Courtesans and Opium Page 15
“I don’t know anything about weights,” said Fragrance. “Let’s talk about that some other time.” Lu Shu smiled. He persuaded his sworn brothers to stay, and they spent the whole day there drinking.
Time flew by, and soon it was the first of the fifth month. That morning Lu Shu and his brothers ate their breakfast in the Futura teahouse, visited the bathhouse for a bath and a head shave, and then went on to the Jinyulou, where they were shown into Lute’s room. The brothers congratulated Lu Shu and told their pages to offer him their presents. Mother Xiao, Lute, and Cloud gave him tall wax candles and benzoin incense, while the senior staff brought him a large sandalwood rosary with a jeweled cover and colored tassels and also a painting of a sleeping beauty. Cassia, Phoenix, Paria, and Lucky from Qiang Da’s house each sent a present. Lu Shu received the presents and tipped the servants who had brought them, then sent for the four courtesans. After a considerable wait, Phoenix and Paria arrived by sedan chair. They congratulated Lu Shu, greeted the others, and joined them, explaining that Cassia and Lucky had other engagements and could not come in person; they sent their congratulations and hoped that Lu Shu would not be offended. “If they can’t come today, let’s invite them tomorrow,” he said. He gave Mother Xiao the various sums promised to her, and also reimbursed her and the others in the house for the cost of their presents. Mother Xiao was delighted and stowed the money safely away.
After lunch she told the maid who dressed Fragrance’s hair to do it up in a fashionable chignon style. Fragrance changed her hairpins and rings, inserted fresh flowers in her hair clasp, and dressed up in new clothes from head to foot. The garments and jewelry were all things Lu Shu had bought for her. When she had finished dressing, Mother Xiao led her into the room to meet the guests.
“Now, there’s real beauty for you!” exclaimed Jia Ming. “She looks like the goddess of the moon come down to earth or some divine maiden joining our world. Girls always look prettier with their hair up; even a perfect beauty loses something when she’s dressed as a boy.” Fragrance felt a little embarrassed in front of all the people, and although the other courtesans teased her, she said nothing.
That evening the guests were invited into Fragrance’s room. They noted that, although it didn’t resemble a wedding chamber, it was decorated in gorgeous colors, with brocaded and embroidered bedding and coverlets. An aromatic scent hung in the air, and on the dressing table several pairs of tall wax candles burned. Inside the bed curtain was a painting of a sleeping beauty, and on the walls were several other paintings of beautiful women as well as calligraphic scrolls, including one pair of “Myriad Years of Happiness” with a border of yellow silk that Jia Ming had recently sent:
To her moon palace she invites the laureate alone;
In her fragrant room she meets the one who plucks the flower.3
The first attribution read, “Composed and Written to Congratulate Miss Fragrance on Her Happy Occasion,” and the second read, “Presented by the Master of the Kingfisher-Blue Studio.”
In the middle of the room was a round table, and Lu Shu now invited his guests to take their places at it. A banquet was served, and they drank and played guess-fingers. They also played the game of Flowing Cups4 and managed to get Lu Shu rather drunk. Not until they had all thoroughly enjoyed themselves and drunk their fill did the party come to an end. Jia Ming and Yuan You paid the tips for Phoenix and Paria, who said goodbye and got into their sedan chairs. Lu Shu sent someone to buy pastries and also to light the benzoin incense and give it to the pages to hold as they followed the sedan chairs. The brothers took their leave of Lu Shu and saw Phoenix and Paria back to Qiang Da’s.
Meanwhile the maid removed the leftovers, wiped the table, made some strong tea, and heated some vinegar broth and gave it to Lu Shu for his hangover. She also handed him a piece of white silk. “Congratulations, Master Lu! Here is the First Graduate’s Seal.” He put it beside the bed.
It was now nearly midnight. The maid tidied up the bed, and Lu Shu and Fragrance undressed and lay down. He was a rake who frequented brothels, and she was a girl who had lived much of her life in them. He had spent a great deal of money on her, but by this time he was so befuddled with drink that he never did learn whether she was a virgin or not. This was the first time they slept together, and their desire for each other was so strong that the lovemaking continued until their passion was utterly spent.
