5

Tippler Zhao Yuan Encounters the Prior Emperor

INTRODUCTION

Biographical information is extremely limited on Gao Wenxiu 高文秀 (second half of the thirteenth century), a prolific playwright from Dongping 東平 (in modern Shandong), a major performing center in the early history of zaju. The Register of Ghosts reveals that he “hailed from Dongping, was a prefectural student, and died young.”¹ A manuscript edition of the Register adds that the people of the capital called him a “minor Hanqing” (xiao Hanqing 小漢卿), which would seem to suggest that he was also active, or at least his works were well known, in Dadu, home of Guan Hanqing. In his extended edition of the Register of Ghosts, Jia Zhongming 賈仲明 (1343–1422) inserted the following elegy poem for Gao:

In the flower encampments and brocaded formations he led buckler and spear,

In the halls of the Xie and the lofts of Qin he arrayed song and dance,²

At the altars of poetry and the gatherings of wine he relaxed chatting and talking,

And he composed the play Liu Shuahe.³

From younger years to sixty he never succeeded in the examinations

And—except for that one Hanqing

And sorting out the other early worthies—

None had as many dramas as he did!⁴

Of the more than thirty zaju credited to Gao Wenxiu, eight include in their titles the name of the “Black Whirlwind” (Hei Xuanfeng 黑旋風).⁵ Evidently, Gao Wenxiu felt a special affinity for the Black Whirlwind, who was Li Kui 李逵, a conspicuous member of a band of Robin Hood–like bandits who roamed the Liangshan Marshes in Gao’s home province in the early twelfth century.⁶ Gao and Kang Jinzhi, another Shandong playwright who also wrote on the Lianghsan bandits, are called the “two pillars of Li Kui plays” (Hei Xuanfeng shuangbi 黑旋風雙壁).⁷ Of Gao Wenxiu’s many recorded works, only five plays have been preserved:⁸

Tippler Zhao Yuan Encounters the Prior Emperor (Haojiu Zhao Yuan yu Shanghuang 好酒趙元遇上皇)

The Black Whirlwind Twice Brings Heads as Tribute (Hei Xuanfeng shuan xiantou 黑旋風雙獻頭)⁹

Xu Jia Belittles Fan Sui (Xu Jia sui Fan Sui 須賈誶范睢)¹⁰

Guaranteeing Duke Cheng’s Safety, Going Straightaway to the Meeting at Mianchi (Bao Chenggong jingfu Mianchi hui 保成公徑赴澠池會)¹¹

Liu Xuande Goes Alone to the Xiangyang Meeting (Liu Xuande dufu Xiangyang hui 劉玄德獨赴襄陽會)¹²

The attribution of the last two plays to Gao Wenxiu is suspect, and certainly in the case of the final one, it bears little likeness to the quality of the language in those plays that are well attested as Gao’s and is more than likely a product of court entertainers in the Ming.¹³ Of these five plays, only Tippler Zhao Yuan Encounters the Prior Emperor survives in a Yuan printing. The play is also known in a late Ming manuscript from the Maiwangguan collection. We provide translations of both plays in this chapter.

The setting of this play is Bianliang (modern Kaifeng), also known as the Eastern Capital, which served as the capital of the Northern Song (960–1127). As the capital of the most populous empire of the contemporary world, one that had known undisturbed domestic peace for over a century and a half, Kaifeng had grown by 1100 into a bustling metropolis with a population of over a million. The bickering of factions at the highest echelons of the imperial court bureaucracy hardly affected the crowds that thronged its streets. The lively bustle of the city is described well in coeval accounts of its pleasures, most notably the recollections of its last years as capital, written in 1147 as A Record of My Dream of Paradise in the Eastern Capital (Dongjing meng Hua lu 東京夢華錄). But the unprecedented material and popular splendors of Kaifeng were wiped out in a single stroke when the city fell to the invading Jurchen in 1126.¹⁴

This collapse of Song peace and prosperity was presided over by Emperor Huizong 徽宗 (r. 1101–1125), a flamboyant personality, a great patron of Daoism and the arts, and quite a distinguished painter himself. His romantic adventures outside the walls of the palace, especially his incognito visits to Kaifeng’s most renowned courtesan, Li Shishi 李師師, became the stuff of popular legend. Following a first siege of Kaifeng by the Jurchen in the summer of 1126, Huizong abdicated to be succeeded by one of his sons, known to history as Qinzong (r. 1126–1127). Following his abdication, Huizong was known as the Prior Emperor (Shanghuang 上皇), and this was the title by which he was remembered in the following decades. During the Jin dynasty (1115–1232), founded by the Jurchen, there even existed a special category of farce, “Farces on the Prior Emperor” (Shanghuang Yuanben 上皇院本), which was devoted to Huizong’s merry adventures. The fourteen farces under this heading listed in Tao Zongyi’s 陶宗儀 (b. 1316) A Record of Resting from Plowing (Nancun chuogeng lu 南村輟耕錄) are for the most part about Huizong’s luxury palaces—taking place in Yanfu Palace 延福宮 and Genyue Park 艮岳—or about his dalliance with Li Shishi and perhaps other women he visited incognito.¹⁵ In due time, however, his personality was invested with more and more traits of the “bad last ruler,” a picture that was fixed in such vernacular works as Remnant Tales of the Xuanhe Reign (Xuanhe yishi 宣和遺事).¹⁶ Yet the direct cause of the downfall of the Northern Song was not so much due to the personality of Huizong as to Song foreign policy. Ever since the founding of the Song, the dynasty had lived in an uneasy truce with its northeastern neighbor, the Liao (916–1119), a regime founded by the Khitan, a non-Chinese ethnic group hailing from southern Manchuria.¹⁷ The Liao occupied sixteen northern Chinese prefectures, including the area of modern Beijing, that had been ceded to it by Shi Jingtang in exchange for support in the founding of his short-lived Jin dynasty (936–945). Furious attempts by the Song in the early decades of its existence—remembered in literature of later centuries as the exploits of the generals of the Yang family¹⁸—to dislodge the Liao from the sixteen prefectures had all failed. Thus, in the early twelfth century, the Song eagerly entered into a joint alliance with the Jurchen, a Tungusic tribe from northern Manchuria, to wage a two-front war against the Liao.

The Jin quickly succeeded in destroying the Liao, then, claiming the Song had failed to honor its commitments, turned against its southern ally. To its surprise, the Jin met with almost no opposition, and in the summer of 1126 the Jurchen troops stood before the gates of Kaifeng. Withdrawing after receiving a huge ransom, the Jurchen quickly returned in the winter of 1126–1127, this time to stay. Again, the Song mounted no effective military resistance and Kaifeng quickly fell. Huizong, Qinzong, and many others were taken to the far north as prisoners, never to be released. Within a few years, the Jurchen controlled China as far south as the Huai River, and the Song was reduced further in size, squeezed into China south of that river. Huizong’s sixth son, known posthumously as Gaozong 高宗 (Zhao Gou 趙構, r. 1127–1163), declared himself emperor, and after many years of warfare eventually located the capital of this Southern Song court in Hangzhou. After the border had become stabilized, Gaozong, in turn, abdicated and also assumed the title Shanghuang.

The use of the title Prior Emperor¹⁹ for Huizong would seem to imply that the action of Tippler Zhao is set in the afterglow of the glory of the Northern Song, sometime between his abdication and the fall of Kaifeng. Since the final act of the play portrays Huizong very much as a reigning emperor holding court, however, it is much more likely that the title Prior Emperor had become so identified with Huizong that it was used anachronistically to refer to him before his abdication. This would also solve the problem presented in this play by the mention of Yang Jian (d.1121), a eunuch who enjoyed the favor of Huizong and rose to the highest military position. In later assessments of the fall of the Song, Yang Jian was considered one of the so-called seven scourges responsible for the debacle of 1126 and 1127.

One may, of course, read the play as just one more colorful incident in the life of a fun-loving emperor whose life would end tragically. Comparable anecdotes are told about Gaozong as Prior Emperor: he would make the reputation of poor students and impoverished soup vendors after meeting them incognito. However, the setting of Tippler Zhao also seems to demand a political interpretation. It is difficult not to read the play as an indictment of soldiers, portrayed as total and hopeless drunks, and of officials who care nothing for their underlings. Even the Prior Emperor himself comes under suspicion for neglecting his duties in order to frequent places of ill repute with his cronies and for promoting a sot to the position of metropolitan prefect. In such a reading, soldiers, officials, and emperor may well be seen as equally responsible for the disgrace of the Chinese loss of the north to barbarian rulers.

The editor of the Maiwang Studio manuscript of the play may have tried to make such an interpretation impossible by moving the action of the play to the reign of Emperor Taizu 太祖 (r. 960–975), the founder of the Song dynasty. Taizu also had a reputation for leaving the palace in disguise; but he did so to visit his wise councilors to discuss issues of statecraft in the informal privacy of their homes. The Maiwang Studio manuscript has created a fictional brother for the emperor, Zhao Guangpu, from the famous Northern Song official Zhao Pu, by using the word guang, which is a generational marker in the proper names of the brothers of Song Taizu and Taizong. It also makes every effort to turn Zhao Yuan into an exemplar of probity.²⁰ With such a moral protagonist, the play could then be interpreted as a paean to an emperor’s concern for the common soldier and make it much more suitable for performance at the imperial court.²¹ From the collation note at the end of the manuscript we learn that the text had once belonged to Yu Xiaogu, whose play manuscripts would appear to have originated mostly from the late fifteenth century Court Entertainment Bureau. As is well-known, the Ming imperial court did not allow the portrayal onstage of any emperor, and most Yuan-dynasty zaju featuring emperors that were adopted into the Ming court repertoire were revised in such a way that the role of the emperor was removed.²² While perhaps it might have been permissible to portray an emperor in disguise, an emperor in function—as in the last act of this play—would be unthinkable. Perhaps the Court Entertainment Bureau from which Yu Xiaogu had obtained his manuscripts was not the Court Entertainment Bureau at Beijing but the Court Entertainment Bureau in Nanjing, where, in the physical absence of an emperor since the early fifteenth century, the rules may have been applied less strictly than in Beijing.

Despite the considerable number of parallel stories in the unofficial historical accounts of the Song, no direct source is known for Gao Wenxiu’s play. The plot might either be his own invention or derive from some popular legend.

Tippler Zhao is a regular zaju consisting of four suites of songs. These four suites of songs are all assigned to the male lead, who plays the part of Zhao Yuan. The action of the play can be reconstructed as follows. Zhao Yuan, a lowly yamen runner with a lovely wife, is a habitual drunk. His wife and her family demand a writ of divorce because his superior, the prefect of Kaifeng, wants the woman for his own. The prefect sends Zhao Yuan off on an impossible mission. He must deliver some documents to another prefect (as it later turns out, an imperial relative) at some unspecified place (presumably at Luoyang) in the coldest month of winter. The documents must be delivered within a specified number of days. If late, he will be beheaded. Thus beleaguered, Zhao eventually consents to the divorce (act 1).

Outside town at Strawbridge Inn, in the midst of a snowstorm, Zhao Yuan arrives at a wineshop at the same time as the emperor, disguised as a student and accompanied by two followers. Zhao offers the “student” a cup of wine, and the emperor returns the gesture. The emperor is unable to pay for the wine—emperors do not carry any cash—and is beaten up by the innkeeper. Zhao Yuan comes to the rescue of the “student.” The emperor asks him about his name, and, since they both share the surname Zhao, he swears brotherhood with Zhao Yuan. After being told about Zhao Yuan’s impossible situation, the emperor writes a letter to his “brother,” the prefect, on Zhao Yuan’s bare arm (act 2).

Zhao Yuan eventually arrives at his destination, but late. When he presents himself, the prefect flies into a rage and orders him executed. Zhao Yuan then cries out that he is also bringing him a letter from his “elder brother.” After he bares his arm and the prefect reads the letter, Zhao Yuan is immediately seated in a place of honor and treated with great respect. He is informed that the emperor has appointed him prefect of Kaifeng (act 3). The final act is devoted to Zhao Yuan’s presentation at court, where he is extremely ill at ease in his official dress and vows to spend his time drinking, leaving the populace alone.²³ In the end his wife and her lover are brought in and duly punished.

The songs of this play are extremely lively and very much in character—the language is simple and nearly free of allusions. The few that are to be found all relate stories that were clichés on the Yuan stage. In view of its subject matter, drinking, it is of course only to be expected that the text is sprinkled liberally with the names of famous brews: Spring in the Vat, Bamboo Leaf, Nine Times Brewed, Spring’s Color, and of course the finest wine, Gaoyang.

READING SUGGESTIONS:

Bickford and Ebrey 2006; Hennessey 1981, 1984; Weng 2006; West 2000, 2006.

