Inside her red silk curtain a beauty is startled by a strange dream;
In the Temple of the White-Robed, Guanyin issues a fortune slip.
Jia Ming and his brothers had been enjoying a banquet at Qiang Da’s house on Ninth Lane when they were disturbed by You Deshou and his followers. Before parting for the night, they had arranged to meet the following morning at the Futura teahouse on the Parade. Arriving at the teahouse one after the other, they ate their breakfast and then went to the Hill Garden bathhouse at the top of Ridge Street to take a bath and have their heads shaved. Then they went on to the Chaoyanglou restaurant for lunch, and afterward arranged to attend introductory tea parties at several first-class brothels, the Shuangshoutang on Ridge Street, the Tianqingtang at the Stone Arch, Xiong Baoyu’s at Hongshuiwang, and the Shuangqingtang in Shui’aoli. Their day was filled with music, song, and beautiful women.
In the afternoon, as they walked along Left Garrison Street,1 they saw a large plum-red printed notice on the doorway of the money shop owners’ guildhall. “Red Plum Hall,” the notice said in thick black ink. Beneath it was a small square sheet of plum-red paper bearing the words “Please Enter.” Lu Shu wondered what it meant and asked Jia Ming, “What is this place? And why did they stick that piece of paper up there?”
“Let me explain. This is the money shop owners’ guildhall. A few cultured fellows hold their meetings here in order to play riddles—to use the popular term.”
“Oh, we have the same sort of thing back home, and I know a bit about it, too. Why don’t we go in and pay our respects?”
“Since you’re so keen, let’s all go in,” said his companions. After first deferring to each other, they entered the gate. Once inside, they noticed that the eaves of the main hall and the posts of the walkways were strung with a hemp cord to which several hundred slips of Hanglian paper, an inch wide and a foot long, were attached with bamboo pegs. On each slip seven large characters were written, and below them there were some notes in a small hand as well as a red personal seal and a small red stamp with words such as “brush,” “ink,” “calligraphy,” “painting,” “letter paper,” “inkstone,” “tea,” and “incense.” A number of people were standing about looking at the slips. Some were nodding and hesitating, while others were whispering together in twos and threes. The newcomers walked up to the front of the main hall, where they received a welcome and bowed in response. Then they stood beside the middle steps and gazed upward.
Thirty-two slips were pegged to the hemp cord.2 For some time the newcomers stood gazing at the riddles. Lu Shu, who was racking his brains, noticed one that read, “Only gold can help in a crisis” and “New Book” in the annotation below it. “What sort of book is this ‘New Book’?” he whispered to Jia Ming.
“It’s an almanac.”
Lu Shu heard a visitor call out, “I have a suggestion,” so he did the same. When someone responded from the main hall, he asked in a loud voice, “Is ‘Only gold can help in a crisis’ ‘No sacrifices on yin days’?”3
“Correct,” said the president of the society. He removed the peg from the cord and handed the slip to Lu Shu, and since the red stamp said “writing brush,” he also gave him a writing brush. He then replaced the slip with a new one and attached it with the peg.
Lu Shu was looking at other slips when he heard Jia Ming call out: “Is ‘Don’t lust after women if you want to reduce bad karma’ ‘No planning, no achievement’?”4
“Yes,” said the president. He took down the slip and handed it together with a roll of letter paper to Jia Ming, then put up a new slip in its place.
Lu Shu continued to puzzle over the other riddles, but Wu Zhen, who thought the men from the night before might have returned and done further damage at Qiang Da’s, was more concerned about Cassia. He also didn’t understand the principle behind the riddles, so he pulled Jia Ming and Lu Shu away. “There’s no need to solve all these puzzles, brothers. Come on, let’s go.”
Jia Ming could hardly ignore him. He bowed to the president and thanked him. “Not at all,” replied the president.
They left the guildhall and chatted as they walked along. “The best of the Zhaoyang type is ‘Brokenhearted, I ask about my husband’s illness,’”5 said Jia Ming.
“In the New Composition type there’s none better than ‘A true heart is handed down to posterity,’”6 said Lu Shu.
“Of all the later ones in the Cao E type, none can equal ‘Yellow pongee, youthful wife, maternal grandson, ground in a mortar,’”7 said Jia Ming. “Nowadays few people use that type.”
“In the Su-Huang8 type, even the best ones can’t equal ‘A man of Qi had a wife and a concubine,’” said Lu Shu.
“In Yangzhou these days more people are doing riddles based on direct correspondence,” said Jia Ming. “The one you guessed just now was an example of that. But when all’s said and done, a riddle is just a riddle,9 a minor literary game rather than real scholarship.”
