Courtesans and Opium Read online

  Oh, heaven!

  Even the fellows transporting freight I didn’t dare offend.

  At third watch the moon outside is chill.

  Such a pity, the troubles we face in serving officials!

  How infuriating,

  The toadying it takes to be an attendant!

  Serving tea and tobacco, we smile as we bend before them.

  Some officials like to fool around.

  Our friends tease us about it with sundry caustic remarks.

  Our hearts fill with rage, but we cannot tell a soul.

  Oh, heaven!

  There’s a saying: Catamite when young, brothel servant in your middle years, beggar in old age.

  At fourth watch the moon outside is full.

  Such a pity we can’t hold on to our money!

  If we have the good fortune

  To become a doorman and enjoy some power,

  Our clothes will be in the latest style, on a par with those of a clerk.

  We’ll learn to tell the different brands of opium,

  We’ll spend our days and nights with whores and boy actors,

  We’ll waste our money and forget our families.

  Oh, heaven!

  At the first rebuff we’ll pack up and leave.

  At fifth watch the moon outside is on the wane.

  Such a pity, our less than human state!

  We cannot make complaints.

  Pulling strings to get a doorman’s job,

  What with reports and messages, we have to keep our wits about us.

  Ordered here and there in utter confusion,

  Frantically busy all day long, terrified of shouts from every quarter,

  But let a doorman ask for money, and you’ll see them throw a fit.

  Oh, heaven!

  If I weren’t so hooked on opium, I’d have gotten out years ago.

  It’s dawn, but the moon outside still lingers;

  Such a pity when we quit our jobs!

  No one knows the pain.

  We can’t afford to stay in our lodgings.

  All our belongings are in the pawnshop, and our clothes are out of style.

  When the opium craving hits, there’s nothing we can do.

  When we think of wife and children, we dissolve into tears.

  Our friends cannot pull any strings.

  Oh, heaven!

  Who said that an official’s attendant had to be sent so far from home to die?

  The audience applauded with cries of “Marvelous!” Someone relieved Phoenix and Fragrance of their lutes, Yuan You put his chopsticks and the plate back on the table, and the musician went off with his fiddle. A large cup of wine was poured and offered to Wenlan, then everyone drank a similar cup in celebration of her singing. Phoenix and Fragrance each sang arias from opera as well as Xipi and Erhuang songs. By this time everyone was more than a little tipsy, and they said, “Let’s have something to eat now and continue the party in the evening.” After eating, they wiped their hands and faces, then sat around the room drinking tea. Wu Zhen and Cassia went back to the bed and lay down to satisfy their opium habits.

  At this point Mu Zhu insisted on leaving, and nothing Wu Zhen could say would dissuade him. “Since he wants to leave, why not let him go?” said Yuan You. On hearing those words, Mu Zhu fled from the room without even saying good-bye. As soon as he had left, Wu Zhen produced a note discounted forty percent and tipped the servants on Wenlan’s behalf. He also gave her a two thousand cash note for herself, after which she took her leave. Yuan thanked Wu Zhen on behalf of Mu Zhu.

  Phoenix led Jia Ming quietly off to her room. He noticed that the room, although sparsely furnished, was spotlessly clean. There were four portraits of beautiful women on the walls, plus a pair of calligraphic scrolls on yellow wax paper:

  Phoenixes sing in harmony, luan birds dance together;

  Forest flowers glow with brilliance, butterflies flit forever.

  The first line of the attribution read, “Playfully composed by Miss Phoenix,” and the second, “Written and presented by the Flower-Loving Student.” After inviting Jia Ming to come in and sit down, Phoenix called in the maid to make a pot of strong tea. She chose a multicolored beaker of fine porcelain, half filled it with tea, and offered it to Jia Ming. She also told the maid to light the opium lamp and invited him to smoke. When he said he didn’t smoke, she urged him to try one or two draws to relieve his hangover. Pulling him over to the bed, she prepared a pellet for him.

  “I’m no smoker,” he said, “but after a single draw, I believe this has more fragrance than what Miss Cassia keeps in her room. Why is that?”

  “The other day a client brought me some of the big stuff,15 which I mixed and roasted. That’s why it’s a little more fragrant. Try another.” After Jia Ming had smoked again, he found his hangover somewhat relieved.

