CHAPTER 11 :: The fire bell ringing at night causes a false alarm, and a brother-in-law on a family visit gets a warm welcome

Little Rouge sat silently on the humble side of the divan as Lotuson lay smoking next to her; there was no one else in the room. Almost an hour passed before she started weeping again. At a loss as to how he could reason with or console her, he decided to let her be. But then her weeping got more and more distressing and seemed most unlikely to stop anytime soon. He had no choice but to edge up close and plead with her, “I quite understand what you were getting at, so I’ll do as you say. Please don’t cry anymore, all right? If you go on like this, you’ll break my heart.”

“Don’t you give me that!” Her voice was choked with tears. “You’ve been cheating me all along, and you’re still at it now! You won’t be satisfied till you’ve cheated me out of my life!”

“No matter what I say now, you wouldn’t believe me, you’d say I was lying to you, so don’t let’s talk about it now. Tomorrow, I’ll go and get you a bank draft to pay your debts, what d’you say?”

“Good idea. Once you’ve done that, you won’t be coming anymore, will you? You can then take up with Constance, can’t you? How clever of you! Since you’re not offering to pay my debts willingly, I don’t want you to do it, either.” So saying, she turned away again, choking back her tears.

“Who said anything about taking up with Constance?” he said desperately.

“You mean you won’t?”

“No, I won’t.”

She hissed in his face and shouted, “Go on, lie away! Tomorrow, I’ll go and kill myself at Constance’s place; you just wait and see.”

Perplexed by this, Lotuson didn’t know what to say and just sat there trying to figure her out. It so happened that Pearlie had come up with a water kettle to freshen up the tea. He stopped her and told her in detail what had been said and then asked, “What does Little Rouge mean?”

“I’m sure Mr. Wang understands quite well,” Pearlie said smiling. “How would the likes of us know about any of this?”

“You may very well say that, but I’m asking you because I don’t get it.”

“Mr. Wang, you’re a wise man; there’s nothing you don’t understand.” She smiled. “Just think, our maestro has always been quite warm and loving toward you, but you have never paid her debts. Yet today, after the row, you offer to do so. Doesn’t it look like you’re doing it out of anger? Now if it’s anger that makes you say you’re going to pay her debts, d’you think she’ll let you?”

He jumped up and stamped his foot in frustration. “I’d be much obliged if she stops being angry. How can she turn around and say I’m angry?”

She said smiling, “Our maestro is not angry either, except on account of Mr. Wang. Just think, does our maestro have another client? If you, Mr. Wang, should stop coming, what is she to do? As long as you do right by her, it doesn’t matter even if you’re also seeing Constance. You, Mr. Wang, will be the one who’ll settle our maestro’s debts sooner or later, so it’s entirely up to you when you want to do it. Your feelings toward our maestro don’t depend on this, right, Mr. Wang?”

“But it still doesn’t make sense. If I don’t pay her debts, naturally I’m said to be at fault. Yet when I offer to do so, she still says I’m at fault. What would she have me do to show my feelings for her?”

“Now you’re joking, Mr. Wang. You don’t need me to teach you that, do you?” She went downstairs carrying the water kettle, pretending to laugh all the way.

After a moment of reflection, he knew he had no choice but to soften her with tender words and a show of affection, so he waited on her with the greatest care. Seeing that Lotuson really would settle her debts for her, Little Rouge realized this was as good an ending as any and gradually stopped weeping. At last, he felt that a burden was lifted from his mind.

As Little Rouge wiped her tears with a handkerchief, she went on muttering, “You just blame me for being angry. Put yourself in my place for a moment; if you were me, wouldn’t you blow up?”

“Yes, of course,” he hastened to answer with a smiling face. “You have every right to blow up. If I were you, I’d be blowing up till the sun rises.”

Little Rouge almost burst out laughing at this, but she managed to hold it back. “Shameless! Who’s listening to you?”

