by Bangqing Han
When the manservant from the Hall of Beauties took the invitation to South Brocade Alley, he saw only a young shop assistant behind the counter of the Auspicious Luzon Lottery Store. When he asked for Bamboo Hu, the shop assistant said, “He’s not in. He’s at a party in Generosity Alley.”
“It’s so difficult to get hold of guests today! No one’s in,” the manservant said with a smile.
The shop assistant looked at the invitation. It suddenly occurred to him to earn a tip behind Constant Blessing’s back, so he said, “Leave the invitation here. I’ll deliver it for you; how about that?”
The manservant gladly entrusted him with the task, thanked him, and left. After that, the shop assistant told the cook to keep an eye on the store while he went to Green Phoenix’s in Generosity Alley. He headed straight upstairs, peeped in, and saw there was considerable confusion as everybody was about to sit down at the table. Overcome by shyness, the shop assistant did not go in. Instead, he handed the invitation to the servant girl, Little Treasure, who submitted it to Prosperity Luo. Prosperity passed it to Bamboo Hu, who, upon reading it, replied, “No, thanks.” The shop assistant returned to the store, his hopes dashed.
Soon the girls called to the party turned up one after another. Twin Pearl brought along an invitation for Benevolence Hong that was also from Lichee Zhuang, so Benevolence suggested that he should start the finger game. He took his leave when the others had broken his bank of ten cups. Prosperity Luo figured that Green Phoenix would have many things to attend to, so he thought it best if the party ended early. Those at the table did not have any great capacity for wine; they were just ordinary drinkers such as Bamboo Hu. Among them, only Mallow Yao was a rowdy drinker, and he happened to have received repeated reminders to go to another party and had to leave early. So unfortunately this splendid feast on a principal festival did not last all night, and neither was it enjoyed to the full. There was nothing to tell, no conservation to relate.
When the guests had gone, Prosperity Luo prepared to return to his residence.
“What other business do you have?” Green Phoenix asked.
“Nothing. But don’t you have to pack? You’ll be too busy if you leave everything till tomorrow,” Prosperity said.
Green Phoenix looked away and smiled. “Goodness! I finished packing ages ago. Would I have waited until now?”
Prosperity sat down again.
“Tomorrow won’t be a busy day, but you’ll be needed here. Don’t go,” she said.
Prosperity consented and told Promotion to go home with the sedan-chair bearers. But he was disturbed and annoyed by the raucousness of the finger game and the singing in Gold Phoenix’s room. By the time Gold Phoenix’s party was over, Green Phoenix was called to a party. He could not help feeling a little lonely. To buck himself up, he smoked three of the opium pellets Gold Phoenix had toasted.
Green Phoenix returned around midnight and bade the menservants to keep an eye on the incense and the pillar-sized candles.1 The menservants had asked Mama Zhao and Little Treasure to a card game to help them pass the night. There was continuous noise downstairs, and before Prosperity knew it, he had been talking to Green Phoenix until dawn. He quickly undressed, went to bed, and fell soundly asleep. As there was something on his mind, he did not oversleep. They got up together near noon and had lunch.
Early that morning, somebody had delivered a package to the room. Green Phoenix told Mama Zhao to give it to Second Sister for safekeeping, saying she would need it the next day. She also asked Second Sister to come upstairs. Green Phoenix fetched the document box Prosperity had left with her, asked him for the key, and opened it in front of both of them. The box contained nothing but an assortment of official and personal papers. When Green Phoenix told Prosperity to show Second Sister the documents, Second Sister declined with a smile. “That’s all right. Someone like you would never slip up. I don’t need to look.”
“But you do, Mother. These are his things, and I’m taking them with me, so when you have checked them, I’ll ask him to take a look as well. That way, if anything goes missing later on, it won’t concern you, Mother, right?”
Second Sister had to watch as Prosperity checked the contents of the box and locked it up again. Green Phoenix then told Mama Zhao to put it together with the package they had received earlier and to ask the bookkeeper to come up with the account book of clothes and jewelry.
This was a novel term to Prosperity, so he looked on with interest. It turned out that the first half of the account book listed items of jewelry while the second half listed items of clothing with annotations about the state of their repairs and alterations written in clear, small characters. He was much impressed by such thoroughness.
