“You’re a nice man, Brother Chen,” Jinlian said. “When I asked you to take home that Han woman last night, you wouldn’t move an inch, and in the end I had to get one of the boys to do it. You could think of nothing but joking and chattering with Huilian. I wonder what the understanding is between you. Wait till the Great Lady comes back. You’ll see whether I tell her or not.”
“How can you say such a thing?” Jingji said. “After all that long walk my back was nearly broken. How many miles do you think it is from here to Lion Street? Yet in spite of my tiredness you asked me to take that woman home. It was only fair that one of the boys should do it. I had had hardly any sleep and it was already nearly daybreak.”
They were still wrangling when Yueniang came back. Jingji made a reverence to her, and she asked him what had been the matter yesterday when Han’s wife was drunk and cursing all the world. Jingji told her that the woman had been to a party, and, when she came back, discovered that someone had stolen her dog, so she sat on the pavement and cried and shouted and insulted everybody. “When her husband comes back today, I imagine he’ll give her a drubbing. She hasn’t got up yet.”
“If we had not pressed her to go home,” Jinlian said, “Father might have seen her, and then there would have been a fine to-do.”
Yulou, Li Ping’er and Ximen Dajie came to tea with Yueniang. Jingji joined them and afterwards went with his wife to their own room.
“You rascal,” his wife said, when they were alone, “what do you mean by fooling with Laiwang’s wife? If my father hears about it, it will be all very well for that strumpet, but you won’t know where to find a hole to die in.”
A few days later, Ximen Qing had slept in the room of Li Ping’er, and was dressing, when a certain Captain Jing, who had recently been appointed to the district, came to call upon him. Ximen hastened to the hall to greet him, telling Ping’an to bring them tea. The boy went to the kitchen. Huilian, Yuxiao and Xiaoyu were playing in the courtyard. Xiaoyu was riding on Yuxiao’s back laughing, and crying, “You bad girl, you’ve earned a beating. Why won’t you let me beat you? Come here, Huilian, catch her by the leg and see what I do to her.”
Ping’an intervened. “Sister Yuxiao,” he said, “Captain Jing is in the hall, and Father has ordered me to take them some tea.”
Yuxiao paid no attention, but went on playing with Xiaoyu.
“Captain Jing has been here a long time already,” the boy said.
“Go to the kitchen for your tea,” Huilian cried, “don’t come and bother us. We only make tea for the ladies. We have nothing to do with the hall.”
Ping’an went to the kitchen. Laibao’s wife was on duty, but she told him she was busy cooking, and that he must go to the inner court.
“I have already asked them in the inner court,” Ping’an said. “They say they have nothing to do with the hall. Huilian says it is your business to provide tea for that part of the house.”
“Oh, that strumpet!” Laibao’s wife cried. “She thinks she only has to say that she serves the Great Lady. I seem to be the only one in the kitchen. I am cooking for several people already, and I have plain food to get ready for Aunt Wu. How many hands do you think I have? If you want me to make tea, well and good, but why try to make out that I alone have to work in the kitchen? You have no right to treat me as if I were the scullery maid. You won’t get any tea from me.”
“Captain Jing has been here for hours, Sister,” Ping’an said. “Please make the tea or Father will be dreadfully angry.” The boy was pushed from pillar to post. He had already wasted a long time. At last Yuxiao brought what was needed, and Ping’an took it to the hall. Captain Jing was preparing to take his leave. Ximen Qing urged him to stay but the tea was cold. Ximen scolded Ping’an and ordered him to change it, but, by the time the fresh tea had been brought, Captain Jing had gone.
Ximen Qing went to the inner court to find out who was responsible, and Ping’an told him that the scullery maid had made it. Then he went to his own room and told Yueniang what had happened.
“Go to the kitchen,” he said, “and find out who made the tea. When you’ve done so, see that she has a beating.”
Xiaoyu told her that it was the day for Laibao’s wife to attend to the cooking.
“Oh, the wretch,” Yueniang cried, “she must be eager to die, making tea like that.”
She told Xiaoyu to fetch the woman. Laibao’s wife came and knelt before Yueniang in the courtyard.
