The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai

by Bangqing Han

  Iron Hua and White Orchid stood to await the new arrivals, who turned out to be Elan Ge, Amity Zhu, Cloud Tao, and their girls, Snow Scent, White Fragrance, and Belle Tan. There was the usual round of mutual greetings before they went in.

  Having spotted them, Second Bai came out in welcome with two Cantonese prostitutes in tow. He said, laughing uproariously, “The notes hurrying the guests have barely been dispatched, and here you all are. And Nature arrived ahead of you. It’s as if you planned to turn up together.”

  They walked up the steps in a file to the banqueting hall. Besides Nature Shi and Second Treasure, three others had arrived early: Devotion Yin, Modesty Zhu, and Jade Tao. After everybody had exchanged greetings, Second Bai said, “That leaves only Cloudlet Chen and Harmony.”

  They deferred to each other before finally taking their seats, after which they examined the banqueting hall. The decoration was indeed novel and distinctive, completely different from what they were used to in the Shanghai brothels. The folding screens and window frames were either carved or inlaid, with bases of expensive wood such as huali, gingko, poplar, and sandalwood. The curtains and hangings were painted or embroidered on colorful Huzhou crepe, mandarin gauze, Ningpo silk, and Hangzhou weave. Pillars, beams, walls, and doors had pictures painted and carved in vibrant green and red; tables, chairs, couches, and cabinets were highly polished and gave off a luxurious glow. To complement these, there were rare flowers in pots, excellent calligraphy and paintings on the walls, valuable curios on display, and fine fruit and tea offered to guests.

  Those in the gathering then turned their attention to the Cantonese prostitutes, who took turns keeping them company. There were twenty or thirty of them, and they looked completely different from women in the Shanghai brothels. Some wore their hair in a stiff bun sticking straight out, others had a loosely braided pigtail trailing down the back; some had two round green plasters pasted to the corners of their eyes, others wore a quivering red pompon at the back of the heads. What astonished them most was that the women’s cheeks were rouged scarlet, making them look as if they had been slapped round the face, and their willow waists were as stiff as if they had hurt their backs. Their sleeve cuffs flapped loose like pig’s ears, and their leather slippers made a noise on the floor like tortoise shells. Their physical strength was terrifying. As Amity Zhu made a joking remark, a prostitute laughed and cursed, turned around, and gave his arm a little pinch through two layers of clothing, which sent him howling with pain. He hastened to take a look and found three finger marks on his arm already turning a purplish blue, like ripe grapes. At the sight of this, everybody gave warning to one another, and none of them dared joke or tease any more. But the prostitutes would not quiet down and still jabbered on endlessly. 2

  Fortunately, someone came in to announce “His Excellency Mr. Qi is here.” The gathering rose and lined up to wait on him. Harmony Qi came in followed by a group of local prostitutes who swayed gracefully as they walked. They were River Blossom, Twin Jade, Flora Zhang, Green Fragrance, Wenjun Yao, and Aroma, the six girls called to the party. The Cantonese prostitutes, unable to join in the conversation, finally stopped bothering them.

  ::

  1. [According to Chen Boxi’s Shanghai yishi daguan (Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, 2000), p. 404, the Old Banner was on Ningbo Road, that is, north of the International Settlement. E.H.]

  2. [Canton, or Guangzhou, had a much longer history in foreign trade than Shanghai. Cantonese merchants in Shanghai were therefore generally thought of as wealthy. However, the areas around Shanghai were traditionally the nurturing ground for literary talent. This, combined with a difference in customs and aesthetic taste, meant that the Cantonese were often considered uncouth. E.H.]

  CHAPTER 51 :: A fugitive hides from an unwelcome guest, and a slave artiste vies with a courtesan

  By then, countless lamps and candles were lit, the banquet was set out in the middle of the hall, and the Cantonese prostitutes asked them to come to table. In accordance with the rules, they each called a girl of the house in addition to those they had brought to the party. The resident prostitutes, who played various musical instruments, belted out the unfamiliar sounds of Cantonese songs. According to Cantonese custom, they should have taken turns to sing continuously before dinner, but Second Bai thought the noise would be too much and put a ban on that. Now they were seated for dinner, Harmony Qi also lost his patience and again stopped them before they could finish the first song. Only then was it possible for them to talk and play drinking games as usual.