She had scarcely finished speaking when a bell rang out over the city. She was the first to hear it. “Is that the fire bell?”

At this, he quickly pushed open a window to shout down, “Fire bell!”

Pearlie took up the cry downstairs, “Fire bell! Quick! Check it out!” Several menservants rushed out the door at once.

When the fire bell had stopped ringing, Lotuson had counted four rings.¹ He went to look out from the back balcony. The moon was high up in the sky, all was quiet, and he saw no flames. When he returned to the room, one of the menservants had come back to report, “It’s on East Chessboard Street.”

Lotuson immediately stepped on a high-back chair and opened a window facing southeast. He saw flames through a gap between the buildings.

“Talisman!” he called out, alarmed.

“Master Talisman and the sedan-chair bearers have all gone to check it out,” reported the manservant.

Lotuson’s heart was beating fast.

“Why should you worry about East Chessboard Street?” asked Little Rouge.

“Why, East Chessboard Street is across the way from my house.”

“There’s Fifth Avenue in between,” she said.

While they were talking, Talisman had come back and was calling for his master in the courtyard, reporting, “It’s at the eastern end of East Chessboard Street, not far away. The police have taken charge, and we couldn’t get past.”

Lotuson dashed off the minute he heard this.

“You’re going?” asked Little Rouge.

“I’ll be back.”

Taking only Talisman with him, Lotuson ran straight out of Fourth Avenue and hurried in the direction of the fire. At the entrance to South Brocade Alley, he saw Cloudlet Chen standing there alone watching the fire. Lotuson wanted to drag him along, but he replied, “What’s the hurry? You’re insured; what are you afraid of?”

Only then did Lotuson slacken his pace. At the street corner, they saw a foreign policeman heading up a group of people getting the leather fire hoses out, joining the sections up, and laying them flat on the ground. Then someone turned on the water hydrant and fitted a nozzle to the end of the hose. Noiselessly, the hose swelled up. They followed the line of the fire hose but were stopped by the police near Fifth Avenue. Only after Lotuson had spoken to them briefly in a foreign language were he and Cloudlet allowed to pass. The fire still seemed quite some distance away, but they could already hear loud explosive noises like thousands of firecrackers going off, and sparks rained down on them.

Lotuson and Cloudlet covered their heads with their sleeves and, together with Talisman, made a dash for the house. They saw Lotuson’s nephew, the cook, and an odd-job man standing in the sheltered walkway, all eager to be the first to report: “The insurance people came to take a look. They said everything’s all right and not to worry.”

Cloudlet said, “Things should be all right, but you should have the insurance paper on you anyway. The silver dollars should go in the iron box, and the account books, contracts, and other papers should be tidied up and given to one person to keep. Everything else should be left as it is.”

“My insurance papers are with a friend,” said Lotuson.

“That’s the best,” said Cloudlet.

Lotuson asked Cloudlet to go upstairs and help with the packing. There came a sudden crashing noise. Lotuson knew it was the sound of a house collapsing and rushed to the window to look. The flames had leapt even higher, by well over ten feet, and were roaring in the wind. Thoroughly alarmed, Lotuson turned back to resume packing but was too unsettled to do it properly so he just threw things together anyhow. He then asked Cloudlet, “Did I forget anything?”

“Nothing that I can think of. Don’t worry, I guarantee it’ll be all right.”

Lotuson made no reply and went back to look out the window. Suddenly, he saw balls of black smoke mixed with sparks rolling upward to the sky.

“It’s all right now!” people at the door said in one voice.

Cloudlet also came to look. “The fire hose is working. The fire’s going down.”

Sure enough, the flames gradually subsided, and even the smoke had begun to lessen. Only then did Lotuson go back to his seat, relieved.

“What’s there to worry about when you’re insured?” Cloudlet asked light-heartedly. “Even your insurance company isn’t alarmed enough to rush here, yet you yourself got all worked up. It’s as if you weren’t insured at all.”

