CHAPTER 46  ::   Green Fragrance acquires new friends through child’s play, and Jade Tao revisits an old haunt for a memorial service

Having made up her mind, Green Fragrance meandered over to Right Target Hall, where Longevity lifted the curtain for her to go in. She saw her brother-in-law, Amity Zhu, lying on the divan smoking opium and her sister, White Fragrance, sitting beside him, chatting.

“Brother-in-law,” Green Fragrance said in greeting, all smiles. Then she nestled against her sister’s knees and turned sideways to look at them.

Recalling her misbehavior, White Fragrance gently rebuked her, “You shouldn’t pick a quarrel over nothing, you know. Mr. Yin is quite affectionate toward you, so you should take it easy and chat cheerfully with him. They’re in a relationship, so naturally they behave intimately. Since you’re a virgin courtesan, there’s no reason for you to be jealous.”

Green Fragrance dared not answer back. Her face instantly flushed red, and she was close to tears.

“If you insist on lecturing her again, her anger will certainly kill her,” Amity commented with a smile.

White Fragrance giggled. “She can’t even tell right from wrong, so what’s there for her to be angry about?”

Overwhelmed by shame and regret, Green Fragrance could not very well defend herself. It was a difficult situation. White Fragrance dropped the subject and went back to making conversation with Amity.

After a long while, Green Fragrance finally showed a slight smile. Seeing that, Amity immediately urged her to go out and have fun. Green Fragrance, who had been bored sitting there, was about to go when White Fragrance stopped her and said, “Now be sensible, won’t you? If you go on pulling a long face, people will certainly laugh at you!”

Green Fragrance remained silent. As she walked listlessly down the archery path in front of Right Target Hall, her head bowed, her mind was still preoccupied with unruly thoughts, and, without thinking, she took a turn onto a flowery path that led to the Bridge of Nine Twists. A lane that led northwestward from the bridge was the main path to Panorama Hall, but there was a smaller path that forked southward toward layers of artificial hills. These hills were laid out in twists and turns, like a swimming dragon, so it was called Dragon Range. At the end of the range, past the dragon’s head with its Mid-sky Pavilion, was another approach to Panorama Hall.

Green Fragrance had taken this narrow path inadvertently. With its sheer cliffs and deep valleys, it felt more and more secluded as she walked along. She was just about to turn back when she saw somebody ahead. He was dressed in brand-new silk clothes and squatting in front of a very damp cave.

“Who is it?” she blurted out.

The person did not turn round. When she came closer, she saw it was Modesty Zhu. He was doubled over and tiptoeing about, scraping off moss and digging into the mud with a bamboo stick.

“Have you lost something?” she asked.

Modesty held up a hand to silence her. Moving sideways with his ears cocked, he edged toward the cave.

“Look, you’re getting your clothes dirty,” said Green Fragrance.

Only then did he say in a low voice, “Hush. If you want to see something interesting, go over there.”

Not knowing what there was to see, she ventured in the direction he indicated and saw three shallow chambers of white stone halfway up the hill. Twin Jade was sitting alone on the stone parapet holding a large blue-and-white porcelain bowl in her hands. She was peeping into the covered bowl through the slightly raised lid.

“What is it? Let me have a look,” Green Fragrance shouted before she got near.

“It’s nothing,” Twin Jade smiled when she saw it was Green Fragrance. She passed her the bowl casually.

Green Fragrance took it, lifted the lid, and discovered to her surprise that inside was a cricket waving its two feelers spiritedly. Alarmed that it would escape, Twin Jade reached out to cover it with her hands, but Green Fragrance, thinking she was snatching it back, jerked away, and the cricket landed on her lapel. She tried to catch it, but it hopped into the grass. Desperate, she shouted wildly, dropped the bowl, and ran in pursuit, with Twin Jade behind her. When the cricket leapt into a crevice in a rock, Green Fragrance caught up with it and trapped it in her palm. She walked back, grinning, “Got it! That was close.”

Twin Jade picked up the bowl from the grass. Green Fragrance put the cricket in and replaced the lid. When Twin Jade peeped in again, she could not help smiling. “It’s no use anymore; we might as well let it go,” she said.

Green Fragrance stopped her in alarm, asking, “Why is it no use?”

“Why, it’s lost a leg!”

“Oh, that doesn’t matter.”

Twin Jade did not want to be pestered by her, so she just smiled. A delighted-looking Modesty happened to come toward them just then, one of his hands smeared with mud and the other closed tightly. “Did you catch one?” Twin Jade asked at once.

He nodded. “It’s not bad. Come and take a look.”

“Now I have to let it go to make room for this one,” Twin Jade said to Green Fragrance.

