Jingji took it. “How is she?” he said.
“She is not very well, now that you have been so long away from her,” the old man said. “She told me to say that you must go.”
Jingji looked at the card.
To my lover Chen [it said]. Ever since you left me, I have been thinking of you all the time. You promised me you would come back, and I have stood at the door and waited for you, yet you have never deigned to visit this poor place. Yesterday I sent our old servant for news of you, but he came back without seeing you. He heard only that you were not well. That word made me so sad that I cannot sit or lie down in peace. I wish I had wings that I might fly to you. You are at your own home, where you have a delightful lady to give you pleasure, and you think of me no more. I am like the kernel of a fruit that you have spat from your mouth. I send you some cakes and food to show my love for you. Please accept them with an indulgent smile, for my love knows no bounds. Your unworthy Han Aijie greets you.
Then came the words:
I am sending you an embroidered red bag with a lock of my hair to show how much I love you. The twentieth day of the second month of summer. Han Aijie again makes reverence to you.
Jingji read the letter and looked at the little bag. There was a lock of black hair in it, and, attached to it, a small label with the words “To my lover, Chen.” He folded everything up as it had been before and put it in his sleeve.
Not far from the house there was a small wineshop. He told the boy to take the old man there and give him something to drink. “I am going to write a letter,” he said. “Take in the presents and, if your mother asks whom they are from, tell her that my manager Xie at the wine house has sent them.”
The boy took in the boxes. Jingji went to his study and secretly wrote a letter. Then he took five taels of silver and went to the wineshop.
“Have you had some wine?” he said to the old man.
“Yes, Master! Thank you very much. I can’t drink any more because I must be going back.”
Jingji gave the letter and the silver to the old man. “Tell Han Aijie,” he said, “that she is to spend this money. I will come and see her in two or three days.”
The old man took the letter and the silver and went away. When Jingji went home again, his wife asked him who had sent the presents.
“Xie, my manager at the wine house, heard that I was ill and he sent them.”
His wife believed him. They gave one of the roast ducks, one fish, and one pig’s trotter to Chunmei and told her that they had come from the manager of the wine house. Chunmei suspected nothing.
The sun had set when the old man came back to the wine house. He gave the silver and the letter to Han Aijie. She read it in the light of the lamp.
Younger Brother Jingji [it said] kowtows to his beloved Han the Fifth. I thank you for your letter and the delightful gifts that came with it. I, too, feel the desire for clouds and rain, and have not forgotten the joys of the bed I tasted with you. I have thought all the time of coming to you, but I have been ill and you have been disappointed. It was good of you to send someone to see me and to give me such charming dishes and that exquisitely made embroidered bag. I thank you with all my heart. I am offering you five taels of silver and a silk handkerchief, as a token of my love’s sincerity. I trust you will appreciate my gift. Jingji kowtows.
There was a short poem written on the handkerchief.
Han Aijie read the poem and gave the silver to her mother. So both women were pleased. They waited eagerly for Jingji’s coming.
CHAPTER 99
The Murder of Chen Jingji
There is a white cloud over the mountain
The leaves are red upon the trees.
They have seen the rise and fall of many things
Yet this world is as it has been always.
Many times the evening sun has passed over the fragrant grass
Many times the tide has ebbed and flowed
They have seen the generations come and go.
The way of Yuan
The road of Yang
They turn and twist like the guts of a sheep
And the wheels of the carriages go astray.
Where the horses neigh near the dreary bushes,
The strains of the recorder and the silver zither
Once were heard
And the sound of singing through the night.
Two days later, it was Chunmei’s birthday, the twenty-fifth day of the fifth month. There was a feast in the hall of the inner court and the household kept holiday. The next morning, Jingji said: “I haven’t been to the wine house for a very long time. Today I have nothing else to do, so I will go there. It will give me an opportunity to get away from this stifling heat, and I can go through the accounts with my managers,”
“You must take a sedan chair and not tire yourself,” Chunmei said. She ordered two men to take him in a chair. He set off with his boy and came to the wine house about noon. When he got out of his chair, the two managers welcomed him and asked if he were better. He thanked them, but he was really thinking about Han Aijie. He had hardly sat down before he was up again.
