The Golden Lotus, Volume 2

by Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng

  “After Yang the Elder stole your things,” Lu told him, “he started a wineshop at Linqing. He is a partner of Xie. Besides owning that wine-shop, he is acting as a moneylender and doing very well. He lends to the people of Linqing and especially the singing girls. He wears smart clothes and eats good food. Every few days he gets on a donkey and goes to the wine house to collect his share of the takings. He doesn’t care for his old friends any more. His younger brother has turned his place into a gambling den. He still keeps dogs and goes in for cock-fighting, and nobody dares to interfere with him.”

  “I saw him last year,” Jingji said. “Instead of showing me the least kindness, he struck me. Fortunately a friend saved me from him. I hate that man as though my very marrow were imbued with hatred.”

  He took Lu to a wine house on the street, and they talked of finding a way by which Jingji could get his revenge.

  “There is an old saying,” Lu said, “that if a gentleman hates at all, he hates well. A great man must have a hand that can deal out ruin. When you come to deal with him, you must remember that unless you see a man’s coffin, you do not weep for him. I have an idea. Brother, all you need do is to make out an accusation, send it to the court, and demand the money and goods that Yang stole from you. We can get his wine house. Then we need only add a little capital and carry on the place as a business ourselves. I will go and help Xie to manage it, and you can come every few days to go through the accounts. I am sure you would make more than a hundred taels a month. I can think of nothing else that would pay so well.”

  “Brother, you are right,” Jingji said. “I will go and speak to my cousin and her husband about it. If we can get hold of that business, I will let you and Xie manage it.”

  They drank their wine, went downstairs and paid the reckoning. Jingji impressed upon his companion the necessity for keeping the matter secret, and they parted. When he got home, he mentioned the matter to Chunmei. “The General is not at home,” he said. “What can we do about it?”

  Zhang Sheng was there. He said: “Uncle, all you need do is to write out your accusation and say how much was stolen. Then seal it up with the General’s card and I will send it to the magistrates. They will certainly order Yang’s arrest, and, when he has been punished, we shall get the money.”

  Jingji wrote out an accusation at once. He put the General’s card with it and gave it to Zhou Zhong to take to the courts. When Zhou Zhong came in, the two magistrates were in the hall hearing a case, but when they heard that Zhou had sent them a letter they called Zhou Zhong before them at once. They asked him about his master’s new appointment, then opened the envelope and took out the card and the accusation. They were only too anxious to do anything for the General and issued a warrant for Yang’s arrest at once. Then they gave Zhou Zhong a return card, and said: “Give our respects to your mistress and tell her that we will send you word when we get the money out of Yang.” Zhou Zhong took the card and went home.

  “The magistrates ordered Yang’s arrest,” he told Chunmei. “They say we have only to wait, and they will get the money back for us.” Jingji looked at the card. It bore the words: “He Yongshou and Zhang Maode kowtow.” He was very pleased. Two days later, the Yang brothers were arrested and the magistrates tried them upon the accusation Jingji had brought against them. They beat them and cast them into prison. Then the two Yangs gave up three hundred and fifty taels of silver, a hundred rolls of cloth, and the wineshop was valued at fifty taels. The total sum that Chen Jingji had mentioned was nine hundred taels, so they were still three hundred and fifty taels short. Yang sold his house for fifty, and was utterly ruined. Thus Jingji came into possession of the great wine house and went into partnership with Xie. Chunmei gave him five hundred taels more, so that he had a thousand taels in all. He made Lu Bingyi his manager. They redecorated the whole place, painted the walls, and brightened up the balconies. Everything was made to look new, even the tables.

  It was about the middle of the first month when Jingji started this business, and every day they took thirty or fifty taels. Xie and Lu managed everything between them, and Jingji only came every few days. He used to ride there on horseback with a boy in attendance, and Lu and Xie always had an especially beautiful room prepared for him upstairs. They gave him wine and food and picked out the most beautiful singing girls for his benefit. Chen the Third was a waiter there.

