CHAPTER 6  ::   A playful belle calls her client her son, and a phenomenal girl dominates her madam

Elan Ge sauntered over to Snow Scent’s house. When he walked into her room, he found it deserted and dead quiet, so he lay down by himself on the divan. Then the maid Little Sister came in, her rice bowl in her hands, and said to him, “Please sit a while. The maestro is having lunch.” While she was there, she emptied the cup of tea that had stood there since morning, put in new tea leaves, and shouted for the manservant to bring hot water.

In a moment, Snow Scent drifted in. Seeing him, she said loudly, “Didn’t you say you’d sit in that house across the way? What are you doing here now?” So saying, she pulled him up from the divan and tried to push him out the door. “Back you go. You can sit over there. Who asked you to come?”

Unable to make her out, he stood there, nonplussed. “Constance across the way has nothing to do with me. Why should you be jealous?”

Snow Scent was stumped. “You must be joking! Why should I be jealous of Constance?”

“Why are you telling me to go to her place if you aren’t jealous?”

“Just now, you sat there and refused to budge, so I’m suggesting you go back there now. What’s it got to do with jealousy?”

Only then did he understand what had upset her. He gave her a smile, sat down, and asked, “You mean you want me to sit with you all day long. You don’t want me to go to other houses, is that it?”

“If you do as I say, you can go anywhere. Why won’t you ever listen to me?”

“When have I not listened to you?”

“When I told you to come over just now, you refused.”

“That was because I had just finished lunch. I wanted to sit for a bit before coming back. Who said I wasn’t coming?”

Still unconsoled, she sat in his lap, took his hand, and kneaded and squeezed it hard, grumbling all the while, “I won’t have it! You must give me your promise.”

“What promise?” He lost his patience.

“Next time, no matter where you are, if I tell you to come, you have to come at once. And no matter where you want to go, if I say don’t go, then you’re not to go. Do I have your promise?”

Seeing he was no match for her, he had to give her his promise. Satisfied, she let go of his hand and walked away.

“Even my wife never says anything about my comings and goings, and now you want to control me!” he said smiling.

“You’re my son,” she laughed. “Why shouldn’t I control you?”

“The things you say! Is there any sense to it? You’re shameless!” he said.

“I’ve brought up a son who’s now old enough to go to dinner parties and tea parties in sing-song houses. I’m quite proud of myself. Why d’you say I’m shameless?”

“I’m not talking to you anymore.”

It happened that Little Sister had just finished her lunch and was getting changed in the back room. Snow Scent called out, “Little Sister, come and have a look; is this son of mine any good?”

“Where is he?” asked Little Sister.

Snow Scent pointed to Elan Ge, laughing, “There.”

“What nonsense!” Little Sister said. “How old are you yourself to have such a fine big man for a son?”

“What’s so fine about him? When I do have a son, he’ll be more presentable than him.”

“Then have a son with the young master. That’d be a wonderful thing,” said Little Sister.

“If my son went to sing-song houses like he does, I’d beat him to death.”

Little Sister burst out laughing. “Did you hear that, young master? It’s a good thing you have nostrils for ventilation, otherwise you’d be sure to explode.”

“She’s gone crazy today,” he said.

Snow Scent rolled into his lap and put her arms round his neck, chortling like a child. He fooled around with her for a while. They only separated when a manservant came in with the water kettle to make tea. Elan stood up as if to go.

“What are you doing?” Snow Scent asked.

“I need to do some shopping.”

“Not allowed.”

“I’ll be right back.”

“Says who? Sit still for me.” She pressed him back on the seat and whispered, “What is it you want to buy?”

“I’m going to Hope Brothers to get some odds and ends.”

“Shall we go together in a horse carriage?”

“Fine by me.”

So Snow Scent called out for a carriage. A manservant answered and went to fetch one.

“Would you like to wash your face?” Little Sister asked. “You just had lunch.”

Snow Scent took a look at herself in a hand mirror and said, “Never mind.” She just wiped her mouth with a napkin and dabbed on some lip rouge and then went and got dressed.

“The carriage is here,” the manservant came back to report.

“I’ll go out first.” Elan got up to go.

Snow Scent hastened to stop him. “One minute. Wait for me.”

“I’ll wait for you in the carriage.”

She stamped her feet in protest. “I won’t have it!”

He had no choice but to come back. “Look at her,” he said to Little Sister, smiling, “she behaves like a child herself yet talks of having a son.”

Snow Scent retorted, “You’re the child, no sense whatsoever! What right do you have to lecture me?” She turned her profile toward him, nodded twice, and said in a low voice, giggling, “I’m your real mother, don’t you know?”

