CHAPTER 5 :: An empty slot is speedily filled by a new love, and a new arrangement is kept from an old flame

It was evening. The lamps had just been lit when Lotuson Wang got in the sedan chair that took him to Snow Scent’s house in East Co-prosperity Alley. Talisman announced him, and a maid propped up the bamboo curtain and welcomed him into the room. He saw that only Amity Zhu and Elan Ge had arrived; they were chatting. Lotuson went in, and they saluted each other and sat down. Then Lotuson called Talisman over to tell him, “Go to Yao’s across the way to see if the things for the upstairs room have all arrived.”

After Talisman was gone, Elan Ge asked, “I saw your note today and thought, but there isn’t any Constance in this alley! Then the menservants said there’s a Constance moving in across the way tomorrow—is that so?”

“I’ve never come across the name Constance, either,” said Amity Zhu. “Where did you find her?”

“I’ll thank you all not to mention it later when Little Rouge is here, all right?” Lotuson said smiling. The other two laughed uproariously.

A moment later, Talisman came back to report. “Everything is ready in the room. They said the four lamps and the bed were delivered only a little while ago. The bed is set out already, and the lamps are hung up.”

“Now go to Lucky Spring Alley and tell them,” Lotuson ordered.

Talisman said “yes, sir” and withdrew. Before he left, he told the two sedan-chair bearers, “Don’t go away, you two, not till I’m back.”

When he approached the end of the alley, a shadowy figure loomed up in the dark and took his arm. He saw that it was Amity Zhu’s steward named Longevity Zhang.

“What is it?” he said, annoyed. “You gave me a start!”

“Where’re you going?” asked Longevity.

“Let’s go and have some fun.”

The two of them walked with arms around each other’s shoulders to Constance’s in Lucky Spring Alley. They told the old serving woman to send word upstairs.

“Is Mr. Wang coming?” Constance opened the window to ask Talisman.

“Master is at a dinner party. He’s probably not coming,” he said.

“Who did he call to the party?” said Constance.

“I don’t know.”

“Is it Little Rouge?”

“I’ve no idea.”

“I see you have your master’s interest at heart!” she said with a smile. “Who else can it be if it’s not Little Rouge?”

Talisman made no answer. As he walked out of the alley with Longevity, they discussed where to go for a little sport.

“Well, there’s only Orchid Alley.”

“It’s too far away.”

“Or we could go to Third Pan’s and see if Verdure Xu is there.”

“Let’s do that.”

The two of them turned toward Security Alley and groped in the darkness to Third Pan’s door. They first peeped in through the gap in the door. When they tried to push it open, they found it was latched. Longevity knocked twice, but there was no answer. He kept knocking, and finally a maid asked from within, “Who is it?” “It’s me,” Talisman answered.

“Our Miss has gone out. Sorry,” said the maid.

“Open the door anyway,” said Talisman.

They waited for a long time, but it was still dead quiet inside; the door remained shut. Longevity lost his temper. He turned sideways and started kicking hard at the door, making a racket and cursing at the same time.

“Coming! Coming!” Alarmed, the maid opened the door. On seeing them, she said, “Why, it’s Master Zhang and Master Talisman! I was wondering who it was.”

“Is Master Xu here?” Talisman asked.

“No, sir.”

Longevity saw there was a light in the side chamber, so he barged into the room with Talisman at his heels. They saw a man come out from behind the bed curtains clapping his hands and stamping his feet in great mirth. It was none other than Verdure Xu.

“So we’re intruding!” the two said in unison. “Sorry to disturb you.”

The maid who came in behind them laughed, saying, “Why, I thought Master Xu was gone, but here he is—in bed!”

Verdure Xu lit up the opium lamp on the couch and invited Longevity Zhang to smoke. Longevity, telling Talisman to go ahead, pulled open the bed curtains and crawled straight in. There came the noise of tangled limbs tussling in bed, and then a woman shouted, “What d’you think you’re doing? Don’t you ever get enough?”

The maid hurried forth to make peace, “Please don’t, Master Zhang!” But Longevity refused to let go. Verdure Xu grabbed him and pulled him up in one quick movement, saying, “All you do is horse around! There’s a time for everything. Don’t you have any sense at all?”

Longevity brushed his own cheek with a finger—a gesture indicating “shame on you.” “Giving your girl a hand, eh? But is she your girl? Shameless!”

The streetwalker Third Pan draped her padded jacket over her shoulders and got off the bed. Longevity kept staring and making grimaces at her. She pulled a face and gave him the evil eye.

He pretended to duck his head between his shoulders in fright. “Oh, dear! Oh, dear! I’m so scared!”