The nights are short on such joyous occasions, and the sun was high in the sky by the time they dressed and got up. The maid came in and congratulated them, bringing water for Lu Shu to wash his face and Fragrance to rinse out her mouth. She also brought in two bowls of baked Hua’an lotus seeds sweetened with crystal sugar for the couple to eat, and Lu Shu rewarded her with a tael. Then the hairdresser came in to congratulate them, and she, too, was rewarded with a tael. She thanked Lu Shu and combed out Fragrance’s hair. Then the flower seller brought in a flower clasp and four fresh-cut flowers and congratulated the couple, and Lu Shu rewarded her, too, with a tael. Fragrance did her hair, washed her face, applied rouge and powder, then put on the clasp with the flowers, finished dressing, and ate her breakfast with Lu Shu. As they were eating, Jia Ming, Wu Zhen, Yuan You, and Wei Bi came in together and offered their congratulations. Lu Shu invited them to sit down, and they cracked a number of jokes with Fragrance. Lu Shu also sent someone to Qiang Da’s to ask Cassia and Lucky to join them. When the food was ready, he invited everyone to lunch.
Afterward, when they had washed their hands and faces, Cassia and Lucky suggested an outing to the East Garden of Tianning Temple and other places. The four sworn brothers took Cassia, Lucky, Cloud, and Lute to visit the shrines at the back of the temple, after which they went on to the animal sanctuary. There they had to give a good deal of money to the priest in charge before he would open the gate and let them in. They found a number of elderly oxen and pigs, as well as sheep, geese, chickens, and ducks, and hastily sent someone off to buy wheat cakes and steamed dumplings, then tossed the food toward the animals and laughed heartily as they fought over it. After amusing themselves there for some time, they went out of the temple gate and visited the Duke Shi5 Shrine in the East Garden. When they had seen everything there, they left the shrine and went out by the main gate. Cassia took Wu Zhen by the hand and wanted to continue their excursion to the east, but he said, “There’s nothing worth seeing in that direction. If you follow the canal, it will bring you to the Bianyi Gate, which is where the boats from your hometown dock.” They went back to the Jinyulou, had afternoon tea, and stayed for supper. Wu Zhen and Wei Bi paid the tips for Cassia and Lucky, respectively, and they all took leave of Lu Shu. The four sworn brothers saw Cassia and Lucky back to Qiang Da’s.
Once more Lu Shu spent the night with Fragrance. It was as if they were blissfully married—perfectly matched and quite inseparable. He told her of his wish to take her home, and she swore oath after oath that she would gladly marry him. Once the price had been agreed with her uncle on his next visit to Yangzhou, she said, she would go back with him. And so Lu Shu continued to be blinded by passion and for three days did not leave the brothel.
Soon it was the Duanyang Festival. Yangzhou has a tendency toward extravagant display, especially with regard to the dragon boat contests, and Fragrance expressed a desire to see them. “I arrived here only this year,” she said, “and I’ve never been. Do let’s go.” Lu Shu agreed to hire a boat.
On the morning of the fourth Mother Xiao came upstairs and said to Lu Shu, “Sir, there’s something I need to consult you about. We’re celebrating the festival, and in addition to the expenses, there are presents we have to give as well as bills to pay,6 and I would like to ask you for some money to tide us over.”
As Lu Shu nodded, Fragrance interjected, “Don’t talk about festival expenses, godmother! I have ever so many debts myself! I owe the tailor so much, the flower seller so much, the shoemaker so much, the jeweler so much, the jade merchant so much, and the fruiterer so much. I also ne
ed to buy a few small things for you and your family as well as the staff. I need a whole lot just to get by.”
“Don’t worry your head over such trivial sums,” said Lu Shu. “When Felix arrives, I’ll tell him to go back and fetch some money to help you with the festival expenses.”
“He’s here already, waiting downstairs,” said Mother Xiao.
“Then send him up so that I can give him instructions.” She went down to do so.
“Go off at once and invite Masters Jia, Wu, Yuan, and Wei,” he told Felix. “Tell them I’m waiting for them.” He also whispered some instructions in Felix’s ear.
After some time the four men arrived together. Lu Shu stood up and greeted them, as did Fragrance. The maid served tea and replenished the tobacco. “The reason I’ve invited you,” said Lu Shu, “is that Fragrance would like to watch the dragon boats tomorrow, and since I’m not familiar with the local customs, I’d like to ask you for your advice. I want to hire a large boat and invite your favorites along as well as yourselves.”
“Pleasure boats in Yangzhou are at their most expensive during the Dragon Boat Festival, the Guanyin Festival, and the Festival of Ghosts,”7 said Jia Ming. “And there’s one other thing,” he added, pointing at Fragrance and the other courtesans. “With them on board, as soon as the people in the dragon boats set eyes on them, they’ll want to compete for prizes. This outing is going to cost you several dozen taels.”