Lotuson smiled. “I knew it’d be all right, but it was still worrying to watch, wasn’t it?”

Soon afterward, they heard cart wheels rolling away and the sound of air being let out of the pumps—now that the fire had been put out, the fire engines were leaving. Now Lotuson’s nephew, Talisman, and the others all came back to the house, chatting along the way. Lotuson told Talisman to make tea, but Cloudlet stopped him, saying, “I’m going to bed now.”

“I’ll walk you out,” said Lotuson.

“Where are you going?” Cloudlet asked.

“Little Rouge’s.”

Cloudlet asked no more questions. As they came out of the house, Lotuson’s sedan-chair bearers had just brought his chair home, so Cloudlet said, “You take the chair. I’ll go ahead.”

Lotuson agreed and bade him goodnight.

Cloudlet looked east and saw that the scene of the fire, which had at first been belching smoke, was now enveloped in a whitish pall. He wandered over to take a look, but the hosed-down ground was dripping wet and littered with bricks and tiles. He stood downwind at one end of Chessboard Street and could feel a gush of hot air coming toward him; it was dusty, with a disagreeable smell. He hastened to turn westward and saw Talisman running after Lotuson Wang’s sedan chair a long distance away. There was not a sound in the street. The full moon lent its light to the electric streetlamps,² making the place as bright as a crystal palace.

Strolling around by himself, Cloudlet suddenly saw an eerie figure standing bolt upright in a dark corner. He was about to give a yell when the figure walked into the light and revealed itself to be a red-turbaned Indian policeman. He felt a little ridiculous and headed back to his upstairs room in the Auspicious Luzon Lottery Store in South Brocade Alley, where his man, Constant Blessing, waited on him and saw him turn in for the night.

The next day, Cloudlet got up a little late and felt rather listless. When lunch was over, he thought he’d have a puff of opium. But where should he go? Though Amity Zhu lived nearby, he was said to be busy accompanying Script Li of Hangzhou around town and probably would not be home. Perhaps it’d be better to go to Clever Gem’s, which was just as convenient. Having made up his mind, he ambled downstairs. Bamboo Hu handed him an invitation, saying it had just arrived. Cloudlet saw it was Lichee Zhuang inviting him to a dinner party at Jewel’s at the Hall of Beauties. Cloudlet remembered Lichee was seeing a courtesan called Woodsy. So why would he be giving a dinner party in Jewel’s room? He figured that Lichee must be acting for someone else.

Cloudlet tossed the invitation aside and went out. Instead of riding in his private ricksha, he just walked through a narrow lane hemmed in between double walls and cut across to Clever Gem’s in Co-security Alley.

When he entered the house, Clever Gem was having her hair done in the middle room upstairs. The servant girl, Big Silver, invited Cloudlet into her bedroom and fetched the water pipe, but he told her to light the opium lamp instead.

“Would you like a smoke of opium? I’ll fill the pipe for you,” said Big Silver.

“Just a few small pellets will do.”

By the time Big Silver had heated up the opium for him, Clever Gem’s hair was done, and she came into the room to get changed. “If you’re not doing anything today, I’ll go for a drive with you. How about that?” she asked.

“You’re still interested in carriages, are you?” he said teasingly. “Don’t you know that Constance got a good beating from Little Rouge just because she went for a drive?”

“Well, they’re a bunch of wimps; that’s why they let themselves get beaten up by Little Rouge. Now if it were us, anyone who beat us up would see we’re no pushovers!” she retorted.

“How is it you’re in such good spirits today that you want to go for a drive?”

“It’s not really a ride that I want. Last night, my sister was so frightened she came here and cried all night and didn’t go back until dawn. I want to go and see if she’s all right.”

“Your sister is at the Hall of Spring, isn’t she? The fire was so far away, what was she frightened of?”

“You sure make it sound like a breeze. If it wasn’t frightening, why did all those people move out?”

