A vendor seeks a reward for a floral basket,
And a madam receives her share of a thanksgiving service.
When Lu Shu reached the Futura teahouse, he found the brothers already there. He greeted them and joined them at their table, then poured himself a cup of tea. “Brothers,” he said, as he sipped his tea, “you’ve got to help me avenge myself. Last night someone insulted me.” When the others asked what had happened, he told them how Mo Ai, who had wanted to spend the night with Fragrance at the Jinyulou, had cursed him before Drummer Hua had eventually persuaded the man to leave. “I’ve been seething over it all night. I’m not familiar with your city, and I’d like to call on you for help.”
Three of the brothers, Jia Ming, Wu Zhen, and Wei Bi responded. “How terrible! Brother Lu has been insulted in our city, and that’s something we cannot allow. He shouldn’t have to take the responsibility himself. We’ll get a few fellows together and find this man Mo and give him a good hiding as we drag him off to the yamen. At the risk of losing a few taels, we simply have to teach this man a lesson. Once he finds out what’s good for him, he won’t dare offend anyone again.”
Before they had finished speaking, Yuan You got up, walked over to face Lu Shu, and bowed deeply. Lu Shu sprang to his feet. “What was that for?”
“Brother, there’s something I have to tell you. Mo Ai is a cousin of mine. He doesn’t know you and bears no grudge against you. I don’t believe it was a deliberate offense on his part, more likely just a drunken rant. Now, don’t be angry. Please excuse him, as a favor to me. I’m going to find the little swine and bring him to the Jinyulou to make a proper apology.”
“Do sit down, Brother,” said Lu Shu hastily. “Since he’s a relative of yours, there’s nothing more to be said.”
“Even though he’s Brother Yuan’s relative,” put in the other three, “it was still wrong of him to insult Brother Lu. The rules of behavior have to be followed. Otherwise, we can’t accept the arrangement.”
“When we’ve had our tea, you go on to the Jinyulou,” said Yuan You. “I’m going to find him and see that he follows the rules.” With Lu Shu trying to forestall an apology and the other three insisting on one, Yuan You set off.
After some casual conversation, the others left the Futura with Lu Shu and went up to Fragrance’s room in the Jinyulou. They found her lying fully clothed on her bed, her illness still not completely better. When she saw them come in, she rose to her feet, greeted them, and invited them to sit down. “Has the doctor been?” Lu Shu asked her.
“He was here just now, checking my pulse. He told me to take a little clear soup followed by a dose or two of medicine and I’d be fine.” Lu Shu asked for the prescription and studied it, then called for a servant to make up the medicine. He also told the maid to light the opium lamp for Wu Zhen.
Shortly before noon Yuan You came in with Mo Ai. As soon as they entered Fragrance’s room, Yuan You explained to Lu Shu: “Last night, Cousin Mo had been drinking, and he didn’t realize who you were and said some very offensive things. He’s come here specially to apologize.”
Lu Shu and the others sprang to their feet and greeted them. When he saw Mo Ai bowing to him, Lu Shu hastily bowed in return. “You’re cousins, after all,” he said. “It was quite unnecessary of Brother Yuan to do this. I’m very sorry. Do sit down.” Cloud and Lute greeted Mo Ai, who bowed to the others present and than joined them. They introduced themselves and exchanged pleasantries.
Mo Ai called the steward and ordered wine for everyone, but Lu Shu objected. “I can’t let you play the host in my favorite’s room. Let me do the honors today. I’ll impose on you some other time.” They sparred politely with each other, before Lu Shu emerged as the host. After drinks and lunch, Mo Ai thanked Lu Shu and took his leave. Wu Zhen satisfied his opium habit before going off with Jia Ming, Yuan You, and Wei Bi. Lu Shu continued to attend on Fragrance in her illness and did not return to his uncle’s house.
The next morning, when Lu Shu arose, he found that Fragrance had made a complete recovery. The maid came in and did her hair while he stood beside the dressing table filling her pipe with tobacco. As they bantered with each other, Tiger Cub Wang, who peddled his gambling basket along the Parade, arrived at the Jinyulou with a large floral basket woven of jasmine flowers surrounded by numbers of artificial butterflies. He had heard of Lu Shu’s liaison with Fragrance and was hoping for a reward. As he presented the basket in Fragrance’s room, he said, “So this is where you are, Master Lu! I’ve specially brought this along so that you and Miss Fragrance can enjoy the scent.” Fragrance picked up the basket, which was exquisitely made, employing almost two thousand jasmine flowers, and told the maid to hang it inside her bed curtain.
