CHAPTER 55 :: Second Treasure is plagued by doubts despite her lover’s promise of marriage, and Verdure Xu is embarrassed for sharing a whore’s bed with his friends

Simplicity Zhao returned home to Tripod Alley, where he told his mother that Second Treasure said they should give a farewell feast for Third Young Master Shi and also prepare a dinner for him to take on the road. The food had to be exquisite and plentiful. Having made his report, Simplicity went in search of the servant girl, Clever. Taking advantage of Second Treasure’s absence, they flirted outrageously, engaging in mock fights and uttering playful curses. Seeing that recently Simplicity had been smartly dressed and flush with money and looked quite the rich young gentleman, Clever gave her all to play up to him. This put an end to his affair with Second Wang. He had even dropped his friends of former days; Little Wang being the only one he was close to now. They promised to be sworn brothers, and through Little Wang he got to know Loyalty Hua and Felicity Xia. The four of them often went out together.

On the twenty-eighth of the eighth month, Simplicity knew Little Wang would be in Nature Shi’s entourage, so he asked Loyalty Hua and Felicity Xia to a dinner in Wang’s honor. It would also serve as a farewell feast. The sound of horse bells did not approach their door until sunset. When it did, a flustered Mrs. Zhao and Simplicity went out in welcome. They saw that Third Young Master Shi and Second Treasure had alighted from their sedan chairs in the parlor and were coming in. Simplicity stood to one side. Nature Shi smiled slightly at Mrs. Zhao and then went up the stairs in slow measured steps.

Second Treasure greeted her mother and then pulled her into the little room at the back, closed the door, and quietly instructed her, “You mustn’t act this way, Mother. You’re his mother-in-law now! He hadn’t even invited you to come out, and yet you dashed out there of your own accord; isn’t it embarrassing?”

Mrs. Zhao just grinned and kept nodding her head.

Before leaving her, Second Treasure gave her further instructions. “I’m going up now. Later, if he asks to see you, I’ll tell Tiger to wait on you. When you see him, just greet him as ‘Third Master’ and that’s that. Don’t say anything else. If you say the wrong things, you’ll make him laugh at you.”

Mrs. Zhao was all obedience. Second Treasure left the room, and at the staircase she ran into Simplicity helping Little Wang carry bundles of clothes and miscellaneous things.

“Just leave them to it. You’re fawning in all the wrong ways!” she said in a low growl.

Simplicity hurriedly handed the things over to Tiger to take upstairs. Second Treasure also went up to get changed into more comfortable clothes, after which she went to keep Nature Shi company. She sat opposite him, talking and laughing, and no mention was made of Mrs. Zhao.

Presently the banquet was served in the study across from Second Treasure’s room, and Tiger came to invite them over. As Second Treasure had intimate things to say to Shi, she did not invite a single guest for company.

“Ask your mother and brother to eat with us,” said Third Young Master.

“They’re not up to it. Here, I’ll keep you company.” She asked him to take the seat of honor and poured three cups of wine for him and a small cup for herself before she sat down by his side.

When he had drained the three cups, she said unhurriedly, “You’re going home tomorrow. I want to ask you something: what you’ve been saying all along, can it be done? You may be happy talking about it now, but what if when you get home, your family won’t allow it? Isn’t it going to be awkward for you? You might as well speak plainly; I won’t mind.”

Third Young Master stood up, looking very perturbed. “Don’t you trust me?”

Second Treasure gently pressed him back into his chair and said with a smile, “I do trust you. But I have become a courtesan because my brother is a good-for-nothing and got us into dire straits. I’ve frequently thought to myself: how could there be a happy ending for me? You want to marry me as your wife; that’s something I never even dreamed of. But you already have a wife at home, so how can you take another wife as if she doesn’t exist? Don’t let’s get carried away and then see it all come to nothing.”

“Don’t worry,” he consoled her. “If I myself wanted to take three wives, then maybe it couldn’t be done. Now, it’s my adopted mothers’ idea for me to take two more wives,¹ so who’s to object? I might as well tell you: my adopted mothers had their eyes on a match quite a while ago, but I didn’t take it seriously, so no matchmaker has been sent. Now, once I get home I’ll ask a matchmaker to see to that match, and when it’s settled I’ll come back to fetch you for a joint wedding ceremony. It’ll just take a month; I’m sure to be back in the tenth month, don’t you worry.”

Second Treasure was overjoyed when she heard this. She sought further reassurance by saying, “Then you must come back in the tenth month. When you’re gone, I’ll keep to myself, stay in the house, and refuse all clients, and I won’t feel at ease until you come back, so please don’t put it off on any account. If your lady at home won’t let you take me as a wife, I’ll be willing to marry you as your concubine.”