 

NEWLY CUT WITH PLOT PROMPTS: TIPPLER ZHAO YUAN ENCOUNTERS THE PRIOR EMPEROR, A FOURTEENTH-CENTURY EDITION

DRAMATIS PERSONAE IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE

Role type	Name and family, institutional, or social role
OLD MAN	ZHAO YUAN’s father-in-law
FEMALE LEAD	MRS. ZHAO, ZHAO YUAN’s wife
MALE LEAD	ZHAO YUAN, the tippler
EXTRA MALE	PREFECTURAL OFFICIAL (act 1); also called COMIC and OFFICIAL.
WAITER IN WINESHOP	WAITER IN WINESHOP
EMPEROR	FORMER EMPEROR (Huizong)
EXTRA MALES	EMPEROR’S ENTOURAGE (act 2)
OFFICIAL	HIGH OFFICIAL, brother of EMPEROR
EXTRA MALE	COURT ATTENDANT
YAMEN RUNNERS	YAMEN RUNNERS
YANG JIAN	YANG JIAN

NEWLY CUT WITH PLOT PROMPTS: TIPPLER ZHAO YUAN ENCOUNTERS THE PRIOR EMPEROR

[ACT 1]

Wait until the one scene of OLD MAN and FEMALE LEAD is finished—wait until one scene of EXTRA MALE is finished—[you] MALE LEAD enter acting drunk—immediately belt out:

([XIANLÜ MODE:] Dian jiangchun)

Tilting east, listing west,

Falling backwards, bumping forwards—

I leave my seat.

This wine has made me crazy,

And my drunken souls head off toward home.²⁴

(Hunjiang long)

Suddenly I observe the wine flag,

And see the windblown green banner²⁵ hailing, “Gaoyang wine!”

To drink some dreggy wine or strained ale

Beats sap of jade or chalcedony liquor.

What makes me happy

Are two sleeves filled with fresh wind and a curving moon,

One pot of Spring’s Color and its perfume seeping through the crock.

Before the flowers I drink my wine,

Under the moon I stroke my beard.

Tangled hair, smudged face,

I drum on my belly and croon a tune,

In the thatched hut beside the wine crock I sing, “Tra-la-la.”

Three cups in the stomach,

And it will carry you away forever.

Act out going into a wineshop and drinking. Wait until OLD MAN and FEMALE LEAD have entered and spoken.

(You hulu)

You say,

I love my wine and lust after the cup, that I will cause trouble—

But you are the rustic boors,

And rightly nicknamed “a den of wolves.”

Before you see the peach blossoms rise to my cheeks,

Already

You have scattered them with your shouting before my cup of Bamboo Leaf.

Cursing and cussing you grab my hair,

Kick me with your feet,

Keep boxing my ears—

You’ve ripped all my clothes to shreds.

(Tianxia le)

You’ve abandoned it all now, and have made a real scene this time,

What kind of dirty tricks do you have now for beating and cursing your son?

I’ve never stirred up any trouble by loafing around and hanging out,

You keep after me for a handprint²⁶

And try every means to get a writ of confession;²⁷

You bully this poor hungry and cold, destitute army runner to death.

Wait until OLD MAN has spoken. The reason I’ve been drinking these three days is due to the kindness of friends.

(Nezha ling)

Day before yesterday it was Blind Wang the Fifth, raising the roof beam,

Yesterday it was the rustic Li Hu sacrificing a goat,

And today it was the lush Liu Hong, celebrating his birthday.

I didn’t want to go—

It was they who visited me,

They fetched me and dragged me away.

Speak: Wine has its good points!

(Que ta zhi)

Only after you have wine can you gather together your relatives,

Only after you have wine can you meet friends wise and good.

Haven’t you heard the old saw and proverb:

“Wine can dispel all sorrows in the heart”?

After I have wine, my tolerance is as capacious as the seas,

But without any wine, my stomach burns and my guts writhe.

Wait until EXTRA MALE has spoken. Speak: Stop drinking?

(Jisheng cao)

I could be a clerk,

Become a peddler,

Use a buffalo to grow beans and furrow the fields,

Smear on lime, daub on clay, and learn to act and sing,

Or shave my head, cut my hair, and become a monk—

But make me give up the spring from the vat that melts away sorrow and dispels depression—

I can’t give it up!

I’d far rather stretch out my neck in the bustling marketplace at the execution ground.

Wait until [they]²⁸ have spoken. Speak: I couldn’t give it up for a year, even if I tried. I’ll explain why I can’t give it up in each of the four seasons.

(Zui zhong tian)

Give it up in spring?

In spring’s warmth, flowers’ fragrances are all set free.

Give it up in summer?

In summer’s heat, caltrop and lotus are redolent.

Give it up in autumn?

At the golden well, the wutong tree drops leaves of yellow.

Give it up in winter?

Auspicious snows flurry about our heads.

Heaven has its days and nights, clear and cloudy, men have mornings and eves, good luck and bad.

Alive, dead—a man’s life lies in the single moment:

To give up the golden rippled green brew

Would have been to pass uselessly from one season to another.

Wait until [someone] has spoken. Speak: You want me to live in a village, where there’s surely no wine. Two things now that will make it even more impossible to stop!

[(Jinzhan’er)]

You want me to keep company with Esquire Sprout in a village

And nourish this skin sack in some hamlet quarter,

Where each day, blown by winds, scorched by the sun, I will furrow the fields,

And suffer wind and frost along with Sha the Third and Zhao the Fourth?

How could I spend the hundred years allotted to me besotted with wine

Or enjoy those thirty-six thousand drunken days?

These two things—

“Don’t let the wildflowers²⁹ pop out of the ground.”

What I fear is “the perfume of village brew seeps through the crock.”

Wait until OLD MAN drags you to see EXTRA MALE—wait until OFFICIAL³⁰ has entered and spoken—greet COMIC. After COMIC speaks—act out being frightened. Speak: It’s someone else’s turn to go, it’s not my job. After COMIC speaks—wait until FEMALE LEAD requests a writ of divorce—act out hesitating. After it has been written out—act out weeping.

(You simen)

They want me to hand over this fine flower to some rich gent—

Husband and wife will be torn apart.

There is no turning back from the documents I have before me.

I see that I will perish,

And she will mate up with a simurgh or phoenix.

(Liuye’er)

Really, the official is completely on her side.

And if I have to take this trip, snow will pile on top of frost.³¹

Silently, secretly I’m scared, so scared my soul floats away.

Where can I submit my own complaint?

If I write that out, I can avoid disaster and misfortune,

Ah,

If I don’t write it out, then what harm will come?

Act out coming outside after having turned over the writ of divorce, weeping and wailing.

(Shanghua shi)

All because of her one face that is not plain, I am forced to leave my home—

That two-faced official knows how to work a plot,

Those three are evil at heart.

For less than four years we’ve been husband and wife,

But they’ve been to court five times ten.

(Reprise)

Inside the six dimensions,³² I’ve suffered your rottenness,

Seven generations of my ancestors you have reviled at will,

And, from all eight directions, have accused me wildly, discussed me at length,

We’ve been man and wife—consider it well, nine times nine:

Don’t hope that I’ll die by the time you count ten.

(Coda)

You, with a tenfold adulterous heart,

Fear no neighbor’s comments after nine,³³

In all eight directions, you will walk the streets and cruise the alleys.

Don’t curse seven generations of mothers

Because your six relatives are flustered when they see you.

Think on it yourself:

Think, with head propped on hands, in the fifth watch of the night,

How easily we woke our four neighbors, who called the local elder.

I want to lay out three cups by the side of the road³⁴—

In less than two weeks my life will be lost.

Summon my soul from nowhere else

For my one spirit will never leave the brewery!

[Exit.]

[ACT 2]

Wait until WAITER IN WINESHOP enters and speaks—and until EMPEROR, leading his party, enters, seats himself, and speaks—enter acting braving a snowstorm—belt out:

([NANLÜ MODE:] Yizhi hua)

Battling the wind, I face into the willow floss,

Braving the snow, I brush the pear blossoms away.³⁵

Snow mantles a thousand trees until they grow old with age,

Wind trims them until ten thousand branches wither.

Such a journey as this of wind and snow—

Snow veils the road to heaven’s edge.

The wind is strong,

The snow heavy—

Just like it was sprinkled by a spade or tossed by a winnowing basket,

Just like combed cotton or plucked floss.

(Liangzhou)

It’s just like Han Yu, who couldn’t get his steed to go forward through Indigo Pass,³⁶

Or Meng Haoran, who refused to ride his donkey across the Baling Bridge.³⁷

I’m so frozen that my hands and feet have goose bumps like grain.

The heavens are cold, the days short,

The boundless fields, desolate and empty,

Passes and mountains, hard and bitter,

Wind and snow mix and mingle.

My whole body wrapped only in an unpadded gown

That flaps in the eastern wind, randomly flecked with true pearls.

I raise my head just like a baby badger coming out of its hole,

Hunch my shoulders just like an old rat soaked with water,

Bend my waist just like a human dried shrimp.

When will I get to the imperial capital?

Scraping the sky, scraping the earth, a wild wind beats,

Who has suffered such misery as this?

I see three golden-saddled horses tied to an aged mulberry tree—

Must be some relatives of the emperor’s or scions of the state.

Act out going inside, going to the fire, sniffing the odor of the wine. Speak: Bring me two hundred coppers’ of wine! Wait until [waiter in wineshop] acts out bringing wine.

(Muyang guan)

After I see the wine, I hurry to bow in obeisance,

After I drink the wine, I pay my respects again,

Reunited today with my old buddy wine.

O, wine,

I would have said we’d never meet again,

Never imagined we’d be together at one place and time.

Because of wine, I suffered with storm and snow,

Because of wine, I trod this long road.

But now this wine-soaked head meets you again—

Ah,

Papa Wine, have you been well?

Act out offering a cup of wine to EXTRA MALE—wait until EXTRA MALE has drunk a cup with you.

(Gewei)

I’m just a good-for-nothing who follows donkeys and handles horses,

You must be grandees who discuss the past and discourse on texts.

It’s all heaven’s fate, a man doesn’t make that himself.

Even though I’m a stupid and vulgar lout

Who cannot hold forth on the rites of former kings,

I can chug it, gurgling and gulping, right down my throat.

Wait until EXTRA MALE fights—listen, then stop.

(Gan huang’en)

I am just about to drink my fragrant ale,

But who is this, shouting and yelling, quarreling and screaming?

All I hear is endless censure, ceaseless curses, “You penniless pedant!”

He keeps on shoving him, pushing him around,

Grabbing, dragging, seizing, shaking.

But you must know that once Li Bo pledged his sword for a drink,

And pawned his zither to pay up his tab.³⁸

(Caicha ge)

One pulls at his clothes,

The other is smeared with blood.

Scholar,

You can’t say here, “Flowers’ shadows cover the body, ask for help getting up”!³⁹

Why should you three learned men have any reason to fear?

I’ll put out my own coppers to pay for what you owe.

Wait until EMPEROR swears brotherhood with you—act out going over and drinking wine. Act out weeping and wailing. After EMPEROR asks why—after acting out explaining the plot.

(Hong shaoyao)

My mother- and father-in-law have venomous hearts,

The official who was part of it screwed up his duties.

Indeed, this beauty has betrayed her husband,

And that guy wanted to be with her, like fish in water.

The finest of appearances

Hide evil schemes.

Blind to the facts,

They wanted a divorce.

Relying on the official’s coercion, they broke apart husband and wife.

Really they are horses and oxen in human dress!

(Pusa Liangzhou)

I may be all alone in the world,

So who will hear my complaint?

I harbor my wrongs and carry my injustice,

And so rage fills my breast and tears rain down like pearls.

This writ—one raised the frost-tipped brush,

One pulled me by the arm,

And, as one held me up,

They said that these two lines of characters were my passport to heaven,

And would see me safely back to home and friends.

This good deed⁴⁰

Must be done.

Who would have thought that two full strings of a hundred cash could buy a man’s life?

Brother,

You don’t need paper to write this letter.

After taking leave—wait until EMPEROR speaks:

(Coda)

I never imagined that now, as I was about to die an unjust death, [you’d save] my head.

Pointing afar to among the clouds: a goose delivering a letter.

My two feet

Will never stop.

This anxious sorrow,

This fitful fear,

This vexatious worry—

To whom shall I complain?

How can I raise my voice,

I bear too much injustice.

Prior Emperor Zhao, you sit securely in your august capital,

How can you know of the unjust misery of an army runner who so endures wind and snow?

[Exit.]

[ACT 3]

Wait until OFFICIAL enters, speaks, and stops—immediately enter and belt out:

([ZHONGLÜ MODE:] Fendie’er)

Six-pointed flowers fly,⁴¹

At blue heaven’s rim, frozen clouds linger.

Hugging my shoulders, I tuck my head low.

My wine soul has disappeared,

I’ve just sobered up from the wine

And my limbs have no strength.

Soon my life will be buried in the mud of the Yellow Springs.

How can I avoid such a disaster?