  “How many are there in your family?” he asked her, but she did not answer. He repeated the question several times, until finally she said with a sigh, “Master Jia, you mustn’t laugh at me. I lost my mother when I was very young, and my father, who was both a drunkard and a gambler, promised me as a child bride to a son of Lan Siniang, a hairdresser in a brothel. At the age of six I was taken to Qingjiang to learn to play music and sing, but I refused to learn and suffered goodness knows how many beatings and curses. My mother-in-law opened a house of her own in Qingjiang with a dozen or more girls, and at the age of twelve I was forced into the same filthy business. I can’t tell you how much money I made for them! But my husband and his brother whored, gambled, and smoked opium. They also slept around among the girls, played any number of tricks, got involved in several lawsuits, and piled up over a thousand taels in debts. They couldn’t keep the house going anymore and did a flit to Yangzhou. And now my mother-in-law, husband, and brother-in-law have rented a one-room shanty and need four or five hundred cash every day for their living expenses. I’m in here, and although I’m supposed to be on a split-fee basis, all my bedding was bought with a high-interest loan. The jewelry and clothes I had in Qingjiang have been pawned, and every day now I have to use high-interest loans to buy cakes, flowers for my hair, cosmetics, and other odds and ends, as well as a few pellets of that accursed stuff. Every day my family clamors for money. I’ve not been here very long and I have no steady clients. Tell me, how am I going to get by?” Tears welled up in her eyes.

  “You may have fallen into prostitution,” said Jia Ming, “but you don’t have the vulgar manner of the typical prostitute. Just have patience; something good is bound to turn up. If you don’t object, I would like to pay court to you. How would you feel about that?”

  “But you’re on top of the ladder, sir, and here am I with my large feet and ugly face. I’m afraid I’m not worth paying court to.”

  “I’m sick to death of that kind of talk! If you and I were to have a relationship, I could help you with all those little expenses you spoke of.”

  Maid Gao was filling the water pipe with tobacco when she heard this and spoke up. “Our Miss Phoenix is really extremely nice. The trouble is that she has only just arrived here and her family is such a heavy burden. If you do have a relationship with her, it will be her good fortune.”

  “We’re working this out by ourselves,” said Jia Ming. “We don’t need any of those smart comments of yours. Soon you’ll be saying I should thank you for serving as matchmaker, and then you’ll be making requests of me.”

  “Ah, but whoever heard of a bride getting into the wedding chair on her own?”

  As they bantered with each other, Lu Shu and Fragrance came in holding hands. “You were just getting to the best part of the discussion,” said Lu Shu. “We shouldn’t have come in and bothered you.”

  Phoenix scrambled to her feet. “Master Lu, Sister Fragrance, please sit down.” Maid Gao filled their pipes with tobacco and offered them tea.

  “I was just discussing her family affairs with Miss Phoenix,” said Jia Ming. “It’s a very sad story.” Phoenix invited Lu
Shu and Fragrance to smoke some opium, but they declined and told her to lie down herself and satisfy her habit.

  After some more idle conversation, Sanzi came in and announced, “Master Wu is inviting all of you to afternoon tea.” Phoenix told Maid Gao to put out the lamp and ushered the guests into Cassia’s room, where they had some refreshments and chatted and joked with one another. In the evening, the candles were lit, the table was set, and they seated themselves in the same places as before.

  In the midst of the revelry, when they were half tipsy, they heard the footsteps of a number of men in the courtyard below, as well as the sound of several torches being thrown to the ground. Then they heard Sanzi’s voice calling out, “Please come in and take a seat,” followed by the sound of men entering the room opposite. Sanzi came into their room and quietly called Paria and Lucky out. Before long Lucky came back, canceled her counter, and took her seat again, winking at Phoenix to indicate that she should leave the room. Somewhat later, they heard raised voices in the room opposite, as well as teacups being dashed to the floor. “You show us no respect!” someone was shouting. “It’s not that we come here very often. What do you take us for? This is an insult!” Then they heard Paria replying, “Godfathers,16 what has made you so angry? Whatever we’ve done wrong, please make allowances for my sake.” Then they heard the men saying, “These people will heed the guardian gods with their eyes open, but not Buddha with his eyes shut.17 We’re leaving. We’ll see how long this house of yours can go on playing these games.” There followed a babble of voices as they returned to the courtyard and relit their torches. They could still be heard muttering as they took a furious departure.