“Hurry up!” he snapped at her, smiling. “Stop babbling.”

After this, she finally finished dressing. Little Sister carried her silver water pipe, and the three of them went out together. They got into the carriage at the entrance to the alley and instructed the driver to go first to the Hope Brothers Company on First Avenue. Once past the Bowling Alley junction, they did not have far to go. When they had alighted, the driver pulled the carriage aside to wait for them, while the three of them wandered into the foreign store. They were greeted with such strange and fantastic things that their eyes were dazzled and their heads spun. They looked briefly at item after item, most of which they could not name and had no time to inquire into. The salesclerks in the store put on a free display of clockwork toys: toy birds that beat their wings and chirped and toy animals that danced rhythmically. There were even four or five bronze foreign figures sitting in a row, blowing the trumpet, playing the lute, and beating on various brass and wood instruments to perform a set of tunes. As for the ships, carriages, dogs, and horses that could move or walk, they were too numerous to mention.

Elan Ge just picked the things he needed. Spotting a bracelet watch, Snow Scent said she wanted to have it, so Elan Ge bargained over the total price and made a deposit with a bank draft. He also wrote a slip and told the store to send the things to High Honor Bank and collect the rest of the bill there. Having made these arrangements, they left together. In the carriage, Snow Scent took off her bracelet watch to show Little Sister.

“It’s only a pretty gewgaw. There’s not much to it,” said Elan.

It was five o’clock by the time they got to Luna Park by the Bubbling Well Temple. Though most visitors had gone and the horse carriages were thinning out, Elan Ge ordered a pot of tea on the ground floor of the foreign-style building. Resting her hand on Little Sister’s shoulder, Snow Scent took a turn around the winding corridors and pavilions and then said she wanted to go home. Elan, not in the mood to linger there, was agreeable. As they turned from the Bund into Fourth Avenue, the gas streetlamps were already burning bright. Back home, the menservants at the door reported, “Invitations from across the way have come twice already.”

Elan sat for a moment before he took his leave from Snow Scent and walked across the alley. Lotuson Wang welcomed him into Constance’s room where several guests had gathered. Aside from Amity Zhu, Cloudlet Chen, Benevolence Hong, and Whistler Tang, there were two young men from a local official family. They were the Tao brothers, named Cloud and Jade. Both of them were under thirty and were close family friends of Elan Ge. After deferring to one another in terms of seating order, they all sat down. A moment later, Prosperity Luo also arrived.

“Who else is coming?” Cloudlet Chen asked.

“There’re my two colleagues from the bureau, said to have gone to Sunset’s place first,” said Lotuson.

“Then let’s send someone to remind them,” said Cloudlet.

“I already did. Let’s not wait for them.” Lotuson told the maid to set the table and asked Whistler Tang to write out the call chits. Since each man was calling his usual girl, Whistler got it all done without having to ask. Prosperity Luo took the tickets to look them over and withdrew the one for Green Phoenix.

“Why?” Lotuson asked.

“Didn’t you notice yesterday that she came late and left after only a little while?” said Prosperity Luo. “Who feels like calling her!”

“Don’t be angry with her,” Whistler Tang replied. “She probably had to go to another party.”

“What other party! She was just living up to her name!” said Prosperity Luo.

“Don’t you enjoy making them go green with jealousy?” was Whistler’s answer.

In the course of this conversation, the man sent to hasten the guests had come back to report that there was another party at Generosity Alley. “They say please go ahead.”

So Lotuson Wang called for hot towels to be brought up. The maid answered and took the call chits down with her. Meanwhile, Whistler had written another one for Green Phoenix and slipped it in with the rest.

Lotuson invited everybody to go into the middle room, where three square tables had been set end to end to make a big dining table. The men removed their jackets and sat around anyhow, leaving two high-back chairs in the middle vacant. Constance poured wine for everyone and offered them watermelon seeds. Benevolence Hong raised his cup to her, saying, “Maestro, my congratulations.”

Constance was so shy, she pursed her lips to suppress a smile and said, “What for?”

Benevolence imitated her in falsetto, “What for?” Everybody laughed.

The singers submitted a handwritten folder of opera titles, asking them to indicate their choices. Lotuson Wang offhandedly picked two: “The Broken Bridge” and “In Search of a Dream.” The singers went downstairs and began the performance. A manservant wearing a formal silk fez served the first course, shark’s fin. Green Phoenix was already there in answer to the call.

“Look, she’s the first to arrive,” Whistler Tang said to Prosperity Luo. “How she’s trying to please!”

Prosperity Luo made a sign with his lips. Whistler turned his head around and saw Snow Scent sitting behind Elan Ge.