“How many blows do you want?” Yueniang said. Laibao’s wife said the tea was cold because she had had to cook the dinner and also plain food for Aunt Wu. Yueniang scolded her for a time and then forgave her. Then she addressed all the maids and serving women. “Henceforth,” she said, “whenever visitors come to the hall, Yuxiao and Huilian must make the tea, and those in the kitchen must see about the tea and food for our own people.”
Laibao’s wife went back to the kitchen in a fury. As soon as Ximen Qing had gone out, she went in a rage to the inner court. When she found Huilian, she shook her finger at her. “You abandoned, scoundrelly woman,” she cried, “now you are satisfied. You have the luck. You do service for the mistress, and I am but the scullery maid. You told the boy to come to me for tea, and it was you who told him to call me scullery maid. Who are you to call me scullery maid? The cricket does not eat the flesh of a spotted toad, for they are akin. You are not one of the master’s ladies, so why should you consider yourself superior to me? And if you were, I shouldn’t be afraid of you.”
“You are talking nonsense,” Huilian said. “You made the tea badly, and Father didn’t like it. What has that to do with me? Why vent your spite on me?”
This made Laibao’s wife more angry still. “You thievish whore,” she cried, “you wanted to get me a beating. You had a man on the sly when you were with the Cai family, and your wickedness is past all bounds. Now you come and play the same tricks here.”
“Did you see me have a man on the sly?” Huilian said. “Well, dear Sister, you are yourself no virgin.”
“No virgin?” Laibao’s wife cried. “I’m better than you, anyway. You’ve had as many men as there are grains in a heap of corn. You can’t set eyes upon a man without beginning your tricks. And you fancy nobody knows what you are up to. You have no respect for the ladies here, so why should you have any for us?”
“What are you talking about?” Huilian said. “In what way do I fail in respect to the ladies? Say all the nasty things you like. I don’t care.”
“No, you don’t care,” Laibao’s wife shouted, “you don’t care, because you have somebody behind you.”
They went on quarreling until Xiaoyu asked Yueniang to intervene. “You rogues,” Yueniang said, “instead of doing your work, you spend all your time squabbling. If your master hears of this, there will be more trouble. You have not been beaten yet, but you certainly will be. Do you wish to be beaten?”
“If I am beaten,” Laibao’s wife cried, “I will pull this woman’s guts out. I will give my life to get even with her, and we will go together.” She went back to the kitchen.
After this, Huilian was more arrogant than ever. Because of her relations with Ximen Qing, she thought the rest of the household unworthy of consideration. Every day she played with Yulou, Jinlian, Li Ping’er, Ximen Dajie and Chunmei.
A few days later old woman Feng brought the younger of her two maids, taking her first to Li Ping’er, and then to Li Jiao’er. Li Jiao’er paid five taels for the girl and kept her.
CHAPTER 25
Laiwang’s Jealousy
The Feast of Lanterns was over and the Festival of Spring had come again. Ying Bojue came to ask Ximen Qing to go for a day in the country as the guest of Sun Guazui, and they went away together. Before the festival, Wu Yueniang had had a swing set up in the garden, and, while Ximen Qing was out, she took all the ladies to it that they might dispel that languor which the coming of spring seems to bring. The first to swing were Wu Yueniang herself and Meng Yulou, and, wh
en they had done, she asked Li Jiao’er and Pan Jinlian to take their places. Li Jiao’er declined, saying she was not feeling well, so Yueniang asked Li Ping’er to be Jinlian’s partner. Then Yulou cried, “Come here, Sister, and swing standing with me. But you mustn’t laugh.” They grasped the rope with their beautiful hands and stood on the board. Yueniang told Huilian and Chunmei to push the swing for them.
Jinlian laughed so much that Yueniang cried, “Don’t laugh. It is dangerous. You will fall off.” The words were hardly out of her mouth when Jinlian fell with a crash, for the board was slippery and she was wearing high-heeled shoes. But she caught the frame of the swing and saved herself from falling to the ground, though Yulou was nearly thrown off.