Lu Shu took two silver dollars from the white suit he was wearing and gave them to Wang. “Thank you for all the trouble you’ve taken. Here, buy yourself a couple of drinks.”
“Thank you very much, sir,” said Wang as he went off with the money.
Now that Fragrance was cured of her illness, Lu Shu tried to build up her strength with all kinds of choice food and drink.
One day he invited the sworn brothers to join him for lunch in Fragrance’s room. Afterward the opium smokers were smoking and the others idly chatting, when Mother Xiao came upstairs, greeted them all, and took a seat. “Gentlemen, there’s something I need to bring to your attention. It’s a tradition in this house to hold a thanksgiving celebration for someone who has recovered from an illness. The other day, when Miss Fragrance was poorly, I kowtowed I don’t know how many times before the kitchen god, praying for her recovery and promising to hold a thanks-giving immediately afterward. Don’t anyone tell me that the gods don’t exist, because they do. The bodhisattva showed her powers, and the very next day Miss Fragrance was cured of her illness. I’ve already fixed on a date for the thanksgiving. On the eleventh of the sixth month the altar will be set up, and on the twelfth we’ll hold a day-and-night celebration. Both will demonstrate our gratitude to the bodhisattva. Since it’s a house affair, I can hardly ask Master Lu to fund it on his own. Master Lu, if you would be so generous as to pay my share for me, I will undertake to provide the animal sacrifices, the incense and candles, the whole lavish outlay. On the twelfth, I would like to invite all of you to attend with your favorites, to see it and also to enjoy yourselves. I wonder if you would do me the favor?”
At the mention of a thanksgiving celebration for Fragrance, Lu Shu, who did not realize that such an affair in Yangzhou was quite inexpensive, said, “I’ll leave it to you. Let me contribute ten taels.”
“In that case, you will outdo us all, sir.”
The four brothers said, “We will certainly come and offer our congratulations. The courtesans from Qiang Da’s will come, too. There’s no need to send anyone to invite them; we’ll give them the message.”
“The rules of etiquette still apply, even when you know the person well,” said Mother Xiao. “Of course we’ll send someone to invite them.” After repeating her requests, she went back downstairs.
The brothers wanted to invite Lu Shu to Qiang Da’s for drinks and dinner, but Fragrance would not let him go. After having some fun at the couple’s expense, the brothers said good-bye and left.
Time slipped by, and soon it was the eleventh of the sixth month. In the early afternoon, four or five exorcists (in Yangzhou they are commonly known as incense men) arrived at the Jinyulou with a load of essential items as well as spirit tablets and portraits. In the middle room downstairs they hung up portraits of the Original Saintly Emperor of the Eastern Sacred Mountain, Equal to Heaven; the Great Emperor Who Forestalls Calamities and Brings Blessings, Prince of Heaven; and the Empress of Mount Tai, as well as the portraits and tablets of the various spirits. They also hung up proclamations on long banners. They asked Mother Xiao for a quantity of rice as well as paper money to tie to their queues with red string, as well as a small set of scales and a mirror. They erected a little table, placed a censer and incense and candleholders on it, arranged the area around the altar, and began beating their drums and gongs and sprinkling water there to summon the spirits. Then, having set up the altar, they ate some supper and went off. At dawn the next morning eight or nine of them came back; beating their drums and gongs, they began the ceremony and summoned the spirits. They also took a long pole bound with bamboo branches and erected a large paper banner. Having chanted for some time, they breakfasted on pastries and noodles.
At the sound of the gongs and drums, Lu Shu and Fragrance rose early. She at once called someone to do her hair and help her dress. Then, shortly before noon, the brothers arrived together, each contributing a silver dollar as his share. Mother Xiao accepted the money and thanked them, then invited them up to Fragrance’s room. Lu Shu and Fragrance greeted them and asked them to sit down, and they smoked and chatted together. There were also other visitors to the house, each of whom had contributed his share; they were shown into Cloud’s or Lute’s rooms. During the morning Phoenix, Paria, Cassia, and Lucky sent presents; Mother Xiao dispatched someone to invite them, and they arrived at noon in their chairs. Cloud and Lute welcomed them and asked them in, noting that they were gorgeously dressed in silks and brocades. After they had offered their congratulations, they were invited upstairs to join the brothers. Pastries were set out, and then everyone was invited downstairs to watch the celebration.
