Courtesans and Opium Read online

  “And I have another bit of news, too. Eardrop House on Ridge Street recently took on a girl called Xiuhong on an indentured basis. She’s also from Yancheng, and only fifteen. She has a clear complexion and her feet measure less than four inches. She was indentured for twenty thousand cash a quarter. The payment had been handed over and she had just been settled in a room upstairs when, astonishingly, the night before last she quietly opened her window and somehow got out onto the roof. Then she wandered from rooftop to rooftop until she came to a house on Liancheng Lane, where she jumped down, giving the owner of the house the shock of his life. He thought it must be a burglar, but when he lit a lantern, he was stunned to find a girl there. In answer to his questions she said she’d been forced into prostitution by Eardrop House and was being subjected to beatings and curses all day long, so she had run away in the middle of the night. The house owner was a clerk in some yamen, and he had a licentiate living in the house with him. They handed the girl over to the local warden to press the case.

  “As it turned out, however, the girl’s father had not gone back to Yancheng after receiving the first payment, and the next morning he stormed into Eardrop House demanding the return of his daughter and practically turned the place upside down. Later the director of the Children’s Protection Center heard of the case and had the girl taken to Chastity House,12 where they’ll choose a husband for her. As for the father, only when they threatened to take him to court for selling his daughter into prostitution did he slink off with his tail between his legs. He’d been trying on a bit of blackmail, but now he’s lost both money and daughter. Fortunately for Eardrop House, it had good connections with one of the magistrate’s aides, and this man now came forward and took care of matters, persuading the house owner not to press charges and paying him a good deal of money. What with gratuities for the warden and the constables, as well as the quarterly payment for the girl, the Eardrop had to pay out quite a lot, and even so they only narrowly avoided a lawsuit. Well, gentlemen, what do you make of these two items? Pretty unusual, huh? Newsworthy, wouldn’t you say?”

  Everyone agreed that they were very unusual, after which, having delivered his news, the speaker returned to his own table.

  “Who was that?” asked Lu Shu.

  “His name is Wu Jingyu. He’s a military student,” said Yuan You. “He spends his time freeloading off the brothels, racketeering, and squeezing pigeons,13 as well as going after shady money. I know him, but when we meet I normally just nod and leave it at that. We’ve never been close. I can’t imagine why he suddenly descended on us today and told us these pointless stories. Ridiculous, wasn’t it?”

  “You should keep your distance from that sort of person,” said Jia Ming. “It’s best to treat what he said as if you’d never heard it.”

  They went on chatting for a while until the sun began to set. Yuan then invited Lu Shu to supper, but he declined. “I didn’t tell my aunt where I was going, and I’m afraid she’ll be expecting me. However, tomorrow morning I’ll certainly come and pay my respects to your parents and impose on you again.”

  Yuan You saw that he could not persuade him. “I had every intention of paying my respects to your uncle and aunt tomorrow, but since you promise to visit us, I shall welcome you at home. In fact, I would like to prevail on all of you gentlemen to join us for lunch tomorrow.” The other three accepted the invitation.

  Lu Shu took leave of the gathering and went off with Felix, his page. Yuan You told the waiter to put the tea on his account, and the waiter and the tobacco vendor agreed. He and his friends then left the teahouse with their pages. “I’ll expect you tomorrow, then,” Yuan You reminded them. “I’ll be waiting for you at home. I won’t send out any invitations.” They agreed and went their separate ways.

  If you are wondering what happened, you must turn to the next chapter.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Lu Shu visits a friend on North Willow Lane;

  Wu Zhen smokes opium in the west parlor.

  After meeting Yuan You by chance in the Futura teahouse on the Parade, Lu Shu returned to his uncle’s house, where he had supper and chatted with his aunt until it was time for bed.

  Early the following morning he prepared visiting cards for Yuan You’s parents (“from your nephew”) and for Yuan You himself (“from your younger brother”) and put on a fashionable bright-red woolen hat with a high crown of tribute silk and a medium-blue lined crepe-silk robe tied with a silken sash that had a white-jade dragon-shaped catch. From the sash hung a foreign watch, a fan case, a purse, a small knife, and other items. Over the gown he wore a lined surcoat of black crepe silk.