With Little Treasure’s help, Mama Zhao took three cases of jewelry out of the wardrobe. Green Phoenix opened one of them and put all the items on the table. She asked the bookkeeper to read out the list from the top. As each item came up, Green Phoenix handed Second Sister a piece of jewelry to check. Second Sister then handed it to Mama Zhao, who put it back in the case. When it was all done, Second Sister was asked to lock the cases. Altogether, there was one case of gold, one of pearls, and one of green and white jade. Every item in the three cases was intact, and nothing was missing.
Mama Zhao called two menservants upstairs to take out ten red lacquered trunks from behind the bed and the mezzanine room. Green Phoenix opened one of them, took out all the clothes, and put them on the divan. She then asked the bookkeeper to read out the list of clothes from the top. As each item came up, Green Phoenix took a garment and handed it to Second Sister to check, who then passed it to Mama Zhao to put back into the trunk. When it was all done, Second Sister was asked to lock the trunk. Altogether, there were two trunks of heavy furs, two of medium furs, two of light furs, two of padded garments, one of lined garments, and one of unlined or silk garments. Every item in the ten trunks was intact, and nothing was missing.
Green Phoenix then asked the bookkeeper to turn to the last two pages of the account book and read out all the subsidiary items. These were the huali and purple cedar furniture, clocks and silver water pipes, and so on. Item by item, Green Phoenix pointed them out in the room. Second Sister just grinned and nodded, not really paying attention.
Green Phoenix went on to say, “Then there’re the clothes I wear at home and all sorts of playthings that are not listed; they’re in the communal trunk. Please check them when you have time, Mother.”
Second Sister smiled and said satirically, “You must be tired! Have a smoke from the water pipe and sit down for a while.”
Green Phoenix did feel tired out, so she sat down face-to-face with Second Sister. Pearl Phoenix hurried over to fill the water pipe for her. Gold Phoenix, who had been chatting with Prosperity, fell silent. Everybody looked at one another; no one spoke. The bookkeeper, perceiving that his presence was no longer required, took the account book with him and led the menservants downstairs. Mama Zhao and Little Treasure also went out of the room.
Green Phoenix now addressed Second Sister in a calm and controlled manner, “All these clothes and jewelry of mine, well, they may not be much, but they weren’t exactly easy to come by, either. Today I’m handing them over to you, Mother, and you really should have a little more sense. If you let your lovers cheat you out of them again, you’re going to fall on hard times! All your old lovers are con men and gangsters; there’s not a single reliable one among them. I’ve seen with my own eyes how much they have cheated you out of. Fortunately, I held firmly on to my things on your behalf, so they haven’t been taken by the con men. If these had been in your possession, nothing would’ve remained. I’ve been doing grown-up work for four or five years now and have earned these things for you, Mother, so today I can say that I’ve done right by you. My business here is finished, but your lack of judgment worries me a bit, Mother. Once I’m gone, who is there to put you right? If you listen to your lovers, in four or five years’ time they’ll have cheated you of y
our money and your possessions, and you’ll end up with nothing but hardship. If you fell on hard times because of your lovers, you’d surely be too embarrassed to ask anyone to look after you, right? You’d be too ashamed to ask for help.”
This little speech left Second Sister wishing she had somewhere to hide. She bowed her head and fidgeted with a bunch of keys in her hand. Prosperity smiled ever so slightly.
“Mother,” Green Phoenix carried on, “Please don’t be angry with me for speaking like this; I’m doing it for your good. Though I’m buying back my freedom, the only kin I have is you, Mother. Wherever I go, I’ll be the girl from Second Sister’s place. If you do well, I’ll feel honored, too; if you don’t do well, we’ll all be humiliated. You’re good in many ways, Mother; you’re a keen businesswoman and a wise manager of the household. Your only weakness is letting your lovers take advantage of you. I’m saying all this because it’s all been too much to put up with and in the future I won’t be in the position to say anything. You must have a sense of proportion, Mother, for you’re over fifty now. If you behave in the same way as before, you’ll make yourself a laughingstock to the youngsters. Even I would feel ashamed for you.”