  One day in the third month, the Spring was bright and beautiful and everything sweet and fragrant. The willows and the locust trees on the banks of the river were wonderfully green, and the pink apricot and peach flowers seemed like embroidery. Jingji, leaning on the railing of his balcony, admired the exquisite scene.

  The breeze blows softly

  The mist enwraps the embroidered earth like a mantle.

  In this season of peace the days grow longer

  The hero’s spirit grows lighter

  And the beautiful maidens are gay once more.

  The willows on the river’s bank lengthen their branches

  A pole is set beside the apricot tree.

  The young man has not done all he would

  Yet now he can enjoy the singing

  And make his way into the world of dreams

  To which wine leads.

  As Jingji was looking down, he saw two small boats draw to the wharf. They were weighed down by boxes and furniture. Four or five men began to carry these things to the rooms downstairs. On the boat were two women, one middle-aged, tall, and dark-complexioned; the other young and very fair, her face powdered. She seemed about twenty years old. They entered the wine house.

  “Who are they?” Jingji said to Xie. “Why did they walk in so haughtily instead of asking leave?”

  “They have come from the Eastern Capital to visit a kinsman,” Xie told him. “They cannot find a house, so they asked our neighbor Fan to give them a room. They are only going to stay two or three days. I was going to tell you about them when you asked me.”

  Jingji felt annoyed, but the younger of the two women came and made a reverence to him. “Sir,” she said, “please do not be angry. It is not your manager’s fault, but mine. We need a room so much that we came without giving you notice. I am very sorry. We shall stay only for a few days. Then we will pay for our rooms and go away.”

  Jingji listened to these soothing words and looked at the young woman from head to foot. She gazed at him with star-like eyes. Jingji thought: “I have seen this woman before.” Then he looked at the other woman, and she looked hard at him.

  “Are you not Ximen Qing’s son-in-law?” she said to him.

  Jingji was taken aback. “How did you know?” he said.

  “I am Han Daoguo’s wife,” the older woman said, “and this is my daughter Han Aijie.”

  “But you and your husband live in the Eastern Capital,” Jingji said. “What are you doing here? Where is your husband?”

  “My husband is on the boat seeing to the furniture,” the woman said.

  Jingji ordered a waiter to go and bring Han. After a while he came. His hair was now white.

  “Chen Dong,” he said, “of the Imperial Academy, brought an accusation against six of the highest ministers of the Court. They were Cai, the Imperial Tutor; Tong, the Grand Marshal; Li, the Minister of the Right; Grand Marshal Zhu, Grand Marshal Gao, and Grand Chamberlain Li. The Censors supported this indictment, and the Emperor accepted it. They were all arrested, brought before the Supreme Court, and sentenced to banishment for life. Cai Yu, the Imperial Tutor’s son, has been executed and his property confiscated. We three ran for our lives. We went first to Qinghe to find my brother, but he has sold my house and disappeared. Then we took a boat and came here. I am very glad to meet you. Are you still in Ximen’s household?”

  “No,” Jingji said, “I left there. Now I am a counselor in General Zhou’s department. I have two partners here and keep this wine house for a living. Now that I have met you, I shan’t let you go. You must stay here and make this place your own.”


  Han Daoguo and the women kowtowed to Jingji. They went on moving their things into the wine house. Jingji found things going too slowly, and ordered Chen the Third and a boy to help them. Wang Liu’er thanked him again.

  “You really must not thank me,” Jingji said. “We belong, as it were, to the same family.”

  It was late and Jingji began to think of going home. He told his manager to give Han everything he needed to eat and drink. Then he mounted his horse and went home with his boy. All night through, he could do nothing but think of Han Aijie.

  Two days later he again dressed himself in his best clothes and went to the wine house with his boy. He attended to his business and then Han Daoguo asked him to take tea. As a matter of fact, he was thinking of going to them when the invitation was brought to him. He went to them. Han Aijie came smiling towards him and made a reverence. Then she asked him to go into their room. Wang Liu’er and Han Daoguo were both there. After tea they talked over past days. Jingji looked at Han Aijie and Aijie looked at him. They soon came to an understanding.