Stumped for a better reply, she could only come up with, “Watch it, or I’ll lose my temper!”

“Lose your temper? Even if you’re to lose your trousers, I …” Then he stopped and went up to whisper a few words into her ear.

Third Pan cried out in exasperation, “Listen to him, Master Xu! Listen to what this good friend of yours is saying!”

Verdure Xu pleaded with Longevity, “It’s all my fault; I’d be much obliged if you’d overlook it, my good brother.”

Longevity said, “That’s all right, since you’re begging to be let off. Otherwise I’d want to ask her: we’re all friends here, is Master Xu longer than Master Zhang by three inches?”

“You have your sweetheart, Master Zhang,” she answered. “I can’t please you, so there’s only Master Xu to help me out a bit.”

“Listen to the way she says Master Xu,” Longevity said to Talisman. “Now, that makes him happy, doesn’t it? He’s so happy, his soul will be called away!”

Talisman said, “No, I don’t want to listen. Nobody ever calls my name!”

“You’re a good friend, Master Talisman,” she said smiling. “Why don’t you put in a good word for me?”

“Speaking of friends …” said Longevity.

Verdure Xu roared out, cutting him short, “I’ll give you a clout in the face if you dare say any more.”

“Fine, fine. Let’s just say I’m scared of you, all right?” said Longevity.

“So! The joke’s on me now!” Verdure Xu rolled up his sleeves and rushed over to beat Longevity, who escaped hurriedly into the courtyard with Verdure in hot pursuit. Longevity pulled out the door bolt and rushed into the alley, heading east. Just then someone came out of the dark and bumped into him.

“What’s going on?” the man exclaimed. The voice sounded familiar.

Verdure Xu walked up to him and asked, “Is it Constant Blessing?”

The man answered to the name. So Verdure Xu took him by his arm and returned to the house, calling to Longevity, “Come in, I’ll let you off this time.” Longevity crept in after them, bolted the door, and peeped at the man through the bamboo curtain. It was Cloudlet Chen’s steward, Constant Blessing. Longevity hurried in to ask him:

“Is the party over?”

“How would it be over so soon? The girls’ call chits have just been sent downstairs.”

Longevity Zhang thought for a moment. “Talisman, I have to go.”

“I’m coming with you,” said Verdure Xu. So saying, they left in a flurry. Third Pan did not even have time to see them out.

The four of them walked out of the alley together and headed east until they got to Pebble Road. Longevity continued ahead innocently. Verdure Xu grabbed him to tell him to go south.

“I’m not going,” Longevity said to Talisman.

Verdure Xu pushed him from behind. “Not going, eh? Try being stubborn!”

Longevity nearly fell down. He had no choice but to cross Zheng’s Wooden Bridge with them. When they got to New Street, a serving woman standing by the roadside rushed over and called out, “Master Constant!” She pulled him along by the sleeve and kept talking as she walked on, leading them to a house. She pushed the door open and walked in. In the house, an old woman of sixty or seventy sat by herself against the wall. The room was lit only by a dim oil lamp on the table.

The serving woman greeted her as “Old Mrs. Filial Guo” and asked, “Where’s the opium tray?”

“Still on the bed,” Old Mrs. Guo replied.

The maid hastened to fetch a spill, went into the inner room, and lit the wall lamp. It was made of tin plate and had a reflector mirror in the glass dome. She turned it up high and invited the four men to come sit down. Then she lit the opium lamp.

“We don’t want any opium. Go and fetch Second Wang,” said Constant.

The woman answered yes and went.

Old Mrs. Guo groped her way into the room, her head wobbling, holding a foreign brass water pipe. “Which of you gentlemen will have a smoke?”

Constant Blessing accepted the pipe, saying, “Never mind this routine of politeness.”

She went back to sit in the outer room.

“What kind of a place is this?” Longevity asked. “I must say you people know your way around.”

“What kind of a place does it look like to you?” said Constant Blessing.

“Well, it looks like nothing to me. A streetwalker house? Not really. A place for moonlighting housewives? Doesn’t seem right. Opium den with girls? Doesn’t look like that, either.”

“It is an opium den with a girl,” said Constant Blessing. “But they have guests inside, so they borrow this place for us to sit here a while. Got it?”

As they were talking, they heard the door creak. Constant Blessing looked out quickly and saw that it was indeed Second Wang. The minute she came in, she greeted him, “Master Constant.” She then asked for the names of the others and apologized, “Sorry, you’ve come at a bad time. If you don’t mind the squalor, sit here for a while and have a smoke, all right?”

