A priest seeks donations in the Hundred Sons Room,
And mapi compete in magic in the Great Hall.
Because of Fragrance’s desire to visit Mount Guanyin and fulfill her vow, Lu Shu sent Felix to ask the brothers to come and advise him on hiring a boat. “Brother Lu,” said Wu Zhen, “since you’re looking for excitement, you’ll need to hire a big boat for us and our ladies, and also a lantern boat, for which you should engage half of a ten-piece band to play and sing for us. Yes, indeed, the lake will be jammed with boats on the eighteenth, and we’ll need to do something special if we’re to have any fun.”
Lu Shu was delighted with the idea. “That really appeals to me. Let me ask you to make the arrangements.”
“It would be best if we went together to book the boat,” Wu Zhen said to Yuan You. They went to the Tianning Gate dock and reserved a boat, then returned to Fragrance’s room and reported to Lu Shu, who paid them the deposit. He ordered wine and asked all four brothers to stay for lunch.
As they were about to leave, Wu Zhen said to Lu Shu, “Brother Yuan and I have ordered the boy band. We’ll see you on the morning of the eighteenth.” Lu Shu again urged them to invite their favorites on the excursion, and they promised to do so.
On the seventeenth Lu Shu completed the rest of the arrangements, sending someone off to buy candles and tall joss sticks, preparing donation packets, and ordering the cook to provide a meal on the boat the following day. On the eighteenth they rose early, and when Fragrance had finished her toilette, she put on a new pale blue Hangzhou silk gown, a white jacket, and crimson silk trousers. As she was eating breakfast with Lu Shu, the other brothers came in together. Lu Shu and Fragrance greeted them and invited them to sit down and have breakfast, but they said they had already eaten.
“Will the ladies be here soon?” Lu Shu asked Jia Ming.
“You know, your enthusiasm for this trip has given us a lot of grief!”
“How so?”
“He’s only joking,” said Wu Zhen. “It’s just that because they’re going out on the lake, they’ve been putting in requests for new clothes. At this very moment they’re busy having their hair done. I expect they’ll be along soon.”
“It might be better if we waited for them on the boat,” suggested Lu Shu.
“Oh, there’s nothing more boring than sitting on a boat waiting for someone,” said Jia Ming. “Why don’t we send our pages down? Then, when the women arrive, the pages can come back and report to us. Wouldn’t that be better?”
“Perfect,” said Lu Shu. “You go ahead,” he told Felix. “As soon as the courtesans arrive in their sedan chairs, come back and tell us.” Felix went off with the other pages.
Lu Shu told a servant to light the opium lamp. From spending his time with Phoenix, Jia Ming had also acquired an opium habit, and he and Wu Zhen lay down opposite each other and smoked.
After a while, Felix came dashing upstairs and stood in the doorway of Fragrance’s room. “Sir, all four ladies have arrived at the dock,” he reported to Lu Shu. “I asked them to go on board and find seats for themselves. The boys of the band have also arrived.” Lu Shu nodded. Wu Zhen and the others gathered up the smoking paraphernalia, packed it into a bag, and told Felix to take it to the boat.
Lu Shu asked them all to go downstairs, and Fragrance invited Cloud and Lute to accompany them. At the dock they were descending the stone ramp when Phoenix, Cassia, Paria, and Lucky saw them from the boat and came out to welcome them. The new arrivals boarded the boat, and the five boys of the band came forward to pay their respects.
Lu Shu noticed a rowboat moored alongside the big boat. The covering had been taken off and a bamboo frame, painted red, had been attached in its place. On top of the frame was a green silk awning from which hung numerous baskets of glass flowers as well as all kinds of small lanterns—glass lotus flowers, fruit, insects, birds…. Even the railing was decked with multicolored glass lanterns. There were over a hundred of them in all.