  Before very long, Han Daoguo went out. Aijie asked Jingji how old he was, and he asked her. “We are both the same age,” she said, smiling. “And we were both members of Ximen’s household. Now we meet again here. It would really seem as though Destiny had brought us together over so many miles.”

  Wang Liu’er saw that they seemed to be on very good terms with one another. She made some excuse and left them. They now sat face to face, alone. Aijie spoke to him with sweet words that he could not fail to understand, for he had been used to the society of women ever since he was a child. He smiled at her.

  Both Han Aijie and her mother, on their journey from the Eastern Capital, had done some traffic in their bodies. Now that the girl met Jingji she felt that Heaven had sent him to her. They seemed to understand and love each other without need for words. She came closer and sat beside him.

  “Will you show me that gold pin in your hair?” she said. “I should like to look at it.” But before he could take it out for her she had taken it out for herself. “Come upstairs,” she said, smiling, “and I will tell you something.” She led the way and Jingji, who was only waiting for such an opportunity, followed her immediately.

  “Sister, what is it you wish to say to me,” he asked when they were upstairs.

  “You and I have come together today,” Aijie said, “and to me it seems that Heaven has ordained our meeting. I am ready to enjoy with you the pleasures of the bed.”

  “I am grateful to you, Sister,” Jingji said, “but aren’t you afraid someone may find out?”

  She put forth all her powers of fascination. She threw her arms around him and, with her dainty fingers, took down his trousers. Then they gave rein to their passion till they lost all control of themselves. She took off her clothes and gave herself to him.

  Jingji asked what place she held in the family. “I was born on the Summer Day,” she told him, “and they called me the Fifth Maid, but my name is Aijie.”

  When they had taken their fill of pleasure, they sat down again together. She put the gold pin back into his hair. “My parents and I came from the Eastern Capital to visit our kinsman,” she said. “We are very poor, and, if you have any money with you, I will ask you to give my father five taels and I will pay it back to you with interest.”

  “I will lend it to him without interest, since you ask,” Jingji said.

  He gave her the five taels and sat with her for a long time. But he did not wish anyone else to know what was happening, so he would only take a cup of tea with her, and when she asked him to stay and have something to eat, he declined. “I can’t stay now,” he said, “I have some business to attend to. I will bring you some more money.”

  “This afternoon, I shall prepare a poor cup of wine for you,” the girl said. “That you cannot refuse. You must come.” Jingji took his dinner in the wine house and then went to the street for a stroll. In the street he met Jin Zongming, the monk of Yangong Temple. They talked about the things that had happened there.

  “I didn’t know you had settled down in the General’s household and had set up this wineshop, or I would have come to see you,” the monk said. “Tomorrow I will send a boy with some tea. I hope you will come to the temple when you have leisure.”

  Then the monk went his way, and Jingji went back to the wine house.

  “Our guest Han has been asking for you,” Lu said. “He is anxious to offer you some wine. But we could not find you.”

  As they spoke, a messenger came from Han Daoguo asking them, the two managers and Jingji, to go. They went. Wine and food were set out on the table. Jingji took the place of honor and Han Daoguo the host’s place. The two managers, Lu and Xie, sat facing Wang Liu’er and Han Aijie. Han’s servant heated the wine for them. After it had been around several times, the two managers began to see light. “You stay,” they said to Jingji, “we must go and attend to business.”

  Jingji had not a steady head, but, when the two managers had gone, he drank without restraint. After a few cups he began to feel tipsy.

  “I suppose you won’t go home today,” Han Aijie said to him.

  “No,” Jingji said, “it is late. I will stay until tomorrow.”