  Presently, Iron Hua’s bond servant, Loyalty, came up to report in a whisper, “The Young Commander has gone to Third Treasure’s in Tranquillity Alley. He didn’t go to Nobility Alley.”

  Iron Hua gave a slight nod and quietly informed White Orchid to reassure her. Harmony Qi happened to notice and asked what the matter was, so Iron Hua took the opportunity to tell him about Lai the Turtle.

  “In that case, come stay in our garden,” Harmony offered at once. “You can keep Wenjun company, wouldn’t that be nice?”

  White Orchid took it up. “I was thinking of going to Your Excellency’s garden, but he said it might be inconvenient.”

  Harmony turned to Iron Hua. “What’s inconvenient about it? You can come as well.”

  Iron Hua counted the days on his fingers. “Well, she can go today, but I have something to attend to. I’ll join her on the twentieth.”

  “That’s fine,” said Harmony. “Nature Shi also said he’d come on the twentieth.”

  Now that White Orchid’s business was settled, Iron Hua recalled his own business and wanted to take his leave. Second Bai, knowing he had no taste for partying or whoring, did not press him to stay.

  Iron Hua’s departure left White Orchid unattached; it was awkward for her to stay on. Harmony, sensing her difficulty, said, “Here they have things on such a scale, they’re definitely going to have an all-night party. I’m ready to go home and go to bed.”

  Second Bai knew that Qi was used to taking a nap whenever he felt like it, so he dared not press him to stay.

  Harmony Qi invited White Orchid to join him and Aroma in taking leave of the others, and they left in their sedan chairs. It took an hour to reach Conical Hat Garden. The moonlight looked brighter than ever in the garden. The swaying shadows cast by flowering bushes, bamboos, and trees crisscrossed on the ground. Harmony gave the order that they should be taken to the Moon-worshiper’s Chamber, which meant going round the northeastern corner of Conical Hat Lake. As they emerged from behind the artificial hills, they heard peals of laughter. They had no idea who this merry lot could be.

  When they got to the courtyard wall of the Moon-worshiper’s Chamber, they stepped out of their sedan chairs. Harmony walked in front, followed by Aroma and White Orchid walking hand in hand. As they entered the courtyard, they saw some dozen girls from Pear Blossom Court wrestling on the ground, kicking a shuttlecock, and playing blind man’s buff. They were boisterous and quite out of control. Suddenly, they looked up and saw their master. They scrambled to their feet in fear and ran off in all directions. Only one girl remained. She stood with one hand against a cassia tree and bent down to straighten her cloth shoes, which had come off at the heel, muttering, “Why run away? A bunch of kids with no manners!”

  Harmony looked at her in the moonlight and found to his surprise that it was Pendant. He went up to her smiling broadly, took her by the hand, and said, “Let’s go in.”

  Pendant took two steps and then turned around to look at another cassia tree, where a dim figure was peeping out. “Hairpin, come here!” Pendant shouted angrily. Hairpin hurriedly came out from the shadows, and Pendant continued to scold her, “How could you join them in running away? Have you no shame?” Hairpin dared not answer back.

  They all went into the Moon-worshiper’s Chamber. Harmony, a little tired, leaned back on a settee and chatted with White Orchid. He asked about Lai the Turtle and said a few words to comfort her. Seeing that White O
rchid felt ill at ease, he told Aroma, “You go with Maestro White Orchid to Panorama Hall. If her room lacks anything, tell them to fix it.”

  White Orchid was only too eager to go. She left hand in hand with Aroma.

  Harmony called for the manservant standing on duty beyond the bamboo curtain and told him to extinguish all the lights except the five paraffin lamps at the center of each room. The manservant carried out his order and withdrew. Harmony then used a twist of his lips to signal Pendant and Hairpin, indicating they should sit by the couch. He closed his eyes and drifted off and was soon snoring. Pendant quietly left her seat and picked up the teapot. It was hot to the touch, so she wrapped a handkerchief around it to keep the tea warm.