“Sister,” Yueniang said, “I told you not to laugh. Now, you see, you’ve fallen.” She turned to Li Jiao’er and the others.
“Never laugh when you’re swinging,” she said, “it makes the legs give way, and down you fall. I remember, when I was a girl, our neighbor Zhou had a swing in his garden. One spring holiday, his daughter and I and two or three other girls were swinging on it, and laughing just as the Fifth Lady was. Miss Zhou was thrown off. She fell across the board and broke her maidenhead. Later, when she married, people said she was not a pure girl, and she was divorced. Yes, it is a mistake to laugh, when one goes in for games of this sort.”
“The Third Lady is no good,” Jinlian cried, “I will swing standing with the Sixth Lady.”
“Be careful, both of you,” Yueniang said. She told Yuxiao and Chunmei to start them. Then Chen Jingji came.
“You are swinging, I see,” he said.
“Yes,” Yueniang said, “you have come at the right moment. You can push the swing for the ladies: the girls are not strong enough.”
Jingji was as pleased as an old monk when the dinner bell goes. He gathered his clothes around him and hurried forward to offer his services. The first thing he did was to busy himself about Jinlian’s skirt.
“Hold fast, Fifth Mother,” he said, “I am going to push you.” The swing flew up in the air so that the ladies looked like two winged angels. So high did it go that Li Ping’er was frightened.
“Brother,” she cried, “I am falling, come and help me.”
“Don’t be alarmed, Lady, I will come in a moment,” Jingji said. “If I am called first to one side and then to the other, I don’t know where I am.” He lifted Li Ping’er’s skirts till her red trousers could be seen. Then he pushed the swing.
“Gently, Brother,” Li Ping’er cried, “my legs are not very strong.”
“Ah,” said Jingji, “you shouldn’t drink so much.”
Then Jinlian complained that Li Ping’er was treading on her skirt, and they stopped swinging. Chunmei and Ximen Dajie took the places of the two ladies, and afterwards Yuxiao and Song Huilian swung standing. Huilian grasped the rope and, standing perfectly upright, danced upon the seat. She would have no one to push the swing for her, but herself drove it high into the air and down again. It was indeed a wonderful sight. Yueniang said to Yulou and Li Ping’er, “Just look at that woman. She certainly knows how to swing.”
Laiwang had gone to Hangzhou to buy the clothes that were to be presented to the Imperial Tutor Cai. When they were ready, he had them packed in chests, and brought them back. As soon as he reached home they were unloaded, and he went to the inner court. Sun Xue’e was standing by the door of the hall. He made a reverence to her.
“Welcome home,” she said, smiling graciously. “You must have had a very tiresome journey. It is only a short time since I saw you, but you have grown very stout.”
“Where are my lord and my lady?” Laiwang asked.
“Your master has gone for a day in the country with Master Ying and the others,” Xue’e said, “but your mistress and her daughter are swinging in the garden.”
“Why do they play such games as that?” Laiwang said. Xue’e brought him a cup of tea and asked if he would like something to eat. “I will not have anything to eat,” he said, “till I have seen the Great Lady, and I must go and wash first.” Then he added: “I don’t see my wife. Is she in the kitchen?”
Xue’e smiled sourly. “Your wife, indeed! Are you sure you still have a wife? She has become a great personage, and spends all her time playing chess and dominoes with the ladies. She doesn’t condescend to come to the kitchen any more.”
While they were talking Xiaoyu had gone to the garden to tell Yueniang that Laiwang had come. She came from the front court. Laiwang kowtowed and stood while she asked him about his journey. She gave him two jars of wine. Then Huilian came.
“You must be tired,” Yueniang said. “Go to your room; wash and rest, and you can tell your master all about your business when he comes home.”
Laiwang went to his room. Huilian gave him the key, and herself went to get him some water and unpack his luggage. “You black rogue,” she said, “you have been away only a short time. What have you been eating to get as fat as this?” She helped him to change his clothes and prepared some food. When he had eaten something, he went to bed. The sun was setting when Ximen Qing came home. Laiwang got up and went to the front court to make his report.
