The Golden Lotus, Volume 1

by Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng

  “Your word is law, and must be obeyed,” Jinlian said. Yulou was very shy.

  Soon afterwards Yueniang and the others took Ximen Qing to the Third Lady’s room. Yulou asked them to stay a while, but they would not, and Jinlian said jokingly: “Sleep well, my child. Tomorrow your mother will come and see you. Now don’t be naughty.” Then, to Yueniang, “My daughter is still very young. I hope you will excuse her for my sake.”

  “You bad girl,” Yulou cried, “you’re like old vinegar. Wait till tomorrow and see what I’ll do to you.”

  “I’m only like a go-between on her way upstairs,” Jinlian said, “on tenterhooks as you might say.” Then they all ran away.

  As they came to the entrance to the inner courtyard, Li Ping’er slipped and fell. “Sister,” Jinlian cried, “you’re as bad as a blind woman. Just one slip and down you fall. I’d come and help you, but I’m over my ankles in the snow, and my shoes are in such a mess!”

  “It is all this show,” Yueniang said. “I’ve told the boys about it twice, but the thievish little scamps haven’t cleared it away. Now the Sixth Lady has fallen down. Get a lamp,” she said to Xiaoyu, “and take the ladies to their rooms.”

  Ximen Qing overheard this. “Listen to that little strumpet,” he said to Yulou. “She gets into the snow and pulls the others after her. Then she talks about people treading on her toes. I’m surprised the others don’t tell her what they think about her. Yesterday she said she never told the maids to sing that song, but I know she did.”

  “What did she mean by it?” Yulou asked.

  “Well, she was trying to make out that the Great Lady deliberately burned incense in such a way that I was sure to find her doing it.”

  “She knows the meaning of all the songs,” Yulou said. “The rest of us don’t.”

  “Ah,” Ximen said, “you don’t realize how eager that woman is to score over others.” They went to bed together.

  Xiaoyu got a lantern and took Jinlian and Li Ping’er over the snow to their rooms. Yueniang went to her own place. Jinlian, who was already half drunk, took her companion by the hand. “Sister,” she said, “I am tipsy and you must come to my room with me.” Li Ping’er told her she was not drunk, but went with her and sent Xiaoyu back. Jinlian gave the Sixth Lady tea.

  “You remember,” she said, “how once you found it hard to join us here. Now we walk upon the same path. I had much to put up with for your sake and everybody had something to say about me. Still, my heart is in the right place, and I wouldn’t have it otherwise. Heaven, at least, knows the truth.”

  “I realize how kind you have been to me,” Li Ping’er said, “I shall never dare forget it.”

  “I only want you to understand,” Jinlian said.

  Chunmei brought tea. When they had drunk it, Li Ping’er said goodbye and went to her own room. Jinlian got into bed alone.

  CHAPTER 22

  Song Huilian

  The next day the birthday celebrations were continued. Aunt Wu, Aunt Yang and old woman Pan spent the day with the ladies of the household in the inner hall.

  Some time before, Laiwang’s wife had died of a wasting sickness and Yueniang had found a new wife for him. This was the daughter of Song Ren, a coffin seller of the town, and her name, like the Fifth Lady’s, was Jinlian. Originally, Cai, the Junior Prefect, had bought her for a maid, but she misconducted herself, had to leave, and ultimately married Jiang Cong the cook. This Jiang Cong often worked for Ximen Qing, and so it came about that Laiwang was frequently at his house on some errand or other. On such occasions he would drink wine and chat with the cook’s wife, and they got on very well together. One day when Jiang Cong had been drinking, there was a quarrel among the cooks about the sharing out of certain moneys, and he was killed. The other cooks escaped over the wall. His wife then went to Ximen Qing and asked him to communicate with the authorities. This he did; the cooks were arrested and sentenced to death. Laiwang told Wu Yueniang that the young widow was a good needlewoman, and she gave him five taels of silver, two dresses, four rolls of black and red cloth, and some headdresses, and told him to marry the woman. But she changed her name to Huilian, for, there being already one Jinlian in the household, it would have been confusing to have another.

  Song Huilian was twenty-four years old, two years younger than Pan Jinlian. She had a clear white skin, and her body was admirably proportioned, not too tall and not too short, neither too plump nor too slender. Her feet were even tinier than those of Jinlian. She was intelligent and wide awake, and had excellent taste in self-adornment. But she was indeed a captain among those who dally with men and a leader of those who disturb the harmony of households.