“Get your accounts ready,” he said to the managers, “and I will go through them with you when I come back.”
He went to the back of the house. There the Hans’ old man saw him and hurried in to tell his people. Han Aijie was upstairs on the balcony, composing a poem. Gathering up her skirts, she ran swiftly downstairs. Mother and daughter smiled. “Sir,” they said, “it is seldom that we are allowed the pleasure of seeing you. What good wind has blown you here?”
Jingji bowed to them, and they went together into the room and sat down. Wang Liu’er made tea. When they had drunk it, Han Aijie took the young man to her room. They were so delighted in each other’s company that they were as merry as the fishes in the water, and they spoke the tenderest words to one another.
Under the ink slab there was a piece of colored paper. Jingji took it and looked at it. “That is the poem I have been writing,” Han Aijie told him. “I was thinking of you when I wrote it, but I fear you will find it very bad.” Jingji read it.
I rest upon the embroidered bed
And am too weary to move.
Alone, I pull down the silken curtain and bend my head.
My treasure has gone
And I have no message from him.
I think of him throughout the day.
Jingji told her the poem was delightful. Then Wang Liu’er brought them wine and food. She took away the mirror and set out the food on the toilet table. They sat down together and Aijie offered him a cup of wine with both hands. She made a reverence and said: “Since you went away, I have been thinking of you all the time. The other day our old man brought the money you sent, and my parents and I are grateful to you.”
Jingji took the cup and bowed to her in return. “It was only because I was ill that I did not come to see you,” he said. “I am sorry.” He drank the wine and gave the cup back to her. Then they sat down again and drank together. Wang Liu’er and Han Daoguo came up and had some wine with them, but they went away again almost at once. They knew that the young couple would rather get on with their lovemaking.
When they had drunk wine enough, their blood was stirred. They did not only what they had done before, but many things that were new, and their love seemed limitless. Then they dressed again, washed their hands and went on drinking. After a few more cups their eyes sparkled, and they felt that still they were unsatisfied.
The young man had been very ill-content at home. He had been thinking of Han Aijie all the time and had not touched his wife. Now that he again met the girl he loved, he could not be satisfied with one encounter. Their love seemed to have been maturing for five hundred years. He was fascinated by her. Soon his passions were roused again and he set to. Then he felt weary and could do no more. Indeed, he did not even take any food, but simply lay down on the bed and went to sleep.
That day the silk merchant He came to
the house. Wang Liu’er drank with him, and her husband went to the street to buy fresh vegetables and fruit. While he was out, the merchant and Wang Liu’er took their pleasure together. When he came back, all three drank together.
About sunset, Tiger Liu rushed into the wine house. He was drunk and his unbuttoned clothes revealed his purple flesh. His hands were clenched. “Where is that Southerner He?” he cried.
The two managers were alarmed. They knew that Jingji was asleep upstairs and did not wish him to be disturbed. “Brother Liu,” they said to the Tiger, “he is not here.” Liu would not believe them. He strode to Han Daoguo’s room, tore the lattice aside, and went in. The merchant was sitting beside Wang Liu’er, drinking.
“Ha, you doggish pair!” he cried. “I have been looking for you everywhere and at last I’ve found you. You had two girls in my wineshop and you haven’t paid them. You haven’t paid your rent either, and here you are with another woman.”
He stood up at once. “Don’t be angry, my friend,” he said. “I am just going.”
“Going, are you, you dog?” Tiger Liu said, in a furious temper. He drove his fist into the merchant’s face, so that it swelled up immediately. He did not trouble about his face; he was only anxious to get to the door and run away. Liu kicked over the table and smashed all the plates. Wang Liu’er cursed him.
“Who are you, you thief? How dare you come farting here? You won’t bully me.”
Liu went to her and knocked her down. “Who are you, strumpet?” he said. “What do you mean by coming here and practicing your trade in secret without asking my leave? I do not permit you to stay here. Clear out at once, or you will taste my fist.”
