The Golden Lotus, Volume 1

by Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng

  Ximen Qing waited until the ladies had had tea, then mounted his horse, and went to the house in Lion Street. He had told Ying Bojue and Xie Xida to meet him there. Some of his men had been told to take one of the four great fireworks to Lion Street and set up two for the entertainment of the ladies. The cooks were ordered to send two boxes of food and two jars of Jinhua wine. Two singing girls had been engaged, Dong Jiao’er and Han Yuchuan, and Daian had taken a sedan chair for Wang Liu’er.

  “Aunt Han,” Daian said when he met her, “Father has sent me to take you to see the fireworks this evening.”

  “But I don’t know that I ought to go,” Wang Liu’er said, smiling. “What do you think your Uncle Han will say about it?”

  “Father has spoken to him already,” Daian said. “He says you must dress and go. There are only to be two singing girls there, no one else.”

  Wang Liu’er did not move. Then Han Daoguo himself came in.,

  “Here is Uncle Han,” Daian said. “Your wife will not believe what I say.”,

  “Do you really wish me to go?” Wang Liu’er said to her husband.,

  “Well,” he said, “his Lordship said that there is no one to look after the two singing girls. That’s why he wants you. And you will see the fireworks this evening. Hurry up and dress. He told me to shut the shop and go there myself. We shall have a good time. Laibao has gone home already. It is his turn to watch the shop tonight.”

  “I don’t know how long it will last,” Wang Liu’er said. “We will go and stay a while and then come home. We can’t leave the house without anyone to look after it and, besides, this is your day off and you must have some sleep.”

  She dressed and went with Daian to the house in Lion Street. Laizhao’s wife, the Beanpole, was there. She had dusted the beds, changed the bed-clothes and the curtains, burned incense to sweeten the rooms, hung up two lanterns, and put a brazier in the room. Wang Liu’er went in and sat down on the bed. The Beanpole made reverence to her and brought her tea.

  When Ying Bojue and Ximen Qing had seen the lanterns, they came in and played backgammon in the upper room. Six windows were opened and the shades hung out before them. Below them they could see the lantern fair. It was a picture of gaiety and merriment. After playing a while, they had some food. Then they sat down to look at the lanterns through the blinds. While they were watching the crowd below, Ximen Qing suddenly saw Xie Xida, Zhu Shinian, and another man, who wore a scholar’s hat, standing beneath the arch of lanterns. He pointed to them and said to Ying Bojue: “Do you know that fellow wearing a square hat?”

  “He seems very familiar to me,” Ying Bojue said, “but I don’t know him.”,

  Then Ximen Qing said to Daian: “Go down and ask your Uncle Xie to come, but don’t let Pockmarked Zhu or the other man see you.”

  Daian crept downstairs like a young pickpocket and went out into the crowd. He waited till Pockmarked Zhu and the stranger were out of the, way for a moment, then pulled Xie Xida by the sleeve. Xie Xida turned quickly and recognized Daian.

  “Father and Uncle Ying would like to see you,” the boy said.,

  “Very well, I understand,” said Xie Xida. “Now slip away. I will go with these two as far as the place where the Plum Flowers are, and then I’ll come to see your master.”

  Daian made off like a streak of smoke. Xie Xida, when he came to a more crowded place, turned aside and left Zhu Shinian and the other man looking for him. He went to the room where Ximen Qing and Ying Bojue were sitting, and made a reverence to them.

  “I see you have come to look at the show, Brother,” he said. “Why didn’t you send me a message this morning?”

  “There were a number of guests at my place all the morning,” Ximen said, “and I couldn’t find an opportunity to send you word. I did tell Brother Ying to invite you, but you were not at home. Did Pockmarked Zhu see you come here? Who is the man with the scholar’s hat?”

  “The man with the square hat,” Xie Xida said, “is Wang the Third, of General Wang’s family. He and Zhu came to see me because Wang is trying to borrow three hundred taels. He asked me, old Sun, and Pockmarked Zhu to be his guarantors. He is going to take a course of study at the military academy, and qualify for official rank. I was not interested in his business. I simply came with him to see the lanterns. When I heard you wished to see me, I went with them as far as the place where the Plum Flowers are and gave them the slip.” He asked Bojue how long he had been there.