“Well, so be it. I’m celebrating the Duanyang in your fair city, and with glorious spectacles like this on hand, of course I want to admire them. It’s the excitement of the occasion that I’m interested in. What does it matter if I spend a few extra taels here and there?” Jia Ming did not care to raise any further objections.
“Since Brother Lu is so keen,” said Wu Zhen, turning to Yuan You, “why don’t you and I go down to the dock today and reserve a boat? Otherwise we might find that there aren’t any left tomorrow, which would be a terrible disappointment.”
“I’d be greatly obliged if you would go,” said Lu Shu.
Wu Zhen and Yuan You left the Jinyulou and went out through the main gate of the Scripture Repository. “If you want to be a big man in the pleasure quarter, you have to throw your money about,” said Wu Zhen, “but I think the way Brother Lu is carrying on is more than a little foolish. In order to take Miss Fragrance’s maidenhead, he lavished money on clothes and jewelry that, by my calculations, must have come to almost two hundred taels. I just wonder how much more it will cost him to buy her out and marry her. When you consider that he came to Yangzhou just to visit his relatives, and that he hasn’t done any business here, where on earth is he going to find the money?”
“Ever since he came and we held that brotherhood ceremony, he’s been putting on a daily round of parties and entertainments. I’ve never had a really detailed discussion with him.”
As they talked, they came to the drawbridge at the Tianning Gate. A boatman whom they had known a long time hailed them: “Going out for a little fun, gentlemen?”
“Not today,” said Wu Zhen, “but we do need a big boat for tomorrow. How much would it be?”
“With you two gentlemen, I can’t beat about the bush. To be frank, it’ll come to twelve dollars excluding tips.” Wu Zhen offered him four dollars, which the boatman refused. In the end, after much bargaining, they agreed on six dollars including luncheon, tea, and charcoal but excluding tips for the staff. “I really shouldn’t ask you for this, but tomorrow’s the fifth, and it’ll be jam-packed here. Now that we’ve settled on a price, if anyone else comes along and wants to hire the boat, even if he offers me my price in gold, I’ll still have to refuse. I’d like you to put down a couple of dollars now as a deposit. Oh, and one other thing: no cancellations on account of bad weather!”
“Of course not,” said Wu Zhen. “I’ll have someone bring over two dollars for the deposit.” The boatman nodded.
“Brother, there’s something I’d like to talk to you about,” said Wu Zhen, drawing Yuan You aside to a secluded spot in the Tianning Temple grounds. “The way young Lu is behaving, he’s sure to squander everything he’s got. Ever since he came here, we’ve been out with the great man every day, but like the soy sauce we dip the pigs’ knuckles in, sooner or later his money is going to run out. You and I are not as well situated as Brothers Jia and Wei, with their connections to the Salt Administration. We don’t have the spare cash to go out on the town. There are certainly going to be some expenses at Qiang Da’s over the festival, and I’m really hard up at present. I was thinking, why don’t we add a few dollars to the cost of the boat and the prizes tomorrow, in order to tide us over the holidays? What do you say?”
Yuan You hesitated. I feel indebted to Lu Shu and his father for a great many favors in Changshu, he thought. How can I cheat him now that he’s here in Yangzhou? But if I don’t go along with Brother Wu, I’m afraid that, having put forward the suggestion, he will be offended. On the other hand, if I do agree, I’m sure to suffer from a bad conscience. Then another thought struck him: In any case, sooner or later Lu Shu is bound to come to grief. If one of these days he’s squandered all of his money and doesn’t have the fare to get home, I’ll give him a few extra dollars to make up for this. “All right, I’ll go along with you,” he said. Now that their plan had been agreed on, the two men returned to the Jinyulou and went up to Fragrance’s room.
Lu Shu sprang to his feet the moment he saw them come in. “I’m ever so grateful to you both! Did you manage to hire one?”
“Those men in charge of the pleasure boats are dreadful!” said Wu Zhen. “I can’t tell you how much haggling we had to do before we could reserve one for a base price of sixteen dollars, excluding tea, charcoal, luncheon, and tips. The man also insisted that we put down ten dollars as a deposit. And if it rains tomorrow, even if we never set foot on the boat, we’ll still have to pay the full amount.”
Lu Shu bowed to them both. “Just because I wanted to enjoy myself, I’ve given you all this trouble!” He took ten silver dollars from the purse at his waist and handed them to Wu Zhen, who went downstairs and gave two to his page and told him in private to go to the dock and hand them to the boatman as a deposit. Then he went back upstairs.
