“Brother,” she said, as they went along, “it can’t be very long since I saw you last, but I see, from your hair, that you have now reached man’s estate. Are you married yet?”
“No,” Daian said.
“Why have they sent for me?” the old woman said. “Your father is dead. Is the Fifth Lady going to have a baby and wants me to be the midwife?”
“The Fifth Lady is not going to have a son,” Daian said. “She has had rather too much of a son-in-law. The Great Lady is going to ask you to take her away.”
“Heavens!” old woman Wang cried. “I was sure she would not be able to hold herself in check after your master died. Dogs can never get out of their habit of sniffing about the filth. So she has been misbehaving herself. I know the young man. What is his name?”
“Chen Jingji,” Daian said.
“Oh yes, now I remember. Last year I went to see your master with old He the Ninth. Your master was not at home, and that strumpet took me to her room. She didn’t give me a thing, not even a needle. All she gave me was a cup of tea. I came away. I thought she was settled there for a thousand years, and now she is to be sent away. Oh, what a splendid whore! It was I who arranged her marriage, and really she ought not to have treated me like that, even if I had been somebody else.”
“She and the young man made such a scandal they nearly killed the Great Lady,” Daian said. “Now he has been kicked out, and my mistress wants you to take this one away.”
“When she came, she came in a sedan chair,” the old woman said, “and she will have to leave in one. And she will have some things to take. I suppose they will give her some boxes?”
“Of course,” Daian said, “but the Great Lady will tell you all about that.”
So they came to the house. The old woman went to see Yueniang, made a reverence, and sat down. The maid brought tea.
“Old woman Wang,” Yueniang said, “I should not have asked you to come except for a matter of some importance.” She told her all about the business of Jinlian. “When she came here,” she said, “you brought her. I didn’t wish to bring anyone else into the matter, so I sent for you to take her away. I don’t care whether she marries again or not, I only wish to see the last of her. My husband is dead, and I can’t control so many people. I don’t care how much my husband spent on her, but I think he must have spent enough to make a woman of silver. I leave the matter entirely in your hands. Give me whatever you get for her and I will spend the money on services for my dead husband. So perhaps some good will come of it.”
“I see, Lady,” the old woman said, “it isn’t that you want the money. You are just anxious to get rid of the cause of so much trouble. I understand, and I will do what you desire. This is a good day, and I may as well take her with me now. But when she came, she had some property of her own and she came in a sedan chair. She must have a chair now.”
“She may have her boxes, but she will get no sedan chair from me,” Yueniang said.
“You say this because you are angry,” old woman Wang said, “but you must let her have a chair, or, when the neighbors see it, they will laugh at you.”
Yueniang said nothing. After a while she sent Xiuchun to fetch Jinlian.
When the woman saw old woman Wang there, she was excited. She made a reverence to Yueniang and sat down.
“Lady,” old woman Wang said, “you must get your things together. The Great Lady has told me to take you away with me.”
“My husband died only a short time ago,” Jinlian said, “and I have done nothing wrong. Why should I be driven away like this without the slightest cause?”
“There is no use pretending you do not know what it is for,” the old woman said. “When a snake goes through a hole in the wall, it knows what it’s about. You know what you have done.”
“Don’t talk such nonsense,” Jinlian said. “It is no use your using high-flown language with me. You are the very one who is always helping people to do things they should not.”
There has never been a time when a feast did not come to an end. The beams that stand out are those that decay first. Trees cast their shadow, and each one of us has his own reputation to save. Flies cannot get into an egg if there is no crack in it.
Jinlian saw that things were in a bad way for her. She realized that now she must leave this house. “If you must beat a man,” she said, “do not strike him on the face; and if you quarrel with anyone, do not talk about his faults. You have the upper hand now, but do not abuse your power. I have been here many years. Why should you drive me away without mercy, because you listen to the tittle-tattle of slaves and serving women? I will go. It is all the same to me. I warn you, though, that you and others will have to stay here to the ends of your lives. See that you don’t bring scandal upon yourselves.”