Constant Blessing looked at Verdure Xu to see what he thought. Xu, seeing that Second Wang was rather outstanding for an opium den girl, decided that it was all right to wait for a while, so he nodded his agreement. Second Wang then went to the outer room herself to fetch a pipe and two boxes of opium; she also told Old Mrs. Guo to have the serving woman make tea. Longevity saw that there was just one bed in this inner room; the space was so cramped, there wasn’t even room for a table. He called out: “Talisman, we’ll go on ahead.”

Verdure Xu could not very well detain them further, so Longevity took his leave and went back with Talisman to Snow Scent’s house in East Co-prosperity Alley. The party was over by then.

“Where have Mr. Zhu and Mr. Wang gone?” he asked.

Everybody said they had no idea. Longevity hurried away to look for Amity Zhu, while Talisman went searching for Lotuson Wang at Little Rouge’s in West Floral Alley. He saw Wang’s sedan chair at the door and hurried in to ask the bearers, “When did the party break up?”

“Not long ago,” they replied.

Talisman was relieved to hear that. Just then, the maid, Pearlie, happened to be carrying a water kettle upstairs. He went up to her to ask a favor, “Please mention to my master that I’m here. Much obliged.”

Pearlie did not answer but beckoned for him to come up. He tiptoed up after her and sat down in the middle room while Pearlie went into the bedroom. It was a long wait, and he got impatient. He turned his head to listen carefully; there wasn’t a sound, but he dared not go downstairs. He was at the point of dozing off when he heard Lotuson cough and then the sound of footsteps. A moment later, Pearlie lifted the door curtain and beckoned to him. He went in and saw that Lotuson was sitting by himself on the divan yawning, saying nothing. Pearlie was busy preparing a hot towel. Lotuson took it, gave his face a wipe, and finally told Talisman to get the sedan chair ready to go home. Talisman answered “yes, sir” and went downstairs, shouting for the sedan-chair bearers to light the lanterns. When Lotuson came down and got into the chair, Talisman followed it back to Wang’s residence on Fifth Avenue. Only then did he report:

“I’ve been to Constance’s and spoken with them.”

Lotuson acknowledged this with a nod but said nothing, so Talisman helped him prepare to turn in for the night.

The fifteenth was an auspicious day for moving house. Lotuson was up by half past ten. After having a wash and some breakfast, he went to return Elan Ge’s call. Talisman followed him to High Honor Bank in Eternal Peace Alley and delivered his master’s card. A servant came out to tender his regrets, saying, “Sorry, sir, my master is not at home.”

Lotuson then ordered the sedan chair to turn to East Co-prosperity Alley. When they got there, he saw from his sedan chair a black lacquer plaque hung high over the door, with the words “Constance Zhang’s residence” written in gold on it. He got down from the chair and walked into the courtyard. Some musicians were there, and a small stage had been set up, decorated in gold, green, vermilion, and blue; it was all very bright and gay. On seeing him, a new manservant rushed forward to offer his formal greetings, bowing down with one knee on the ground. A new serving woman standing on the staircase invited Mr. Wang to come up. Constance also came out from her room in welcome. She was dressed in brand-new clothes from top to toe, and it seemed to Lotuson that she looked more attractive than ever. Embarrassed by the way he stared at her, she suppressed her laughter, pulled at his sleeve, and pushed him into her room. Inside, everything was in perfect decorative order, which pleased Lotuson enormously. The only thing he could fault with was that the calligraphy and painting scrolls had just been bought from a store and were not very artistic.

Constance hid her mouth with a handkerchief and offered him watermelon seeds on a plate.

“So ceremonious!” he teased her.

She almost laughed out loud. Then she turned abruptly around, pushed open the panel of a folding door, and stepped out.

Lotuson saw that the folding door opened onto a corner balcony right above the entrance and overlooking the alley. Snow Scent’s house was directly opposite. Seeing her plaque, Lotuson called out, “Talisman, go and see if Mr. Ge is there. If he is, ask him to come over.”

Talisman went to deliver the message, whereupon Elan Ge immediately ambled over to greet Lotuson. Constance came up to offer watermelon seeds.

“Is this your lady love?” Elan asked, scrutinizing her, and then sat down.

Lotuson mentioned how he had just called to see Ge, and then they chatted about other things. Just then Snow Scent’s maid, Little Sister, came to tell Elan Ge lunch was ready.

Hearing this, Lotuson suggested to him, “Since you haven’t had lunch either, let’s eat together.”

“Good.” Elan told Little Sister to bring his lunch over, while Lotuson told the maid to order a couple of dishes from the Garden of Plenty. In a moment, the food was all delivered and set out on the table by the window. Constance came up and poured two cups of wine, saying, “Please have some.”

Little Sister also helped for a while. “Enjoy your meal, sir,” she said. “I’ll go now and do our maestro’s hair. We’ll come over after that.”