The sun was setting as they arrived at Qiang Da’s house, still deep in their discussion of riddles. Wu Zhen invited them upstairs, where Sanzi greeted them and invited them into Cassia’s room and the maid served tea and replenished the tobacco. Sanzi called all of the courtesans in, and when they had paid their respects, Cassia told a servant to light the opium lamp for Wu Zhen.
“I had four or five puffs after lunch today at the Tianqingtang, and that’s enough for me,” said Wu Zhen. The guests then asked what had happened the previous night.
“Don’t ask!” said Cassia. “Shortly after you left, several dozen men arrived with lots of torches and forced their way in, then smashed up much of the latticework and furniture. We upstairs people took refuge in the cellar, but Miss Lucky, Master Wei’s favorite, didn’t manage to get away in time. They seized her and grabbed all her hairpins, earrings, and bracelets as well as a silver dollar and a note that she had in her purse. Fortunately there was a man here called Bai who was having an introductory tea, and he got down on his knees in front of You Deshou and his men and persuaded them to let her go. Master Yu has been to the Parade today to make it up to them by inviting them to a dinner, and the boss has had to pay seven or eight strings of cash to settle the matter. Sister Lucky has been crying continuously since last night. It’s a good thing Master Wei is here. Master Wei, do try to calm her nerves by spending a few taels on a little jewelry for her.”
Wei Bi glanced at Lucky’s disheveled hair, which she had still not combed. “‘The wind blows eggshells away / Our money’s gone but we are gay.’ Tomorrow I’ll see that all that jewelry you lost is replaced. What style would you prefer?”
“Oh, whatever appeals to you. I’m not set on any particular style, just so long as I can wear it. I’m not in the least fussy about things like that.”
As they were talking, Jia Ming winked at Phoenix and walked out of the room. She caught his meaning and followed him. “Do you have anyone in your room?” he asked.
“No,” she said, as she invited him in. Maid Gao offered tea and tobacco. Jia Ming waited until the maid had left before taking six silver dollars from the purse at his waist and handing them to Phoenix. “I hope you won’t mind,” he said, “but I suspect that those earrings you’re wearing are brass and the pendants are imitation jade. Take this money and get someone from the house to buy you a pair of silver earrings and have them gilded, and also a pair of flattened-circle jade pendants. But first he should order you a pair of silver bracelets. With what little is left buy a couple of packets of opium to roast, then try to carry on as best you can. So long as I’m able to afford it, I’ll make a practice of helping you out.”
“Master Jia,” said Phoenix, as she accepted the money, “we’ve been thrown together purely by chance, you and I, and this generous gift of yours comes just when I need it the most. If I manage to do a little better, I’ll certainly remember this.”
“Such a little thing, really, it’s hardly worth mentioning. There’s no need to talk about it in front of other people.”
“Oh, I would never be so foolish! Would you like to smoke, Master Jia? I’ll call someone in to light the lamp.”
“There’s no need. I won’t smoke.”
After some casual conversation, they returned to Cassia’s room.
At this point Sanzi came in and announced: “Gentlemen! Your host is inviting you to have dinner here this evening.”
“Yesterday we were disturbed by those hooligans and scoundrels and weren’t able to enjoy ourselves to the full,” explained Jia Ming. “Tonight I’ll play the host.” He turned to Sanzi: “Please order exactly the same dishes as yesterday, and also invite Miss Fragrance over as soon as possible.” Sanzi went off to fetch her, while the guests and courtesans bantered and cracked jokes with one another. After some time Fragrance arrived, greeted everybody, and took her seat. Candles were lit and the table set. Each courtesan had her patron, and they sat in the same places as the night before. Then they played guess-fingers, drank wine, sang songs, and enjoyed a boisterous celebration—far more exhilarating than the previous night. By the time they broke up they had thoroughly enjoyed themselves and were pleasantly inebriated.
Lu Shu paid Fragrance for both assignments and also tipped the staff on her behalf. She said her good-byes and insisted that he escort her back. Although he expressed reluctance, in reality he was eager to do so. “Brother Lu,” said Jia Ming, “since Miss Fragrance wants you to escort her, why don’t you go? We’ll meet again tomorrow at the Futura, with those who arrive first waiting for the others.”
Lu Shu took his leave and, with Felix in attendance, waited for Fragrance to enter the sedan chair, then followed her to the Jinyulou.
At Qiang Da’s house Wu Zhen lay down to smoke on Cassia’s bed, and she persuaded him to stay the night. Yuan You, who was rather drunk, declared that he was not going home that night. Wei Bi was invited by Lucky to stay over, and though at first he was reluctant, he later accepted. “We three will all be staying,” said Wu Zhen. “I expect Brother Jia will stay, too. Miss Phoenix, why don’t you have a word with him?”