As she said this, Second Treasure burst out crying; tears streamed down her face. Looking into his eyes, she clung to his shoulders and said, “I’ve made up my mind to be yours for life. However many wives and concubines you take, don’t you ever cast me off. If you do, I …” Choking, she could not finish what she had to say and instead started crying again. Unnerved by this, Third Young Master folded her into his embrace. He wiped her tears gently with his own handkerchief as he tried to console her. “Don’t talk nonsense. What you should do now is be happy, shop for all the small items you’ll need, and get things ready. If you cry again, it’ll just be silly!”

She took the opportunity to snuggle into his arms. Holding back her tears, she said plaintively, “You don’t know my predicament. People in my home village have been bad-mouthing me. Now you say you’re going to make me your wife, but these people won’t believe it; they’re laughing at me. If this falls through, the shame will be so great, I’ll have nowhere to hide.”

“How can it fall through? Not unless I drop dead,” he replied.

She sat up immediately and covered his mouth with her hand. “Don’t say that! Now I won’t talk to you anymore.”

With a smile, he brushed the matter aside.

She poured a cup of warm wine and handed it to him. Having drained it, he diverted her attention by asking her about sights in her home village. She understood his intention and cast off her melancholy to joke with him.

“We have a temple of the warrior god in our village, and in the ninth month, opera performances are held there,”² she said. “Countless people come to see the show, so much so that the tree branches are hanging with people. I’ve just seen it once, with Flora Zhang. We built our own viewing podium and then climbed onto the wall. With the sun beating down, it was hot as hell, but everybody said, ‘Wonderful show!’ It was so unlike how things are at Panorama Garden, where it’s nice and quiet and you’re all by yourself in a box. Now, if you ask me, I’m not interested in that!”

The Third Young Master nodded in agreement.

She offered him two more cups of wine. “I’ll tell you a joke. Next door to the temple lived Blind Man Wang; he was said to be awfully good at telling fortunes. The year before last, my mother called him to the house to study the birth dates of the three of us. When he saw mine, he said I’d be a lady of the highest official rank and that but for a small flaw I’d get to be empress. We thought it was all nonsense, but it seems he came pretty close, right?”

Third Young Master smiled and nodded in agreement.

The two of them drank sparingly as they poured out their feelings to each other, and dinner was over only when they had fully enjoyed themselves. Third Young Master walked over to the bedroom and called out, “Little Wang.”

Second Treasure, who came in behind him, interceded, “With me here, what d’you want them for?”

“Is Little Wang here?” he asked.

“My brother has invited him to a restaurant for a farewell dinner. What d’you want him for?” she said.

“Nothing, except to tell him to go back and pack and to come early tomorrow.”

“We’ll tell him later.”

He did not say anything. After a long rest, they retired for the night.

The next day, Second Treasure rose extremely early. She performed her toilet in the center room and dispensed with all makeup and jewelry. She then changed into clothes of subdued colors. When Third Young Master got up, she asked him, “Do I look like a respectable woman?”

“That looks nice and neat,” he replied.

“From today on, I’ll always look like this.”

She had breakfast with him, after which he told Tiger to ask Mrs. Zhao to come upstairs. He took a money order from his purse and handed it to her, saying, “I have to make a trip home and will be back in a month. I’ll see to the gifts for the bride when I get home. Here’s one thousand dollars for you to buy whatever small items she’ll need. The trousseau can wait until I come back.”

Mrs. Zhao dared not accept the money. She looked at Second Treasure.

Second Treasure snatched the money order and asked, “What’s this for? If you were paying the season’s bills here, then all I could say would be ‘thank you.’ But you said you’re coming back to marry me, so why are you giving us money? Though we’re poor, we can still afford to buy whatever small items that’ll be needed. You don’t have to worry about that.”

When he heard her put it like this, he bowed his head thoughtfully. Mrs. Zhao chimed in, “Third Master is so mindful of etiquette! We’re family now, so we can be more relaxed.”

Second Treasure immediately signaled her with a glance to stop her talking. Mrs. Zhao took her leave and went downstairs.

He had no choice but to put away the money order. He then called out to Little Wang to have the sedan chair ready. Second Treasure also took a sedan chair to see him off. They first went to his residence to dispatch his luggage. When lunch was over, a stream of people came to say farewell to him. This kept him busy until four o’clock, when he finally got ready to board the boat.

Second Treasure went aboard with him and saw that her brother, Simplicity Zhao, was looking after the luggage in the cabin for Little Wang.

“Has the dinner for his journey been delivered yet?” she asked in a low voice.

“Yes, it’s here,” he reported.

