The Golden Lotus, Volume 1

by Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng

  “When your father went away, I began to make these things for the baby, now that it is cool.”

  “I want to tell you something,” Ximen Dajie said. “Now, please realize, I don’t wish to talk scandal, but have you done anything to displease the Fifth Lady? She has been telling the Great Lady that you said she was an interfering busybody. Mother is going to ask you what you meant by it. But when she asks you, don’t tell her that I spoke to you about it, or she will be angry with me. You must think out your answer beforehand.”

  When Li Ping’er heard this, she could hardly hold her needle; she was so paralyzed by astonishment. For a long time she could not answer and tears rolled down her cheeks. “I never said a single word,” she said at last. “Last night, I was in the inner court and the boy came to tell me that your father had gone to my room. I came and asked him to go to the inner court, and that was all. The Great Lady has been very kind to me. Do you think I don’t know how to distinguish good from evil? How dare Jinlian say such things? I will have this out with her, face to face.”

  “She did seem to be disturbed when the Great Lady said she would talk to you about it,” Ximen Dajie said. “If I were you, I should certainly challenge her.”

  “No,” Li Ping’er said, “she is too clever for me. Her mouth is sharper than mine. Day and night she schemes to kill my child and me. I can only put my trust in Heaven. But one of these days she will be the end of me.” She sobbed as she spoke.

  Ximen Dajie stayed for a while to comfort her, then Xiaoyu came to ask them both to go to dinner. Li Ping’er put down her sewing and went with Ximen Dajie, but she could eat nothing and went back to her room to lie down.

  When Ximen Qing came back from the office and found Li Ping’er lying on the bed, he asked Yingchun what was amiss. The maid told him that she had had nothing to eat. He became excited and asked: “Why couldn’t you eat anything? Tell me. I see your eyes are very red. How are you feeling?”

  Li Ping’er got up quickly, rubbed her eyes and said: “My eyes have been bothering me, but it is nothing very serious. I just wasn’t hungry.” She did not say a word about the trouble, but she could not get it out of her mind.

  In the inner court, Ximen Dajie said to Yueniang: “I have been speaking to the Sixth Lady about the things the Fifth Lady says. She swears she never said anything, and cried bitterly. She says she could not possibly say anything of the sort after you have been so kind to her.”

  “I don’t believe a word the Fifth Lady says,” Aunt Wu said. “The Sixth Lady is much too good a woman to say things like that.”

  “I fancy there is some trouble between Li Ping’er and Jinlian,” Yueniang said. “Perhaps Jinlian could not get her husband to go and visit her, and that is why she comes and tells me such tales. I am the one who has to suffer.”

  “You must be fair in your judgments, Lady,” Aunt Wu said. “It would take a hundred like the Fifth Lady to make one like the Sixth. She has been here three years now, and never has she done anything she should not have done.”

  As they were talking, Qintong came in with a large parcel wrapped up in blue cloth. Yueniang asked him what was in it. “There are thirty thousand salt certificates here,” the boy said. “Clerk Han and Cui Ben have been to have them registered at the Excise office. Father is giving them something to eat, and seeing about the money. The day after tomorrow is a lucky day, and they will start for Yangzhou.”

  “Master Ximen will be coming now,” Aunt Wu said. “I had better go with the two holy teachers to the Second Lady’s room.” Before she finished speaking Ximen Qing appeared.

  “What is that thievish, fat, bald-headed old whore Xue doing here?” he asked his wife.

  “Why do you use such unbecoming language?” Yueniang said. “Since you do not offer them charity, there is no call for you to make such rude remarks. She has done you no harm. And how did you know her name?”

  “Don’t you know her history?” Ximen Qing said. “She got Counselor Chen’s young daughter away to her temple where she carried on with some young fellow. For that she received three taels of silver. When the business came out, I had old Xue arrested. She was given twenty strokes and ordered to return to lay life and get married. I should like to know why she hasn’t got married yet. Perhaps she would like me to put the thumbscrews on her.”

  “You must not speak evil of the servants of Buddha,” Yueniang said. “She is religious and observes her vows. Why should she return to the secular life? You don’t appreciate her holiness.”

  “Holiness!” said Ximen Qing. “Ask her how many men she welcomes in one night.”