  Felix accompanied him, carrying his visiting cards, his cap, his clothes case, and his water pipe as they made their way from his uncle’s house on South Canalside as far as the yamen on Changzhen Street. The yamen’s entrance was directly opposite Customhouse Gate, which was also the site of a boat dock. Throngs of people were going by in both directions. Lu Shu and Felix walked slowly along at the same pace as the crowd, taking in the scene:

  The gate is known as Customhouse, a thoroughfare by land and water;

  The highest offices are here, including the Customs Administration.

  The gate links the Chu region and Jiangsu province

  And leads on to Lianghuai and Shandong.

  People pass by in an endless stream,

  Tightly packed one against the other.

  The Customs Office, investigating the evasion of duties, displays a tiger’s head emblem to indicate its might;

  The guardhouse squad, tracking down evildoers, show a wolf’s tooth symbol to indicate their power.

  The lanterns in front of the inns beckon the traveler;

  The signboards outside the shops invite the merchant.

  People enter and leave the city, their breath forming a cloud overhead;

  Porters carry goods on their backs or on their poles, their sweat falling like rain.

  In the market, loads of orchids, loads of dried meat, give off a pleasant odor;

  On the streets, loads of night soil, loads of filthy water, emit a disgusting smell.

  With their loads of vegetables, loads of fish, the porters strive to be first;

  With their loads of well water, loads of river water, the carriers travel in groups.

  The porters of firewood jostle their way forward in hopeless disorder;

  The chairs of the salt merchants, with six bearers and three pages, fly past in profusion.

  Women menders, baskets over their arms, offer to patch your clothes:

  Itinerant friars, beating their wooden fish, beg for your copper coins.

  Girlish boys, rouged and powdered,

  —If people took them for catamites, they’d be arrested—

  Work hard at their begging.

  Cart loads, mule loads, go by with their goods;

  Merchants, hawkers, ply their wares.

  This truly is the hub of the ten provinces,

  With all the worldly prosperity of a famous central city.

  Lu Shu passed the yamen gate on Changzhen Street and turned into Ridge Street, where he saw the many Daichunlin cosmetics shops.1 In some of them the counters were besieged by customers buying perfume and cosmetics, while others were deserted. As a newcomer to Yangzhou, Lu Shu was puzzled by this fact but did not like to ask the reason. He passed by Taiping Dock and went as far as the crossroads outside Little East Gate,2 where he asked directions of a shopkeeper. He then continued north, entering Great Scholar Quarter and passing along South Willow Lane to North Willow Lane, where he asked the way to Yuan You’s house. On entering the main gate, he was confronted by a set of four white-painted doors, all of them closed. Felix rapped on one, and a servant appeared at a side door and said, “May I ask the gentleman’s name?”

  Felix handed him the two visiting cards. “My master has come to pay a visit. Kindly inform them.”

  The servant glanced at the cards. “Just a moment,” he said, and w
ent in. After a short wait, the two central doors opened wide, and the servant said, “This way, please, sir.” Lu Shu walked in, followed by Felix.

  Yuan You had come out in front of the main hall, and he now invited his visitor in. Lu Shu wanted to ask Yuan You’s father to come out so that he could pay his respects, but Yuan You said, “I’m afraid he’s suffering from a slight indisposition. Perhaps you could meet him some other time.” Lu Shu also asked if he could go into the rear quarters and pay his respects to Yuan’s mother and wife, but again Yuan demurred. In the end the two men bowed to each other and went inside and sat down.

  As a servant brought them tea, Yuan You remarked, “I had no idea you’d be coming to Yangzhou. I still haven’t been to your uncle’s house to offer my respects, and meanwhile you’ve done me the favor of coming here to see me. Very remiss of me, I’m afraid.”

  “I’m late coming here, and I hope you’ll forgive me,” said Lu Shu. Yuan You persuaded Lu Shu to exchange his hat for a cap. Lu also took off his surcoat and handed it to Felix, then put on a reddish black, shiny woolen formal jacket lined with jade green damask that Felix produced from the clothes case.

  As they were being offered a second cup of tea, a servant’s voice could be heard from the doorway announcing two new arrivals. “Masters Jia and Wu are here.” Yuan You and Lu Shu had hardly risen to their feet when Jia Ming and Wu Zhen came into the hall. The men greeted each other, then chatted while they drank their tea.