“So, you want to go and see your sister and have me wait in the carriage, is that it?”

“It won’t hurt if you come along to see my sister, too.”

“What would I be doing there?”

“You can order some nuts and sweetmeats, same as a tea party.”

Cloudlet thought that would be all right, so he said, “Let’s go then.” Clever Gem told her maid, Ocean, to get the menservants to hire a carriage at once. Shortly, the carriage arrived at their alley’s entrance. Cloudlet and Clever Gem got in, taking Ocean with them. They told the driver to go via the Bund to East Chessboard Street, and the driver made an affirmative noise. It was no great distance, and soon they found themselves in front of the Waterscape Teahouse by the river. Ocean led the way, followed by Cloudlet, and Clever Gem walked slowly behind him. The first house in the alley was the Hall of Spring.

Cloudlet followed close behind Ocean all the way upstairs. She raised the curtain for him to enter. They saw Clever Gem’s elder sister, Love Gem, sitting by the window with a needlework book open in front of her, embroidering the silk uppers of a shoe. The minute she saw Cloudlet, she smiled and said, “Mr. Chen, it’s a rare pleasure having you here.”

Following him in, Ocean replied in his stead, “Our maestro is here to see you.”

“Oh, do come in,” said Love Gem.

“She’s coming,” said Ocean.

Love Gem hurried out of the room to welcome her sister. Ocean asked Cloudlet to take a seat and then also went out. But now a bevy of courtesans with greasy hair and powdered faces swarmed in. They thought Cloudlet was a client who had taken the room for tea and so surrounded him, each behaving in a flirtatious and provocative manner, hoping to get his custom. Cloudlet knew exactly what they were up to but couldn’t very well say anything.

Love Gem’s maid happened to come in to prepare the teacups, so Cloudlet told her to order some nuts and preserves. A little taken aback, the maid then smiled and said, “Mr. Chen, you mustn’t stand on ceremony.”

“That’s the rule for a home visit,” he said, “so go and get them.”

Only then did the courtesans realize they had no hope, and they all left. In a moment, Love Gem and Clever Gem walked in hand in hand, together with Ocean. The minute Clever Gem saw the needlework book on the table, she went to leaf through it, found the shoe uppers tucked inside it, and examined them in detail. After offering Cloudlet nuts and preserves, Love Gem wanted to prepare some opium for him.

“No need to be polite. I’m not smoking,” he said.

She then took out a small bowl of rose jam from a drawer in her dressing table, removed a silver hairpin from her hair, put it in the jam to serve as a spoon, and invited him to eat. He felt rather overwhelmed.

Clever Gem, sensing this, said, “Sister, don’t pay him any attention. He can sit by himself. Come, let’s have a nice talk.”

Love Gem called her maid over to keep Cloudlet company. As she put away the embroidered uppers and needlework book, she said smiling, “I’m no good at this.”

“Oh, but you are. I haven’t done it for three years now, so I’ve lost it completely. Last year, I sketched out a pattern for a pair of uppers and didn’t touch it for half a month. I ended up having somebody else make them. But shoes made by others are never as good as those you make yourself.”

Love Gem went and lifted the hem of Clever Gem’s trousers, and Clever Gem stuck out a foot to show her the shoe.

“These shoes of yours look quite shapely,” said Love Gem.

“Well, even this pair is no good. They keep poking ahead when you walk. If you were a little careless, you’d fall to your death.”

“If you don’t have time to do them yourself, you can have them done by others and then give them to your own shoemaker to sole. Then they’d be fine.”

“I’d still like to make them myself. They’d be so much better that way.”

The sisters then chatted about other things. Suddenly, they dropped their voices and whispered into each other’s ear secretively. Afraid that Cloudlet would hear what they were saying, they consulted each other about going into the empty room next door.

“You wait here a moment,” Clever Gem told him.

Love Gem asked, “What would you like for tea?”