  “Don’t be so vulgar,” Yueniang said, “or I shall tell you what I think of you.” Then she said: “When are you going to send the men to Yangzhou?”

  “I have sent Laibao to see our relative Qiao,” Ximen said. “I want five hundred taels from him. I myself am contributing another five hundred taels: I shall send them off the day after tomorrow.”

  “Who is going to take charge of the shop?” Yueniang said.

  Ximen told her that he had arranged for Ben the Fourth to do so. Then Yueniang opened a chest and took out the silver. It was weighed and wrapped up. Ximen gave each man five taels of silver as journey money.

  Ying Bojue came while this was being done. “What are you doing, Brother?” he asked. Ximen Qing told him. “I congratulate you, Brother,” Bojue said, bowing. “You will certainly do well out of the transaction.”

  Ximen Qing asked him to sit down and called for tea. Then he asked when Li and Huang were going to get their money. “Within a month, I expect,” Ying Bojue said. “They told me yesterday that there is another contract going in Dongpingfu for twenty thousand lots of incense. They are very eager to get your backing to the extent of five hundred taels and, as soon as they get the money, they will bring it to you without even touching it.”

  “As you see,” Ximen said, “I am sending people to Yangzhou and I have had to borrow five hundred taels from Qiao. How can I spare money for them?”

  “Well,” Ying Bojue said, “they said to me with much insistence that one guest does not trouble two hosts. If you do not do them this favor, they don’t know where to get the money.”

  “Xu the Fourth, in East Street, outside the walls, owes me five hundred taels,” Ximen Qing said. “They shall have that.”

  “Splendid,” cried Ying Bojue.

  At that moment Ping’an brought a visiting card and said that Xia Shou had come to invite Ximen Qing to go and visit Magistrate Xia next day. Ximen Qing looked at the card. “Good,” he said.

  “Brother,” Ying Bojue said, “I have news for you. Have you heard about Li Guijie? Has she been here recently?”

  “She has not been here since the end of the first month. I can’t imagine what’s been happening to her.”

  “General Wang’s third son,” Ying Bojue said, “is a nephew by marriage of Grand Marshal Huang of the Eastern Capital. In the first month, this young man went to the Capital to celebrate the New Year, and the old gentleman gave a thousand taels to the young couple as a New Year’s gift. Oh, you have no idea of the beauty of Grand Marshal Huang’s niece. No artist could paint more than a half of it. I have never seen so beautiful a woman. Since you have been staying at home with your own ladies, old Sun, Pockmarked Zhu, and Little Zhang have been spending all their time in the bawdy house with this young man. In Second Alley he has taken up with a girl called Qi Xiang’er, and sometimes he goes to Guijie’s house. He stole his wife’s ornaments and pawned them. This distressed his wife so much that she even tried to hang herself. The other day was the old gentleman’s birthday. Wang’s wife went to the Eastern Capital and told him all about it. The old gentleman was terribly annoyed. He had the names of all the naughty fellows set down and sent the paper to Marshal Zhu. Marshal Zhu has sent it here with orders to arrest the people named. So, yesterday, old Sun, Pockmarked Zhu and Little Zhang were arrested at Guijie’s house. Guijie herself escaped to a neighbor’s and spent the
night there. They have asked me to come and beg you to help them.”

  “Only a month or two ago I said they were a pack of cadgers,” Ximen Qing said. “Pockmarked Zhu even tried his tricks on me.”

  “I will be off,” Ying Bojue said. “I expect Guijie will be coming to see you, and, whether you listen to her or not, she is sure to blame me for putting a finger in the pie.”

  “One moment,” Ximen Qing said, “if you see Li, don’t tell him I am going to let them have the money. Wait till I have got it from Xu, and then I’ll talk to you again.”

  Bojue promised. As he went out of the gate, Guijie’s sedan chair arrived. She was getting out of it, but Bojue went straight on.

  Ximen Qing was telling Chen Jingji to go to Xu the Fourth’s for the money when Qintong came and said: “The Great Lady would like to see you in the inner court. Guijie is here.” Ximen went to the back court. Guijie was wearing a dun-colored dress. There was no powder on her face, and her head was hidden in a white kerchief. There were no ornaments in her hair and she seemed extremely miserable. She kowtowed to Ximen Qing.