But Green Fragrance pressed the lid down, refusing to let go, shouting, “No, I want it.”

Twin Jade left her with the bowl and went into the stone chamber with Modesty, but Green Fragrance followed at their heels. The room was furnished with only a long slab of agate that made a natural table. A big heap of things was piled on it, and there were many porcelain bowls of assorted colors. Twin Jade picked an empty white Ding-ware bowl with a gold pattern and put Modesty’s new cricket into it. She peeped into the bowl and saw that indeed it was a “metallic wings” with a handsome head. “Not bad,” she said, impressed. “It’s even better than the shell blue one.”

Green Fragrance tugged at her sleeve, begging to have a look, so Twin Jade taught her how. She held the bowl as instructed, peeped in, saw nothing but a cricket, and lost interest.

When Twin Jade mentioned how the shell blue had broken a leg just now, Modesty also wanted to release it. But would Green Fragrance give it up? She clasped the bowl in her arms and kept saying, “I want it.”

“What d’you want it for?” he asked, amused.

Stumped, she turned around and said to him, “Well, I don’t know. You tell me.” Modesty was so amused, he just grinned at Twin Jade.

Twin Jade said to her, “If you pipe down, we’ll show you something interesting, OK?”

Green Fragrance readily agreed. They spread a scarlet tiger-striped blanket over the stone-paved floor in front of the table and placed at the center a carved ivory cage set with precious stones. Porcelain bowls of assorted colors were then placed in a row on the outer edge. Modesty and Twin Jade sat down cross-legged, facing each other, and told Green Fragrance to take the south-facing position. First, they put the new cricket—Metallic Wings—into the ivory cage, and then they took out various crickets from the bowls and put them in turn into the cage to fight the newcomer. At first, the new cricket just stayed still, holding its head high, but teased by a blade of grass, it went into an instant rage and charged headlong at its opponent. The two crickets became completely entangled. Green Fragrance was so delighted she slapped her thigh and laughed wildly as she peered down at the fight. Then a sharp shrill came from the cage and gave her a shock. It turned out that one of the crickets—a sandalwood lion—had been bitten to death by Metallic Wings. The victor reared up and shook its wings in triumph. It fought five or six battles and won every time. In the end, even the oily wrestler was on the run. Modesty Zhu cheered, “Now this is a real warrior.”

Suddenly, they saw the maid Pearlie poke her head in. “So here you are, my little maestro. I searched all over the garden for you. You’d better be off.”

Green Fragrance got angry. “Why did you search for me in the first place? Did you think I was going to run away?”

Pearlie was displeased. “It’s Mr. Yin who’s looking for you. I have no business with you, Little Maestro.”

Even as she spoke, they heard Devotion Yin talking and laughing on his way there. Modesty immediately got to his feet to greet him. Devotion stopped at the door. When he saw Green Fragrance, he said, looking pleased, “I see you’ve found some playmates.”

“D’you want to have a look? Come here,” said Green Fragrance.

“It’s been doing all the fighting today, so don’t overstrain it. Let’s wait till tomorrow,” Twin Jade intervened.

When she heard this, Pearlie went up to clear away the utensils. Modesty picked up the ivory cage, put Metallic Wings into a bowl, and marked it solemnly. Green Fragrance and Twin Jade gave each other support and stood up together.

“You shouldn’t be sitting on icy stone, should you?” Devotion said to Twin Jade. “It’s all right in the case of Green Fragrance, but you should take care.”

“Why so?” Modesty asked.

Twin Jade darted a sideways glance at Devotion. “Don’t ask him. Does he ever say anything decent or proper?”¹

Devotion chuckled. He asked Green Fragrance to go with him, but the girl still had her eye on the crippled cricket and was reluctant to leave. Twin Jade said to her, “It’s yours.” Green Fragrance took the bowl with delight.

“Everybody is in Panorama Hall. Are you coming?” Devotion asked Modesty. The latter nodded in assent.

“You’d better clean your hands.” Devotion said and then walked off with Green Fragrance.

Almost done with the tidying-up, Pearlie grumbled to herself, “That one’s got quite a temper for a child.”

“Well, you did say the wrong thing. Call her ‘maestro’ if you will, but why ‘little maestro’?” Twin Jade commented.

“And what’s wrong with ‘little maestro’?” Pearlie asked.

“There was nothing wrong with it before, but when there’s a grown-up maestro around, it sounds different,” said Twin Jade.

Modesty lent Twin Jade his support. “That’s right. We’d better be careful, too.”

“Who’d bother with that! Just don’t pay her any attention,” Pearlie said.