  When she first came to Ximen Qing’s place, she worked with the other maids and serving women in the kitchen, as plainly dressed as the rest. But, after a while, she noticed Meng Yulou and Pan Jinlian and began to copy them, dressing her hair high upon her head, with a long ringlet on either side. And when she served the ladies with tea or water, Ximen Qing gazed at her and gazed again. One day he formed a plan. He decided to send Laiwang to Hangzhou with five hundred taels to buy some dragon robes of ceremony for the Imperial Tutor, and other clothes for the family, an errand that would occupy him for about six months. It was about the middle of the eleventh month when Laiwang at last set off, and thereafter Ximen Qing never ceased to think of the delights that awaited him in Huilian’s arms.

  This day, Yulou’s birthday, Yueniang and the others were enjoying a feast in the inner hall. Ximen Qing did not appear and Yueniang told Yuxiao to prepare a meal for him in her room. Through the lattice he chanced to see Huilian. She was wearing a double coat of red silk and a purple skirt. “Is that Laiwang’s new wife?” he asked Yuxiao. “Why does she wear a red coat with a purple skirt? It looks very odd. Tell your mistress she must give her a skirt of another color.”

  “Even that purple skirt she borrowed from me,” Yuxiao said.

  The birthday passed, and on one of the following days Yueniang went to visit a friend. That day Ximen Qing drank heavily and went home in the afternoon. As he reached the second door, Huilian came out and they bumped into each other. Ximen Qing threw his arm around her neck and kissed her. “My daughter,” he murmured, “if you do what I wish, you shall have all the ornaments and clothes you can desire.” The woman made no reply but pulled her hand away from Ximen Qing and ran off to the other courtyard. He went to his wife’s room and told Yuxiao to bring him a roll of blue satin.

  “Take this to Huilian,” he said to the maid, “and tell her that the other day I saw her dressed very unbecomingly. She must make herself a new skirt of this silk.”

  Yuxiao took the roll and Huilian looked at it. It was of bright blue satin, with the flowers of the four seasons as a design.

  “If I make a new skirt,” she said, “how shall I explain matters to our mistress?”

  “You need not worry about that,” Yuxiao told her. “Father will make any explanation that is necessary. He says if you do what he tells you in this matter he will buy you anything you like. The Great Lady is not at home and he wishes to see you. What have you to say about it?”

  Huilian smiled, but for a long time she did not answer. At last she said: “When is he coming? I must clean my room.”

  “He says he will not come here,” Yuxiao said. “He is afraid one of the servants might see him He wants you to go to the grotto beneath the artificial mound. It is very quiet there and an excellent place for you to meet.”

  “But if the Fifth Lady and the Sixth Lady hear of this, they will be angry,” Huilian said.

  Yuxiao assured her, saying that Yulou and Jinlian were playing a game with Li Ping’er and that she need not fear she would be disturbed. So the matter was settled and Yuxiao went back to tell Ximen Qing. He and Huilian went to the grotto, and Yuxiao kept watch for them.

  Jinlian and Yulou were playing with Li Ping’er when a maid came and told them that Ximen Qing had come home. They separated. Yulou went to the inner court
. Jinlian first went to her room to powder her face, then she, too, went to the inner court. When she came to the second door, she found Xiaoyu standing outside Yueniang’s rooms. She asked the maid if Ximen Qing was there, but Xiaoyu only waved her hand in the direction of the outer court. Jinlian understood and went to the little gate near the artificial mound. There Yuxiao stopped her. Jinlian suspected that Yuxiao herself was carrying on a secret intrigue with Ximen and prepared to force her way in.

  “You mustn’t go in,” Yuxiao cried in great confusion, ‘Father is very busy.”

  “What if he is?” Jinlian cried. “What do I care?”

  She went in and tried to find him. When she came to the grotto, matters were reaching a climax, but Huilian, hearing someone about, hastily set her clothes in order and came out. She flushed when she saw the Fifth Lady.

  “What are you doing here, you scoundrelly slut?” Jinlian said.

  Huilian muttered something about looking for Huatong and ran away like a streak of smoke.

  Jinlian went into the grotto and found Ximen Qing hastily adjusting his girdle.