Hearing this, Second Sister didn’t know where to put herself. Her face gradually turned a bright scarlet. Green Phoenix did not have the heart to continue, so she changed the subject. “I suggest you buy another girl with the thousand dollars. With the clothes and jewelry ready at hand, the business she’ll do should be enough to pay the expenses. In a couple of years, Gold Phoenix will put up her hair and carry on the business. It’s perfect timing. Pearl Phoenix is a useless girl; if anybody wants her, you might as well let her go to a good place. Gold Phoenix, on the other hand, can’t be faulted. She’ll definitely be one of the leading fashionable courtesans. Even if she doesn’t make it to the top, she’ll at least be like me. If you do as I say, Mother, it’ll be your good fortune.”
Prosperity nodded repeatedly in agreement and cut in, “Now this is proper advice. She’s quite right, you know.”
“D’you mean what I said to begin with was wrong?” Green Phoenix demanded.
Second Sister responded quickly, “It was all good advice. There was nothing wrong.” Having said that, she got up and paced about, murmuring to herself, “They ought to be here any minute now. I’ll go and wait downstairs.” She turned around to go back to her small room.
Green Phoenix pointed at her back and said to Prosperity in a low voice, “Look at her! The more you tell her off, the more thick-skinned she becomes. From now on, I’ll say no more. If she wants to suffer, it’s her own lookout.”
“As far as madams go, she’s rather miserable. She didn’t even dare utter a word when you gave her such a dressing-down,” Prosperity commented.
“Listen to the way you talk! Is there a good person among the Seven Sisters? If I had made the least mistake, she’d have beaten me to death,” Green Phoenix said.
“I don’t believe it.”
“Well, if you don’t, just look at Gold Flower,” she replied. “Of the Seven Sisters, I’ve met three. Third Sister Chu is much nicer than my mother; she only gave Gold Flower a couple of beatings. If that girl had been sold to my mother, she’d have a life so terrible that she’d have wished to die, and that would’ve taught her a lesson.”
He smiled but said nothing.
She sighed. “My mother aside, if you look at the Shanghai brothels, where d’you find a madam who’s a good person? Would a good person be making her living off a brothel? There’s this Mrs. Filial Guo whom you know a bit about. Now that she doesn’t own a girl herself, she goes to help Third Sister beat up Gold Flower. Now doesn’t that make your blood boil?”
As she was talking, there was suddenly the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. Three men, led by Second Sister, walked ahead of the bookkeeper straight into Gold Phoenix’s room. Astonished, Prosperity asked what it was about.
Green Phoenix held up a hand to silence him. She said in a whisper, “They’re gangsters. My ransom papers have to be written in their presence.”
Upon hearing this, Prosperity lowered the bamboo blinds.
Green Phoenix told Pearl Phoenix to go and entertain them and not to leave without orders. Gold Phoenix, however, did not return to her own room. She just sat there silently, looking dazed. When Prosperity saw the pensive expression on her face, he pulled her close to him and asked kindly, “You’ll be lonely when Elder Sister is gone, won’t you?”
Gold Phoenix frowned and answered with tears in her eyes, “I don’t mind being lonely. I was thinking, when Elder Sister is gone, I’ll be the only one left to do business. With rent and taxes, the expenses are so high! No matter how hard I work, there’ll just be a few drinking parties and some party calls. Now if Mother gets worked up over that, it’ll be death for me. What am I to do?”
Green Phoenix laughed. “Come, if you can be expected to pay for all the expenses as a virgin courtesan, Mother would be making a fortune overnight.”
Prosperity also comforted her pleasantly, “Don’t worry, why should Mother scold you? Pearl Phoenix is a year older than you, so if there’s any scolding she’ll get it first.”
Gold Phoenix responded, “It’s not in her nature to think about things, so she’s not worried. But in my case, Mother is always saying, ‘Your business ought to get better!’ Elder Sister also says so. But actually this season’s earnings turn out to be even a bit less than last season’s!”
“Don’t you worry yourself about these things. Just work hard at your business, and you’ll be fine,” Green Phoenix said.