  If you wish to know what happened, you must turn to the next chapter.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Theft and abduction strike the brothel after a display of force;

  Dinner and apologies are offered by way of mediation.

  Hearing the uproar in the room opposite, Fragrance began to tremble with fear. As soon as Wu Zhen heard the men lighting their torches and leaving, he called Sanzi into the room. “Who were those people just now? And what were they quarreling about?”

  “I know only two of them,” said Sanzi. “One is You Deshou, commonly known as You Butou, who used to be in the local militia. The other is Yan Xiang, who was a pastry cook in a teahouse. Together with a few disreputable young low-class types, they came here for an introductory tea party, but once inside the door they were spoiling for a fight. We quickly ushered them into one of the rooms and asked them to sit down, but no sooner had the tea been poured than they began complaining about the tobacco being late in arriving and put on a deliberate show of anger. Then they flung their cups down on the floor and went off ranting and raving.”

  “Where is your owner, Qiang Da? Why wasn’t he here to meet them?”

  “He’s off at the bathhouse.”

  “They may not let this matter rest, you know.”

  “What! That useless lot? They’re of no account at all. Let them do whatever they want.”

  “Is Miss Fragrance’s chair here yet?”

  “Yes.”

  “There’s no need to be afraid,” Wu Zhen said to Fragrance. “We’re just sending you home a little earlier than expected.”

  Lu Shu produced a silver dollar as a tip for the house staff and also gave notes to Fragrance’s servant and the musician. “I’ll bring your fee tomorrow,” he said to Fragrance.

  She nodded. “Please take me back.”

  “It’s too late now, but I’ll be there tomorrow,” he said. Fragrance whispered something in his ear and urged him to come early, which he promised to do. She said good-bye to the other guests and also to the courtesans, then went out the main entrance and stepped into her sedan chair outside the gate. Before she left, Sanzi brought out four packages of pastries and lit two benzoin candles1 and gave them to her servant.

  Meanwhile the guests, who were now anxious to return home, called a halt to their drinking. Cassia was reluctant to let Wu Zhen go, but he said he had important business to attend to and could not afford to stay the night. He repeated that excuse several times, until she lost patience with him. She grew red in the face and made a number of caustic remarks before she finally let him leave with the others. After arranging to meet the next morning at the Futura teahouse, they went their separate ways.

  Let me turn now to You Deshou and his men after they left Qiang Da’s place. They were seething with anger as they compared ideas on what to do next. “A turtle retreats under its shell,” said You Deshou, “but we’ll do no such thing. We’ll get some fellows together, go back to that place, and stir things up by grabbing a couple of their girls. Our friends on gate duty at the yamen will naturally see that a mediator steps forward to settle the matter and clip their wings a bit. That’ll teach them what’s good for them. Then they’ll show us some respect!”

  “One of the runners on duty at the Jiangdu yamen used to belong to the same club as I did,” said Yan Xiang. “I’ll take responsibility for whatever you do and see you don’t get into any trouble.”

  “Great!” said the others, before going off to Xingjiao Temple Street, where they recruited a dozen would-be toughs, troublemakers all of them. At the general store they asked to buy torches but produced from their purses only twenty or thirty cash, mostly in the smallest denominations, then simply grabbed a dozen torches. After lighting the torches, they also seized a dozen pestles from the rice store before swarming over to Qiang Da’s house.

  The main door was open, and they rushed headlong inside. There was a sudden clamor of voices in the house and the glare from numerous torches. Not knowing what was happening, some of the playboys and their courtesans were so terrified that they wet themselves. The shrewder ones quickly hid in the cellar, or behind one of the beds, or in the woodpile. Lucky was the only courtesan who failed to escape in time, and two low-level toughs, Tang Tong and Meathead Shi, seized her by the hair and stripped off all her hairpins. Meanwhile You Deshou calmly and deliberately led his men in smashing up the window latticework and other items. But although they searched high and low for Qiang Da, they could not find him.

  There was a man in Paria’s room who was enjoying an introductory tea party. His name was Bai Shixin, and as an eldest son he was known as Bai Da. He made a practice of frequenting introductory tea parties in the various brothels around town, and also of freeloading, conveying orders and invitations for people and then sponging off them at festival time. Whenever there was an altercation in a brothel, he would insist on acting as mediator, and each side would then start bidding against the other for his favor. While at his tea party he had heard the hubbub outside and now rushed from the room. At sight of You Deshou and Yan Xiang and their men, he stopped them and asked, “Brother You, what’s this all about?”