(Zui chunfeng)

You’ve done me in, this Spring in the Vat, this Bamboo Leaf,

This wife I loved with all my heart, this sprig of pretty flowers.

Just because of my passion for fragrant brew,

I finally found the stirrup cup of eternal separation.

How can I have regrets?

How can I have regrets?

And it is also predestined fate from former lives,

Something we alone create, something we alone suffer—

Blame heaven, blame earth!

(Ying xianke)

His retinue is lined up,

His runners are lined up—

Thus death comes in the dark, unbeknownst to man,

And we can’t grow wings to fly away.

Unstoppable, my tears seem pushed out by a hoe,

Hei!

This is a punishment without a crime that I’ve brought on myself.

After greeting OFFICIAL—after EXTRA MALE has pushed you and you have turned around—act out being flustered and speak: Excellency, I am bringing you a letter from your brother. Wait until OFFICIAL speaks.

(Shang xiaolou)

I have a letter from your elder brother.

At the foot of these steps, allow this humble person to explain—

Quickly, so quickly, speedily, so speedily,

Correct, so correct, exact, so exact,

I will enumerate all the true facts—

And if I, Zhao Yuan, should make only the slightest error in my explanation,

I’d be happy to let my life return to the world of the springs.⁴²

Wait until you have been interrogated.

(Reprise)

It was a party of three,

Who insisted on offering me a cup.

They came up short on their tab, the owner shouted and screamed and got all worked up,

And without a second thought, I paid two hundred coppers on their behalf.

For this reason

He swore brotherhood with me.

Wait until you have been interrogated. Speak: I was on my way to deliver documents when I came to the inn at Strawbridge. There I saw three scholars drinking wine, and when they had no money, I paid their bill. He asked me what I was surnamed, and I responded, “My name is Zhao.” He said, “My name is Zhao, too.” So I gave him my respects as elder brother. And because of this, he wrote this letter. He said that he was Your Excellency’s elder brother. Wait until OFFICIAL speaks—and acts out having seen what is on your arm—wait until OFFICIAL grasps his tablet of office⁴³—and YAMEN RUNNERS have put you in a chair—act out being scared out of your wits.

(Shi’er yue)

They’ve put me into this folding chair to sit,

And are dancing⁴⁴ around me hand and foot.

They spread an embroidered carpet on the ground,

While perfume wafts from the golden lion.

Call a doctor! What’s my pulse?

These stricken eyes will be hard to cure!

(Yaomin ge)

Who ever saw the god of the soil in his poor house bow to Zhong Kui?⁴⁵

Or the judge of hell in his court consult a quack?

Call for divine needles or dharma moxa—it’s that kind of illness.

Like a Lan Caihe who can’t dance, yet sees flowers whirling.⁴⁶

I smirk ever so slightly over

The emperor’s edict appointing me

To judge the affairs of Kaifeng prefecture.

Wait until [he] speaks—Speak: I’m appointed the prefect of the Southern Capital?⁴⁷ Is there any wine there in the yamen?

(Shua hai’er)

I can’t be an official, but there are plenty of precedents by which to accomplish it,

And the codes of the five punishments are all there in regular order.

But I never studied the laws and regulations of Xiao and Cao,⁴⁸

So whenever there’s a case, I’ll hand it over to the head clerk to solve.

Let none without wine enter the yamen,

I know nothing of the world but a good sleep.

Without entanglements,

There’s no need to care about any runners or clerks,

I’ll just drink, and then go back home to a feast.⁴⁹

(Second from Coda)

I’ll drink wine in the manner of Li Taibo,⁵⁰

Be as muddleheaded as Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao.⁵¹

Call me “the bottomless jug,” and all the world will know who it is.

“There is a path to the blue empyrean, and finally I’ve arrived.”⁵²

“If fine wine has no name, I swear I will not return.”⁵³

Every day I’ll be stewed with wine.

Who cares about the three deductions and six interrogations?

Better to hit the wine and crash every banquet.

(Coda)

Who cares about Autumn Springs and Bamboo-Leaf Green,

Nine Times Brewed in its lotus-leaf cups?

It makes no difference if it’s your Canglang waters or mine,⁵⁴

It’s far better than enduring storm and snow, hunger and cold, halfway down the road.

[Exit.]

[ACT 4]

Wait for one scene of OLD MAN, COMIC, and FEMALE LEAD. After EMPEROR enters and speaks, and the official summons are completed. You, as MALE LEAD, enter holding tablet of office with YANG JIAN—Wait until EXTRA MALE speaks.

([SHUANGDIAO MODE:] Xinshui ling)

Who wants two rows of underlings in noisy confusion?

They’re no match for the ten poles of wine jugs carried before my horse.

This gauzy cap of office and genuine official purple gown

Are no match for my stiff white belt and old threadbare shirt.

I can’t speak any highfalutin language,

Let alone be some corrupt official.

Wait until EXTRA MALE speaks, Speak: There’s dragons and tigers there,⁵⁵ I can’t go there!

(Qiaopai’er)

These words have not been weighed with care,

You know, deep water has to be probed with a pole.

Don’t trap a simple man in front of our lord and master,

Zhao Yuan’s addiction to wine is a foul mess.

(Tianshui ling)

I don’t lust for high position—

Don’t try and deceive me,

I really can’t bear all this hassle.

When you say I’ve met him, it scares me to death.

…⁵⁶

Better I live in a straw hut or a rush shed.

(Zhegui ling)

No office for me, I’m afraid of the snarling commotion of the tiger’s lair and dragon abyss;

As you know, this dragon has its wind and clouds,

The tiger its mountains and cliffs.

When tigers fight and dragons war, I fear,

They’ll stir up some traitorous slander.

Who in court and province is the likes of me:

Beclouded, dumb, dim-witted, and dull.

First mumbling and grumbling, then silent and still.

Who’d guess that prime ministers and royal nobles

Have it worse than Li the Fourth and Zhang the Third.⁵⁷

Act out appearing before EMPEROR.

(Qi dixiong)

How would I—

Your insignificant subject—

Dare carry out a high official’s obeisance?

I only know bitter, stringent, sour, full, and light.⁵⁸

Let everyone else covet luster and smoothness,

Your subject is easily duped, but never corrupt.

(Meihua jiu)

Your insignificant minister is the greatest coward of them all,

All I want is to be stewed each day in sweet drunkenness.

Please, my sagely master, consider it well

And do not ask me time and time again.

I can be no clear judge, no investigator of hidden matters,

Nor viscount or earl, duke or baron.

I’m ashamed:

If my office is high, the vexations would be a mess;

If my salary is large, I would grow too covetous.

(Shou Jiangnan)

In the city of Bianliang, I will be Director in Chief of the Bureau of Wine,⁵⁹

I’ll pour my own, dance alone, carry on pure conversations with myself.

Without worry, without vexation, I’ll just dither on.

You’ll find no me in places of right and wrong,

These morsels from the Jade Hall are no match for the sweetness of the vat.

Wait until the party of COMIC and FEMALE LEAD, who are in custody, enter, and speak.

(Yan’er luo)

You, venerable elder Jiang, were daring in the wrong cause,⁶⁰

You, righteous woman of Lu, had thought it carefully through⁶¹

And in league with the magistrate’s office, demanded my handprint.

But today you are the ones who have been ensnared in a trap.

(Desheng ling)

Isn’t it said, “Hoist the carrying pole of breeze and moon”?⁶²

It was never more than “a dragonfly trying to shake Mount Tai.”⁶³

In days past, you were stupid and corrupt,

But now you will lose your head under the knife.

I was unable to bear your clutching fists,

And you tricked me out into the wind and snow.

You’re so scared your face is blue,

You, who were so courageous when demanding the writ of divorce.

EMPEROR pronounces the judgments and sends them off.

Title:	Father-in-law and mother-in-law have venomous hearts,
	The official concerned abuses his power to get a rouged beauty.
Name:	In the snow the government runner takes great revenge,
	Tippler Zhao Yuan Encounters the Prior Emperor.

Newly Cut with Plot Prompts: Tippler Zhao Yuan Encounters the Prior Emperor

The End

 

TIPPLER ZHAO YUAN ENCOUNTERS THE PRIOR EMPEROR, A MING MANUSCRIPT EDITION

DRAMATIS PERSONAE IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE

Role type	Name and family, institutional, or social role
EXTRA	OLD MAN, Squire Liu the Second, ZHAO YUAN’s father-in-law
OLD WOMAN	MRS. CHEN, ZHAO YUAN’s mother
PAINTED FEMALE LEAD	LIU YUEXIAN (Moon Fairy), ZHAO YUAN’s wife
EXTRA	INNKEEPER in Eastern Capital
MALE LEAD	ZHAO YUAN, the tippler
COMIC	PREFECT ZANG
ZHANG QIAN	ZHANG QIAN, a clerk
WINE TENDER	WINE SELLER at Strawbridge Inn
EMPEROR	FORMER EMPEROR (Taizu)
CHU ZHAOPU	MEMBER OF EMPEROR’S ENTOURAGE
SHI SHOUXIN	MEMBER OF EMPEROR’S ENTOURAGE
ZHAO GUANGPU	EMPEROR’S BROTHER, prefect of Luoyang
ATTENDANT	ATTENDANT to ZHAO GUANGPU
BUREAU CLERK	BUREAU CLERK in Luoyang prefectural offices

A MING COURT MANUSCRIPT EDITION: TIPPLER ZHAO YUAN ENCOUNTERS THE PRIOR EMPEROR

GAO WENXIU OF THE YUAN

ACT 1

EXTRA, costumed as OLD MAN, enters with OLD WOMAN and PAINTED FEMALE LEAD.—OLD MAN speaks:

My hair like silver threads, my two sideburns of autumn,

Old now, crooked at the waist, I must go with lowered head.

When the moon passes the fifteenth, its radiant light diminishes,

When a person reaches the last years of life, all affairs cease.

I am surnamed Liu, and because I am ranked second among my generation, everyone calls me Squire Liu the Second. I am a man of the Eastern Capital. My wife is named Chen, and we have no other children except for this one young daughter, whose child name is Moon Fairy. She’s a perfect ten in everyone’s eyes, and she is really a beauty, but I never betrothed her to anyone until I found a live-in son-in-law in Zhao Yuan. But that guy turned out to be worthless—he loves to drink and is always in his cups. He never pays attention to our family livelihood nor does anything to make a living. All he does is drink all day. This daughter of mine really despises him. I’ve heard that there is a new prefect of Kaifeng named Zang who has taken a liking to my daughter, and she wants with all her heart to marry him. But there’s this Zhao Yuan to deal with. Wife! Daughter! How are we going to deal with this?—OLD WOMAN speaks:—Old fella, this guy Zhao Yuan does nothing but drink all day. He never pays any attention to making a living. How will this end if it goes on like this?—PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—Father, it will not do in the long run for me to stay with that dreg head. If it were up to me, I’d go straight down to those wineshops on the main street, find Zhao Yuan, give him a sound thrashing, and ask him clearly for a writ of divorce. If he gives it, then fine. If not, then we should drag him off to the prefectural yamen and then, no matter what, we’ll get the divorce writ. After he divorces me, I can marry that Prefect Zang. What do you think, Father?—OLD MAN speaks:—You’ve hit it on the head, Daughter. Let the three of us go down to the wineshops on the main street and find him!

Exit together.

EXTRA, costumed as INNKEEPER, enters and speaks:—

Coming back from doing business, I’m still wet with sweat,

When I go to bed I am always thinking of the morning to come.

Why is the head of the house always first to turn gray?

Day and night he’s always thinking about a million plans.

I am an innkeeper and live here in the Eastern Capital. I don’t have any other way to make a living, so I opened this little wineshop. Still, all those travelers and merchants who come and go from every direction all stop here to have a drink. It’s a clear morning, so I’ll open the shop, hang out the wine flag, and start a fire to get this wine warmer hot. Let’s see who comes along.—MALE LEAD costumed as ZHAO YUAN enters drunk and speaks:—I am Zhao Yuan, a man of Bianliang, the Eastern Capital. I am a live-in son-in-law of old Squire Liu the Second here, and my wife’s child name is Moon Fairy. Normally, I like to have a few, and my wife and her father really detest me and have beaten and cursed me many times to try and get me to divorce her. When I think what it’s like to be me in these times—if it weren’t for these cups of wine, it would be impossible to get this sorrowful depression out of my heart. Well, there’s not much happening today, so I’ll go down to the wineshops on the main street and have a few cups of wine to dispel my depression!—Sings:

(XIANLÜ MODE: Dianjiang chun)

Tilting east, listing west,

Falling backwards, reeling forwards—

I leave my seat.

This wine has made me crazy,

And my drunken soul heads off toward home.⁶⁴

(Hunjiang long)

Here I suddenly observe the wine flag:

The wind blowing the green pennant, calling out, “Gaoyang wine!”