“We only just had lunch,” he hastened to say. “Please dispense with the formalities.”

“Do have a little something.”

“Sister, what’s this supposed to mean?” Clever Gem put in, frowning.³ “Would I stand on ceremony with you? If he wanted anything for tea, I’d tell you, but he’s not going to eat just now.”

Love Gem could not press the matter, but she signaled her maid with a glance before she went with Clever Gem into the next room.

Shortly afterward, the maid brought four kinds of snacks, set out three pairs of ivory chopsticks on the table, and invited Cloudlet to take the seat of honor. He couldn’t help doing as he was bidden. Then she went to the next room to invite Clever Gem over. Clever Gem remonstrated with her sister for going to such trouble and refused to come to the table. Love Gem dragged and pulled her into the room.

Seeing there were four dishes, Clever Gem said again, “Sister, I won’t have it! What’s this supposed to be?”

Love Gem smiled without answering and made her sit down in the chair facing Cloudlet and then picked up a pair of ivory chopsticks to serve them.

“If you go on treating me like a guest, I won’t eat any of it,” said Clever Gem.

“Then you should help yourself.” And she started to serve Cloudlet instead.

“I have been helping myself, so there’s no need to serve me,” he said.

“Well, you’re really making yourself at home, aren’t you? Aren’t you a bit too forward?” said Clever Gem.

“Your sister is just like my sister. There’s no need to stand on ceremony, is there?” he said laughingly.

Love Gem also laughed, “Mr. Chen does have the gift of the gab.”

“Have some of this yourself, sis,” Clever Gem said to her. “Or would you like us to serve you?”

Hearing this, Cloudlet immediately picked up a steamed pork dumpling with his chopsticks and gave it to Love Gem. She stood up in alarm, saying, “Oh, you mustn’t, Mr. Chen!”

Clever Gem looked away and smiled. She said, “If you don’t eat, then I’ll join in and serve you as well.”

Love Gem put the dumpling in the dish and picked up a piece of steamed cake to keep them company. Clever Gem just took a bite of a cupcake and set it down. Cloudlet, though, sampled all four dishes.

“Sometimes, I make you take tea, and you won’t eat, but today you’ve had such a lot,” Clever Gem commented.

“That’s because Elder Sister took the trouble to buy us snacks. It seems we should feel guilty if we eat too little, isn’t that so?”

“Mr. Chen, the way you put it embarrasses me,” Love Gem said smiling. “These things are all rough and ready; they’re not really very presentable.”

After the maid had offered them hot towels, Ocean came in to report, “The driver has hurried us several times now. It really annoys me.”

“Well, we ought to be going, now that we’ve had tea,” said Clever Gem.

“Now you’re the polite one, aren’t you? And you’d go without even saying thanks for the tea. Shame on you,” he said, teasing.

“So you don’t want to go? Are you staying for dinner then?” Clever Gem asked with a smile.

“I can certainly afford a casual dinner, but I’m afraid Mr. Chen will never deign to accept,” Love Gem said pleasantly.

Thereupon Cloudlet and Clever Gem thanked her and took their leave.

::

1.  [The number of rings indicated the location of the fire. The fire services were originally made up of volunteers and financially supported by insurance companies. The first fire engine was introduced in 1863. Until the last decade of the nineteenth century, members of the fire brigade had to run the hose reels and ladder trucks to fires. In was not until 1890 that ponies were used to draw the reels. E.H.]

2.  [Electricity was first introduced into the International Settlement for use in the street lighting of the main roads in 1883. E.H.]

3.  [Clever Gem is a first-class courtesan, while Love Gem works in a second-class house. This explains the slight uneasiness and deference shown in Love Gem’s behavior despite the fact that she is the elder sister. The way the other women in the Hall of Spring behave is typical of second-class courtesans, who have to try hard to get new customers. The scene they make is embarrassing for Love Gem. E.H.]