by Bangqing Han
Simplicity assented repeatedly. Only then did Second Treasure go back to her room to comb her hair. As she went up the stairs, she saw Clever, who was sweeping the floor and crying buckets of tears. Second Treasure just ignored her.
On this day, the Yangtze steamboat sailed at midnight. After supper, Simplicity rolled up his bedding and asked Mrs. Zhao for some money for traveling expenses. Mrs. Zhao instructed him to return as soon as his mission was done. The maid, Tiger, interrupted, “After all this time, we should have a clear idea by now. What’s the point of going to Nanjing? I bet you won’t get to see Third Young Master Shi. If he never comes here again, what’s the use even if you do get to see him?”
“But she’s not convinced. A trip to Nanjing will bring back a definite message, then she’ll be convinced.”
“If Second Miss is not convinced, then you, her mother, should make her see the light. In her heart, Second Miss still thinks Third Young Master Shi will come back; that’s why she wants to ask for a message. Well, who’re you going to ask? Even if you do see Third Young Master, will he tell you the truth even if he has decided not to come? Of course not! He’ll say, ‘It won’t be long now.’ If Second Miss is taken in again and keeps waiting till the end of the year, then she’ll truly be in a fix,” Tiger said.
“You may well be right,” Mrs. Zhao replied. “But let’s wait till after the trip; then we’ll see.”
“It’s got nothing to do with me, really. I’m just worried about the three to four thousand dollars we owe the shops. If it had been a lesser young lady, I wouldn’t have run up such huge bills for her at the stores, but Second Miss was really popular; in the fifth month alone, she had numerous mah-jongg and drinking parties. If she gives up Third Young Master while there’s still time and concentrates on pulling in business, by the end of the year she’ll be able to pay up some of the bills and borrow money to cover the rest. But if you let this drag on, it’ll be too late.”
Mrs. Zhao was silent, so Simplicity said, “I’ll go and ask for an answer. If Third Young Master is not coming, then of course it’s back to business for us.”
Tiger laughed coldly and walked away. Having put his traveling money in a secure place and picked up his bedding, Simplicity took his leave and departed.
The next day, Second Treasure ordered Tiger to go to Snow Scent’s in East Co-prosperity Alley to fetch Little Sister. Tiger realized the affair had been detected, so she took her orders and went. Second Treasure then told her mother what to say and to keep things simple.
Soon Tiger came back with Little Sister and took her to see Mrs. Zhao. Second Treasure smiled and invited her to sit down.
Mrs. Zhao said, “At the end of the month, our whole family will be going to Nanjing to look for Third Young Master, so Clever should go and look for another job. Her wage is a dollar a month, and we’ll pay her to the end of the year.”
Little Sister was stunned. After a slight pause, she said, “She can leave when the time comes. It’s early yet.”
It was Second Treasure who responded. “Since we have stopped working, there isn’t anything for Clever to do. The earlier she leaves, the earlier she can find another job, right?”
Little Sister had no answer to that. She told Clever to go and pack up. Second Treasure told Mrs. Zhao to give three dollars to Little Sister and then ordered a manservant to carry the baggage and see them out. Little Sister led Clever away after thanking them.
After they had left, Tailor Zhang wanted to be paid for his work in advance. Second Treasure again told Mrs. Zhao to give him ten dollars. Tiger whispered to Mrs. Zhao behind Second Treasure’s back, “You mustn’t let Second Miss have her way in everything. She has too little sense. How much money do you have left? How can she go on having those clothes made? Clothes like that can wait till she’s married. What’s the hurry?”
“I’ve spoken to her about it. She said the work can stop when the fox fur is done,” Mrs. Zhao replied.
Tiger sighed and gave up.
Unexpectedly, Little Sister brought Clever back to see Mrs. Zhao early the next morning. Pointing her finger at Clever, Little Sister said to Mrs. Zhao, “The girl’s my husband’s niece. Her parents entrusted her to me and told me to find her a job. It’s her own fault that she did such a shameless thing. Even I’m ashamed of it. How can I face her parents? I’ve sent a letter to tell them to come to town. You just hand her over to them, for I’ll have nothing to do with it.”