Yueniang went to her room. She got out two boxes, a small table, four dresses, a few ornaments, earrings and pins and a set of bedclothes. She filled up the boxes with shoes and socks. She told Qiuju to come to her, and Jinlian’s room was locked up.
Jinlian dressed and said good-bye to Yueniang. Then she went to Ximen Qing’s tablet and sobbed. Afterwards, she went to see Yulou. They had been sisters for a long time, and now, when they had to part, they both shed tears. Without saying anything to Yueniang, Yulou gave her a pair of gold pins, a light blue silk dress, and a red skirt.
“Sister,” she said, “we shall have few chances to see each other in the future. Look for a good home and go forward. The proverb says: every banquet must come to an end, and now we must say good-bye. When you find a home, ask someone to let me know. When I go out, I may be able to come and see you. We love one another as sisters.”
They left one another in tears. Xiaoyu went with Jinlian to the gate and quietly gave her two gold hairpins. “Sister,” Jinlian said to her, “you are very kind.” Old woman Wang had already found somebody to carry the things. Only Yulou and Xiaoyu saw Jinlian get into her sedan chair.
When the woman came to old woman Wang’s house, she was taken to the inner room and they slept together during the night.
Wang Chao was now grown up and his hair was dressed as a man’s. But he was not yet married, and slept in the other room. The day after her arrival, Jinlian dressed very daintily and stood looking out from behind the lattice. She had nothing to do and spent her time painting her eyebrows or playing the lute. When old woman Wang was not at home, she would play chess or dominoes with Wang Chao. The old woman busied herself feeding the donkeys and sifting the flour and did not pay much attention. So, in a few days, Jinlian was engaged in a love affair with Wang Chao. At night, when old woman Wang was asleep, Jinlian would pretend to get out of bed to make water, but really she went to the other room and sported with Wang Chao. Once the bed made such a noise that old woman Wang woke up.
“What is that noise?” she cried.
“The cat is catching a rat underneath the cabinet,” Wang Chao answered.
Old woman Wang, half asleep, murmured: “Ever since I have had that wheat flour there, I have been worried about it. I can’t even sleep at nights now.”
After a while, the noise began once more, and the old woman again called out to know what was the matter.
“The cat has caught the rat and taken it under the bed.”
The old woman listened attentively, and indeed the sound was like that of a cat worrying a rat. She said no more. Jinlian finished what she had begun, crept quietly into bed and went to sleep.
The rat is small
But bolder than it looks,
Hungry and eager, ready for any prank. When anyone appears,
It beats retreat and hides.
Its scufflings in the depth of night
Disturb good honest slumberers.
Oblivious of the rules of good behavior
It loves to find a hole in which to hide
And always takes the most delight
In stolen sweets.
When Chen Jingji heard that Jinlian had left Ximen’s household
and was now at old woman Wang’s, he took two strings of coppers and went to call there. Old woman Wang was at the door sweeping up the donkey’s droppings. Jingji bowed low.
“Brother, what can I do for you?” the old woman said.
“I should like a word with you,” Jingji said.
The old woman took him into the house.
“I understand,” Jingji said, “that the Fifth Lady of his late Lordship Ximen is here, looking for a husband. Is that so?”
“What is your relationship to her?” the old woman asked.
“I am her younger brother,” Jingji said, smiling.
The old woman looked at him from head to foot. “I never knew she had a brother,” she said. “Don’t try to hoodwink me. Are you not Ximen’s son-in-law? Your name is Chen, and you have come here to get her for yourself. You can’t deceive me like that.”
Jingji, still smiling, brought out the two strings of coppers and held them out to the old woman. “This may serve to buy you some tea,” he said. “I only wish to see her for a moment. Later on, I will reward you more suitably.”