  “Whatever shall I do, Father?” she said, sobbing. “The fates have abandoned me. I was sitting quietly at home, when disaster seemed to drop suddenly from the skies. There is a certain young master Wang. He was a stranger to me, but, one day, old Sun and Pockmarked Zhu brought him to our house to see my sister. My sister was not at home, and I said to my mother: ‘Don’t let them in,’ but, the older my mother grows, the bigger fool she becomes. It was the day of my aunt’s birthday. I wanted to get into my sedan chair and come here, but Zhu went down on his knees and implored me not to come until I had at least given them a cup of tea. He made it impossible for me to get away. Suddenly, a number of policemen came to arrest them. Wang slipped away, and I managed to escape to a neighbor’s house. When everything was quiet again, our servant came to take me home again. My mother was frightened out of her wits. She talked about killing herself.

  “Today the runners came with a warrant from the office and spent the whole morning at our place questioning us. They mentioned my name and wanted to take me to the Eastern Capital. Father, you must take pity on me and save me. I don’t know what to do. Mother, won’t you say a word for me?”

  Ximen Qing laughed. “Get up,” he said. “What other names were there on the document?”

  “Qi Xiang’er’s name was there,” Guijie said. “It was young Master Wang who made her a woman. But it was right for her name to be there, for she took his money. But if I ever took a penny from him, may my eyeballs fall out. And if I ever allowed him to set hands on me, may a beastly sore grow at every one of my pores.”

  “You really must do something for her,” Yueniang said. “Don’t make her take these terrible oaths.”

  “Has Qi Xiang’er been arrested?” Ximen Qing asked.

  “Not yet,” Guijie said. “She went to the Wangs’ house.”

  “The best thing you can do,” Ximen Qing said, “is to stay here for a few days, and I will see what I can do for you at the district office.” He told Shutong to write a letter and go at once to the office to see Magistrate Li. He was to tell Li that Guijie was at Ximen Qing’s house, and ask that she should not be arrested.

  Shutong put on his black clothes and went on this errand. In a short time he was back again with a card from Li. “His Lordship told me,” the boy said, “that he will gladly do anything else you wish, but he can’t do this. In this case the document has come from the Eastern Capital. His Lordship must see that the people are arrested, and the best he can do for you is to allow her two days’ grace. If you wish to do anything for her, you will have to send to the Capital.”

  When Ximen Qing heard this, he muttered a while. Then he said: “Laibao is about to go somewhere else, and I have no one to send to the Eastern Capital.”

  “Why not send the other two to Yangzhou, and keep Laibao?” Yueniang said, “Then he can go to the Eastern Capital for Guijie. There will still be the other two to go to Yangzhou. See how terrified the girl is.”

  Guijie kowtowed to Yueniang and Ximen Qing. Ximen sent for Laibao. “You will not go on the twentieth,” he said. “I am going to send the others to Yangzhou, and you must set off tomorrow for the Eastern Capital to get this business of Guijie’s settled. You will go and see Uncle Zhai and ask him to get the affair disposed of at the courts.”

  Guijie hastily made a reverence to Laibao. He made reverence in return and said: “I will start immediately.”

  Ximen Qing told Shutong to write a letter thanking Zhai for what he had done in the matter of Censor Ceng. He sealed up twenty taels of silver to go with the letter and gave it to Laibao. Guijie was greatly relieved. She offered five taels of silver to Laibao. “When you come back,” she said, “my mother will reward you suitably.” Ximen Qing took the five taels and returned them to the girl, telling Yueniang to give Laibao another five taels in place of them. “But this is quite wrong,” Guijie said. “You are taking all this trouble on my account and I cannot allow you to spend your money as well.”

  “Do you think I don’t have five taels,” Ximen said, “so that I must ask you to pay him for me?”

  Guijie put away her five taels and made reverence after reverence to Laibao. “Brother,” she said, “please start early tomorrow. I am so afraid you may be too late.”

  “I will start at the fifth night watch, the break of dawn,” Laibao said. He took the letter and went to Han Daoguo’s house in Lion Street.