The exorcists wore priests’ robes, and their heads were bound with black silk to which paper hats had been fastened. They chanted something incomprehensible that they said was an invocation to a higher power. One of them attached red woolen yarn with several bronze coins to his queue. His arms were bare, and he had on a blue cloth skirt. He brandished a kitchen knife and declared that he was opening the Gate of Prosperity. With a knife he drew some blood from his arms, caught it in a teacup, and spilled it over the doorframes as he capered wildly through the rooms. He also placed a red bamboo chopstick on each doorsill, then cut it in two with the knife. The courtesans were frightened by the sight of such violence and clung to their patrons, trying to hide. When the exorcist had finished his dance, he let off some fireworks.
Fragrance invited everyone upstairs for lunch. Afterward the exorcists moved a square table into the middle of the courtyard. They placed an altar on the table with a plate of pig’s intestines on top of that. Then, beating their bronze drums, they began to circle the table, humming and chanting as they went, a ritual known as Circling the Flower Disk.
Another exorcist, striking a large gong, sat in front of the god’s image and sang a tale called “Zhang Xiang Bought a Bride’s Trousseau but Was Murdered by Widow Bai.”1 The courtesans thought it was a true happening and exclaimed in sympathy. When this exorcist had finished, another one put on a blue cotton robe and a goddess’s hood and talked a lot of gibberish as he performed the Goddess Dance,2 reducing the courtesans to helpless laughter.
In the evening a banquet was set out, to which Cloud invited everyone, and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves. When the party broke up, the four brothers tipped the exorcists and also the staff on behalf of their favorite courtesans. Cloud, Lute, and Fragrance tried to persuade the brothers and their favorites to stay for the night performance, but they declined and took their leave. The clients in the other rooms ate their supper and also left after tipping the exorcists. Lu Shu, in Fragrance’s room, was the only one who stayed.
In the evening the exorcists danced a “Fifty-three Visits.”3 They dressed up as spirits or ghosts and turned somersaults, performed Boiling the Candleholder,4 did magic tricks, and played all kinds of games. They also dressed up as Buddhist priests roasting meat, made fun of everybody, and asked for money. Lu Shu and Fragrance gave them two more notes, and Cloud and Lute gave them cash. The Ninety-nine Bamboo Branch Songs of the Yangzhou Pleasure Quarter has a song that runs as follows:
With countless tricks they cozen people’s money;
To thank the gods—that’s the reason they tender.
They Open the Gate and dance the Goddess Dance—
It lets them gaze upon the female gender.
All night long the music continued, and it was dawn before the service concluded. Once more Lu Shu paid on behalf of Fragrance, and the exorcists went off, their carrying poles slung over their shoulders. Lu Shu continued to be enthralled by sex and beauty and carried on his revels morning, noon, and night, completely forgetting his purpose in coming to Yangzhou. Nor did he try to calculate how much of the money that he brought with him had already been spent.
When Fragrance went to see the dragon boats, she had heard the other guests saying what an exciting scene the lake was on the eighteenth of the sixth month, and she broached the matter with Lu Shu. “When I was ill the other day I took a vow to worship at Guanyin’s temple. These last two nights I’d no sooner gone to sleep than I saw the bodhisattva standing in front of me in my dream. The nineteenth is her birthday. I’d like to talk to you about hiring a boat on the eighteenth so that I can go there with you and fulfill my vow.”
“I’ve heard that on the eighteenth the lake is really exciting, but if just the two of us go, it won’t be much fun. Why don’t I hire a big boat and invite my brothers and their favorites to join us? You’ll be able to fulfill your vow, and we’ll all have an exciting time and also see something of Yangzhou scenery.”
“Why, that would be wonderful!” she exclaimed. Lu Shu at once sent Felix off to invite the brothers to come and advise him on hiring a boat.
If you are wondering what happened, please turn to the next chapter.