When the old woman saw the money, she protested more strongly. “Don’t talk about rewards to me,” she said. “The Great Lady told me that nobody must be allowed to see her. If you really wish to speak to her, give me five taels of silver, and if you wish to speak to her a second time, that will be another five taels. If you wish to marry her, it will cost you a hundred taels with ten for myself. I shall not do this business for nothing. These two strings of coppers won’t even make a splash if you throw them into the water.”
Jingji saw that the old woman had a good deal to say, and that she would not accept what he had brought. He took from his hair a pair of silver pins with gold heads, worth five qian. He knelt down.
“Old Mother Wang,” he said, “take this. I will give you another tael another day. Just let me see her for a moment. There is something I must say to her.”
The old woman took the pins and the money. “Go in,” she said. “Speak to her and then come out again. I can’t have you sitting there making faces at her. And I must have the other money tomorrow.” She pulled aside the lattice and allowed Jingji to go in.
Jinlian was sitting on the bed. “You splendid fellow!” she said to Chen Jingji, “you have brought me to such a pass that, if I go forward, there is no village ahead of me, and, if I go back, no inn where I can rest. I don’t know what to do, and everybody has heard this scandal about us. You never came to see me. I am a poor, helpless woman with nowhere to go. Whose fault is it?” She clung to Jingji and sobbed. This annoyed old woman Wang very much. She was afraid someone might hear.
“Sister,” Jingji said, “I have sacrificed my skin and flesh and suffered from anger and shame on your account. I would have come to see you if I could. Yesterday, I went to old woman Xue’s place, and they told me that Chunmei had been sold to some military gentleman. It was there I heard that you had left Ximen’s house and were staying here to find a husband. I came at once to see you. I want to discuss matters with you. We love one another and we cannot bear to be parted. Now, I propose to divorce Ximen’s daughter, and then I shall go to them for the money and things they have of mine. If they refuse, I will go to the Eastern Capital and accuse them before the courts. If that business is ever taken to law, they will be done for, even if they give up the stuff. When I get the money, I will marry you. I see no reason why we should not be happy together for ever and ever.”
“Old woman Wang wants a hundred taels,” Jinlian said. “Have you got so much?”
“Why does she ask so much?” Jingji said.
“Your mother-in-law told me,” the old woman said, “that when Master Ximen got this woman, he spent more money than would have built a woman of silver. She insists upon a hundred taels and not a penny less.”
“Old Mother,” Jingji said, “I am crazy about this lady. We cannot live without one another. I see we are at your mercy. I will give you half the money, fifty or sixty taels. Then I will go to my uncle and arrange to have a small house and marry the lady. It is a beautiful idea, and you must soften your heart a little.”
“Fifty or sixty taels, did you say?” the old woman cried. “Even if you offered eighty, you would not get her. Yesterday, a silk merchant from Huzhou, a man called He, offered seventy for her. Then Zhang the Second of the High Street, who is an officer, sent two of his men and offered eighty. They brought the money with them, but I would not take it and they had to go away. You are only a boy. You don’t know what you’re talking about. You come here and think you’ll make a fool of me. You know I am not likely to be hard.”
She set out for the street. “Whenever did anybody hear of a son-in-law wanting his mother-in-law?” she said loudly. “He thinks he’ll come farting here, does he?”
Jingji was alarmed and dragged the old woman back. He knelt down before her. “Old Mother,” he said, “don’t say another word. You shall have your hundred taels. You know my father is at the Eastern Capital. I will go to him tomorrow and get the money.”
“You must be quick or you’ll be too late,” Jinlian said. “Someone else will get me, and I can never belong to you.”
“I will get a horse and start at once,” Jingji promised.
“I shall be back in less than a fortnight.”
“Let me tell you this,” old woman Wang said. “If you are the first to cook the rice, you will be the first to eat it. Remember, that doesn’t include the ten taels for myself.”
“Do not mention it again,” Jingji said. “If you will only help me, I shall never forget your kindness.”
Jingji went away. He went home, packed his luggage, and the next day hired a horse and set off for the Eastern Capital to get the money.
CHAPTER 87
Wu Song Avenges His Brother
My home is far away. In this harassed world
We are dispersed, some to the east some to the west.