“Rogue, who are you?” Wang Liu’er said. “I suppose you think I have no one here to defend me. Well, I won’t live any longer.” She banged her head on the floor and sobbed loudly.
“Woman, you don’t frighten me,” the Tiger said. “I shall smash your belly in.”
There was so much shouting and quarreling that all the neighbors came to look on. One of them said to her: “Mistress Han, you have only just come here, or you would know that this is the famous Tiger Liu, the brother-in-law of Master Zhang of the General’s office. He lives at a wine house, and singing girls are his specialty. It is he who controls all the wine drinkers in these parts. You must let him have his way. You don’t know how powerful he is. Nobody here ever dares to offend him.”
“There must be somebody over him,” Wang Liu’er said. “Why should I do what he tells me?”
Lu, seeing the Tiger in a fury, at last succeeded in getting him away. Jingji had heard the noise downstairs. He saw that the sun was setting and got up to ask what all the noise was about. Han Daoguo had disappeared, but Wang Liu’er, her hair in disorder and her face dirty, ran upstairs and told him.
“I don’t know who he is,” she said. “I only know they call him Tiger. They say he is the brother-in-law of Zhang at the General’s office. He came here to see one of the guests and struck and insulted me. He upset the table and smashed all the plates.” She cried loudly.
Jingji sent for the two managers and questioned them. They could only tell him the truth. Liu the Second, they said, had come to look for the merchant He. He saw the man he sought in Han Daoguo’s room, went in, pulled up the lattice, and struck him. He ran away, and then Liu quarreled with Mistress Han. He knocked her down and people came out of the street to see.
Then Jingji remembered that this Liu was the man who had beaten him in the days when he was a priest. He knew that Liu was too much for him to deal with, so he said no more at that time, except to ask where Liu was then. “We got him out,” the managers said. Jingji tried to console Wang Liu’er. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I am here, and I will protect you. You stay where you are. I am going home, and I shall know how to deal with him.” He took the money from his managers, got into his sedan chair, and went home. It was quite dark when he arrived. He was very angry. He gave all the money to Chunmei and went to bed. The next day, he was several times on the point of telling her about Wang Liu’er, but, whenever he thought about it, he decided to say nothing. “I will wait and see if Zhang Sheng does not do something wrong,” he said to himself. “Then I will tell Chunmei, and the General will put an end to him. I have never sought trouble with that fellow, but he has bullied me several times. It is his fault, not mine.”
One day, Jingji went again to the wine house. He saw the mother and daughter, and they talked about the quarrel.
“Has Liu the Second been here again?” Jingji asked.
“No,” Wang Liu’er said, “not since that day.”
Then he asked Han Aijie if the merchant He had been to see them again, and she said he had not.
Jingji had his dinner, examined the accounts, and went upstairs to amuse himself with Han Aijie. Then he sent for the waiter, Chen the Third, and asked him if he knew anything that could be held against either Zhang Sheng or Tiger Liu. The waiter told him how Zhang Sheng was keeping Xue’e, who was now a singing girl at the wine house. He told him, too, how Liu lent money to people at a very high rate of interest, and indeed brought much discredit upon the General’s administration. Jingji listened very carefully to all this. He got his money from the managers, gave Han Aijie three taels, and took the rest away. Then he rode home. He never forgot the trouble between Liu and himself, and the hatred between them was so strong that it seemed certain that, if they met, trouble was inevitable.
About this time, Huizong, the Son of Heaven, heard at the Eastern Capital that the army of Jin had attacked the frontier and even plundered places on this side. The situation was serious. The Emperor held a conference with his ministers, and it was decided that an envoy should be sent to them to declare that the Emperor was ready to pay several millions of money every year for the sake of peace. At the same time, he abdicated in favor of his son. Thus the seventh year of Xuanhe became the first year of Jinkang, and the new Emperor took the title of Qinzong. The old Emperor called himself the Supreme Daoist Emperor and retired to the Palace of Dragon Virtue. The new Emperor placed Li Gang, the Minister of War, in command of the whole imperial army, and Chong Shidao was appointed Marshal and Generalissimo.