“What’re you talking about? I don’t understand,” Mrs. Zhao asked, totally lost.
“In that case, you should ask Clever. Let her tell you herself.” After saying this, Little Sister walked out.
Second Treasure had just got up. When she heard their voices, she hurried downstairs. Little Sister had already left, while Clever was seated facing the wall, hiding her face and weeping. Second Treasure glared at her in rage, but there was nothing she could do to get rid of her. Mrs. Zhao was still asking what the matter was.
“There’s no point in asking her!” Second Treasure said. She then told her mother what had happened two days ago.
This news got Mrs. Zhao truly worried. She cursed Simplicity repeatedly for being a good-for-nothing who had got them into trouble. Second Treasure wanted Tiger to convey a message to Little Sister that they were willing to give her some compensation money if she would take Clever back.
“Little Sister is a minor problem. Let me ask the girl first,” Tiger said. She pulled Clever to one side and talked to her at length in whispers, after which she came back to report, “I thought so! The two of them have it all settled between them. They want to be married. She doesn’t want money, so all you need to do is wait till her parents are here and ask for her hand.”
Mrs. Zhao was overjoyed. “Then you’ll be our matchmaker.”
Second Treasure jumped up and shouted in anger, “It won’t do. Am I to have this shameless little hussy as a sister-in-law?”
Mrs. Zhao looked at her dumbly, not daring to make any decision.
“If you ask me, it’s quite acceptable for a brothel owner to marry a servant girl,” Tiger said.
“I won’t have it!” Second Treasure yelled.
Mrs. Zhao was forced to promise Clever’s folks fifty dollars outright. Tiger was told to go and talk to Little Sister.
“Brother is by nature a low-life hooligan,” Second Treasure said between clenched teeth. “Third Young Master wanted to give his head steward’s daughter to him in marriage; what an honor that would be! But instead of waiting for that, he’s got himself hooked up with a stinking servant girl!”
Though Mrs. Zhao was pleased to learn this, she was afraid Little Sister would not let the matter rest. When Tiger returned, she anxiously asked how it went.
Tiger shook her head. “Nothing doing. Little Sister said, ‘Your daughter happens to have a pretty face and so she became a miss; Clever is somebody’s daughter, too, only she doesn’t have a pretty face, so she became a servant girl. The one who’s a miss costs so much to deflower, so much to stay overnight with, so why should it be different for a servant girl? Your son slept with her for several months, how can fifty dollars begin to make up for it? It’s just empty talk!’”
Very much shaken, Mrs. Zhao looked at Second Treasure, waiting for her decision.
“We’ll wait till her parents are here and see how it goes,” Second Treasure said.
Mrs. Zhao, being timid by nature, felt extremely uneasy about this. Soon, three days had passed, and before Clever’s parents turned up, Simplicity returned from Nanjing. As soon as Mrs. Zhao saw him, she gave him a thorough dressing-down.
Second Treasure stamped her feet. “Mother, let him make his report first!”
Simplicity put down his bedding and said, “Third Young Master won’t be coming. I found my way to the Shi residence, but none of the seven or eight menservants at the gate was known to me. At first, I said I was looking for Little Wang, and they just ignored me. I then said I was sent by His Excellency Mr. Qi to
see Third Young Master, and they invited me into the gatehouse and told me Third Young Master had got betrothed right after he returned from Shanghai, that now he was in Yangzhou and Little Wang had accompanied him there. The wedding is to be held in Yangzhou on the twentieth of the eleventh month, and he’ll be spending a full month there before returning to Nanjing. Doesn’t that mean he’s not coming?”
When Second Treasure heard this, everything turned black in front of her. Something went boom in her head, and she fell backward to the floor. Everybody panicked and rushed forward to help her up, calling her name. She was unconscious, foaming at the mouth.
It so happened that Little Sister came in at that moment with Clever’s parents. Seeing the situation, they could not very well say anything. Little Sister joined in to try and revive Second Treasure. Mrs. Zhao started howling, tears streaming down her face. Simplicity and Tiger, on either side of Second Treasure, pinched her under the nose and forced hot ginger soup into her mouth. It was all chaos and commotion.