They who still live seek to have news of one another
But the dead are become dust,
And the poor are ruined.
At last the hero returns
He has walked for long.
The road was deserted and at sunset
The air was full of sadness.
Foxes he met, both large and small, which glared at him,
Their hair on end.
But a good sword have I, and I can deal with them.
Chen Jingji took a horse and set out with one of his uncle’s servants. The day after Wu Yueniang had sent Pan Jinlian away, she sent Chunhong for old woman Xue. She had decided to sell Qiuju. When Chunhong came to the High Street, he met Ying Bojue. The man stopped him and asked him where he was going.
“The Great Lady has told me to go for old woman Xue,” the boy said. “Why?” Bojue asked.
“She is going to sell the Fifth Lady’s maid Qiuju.”
“Why did they send the Fifth Lady away?” Bojue said.
“She and my brother-in-law carried on together secretly, but the Great Lady found out about it,” Chunhong said. “First, she dealt with Chunmei. Then, she gave the young man a beating and drove him away. And finally, she got rid of the Fifth Lady.”
Ying Bojue nodded his head. “So there was something between the Fifth Lady and Master Chen,” he said. “Really, there is no telling what people will do.” Then he said to Chunhong: “My boy, now that your master is dead, why do you stay there? You will never do any good. I know you would prefer to be in the South. Why don’t you go to your native place and get a job there?”
“You are right,” Chunhong said. “Now that my master is dead, the Great Lady is very severe with us. Nearly all the businesses have been closed down, and several houses have been sold. Qintong and Huatong have gone, and, indeed, they don’t need so many people about the place. I should have liked to go to the South, but I couldn’t think of anyone who would take me there. And I don’t know the people here very well, which makes it difficult for me to get a job in these parts.”
“You silly boy!” Bojue said. “One who does not keep his eyes open will always be in difficulties. If you go to the South, you will have to cross ten thousand rivers and climb a thousand mountains. Why go there? You can sing, and there will be no difficulty in finding another master for you. I can tell you of one, straight off. There is his Lordship Zhang the Second of the High Street. He is very rich and now holds the office your master used to hold. Your Second Lady married him as his second wife. Let me introduce you to him. When he finds that you can sing the Southern tunes, I guarantee that he will take you on at once, and keep you as one of his most favored boys. He is very different from your old master, good-tempered and young. He is very generous and agreeable. You will certainly be in luck’s way if you get him for a master.”
Chunhong knelt down and kowtowed to Ying Bojue. “Uncle,” he said, “I shall count upon your help. If I find a place with Master Zhang, I will buy you a present.”
Bojue pulled the boy up. “Stand up, you silly boy,” he said. “I am only too glad to be able to help people. I don’t want any presents from you, for I know you haven’t any money.”
“If I go away, I expect the Great Lady will find out a number of things I have done wrong,” the boy said.
“Don’t worry about that,” Bojue said. “I will go and see Master Zhang, and get a tael of silver and a card from him. If he sends them to your mistress, she will not dare to take any money. She will give you up for nothing.”
The boy went on to old woman Xue’s house. The old woman went to see Yueniang and took Qiuju away. She sold the girl for five taels of silver and paid the money to Yueniang.
Then Ying Bojue took Chunhong to Zhang the Second’s house. When Zhang the Second found that the boy was intelligent and could sing the songs of the South, he told him to stay. He sent a tael and a card to Ximen’s place and asked for the boy’s luggage.
Yueniang was entertaining Yun Lishou’s wife. Yun Lishou was now an assistant magistrate at Qinghe. After Ximen’s death, knowing that Yueniang was a very rich widow, he struck up a friendship with her. That was why his wife had come to see Yueniang that day with eight presents. She wished to arrange a marriage between Yueniang’s son and her own child who was two months old. They settled the matter as they were drinking together, and Mistress Yun gave Yueniang two gold rings as an engagement token.
The Golden Lotus, Volume 2 Page 63