  Wang Liu’er was making clothes in her room. She saw Laibao through the window and said to him: “What can we do for you? Please come in. My husband is not at home. He has gone to the tailor’s for some clothes, but he will be back in a moment.” She said to the maid: “Go to Xu’s, the tailor’s, and tell your father Uncle Bao is here.”

  “I have come to say that I am not going with him tomorrow. I have to go to the Eastern Capital instead. Guijie pleaded urgently with my master to do something for her, and I have been ordered to start tomorrow morning. Your husband and Cui will have to go by themselves and I shall join them later on. What are you making, Sister-in-law?”

  “Underclothes for my husband,” Wang Liu’er said.

  “Tell him not to take much in the way of clothes,” Laibao said. “The place to which we are going is the very home of silk, so why bother about clothes?”

  As they were talking, Han Daoguo came in. The two men greeted one another, and Laibao told Han what he had told Wang Liu’er. “I will join you in Yangzhou,” he said.

  “Our master has given instructions that we are to stay at Wang Boru’s inn,” Han said. “Wang’s father was a friend of his Lordship’s father. He has a very large inn, and there are always many merchants there. Our money and our goods will be safe there. That is where you will find us.”

  “Sister-in-law,” Laibao said to Wang Liu’er, “I am going to the Eastern Capital. Is there anything you would like me to take to your daughter?”

  “Her father has had a pair of hairpins made, and I have made two pairs of shoes. Would you be so kind as to take them?” She wrapped them in a kerchief and gave them to Laibao. Then she told her maid to bring something to eat and to warm some wine. She laid down her sewing and set the table.

  “Sister-in-law,” Laibao said, “do not take any trouble on my account. I must not stay. I must go home and pack my luggage so as to be ready to start first thing in the morning.”

  Wang Liu’er smiled. “Why do you stand on ceremony with us? We are colleagues in business, and it is only right that we should entertain you and that you should drink a cup of wine with us.” She said to Han Daoguo: “Now, old sobersides! Help me to get the table ready and ask Uncle Bao to sit down. Don’t look as though you did not wish him to stay.”

  Dishes were brought, and they offered Laibao wine. Wang Liu’er sat with the two men. When Laibao had drunk a few cups, he said again that he must go. “It is late, and my house is shut up early.” Han Daoguo asked what arrangements had been ma
de about the horses, and Laibao told him that they were to be hired early the following morning. “If I were you,” he said, “I should hand over the keys and the accounts to Ben the Fourth, and not go to the shop. Take a rest at home in preparation for your journey.”

  “I am going to give them to him tomorrow,” Han Daoguo said.

  Again Wang Liu’er urged Laibao to drink. “Just this one cup, Uncle,” she said, “I will not ask you to drink any more.”

  “If I must drink,” Laibao said, “may I have a cup of very hot wine?” Wang Liu’er poured the wine into the pot and told the little maid to heat it. Then she poured it out again and offered it with both hands to Laibao. “I am sorry that I have nothing better to offer you to eat,” she said.

  “I thank you, Sister-in-law,” Laibao said. “We do not, of course, stand on ceremony since we are all members of one household.” He took the wine and drank with Wang Liu’er. Then he got up. She gave him the shoes to take to her daughter.

  “Go to the palace, Uncle,” she said, “and see whether my daughter is well.” Then she and her husband together took him to the gate. Laibao went home, packed his baggage, and, next day, set off for the Eastern Capital.

  Uncle Wu came to talk to Ximen Qing. “A document,” he said, “has come from the Capital to Dongpingfu appointing me Keeper of the Seals and Controller of the Granary in this city. I am to be on six months’ probation and, if my work is well done, I am to be promoted; and, if not, reported by the Censor. Brother-in-law, if you can spare the money, I should be glad if you would lend me some. I will pay you back when I get paid myself.”

  “How much do you need?” Ximen Qing asked. “You shall have it.”

  “It is very kind of you, Brother-in-law. Perhaps twenty taels.” They went together to Wu Yueniang’s room. Yueniang took out twenty taels and gave them to her brother. Then they had tea, but, as there were lady guests, Uncle Wu could not stay in the inner court, and Yueniang asked her husband to entertain him in the great hall.