“I’m like the fish that was only too willing to be caught on Jiang Taigong’s10 hook,” she said. “If Master Jia cares for me, he’ll stay even if I don’t invite him. But if he doesn’t care for me, he won’t stay no matter how often I ask him.”
“Since my three brothers are staying over, I really should keep them company,” said Jia Ming. “But there’s something important I need to tell my family, and I simply must go back. There’s no need to make a fuss about this, Brother Wu; my friendship with Miss Phoenix is based on a tacit understanding we have, not on whether I stay the night.”
“Quite right, Master Jia,” said Phoenix. “We understand, we understand, the time is not at hand. There’s plenty of time! Since Master Jia has serious business to attend to, I wouldn’t dream of trying to get him to stay.”
“Very touching indeed,” commented Jia Ming, proceeding to say his good-byes.
Since he had not brought a page with him, Wu Zhen gave instructions to his own page, Fazi: “Light a torch and escort Master Jia back to his house, then go on home and see that they take care with the fires and candles.” Fazi picked up a torch and accompanied Jia Ming. Yuan You and Wei Bi also sent their pages home. Wu Zhen lay down on the bed and satisfied his habit, Paria invited Yuan You into her room, and Lucky invited Wei Bi into hers.
Wei Bi noticed that Lucky’s room was furnished in exquisite taste. Six paintings of beauties hung on the walls, as well as a pair of scrolls on applegreen wax paper.
A silken palindrome there was, woven with great skill;
I had a dream of Mount Wu, but no cloud did I see there.
The first line of the attribution said, “Composed by Miss Lucky,” while the second line read, “Written by the Layman Who Dreams of Flowers.” Lucky asked Wei Bi to take a seat and sent someone off to buy four plates of pastries. She also lit the opium lamp on the bed and invited him to smoke. He took one draw, reluctantly, and then said, “I really don’t want to smoke any more.” After satisfying her own habit, Lucky washed herself and removed her hairpins and earrings, powdered her face and rubbed some rouge on her lips, and made ready for bed. And there I shall leave her.
Let me turn to Yuan You, who, on entering Paria’s room, noticed several pictures of beautiful women on the walls and nothing else. “Why don’t you have any scrolls?” he asked.
“Oh, I’m an uncultured sort of person. No one ever gives me any.”
“There’s no call for such modesty. I’ll get you some tomorrow.” Since Yuan was rather drunk, he had two cups of hot tea, but his face still felt blazing hot, as if he were about to vomit. He lay down on Paria’s bed and told her how dreadful he felt. She sent the maid off to heat up a bowl of vinegar broth, which she handed to him. She herself did not smoke, but since Yuan You had had too much to drink, she lit the lamp, prepared a pellet, and urged him to do so. But the opium only made him more dizzy than ever. “I really can’t anymore,” he said. “I feel as if I wanted to vomit. You’d better make up the bed and let me lie down.”
Paria at once called in the maid, removed the opium lamp, and helped him to his feet. The maid brushed off the bed and covered it with a thin silk bedspread. Yuan You staggered outside to relieve himself, then undressed and lay down. No sooner had his head hit the pillow than he fell into a deep sleep and began a thunderous snoring. Paria took her time washing herself, removing her jewelry, powdering her face, and rubbing a little rouge on her lips. Then she shut her door and got into bed.
Yuan You’s first sleep lasted until well after the second watch, at which time he awoke with his hangover gone. I need not recount in detail what then took place under the bedclothes.
Paria got up and washed herself, then went back to bed and drifted into a sound sleep. She felt that she was holding hands with Yuan You as they strolled about enjoying the scenery. Coming to a garden that was perfectly serene, they noticed an ornamental rock jutting from the ground. It was covered with ancient trees that towered into the sky. Beside it was a tall building, and they climbed up it, still holding hands. At the top they found a tablet with the words “Hall of Romance” inscribed on it in large characters. On each side of the couplet were the lines:
Clouds and rain—how absurd that men never tire of courtesan love!
Gold and silver—what a shame romantic debts are so hard to repay!
As Paria and Yuan You leaned over the rail enjoying the view, they saw below them a large pond. Red and white lotus flowers covered its greenish waters, as did the blue lotus with its green leaves, among which were many double flowers that were both fragrant and vivid in color. A clear scent wafted up from them. A pair of mandarin ducks were sleeping together on the pond, their heads nestled one against the other. As the two observers took in the scene, the sound of a crossbow rang out from behind the rock, and a single pellet hit the ducks and killed them both.