“You said the dragon boats would want to compete for prizes,” said Lu Shu. “I don’t quite understand. I’d be much obliged if you’d see to that, too.”
“Brother Yuan and I will do our best,” said Wu Zhen. “Today you should fill some envelopes with cash for the boys who’ll be on the stern of the dragon boats tomorrow.”
“We must also invite the other courtesans to join us,” said Lu Shu. He called a servant to light the opium lamp for Wu Zhen and invited them all to stay for lunch. After that they took their leave, having arranged to meet early the next morning at the Jinyulou.
The others left for Qiang Da’s, where each told his favorite about Lu Shu’s invitation to watch the dragon boats the following day. The courtesans were elated and at once began getting their clothes and jewelry ready for an early start in the morning.
Please turn to the next chapter to learn what happened.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Fragrance1 watches the dragon boats at the festival;
Lu Shu puts on a nighttime feast for her birthday.
By the fourth of the month Lu Shu had completed all of the arrangements for the excursion Fragrance had asked for. On the morning of the fifth, he paid his respects to his uncle and aunt and, on the pretext that he had been invited to celebrate the festival at a friend’s house, hurried off to the Jinyulou, where Mother Xiao and the staff offered him compliments of the season. He then went upstairs to Fragrance’s room. She, too, offered him her compliments, and the maid served him tea and tobacco. Fragrance told the maid to unwrap a quantity of dumplings2 and herself picked up a small multicolored plate of fine porcelain filled with rose flower syrup preserved in refined sugar and invited Lu Shu to eat some dumplings with it. When he had eaten one, she speare
d another one with a chopstick, dipped it in the syrup, and then, taking half of it between her teeth, put her mouth to his and transferred the other half to him. They were in the midst of this game when the four sworn brothers came into the room, and they quickly swallowed the dumpling. Compliments were exchanged, and Fragrance invited them to share the dumplings. She also told a servant to light the opium lamp for Wu Zhen.
Fragrance began hastily to dress herself, and when she had finished, Jia Ming said, “Let’s go down. I’m afraid the others may arrive before we do, and they won’t know which boat to board.” Fragrance invited Mother Xiao, Cloud, and Lute to come with them. When they arrived at the dock, they walked down the stone ramp to the boat. On boarding, they noticed that on the afterdeck several cooks were engaged in slaughtering chickens and ducks in preparation for the feast. The guests then took seats in the cabin and chatted together. After a while, Phoenix, Cassia, Paria, and Lucky arrived in their sedan chairs, with Sanzi and the maids following on foot. The men at once went ashore, and each of them helped his favorite to board. For this occasion the courtesans wore gorgeous clothes and brilliant jewelry. Compliments were exchanged, and the order was given to start.
The boatman cast off, pulled up the gangway, and began to work the sweep oar. He brought the boat past Rainbow Bridge, and at Little Gold Hill they went ashore and strolled about enjoying themselves. The pomegranates were a fiery red and the artemisia a delicate green. Lu Shu and Wei Bi gambled and won a large number of Water Mice and Yellow Mists,3 which they brought back to the boat to celebrate with.
By the time they had had their lunch, pleasure craft large and small were plying their way back and forth in great numbers, and the air was filled with the sound of gongs and drums, while in the distance the pennants of the boats were so numerous that they obscured the light of the sun. Dragon boats of various colors came flying in their direction. Two of them had awnings like those on foreign-style buildings, and both awnings were spanking new. Over their sterns hung what appeared to be young boys. The fellows standing at the dragon’s head wore brilliant clothes, and from their belts hung foreign watches, penknives, purses, fan cases, kerchiefs, and so forth. On their heads they wore the latest style of tasseled summer hat and on their feet the latest style of satin boot. They were young, their clothes were new, their feet were planted firmly on the boat—they looked supremely handsome. On a few other dragon boats the awnings, although not new, were still brightly colored. To the stern of each boat a sheet of colored cloth was attached. A small red wooden bar was fastened to it, and on each bar sat a ten- or eleven-year-old boy. The boys’ hair was drawn up in two tufts on top of their heads with crimson tassels hanging down on each side. They wore pale pink nankeen tunics, jade green silk trousers, and sandals but no socks. Of the fellows standing at the dragon’s head, some wore medium-blue unlined crepe-silk robes; some wore dark-brown unlined pongee robes; others wore unlined robes of Suzhou-blue cotton cloth; and still others wore gowns fastened with belts.