Drinking this awful unstrained wine, pure lees,

Is so much better than jade liquor or chalcedony nectar.

What is pleasing are two sleeves filled with wind and the curving moon,

One pot of Spring’s Color with its perfume seeping through the crock.

Drinking wine before the flowers,

Flipping my beard under the moon;

Tangled hair, smudged face,

I drum on my belly and croon a tune.

In the thatched hut beside the wine crock I sing, “Tra-la-la.”

Three cups in the belly

And it will carry on forever.

Speaks:—Well, here I am already. Innkeeper! Bring out two hundred coins’ worth of wine. Warm it up slowly and I’ll drink it.—INNKEEPER speaks:—Of course. I have wine, lots of it. Please, sir, sit down.—Acts out pouring wine and speaks:—Sir, here is two hundred coins’ worth of wine.—MALE LEAD speaks: Bring it over and I’ll drink a few cups and see who comes along.—OLD MAN enters with OLD WOMAN and PAINTED FEMALE and speaks:

When the heart is beset, the road here is long,

When affairs are urgent, go out of the home.

Daughter, I’ll ask if Zhao Yuan is drinking wine here in this shop. Let me take a look.—Acts out greeting.—OLD MAN speaks:—You’re something, Zhao Yuan! There’s not a single day you do anything productive. You love to drink and are always in your cups. You are worthless, and here you are again in a wineshop drinking.—PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—Zhao Yuan! Here you are, not doing what you should be doing. You drink every day, you don’t do what you should be doing, you just lust after wine, so greedy for the cup. When will this end? Boy, do you exasperate me!—MALE LEAD sings:

(You hulu)

You say I “lust after wine and am greedy for the cup” and cause you grief.

OLD MAN speaks:—You are a worthless good-for-nothing. I’ll smack this wino bastard!—MALE LEAD sings:

You really are a rustic boor.

OLD WOMAN speaks:—Old man! Smack this bastard!—OLD MAN speaks:—I know, Wife. What do I have to fear if I hit him?—MALE LEAD sings:

It’s really clear why your nickname is “a den of wolves.”

PAINTED FEMALE speaks: You hick bastard! You sleep drunk every day, you lie down drunk every day, and you freeze me out every day at home. What good comes of drinking? MALE LEAD sings:

Don’t you see: before the peach blossom rises to the cheeks,

You have already scattered their leaves with your “shouting before the cup.”⁶⁵

PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—Father! What’s there to say to a thing like this? What reason can we speak? Ivory won’t grow out of the mouth of a dog!⁶⁶ Go on up and hit this wine-loving son-of-a-bitch who won’t do anything to make a living!—OLD MAN speaks:—You’re right, Daughter! I’ll beat this bastard.—Acts out hitting him.—MALE LEAD sings:

Snicker-snack, they’ve grabbed me by the hair.

PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—Father, hit him with your fists, kick him with your feet! Turn him into a rotten sheep’s head.—OLD MAN speaks:—I’ll kick this worthless animal.—MALE LEAD sings:

He keeps on kicking me with his feet.

OLD MAN speaks:—I’ll box the ears of this son-of-a-bitch!—MALE LEAD sings:

He keeps boxing my ears.

PAINTED FEMALE speaks: Didn’t I make that “corpse skin” you’re wearing? I’ll rip yours to shreds.—MALE LEAD sings:

Fiercely and ferociously she rips my clothes to shreds.

OLD WOMAN speaks:—Every day, you do nothing about making a living. All you do is drink—when is it going to end?—MALE LEAD speaks:—What’s it to you if I drink?—PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—Oh, that’s good. You still want to argue! Every day, you get drunk, sober up, get drunk again, fall down and sleep in the alleyway. Well this time I’m going to make sure that you’re taken care of. Father, I can’t stand him!—MALE LEAD sings:

(Tianxia le)

You’ve abandoned it all now, and have made a real scene this time,

What kind of dirty tricks do you have now for beating and cursing your son?

I’ve never stirred up any trouble by loafing around and hanging out.

PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—You’re a stray arrow shot, an unexpected spear stabbed, a needle that pricks to destroy it all! You stir up trouble and I’ll report you to the officials who, I dare say, will strip off your skin, and break every bone in your feet. All you do is lust after wine and covet the cup—you don’t look after me enough to keep me alive. Hand over the writ of divorce!—MALE LEAD sings:

You keep after me for a handprint,⁶⁷

Try every means to get a writ of confession;⁶⁸

PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—You drunken short-lived fool, skipping all the way to your death. If you have any money, you drink. I can’t even squeeze any rouge or powder out of you when I want to put on makeup. You are a real man, but you don’t attempt to make a living, you just drink. What do I want you for? Why would I want to be with you?—MALE LEAD sings:

You bully this poor hungry and cold farm boy to death!

OLD MAN speaks:—Zhao Yuan, I told you not to drink. Why have you been drinking the last couple of days and staying away from home?—MALE LEAD speaks:—Well, I got a few “gifts”⁶⁹ the last couple of days, so I’ve been drinking. No problem.—PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—Liar! What gifts? A dog invited you to drink! Father, don’t listen to him.—MALE LEAD speaks:—Father! Listen to me explain.—Sings:

(Nezha ling)

Day before yesterday it was blind Wang the Third, raising the roof beam on his new house.

OLD MAN speaks: Where did you drink yesterday?—MALE LEAD sings:

Yesterday it was the rustic Li Hu sacrificing a goat.

OLD MAN speaks: You’re drunk again today. Where did this bout of drinking come from?—MALE LEAD sings:

Today it was the lush Liu Hong, celebrating his birthday.

PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—That whole group of friends of yours are a pack of good-for-nothing lazy dog slicks!⁷⁰—OLD MAN speaks:—You jerk! All you do every day is drink. You don’t pay attention to making a living at all—what’s to be done?—MALE LEAD sings:—

Well I didn’t want to go out—

It was they who visited me,

They fetched me and dragged me away.

PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—You reputation-ruining, family-destroying, hick son-of-a-bitch. All you do all day is covet the cup and lust after wine, let your wife freeze and your mother go hungry. Is there anything good about drinking?—MALE LEAD speaks:—Oh, wine has its good points.—PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—This rice-wine-soup-for-brains is defending himself? What good points? Tell me! Spit them out!—MALE LEAD sings:—

(Que ta zhi)

Only after you have wine can you gather together your relatives,

Only after you have wine can you meet friends wise and good.

PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—Pshaw! You have absolutely no shame. Every day you pal around with these fox buddies, this pack of dogs—are any of them any good? And how do they make drinking any better?—MALE LEAD sings:

Haven’t you heard the old saw and proverb:

“Wine can dispel all sorrows in the heart”?

OLD WOMAN speaks:—After you’re drunk, you’ll stir up trouble and end up dragging our whole family into it.—MALE LEAD sings:

After I have wine, my tolerance is as capacious as the seas,

But when I have none, my stomach burns and my guts writhe.

PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—You dreg-drunk donkey, dreg-drunk beast, dreg-drunk set of dog bones—after a while you’ll simply die dreg drunk. Other people drink, but at the right time. Anytime is good for you. Father! Don’t let him off! Make him stop the wine!—OLD MAN speaks:—You are right, child. Zhao Yuan, come here. You better stop drinking today for my sake. If you don’t give up the wine, I’ll beat you to death with a hundred yellow-mulberry clubs.—MALE LEAD speaks:—You want me to cut out wine? I’ll do any kind of occupation you want, but I just can’t give up this wine.—PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—Pshaw! So your addiction is this bad.—OLD MAN speaks:—How can you work if you aren’t willing to give up wine?—MALE LEAD speaks:—I’ll do any kind of work there is, but I cannot give up wine.—Sings:

(Jisheng cao)

I could be a clerk,

Become a peddler,

Use a buffalo to grow beans and furrow the fields,

Smear on lime, daub on clay, and learn to act and sing,

Or shave my head, cut my hair, and become a monk.

PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—I am not going to play the drunken liar with you. Give up the wine!—MALE LEAD sings:

But make me give up the fragrance from the vat that melts away sorrow and dispels depression—

PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—Give it up! Give up the wine!—MALE LEAD speaks:—I can’t! I can’t!—Sings:

I’d far rather stretch out my neck in the bustling marketplace, that execution ground.

PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—Give it up for one year for me!—MALE LEAD speaks:—I can’t give it up even for a year. There’s something good about drinking wine in every season of a year.—OLD MAN speaks:—Why can’t you give it up in these four seasons? Tell me.—MALE LEAD speaks:—I say I can’t give it up in any season.—OLD MAN speaks:—What about giving it up during the spring sights?—MALE LEAD speaks: To give it up in spring …

(Zui zhong tian)

In spring’s warmth, flowers’ fragrances are all set free.

OLD MAN speaks:—What about summer?—MALE LEAD speaks: To give it up in summer …

In summer’s heat, caltrop and lotus are redolent.

OLD MAN speaks:—Giving it up in autumn?—MALE LEAD speaks: To give it up in autumn …

At the golden well, the wutong tree drops leaves of yellow.

OLD MAN speaks:—Giving it up in winter?—MALE LEAD speaks: To give it up in winter …

How could we ward off those auspicious snows that flurry about our heads?

Speaks:—Heaven has unfathomable winds and rains⁷¹ and men have fortune or calamity at each of those times.—Sings:

Alive, dead—a man’s life lies in the single moment:

To make me give up the golden-rippled green brew—

Wouldn’t that mean passing uselessly from one season to another?

PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—So many flowery words and clever phrases. Looks to me like you just love wine. You really are a dreg-drunk bastard who’s not long for this world. Father, since he isn’t willing to give it up, don’t let him stay in the city. Tell him to go back to our place in the village to live. There’s surely no wine to drink there.—OLD MAN speaks:—You’re right, child. Zhao Yuan, sooner or later your drinking wine will implicate me somehow. Don’t stay in the city, but go with me today back to our place in the village to live. You’ll have to give up drinking.—PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—If you don’t give up wine, I won’t give you anything to eat. You’ll starve until you’re as flat as a pancake. Go back to the house!—MALE LEAD speaks:—You want to make me live in the village because there’s no wine there. That would make it even harder to give it up.—OLD MAN speaks:—Why can’t you give it up?—MALE LEAD sings:

(Jinzhan’er)

You want me to keep company with Esquire Sprout in a village

And nourish this skin sack in some hamlet quarter,

Where each day, blown by winds, scorched by the sun, I will furrow the fields,

And suffer wind and frost along with Sha the Third and Zhao the Fourth?

How could I spend the hundred years allotted to me besotted with wine,

Or enjoy those thirty-six thousand drunken days?

Speaks: Father! There are two things I can’t give up in wine.—OLD MAN speaks:—What two?—MALE LEAD sings:

The saying goes, “Wildflowers⁷² pop up out of the ground,”

And what I fear, “The perfume of village brew seeps through the crock.”

PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—Father. This short-lived, cup-coveting wine-loving, never-working beggar of a bastard—I can’t be his wife. But even so, he isn’t willing to divorce me. Let’s drag him off to see the prefect and let the officials put an end to it. I’ll give all my effort there to make my case, and then I can be married off to someone else.—OLD MAN speaks:—You’re right, child. I’ll go off to the yamen with you.

Act out dragging MALE LEAD and exit together.

COMIC costumed as PREFECT ZANG enters leading ZHANG QIAN and speaks:—

The magistrate is as clear as water,

The yamen clerks as white as flour;

Mix up a batch of flour and water

And all you get is one messy lump.

I am the prefect here, named Zang. Prefect Zang,⁷³ that’s me. There’s a woman here named Moon Fairy. I’ve wanted to take her as a wife, and she has a mind to marry me. But, alas, she has a husband. I’ll find some minor infraction sometime and do his life in, so I can take that woman to wife. Then all of my life’s desires will be fulfilled. I’ll ascend the bench today and see who brings along an indictment.