A while later, Second Treasure threw up some phlegm, and her breathing became easier. While everybody was arguing about how to carry her back to her room, Tiger just rolled up her sleeves, picked Second Treasure up round her waist, and struggled up the stairs. Everybody crowded behind them, following them into the room. Second Treasure was laid on the bed and covered with a quilt. The crowd dispersed, leaving Mrs. Zhao to sit with her.
Second Treasure gradually came to. She opened her eyes and asked, “Mother, what’re you doing here?”
Mrs. Zhao, relieved to see that she had awakened clear-headed, said to her, “Second Treasure, you scared us so! What happened to you?”
This brought back to Second Treasure what Simplicity had said. She recalled all the details, every single word. Though feeling wretched, she tried to suppress her emotions for fear of upsetting her mother.
“D’you feel bad?” Mrs. Zhao asked.
“I’m all right now. Go downstairs, Mother.”
“No, I’m not going. Clever’s parents are there.”
Second Treasure frowned as she thought the matter over. Then she sighed and said, “Brother will just marry Clever and that’s that. Since her parents are here, you can ask Tiger to be the matchmaker.”
Mrs. Zhao expressed her agreement and immediately called Tiger up to tell her to propose the match.
“Well, I’ll try, but I don’t know if they’ll accept,” Tiger said.
“Please try,” Second Treasure said.
Tiger took her time going down to make her proposal, expecting to be told off. But Clever’s parents were good, timorous country folk to whom putting the squeeze on someone was an alien idea. The minute Tiger proposed the match, they consented right away, without making the least difficulty, so Little Sister could not very well hinder it, either. Mrs. Zhao and Simplicity were overjoyed, but Second Treasure felt sadder than ever.
Tiger then told Mrs. Zhao, “You’re relatives now. You should at least go and keep them company for a bit.”
“Their son-in-law is with them. I’m not going,” Mrs. Zhao replied.
Second Treasure tried to persuade her. “Mother, you should go and entertain them for a while. I’m all right here.”
Mrs. Zhao still hesitated.
“If you don’t go, Mother, I’m going.” So saying, Second Treasure forced herself to sit up, tidied her hair a little, and tried to get off the bed.
Mrs. Zhao quickly stopped her, saying, “I’ll go. You stay in bed.”
Second Treasure smiled and lay down. Mrs. Zhao bade Tiger to stay with her and then went downstairs to entertain Clever’s parents.
Second Treasure beckoned to Tiger to come near and sit on the bed and then consulted her about what settlements to make for the shopping bills. Now that Second Treasure had turned around, Tiger tried her best to help make a plan: they’d return goods that could be returned and sell or pawn the rest. This way, by her reckoning, their loss would be limited. The only big problem was the new clothes. Second Treasure wanted to keep the clothes and dispose of everything else, as Tiger suggested, to pay the bills. They worked out that this way she’d still be over a thousand dollars short.
Tiger said, “If we have the same amount of business as we did in the fifth month, a debt of a thousand doesn’t matter. By the end of the year, we’ll be able to pay it back.”
“The fox cape should be ready today. Go tell Tailor Zhang he needn’t come tomorrow.”
“Whatever you do, you’re always in too much of a hurry. Take these clothes, for example; it would’ve been much better if you had ordered a fox jacket instead of a cape, don’t you think so?” Tiger said.
“Let’s not talk about this anymore,” Second Treasure said impatiently.
A little put out, Tiger went out into the center room to relay the message to Tailor Zhang, who merely acknowledged it. The other tailors lost no chance to joke about this. Naturally, Second Treasure could hear them, but this was the least of her concerns.
When evening came and supper was over, Mrs. Zhao, still worried about Second Treasure, came to see her. She told her Clever’s parents had gone back to the country, and Clever would stay to work there. The wedding would take place in the New Year. Second Treasure just said “Good.” Mrs. Zhao asked her this and that and consoled her solicitously before going off to bed. Second Treasure sent Tiger off to bed as well. Her door was closed but left unlocked, and she was left alone.