  “Brother told me to come, to your house,” Bojue said, “and I did so, but you were not at home. Then I came here. We have been playing backgammon.”

  “Have you had anything to eat?” Ximen Qing asked Xie Xida.,

  “When I left your place this morning,” Xie Xida said, “I met those two, and I have had nothing to eat all day.”

  Ximen told Daian to go to the kitchen and ask for some food to be prepared. Before long it was brought. It was a very substantial meal, but Xie Xida soon disposed of it, cleaning up both inside and outside of all the dishes. The little soup that he had left, he put into his rice bowl, and so finished off everything. Daian cleared away, and Xie Xida went to stand beside his two friends. They were now playing backgammon again.

  Meanwhile the two singing girls arrived, and the sedan chair men carried in their clothes. They came in smiling. Ying Bojue saw them through the window.

  “What makes those little whores so late?” he said. Then to Daian: “Don’t let them go to the inner court. Tell them to come up here and see me.”

  Xie Xida asked who they were. Daian told him, then ran downstairs and said to the singing girls: “Uncle Ying wants to see you.” The two singing girls paid no attention, but went on to the inner court. They made a reverence the Beanpole, who took them to the inner room where Wang Liu’er was sitting, wearing a new-fashioned net upon her hair, a purple silk dress, a long black cloak, and a white ribboned skirt. Below the skirt her two tiny feet peeped out. Her hair came down rather low upon her cheeks, and her face was bright but not too highly painted. She looked like a person of the middle class. She was wearing two earrings, shaped like cloves.

  They made the usual reverence to her and sat down on the bed. Little Iron Rod brought tea and Wang Liu’er drank it with them. The two girls looked at the woman from head to foot. After they had examined her well, they laughed. They had no idea who she was. Then Daian came and the girls secretly asked him. Daian did not know what story to tell. Finally he said: “The lady comes from my father’s sister-in-law’s. She has come to see the lanterns.”

  When the two girls heard this, they went back into the room.,

  “We did not realize you were our aunt,” they said to Wang Liu’er, “and so we did not make the correct reverence to you. Please forgive us.” Then they knelt down and kowtowed to her. Wang Liu’er hastily made a half reverence in return. Soup and dishes were brought and she ate with them. Afterwards they took their instruments and sang for her.”

  When Ying Bojue had finished his game of backgammon, he went downstairs to wash his hands. Hearing the sound of music coming from the inner court, he called Daian and said to him: “Tell me: to whom are those girls singing?” Daian laughed but did not answer for some time. At last he said: “You might be the Captain of Caozhou, the way you poke your nose into everything. Whether there is singing or not, it is no business of yours.”

  “You thievish young rascal,” Ying Bojue said, “whether you tell me or not, you know I shall find out.”

  “Then why ask me?” Daian said, laughing.

  Bojue went upstairs again. By this time, Ximen Qing and Xie Xida had played three games of backgammon. Then Li Ming and Wu Hui came in and kowtowed.

  “Good!” said Ying Bojue, “you have come just in time. How did you know we were here?”

  Li Ming, still upon his knees, said: “We went to his Lordship’s house and there they told us that he was having a party here, so we came on to await his pleasure.”

  “Excellent!” Bojue said. “Sta
nd up.”

  Then he said to Daian: “Go and ask your Uncle Han to come.” Han Daoguo came, greeted them, and sat down.

  The tables were laid; dishes appropriate to the season were brought in, and Qintong served wine. Ying Bojue and Xie Xida sat in the seats of honor—Ximen Qing in the host’s place, and Han Daoguo opposite. When the wine had been heated, Daian was told to bid the singing girls come. The two girls, Dong Jiao’er and Han Yuchuan, came in, slowly and gracefully. They kowtowed, but not exactly in the direction of the two guests.

  “I wondered who was here,” Ying Bojue said. “Now I see it is only you two little whores. Why didn’t you come when I sent for you? You are getting far too independent. If I don’t take you in hand, you will become quite unbearable.”

  Dong Jiao’er laughed. “Brother,” she said, “you are like a ghost playing his ghostly tricks on the other side of a wall. But you won’t frighten me to death.”

  Han Yuchuan said: “You know, my dear slave, that you are like an animal’s head picked up by the city wall, a fine specimen of an unwanted baby.”