OLD MAN, OLD WOMAN, and PAINTED FEMALE enter leading MALE LEAD.—OLD MAN speaks:—Injustice! Injustice!—COMIC asks:—Who is yelling “Injustice” outside? Bring them in.—ZHANG QIAN speaks:—Understood.—Acts out summoning them in.—[ZHANG QIAN speaks:] Face the judge.—All act out kneeling.—COMIC speaks:—You, old fellow. How have you been wronged? Speak.—OLD MAN speaks:—Have pity, Great One. This live-in son-in-law of mine, Zhao Yuan, pays no attention to making a livelihood, freezes out his wife and starves her to death; all he does is drink all day. My daughter really requests a writ of divorce from him.—COMIC speaks:—Please rise, old man. I have figured it out today. The reason you want a writ of divorce is that she has to divorce to be given to someone else.⁷⁴—OLD MAN speaks:—Great One, please have pity and act as my advocate!—COMIC speaks:—Hey, wait a minute! It has to be this way. … Let’s make him go off to deliver some documents to the Western Capital, the prefecture of Henan.⁷⁵ Higher authorities have a clearly written rule: miss the deadline for being there by one day, and it’s forty strokes of the club; two days, eighty strokes; three days, beheading. This guy is a sot, if I send him he won’t come out alive. Once I get rid of this guy, wouldn’t it be great if I married her? Zhang Qian, ask all of the clerks in the Six Bureaus: who should carry the documents off to the Western Capital?—ZHANG QIAN speaks:—I’ve asked, sire, and it should be Zhao Yuan from here.—COMIC speaks:—Well, if it is like this … Zhao Yuan, come forward. I’m having trouble deciding about the divorce with your wife. Right now, you should deliver these documents to the Western Capital at Henan prefecture. Higher authorities have a clearly written rule: miss the deadline for being there by one day, and it’s forty strokes of the club; two days, eighty strokes; three days, beheading. You leave today.—MALE LEAD speaks:—Someone else should go, not me.—COMIC speaks:—No, it has to be you.—PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—Since you are going to deliver these documents, Zhao Yuan, you have to give me a writ of divorce! Whether you live or die on this trip is no concern to me, once you’re out of my eyesight, then it’s all over.—MALE LEAD while acting out kneeling—sings:

(You simen)

They want me to hand over this fine flower to some rich gent—

Husband and wife will be torn apart.

There is no turning back from the documents I have before me.

I see that I will perish,

And she will mate up with a simurgh or phoenix.

COMIC speaks:—Don’t miss the deadline. Get on with taking the documents. If you want to write out a writ of divorce, then give it to her now, don’t beg for another beating. MALE LEAD sings:

(Liuye’er)

I really have to take these to higher authorities.

And if I have to take this trip, snow will pile on top of frost.⁷⁶

It scares me so much that far off and floating, my sentient soul is swept away.

Where can I submit my own complaint?

If I write out [the divorce writ] I can avoid disaster and misfortune,

If I don’t write it out then what harm will come?

Speaks: Alright! Enough! I’ll write it out for you.—Sings:

(Shanghua shi)

All because of one extraordinary face, I am forced to leave my home—

That two-faced official knows how to work a plot.

All because those three are evil at heart.

For the four years or so we’ve been husband and wife,

They’ve sued in court five times ten.

PAINTED FEMALE speaks: Give me a writ of divorce. If you are run over by a cart, trampled by a horse, or opened up and skinned by some badman—it will have nothing to do with me. I’ll just be free of worry to marry another.—MALE LEAD sings:

(Reprise)

Inside the six dimensions,⁷⁷ I’ve suffered your rottenness,

Seven generations of my ancestors you have reviled at will,

And from all eight directions accused me wildly, discussed me at length,

We’ve been man and wife—consider it well, nine long times:

Don’t hope that I’ll die by the time you count ten.

(Coda)

A mind to keep lovers, ten times strong,

Fears no neighbor’s gossip after nine,⁷⁸

In all eight directions, you will walk the streets and cruise the alleys.

Don’t go overboard cursing seven generations of mothers,

Because your six relations are trembling with fright when you are in sight.

Think, with head propped on hands, in the fifth watch of the night,

How easily we woke our four neighbors, who called the local elder.

I want to lay out three cups by the side of the road—

In less than two weeks my life will be lost.

But my one spirit will never leave the brewery!

Exits.

COMIC speaks:—I’ve sent Zhao Yuan on his way, and I see him now as a dead man. Big Sister, let’s select an auspicious day and a good hour, and make the engagement visits. Don’t marry anyone else. Zhang Qian, bring my horse, I’m going back to my private residence for a while.

Exits.

OLD MAN speaks:—Child. You’ve gotten your writ of divorce from Zhao Yuan. And when he leaves this time, it sure looks like he’s a goner. You should marry that prefect. Child, do you have any money with you?—PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—Why do you want it?—OLD MAN speaks:—I’m going to buy two wicker baskets, and go off to the main gates and scoop up some horseshit with the baskets.⁷⁹

Exits with OLD WOMAN and PAINTED FEMALE.

ACT 2

WINE TENDER enters and speaks:—

At the head of the crooked staff hangs a grass bundle,

In the shade of the poplar a pipa is played;

Lords of the wine cup—don’t pass by for nothing—

This is no ordinary wine-seller’s place.

I am a wine seller and have opened up a wineshop here at Strawbridge inn outside of the Bian Capital walls. It’s dead winter and swirling and whirling a huge snowstorm falls. It’s so cold. I’m opening up the wineshop in the early morning. I have raised up the wine-flag pole, and heated up the wine warmer until it’s nice and hot. Let’s see who comes to have a drink.—EMPEROR leads on CHU ZHAOPU and SHI SHOUXIN, all dressed as young scholars, and speaks:

The founding enterprise rose with mighty swells, I came up with extraordinary plans,

With books on warfare and military strategies I brought an end to spear and lance;

In times of leisure if I had had no good officials to help,

How could I have so quickly added four hundred districts?

I am the August Thearch, Grand Progenitor of the Song. Since I have ascended the throne, the four seas have been peaceful and the eight directions have lain quiet. Today I have brought my private attendants Chu Zhaopu and Shi Shouxin with me—all dressed as students—to travel incognito out beyond the city walls. I dispatched Zhao Guangpu to be Defender of the Capital. In the dead winter falls a snowstorm, swirling and whirling. You two walk slowly along with me.—CHU speaks:—My Lord, the snow is getting worse, so for the moment let’s go into that wineshop. On one hand, we can temporarily escape this wind and snow, on the other, we can drink a few cups of this village brew. How about it?—EMPEROR speaks: Since it is getting worse, let’s go on in for a bit to escape this storm.—Act out going into the shop and sitting down.—CHU speaks:—Wine tender! Prepare two hundred coins’ worth of wine.—WINE TENDER speaks:—Understood. Please, scholars, sit down and I will prepare the wine.—Acts out preparing wine, presenting it, then speaks: Gentlemen, here is your two hundred coins’ worth of wine. Please enjoy it.—SHI speaks:—Bring the wine here. Student Zhao, please drink this cup to the full.—EMPEROR speaks:—Please, you two drink!—CHU speaks:—Student Zhao, please drink to the full.—EMPEROR acts out drinking and speaks:—Please, you two, sit down and drink.—SHI speaks:—The two of us will drink too.—EMPEROR speaks:—Let us three drink at leisure and see who comes along.—MALE LEAD enters leaning into the wind and speaks:—I am Zhao Yuan. Who could have ever expected the head of the local office, Prefect Zang, would steal away my wife for his own, and then make me deliver documents to the capital? Miss the deadline for being there by one day, and it’s forty strokes of the club; two days, eighty strokes; three days, beheading. Unawares, I have already gone half a month over the deadline on my journey—I’m as good as dead. It’s dead winter and swirling and whirling the “auspicious omens for the state”⁸⁰ are falling. What a storm!—Sings:

(NANLÜ MODE Yizhi hua)

Battling the wind, I face into the willow floss,

Braving the snow, I brush the pear blossoms away.

Snow mantles a thousand trees until they grow old with age,

Wind trims them until ten thousand branches wither.

Such a journey as this of wind and snow—

Snow veils the road to heaven’s edge.

The wind is strong,

The snow heavy—

Just like it was sprinkled by a spade or tossed by a winnowing basket,

Just like combed cotton or plucked floss.

(Liangzhou)

It’s just like Han Yu, who couldn’t get his steed to go forward through Indigo Pass,⁸¹

Or Meng Haoran, who refused to ride his donkey across the Baling Bridge.⁸²

I’m so frozen that I shiver and shake and can’t control hands or feet.

Even more, how can I bear that the heavens are cold, the days short,

The boundless fields are desolate and empty,

Passes and mountains, cold and lonely,

Wind and snow mix and mingle?

My whole body wrapped only in an unpadded gown

That flaps in the eastern wind, randomly flecked with true pearls.

I raise my head just like a poisonous snake coming out of its hole,

Hunch my shoulders just like an old rat soaked with water,

Crook my back just like a human shrimp or maggot.

When will I get to the imperial capital?

Scraping the sky, scraping the earth, a wild wind beats,

Who has suffered such misery as this?

I see three golden-saddled [horses] tied to an aged mulberry tree—

Must be some relatives of the emperor’s or scions of the state.

Speaks: I’ve come to a wineshop, and there are three horses at the door. Must be someone inside. I’ll go on in and get out of the storm for a spell. Acts out entering the wineshop.—EMPEROR speaks:—You two have another cup!—CHU speaks:—We will drink another.—MALE LEAD speaks:—Let me get closer to the stove and face the fire.—WINE TENDER speaks:—Sir traveler, do you want some wine?—MALE LEAD speaks:—Prepare two hundred coins’ worth.—WINE TENDER speaks:—Sir, here is your wine.—MALE LEAD speaks:—Ah, wine! I haven’t seen you for days on end. Who knew that we would meet here again? Oh, how wonderful!—Sings:

(Muyang guan)

After I see the wine, I hurry to bow in obeisance,

After I drink the wine, I pay my respects again,

Reunited today with my old buddy wine.

O, wine, I would have said we’d never meet again,

Never imagined we’d be together at one place and time.

Because of wine, I suffered with storm and snow,

Because of wine, I trod this long road.

But now this wine-soaked head meets you again—

Papa Wine, have you been well?

MALE LEAD acts out pouring wine and speaks:—Let me first sprinkle some wine here in sacrifice: My first wish is that Our August Highness enjoy ten thousand years! My second, that our ministers and high officials are safe and healthy! My third, that the winds are fair and the rains timely, so that all the black-haired people in the empire work happily at their jobs.—EMPEROR speaks:—Are there such worthy people out there? He looks rustic and unkempt, but his thoughts are broadly encompassing. This person has the way of the sages and worthies.—MALE LEAD acts out greeting the three:—Please receive this bow, honorable students. Let me offer a toast to you three.—MALE LEAD acts out making a toast:—EMPEROR speaks:—Oh, no we dare not. You, Brother, please drink first.—MALE LEAD speaks:—Please, honorable students, drink to the full!—MALE LEAD acts out drinking.—MALE LEAD speaks:—Please, you two students, please drink a cup.—CHU speaks:—Please, sir, you drink.—MALE LEAD speaks:—Please, drink your cups to the full, my two students.—THE TWO act out drinking.—EMPEROR speaks:—Brother, please drink a full cup. What virtue do we have to move you to treat us so well, Brother? Please drink this cup of wine.—MALE LEAD sings:

(Gewei)

I’m just a good-for-nothing who trails donkeys and leads horses,

You must be grandees who discuss the past and discourse on texts.

Man has never been in charge of heaven’s fate—

Even though I’m a stupid and vulgar lout

Who cannot hold forth on the rites of former kings,

EMPEROR speaks:—A gentleman like you should drink this cup!

I can chug it, gurgling and gulping, right down my throat.

EMPEROR speaks:—Brother! Enjoy your wine, we three have had enough and have to go back first.—They act out standing up.—WINE TENDER speaks:—You three students have no sense of how to act. You drank my wine but gave me no money! Where are you going?—EMPEROR speaks:—I don’t have any money with me right now. I’ll pay you back another day.—WINE TENDER speaks:—You haven’t paid after you drank. I’m not going to let you go. Beat these three imbeciles!—Act out beating them.—MALE LEAD acts out listening:—This is strange!—Sings:—

(Gan huang’en)

I was just about to drink my fragrant ale,

But who is this, shouting and yelling, quarreling and screaming?

EMPEROR speaks:—None of us brought any money. We’ll pay you some other day.—WINE TENDER acts out grabbing and stopping EMPEROR and speaks:—Give me my money! You think I’m going to let you off lightly?—MALE LEAD sings:

He keeps on shoving him, pushing him around,

Grabbing, dragging, seizing, shaking.

But you must know that once Li Taibo pledged his sword for a drink,

And pawned his zither to pay up his tab.⁸³

WINE TENDER acts out grabbing and stopping him again and speaks: What kind of act are you three putting on so you don’t have to pay me?—MALE LEAD sings:

(Caicha ge)

One pulls at his clothes,

The other is drunk as mud.

You can’t say here, “Flowers’ shadows cover the body, ask for help getting up”!⁸⁴

Have no fear, you three learned men—

I’ll put out my own coppers to pay for what you owe.