  “Oh, you shameless object,” she said angrily, “is this the way you behave with your slaves? In the daytime too! I would have boxed her ears, but she ran away too quickly. So you’re Huatong, are you? She’s been looking for you. Now tell me the truth. How often has this happened before? You must tell me, or, when the Great Lady comes back, I’ll tell her all about it. If I don’t have that strumpet’s face beaten till it’s as plump as a pig’s, I shall know what to think of myself. You wait till you think we are amusing ourselves and then you play your games here. But you can’t escape your old mother’s keen eyes.

  Ximen Qing laughed. “Be quiet, you funny little rogue. Don’t let the whole world hear about it. I give you my word this is the first time.”

  Jinlian declared she did not believe a word he said, and Ximen Qing went off, laughing. When she went to the inner court, she found all the maids talking. They said their master had come home and sent Yuxiao for a roll of satin, and they wondered whom it was for. Jinlian realized it must have been for Huilian, but she said nothing to Yulou.

  From that day onwards Huilian prepared soup and food for Jinlian every day and sewed for her. When she went to play chess with Li Ping’er, the woman would help her with advice. And, whenever there was a suitable opportunity, Jinlian helped Ximen Qing in his amorous adventure, hoping thereby to make herself more secure in his favor.

  Ximen kept his promise to Huilian. He bought her clothes, ornaments, and perfumed tea leaves, and gave her silver that she spent on artificial flowers and powder. So, in course of time, she adopted a style of dress quite unlike that to which her poverty had originally constrained her. Further, Ximen told Yueniang that Huilian could make excellent soup and suggested that, in future, she and Yuxiao should not be sent to the common kitchen with the rest but that they should attend to the provision of tea and water at the smaller fire, and generally confine themselves to attendance upon Yueniang.

  It was the eighth day of the twelfth month, and Ximen Qing had made an appointment with Ying Bojue to attend the funeral of one of their notable fellow citizens. He told the boys to saddle two horses and waited for his friend. Bojue was late and, meanwhile, Li Ming arrived. Ximen sat by the side of the fire in the great hall and looked on while Li Ming gave a music lesson to Chunmei, Yuxiao, Yingchun and Lanxiang, who were all dressed for the occasion. His son-in-law, Chen Jingji, sat beside him and talked. After they had heard one tune, Bojue came in with his boy Ying Bao, carrying a rug. Chunmei and the other girls were about to retire, but Ximen Qing said: “This is only Uncle Ying. There’s no need to run away from him. Come and greet him properly.” Then Ximen and Ying Bojue exchanged greetings and sat down, and the four girls came and kowtowed. Bojue rose quickly to acknowledge their greeting.

  “Brother,” he said, “what a lucky man you are to have four young ladies so beautiful as these, each more beautiful than the other. What a pity it is I left my house in such a hurry that I forgot to bring any money with me. One of these days I will give you something to buy some powder and things with.” Chunmei and the others withdrew. Then Chen Jingji greeted Bojue and sat down.

  “What makes you so late?” Ximen said.

  “My eldest daughter has been very ill,” Bojue said, “but she is a little better now, so my wife has decided to bring her home for a change. This has made me rather busy. I had to get a chair and buy one or two things before I could come.”

  “Well,” Ximen said, “I have waited a long time. We had better have some gruel.” He gave orders that some should be brought.

  Li Ming greeted Ying Bojue, who asked what he had been doing lately. They all chatted while the table was being set. Four bowls of gruel were brought, with ten plates of other refreshments. The bowls were made of silver, and the gruel was mixed with nuts of various kinds and fruits with white sugar on the top. Ying Bojue finished off the gruel and drank a small cup of wine. As half the wine still remained in the jar, Ximen told a boy to take it with the dishes that were left and give them to Li Ming in one of the side rooms. Then he dressed, and he and Ying Bojue mounted their horses and rode to the funeral.

  For a while after Ximen had gone, Yuxiao and Lanxiang went on with their music, but soon they stopped and went to the room where Ximen’s daughter Ximen Dajie lived. Chunmei was left alone with Li Ming who was teaching her to play the lute. Li Ming had had too much to drink and, when his hand became entangled in Chunmei’s broad sleeve, he freed himself with undue clumsiness.