  “Brother,” Ying Bojue said to Ximen, “you have done more than you need today. Li Ming and Wu Hui are here, and that ought to be enough. What need have you of these two whores? Why not send them about their business at once? Tonight is the Feast of Lanterns, and they will have plenty of opportunity to go and beg elsewhere. But don’t make them too late. Nobody will have them if they are too late.”

  “Brother,” Yuchuan said, “how can you be so shameless? It wasn’t you who sent for us, but Father. What business is it of yours?”

  “Foolish little bone,” Bojue said. “I happen to be here and you will have to wait on me whether you like it or not.”

  “You are like Tang, the fat man, who fell into a jar of vinegar and was sour all over,” Yuchuan said.

  “It is your heart that is sour, you thievish little strumpet,” Bojue said. “But wait a while. I will show you something when you go home. I have two scores against you now, and you shall not escape me.”

  “What do you mean?” Dong Jiao’er said. “Tell me.”,

  “I shall tell the policeman that you are breaking the law by night. He will arrest you and put the thumbscrews on you. And if that is not enough, I will spend a few coins on white wine and make your chair men drunk, and then you will wander all over the place, get home late, and have a beating waiting for you when you do get there.”

  “If we are late,” Han Yuchuan said, “we shall not go. We shall stay here, or we shall ask Father to send us home and give mother a hundred cash. But it has nothing to do with you anyway. I like your impertinence!”

  “Yes,” Bojue said, “I suppose it is I who am the slave. Everything is topsy-turvy nowadays. I lose.”

  They laughed and talked. The two singing girls sang the songs of spring, and the men dined. Then Daian came and said: “Uncle Zhu is here.” No one spoke. Zhu Shinian came upstairs and saw Ying Bojue and Xie Xida sitting in the places of honor.

  “Ah!” said he, “a fine pair you are, stuffing yourselves with good food, but do you call yourselves men?” He turned to Xie Xida. “Brother, you are given an invitation and, without a word to us, you run away. We were looking for you everywhere, there by the Plum Flowers.”

  “It was quite by chance,” Xie Xida said, “that I saw his Lordship and Brother Ying playing backgammon. I came up to greet them, and his Lordship made me stay.”

  Ximen Qing told Daian to bring a chair and invited Zhu Shinian to sit down. Cup and chopsticks were brought; Zhu sat down in the lower seat, and the cook brought something for him to eat. Ximen Qing had only one pie and a mouthful of soup. Li Ming was standing beside him, and he gave everything that was put before him to the young man to take away and eat. Ying Bojue, Xie Xida, Zhu Shinian and Han Daoguo each had a large bowl of soup, three large pastries, and four peach-blossom buns. They left one pie as ballast for the plate. Then all the food was cleared away and more wine was brought.

  “Where did you leave him?” Xie Xida said to Zhu Shinian. “And how did you know I was here?”

  “I searched everywhere for you,” Zhu Shinian said, “and when I couldn’t find you, I went to old Sun’s place with Wang the Third. We met Master Xu Buyu. He borrowed the three hundred taels, but old Sun made a mistake in the contract.”

  “You must not put my name on it,” Xie Xida said. “I will have nothing to do with it. You and old Sun are the guarantors and the commission will come to you. What mistake did you make?”

  “I told him to write out the contract more or less indefinitely and make three conditions for repayment, but he didn’t do so, and I made him write it out again.”

  “What were the three conditions?” Xie Xida said.,

  “First, when the wind blows away the stone roller and kills a single goose in the sky. Secondly, when a fish jumps from the bottom of the river to the bank; and thirdly, when the stones in the riverbed are so water-logged that they fall to pieces. When those three things happened, he was to pay his debt.”

  “Well,” Xie Xida said, “if he wrote that, it was indefinite enough.”,

  “It is not so indefinite as you think,” Zhu Shinian said. “One day, if the weather is fine and the water low, and the authorities think fit to dig up the river, and the stones in the bed are broken by the workers with their tools, he will have to pay.”

  Everybody laughed. It was now growing dark and Ximen Qing told the boys to light the lanterns. They were sheep’s horn lanterns, and very wonderfully made.

