu would like you to take a meal with him,” the boy said.

  “I am dressing my hair now,” Jingji said.” Tell him not to wait. I will be with him in a moment.” The boy went away and Jinlian cautiously returned. “Tonight,” she said, “don’t go out. I want you, and will send Chunmei to give you warning. There is something I wish to say to you.” Jingji promised to come and, when he had finished combing his hair, went off to attend to some business at the shop. Jinlian went to her own room.

  That night was very dark, and the weather very sultry. Jinlian told Chunmei to heat some water for a bath, and dressed her nails. Then she had a light mattress set upon her bed, drove off the mosquitoes, and pulled down the net. She placed some incense in the small burner.

  “Mother,” Chunmei said, “do you know that this is the first day of the hottest season of the year? Would you like some ‘Touch-me-not’ to stain your fingers? If you would, I’ll get some for you.”

  “Where?” Jinlian said.

  “There is some in the great courtyard. I will get it for you at once.”

  “Tell Qiuju to get the pestle and mortar ready to pound some garlic,” Jinlian said, adding softly: “Go to the East wing and tell your brother to come. I have something to say to him.” Chunmei went out to do her bidding and, while she was away, the woman bathed her fragrant body. At last the maid returned with the flowers and told Qiuju what to do with them. Jinlian gave Chunmei a few cups of wine and told her to sleep that night in the kitchen. Then, by the light of the candles, she stained her delicate fingers, while the maid, at her direction, took a bench into the courtyard, with a mattress and some pillows. It was now the first night watch, and everything was silent as the stars moved slowly across the heavens. On either side of the Milky Way the stars of the Heavenly Lovers took up their station. The fragrance of flowers came over the wall, and a little band of glowworms gave their dainty light. Jinlian threw herself upon the mattress, fanned herself and waited. The maid closed the corner gate, but did not bolt it.

  Beneath the moon she stood and waited.

  The wind came and opened the gate

  And, on the walls, the shadows of the flowers moved.

  She thought her precious lover was come.

  Chen Jingji had told her he would give warning of his coming by shaking the branches of a flowering shrub. So, when at la
st Jinlian saw them move, she knew he was there. She coughed gently, and the young man came in and sat beside her. She asked whom he had left at home. “My wife is not there,” Jingji said, “but I told Yuanxiao that if anything should happen she must come and tell me at once.” He asked if Qiuju had gone to bed, and the woman told him she was already fast asleep. They kissed each other and, there in the courtyard, enjoyed the pleasures of love without so much as a single garment to hinder them.

  Their two hearts beat as one

  They pressed together fragrant shoulders

  And touched each other’s cheeks.

  He grasped that perfumed breast, smooth as the softest down, And found it perfect.

  He raised those tiny feet, took off the embroidered shoes,

  And jade met jade as precious as itself.

  Each burning tongue sought sweetness from its mate.

  Then like mad phoenixes they took their fill of love

  And, when the storm was past,

  She whispered to her lover, bidding him

  To come again and not delay.

  When they were done, Jinlian brought five taels of silver in small pieces and gave them to Chen Jingji.

  “My mother has just died,” she said. “My husband, when he was alive, provided a coffin for her. She was placed in it the third day after her death and, by our mistress’s orders, I was present. I have only returned today. Tomorrow she is to be buried, but the Great Lady says that as we are still in mourning for your father, she cannot let me go. So here are five taels. I want you to go and see about things tomorrow. Pay the undertakers with this money and see the matter through. If you go, I shall be as satisfied as if I went myself.”

  “It will be no trouble,” Jingji said, taking the money. “I will go early and, when all is over, I will come and tell you about it.” Then it suddenly occurred to him that his wife might be returning, so he went away.

  The next day, it was still morning when he came back. Indeed so early was it that Jinlian had not finished dressing. The young man gave her two branches of jasmine that he had plucked at the temple. “Did you actually see the coffin put in the earth?”

  “That is what I went for,” Jingji returned. “If I hadn’t seen the old lady buried, should I have dared to come and tell you so? I did not spend all the money. There is still about a tael left, and I gave it to your sister. She told me to thank you.”

  Jinlian, now that her mother was buried, shed a few tears. Then she told Chunmei to put the flowers into a vase and bring the young man some tea. Jingji took some refreshment and then went away.

  From that day, the pair seemed more closely drawn together than ever. One day—it was in the seventh month—Jinlian sent the young man a message asking him on no account to fail to visit her that evening. He promised, but unfortunately Cui Ben and a few other friends carried him off for a day in the country and, when he came back, he was so drunk that he could only throw himself on the bed and fall into a sound sleep. When night fell, Jinlian came to see where he was and found him lying on the bed in such a drunken sleep she could not waken him. By chance she thought to see what might be in his sleeve and there discovered a pin with a gold head shaped like a lotus. On it was engraved this legend:

  Horses with golden bridles neigh on the tender grass.

  The season of apricot blossom brings great joy

  To those who live in towers of jade.

  She took the pin to the light and examined it. It belonged to Yulou. “Where has he got this?” she wondered. There must, she decided, be something between them or it could not have found its way into Jingji’s hands. “No wonder that he has seemed somewhat lacking in manly vigor lately,” she said to herself. “I must leave a few words behind me to show I have been here. I think I’ll write a line or two on the wall and, next time I see him, I’ll drag the truth out of him.” Then with a brush she wrote:

  I came alone to visit you, and found you sleeping,

  Came like an angel from the skies.