“The birthday presents for the Imperial Tutor and the clothes for the members of his household are all in order,” he said. “I had them packed, and brought them in four chests. They are at the customs office, and we must take porters to clear them.”
Ximen Qing was pleased. Besides giving Laiwang money for the porters, and telling him to fetch the things next day, he gave him five taels of silver for himself and set him in charge of the buying department of the household. Laiwang had privately done a little business on his own account, and, secretly, he gave Xue’e two handkerchiefs, two pairs of silken trousers, four boxes of Hangzhou powder, and twenty cakes of rouge.
“Less than four months after you went away,” Xue’e told him, “your wife began to carry on with his Lordship. Yuxiao was their go-between, and they made their nest in the Fifth Lady’s room.”
She told him how they had begun their naughty games in the grotto beneath the artificial mound, but had later made use of Jinlian’s room, where they slept from morning till night and from night until morning.
“He has given her clothes,” she said, “ornaments and artificial flowers, costing a lot of money, and she has been wearing them all the time. She is always giving the boys money and getting them to buy things for her, and she spends several qian of silver every day.”
“No wonder her box is full of clothes and ornaments,” Laiwang cried. “When I asked her where they came from, she said her mistress had given them to her.”
“Mistress, indeed!” Xue’e said. “Master, more likely!”
Her words made a great impression on Laiwang. Wine helps a man to unburden his soul, and that night he drank deeply before he went to his room. He opened his wife’s box, and found in it a roll of very handsome blue figured satin.
“Where did you get this satin?” he cried. “Who gave it you? Tell me the truth at once.”
His wife did not know what was wrong, but she forced a smile and answered: “You funny old rascal. Why do you ask? It came from the inner court, and was given me to make a dress of. I haven’t had time to make it up yet, so I put it in the chest. Where else do you think I could expect to get such a present?”
“You strumpet,” Laiwang shouted, “don’t try to keep up this pretense. Who gave it you, and where did you get these ornaments?”
“Pooh,” said his wife, “you talk as if people had no relations of their own. Why, even if I had come out of a piece of stone, I should have come from somewhere. I borrowed these ornaments from one of my aunts. Where else do you think I got them?”
Laiwang struck her with his fist so that she all but fell. “Strumpet!” he cried, “you are trying to deceive me. I know for certain that you have been carrying on with that foul fellow. Yes, Yuxiao was the go-between. It was she who brought you this satin. You began in the garden, and a
fterwards amused yourselves all day long in the room of that whore Jinlian. Now, do you think you can deceive me any longer?”
“You wicked villain,” Huilian cried, “you will come to a violent end, without a doubt. How dare you strike me? What have I done? You come and throw stones at me without the slightest cause. Explain yourself. Some backbiting sneak has been telling you a pack of lies about me, and you lay your hands on me. I assure you you shall not treat me as if I were dirt. If I am going to die, I will die clean. Ask anybody you like about the women of my family. If there is anything shady about me, my name is not Song. There is no reason at all for this fuss you are making. It’s like a rainstorm without any wind. But there is something behind it, all the same. I suppose if it were suggested to you you would murder anybody?”
Laiwang did not know what to answer, and his wife went on: “I will tell you all there is to tell about this roll of blue satin. It was our mistress’s birthday on the third day of the eleventh month, and she gave it me then because she saw me wearing a purple gown and skirt that I had borrowed from Yuxiao. She thought they did not suit me. I have been too busy ever since to make it up, and now I have put up with all this to-do. You have done me wrong. But I am not the sort to overlook a thing like this, and tomorrow you shall see. I’ll let some of these people know what I think about them. My life is not worth living, and the sooner I find somebody to put an end to it, the better.”
“If there is really nothing in it,” Laiwang said, “there’s no reason to make such a fuss. Get my bed ready.”
“You scamp, you’ll come to a bad end,” Huilian said as she got the bed ready. “You go and drink a lot of wine and then come home and abuse your old woman instead of going quietly to bed.” She hustled him off, and, in a very short time, he was snoring like thunder.
The Golden Lotus, Volume 1 Page 41