  Yueniang sent Qitong and some soldiers with four boxes full of dainties. Ximen asked the boy if the ladies had finished their party, and who had told him to bring the things. “Great Mother told me to bring them for you to eat with your wine,” Qitong said. “The ladies have not gone yet, and four acts of the play have been performed. My lady is entertaining her guests in the great hall. They are drinking there and watching the fireworks.”

  “Has anybody come to see the fireworks?” Ximen said.,

  “There is a crowd at the gate,” the boy told him.,

  “I told four black-garbed soldiers to take their staves and keep order and not to allow the people to push one another about.”

  “Ping’an and the soldiers are keeping guard over the fireworks,” Qitong said. “There is no disorder.”

  Ximen Qing gave orders that the table should be cleared and the boxes brought in. The cook brought some excellent fruit pasties. The two singing girls served wine. Ximen told Qitong to go home again. Then he and the others drank the warm wine, and enjoyed the delicacies Yueniang had sent. He told Li Ming and Wu Hui to sing the song of the lanterns. When the song was ended, they ate the pasties.

  Han Daoguo was the first to go home. Ximen Qing told Laizhao to pull up the blinds downstairs and take out the fireworks. Ximen and his friends watched from the upper room, and sent word to Wang Liu’er, the singing girls, and the Beanpole to look on from below. Daian and Laizhao carried the firework to the middle of the street and there set light to it. People came crowding to see, shoulder to shoulder, for they were told that Ximen Qing was responsible for it.

  Ying Bojue saw that Ximen Qing was a little tipsy. When the firework was burnt out, he went downstairs. Wang Liu’er was washing her hands. He dragged Xie Xida and Zhu Shinian away, without even waiting to say goodbye to his host.

  “Where are you going, Uncles?” Daian said to him.,

  “Foolish boy,” Ying Bojue whispered. “I have told you before. If I don’t go, they will stay and stay, and it will be awkward. If your father asks for me, say we have all gone.”

  When the fireworks were done, Ximen Qing asked where Bojue was. “Uncle Ying and Uncle Xie have both gone,” Daian said. “I tried to stop them, but they would not stay. They told me to thank you for them.”

  Ximen Qing said no more. He gave a great cup of wine to Li Ming and Wu Hui. “I am not giving you money today,” he told them. “Come to me on the morning of the sixteenth. I am going to ask Uncle Ying
and some of my friends that day.”

  “I must tell you, Father,” Li Ming said, kneeling down, “that on the sixteenth, Wu Hui, Zuo Shun, Zheng Feng and I are all going to his Lordship Hu’s place. Hu is the newly appointed governor of Dongpingfu. I am afraid we shall not be able to come until the evening.”

  “That is all right,” Ximen said, “we are going to have our party in the evening, anyway. But you must not be too late.”

  The two boys promised. Then the two singing girls came to say goodbye. Ximen Qing said to them. “Tomorrow I am giving a party at my house to some ladies. Li Guijie and Wu Yin’er will be there, and I want you too.” The two singing girls agreed, and went home.

  Ximen Qing told Laizhao, Daian, and Qintong to clear everything away and blow out the lanterns and the lamps. Then he went to the back court. Little Iron Rod, who had been watching the fireworks, saw him come in. He ran upstairs, where his father was putting some food on a plate, with a jar of wine, and some pasties. These he took to another room. The boy asked his mother to give him some. But she boxed his ears twice and drove him out to play in the courtyard. He heard the sound of laughter coming from one of the rooms and thought it must be the singing girls. The door was shut, but he peeped through a crack. The room was brightly lighted by lamps and candles, and he could see Ximen Qing and Wang Liu’er busily engaged upon the bed.

  Ximen leaned the woman over the edge of the bed, stripped off her underwear, put the clasp over his thing and began work on the flower in the back court. Back and forth, in and out—how could he stop after only a few hundred thrusts? The sounds of their banging away were clearly audible. From their rapid breathing and their behavior it looked as though they wished to break the bed in pieces.

  The boy was looking on, when his mother caught him. She pulled him by the hair and dragged him to the front court. There she boxed his ears and cursed him. “You root of trouble, you little slave!” she cried. “Do you wish to die that you stand there and watch them?” She gave him some fruits and sweets and kept him carefully indoors. The boy was frightened, climbed into his bed, and went to sleep.