“Please ask your maestro to come and visit,” Constance said.

Little Sister answered yes as she left.

Having had a cup or two of wine, Elan Ge felt a little dispirited. It so happened that someone was singing a tune from a Kun opera on the stage downstairs, and Elan beat time on the table with his fingers.¹ Seeing he was out of sorts Lotuson suggested, “Let’s play a few rounds of the finger game.”

Elan stuck out his fist and drank a cup at every round. After seven or eight rounds, they suddenly heard Constance call out at the upstairs parlor window, “Do come up, Snow Scent, my peer.” Lotuson looked downstairs, and, seeing it was indeed Snow Scent, he said smiling to Elan, “Your lady love has come looking for you.” This was followed by the sound of bound-feet shoes tripping up the stairs and Snow Scent’s voice saying, “Hi, Constance, my peer.”

Constance invited her into the room. Elan had just lost another round, so he called out to her, “Come over here; I want to tell you something.”

Snow Scent was leaning on the end of the table for balance. She asked, “What is it? Do tell.”

Elan knew she would not come over. He waited till she was off guard and reached for her wrist. With just one pull, she lost her balance and toppled into his arms.

“What d’you think you’re doing!” she cried out desperately.

“Nothing,” he said smiling. “I just want you to drink a cup of wine.”

“Let go; then I’ll drink.”

He would not let go but instead brought a cup of wine to her lips. “Drink this first.” She had no choice but to gulp it down from his hand. Then she quickly struggled to her feet and ran off.

He resumed the finger game with Lotuson while she went to look at herself in the mirror, turning this way and that and then reaching her hands to the back of her head to feel her hairdo. Constance hurried over to help tighten her chignon, removed a narcissus blossom, tidied her hair, put it back, and then looked her over again. Seeing the smoothness of Snow Scent’s elaborate chignon, she asked, “Who does your hair for you?”

“It’s just Little Sister,” replied Snow Scent. “She’ll never learn.”

“I think she’s quite good. This style is rather shapely.”

“Look, it’s so puffed up. Isn’t it ugly?”

“It’s a bit puffed up, but it looks fine. She’s used to doing it this way and probably finds it hard to change, don’t you think so?” said Constance.

“Let me look at your chignon.”

“At first, my old grandmother did my hair; it wasn’t bad. Now I have the maid do it. Does it look all right to you?” She turned her head to Snow Scent.

“It tilts too much to one side. Though there is a style called the lopsided look, if it tilts too much, it doesn’t look right.”

The two of them got on so well that Elan Ge and Lotuson Wang stopped their finger game and drinking to listen to them. When they heard the bit about the lopsided look, they both laughed.

“How is it you two aren’t playing anymore?” Constance asked with a smile.

“We forgot to, listening to the two of you chat,” replied Lotuson.

“I’m not playing anymore. I’ve had more than ten cups,” said Elan Ge.

“Do have a couple more,” said Constance as she picked up the wine pot to pour for him.

“Please don’t, Constance,” Snow Scent broke in. “He loses his wits when he drinks. Why don’t you offer Mr. Wang some instead?”

“Would you like some?” Constance turned to Lotuson, smiling.

“Five more rounds, and we eat. It won’t hurt, will it?” said Lotuson. He then turned to Snow Scent, “Don’t worry, I won’t let him drink too much.”

Snow Scent could not very well stop them. She looked on as they played five more rounds. Constance poured the wine and then handed the wine pot to the maid, who took it away.

Lotuson also called for rice to be served. “We’ll drink again in the evening,” he said with a smile. So they ate, wiped their faces and left the table after it was cleared.

Snow Scent immediately urged Elan Ge to leave with her. But he said, “Let’s rest a while.”

“Why rest? I won’t have it!”

“In that case, why don’t you go back first?”

She stared at him. “You’re not coming?”

He just smiled and refused to move. She got in a huff and pointed a finger at his face. “Watch out if you do show up later!” Turning around, she said to Lotuson, “Do come by, Mr. Wang,” and then, “Come and visit sometime, Constance.”

Constance promised and hurried off to see her out, but she was already on her way downstairs. When Constance came back to the room, she looked at Elan Ge and let out a titter. He felt fed up and ill at ease. It was Lotuson who said, “You’d better go over there. Your lady love is a bit upset.”

“Nonsense. Who cares if she’s upset or not.”

“Come on! She only asked you to go back with her because she’s fond of you, so why not do as she asks?”

Only then did Elan get up. Lotuson saluted him. “Please come early tonight.”

Elan smiled and took his leave.

::

1.  Kun opera was a type of regional opera originating from Jiangsu province that achieved a fairly high status nationally.