She knew there wasn’t anything else for her to do and thought she’d go home. Firmly holding Third Young Master’s hands, she bade him, “Write to me when you get home. Though I’m physically still in Shanghai, my heart is going home with you. Don’t you go and tarry anywhere else.” He gave his promise. Then she continued, “When are you coming back in the tenth month? Write to me again once you’ve settled on a date. Best if you can make it early. Your early arrival will make my whole family breathe easier.”

He again gave his promise. She was going to say more when the boatman, ready to set sail, hurried them, so she had to let go of his hands and climb ashore. They looked at each other with tears in their eyes as the boat pulled away, with Nature Shi standing at the bow and Second Treasure sitting in her sedan chair. Not until the mast was lost to sight did Simplicity Zhao order the sedan-chair bearers to go home.

Second Treasure was a proud and willful woman. Ever since Nature Shi had talked about the idea of marrying three wives, she had set her mind on marrying him. Afraid that he would look down on her, she had tried hard to put up a facade of respectability. She had refused to let him settle his bills at her house, on the basis, “since you regard me as a wife, I won’t regard myself as a prostitute.” Immediately after the Midautumn Festival, she had her name slip removed from the door and refused all clients but Nature Shi. When he left, saying that he’d come and fetch her in the tenth month, she had checked that she still had four hundred Mexican dollars at home, which was plenty to live on, so she felt completely at ease.

When they returned home from seeing Shi off, Simplicity Zhao went to Flora Zhang’s to recommend the servant girl Goldie, while Second Treasure went to confer with her mother. “He said the trousseau can wait until he comes back, but I think the bride’s family should pay for it. If we let him do it, I’m afraid his servants would talk and we’d feel humiliated,” she said.

“Well, in that case, you won’t be able to have the best, for we only have four hundred dollars,” Mrs. Zhao said.

“Humph! You’re always like this, Mother! How can you have a trousseau for four hundred dollars? What I’m thinking is: we’ll borrow the money to get things ready and then pay it back when he brings the bride price.”

“Well, that’s all right, too,” Mrs. Zhao replied.

Second Treasure turned to Tiger. “D’you know where we can borrow some money?”

“You can’t really borrow very much,” said Tiger. “It’d be better to get things on credit. We know people in all the silk shops, import shops, and furniture stores, so we can just pay up at the end of year.”

Delighted, Second Treasure sent Tiger out every day to get all the necessary articles for a trousseau from the various stores on credit. She herself was kept busy evaluating and selecting the things brought back to her and was only interested in the most fashionable items of the highest quality.

With nothing to occupy him, Simplicity Zhao became deeply entangled with Clever. The two were like a pair of lovebirds, inseparable. Knowing that he would become Third Young Master’s legitimate brother-in-law, Clever tried harder than ever to please him. Simplicity made a secret vow to marry her. And once married, she would be a lady, sister-in-law to Shi. Second Treasure was too preoccupied to pay attention to them, and the others naturally did not bother.

One day, a manservant from the Qi residence suddenly turned up to deliver a letter from Third Young Master. Simplicity read it and then related the contents in detail to Second Treasure. Shi spoke first of his safe arrival and of having asked a matchmaker to propose to the other family. Then he said that autumn was a most enchanting time and if Second Treasure was bored at home, she could go and amuse herself in Conical Hat Garden. Having received this letter, Second Treasure speeded up the purchase of her trousseau, thinking that once Third Young Master returned, she would have her perfect marriage.

Not having seen Qi’s steward, Xia, for some time, Simplicity asked the manservant about him and was told that he was drinking tea at Splendid Assembly Teahouse just then, so Simplicity went to look for him right away. Sure enough, he found Felicity Xia and Loyalty Hua at tea at Splendid Assembly.

As soon as Loyalty saw Simplicity, he asked, “You haven’t been out and about all this time; what’s happened?”

Felicity Xia jumped in with an answer, “He’s got a little game going at home, understand?”

“What game?” Loyalty asked in surprise.

“It’s not clear to me, either. You’ll have to ask Little Wang,” said Felicity Xia.

Simplicity just smiled awkwardly and sat down. The waiter brought him a lidded teacup and asked, “Would you like to order tea?” Simplicity waved his hand to indicate there was no need.

“Let’s go then,” Loyalty suggested.

“Fine, let’s look for some fun,” said Felicity Xia.

The three of them came out of the Splendid Assembly and turned into Treasured Merit Street, where they spent some time observing the courtesans in their carriages. Then they ambled into the Virtue Tavern, where they ordered three bottles of warmed Peking wine and three small dishes of food. After supper, Felicity invited the others to smoke opium. He led them to Third Pan’s in Security Alley and knocked on the door. The maid answered from inside but did not come to the door for a long time. Felicity Xia knocked again.