  Wang Liu’er and Han Daoguo went downstairs. Jingji gave five taels of silver to Han Aijie, and she went to give the money to her mother. Then she came back, and they went on drinking. They did not stop before sunset. Aijie took off her long coat and asked Jingji to stay with her. They spoke hot words of love together, and her voice was as sweet as an oriole’s. They enjoyed every manner of love’s delight.

  When Han Aijie had lived in the Eastern Capital as Zhai’s concubine, she had often visited the Imperial Tutor’s mother. She had learned how to read and write, how to play various instruments, and sing. She had become accomplished and attractive, and Jingji found her equal in charm to Pan Jinlian herself. He sported with her all the night. It was late the next day when he rose, and Wang Liu’er prepared a meal for him. Then he and the girl drank a few cups of warm wine.

  The managers invited the young man to have dinner with them. He dressed and went. Afterwards, he came back to say good-bye to Han Aijie. She hated to see him go away, and shed tears.

  “Never mind,” he said, “I will come and see you again in a few days.” Then he mounted his horse and, with his boy following, went back to the city. On the way, he warned the boy that he must not mention the Hans to anyone at home. The boy assured him that he did not need to be told.

  When they reached home, Jingji told them that he had had so much to do that he had not been able to come back the night before and had spent the night at the wine house. He gave Chunmei the money he had brought back with him, about thirty taels. His wife, Cuiping, suspected that he had been with another woman and had left her alone at home. Now she clung to him for seven or eight days and would not allow him to go to the wine house. The boy was sent to fetch the week’s money.

  Han Daoguo was in such need of money that he had to tell his wife to get some other man, a merchant or one of those who came to take tea or to drink in the wine house. He had found before that he was well able to live upon his wife’s earnings. It was true that she was growing older, but there was Han Aijie to take her place, and no reason why the business should come to an end. They even followed it openly.

  When Chen Jingji did not come back, the waiter Chen the Third found them a merchant from Huzhou. His name was He. He was about fifty years old and had silk goods with him worth a thousand taels. He was very anxious to have Han Aijie, but she was thinking of Jingji and made the excuse that she was unwell. Several times she refused to come down and see the merchant. Han Daoguo was greatly annoyed.

  This merchant He saw that Wang Liu’er was tall and dark. Her hair was dressed in long braids and her starlike eyes were extremely seductive. Her lips were painted very red. He thought it undoubtful that she must be skilled in the arts of love, so he gave her a tael of silver and spent
the night with her. Han Daoguo went to sleep somewhere else. Han Aijie did not come down. He enjoyed himself immensely. He became so attracted to Wang Liu’er that they were almost inseparable. Every two or three days he came to her and spent the night, and Han Daoguo was very well paid for his self-denial.

  Han Aijie missed Jingji. She thought of him so much that one day seemed like three autumns and one night as long as half a summer. She was, in fact, utterly lovesick. At last she sent their old servant to the city to try to get news of her lover. He went to the General’s house and secretly questioned the boy.

  “Why does your master not come to the wine house any more?” he said.

  “My master has not been very well,” the boy said. “He has not been out at all.”

  The old man came back and told Han Aijie. She spoke to her mother, and they decided to buy a pair of pig’s trotters, two roast ducks, two live fish, and a box of cakes. Han Aijie made some ink and wrote a card. They gave the things to the old man and told him to take them to Jingji. “When you get to the city,” Han Aijie told him, “you must take the things to Master Chen yourself and get a return card from him.”

  The old man tucked the card away and took the things to General Zhou’s. He sat down on a large block of stone. After a while the boy came out.

  “What are you doing here again?” the boy asked him.

  The old man bowed to him and took him aside.

  “I have come to see your master and brought him some presents. Go and tell him I am waiting here to see him.”

  The boy went into the house, and very soon Jingji came gaily out. It was the fifth month and very hot. He was wearing the lightest of clothes, a brimmed hat, summer shoes, and white socks. The old man bowed to him.

  “Master,” he said, “are you better? Han Aijie has sent me with these things. Here is her card.”