Prosperity also said, “Now remember what Elder Sister tells you; then you’ll be in Mother’s good books, too.”
Second Sister happened to come over then from Gold Phoenix’s room. When she heard the word “Mother,” she asked what they were talking about. Green Phoenix repeated Gold Phoenix’s remarks to her.
“Good girl! So thoughtful for one so young!” Second Sister said rather offhandedly.
This embarrassed Gold Phoenix, who buried her head in Prosperity’s arms to hide her face. Everybody laughed and let her be. Second Sister then fished out of her sleeve a gold watch and a gold toothpick that had been strung together and offered them to Green Phoenix with both hands. “You said you won’t take anything with you, and I understand how you feel. But you’ve always carried these two things around, and you’ll be inconvenienced without them. Take them along. They’re just a token, so they don’t count.”
Green Phoenix neither pushed them away nor accepted them; she did not even take a proper look at them. Instead she said disdainfully, “Thank you, Mother. I’ve said I don’t want anything, so if you insist on being so kind, Mother, you’ll only make me laugh.”
Her hands still stretched out, Second Sister looked deeply embarrassed. In an attempt to smooth things over, Prosperity suggested, “Why don’t you give them to Gold Phoenix?”
Second Sister thought for a moment and reluctantly did so.
“I might as well tell you this, Mother,” Green Phoenix said solemnly. “After I move to Prosperity Alley, if you want to look in on me, you’re welcome; but if you send me anything, then you must forgive me, Mother, for I won’t even tip the messenger.”
Second Sister, caught in an awkward position, could not find anything to say in response, so when she saw Mama Zhao come in with an invitation, she jumped at the opening and asked, “Where’s the party?”
Seeing that the invitation was written on the stationery of Peace Restaurant, Prosperity knew it was for a regular seasonal party given by his bureau. Green Phoenix ignored the invitation and sat there with great dignity and haughty reserve. Second Sister felt completely out of place and, after hanging around uneasily for a little while, made for Gold Phoenix’s room.
As Prosperity got up to leave, Green Phoenix reminded him, “Be sure to come back later. We need to check if they’ve written the ransom papers right.”
He gave his promise and wa
lked out to the parlor. There, he saw that Gold Phoenix’s room was brightly lit but dead quiet. He stood at the door, peeped in through a gap in the curtain, and saw that the bookkeeper, with his spectacles on, was writing at the table. The three gangsters and Second Sister were whispering together about something. Pearl Phoenix and Little Treasure stood in attendance on one side.
Without disturbing them, Prosperity went off to the dinner party. Once he arrived at Peace Restaurant, it was the usual merry round of finger games and party calls. Mindful of Green Phoenix’s parting words, Prosperity did not indulge himself to the full. Having mingled for a while, he took the first opportunity to slip away.
On his return, he found there was a dinner party in progress in Gold Phoenix’s room. Four platters and eight dishes had been ordered for the gangsters, who chewed the food greedily and smacked their lips noisily. Their laughter mingled with curses as they yelled and howled. Prosperity surmised that the ransom papers must be ready. When he saw Green Phoenix, she produced an agreement and a receipt. The writing was little better than a scrawl and barely legible, but the wording and logic were clear enough. He knew these were based on a master version handed down through generations, so there was little possibility for error.
Green Phoenix, however, was not reassured. She insisted on his explaining every sentence to her. Only after she had weighed every word did she tell Little Treasure to take the agreement to Second Sister for her to press her thumbprint and stamp her seal on it. Prosperity remembered that beneath the date there was a row of names and addresses. Besides the name of the scribe, those of three witnesses were listed: Clement Zhou, Verdure Xu, and Muddy Dragon. He asked if Muddy Dragon was a nickname.
“Actually,” Green Phoenix replied, “that’s Mother’s lover. He’s a quiet one but full of cunning. Just now he came up with some new trickery, but would I be taken in by him? That’ll be the day!”
Having read through the ransom papers, Prosperity looked around uncomfortably and made as if to leave. Green Phoenix again insisted that he stay, saying, “We’ll go there together tomorrow.” He had to go along with her. They waited until the three gangsters had left before going to bed.