  It was in vain. You are like Xiang Wang

  There is no spirit to you.

  Day and night I offer you my love

  And you reject it.

  She went back to her room. Not long afterwards Jingji woke up, considerably more sober. He lighted a candle, suddenly remembering his tryst with Jinlian. Then he saw the poem written on the wall, the ink still wet, and knew she had been there. The young man felt extremely annoyed with himself. “It is about the first night watch,” he said, remembering that his wife and the maid were still with Yueniang. “If I go, I shall find the corner gate closed.” He went to the garden and shook the flowering shrub, but there was no response. Taking a large stone to step on, he climbed over the white wall. Jinlian, finding him drunk, had been very disappointed. She had gone back sadly and thrown herself on the bed fully dressed.

  Jingji climbed over the wall. Nobody was to be seen in the courtyard: the two maids had gone to bed. He walked on tiptoe and found that the door had not been bolted, so he pushed it open and, by the moonlight that streamed upon the bed, saw Jinlian lying there. “Darling,” he cried several times, but there was no reply. “Don’t be angry with me,” the young man went on. “Cui Ben asked me to go and practice archery outside the city, and I had too much to drink. I am very sorry I didn’t come when I should have, and as for your visiting my room, I never knew it.” There was still no answer. The young man was greatly upset. He knelt on the floor and kept repeating the same words over and over again.

  “You deceitful scamp,” Jinlian cried at last, slapping him in the face with the back of her hand, “be quiet. I don’t want the maids to hear all about it. There is someone else now, and you care for me no longer. Where have you been today?”

  “Really,” Jingji assured her, “Cui Ben did take me outside the city. They gave me a lot of wine, and I got drunk and went to sleep. I beg your pardon for not coming. As soon as I saw the poem on the wall, I knew you were annoyed.”

  “Oh, you deceitful rascal!” Jinlian cried. “Be quiet and don’t argue. Slippery as you are, you shan’t escape me this time. If, as you say, you were drinking with those fellows and nowhere else, where did you get the pin in your sleeve?”

  “I picked it up in the garden two or three days ago.”

  “In the garden, did you? Well, go to the garden and pick up another one like it and bring it to me. Then I may believe you. This belongs to Yulou, the little strumpet. It’s hers beyond a doubt. Why, her name is on it, so what is the use of trying to deceive me? Of course, you and she are carrying on together. Once before I had to speak to you about her, and you swore you had never touched her. But, if that is so, how does this pin come into your possession? I suppose you’ve told her everything about me. That’s why she was laughing at me the other day. Henceforth, my dear Sir, you are you and I am I. Kindly relieve me of your presence.”

  Jingji swore by all the gods and began to cry. “If I, Chen Jingji, have had the least little thing to do with her, may I die before my thirtieth year; may I have boils the size of bowls; when I want soup, may it turn to water, and when I want water, may there be no water.” Still Jinlian refused to believe him.

  “You deceitful rubbish,” she scolded. “Oaths like that are the kind people take when they want to get rid of the toothache. I wonder you’re not ashamed to say such things.”

  They went on squabbling till it was very late. The young man undressed and lay down beside her, but she turned away and would not answer him, though he kept repeating Lady this and Lady that. Indeed, she slapped his face. After that he did not dare to speak or even to move. When daybreak came, he feared the maids might be getting up, so he climbed over the wall and went back to his own place.

  CHAPTER 83

  Qiuju Spies on Pan Jinlian

  Such love as this the world has seldom known

  Alas, when things we treasure seem to be in our hands

  We lose them.

  Tears flow and the west wind carries them away

&nb
sp; Like raindrops falling on Yangtai.

  The moon has its mountains, its fullness, its waning

  Mankind has happiness, sorrow, and parting.

  When they whisper to each other before the fire

  The gods know.

  Do not say, then, this is the best time of all.

  When, at dawn, Pan Jinlian saw Chen Jingji climb over the wall and go away, her heart relented. It was the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the Festival of All Souls, and Wu Yueniang went in her sedan chair to the temple where Nun Xue lived, to burn some paper treasure chests for Ximen Qing. Jinlian and the others went to the outer gate to see Yueniang start, but when Meng Yulou, Sun Xue’e, and Ximen Dajie came back, Pan Jinlian waited. At the second door, she met Chen Jingji. He had been to the apartments that once belonged to Li Ping’er to get some clothes that were needed in the pawnshop.

  “Yesterday I said a few words to you,” she said, “and you flew into a rage, and dashed away ever so early. Does that mean you have finished with me?”

  “Dear Lady,” Jingji said, “how can you say such things? Last night, I never had a wink of sleep. You were so cruel that I nearly died. Look at the marks of your slaps on my face still.”

  “Scamp,” Jinlian said, “if it is true that there is nothing between you, what gave you such a hangdog expression, and why did you run away?”

  “The sun was rising,” Jingji said, “and if I had not gone then, somebody might have seen me. I assure you, I have never even touched her.”

  “Then come and see me this evening, and you shall give an account of yourself again.”

  “You plagued me so much all night,” Jingji said, “I never closed my eyes. Now, I shall have to try to get a little sleep in broad daylight.”

  “Come and see me again,” Jinlian said, “and we will clear up this business.”