  Before very long there was a further announcement: “Master Wei is here.” Yuan You and the other guests went to the front of the hall to welcome Wei Bi. He greeted Yuan You and then the others, and they all took their places. When they had finished their tea, the servants cleared away the cups.

  Yuan You then invited everyone to move to the west parlor. “Let me lead the way,” he said.

  “Please do,” they replied. As they followed him, they saw two white-painted side doors above which was a sky blue couplet. It read:

  Bamboo music played by the wind;

  Flower shadows moved by the moon.

  Inside the doors was a large courtyard. Although the rocks were artificial, their cavities and outcroppings were distinctly pleasing to the eye. The courtyard also contained a few emerald wutong trees, several green bamboos, and also a dozen or more fruit trees—plums, apricots, peaches, and pomegranates. It was the fourth month, and the peonies on the flower terraces were in vivid bloom—a delightful sight. Above the south-facing parlor was a tablet of nanmu3 wood with an inscription in sky blue characters: “Singing of the wind, playing with the moon.” Beneath it were the words “By the hand of Wang Yingxiong, style Guling.”4

  In the center of the room were a six-panel white-painted door screen, an incense table of haimei5 wood, and a large centerpiece painting. It was a landscape by Chen Yuan, style Junxi,6 flanked by two scrolls of gold-flecked paper:

  Wind on the water’s surface, a thousand layers of green;

  Moon at heaven’s center, a single sweep of blue.

  Beneath it were two attributions: “Submitted to my elder, Master Peishan,7 for correction” and “Respectfully, from the hand of Huang Yingxiong, style Qizhi.”8

  To the left of the incense table was an antique crackleware vase with a stand of haimei wood set on a small square black-lacquered table. In the vase were a dozen corn poppies of various colors. To the right of the incense table was a marble whatnot with a large Western chiming clock in the center and, arranged on each side of it, two tall glass hand lanterns with gold hooks and jade bands as well as a pair of painted hat stands. The tables, chairs, footrests, square stools, and teapoys were all of haimei wood. On the scholar’s chairs and square stools were green woolen cushions with a pattern worked in red silk couching of the character shou.9

  On each side of the incense table were Guangzhou pewter dishes resting on haimei stands. There were also eight bookcases of nanmu wood, four on each side of the incense table. They were fitted with white copper locks, so one could not see what books were inside. On the paneled10 wall to the left six paintings were hanging: a plum blossom by Monk Fang Hua,11 a landscape by Yu Buqing,12 a portrait of a beautiful woman by Wang Xiaomou,13 The Last Month of Autumn, by Li Mousheng,14 a picture of roses by Ni Yantian,15 and one of pomegranates by Liu Guzun.16 The veneered wall on the right held a horizontal scroll, “Rhapsody on the Palace of Qin,” by the hand of Qian Wenshan.17 Against the veneered railings on the right was a banquet table of nanmu wood, on which were placed an antique vase of Longquan ware and a tall red sandalwood taboret. In the vase were five white peonies of an exquisite variety. Against the paneled wall at the back was a large platform bed of nanmu and a low table of haimei. On the bed were large green woolen bolsters and round pillows, and in front of it a footrest and a spittoon. From the ceiling hung six foreign-style lamps of Guangzhou pewter as well as square glass lamps in various sizes. With its carved railings and blinds of speckled bamboo, the room had a quiet and elegant air.

  Yuan You asked everyone into the parlor for breakfast. A fresh pot of the finest scented tea was brewed, and four dishes were set out: fresh meat with bamboo shoot patties, ham and sticky-rice pies, buns filled with bean paste, and steamed crabmeat dumplings. After they had finished eating, they chatted idly as they sipped their tea.

  Wu Zhen’s page, Fazi, took a blue cloth bag over to the right side of the room and put it on the bed, moving the low haimei table off to one side. From the bag he produced a large pipe of speckled bamboo with a jadeite stem and gold mouthpiece and placed it on the bed. He also took out a little sandalwood box resembling a visiting-card case, opened it, and placed it in the middle of the bed as if it were a lamp saucer. The box contained a white copper opium lamp with a revolving top, a glass lamp cover, as well as a steel pick, a small pair of scissors, a pipe cleaner, and a dish of water. When he had set out these items, he took out a pipe spill and lit it, then lit the opium lamp.