Modesty and Twin Jade, taking Pearlie with them, left the stone chambers. Instead of following Dragon Range to its peak, they turned west through the dragon’s chin, which was a tunnel that led to the western side of Panorama Hall. It was a slightly longer route but far less strenuous. When they arrived, they saw that though the smoke of making tea had not yet dispersed, it was all quiet. They figured that the others were probably taking walks nearby, so they told Pearlie to fetch water for them to wash their hands as they waited. A while later, the menservants on duty came up to the hall to light the lamps. It was not until twilight closed in that the others came back, couple after couple.

Amid talk and laughter, the evening banquet was served. It so happened that nobody was in particularly high spirits, so they parted early. Modesty Zhu, who had been staying with Twin Jade in the lake house for recuperation, was to move once he got well, but Amity Zhu and White Fragrance came to the garden just then and decided to stay there because of its spacious rooms, so Modesty decided to stay put. Although their bedrooms were not connected, they were just divided by one vacant room in between that served as a sitting area. Green Fragrance had previously stayed in Panorama Hall, with an extra bed installed behind Devotion’s room. Now that Flora Zhang was there, Green Fragrance felt it was not a convenient arrangement, so she also moved into the lake house. The rear half of the sitting area was turned into her bedroom, and she went in and out through her elder sister’s room.

That night, the Zhu brothers and their girls came back together to the sitting area, where they parted company. In his room, Amity Zhu smoked opium and talked desultorily with White Fragrance. He mentioned the mourners’ group the next day and said they had to go to bed early. Seeing that Green Fragrance was not there, White Fragrance thought she was at Devotion’s, so she told her servant girl, “Take a lantern and go and look in on them. The gaslights will go out later; how is she to walk back by herself?”

“She’s right here in the courtyard,” the servant girl replied.

“Then tell her to come in! What’s she doing in the courtyard?”

The servant girl went out but did not report back. After a while, White Fragrance called out loudly and heard a faint reply from outside, “Coming.”

It took another long while, during which Amity smoked his fill and blew out the opium lamp, before Green Fragrance hurried in to greet her brother-in-law and elder sister briefly and then turned to go.

White Fragrance saw something hanging out of her sleeve pocket; it looked like an abacus. “What’s that you’re carrying?”

Smiling, Green Fragrance airily waved her arm, “It belongs to Fifth Young Master.” So saying, she walked into her own room and closed the door.

Amity undressed and went to bed first. When White Fragrance got into bed, she again called out to Green Fragrance, “You should go to bed, too. We need to be up early tomorrow.”

Green Fragrance grunted assent. After that, White Fragrance lay down and did not bother about her. As she was afraid of oversleeping and being laughed at, she had to take extra care.

She was in a deep slumber when Amity suddenly turned over. He continued to sleep, but she was wakened. She opened her eyes and wondered what time it was and then lifted the bed curtain and got up softly. She turned up the oil lamp to look at the clock on the table and found that it was only two o’clock. Just as she got ready to go back to sleep, she heard a squeaking noise in Green Fragrance’s room. She listened closely and realized it was not mice. “Green Fragrance?” she called out tentatively.

“Are you calling me, Elder Sister?” Green Fragrance asked.

“Why aren’t you sleeping?” White Fragrance said.

“I’m going to sleep now.”

“It’s two o’clock; what are you doing staying up?”

Green Fragrance did not answer. She hastily put things away and went to bed.

White Fragrance had difficulty going back to sleep. Frogs were croaking noisily, and in the distance cocks were crowing, dogs barking, children crying—noises that shouldn’t have been in the garden and should have been inaudible if they were outside the garden. She couldn’t figure it out. Then the night watchman came round, striking his bamboo clapper. She listened to the beat and soon entered the land of sweet dreams.

Luckily, the next day she did not get up too late. Just when she had finished her toilet, a manservant informed her through her maid that all the masters and maestros were to meet in Phoenix Pavilion for breakfast. Amity Zhu answered, “We’ll be there right away.”

Modesty Zhu in the next room also came over to ask: “Are you ready?”

“Yes, we are,” White Fragrance replied.

“Then we’ll finish dressing and go together,” suggested Modesty.

“Good,” White Fragrance said.

Green Fragrance in the inner room heard Modesty’s voice and called out, “Fifth Young Master!”

Modesty went in and asked, “What is it?”

Green Fragrance took the cage and the porcelain bowl and handed them back to him. “Take these. I don’t want them anymore.”

Modesty saw that there were two crickets in the cage, one was the shell blue with a broken leg, the other was an oil gourd.

“Where did you get that one?” he smiled and asked.

Green Fragrance sighed. “I don’t even want to talk about it. Last night, I went through a lot of trouble to catch another one so there could be a fight, but this accursed creature would only run away. I tried my damnedest to make it fight, and it tried its damnedest to run away. Now that’s infuriating!”