  Hairpin went to lower the bamboo curtains at the windows in the back. “Shall I fetch a woolen coverlet?” she asked in a low voice. Pendant thought for a moment and then held up a hand to indicate “no.”

  The two of them sat facing each other in silence. With nothing at hand to kill time, Pendant just watched the reflection of the moon on Conical Hat Lake. Hairpin opened a drawer and found a box of ivory dominoes, so she started a quiet game of solitaire. Pendant looked at her severely, but she pretended not to notice. She picked up several tiles, brought them close to her mouth as if in prayer, and then blew on them for luck and started playing again. Angry at her disobedience, Pendant snatched a tile and hid it in her pocket. Hairpin anxiously brought her palms together in a gesture of entreaty and smiled ingratiatingly, but it was all in vain: Pendant ignored her and looked away. Hairpin then grinned and gesticulated, indicating that she would search Pendant to find the tile. Pendant, who was extremely ticklish, adopted a grim and angry look in the face of this ordeal.

  As they were about to start wrestling, they heard the sudden tinkle of the curtain hook at the door to the center room. They went out in a hurry to find that it was Aroma and her servant girl, Greenie, coming in. Pendant pointed silently at the couch, and Aroma realized that Harmony was asleep. Fortunately, she had not wakened him. After checking that everything was in order, she turned around and spoke to Pendant in quiet entreaty, “My elder sister is asking me to go over to her place to do some sewing. Would the two of you please look after His Excellency for me? When he wakes up, just tell Greenie to call for me.”

  Hairpin, who was standing to one side, promised to do so. Aroma left them after she had spoken. Pendant immediately sent Greenie away, telling her there was no need for her to be in attendance. Greenie was only too glad to be free to roam about.

  Pendant settled herself in her seat and sniggered derisively. Then she told Hairpin off, saying, “I’ve never seen a fool such as you. You’d say yes to anything, no matter what it is.”

  Hairpin pondered over the conversation just now and was thoroughly bewildered. “But what’s wrong with what she said?”

  Pendant snorted. “Is she your madam, so you have to attend to a client when she says so? What’s wrong indeed!”

  “Then let’s go elsewhere,” said Hairpin.

  Pendant glared and said in annoyance, “Why should we go elsewhere? His Excellency told us to sit here. Whether we attend to him is none of her business.”

  Only then did Hairpin understand what she meant. Pendant snorted again. “She talked as if His Excellency belongs to her. Ridiculous!”

  As they talked, they had quite forgotten about Harmony, who was sleeping on the couch. With their growing vehemence, their voices rose higher and higher. Harmony happened to turn over just then. The two of them covered their mouths in alarm and waited, but nothing happened. Pendant tiptoed over to the couch and saw that Harmony was lying on his back, his slightly opened eyes looking frighteningly bright. Pendant straightened the lapel and sleeves of his gown and then withdrew on tiptoe. No longer in the mood for solitaire, Hairpin packed up the ivory dominoes and returned them to the drawer. There was a complete set of thirty-two pieces, not one missing, and she had no idea when Pendant had returned the tile she had taken. The two of them again sat facing each other in silence with nothing to do to kill time.

  It was almost evening when Harmony had slept enough and stretched himself. Hearing him, the manservant standing beyond the curtain brought in warm water in a basin. After Harmony had wiped his face, Hairpin brought a mug of water for him to rinse his mouth. Then Pendant took the pot of tea she had kept ready and tasted it. It was warm and pleasant, so she filled a teacup and gave it to him. He drank some of it.

  “Where’s Aroma?” he looked around and asked.

  Pendant pretended not to have heard.

  “She said she was going over to your lady concubine’s place,” replied Hairpin.

  Harmony told the manservant to fetch Aroma. Pendant took the teacup from him, set it down offhandedly, and sat down to one side with her face turned away. He wanted more tea and asked her for it repeatedly, but she remained motionless and answered coldly, “Aroma will come and pour it for you. I’m too clumsy to pour tea.”