Startled awake by the sound, Paria found herself bathed in sweat. She heard the watchman’s gong down on the street—it was midnight. Yuan was sleeping soundly, and she didn’t like to disturb him. As she reviewed the scene from her dream, she feared it did not bode well. A multitude of thoughts assailed her, and suddenly she recalled something. The nun Nirvana from the Temple of the White-Robed outside North Gate had come by the previous day asking for alms. She claimed that the predictions given by the bodhisattva Guanyin in her temple were wonderfully accurate. I don’t know what this dream means, thought Paria, or whether it points to a good or a bad future for me. I’ll call a sedan chair tomorrow and go over to the temple, where I’ll get myself a fortune slip and ask the bodhisattva how my life is going to turn out. She tossed and turned and never did get back to sleep, and when daybreak came, she quickly got up.
By that time Yuan, too, was awake. When he had dressed and washed himself, Paria brought him some of the lotus seeds simmering in the pot and also filled a beaker with tea. Because Yuan had drunk too heavily the day before, he had not had anything for supper, so now he felt quite hungry and really needed his breakfast. As he ate, Wei Bi came in with Lucky, and Wu Zhen with Cassia. They exchanged congratulations, and much joking and laughter ensued. Wei Bi and Wu Zhen urged Yuan You to finish dressing and accompany them to the teahouse on the Parade. Cassia and Lucky returned to their own rooms to wash and do their hair.
After Paria had combed her hair and washed herself, she changed into new clothes. She explained to Qiang Da that she wanted to go to a temple to burn incense and asked Sanzi to call her a sedan chair. Then she set out with Maid Wang for the Temple of the White-Robed outside North Gate. Maid Wang rapped on the main gate of the temple, and as Paria stepped out of the sedan chair, two elderly women servants opened the gate and welcomed her in. At the Great Hall, the abbess, whose name in religion was Nirvana, came forward and greeted Paria in Buddhist style. She returned the greeting and asked for some candles and incense, which she lit and burned before the image of the bodhisattva. Kneeling on the prayer mat, she kowtowed several times, then asked the abbess for the fortune container. Holding it up in both hands, she offered this earnest, silent prayer: “Thy disciple was born into a distinguished family, and she deplores the sad fate that has brought her to prostitution. She is seventeen years old, is drifting aimlessly through life, and is unmarried. She wonders how the rest of her life will turn out. Last night she received a strange portent and does not know whether it bodes well or ill. She has come here today to kneel devoutly before thee and seek thy guidance. If she can escape the sea of woe,11 issue a ‘best of the best’ fortune to her. If she is destined for a lifetime in the brothel, give her a ‘worst of the worst.’ In the latter case she is determined to cut off her hair and become a nun. She will definitely not remain very long in the world of romance.”
After finishing her prayer, she shook the container until a slip fell onto the ground. She picked it up, kowtowed a few more times, then stood up and handed both container and slip to the abbess, who glanced at it, found the matching fortune in the fortune box, and handed it to Paria. “Congratulations, miss!” said the abbess. “It’s the best of the best.”
Paria read it:
Prediction no. 81. Best of the best.
If not a marriage bond, it’s still a bond;
On heaven depends all your karmic fate.
Seek office or profit, and you’ll succeed;
A son you’ll bear, and illness will abate.
After she had read the fortune, she put it quickly away. Nirvana invited her to the reception room, where a woman servant poured her a cup of tea and set out a covered tray. After exchanging a few pleasantries with the abbess, Paria took out the incense money and handed it to her. She also gave the servant an envelope containing a hundred cash.
“You rarely come to our little temple, miss,” said the abbess. “Today you’ve favored us with a visit, so we’ve prepared some coarse plain noodles for you. We hope you’ll honor us with your company.”
“Thank you ever so much, Your Reverence. I’ll come back and impose on you some other time.” She stood up and said good-bye. Nirvana saw her to the main gate and waited while she got into her sedan chair, then shut the gate behind her.
Paria returned with Maid Wang to Qiang Da’s house, where she paid for the sedan chair and changed back into everyday clothes. Seated in her own room, she took out the fortune and pondered its meaning. My purpose in seeking a fortune, she thought, was to learn about my future, and the first line of this one speaks of the marriage bond.12 By an extraordinary coincidence the man I slept with last night is surnamed Yuan, and it was right after sleeping with him that I had that strange dream. Perhaps the words “it’s still a bond” mean that the rest of my life should be spent with him? But mandarin ducks symbolize a married couple. If I share a marriage bond with this man Yuan, why were those mandarin ducks killed by a single pellet? Back and forth she went in her mind before she recalled something: husband and wife should be born together and die together. If I have a husband to depend on for the rest of my life, I’d be willing to die at the same time he does, just like those mandarin ducks. It would be better by far than living in this sea of woe! When can I get away from it? But I don’t even know if this fellow Yuan is married or not. Or whether he is well enough off. This is the great decision of my life, and I cannot treat it lightly. I’ll take my time and sound him out before deciding what to do.
So much for Paria’s thoughts. If you are wondering what motive Fragrance might have had for insisting that Lu Shu see her home, you must turn to the next chapter.