“She’s like a girl from the same house, coming from just across the way. You can’t compare her with the others,” said Whistler.

Green Phoenix’s maid, Mama Zhao, was just getting the water pipe out to fill it. She was a little taken aback to hear what Whistler said. “We always hurry to answer a call,” she said. “It’s only when there are other parties that we’re sometimes a bit late.”

Displeased, Green Phoenix snapped at Mama Zhao, “What’re you going on about? Early or late, what’s the difference? Who needs you to do all this talking?”

Whistler Tang heard all this but just ignored it with a smile. Prosperity Luo, however, was beginning to lose his patience. Lotuson Wang quickly changed the subject, saying, “Let’s play the finger game. Prosperity, you start a bank of fifty cups.”

“Fifty it is then. No big deal!” Prosperity responded.

“Come, twenty will do,” said Whistler Tang.

“He’s got all these people to drink for him,” said Lotuson Wang. “It’ll have to be thirty cups at least. I’ll be the first challenger.” So saying, he started a finger game with Prosperity Luo.

“Have you sung a song yet?” Green Phoenix asked Snow Scent.

“I’m not going to. You go ahead,” Snow Scent replied.

Mama Zhao gave Green Phoenix the pipa. She tuned it and sang a prelude, which was followed by an allegro section from the Beijing opera “Breaking All Ties.” Mama Zhao drank five penalty cups in a row for Prosperity Luo and flushed crimson in the face, yet Prosperity still would not let her off. Lute happened to arrive just then. She reached over and took the cup.

Mama Zhao took the opportunity to fill the water pipe twice. She then said, “Our maestro has to go now. Would you like to us to drink a couple of penalty cups as reserve?”

This fueled Prosperity’s rage. He took three of the large drinking bowls and filled them to the brim for Mama Zhao. She picked up one of them but was reluctant to drink it. Green Phoenix’s temper flared. She told Mama Zhao to give her the cups and then poured all the wine into a big glass bowl and downed it in one gulp. “Please drop by later.” So saying, she went straight off without looking back.

“See?” Prosperity Luo said to Whistler Tang. “Wouldn’t it have been better not to have called her?”

“It’s your fault, really,” Lute put in. “They couldn’t drink anymore, and you still made them.”

“Childish tantrums, that’s all,” said Whistler Tang. “Just drop her, and that’s that.”

“I will call her again!” Prosperity Luo said loudly. “Maid, bring ink and writing brush.”

Lute pulled at his sleeve. “Why call anybody! You …” she choked back the rest of what she wanted to say.

“Don’t tell me you’re also turning green,” Prosperity said, smiling.

Lute turned away holding back her laughter. “Go ahead then. I’m leaving as well.”

“If you do, I’ll also call you again.”

At this, Lute could not help breaking into a smile. The maid, holding the inkstone and writing brush, asked, “Do you still want them, sir?”

“Give them to me. I’ll write the chit for him,” said Lotuson Wang.

Prosperity Luo saw Lotuson writing with his head bent and wondered what he had put down. Cloudlet Chen, who was sitting near Wang, glanced at the chit and smiled but said nothing.

Cloud Tao asked Prosperity Luo, “When did you start seeing Green Phoenix?”

“Just a fortnight ago. At first she seemed all right.”

“You have Maestro Lute here. What d’you want Green Phoenix for? That girl does have quite a temper,” said Cloud Tao.

“A courtesan with a temper, how is she going to get any business?” said Prosperity.

“The thing is, once a client gets to know what she’s like, no one can compare with her for fondness and devotion. The only trouble is that she throws these tantrums in the beginning,” said Cloud.

“But Green Phoenix was sold to the house,” said Prosperity. “How is it that the madam allows her to throw tantrums instead of keeping her under control?”

“How would the madam dare control her? She’s the one who controls the madam. The madam has to consult her in all matters great and small, and whatever she says goes. Even then the madam fawns on her now and again.”

“This madam is too good-natured,” said Prosperity.

“Is there such a thing as a good-natured madam? Have you heard of one called Second Sister Huang? That’s Green Phoenix’s madam. She started as a maid and rose to be madam. Having owned seven or eight girls, she counted as quite somebody in these foreign settlements. But when she ran into Green Phoenix, even she had to do a turnabout.”

“Why, what powers does Green Phoenix have?” said Prosperity.