The boatman came aboard and asked if all the guests had arrived. “They’re all here,” said Lu Shu. “You can start.” The band climbed into the rowboat, then both boats cast off and either rowed or poled their way along. With the rowboat in front, its band playing and singing, and the big boat close behind, they made their way past Lower Commerce Street. People sipping their tea in the teahouses heard the music and turned their gaze toward the river. A few of the older, more experienced ones said, “From the way those wastrels are throwing their money about, this jaunt must be costing them dozens of taels.” But some of the more irresponsible younger ones disagreed. “In this day and age, that’s what you have to do if you want to be in fashion.” If only they could have done the same thing, they’d have been thrilled; unfortunately they lacked the means. On the other hand, they couldn’t bear to miss out on the day’s excitement, so they hurriedly gathered a dozen or so friends from the various teahouses and hired a small fishing smack with a covering and a pair of oars. They crammed into its cabin, packed as tightly together as the passengers on the little ferryboats that ply between the city and Guazhou and Shaobo. They bought fresh lotus flower lanterns, strung a long cord through them, and tied it to the boat’s rail, and, by skimping on food and other supplies, managed to enjoy themselves all day and half the night. When the cost was reckoned up the next day, each was asked to contribute a few hundred cash. Some of them couldn’t come up with their share of the money, and numerous quarrels broke out, until eventually, under pressure from the boatman, they pawned a few small items, and the problem was solved. There is no need to go into any further detail about them.
Meanwhile both boats had emerged from Rainbow Bridge. It was still early, and not many pleasure boats were out on the water. Lu Shu told the boatman to take them first to the Mount Guanyin dock. When he had tied up and lowered the gangway, the passengers went ashore. With Fragrance’s servant carrying candles, paper ingots, and joss sticks, they took her first to the Earth Spirit Shrine to offer incense and give presents to the priests and then to the Grove of Merit and Virtue. On the left wall of the entrance hung a wooden board with a notice attached to it. They stopped to look at it:
——, by imperial appointment magistrate of Ganquan county in Yangzhou prefecture of the province of Jiangsu, recipient of ten additional grades and ten honorable mentions, in the course of respectfully fulfilling his official duties, has conducted an investigation and now issues the following strict prohibitions:
The Grove of Merit and Virtue, a place visited by the emperor,1 is one of the most renowned temples of the Huainan region. Every year on the nineteenth of the sixth month, the birthday of the Mahāsattva of the Ship of Mercy,2 men and women from near and far flock there in great numbers to burn incense and pray for good fortune. Among them are lawless hooligans who push and shove and create an uproar, looking for a pretext to cause a disturbance. There are also pickpockets and cutpurses who seize any chance to steal money and other items. In addition, there are small groups of supernumerary personnel from the various departments of the yamen who snatch items that are for sale and, if the toys on the stalls are not entirely to their satisfaction, resort to wanton violence. There are also beggars who make aggressive demands. These types of offenders are to be vigorously arrested and prosecuted, and the order is on record. Now, as we approach that date once more, I genuinely fear that the same people will resort to their old tricks. In addition to directing constables to investigate and arrest offenders, I am placing this prohibition on record. I am issuing it to inform the abbots of the temples, the wardens and constables, and the leaders of Daoist monasteries, and so on. If there are any of the aforementioned lawless hooligans who revert to their old ways and deliberately flout the law, I expect them to be arrested and delivered to the yamen so that, after due investigation, they may be placed on public display in a cangue. If wardens and others try to cover up these acts, they will be severely dealt with alongside the offenders. This prohibition is effective immediately; there will be no period of grace. Everyone must respect and comply with the law. By Order—
At the bottom there was a seal and the date in vermilion ink. On the wall to the right of the entrance were notices posted by the deputy commander of the Yangzhou garrison, the head of the southwest militia, and the Ganquan police chief.
But the visitors were in no mood to read the notices, and they entered the temple. On the embankments on each side of the entrance they saw numbers of beggars, male and female, leading or carrying children, as well as the dumb, the blind, the scrofulous, the paralytic, people with running sores on their heads, people with smashed noses…the old and the feeble, the crippled and the lame, all of them clamoring for money. A number of other people held brightly shining lanterns as they visited the temple to offer incense. They led male and female worshippers, whose queues were tied with crimson cord and who wore blue nankeen trousers. They carried small red stools and knelt down to pray after every few steps.3 The crowd was densely packed as they arrived at the Great Hall, which was brilliantly lit up, with incense lingering on the air. Men and women were worshipping in great numbers, and the bells tolled incessantly. An acolyte had already received the candles and joss sticks that they had brought, and he inserted the sticks and lit the candles. Phoenix, Cassia, Paria, Lucky, Cloud, and Lute bought candles from a priest, while on each side of them bells and drums sounded. Fragrance and the other courtesans worshipped before the image of Guanyin, Mahāsattva of the Ship of Mercy. The boys of the band requested candles and themselves kowtowed.