Lying in bed, she relived the time she had spent with Third Young Master, how she had fallen for him at first sight, how warm and loving they had been at the moment of their union, how kindly he had treated her since then, how congenial and tender they were. In daily life, his manner and behavior were always gentle and moderate, yet patrician and well-bred, without a trace of the flippancy and dissoluteness so commonly seen in the sing-song houses. Who’d have that his faithlessness was worse than the whoring playboys’? At this thought, sorrow and anger surged up her chest, so strong that she could no longer suppress it. Hers was no ordinary weeping; it rose and fell, abruptly stopped and then started again—it was sad beyond words.
She cried the whole night, but no one heard her. The next morning, when Tiger came in, she saw her sitting in bed, her eyes swollen like walnuts.
“Did you get any sleep at all?” Tiger asked, just to make conversation.
Second Treasure did not reply. Instead, she asked for a basin of warm water and then got up to wash her face. Clever came in to clean the furniture while Tiger got ready to dress Second Treasure’s hair.
Second Treasure ordered Clever to summon Simplicity and then told him to write her name slip and post it at the door that very day. Simplicity assented silently. Second Treasure also told Tiger to go out that very day and invite various clients to drop in. Tiger, like Simplicity, took her order in silence.
After that, Second Treasure powdered and rouged herself and then changed into brand-new clothes before she went downstairs to see her mother. Mrs. Zhao was awake but still lying in bed, facing inward; she seemed to be groaning. Second Treasure called to her in a low voice. Mrs. Zhao turned around and, seeing her, said, “Why are you in such a hurry to get up? If you’re not feeling well, stay in bed.”
“I’m all right,” Second Treasure took the opportunity to tell her about starting to work again.
“You should rest for a couple more days. You’ve only just got a little better so you really can’t afford to strain yourself. If you should catch a cold on the way to a party call, what are we to do?”
“Mother, you shouldn’t worry about me anymore. Now, we owe the stores three to four thousand; if I don’t work, how are we to pay them? It’s as though I’m held as collateral here in Shanghai!” Her voice choked, and she could not carry on.
Overcome by misery and concern, Mrs. Zhao asked in a trembling voice, “Even if you work again, how are we ever going to get three to four thousand?”
Second Treasure sighed and then told her what Tiger had said about converting
the goods into cash. She went on, “You might as well leave it to me, Mother. As long as I’m here, you don’t have to worry. If you’re happy, I feel better, too, so don’t be sad because of me.”
Mrs. Zhao could only acknowledge she was right. Then Second Treasure asked, “Mother, why didn’t you get up?”
“I have a headache.”
Second Treasure reached under the quilt to feel her temperature, which was a little high. “Mother, you may be running a fever.”
“I do feel a bit hot.”
“Shall we get a doctor so you can take some medicine?”
“What for? Just keep me warm, and I’ll sweat it out.”
Second Treasure found another quilt and made sure that it covered her mother well and then left her so Mrs. Zhao could sleep again. Second Treasure went back upstairs to confer again with Tiger. This went on until the afternoon, when Tiger went out to attend to the shop bills and to invite their clients.
The message was soon spread all over town. Within three days, Cloudlet Chen heard about it. He was shocked because he thought Nature Shi was going to make Second Treasure his wife—a wonderful thing—and that she chose instead to remain a fallen woman because she loved the brothel scene. He was just going to inquire into the matter when he came across Benevolence Hong on Third Avenue. When Cloudlet suggested that they have a chat in a teahouse, Benevolence said, “Let’s sit for a while at Twin Pearl’s instead.”
The two of them headed for Sunshine Alley. There happened to be clients for tea parties in both the upstairs rooms, so Worth showed them into Twin Jewel’s room on the ground floor. Twin Jewel welcomed them and invited them to sit down, after which Cloudlet told Benevolence the news about Second Treasure’s working again.
Benevolence clapped his hands and laughed. “You’re an intelligent man, how come you were taken in? I never believed it from the very beginning. Third Young Master Shi can have the pick of womanhood, so why would he want a courtesan for his wife?”