“If you want to know, she’s a real hard case! When she was still a virgin courtesan, she quarreled with the madam and was given a beating. During the beating, she just clenched her teeth and never made a sound. When the maids pulled the madam away, she went straight for the jar of raw opium on the divan and swallowed two handfuls. The madam was terrified when she learned about it and sent for a doctor right away. But Green Phoenix refused to take medicine. It was no use cajoling or threatening her; she just refused. What could the madam do? She knelt down and kowtowed to the girl and then made her this promise: ‘From now on, I won’t dare offend you in any way.’ Only then did Green Phoenix bring up the opium and let the matter rest.”

Prosperity Luo’s heart was beating fast as Cloud Tao told the story. He was lost in thought while the others at the table all expressed their admiration and sympathy for Green Phoenix. Even the courtesans and maids listened stunned. Lotuson Wang, still busy writing, was the only one who did not hear it. When he had finished and handed the note to the maid, Prosperity Luo took it to read. It turned out to be the sedan-chair bearers’ dinner allowances, so he set it aside.

“Why aren’t you people drinking?” asked Lotuson Wang. “Is your bank broken yet, Prosperity?”

“Ten more cups to go,” replied Prosperity.

Lotuson told Whistler Tang to challenge the bank.

“Jade hasn’t played either,” said Whistler. The words were scarcely out of his mouth when there were footsteps on the stairs and two men rushed straight in, shouting:

“Who’s banker? Here we come; to the attack!”

Everybody knew these were the two friends Lotuson Wang had invited from his bureau. They all stood up to offer them seats, but neither of them bothered to sit down. One stood in front of the table with his sleeves rolled up and a fist extended, shouting wildly into space the set phrases for the finger game. Another grabbed White Fragrance’s younger sister, Green Fragrance, by the waist and tried to kiss her on the mouth, murmuring, “My little baby! Give us a cheek-to-cheek.”

Green Fragrance covered her face with her hands and hid behind Whistler Tang, crying out desperately, “Leave me alone!”

“Don’t go and make her cry,” Lotuson Wang intervened quickly.

“Oh, she won’t cry,” White Fragrance said smiling and then turned to lecture Green Fragrance. “What’s wrong with a little cheek-to-cheek? It won’t hurt, will it? See, you’ve made your hair come loose now.”

Green Fragrance struggled free, took her nutmeg box, and looked in the mirror as White Fragrance tidied up her hair. Fortunately, the two courtesans who came along with the two men arrived soon afterward. They dragged the two away and made them sit down in the vacant chairs.

“Whose party was it at Sunset’s?” Lotuson Wang asked.

“Mallow Yao’s—who else?”

“No wonder you both got drunk,” said Lotuson.

The two of them started shouting again. “Who says we’re drunk? We’re going to play the finger game.”

Seeing the state they were in, Prosperity Luo dared not give them further encouragement. He played them for the last ten cups just anyhow, saying, “As to the wine, anyone who wants to can substitute.” Lute also drank several cups for him.

By the time the game was over, the Lin sisters had left, and Lute had also said her farewell. Prosperity Luo took the opportunity to leave the table and quietly asked Whistler Tang to come with him to the inner room, where they put on their jackets, slipped out through the door behind the bed, and went downstairs, the first ones to leave. Seeing them, the steward, Promotion, hastened to shout for the sedan chair. Prosperity Luo gave the order for the sedan chair to be taken to Generosity Alley. Whistler Tang realized he was going to Green Phoenix’s because of what Cloud Tao had said and was secretly amused.

When the two of them got outside, they found that the alley was packed full of carriages and sedan chairs. They had to walk sideways. Just then, their way was blocked by a servant girl who had squeezed herself through the gaps between the various vehicles. She looked up and greeted them with a smile, “Aiyo! Mr. Luo,” and quickly drew back to let them pass.

Prosperity Luo took a good look and saw that it was Goldie, Little Rouge’s servant girl. He asked, “Are you here at a party?”

Goldie answered yes casually and went on her way.

Whistler Tang followed Prosperity Luo to Green Phoenix’s. The menservants announced them, and the servant girl Little Treasure welcomed them upstairs, saying with a smile, “Mr. Luo, you haven’t come for quite a few days now.” She propped up the curtain and invited them in. Then Green Phoenix’s two younger sisters, Pearl Phoenix and Gold Phoenix, came over from the room opposite to greet them, warmly addressing Prosperity Luo as “Brother-in-law.” Both girls served them watermelon seeds.

Whistler Tang took the initiative to ask, “Is your elder sister out at a party?”

Gold Phoenix nodded and said yes.

Little Treasure, who had just come in with the teacups, broke in quickly, “She’s been gone for a while now, so she should be coming back any minute.”

His enthusiasm dampened, Prosperity Luo threw Whistler a glance, ready to leave. They got up together and went down the stairs. Little Treasure cried out in alarm, “Don’t go,” and rushed after them, but it was too late.