  Noticing that the lamp was alight, Wu Zhen got up, walked over to the bed, and sat down. From an opium pouch at his waist that was done in needlepoint and had multicolored tassels he took a silver cloisonné opium case with a revolving top that had a lion rolling a ball on it; the lion’s eyes and tongue turned, just like the ball. The case was said to have been made in Shanghai, this kind of work being beyond the capacity of the Yangzhou silversmiths.

  Wu Zhen opened the case and set it in the lamp saucer, then invited his companions to smoke a pipe. They all said that they didn’t smoke, but Wu Zhen kept on urging them until he succeeded in dragging Lu Shu over to the platform bed, where he lay down on the left side, with Wu Zhen on his right. Wu dipped the steel pick in the opium case and retrieved some opium, which he roasted over the lamp until it hung down an inch or more.18 Then, with a twist of the pick, he transferred the opium to the second finger of his left hand and rolled it into a tiny ball. Then he dipped the pick in the opium again, roasted it over the lamp, and also rolled it into a ball. After repeating the process several times, he rolled the balls into a pellet.

  With the pipe in his hand in front of the lamp, he placed the pellet in the bowl, kneaded it with his fingers until it was wedged in tightly, then held it to the lamp and made a hole in it with the pick. After blowing through the pipe once himself, he wiped the mouthpiece with his hand and passed the pipe to Lu Shu. With Wu Zhen holding the end of the stem, Lu Shu clasped the pipe firmly in his teeth. Wu held the end of the stem to the lamp and told Lu Shu to inhale. Lu Shu did so, but he inhaled too hard, and the pipe became blocked. Once more Wu Zhen held the pipe stem to the lamp, roasting the opium into a pellet, and then, puncturing it once more with the pick, he handed it back to Lu Shu. This process had to be repeated several times, with Lu Shu failing to inhale and Wu Zhen roasting the opium again, until the former finally succeeded. He then handed the pipe back to Wu Zhen and remarked with a smile, “I’m no smoker, I’m afraid. Actually I found it rather unpleasant. But don’t let that deter you. By all means go ahead and satisfy your habit
.”

  Wu Zhen again offered the pipe to the others, but they all declined. In leisurely fashion he inhaled seven or eight times before asking Lu Shu to change sides. He then inhaled another seven or eight times from the left side. By this time the table had been set for lunch in the library. Only after Yuan You had invited his guests to take their seats did Wu Zhen put down his pipe and get up together with Lu Shu.

  After much polite sparring, it was determined that Lu Shu should occupy the place of honor and that Wei Bi and Jia Ming would occupy the second and third seats. Wu Zhen and Yuan You would sit opposite each other, with Wu in the senior position. The wine would be served by Yuan. At first twelve small dishes were set out, followed by four small bowls. Lu Shu was asked about the scenery in Suzhou and Changshu, and he in turn asked about Yangzhou’s history and relics. They conversed casually over their wine, until five large dishes were brought in. Since they had already drunk several pots of All Flowers wine, they protested, “We can’t drink any more in the middle of the day,” and asked for rice to be served. Yuan You toasted each of them with a large cup of wine, after which four more small dishes were brought in. As the meal ended, servants handed them tightly rolled hot towels to wipe their faces with, and then the guests left the table to sit and drink tea. A separate lunch had been prepared for their pages, and Yuan You’s servants now invited them to a side room to eat it. Wu Zhen lay down on the bed again and indulged himself another dozen times. When their pages had finished their lunch, he told Fazi to gather up the opium things and return the low table to the bed.

  Yuan You then invited everyone back to the Futura for tea. The talk there was all of brothels and prostitutes, and they found themselves to be a remarkably congenial group. “Wenhua and Youying19 are sworn brothers already,” volunteered Wei Bi. “The fact that all five of us have been thrown together like this can only be due to our destinies from a previous existence. At the risk of sounding a little presumptuous, I should like to propose that we hold a meeting and swear brotherhood with one another. I wonder if you gentlemen would do me the honor of attending?”