The priest invited them into the Hundred Sons Room4 in the Rear Hall to burn incense and worship. In the shrine of Guanyin, Giver of Children, they found numerous plaster images of children, some with red or yellow cloth hats, others bareheaded. Some were on horseback, or carrying umbrellas, or playing with dragon lanterns, while others were on swings, or turning somersaults, or striking bells or drums. In all there were over a hundred of them. Jia Ming turned to the courtesans: “If any of you want to have a son, you just need to steal one of those hats and you’re bound to conceive.” Phoenix, Cassia, Paria, Lucky, Cloud, and Lute giggled at this advice but each of them went up to the shrine and snatched a hat. Only Fragrance stood where she was, without any sign of emotion.
“Isn’t Sister Fragrance going to steal a hat?” asked Cassia. “Oh, I see. When is our brother-in-law going to serve us a dish of eggs?”5 Lu Shu and Fragrance laughed but said nothing. As they bantered with the others, a number of women came up to burn incense before the image of Guanyin, Giver of Children. Among them was a young woman of less than twenty, sporting a new coiffure and brand-new clothes, who, after kowtowing to the image of Guanyin, remained in front of the shrine, hoping to sneak off with one of the hats but seemingly afraid that she might be seen. She did steal one, in great trepidation, and then went off with the other women, tittering among themselves, to burn incense in another hall.
“Look at that woman with the new coiffure,” said Jia Ming. “No doubt she’s a bride, not long married. I was amused to see how nervous she was when she stole that hat, and I’ve made up a poem about her.”
“Do tell us,” they chorused.
He chanted this four-line poem:
A newlywed, nervous and shy—
To pray at Guanyin’s shrine she came.
She put out her hand, snatched a hat,
But kept looking back, cheeks aflame.
“Marvelous!” they cried.
The priest invited the party into the reception room, where they sat down and an acolyte served them tea. There were hampers of food on the two tables, and the priest offered his guests refreshments, at the same time winking at the acolyte, who promptly brought out an album. The priest then formally greeted everyone, saying, “The rear building of this temple has been rebuilt thanks to the donations of various ladies and gentlemen, but it still needs painting and refinishing and the statues need gilding. I sincerely hope that you gentlemen and young ladies will each make a donation, and that you will be blessed with innumerable descendants and live long and happy lives.” He then laid the album on one of the tables, while the acolyte brought along brush and ink. The sworn brothers saw that the album had a nanmu cover with a white slip of paper pasted on it, bearing the words “Great Blessings, High Office, Worthy Deeds, Good Fortune” in cherry red letters. On opening the album, they found that it was merely a routine appeal for contributions, with numerous attachments in red pasted in at the back, saying that Master This or Mistress That was happy to contribute such-and-such an amount. There were also many red attachments with no writing at all. “We don’t need to write anything, either,” said Jia Ming. “We should just offer cash.”
Lu Shu took from his purse a three-thousand cash note and a packet of incense money that he had prepared for the occasion and handed them to the priest. “Let this note be a contribution from the whole party,” he said. “Please accept it and use it to help complete the work.”
The priest took the note and checked both the amount and the money shop it was drawn on. “I would also like to see each of the young ladies gain some blessings from good deeds,” he said.
Lu Shu handed him another note for two thousand. The priest took it and said, “Please inscribe your names in the album. When all the work is done, we’ll pray for each of you.”
“It’s a mere trifle, not worth recording,” said Lu Shu. “In the words of the popular saying, ‘The money goes into the temple, while the merit reverts to the donor.’” The priest called the acolyte to set out plates and prepare vegetarian noodles, but Lu Shu said, “We have lunch waiting for us on the boat. We’ll come back and impose on you some other time.” He stood up, and the party left the reception hall with him. The priest saw them as far as the Great Hall, which they found more crowded than ever. Two Guanyin processions had arrived from somewhere, each bearing a festooned sedan that now rested in the hall. There were two men there who were stripped to the waist and had nothing on their feet. They wore blue nankeen trousers tied with a pink nankeen sash and had two-foot-long iron spikes stuck in their arms. With an iron flail in their hands, they were skipping wildly about beside a heap of burning-hot incense in the courtyard of the hall. One of them laid his jointed iron flail in the heap of burning incense until it was red-hot, then with his right hand took a sheet of paper money and wiped the red-hot flail with it from one end to the other. All that remained of the paper money was a wisp of blue smoke, but the skin of the man’s hand had suffered no injury whatsoever. The other man leapt barefoot into the heap of burning incense and then out again, with no harm to his feet. Some kind of black magic was evidently involved.