One day an order came to Jinanfu appointing Zhou to the command of all the troops in Shandong, and instructing him to take ten thousand men to garrison Dongchangfu. There he was to join the Censor, Zhang Shuye, and check the advance of the Jin army.
When Zhou received this order, he sent at once for Zhang Sheng and Li An, placed them in charge of his treasure, and sent them home with it. He had been in Shandong for nearly a year and had amassed a considerable amount of wealth. Everything was carefully packed and the men were instructed to take the utmost care of the valuables entrusted to them. The General told them that he would set out for his new appointment from Qinghe.
When the two men reached home, they handed over the treasure to Chunmei. Jingji saw that Zhang Sheng was back again, and heard from him of the General’s new appointment, and that he would be home very shortly. He decided to tell Chunmei about Zhang Sheng, so that they could both tell the same tale to Zhou when he arrived.
One day his wife, Cuiping, went to see her mother, and he was asleep in the study when Chunmei suddenly came in. There was nobody about, and they undressed and took their pleasure of one another. At that moment, Zhang Sheng was making the rounds of the house with a bell. When he came to the door in the courtyard by the study, he heard the sound of a woman’s laughter. He stopped ringing his bell and went quietly to the window; so he discovered what Chunmei and Jingji were about. He heard Jingji say how he hated Zhang Sheng, and how badly Zhang Sheng had treated him. He heard him say that Zhang Sheng had ordered his brother-in-law, Tiger Liu, to go to the wine house and drive away his customers. The Tiger, with Zhang Sheng behind him, was lending money to people. Zhang Sheng was also sleeping with Xue’e, and keeping the matter dark. “I kept the matter to myself,” he said, “because I didn’t wish to worry you. But now
the General is coming back, and so I tell you. If I don’t, I shall never be able to go to the wine house to attend to my business.”
“What a scoundrel the fellow is,” Chunmei cried. “I sold Xue’e. How dare he sleep with her?”
“He ill-treats me and he has no respect for you,” Jingji said.
“Wait till my husband comes,” Chunmei said, “and we’ll get rid of him for good and all.”
The pair never suspected that Zhang Sheng was outside the window and could hear every word they said.
“If I don’t finish them, they will finish me,” Zhang Sheng said to himself. He put down his bell and went to his room. There he took a dagger and sharpened it on a whetstone. Then he went to the study.
Fortunately, Heaven saved Chunmei’s life. One of her maids called her away. The baby had fallen, she said, and asked her mistress to go and see him. She had just left the room when Zhang Sheng, with his dagger, entered it. Jingji was still in bed.
“What do you want?” Jingji said.
“Uncle, I have come to kill you. I was not seeking trouble, but you dared to tell that strumpet that I must die. The proverb says: Black-headed vermin should not be spared; they eat human flesh. Don’t try to escape. My knife is waiting for you. A year from today will be your year’s mind.”
Jingji had not a stitch of clothing on him. He could not get away, but he gripped the bedclothes tightly. Zhang Sheng pulled them off. He drove the dagger into Jingji’s side and the blood gushed forth. As the young man still struggled, Zhang Sheng drove his dagger into his breast. That was the end. Zhang Sheng grasped him by the hair and cut off his head. Jingji was only twenty-seven years old when he came to this miserable end.
Zhang Sheng, still grasping his dagger, went behind the bed to look for Chunmei, but she was not there. Then he rushed to the inner court. But when he came to the second door, Li An, who was also going the rounds, saw him coming like the god of wrath, dashing towards him with the dagger raised. He asked Zhang Sheng where he was going but got no answer. Then he stopped Zhang Sheng. Zhang Sheng pointed the dagger at him. Li An laughed. “My Uncle,” he said, “is Li Gui the famous Demon of Shandong. You shall know what I can do.” He lifted his right leg and kicked the dagger out of Zhang Sheng’s hand. It fell with a clang on the floor. Zhang Sheng fought desperately, but Li An got him down and bound him with his girdle.
The Golden Lotus, Volume 2 Page 81