“I told you it wasn’t any use, but you wouldn’t believe me. If you like, I’ll give you a pair to take home and play with,” he said pleasantly.

“Thank you, but I don’t want them. The mere sight of them makes me angry.”

He smiled and hurried back to his room with the cage and bowl to tell Twin Jade to get changed and go. The two parties came out to the sitting area simultaneously. With their maids and servant girls in tow, they walked out of the lake house together and made for Phoenix Pavilion, where all the others were waiting. Greetings were exchanged, and they sat down for breakfast.

After breakfast, the steward, Felicity Xia, hurried forth to report, “All the funeral gifts and other necessities were dispatched quite a while ago. As to personnel, we have sent two ushers. Would a master of ceremonies be needed?”

Harmony Qi replied after pondering for a while, “No, just send an announcer.”

Steward Xia went out to dispatch the order. In a moment, the menservants who would accompany them on the visit, led by an announcer wearing a summer hat with a feathered crown, were clustered outside, waiting for them.

Harmony Qi looked around and asked, “Are the carriages ready?”

“Yes, sir,” the menservants reported.

Harmony then said to the others, “Let’s go.”

Upon hearing this, everybody stood up with his girl. Seven guests and eight courtesans, together with their entourage of menservants and maids, came down the steps of Phoenix Pavilion and made for the stone arch. Beyond this arch a driveway led straight to the avenue outside the garden; more than a dozen carriages were waiting there. They boarded the carriages and drove out of the garden gate in a single file.

Soon they were on Fourth Avenue. Jade Tao saw the three golden words “East Prosperity Alley” on the archway of the alley. The shops on either side looked the same as before. A fortuneteller’s stall at the mouth of the alley had a picture showing the significance of different facial features; it was something he used to see in his comings and goings. The sight was unbearable. His heart contracted, and he burst into tears. That made River Blossom cry, too. Luckily, all the carriages soon came to a stop. The ushers stood waiting outside the alley, and the group alighted and walked in. Afraid of being laughed at, Jade Tao walked behind Cloud Tao on his way in.

When they got to the Lis’ door, Jade was startled to see that not only had Water Blossom’s name been stripped off but even River Blossom’s had disappeared. A notice written on yellow paper was posted on the white wall opposite, and eight monks were chanting the Sutra of Great Compassion in the parlor—a rite to console and guide the dead. Smoke from the incense they were burning filled the room. The ushers asked the group to sit in River Blossom’s room for a while. It happened that Cloudlet Chen was there, and his presence surprised Harmony Qi. Cloud Tao walked up immediately and made the introduction, recounting how he had asked Cloudlet to help out. Only then did Harmony Qi greet Cloudlet with a salute, saying, “Pity we haven’t met before.”²

Everyone sat down wherever they pleased. Presently the ushers invited them to do their obeisances. Harmony Qi wanted to perform the rites himself, but Cloud Tao tried to dissuade him.

“Don’t worry; I have my reasons. Anyway, why should you be so modest on the Lis’ behalf?” said Harmony. So Cloud said no more.

Harmony looked around and found that only Jade Tao was missing. After looking everywhere for him in vain, Cloud Tao suspected he had gone to the rear part of the house. Sure enough, he was found in Fair Sister Li’s room. Harmony saw that the red circles around Jade’s eyes were tinted with purple and swollen to the size of lichees. River Blossom, who walked behind him, had a tear-stained face and tear marks on the white mourning blouse she had just changed into. Deeply moved, Harmony nodded and sighed but could not very well say anything. Together with the others, they went past the platform for Buddhist chanting and swarmed into Water Blossom’s room.

This room now looked completely different. All the furniture had been cleared away. An off-white curtain completely covering the paneled doors at the back of the room served as a backdrop in front of which three square tables had been put together as an altar. On the altar was a three-foot multicolored paper structure housing the tablet for the spirit of the deceased. Offerings set out in dishes were piled high on the table; major items such as dragon incense, candles for the night watch, and a paper pavilion for rice were all there.

Now, behind the white cloth curtain, Fair Sister and the other relatives started wailing. Fair Sister’s adopted son was too shy and timid to come out, so River Blossom was the only one to kneel beside the altar. The announcer, holding a tray with three silver cups in it, stood facing sideways, waiting for the chief mourner to step up.

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1. [A cold seat is supposedly harmful to pregnancy. Devotion Yin is teasing Twin Jade here. E.H.]

2. [Qi and Chen belong to very different social circles. Under normal circumstances, Qi would have been far beyond Chen’s reach. E.H.]