“Coming! Coming!” the maid said repeatedly. She came out very slowly and opened the door.

When they went in, they could hear the scuffling of feet in the bedroom; it sounded like two people pulling and tugging at each other. Felicity Xia knew there was another client and stopped at the door of the room.

The maid closed the front door and said, “Please go in.”

Felicity Xia lifted the curtain and ushered the other two into the room. They heard the other guest going out via the back door and then the thumping of his footsteps as he went up the stairs. The room was dark, lit only by an oil lamp on the dressing table. Third Pan closed the back door and came up smiling to greet “Master Xia.” The maid hurriedly lit a foreign lamp and the opium lamp and then went to get more teacups.

Felicity Xia asked Third Pan in a whisper who the guest was who had gone upstairs.

“It wasn’t a guest; it was the friend of a guest,” she replied.

“That’s a guest all the same, right?” Felicity Xia said. He pointed at Loyalty Hua and Simplicity Zhao and asked, “Don’t you consider them your guests?”

“Enough of your nonsense. Now have a smoke,” she said.

Felicity Xia lay down on the couch. Just when the pipe was ready, they suddenly heard someone knocking at the door.

“Who is it?” the maid called out loudly in the parlor.

“It’s me,” a man answered.

The maid let him in. Instead of coming into the room, the man went straight upstairs. Knowing that he must be from the same clique as the guest upstairs, they did not pay him any attention.

Felicity Xia’s opium habit was slight, so after two pellets he invited Simplicity Zhao to smoke while he took a water pipe and moved over to the humble side of the couch. Loyalty Hua and Third Pan sat side by side by the window chatting. Suddenly, they heard somebody knocking at the door again.

“Aiyo!” Felicity Xia exclaimed, “your business is certainly booming!” So saying, he put down the water pipe and stood up to peep out the window.

Third Pan came up to stop him. “What’s there to see? Go and sit down!”

Felicity Xia heard the maid open the door and go out to talk for some length to the man, whose voice sounded familiar. Felicity Xia pushed Third Pan aside and rushed out to see who it was, but the man had made off to avoid him. Felicity Xia ran out into the alley and by the light of the glass oil lamp hanging over the door recognized the man as Verdure Xu. He called out his name.

Verdure Xu had no choice but to turn around. He called out, asking quite unnecessarily, “Is that you, Felicity?” When Felicity replied in the positive, Xu saluted him repeatedly, saying, all smiles, “I never expected to see you.” He followed Felicity Xia into the room and greeted Loyalty Hua and Simplicity Zhao.

Simplicity recognized Verdure Xu as the man who had brutally beaten him up, wounding him in the head and face. He was scared stiff by this unexpected meeting. Verdure also recognized Simplicity but pretended he didn’t.

After a round of mutual introductions, everyone settled in their seats. Felicity Xia asked Verdure Xu, “Why did you run away when you saw me?”

Verdure blustered, “I didn’t know it was you. I just came to ask whether Yang from Hongkou was here; when I learned he wasn’t, I turned to leave. How would I have known you were here?”

“Humph!” was Felicity’s only response.

Verdure looked at Third Pan and grinned. “I haven’t seen you for a long time, Third Miss. Looks like you’ve gained weight. Is it because our friend Felicity has been giving you something nice to eat?”

Third Pan glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. “Because you haven’t seen me for a long time, you miss my scolding and are craving it, right?”

“Exactly. Bull’s-eye,” Verdure Xu said, clapping his hands. He then turned to Loyalty Hua and Simplicity Zhao, gesticulating and laughing as he spoke, “The last time when Felicity was in Shanghai, Third Miss was the only one he visited, so our gang all came here to look for him several times a day; it was as if this were the Splendid Assembly Teahouse. We all got cruelly cursed by Third Miss. Now Felicity doesn’t come anymore, so none of our gang comes here either.”

Loyalty Hua and Simplicity Zhao made no comment. Verdure Xu turned to ask Third Pan, “Why did our friend Felicity stop coming here? Did you offend him?”

Before she could reply, Felicity Xia shouted at him, “Cut the cackle. I have official business with you.”

::

1.  [In an extended family where only one brother had male progeny, it was a common practice for his son to carry on the lines of his brothers as well, particularly if his brothers had died. Nature Shi is obviously the only male child of a man with two childless brothers; his “adopted mothers” are his aunts. E.H.]

2.  [One of the most valiant generals in the Three Kingdoms Period (221–265), Guan Yu was deified in later generations and worshiped as an icon of loyalty and justice. Interestingly, both the police and gangsters adopted him as their guardian god. Operas performed on temple grounds (to entertain the gods) were a major entertainment for Chinese villagers. E.H.]