Speaks: Wine tender, why are you holding these three back?—WINE TENDER speaks:—They drank two hundred coins’ worth of wine, but they aren’t willing to pay.—MALE LEAD speaks:—Let the three of them go. They are the “white clothed” ministers of our state.⁸⁵ I’ll pay their wine tab to you. Will that be fine?—WINE TENDER speaks:—Since you are going to pay their tab … well, fine. I’ll let them go.—MALE LEAD acts out taking out money and paying, speaks:—Here’s two hundred cash.—WINE TENDER acts out taking it.—MALE LEAD speaks:—Students, let’s drink a cup together!—EMPEROR speaks:—May we ask your honorable name? And where you’re from? What important affair brought you here?—MALE LEAD acts out being sad and speaks:—I am named Zhao; Zhao Yuan.—Acts out crying.—EMPEROR speaks:—Why are you so sad right now? There has to be some hidden meaning to it. Spell it out slowly and I will listen.—MALE LEAD speaks:—You can’t possibly know. Listen to me slowly explain it. I am from the Eastern Capital, and I’m named Zhao Yuan, a live-in son-in-law to Squire Liu the Second there. I have a wife, Moon Fairy Liu, who is really attractive, but she’s completely unworthy. She has reviled and cursed me a thousand ways, and she despises me in ten thousand ways. And I have really evil and poisonous parents-in-law who are always beating and cursing me. One day the parents-in-law and my wife, Moon Fairy, dragged me to Prefect Zang’s yamen, where they pressured me for a writ of divorce. I never expected that that corrupt official wanted to marry my wife, and would intentionally play around with my life, deputing me to the Western Capital to deliver some documents. Miss the deadline for being there by one day, and it’s forty strokes of the club; two days, eighty strokes; three days, beheading. Unawares, I have already gone half a month over the deadline on my journey—I’m as good as dead. This is why I was crying. I never thought I’d meet up with the three of you in this wineshop.—EMPEROR speaks:—Too bad. I knew there was hidden meaning in all of this. Zhao Yuan—I am surnamed Zhao and you are surnamed Zhao. I want to become sworn brothers. What do you think?—MALE LEAD speaks:—I come somewhere between an ass and a horse, how dare I become a sworn brother of a student?—EMPEROR speaks:—How did your parents-in-law harm you? How did the prefect of the Eastern Capital take your wife? Explain it to me slowly.—MALE LEAD sings:

(Hong shaoyao)

My mother- and father-in-law have venomous hearts—

Bad enough—but the prefect in high place screwed up his duties.

EMPEROR speaks:—How is your wife so unworthy?

Indeed, this beauty dragged her husband in,

And he wanted to be like fish in water.

The finest put-on appearances

Hide evil schemes.

Blind to these facts,

They demanded a writ of divorce.

EMPEROR speaks:—How did that prefect of the Eastern Capital dare appropriate your wife? MALE LEAD sings:

He relied on the power of his office to break apart husband and wife.

Really they are horses and oxen in human dress!

EMPEROR speaks:—Wouldn’t it have been better to go to the great yamen and report him? What’s the use of weeping and crying behind their backs?—MALE LEAD sings:

(Pusa Liangzhou)

Who can I complain to

About these wrongs I harbor or this injustice I carry?

I am indeed all alone in the world—

EMPEROR speaks:—It’s no use crying like this!

And so rage fills my breast and tears rain down like pearls.

EMPEROR speaks:—Zhao Yuan, what do you think about my saving your life?—MALE LEAD speaks:—How are you going to do that, Brother?—EMPEROR speaks:—Relax. I’m something of a friend to Capital Minister Zhao Guangpu. I want to write a letter for you to take, but I don’t have any paper. Chu Zhaopu, pull out that frost-tipped brush from your sleeves, and bare Zhao Yuan’s shoulder. Shi Shouxin, you hold him still, and I’ll write two lines on the back of his shoulder and put a seal on it. When Minister Zhao sees this, you’ll definitely not die!—CHU and SHI act out supporting MALE LEAD.—MALE LEAD sings:

One raises the frost-tipped brush,

One bares my shoulder,

And one holds me up.

They say these two lines of writing are my passport to heaven.

CHU speaks:—If you show these two lines of writing to Minister Zhao when you get to the capital, you will surely not die.—MALE LEAD sings:

Well, if they are to see me safely back home,

This good deed must be done.

I never thought that two full strings of a hundred cash could buy a man’s life.

It’s far better than a paper document from heaven.

Speaks:—Now that I have your letter, Brother, if I see Zhao Guangpu when I go to the capital, then he’ll spare my life when he sees your seal. I had better get going.—EMPEROR speaks:—Be careful on the way. You most certainly will not die when he sees the seal on your shoulder.—MALE LEAD speaks:—Enough, enough!—Sings:

(Coda)

Who could expect that this body, destined to die a violent death, would receive such favor and concern?

Pointing afar out among the clouds: a goose delivering a letter.

My two feet

Will never stop.

This anxious sorrow,

This bitter fear,

This vexatious worry,

These constant thoughts—

How can I raise my voice?

I bear too much injustice!

Zhao Guangpu, you hold the axis of power right in the palm of your hand—

How can you know the undeserved misery of this army runner who endures wind and snow?

Exits.

EMPEROR speaks:—Zhao Yuan is gone. Who would have thought that such a worthy man as this was out there? When he gets to the Western Capital and sees Zhao Guangpu, after seeing Our seal of authority, Guangpu will certainly pardon this man and appoint him right away as the prefect of the Eastern Capital, a post to which he will speed by horse. If We should go the Western Capital⁸⁶ I will seize Zhao Yuan’s enemies to repay his injustice. There’s nothing to stop me. Let’s go on our way, incognito.

Inside this wineshop I inquired about what was wrong,

And in this chance meeting, he told me his life’s story.

Zhao Yuan has now gone to seek Guangpu

And soon will rise to prefect to sit in judgment in the Eastern Capital.

Exit together.

WINE TENDER speaks:—The customers are all gone, it’s getting dark, and I’m going to close up shop and go off to my own home.

Exits.

ACT 3

ZHAO GUANGPU leads ATTENDANT and enters, then speaks:

Two perfectly even flowers hold aloft the sun and moon,

One pair of robe’s sleeves arrange the cosmos.

Don’t say that the King governs all of the empire—

Half comes from the Son of Heaven, half from his officials.

I am Zhao Guangpu, known as Zeping. I aided our ruler and have been given the rank of prime minister and been enfeoffed as well as grand preceptor and duke of the princedom of Han. I am a meritorious official who helped with the founding of the state. The Sage Ruler once visited my residence at midnight and stood in the wind and snow. I was trembling in fear and went out to greet him, set up a thick comforter on the ground, lit some charcoal, and roasted some meat. My wife passed the wine around, and His Highness called her Sister, and then we set our plans for conquering the Jiangnan area.⁸⁷ Each time I decide on some important affair, I open up a piece of writing—the Analects. Now it is said of me that “I order the empire with half of the Analects.” Lei Dexiang once slandered me and His Highness replied, “Dings and dangs still have ears!⁸⁸ Haven’t you heard that Zhao Pu is my official of the state?” Now the ruler has gone off on a trip, incognito, with Chu Zhaopu and Shi Shouxin and has left me in charge of defending the capital. Now all of the officials in the Eastern Capital bring all of the documents for clearing here to the Superior Capital. Miss the deadline for being here by one day, and it’s forty strokes of the club; two days, eighty strokes; three days, beheading. Someone unknown to me has missed the deadline by half a month, and so should be beheaded. Attendant, keep watch at the gate and when someone comes, report to me.—ATTENDANT speaks:—Understood.—MALE LEAD enters and speaks:—I am Zhao Yuan. I’ve missed the deadline, so I’d better hustle along. What a snowstorm!—Sings:

(ZHONGLÜ MODE Fendie’er)

Six-pointed flowers fly,

At blue heaven’s rim, frozen clouds linger.

Hugging my shoulders, I tuck my head low.

My wine soul has disappeared,

I’ve just sobered up from the wine

And my limbs have no strength.

Soon my life will be buried in the mud of the Yellow Springs.

How can I avoid this particular disaster?

(Zui chunfeng)

They’ve done me in: Bamboo Leaf and Spring in the Vat,

This wife I loved: a heart like a flowery twig in the wind.

Because I loved the fragrant brew we are forever separated.

And now I am filled with regret, regret, regret.

It was also predestined fate from former lives,

Something we alone created, for which we alone suffer—

Blame heaven, blame earth!

Speaks:—Here I am at the minister’s gate. I have come to the formal gate.⁸⁹—Acts out seeing ATTENDANT and shaking.—MALE LEAD speaks:—Oh, it scares me to death.—Sings:

(Ying xianke)

His staff are all lined up, they are like wolves and tigers,

His clerks are all in ranks, like the pinions of geese.

So death comes in the dark, unbeknownst to man,

I know no tricks to suddenly disappear

And I can’t grow wings to fly away.

Unstoppable, my tears seem pushed out by a hoe,

This is a senseless punishment that I’ve brought on myself.⁹⁰

MALE LEAD speaks:—Brother attendant, please report that the documents sent from the Eastern Capital for review are here.—ATTENDANT speaks:—Well, you’re finally here; you must be looking to die! Wait here at the door, I’ll go and report.—Acts out reporting.—Sire, I am informing you that the documents sent for review from the Eastern Capital have arrived.—ZHAO PU speaks:—This guy has a lot of gall! Tell him to come in.—ATTENDANT speaks:—Understood. He’s called you in.—MALE LEAD acts out greeting.—GUANGPU speaks:—You! Where are you from, courier?—MALE LEAD speaks:—Sire. I was sent from the Eastern Capital.—GUANGPU speaks:—You bureau clerk, how far behind schedule is this guy? How shall he be punished?—BUREAU CLERK speaks:—Late by one day, and it’s forty strokes of the club; two days, eighty strokes; three days, beheading. This guy is half a month late.—GUANGPU speaks:—Well, in this case, gather up the documents. Attendants, take this guy out and behead him.—ATTENDANT speaks:—Understood!—Acts out grabbing MALE LEAD.—MALE LEAD speaks:—Father sire, I have a letter from your older brother. I’ve brought it with me.—GUANGPU speaks:—What have you brought? Servants, bring him back.—MALE LEAD speaks:—Listen to me explain.—Sings:

(Shang xiaolou)

I have a letter from your elder brother.

At the foot of these steps, allow this humble person to explain in detail—

Quickly, so quickly, speedily, so speedily,

Correct, so correct, exact, so exact,

I will enumerate all the true facts—

GUANGPU speaks:—Speak! I will listen. If you get it right, then everything is over and done; get it wrong, you’ll not be let off lightly.—MALE LEAD sings:

If I make even the slightest error in my explanation,

I’d be happy to let my life return to the world of the springs.

GUANGPU speaks:—Where did you see my brother? How many people were with him? Explain and I will listen.—MALE LEAD speaks:—I met them in a wineshop.—Sings:

(Reprise)

It was a party of three,

Who insisted on offering me a cup.

They came up short on their tab,

The owner shouted and screamed and got all worked up.

[GUANG]PU speaks:—And how did you solve this?—MALE LEAD sings:

Without a second thought, I paid two hundred coppers on their behalf.

For this reason he swore a brotherhood with me.

GUANGPU speaks:—Slowly explain everything from beginning to end.—MALE LEAD speaks:—I was on my way to deliver documents when I came to the inn at Strawbridge. There I saw three scholars drinking wine, and they had no money for the tab, and they were being berated by the innkeeper for his money, so I paid for them. Those three students asked my name. Now, I am surnamed Zhao and he said, “I am also surnamed Zhao,” and then he took me as his younger brother and I respected him as the elder. And because of this, he wrote this letter. He said that he was Your Excellency’s elder brother and said, “If he sees my letter, you will surely not die.”—GUANGPU speaks:—And where is the letter? Give it to me to read.—MALE LEAD acts out baring his shoulder and speaks:—Isn’t this it? Because he had no paper on his trip, he wrote it on my shoulder.—GUANGPU speaks:—Servants, raise him up for me.—ATTENDANT speaks:—Help him up.—GUANGPU looks at it and speaks:—Servants, go and fetch some court clothing.—ATTENDANT speaks:—Understood! Here they are.—GUANGPU speaks:—Help him up, have him put on these court robes, and have him sit on a chair. If I had known my royal younger brother was coming, I would have gone out to greet you at the proper distance. Please do not fault me for not receiving you properly!—MALE LEAD acts out being alarmed and speaks:—You’re scaring me to death!—Sings:

(Shi’er yue)

They’ve put me into this folding chair to sit,

Taking me by hand, foot, and body.

They spread an embroidered carpet on the ground,

While perfume wafts from the golden lion.

Call a doctor! What’s my pulse?

These stricken eyes will be hard to cure!

(Yaomin ge)

How many times have you seen the god of the poorhouse bow to Zhong Kui?⁹¹

Or a judge in hell’s court ask for help from a medical diviner?

It’s just as fast as divine needles or dharma moxa.

Like a Lan Caihe unable to dance, watching the flowers whirl.⁹²

I smirk ever so slightly over

Our emperor’s edict appointing me

To judge the affairs of Kaifeng prefecture.