  “How dare you touch my hand, you thievish turtle!” the girl cried. “You must be anxious to die. You seem to have very strange ideas about the kind of girl I am. Every day you have good wine and good food, but today you must have taken leave of your senses. Would you dare touch my hand! You put your shovel in the wrong place. Before you do a thing like that, you should ask leave. I will tell Father the very minute he comes home and he will send you packing. Do you think you’re the only person who can teach us songs? We can find a teacher anywhere, and we don’t need you, you ugly turtle.”

  She used the word turtle very freely, and Li Ming gathered up his things and escaped as quickly as he could.

  Chunmei was very angry and, still cursing Li Ming, went to the inner court. Jinlian, Yulou, Li Ping’er and Huilian were playing chess in Jinlian’s room when the girl came in.

  “Whom are you cursing?” Jinlian said. “Who has annoyed you?”

  “Who but that disgusting little turtle, Li Ming?” Chunmei said. “When Father went out, he had the kindness to leave food and wine and gruel for him. Yuxiao and the other girls behaved most unbecomingly. They might not have had any modesty at all. They played there for a while and then went off to our mistress’s room. When that turtle saw there was nobody in the room, he touched my hand and laughed at me—he was quite drunk— but I cried and cursed him and he took his things and went. What a pity I didn’t box his ears! The thievish turtle doesn’t choose the right people to play his tricks with. I am not the kind of girl to stand that sort of thing. I’ll beat his turtle’s face till it is green.”

  “You silly girl,” Jinlian said, “there is no reason why you should study music if you don’t wish to. Why allow yourself to become so angry that your face goes yellow? We will tell Father. He will send the rascal about his business, and that will be the end of it. We are not having you taught music to make money, and I won’t have a rapscallion like that behaving in such a way to one of my maids. I know the turtle. He’s full to the very brim of vice.”

  “He is the brother of the Second Lady,” Chunmei said, “but that doesn’t trouble me. She can hardly have me beaten to avenge her brother.”

  “He is a music master, and gives lessons here,” Huilian said. “He has no business to make free with any of the girls. No matter how little he may be paid, he should treat us with the same respect as his own father and mother. Besides, he is always having his meals here.”

  “No
t only that,” said Jinlian, “we pay him five taels of silver every month. He will come to a bad end if he goes on in this way. Is there one of our boys who would dare to show his teeth to his master? Is there one who would dare to joke with him? They know that if they did they would get a cursing if Father happened to be in a good temper, and a beating if he were in a bad one. This turtle is playing with fire, and Father will teach him how hot the fire is.” She turned to Chunmei. “Why didn’t you come here as soon as your master went out? Why did you stay and give that turtle a chance to play tricks?”

  “It was all because of Yuxiao and the others,” the maid said. “They stayed, and would not come.”

  “Where are they now?” Yulou asked. Chunmei told her that they had gone to Yueniang’s room. Jinlian rose and went to see them. Li Ping’er also went away and sent to fetch Yingchun. In the evening when Ximen Qing returned, Jinlian told him what had happened. He sent for Laixing and gave instructions that Li Ming was not to be allowed to enter the house again.

  CHAPTER 23

  Ximen Qing’s Dalliance with Song Huilian

  Winter at last gave place to spring. It was the beginning of a new year. Ximen Qing went to celebrate the festival with his friends, and Wu Yueniang paid a visit to her brother. In the afternoon Meng Yulou and Pan Jinlian played chess with Li Ping’er. When Yulou asked what should be the stakes, Jinlian said five qian of silver, three to be spent on wine, and the other two on a pig’s head.

  “We will ask Laiwang’s wife to roast it for us,” she said. “She can do it with a single faggot and make it very tender.”

  “But the Great Lady is not at home,” Yulou said. “How can we do it in her absence?”

  “We will save some for her,” Jinlian said.

  They began to play. They played three games and Li Ping’er lost. Jinlian told a maid to call Laixing, and gave him the money, telling him to buy wine, a pig’s head, and four pig’s trotters. When he had bought them, she said, he was to take them to Laiwang’s wife, ask her to cook them and take them to the Third Lady’s room. Yulou suggested another plan. “Sixth Sister,” she said, “say that when she has cooked the head, she must put it in a container and bring it here. Li Jiao’er and Sun Xue’e will be there, and I am not sure we want them.” Jinlian agreed.