  He laughed heartily and then stood up to get the teacup himself. Hairpin, smiling pleasantly, came up to pour the tea and handed it to him. Having finished the tea, he sat beside Pendant and tried to soothe her tenderly for a long while. But Pendant just stared in front of her, silent and expressionless.

  “Now you’re being silly,” he changed his tone and reasoned with her seriously. “Aroma is an outsider. Even if I’m fond of her, she can’t compare with you—you’re family. Family are always here, but Aroma will go away in a year or six months. Why should you be jealous of her?”

  When she heard this, Pendant replied loudly, “Where’s your sense of proportion, Your Excellency? What do I know about jealousy?”

  Harmony smiled, a little embarrassed. “Don’t you know about jealousy now? Well, I’ll teach you something useful: the way you behaved just now is called jealousy.”

  She pushed him away. “Go and drink your tea. Aroma is here.”

  He turned around to look, which gave her the opportunity to extricate herself and call out to Hairpin, “Aroma’s here. Let’s go.”

  Sure enough, he saw the figure of Aroma in the distance, so he thought it a good time to send them away: “Everybody to bed. It’s getting late.”

  Hairpin assented as she followed Pendant down the steps. They found themselves face to face with Aroma. “Hurry up, maestro,” Pendant said. “His Excellency is waiting.”

  Aroma did not stop to reply. Pendant and Hairpin walked slowly back to their rooms along a moonlit path.

  CHAPTER 52 :: A young woman in a lonely bed dreads an empty room, and hospitality means a shared bed and chatting through the night

  Pendant and Hairpin chatted as they walked in the moonlight.

  “The moon tonight is brighter than it was at the Midautumn Festival. Then there was merrymaking all night, but tonight it’s all quiet,” said Hairpin.

  “Well, what they did doesn’t count as viewing the moon, does it? Now we are really viewing the moon,” Pendant said.

  “I suggest we go to Dragon Range and sit in the Mid-sky Pavilion where we can see the whole garden. That’s the best place for viewing the moon.”

  “D’you know where you should go if you want to do it properly? On the podium in front of Right Target Hall, there’re lots of machines and instruments for looking at the moon and the stars; with these, you can even look at the sun. What’s more, you can make all sorts of calculations. They say it’s the same as the emperor’s observatory, only smaller,” said Pendant.

  “Then let’s go there. We don’t need the instruments either. We’ll look at the moon just as it is,” Hairpin said.

  “What if we run into a guest there? It wouldn’t do.”

  “Come on, guests won’t be going there.”

  “We’d better go to Panorama Hall and look in on White Orchid instead. That’d be nice, wouldn’t it?”

  Hairpin was all eagerness. “Let’s go!”

  Instead of returning to their courtyard, the two of them headed for the Bridge of Nine Twists,
where they saw the green roof tiles of Panorama Hall enveloped in a light mist, glistening in the moonlight. When they got to the ground floor, it was quiet all around. The windows were all shut, and it was pitch-dark inside except for the windows on the southwest corner where White Orchid’s room was. There, a faint light came through beyond the layers of gauze curtains. They looked around, unable to find a way in.

  “I’m afraid she’s asleep,” Pendant said.

  “Let’s give a shout and see.”

  Pendant did not object, so Hairpin called out loudly, “Maestro White Orchid!”

  No answer came. But there appeared on the curtain the silhouette of a woman tilting her head to listen. Hairpin called once more. The woman rolled up the curtains and opened the window to call down, “Who’s there?”

  Pendant recognized White Orchid’s voice, so she spoke up, “It’s us looking in on you. Are you going to bed now?”

  On seeing them, White Orchid was overjoyed. “Come up now. I’m not going to bed yet.”

  “But your doors are already shut,” said Hairpin.

  “I’ll open them. Just a minute!”

  “Oh, don’t bother. It’s bedtime for us, too,” said Pendant.

  White Orchid was so anxious for them to stay that she stamped her feet and waved at them, saying, “Don’t go! I’ll let you in!”

  Seeing how eager she was for company, Hairpin encouraged Pendant to stay a while. White Orchid’s servant girl came to open the doors and light the way for them with a candle in an imported candleholder.