[GUANG]PU speaks:—My royal younger brother, listen: the Sage’s command has accelerated you to be prefect of the Eastern Capital. You must now race to assume your position. I will prepare the documents—MALE LEAD speaks:—The prefect of the Eastern Capital? Is there wine there in the yamen?—GUANGPU speaks:—You just want to drink wine? Well you’d better start your long journey today.—MALE LEAD sings:

(Shua hai’er)

I can’t be an official, but there are plenty of precedents to use,

And the codes of the five punishments are all there in regular order.

But I never studied the laws and regulations of Xiao and Cao,⁹³

So whenever there’s a case, I’ll hand it over to the head clerk to solve.

Let none without wine enter the yamen,

I know nothing of the world but a good sleep.

There will be no worries—

Who cares about runners or clerks,

I’ll just drink, and then go back home to a feast.

GUANGPU speaks:—Take this document now but open it up inside of the yamen in the Eastern Capital.—MALE LEAD sings:

(Second from Coda)

I’ll drink wine just like Li Bo,⁹⁴

Be as muddleheaded as Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao.⁹⁵

Call me “the bottomless jug,” and all the world will know who it is.

“There is a path to the blue empyrean, and finally I’ve arrived.”

“If fine wine has no name, I swear I will not return.”⁹⁶

Every day I’ll be stewed with wine.

Who cares about the three deductions and six interrogations?

They are no match for a hundred cups and filling in at a feast.

GUANGPU speaks:—You should leave today to take up your appointment in the Eastern Capital.—MALE LEAD sings:

(Coda)

Who cares about Autumn Springs or Bamboo-Leaf Green,

Nine Times Brewed in its lotus-leaf cups?

It makes no difference if it’s your Canglang waters or mine,⁹⁷

It’s far better than enduring storm and snow, hunger and cold, halfway down the road.

Exits.

GUANGPU speaks:—This guy is gone. Who expected this fellow to meet a Prior Emperor in a wineshop who would write on his shoulder and put his seal to it? Or make him a sworn brother and accelerate him to be the prefect of the Eastern Capital, a position he should take up at all speed. When the Sage returns home there are sure to be more promotions to come. I have no more business today. Servants! Bring my horse. I’ll go back to my private residence for the time being.

The Sage encounters a friend right in the wineshop,

And accelerates his rank to the prefect of the Eastern Capital.

Exits.

ACT 4

EXTRA, costumed as OLD MAN, COMIC costumed as PREFECT, and PAINTED FEMALE enter.—OLD MAN speaks:

When the moon passes the fifteenth, its radiant light diminishes,

When people reach the last years of their life, all affairs cease.

I am Squire Liu the Second. After my daughter successfully got a writ of divorce from Zhao Yuan, she took up with Prefect Zang from here. He sent Zhao Yuan off to deliver some documents to the Superior Capital. Miss the deadline by one day, and it’s forty strokes of the club; two days, eighty strokes; three days, beheading. I never expected that when this guy got to the capital and saw the great man, that man would completely forgive him for being behind schedule. I have no idea what talents Zhao might possess, but he received the great man’s orders and was appointed as the prefect of the Eastern Capital, to take up his post immediately. Well, benevolence repays benevolence and enmity repays enmity. How shall we plan for this, children?—PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—Now that he’s an official, he’ll have some gifts for me!—OLD MAN speaks:—Prefect Zang, what do you think?—COMIC speaks:—Father, what’s there to say? I took his wife by force in the beginning and wanted to bring him harm. Now that he’s the prefect, I’d better request to disappear like the skin off a green pea. My wife I will now return to him, and I will be dead and gone.—PAINTED FEMALE speaks:—Now that he’s an official, I am a lady. There’s no one in the world as ardently chaste as me!—COMIC speaks:—True it is, “Can you find a worthy wife in any house?”—OLD MAN speaks:—Child, let’s wait until he comes, then let’s the three of us take along a goat and a carrying pole of wine to congratulate him, and then ’fess up to our wrongs. Let’s go back home for the time being.

Exit together.

EMPEROR, ZHAO GUANGPU, and SHI SHOUXIN enter.—EMPEROR speaks:—We⁹⁸ are Emperor Zhao. Before, We costumed as a student along with Chu Zhaofu and Shi Shouxin and went out for a secret excursion incognito. When we got to Strawbridge Inn, a heavy snow was falling, swirling and whirling, so we went into the inn to have some wine. Unexpectedly a man from the Eastern Capital named Zhao—that would be Zhao Yuan—also came in and had some wine. We had too much wine and We were about to leave with Our two friends when we were pulled back by the innkeeper. He asked Us for the money for the wine, but We had nothing to give to him. Zhao Yuan paid two hundred cash on Our behalf. We asked him why, and he explained that he had vile and evil parents-in-law and a perverse and stubborn wife who had a secret liaison with the prefect at their place. They demanded a writ of divorce, and then sent Zhao to deliver some documents to the Superior Capital. When We found out about these circumstances, We pulled out a frost-tipped brush with a mottled bamboo handle, wrote two lines of text on Zhao Yuan’s shoulder, and attached Our seal. When Zhao Pu saw it, he spared his life and then accelerated this person to the rank of prefect of the Eastern Capital, which he took up at once. We have returned to the capital now, and I have summoned this person so I may see him again. I already sent Chu Zhaofu to summon him, and I sent some other people to the Eastern Capital to take his parents-in-law and his wife and the prefect into custody. We will make our decision decisive and clear. They should be here soon.—MALE LEAD enters following CHU ZHAOFU.—CHU speaks:—Mister Zhao, today the ruler has summoned you, so you should move along. Servants! Open up the fore procession, and arrange them in order. Let’s go off and see the Sage.—MALE LEAD speaks:—You’ve gone to a lot of trouble!—Sings:

(SHUANGDIAO MODE Xinshui ling)

Who wants two rows of runners making a confusing noise?

Better to have ten poles of wine jugs carried before my horse.

This gauze cap of office and straight purple gown

Are no match for my old plain belt and threadbare shirt.

I can’t speak any rigmarole or double talk,

So don’t think I’ll be some corrupt official.

CHU speaks:—Mister Zhao, you are seeing the ruler today and he will reward you and give you higher rank, and you can go into the Eastern Capital and become prefect. Does that sound good to you, sire?—MALE LEAD speaks:—I can’t go, sir.—CHU speaks:—Why can’t you go?—MALE LEAD sings:

(Qiaopai’er)

These words have not been weighed with care,

You know that deep water has to be probed with a pole.

Don’t trap a simple man in front of our lord and master,

Zhao Yuan’s addiction to wine is a foul mess.

CHU speaks:—Sire, we are here already. I’ll go see the Sage first.—Acts out greeting.—EMPEROR speaks:—Chu Zhaofu, did Zhao Yuan come?—CHU speaks: Yes.—EMPEROR speaks:—Tell him to come in.—CHU speaks:—Understood. Sire, the ruler has expressed a command. Do him the proper honor.—MALE LEAD speaks:—Understood.—Acts out greeting.—MALE LEAD speaks:—Ten thousand years, Your Majesty, ten thousands of ten thousand years!—EMPEROR speaks:—Do you recognize Us, Zhao Yuan? We were honored by your wonderful intent at Strawbridge Inn, and We have summoned you here today to reward you and give you official rank. How does that sound to you?—MALE LEAD speaks:—Your Majesty, I am incapable of being an official.—EMPEROR speaks:—And why is that?—MALE LEAD sings:

(Tianshui ling)

With my whole heart I don’t covet high position

And I don’t scheme for wealth or high status.

Don’t try and deceive me—

How can I bear all this hassle?

EMPEROR speaks:—We will rebuild your house and construct a formal hall.—MALE LEAD sings:

I don’t want you to construct a formal hall,

Rebuild my house,

Decorate it, or build it higher and higher.

Better I live in a straw hut or a rush shed.

Speaks:—Your Majesty, I will not be an official.—EMPEROR speaks:—Why not?—MALE LEAD sings:

(Zhegui ling)

I’m afraid of the snarling commotion of the tiger’s lair and dragon’s abyss.

As you know, the dragon has its wind and clouds,

The tiger, its mountains and cliffs.

In jade halls and on golden stairways

When tigers fight and dragons war,

They stir up treacherous slander.

In court or out, who is the likes of me:

Beclouded, stupid, dim-witted, and dull?

First mumbling and grumbling, then silent and still?

Haven’t you heard that prime ministers and royal nobles

Have it worse than Li the Fourth and Zhang the Third?

EMPEROR speaks:—If We appoint you to a high office that you can keep until you’re old, what’s wrong with that?—MALE LEAD sings:

(Qi dixiong)

How would I—

Your insignificant minister—

Dare involve myself in a high official’s business?

I only know bitter, stringent, sour, full, and light.⁹⁹

Let everyone else blindly covet the clear, shiny, smooth, and piquant—

When the people below are so easy to savage, why add corruption?

EMPEROR speaks:—We really desire to enfeoff you with high office! Why do you refuse? There must be something you’re thinking of.—MALE LEAD sings:

(Meihua jiu)

Your insignificant minister is the greatest coward of them all,

All I want is to be stewed in sweet drunkenness day after day.

Please, my Sagely Ruler, consider it well!

And do not ask me time and time again.

I can be no pure and uncorrupt investigating official,

Nor viscount or earl, duke or baron.

I’m ashamed:

Were my office high, I’d be unhappy,

Were my salary large, I would grow too covetous.

EMPEROR speaks:—You won’t even be a pure and uncorrupt investigating official! In this case, what post do you want?—MALE LEAD sings:

(Shou Jiangnan)

In the city of Bianliang, I will be Director in Chief of the Bureau of Wine,

I’ll pour my own, dance alone, carry on pure conversations with myself.

Without worry, without vexation, I’ll just dither on.

You’ll find no me in places of right and wrong—

Those morsels from the Jade Hall are no match for the sweetness of the vat.

EMPEROR speaks:—Zhao Yuan, do you want to see your enemies?—MALE LEAD speaks:—Your Majesty, I certainly do.—EMPEROR speaks:—Personal attendants, bring in the prefect of the Eastern Capital along with Zhao Yuan’s in-laws and his wife, Moon Fairy Liu.—CHU speaks:—Understood! The whole group go in and face Him.—Acts out taking OLD MAN, OLD WOMAN, PAINTED FEMALE, and COMIC and they all kneel.—EMPEROR speaks:—You miscreants, do you know your offenses?—COMIC speaks:—I don’t, Your Majesty.—EMPEROR speaks:—Why did you forcibly take a commoner’s wife?—COMIC speaks:—I certainly wouldn’t dare do such a thing. She made me be a live-in son-in-law.—EMPEROR speaks:—This miscreant knows nothing about how to act.—MALE LEAD sings:

(Yan’er luo)

You, venerable elder Jiang, were daring in the wrong cause,¹⁰⁰

You, righteous woman of Lu, had thought it carefully through¹⁰¹—

By relying on the magistrate’s office to demand my fingerprint

Today you wind up in your own trap.

(Desheng ling)

It might have been “Hoist the carrying pole of breeze and moon.”¹⁰²

But wasn’t it like “a dragonfly trying to shake Mount Tai?”¹⁰³

In days past, you were stupid and corrupt,

But now you will lose your head under the knife.

I was unable to bear your clutching fists,

And you tricked me out into the wind and snow.

You’re so scared now your face is blue,

But you were mighty courageous when you demanded the writ of divorce.

EMPEROR speaks:—Stop! Stop! All of you, listen to My judgment:

It was all because

Squire Liu the Second did not recognize proper relations

And drove his live-in son-in-law out to live somewhere apart.

And his wife was even more vile and evil at heart—

Her poisonous heart could not distinguish the worthy from the stupid.

The wife Moon Fairy held evil intent in her heart

And boasted of her tricks to press for a writ of divorce.

Missing the deadline he bitterly encountered a decision of reprimand

And truly expected his own death.

And Zhao Yuan,

Suffering mightily, never quailed before wind and rain—

The road long and winding, he never shirked from its rise and fall.

Suddenly at Strawbridge Inn he encountered the Sagely Ruler

Who pardoned his offenses until not a speck remained.

Zhao Yuan—I make you prefect

And bestow on you colored silks and piles of real pearls.

Squire Liu the Second, husband and wife, conspired in crime but are spared punishment,

But they cannot live together with Zhao Yuan.

Moon Fairy shall be bastinadoed a hundred times

Because she stirred up trouble and destroyed good customs.

Prefect Zang destroyed the law because he lusted after sex,

And according to the legal code he is now sent away to penal exile.

Today we have settled accounts of gratitude and revenge,

And all together, loudly shout out, “Ten Thousand Years.”

Title:	Father-in-law and mother-in-law have venomous hearts,
	The official concerned abuses his power to get a rouged beauty.
Name:	In the snow a government runner takes great revenge,
	Tippler Zhao Yuan Encounters the Prior Emperor.

Copied and collated from a Yu Xiaogu edition, seventeenth day of the sixth month of the dingsi year [July 19, 1617]. The Daoist of Pure Constancy

    1.  Zhong 1982, 106.

    2.  The “halls of the Xie and lofts of Qin” usually refer to courtesan houses but here probably are also intended to include theaters.