  “No need to concern yourself, Brother Bai,” said You Deshou. “They treated us with disrespect and embarrassed us terribly. We’re just smashing up a few things to drive the blasted place out of business.”

  Bai Shixin dropped to his knees in front of them, blocking their way and pleading with them: “Brothers, restrain yourselves for a moment. Qiang Da may not know how to treat people properly, but you also have to consider the feelings of Master Yu, who looks after the interests of this place. He’s a great fellow and a good friend to have. Hand Miss Lucky over to me for the present. Master Yu is off just now, so this is not a good time to talk to him, but let me invite you to the Cold Garden on the Parade early tomorrow morning. Master Yu and I will both be there, and we’ll be able to work things out with you.”

  You Deshou refused to yield, but just as his men were about to drag Lucky out of the gate, Yu Jiafu, who looked after Qiang Da’s house, came puffing up with two runners. When he entered and saw the crowd of men there, he knelt down in front of them, blocking their way and pleading for leniency. Bai Shixin and the two runners added their voices to his. Finally, after much persuasion, You Deshou’s followers released Lucky and
handed her over to Bai, after which, with their torches and pestles in hand, they made a triumphant exit.

  Yu Jiafu invited Bai Shixin into Lucky’s room. Now that the servants, who had been in hiding, saw that the intruders had left, they quickly came in and offered tea and tobacco.

  “Thank you for all the trouble you took, Brother,” said Yu Jiafu to Bai Shixin. “But for you, goodness knows what damage they might have done.”

  “I came here for my own amusement, and also to have a talk with Qiang Da,” said Bai Shixin. “Then I saw the trouble they were causing, and with you not here, I felt I couldn’t just stand by like an idiot and do nothing. By the way, how did you come to hear of it?”

  Sanzi, who was standing to one side, volunteered: “When they came in, I could see that they were up to no good, so I slipped out to fetch Master Yu from his house, but I happened to meet him on the way and asked him to come.” Yu Jiafu was a yamen runner whose proper name was Yu Ren, and as a fourth brother, he was known as Fourth Master. For looking after the interests of Qing Da’s house he was paid a monthly retainer and received presents at festival time. On other occasions he might also make requests for things. It was a profitable arrangement, and so when Sanzi asked him, he had come at once.

  Sanzi lit the opium lamp and brought it to Yu Jiafu so that he could smoke. Then Lucky rushed in, sobbing bitterly, and thanked Bai Shixin and Yu Jiafu. “Did you come to any harm, Miss Lucky?” asked Yu Jiafu. “Are any of your belongings missing?”

  “Thanks to Godfather Bai, who stopped them, I didn’t come to any harm myself, but they took all my hairpins and bracelets, as well as a silver dollar and a two thousand cash note from my purse.”

  “Well, don’t cry. I guarantee you’ll get it all back tomorrow.”

  “I must thank you both for helping your poor goddaughter. Let me kowtow a few more times.”

  Yu Jiafu told Sanzi to call Qiang Da, who came in, knelt down, and kowtowed. “Thank you, gentlemen,” he said. Then he stood up and said to Yu Jiafu: “Fourth Master, this blasted place is impossible to run! They were no sooner in the room than we called for courtesans to keep them company and offer them tea and tobacco. Then for no earthly reason they got mad, smashed their teacups, and went off ranting and raving. I wasn’t in at the time and didn’t find out about it until I came back from my bath. But a little later they rounded up a lot of people and came storming back here. I was smart enough to see what was happening and managed to escape. They smashed the latticework and various other things and went off with a good many of our belongings. If Master Bai hadn’t been here to stop them, Miss Lucky herself would have been dragged off. These last few days we haven’t done any business at all. Last night we cleansed the whole place with vinegar.2 Today we managed to book a banquet, but just when our guests were beginning to loosen up, these people came in and caused an uproar, and everyone dispersed. I don’t know yet whether we’ll even get paid for it. The more I think about this, the madder I get. There’s something I’d like your opinion on. Several aides from the yamen come here all the time. I was thinking of getting them to join me in a lawsuit.”