    3.  Liu Shuahe 劉耍和 was a noted actor of the Jin-Yuan period and Group Leader of the Court Entertainment Bureau, about whom both Jin farces and Yuan comedies were written.

    4.  Zhong 1982, 157n191.

    5.  Either thirty-three or thirty-four plays are normally attributed to him. See Wang Xiaojia 2004, 87–88.

    6.  There are several plays about (or that include) Li Kui available in English: Kang Jinzhi’s 康進之 Li K’uei Carries Thorns (Liangshan bo Li Kui fujing 梁山泊李逵負荊) (Kang 1980), and two by Zhu Youdun, A Leopard Monk Returns to the Laity of His Own Accord (Baozi heshang zi huansu 豹子和尚自還俗) and Black Whirlwind Li Spurns Riches out of Righteousness (Heixuan feng zhangyi shucai 黑旋風仗義疏財). For these latter two plays, see West and Idema 2010b, 314–88.

    7.  See Wang Xiaojia 2004, 88.

    8.  Gao Wenxiu’s plays have recently been collected and annotated in Chen, Xu, and Zhang 2011, 1:119–220.

    9.  In this play, Li Kui tracks down and kills a philandering wife and her paramour, the local prefect, and brings their heads back to Liangshan. For a summary of the play, see Li, Li, and Hou 2003, 13.

  10.  A retelling of the story in the Records of the Historian of Xu Jia and Fan Sui, a tale of political jealousy and betrayal in the Warring States period. The drama is little changed from the biographies of Fan Sui and Cai Ze. See Li, Li, and Hou 2003, 14–15, and “Fan Sui and Ts’ai Tse, Memoir 19,” in Ssu-ma Ch’ien 2002, 233–46.

  11.  A story of Lin Xiangru’s 藺相如 skill as a civil minister for Zhao and of his conflict, eventually resolved, with Lian Po 廉頗, the great general of Zhao during the Warring States period. See Li, Li, and Hou 2003,15, and the original source, “Lian P’o and Lin Xiangru, Memoir 21,” in Ssu-ma Ch’ien 2002, 263–71.

  12.  This play, preserved in the Maiwang Studio collection, dramatizes Liu Bei’s first meeting with Liu Biao in Jingzhou, Liu Bei’s flight across Sandalwood Creek, and an account of the activities of Xu Shu, Liu Bei’s field marshal. For a translation of the complete play, see Idema and West 2012, 152–96.

  13.  Ibid., xxix.

  14.  See West 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006.

  15.  See Tao Zongyi 1959, 307.

  16.  See Ebrey and Bickford 2006, Anon. 1981, Hennessey 1984, and West 2006.

  17.  See Levine 2009.

  18.  See Idema and West 2013.

  19.  The term “prior emperor” (shanghuang 上皇) is bestowed on monarchs who abdicate their throne.

  20.  While making these changes, the anonymous editor also made changes to the geographical setting of the play. During the Song dynasty the capital, Kaifeng, was also known as the Eastern Capital, but the anonymous editor apparently understood the Eastern Capital and Kaifeng as referring to two different places. This means that Zhao Yuan now meets with the emperor in disguise after he has left his hometown and is on his way to the capital, whereas in the earlier version he meets with the emperor after leaving the capital.

  21.  Even the most up-to-date academic writing still argues that “prior emperor” refers to Song Taizu and feels the need to legitimize that choice by dredging through historical records to find the slimmest of evidence. This line continues because these scholars work solely from the later Ming manuscript edition, which, as we note in the introduction and elsewhere, is a product of severe court censorship. A simple look at the Yuan Edition of the play and its place in the entertainment literature of the Jin and early Yuan would put this argument to rest. See Yu Xuejian 2012.

  22.  Tan 2008. Other Yuan plays that kept an emperor in their cast in late Ming editions would appear to have come down to us from Li Kaixian’s Gaiding Yuanxian chuanqi, which would appear to have been edited on the basis of preserved Yuan editions.

  23.  For an interesting take on the relationship between this play and the cultural meaning of drinking, see Weng Minhua 2006.

  24.  Or perhaps “to my home where the wine flag hangs.”

  25.  Wine houses advertised their presence by a banner or bundle of straw hung from a high pole.

  26.  Since he cannot write his name.

  27.  That is, a writ of divorce, a “confession” that he is a bad husband.

  28.  Subjects and agents are omitted in the stage directions. There are two possibilities here for someone to urge Zhao Yuan to stop drinking: the old man and his wife. Of course, we may restore these agents from the Ming edition, but that would be to assume that the Ming edition is a true replication of the action of the Yuan play. We have therefore opted to leave the stage directions as unclear as they are in the original.

  29.  Other women.

  30.  The text uses three terms for this prefectural official: comic, extra, and official. It switches in midact. See Xu Qinjun 1980,127, 129.

  31.  That is, a bad situation will become worse.

  32.  North, east, south, and west, and up and down.

  33.  Here using the homophone “long time” (jiu 久), which would literally render “you fear no neighbor’s gossip will occur after a time.”

  34.  As a sacrifice to assure his safe completion of the task.

  35.  Willow floss and pear blossoms are conventional images for snowflakes.

  36.  See chap. 4, n. 106.

  37.  During a yearlong visit to the capital Chang’an (present-day Xi’an) in 728–729, the poet Meng Haoran 孟浩然 (689–740), in order to enjoy the first flowering of the plum, rode on his donkey to the suburbs on a day of heavy snowfall. The incident was adapted for the stage; it was also a popular subject in painting.

  38.  The poet Li Bai (701–762) established a great reputation as a drinker, not only by his actual behavior but also because of his poetry—in his many poems on the pleasures of wine, he repeatedly states that he will pawn his possessions such as his fine sword or his precious coat in order to buy the best wine. Later legend had it that he not only wrote his best work but also offended the highest powers in the land while drunk, and that he died by drowning when, in a drunken stupor, he tried to embrace the reflection of the moon in the water of a lake. These colorful adventures of Li Bai were of course adapted for the stage in Yuan times.

  39.  A line from “Matching a Poem by Ximei When Awaking from a Stupor on a Spring Night” (He Ximei chunxi jiu xing 和襲美春夕酒醒), written by Lu Guimeng 陸龜蒙 (d. 881?) in response to one sent him by Pi Rixiu 皮日休 (834?–881?). The line is the second of a couplet:

覺後不知明月上	After awaking, unaware that the bright moon has risen,
滿身花影倩人扶	Flowers’ shadows cover the body, I ask for help getting up.

  40.  “This good deed” refers to paying for the wine the (incognito) emperor is unable to pay.

  41.  Six-pointed flowers are snowflakes.

  42.  The world of the springs is the underworld, often called the Yellow Springs.

  43.  In order to make a formal bow.

  44.  “Dancing” here means “performing rituals.”

  45.  Every town and hamlet has its own god of the soil, who is part of an empirewide ghostly bureaucracy, headed by the Great Emperor of the Eastern Marchmount and King Yama and the other judges of hell. The gods of the soil all have their own (often very modest) temple or shrine. Zhong Kui was and is widely venerated as a demon queller and door god, but no temples are dedicated to him.

  46.  Lan Caihe is one of the Eight Immortals. Nowadays he is often depicted as a youth carrying a basket of flowers, but in Yuan times he was believed to have been an entertainer.

  47.  Southern Capital is an anachronistic designation of Bianliang (modern Kaifeng). Under the Northern Song dynasty, Kaifeng was called the Eastern Capital. Only during the Jin dynasty, which had its own capital at present-day Beijing, did Kaifeng come to be called the Southern Capital.

  48.  Xiao and Cao are Xiao He (d. 193 BC) and Cao Can 曹參 (d. 190 BC), ministers of Liu Bang’s, the founder of the Han dynasty (206 BC– AD 220). Xiao He was responsible for the draconian law code of the early Han dynasty, and he recommended Cao Can as his successor when he lay dying. Cao Can followed Xiao He’s laws to the letter.

  49.  That is, he’ll drink all day on the job and then go home to a banquet.

  50.  See n. 7.

  51.  Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao is Bao Zheng (999–1062), also known as Bao Longtu (Bao Dragon Design) or Judge Bao. Already during his lifetime, Bao Zheng had established a reputation as a stern and incorruptible official. By Yuan times, he had become proverbial as an incorruptible and perspicacious judge who judged the living in his yamen in daytime and judged the dead in the underworld at night. He is the main character in a great number of zaju. On numerous occasions he is described as “muddleheaded” by impatient plaintiffs and unjustly imprisoned victims; the term comes to mean something like a feigned obtuseness that conceals great wisdom. The reputation of Judge Bao would continue to grow well into this century. See, especially, acts 2 and 3 of Guan Hanqing’s Rescriptor-in-Waiting Bao Thrice Investigates the Butterfly Dream (Bao Daizhi sankan hudie meng 包待制三勘蝴蝶夢), translated in West and Idema 2010b, 37–76. See also Idema 2010a.

  52.  This line is usually spoken of examination candidates who get high positions on passing the examinations.

  53.  This, too, is an ironic turn on a favorite quote of students bound for the examinations, “If I have not made a name for myself, I’ll not return.”

  54.  That is, the waters in which one washes the cords of one’s official hat, pondering the value of the life of an official.

  55.  The emperor is a dragon, his generals are tigers.

  56.  According to the prosodic formula of this song, there is a line missing here.

  57.  Li the Fourth and Zhang the Third are proverbial representatives of the common people.

  58.  That is, flavors of wine.

  59.  During the Song dynasty, the production of wine was a government monopoly.

  60.  See chap. 2, n. 34.

  61.  The righteous woman of Lu is a proverbial term for a virtuous woman. According to the Lienü zhuan 列女傳 (Exemplary Women) by Liu Xiang 劉向, once, when the state of Qi had attacked the state of Lu, a woman from the state of Lu was fleeing with her son and a nephew. When she could no longer manage both children, she left her son behind rather than her nephew. This earned her the reputation of “the righteous woman of Lu.”

  62.  We take this to mean something like “get involved with silly business (here, an affair) and suffer the consequences.”

  63.  That is, “you didn’t calculate your own strength,” continuing the metaphor of the carrying pole: “You wanted to be together but didn’t know what it would cost you.”

  64.  Or perhaps “to my home where the wine flag hangs.”

  65.  Zunqian chang 尊前唱: the word chang can mean both “to perform at a banquet” and “to create a ruckus”; here he is making a sarcastic statement.

  66.  A comment on his sarcastic statement.

  67.  See n. 26.

  68.  See n. 27.

  69.  That is, bribes.

  70.  Literally, “dog-oil things,” an idiom for people who “can eat a lot but are lazy.”

  71.  Vicissitudes, unplanned disturbances.

  72.  See n. 25.

  73.  The surname Zang is a homophone for the term zang 臟 (dirty), here meaning “corrupt”; hence, “I am named Zang, the corrupt prefect—that’s me!” It is also a homophone for zang 贓 (booty, swag, stolen goods).

  74.  That is, someone besides Prefect Zang.

  75.  Modern Luoyang.

  76.  See n. 27.

  77.  See n. 32.

  78.  See n. 31.

  79.  For fuel, but used here as a comic reference.

  80.  Snowflakes signaling good harvests for the next year.

  81.  See n. 34.

  82.  See n. 35.

  83.  See n. 36.

  84.  See n. 37.

  85.  Students destined for greatness.

  86.  Clearly, the Eastern Capital is meant here.

  87.  This story is related at the beginning of Zhao Pu’s biography in The History of the Song (Songshi 宋史). They gathered with the Prince of Jin, later to become the second emperor of the Song, and discussed attacking and taking Taiyuan, the capital of the Northern Han regime in Shanxi. See Tuotuo et al. 1977, 25:8932. Zhao Pu suggested, however, first to conquer the southern part of the empire and wait with an attack on Taiyuan until it would be completely isolated.

  88.  A ding 鼎 is large tripod, a dang 鐺, a small cooking pot. The “ears” are their handles.

  89.  The second gate upon entering a large residence or a government compound.

  90.  That is, wutou zui 無頭罪, which is a punishment or sentence for a crime that stems from a wutou gong’an 無頭公安, a case with no leads to follow—hence, senseless, with no rationale, or arbitrary. It also has a second meaning, however, of “a sentence that will result in being without a head.”

  91.  See n. 45.

  92.  See n. 46.

  93.  See n. 48.

  94.  See n. 38.

  95.  See n. 51.

  96.  See n. 53.

  97.  See n. 53.

  98.  The emperor uses the eidetic pronoun guaren, “I this person who lacks virtue” (from guade zhi ren 寡德之人), which is roughly equivalent to the royal “we” in English.

  99.  That is, flavors of wine.

100.  See chap. 2, n. 37.

101.  See n. 55.

102.  See n. 62.

103.  See n. 63.