When they saw the two men whooping and yelling as they leapt about, the courtesans began to tremble with fright. “Why are those two skipping around like that?” Paria asked Yuan You.
“They’re known as mapi,6 but they call themselves masters. It’s universally forbidden to stick those spikes into the body that your parents gave you. Those people justify themselves by claiming it’s because their parents are ill, or they themselves are ill, and they’ve taken a vow to do it, but they’re totally ignorant of the Sage’s words: ‘We receive our bodies, our hair, our skin, from our parents, and we dare not do them any harm.’7 People like that are the least filial creatures in the whole world.”
“Do they hurt, those spikes that they stick in their bodies?” asked Paria.
“People say that they use a magic charm and the spikes don’t hurt, but I’ve never had any experience myself. As to whether it hurts or not, you should know the answer to that.”
Paria was about to pinch his mouth, but she felt too embarrassed with all the people present. “You can joke as much as you like,” she said, “but I’ll have something to say to you when we get back.” Just then the two performers came skipping up in front of the sedans in the Great Hall. They waited until the people in the processions had kowtowed before leading the way into the courtyard, skipping as they went. The other people picked up the two sedans and followed the men out of the temple.
The sworn brothers protected the courtesans, some going ahead of them and others behind, as they left the temple and went out of the inner gate. Both sides of the roadway were lined with stalls selling all kinds of playthings. The seven women and five men in the party differed over the merits of the toys, some claiming this one was the most fun, others maintaining that that was the best. If only they could have bought them all! The vendors, seeing how interested their customers were, purposely raised their prices. The members of the party chose different toys, each taking a large number, the total cost of which came to seven and a half silver dollars. Lu Shu paid it and received several hundred cash in change. Then, with everyone clutching his or her toys, they arrived again at the embankments.
The beggars, female as well as male, noticed them returning from worship and called out, “Sir!” “Ma’am!” “Master!” “Miss!” and asked for cash. Lu Shu told Felix to distribute the change among them, but charity proved hard to practice. Felix had no sooner taken out the cash than the beggars swarmed around him. Those who got some money wanted more, creating such an uproar that he couldn’t complete his task. Sweating profusely, he became so unnerved that he tried to break out of the beggars’ circle and in doing so pushed someone over. Despite that, there were still many men, women, and children who trailed him all the way to the dock. He leapt on board the boat, but the beggars tugged at its prow and would not allow it to cast off until they had received a great deal more. The boat then passed under Lotus Flower Bridge and tied up just opposite Cloudy Mountain Pavilion, where they found numbers of men playing Ten Pots.8
The passengers had lunch on the boat, and some of them smoked opium. When the courtesans had washed their hands and faces, everyone went ashore and wandered about enjoying the scenery. As they admired the view from the pavilion, they heard the sound of gongs in the distance; a Guanyin procession was making its way to Lotus Flower Bridge. The mapi ahead of the sedan were burning magic charms and plunging spikes into themselves. This time the courtesans were able to observe the scene from above, and they were not only unafraid, they also enjoyed a better view. They watched as the mapi, with numerous spikes in their flesh, came skipping over the bridge, closely followed by several processions. They heard people saying that they came from Pottery Post, Pond Street, Muddy Ditch, Huang Family Village, One Mile Bridge, and Three Reed Cottage.
After watching the processions, they had the musical instruments brought out—three-string, flute, panpipe, drum, clappers, lute, fiddle—and placed on the table in the pavilion. The band performed two sequences from opera. Phoenix felt inspired and asked them to accompany her while she sang the sequence “At first, under the imperial Tang.”9 Her voice was forceful and resonant, much like a man’s. When she had finished, Fragrance sang the sequence “Just for you, my flowerlike fair.”10 Her voice was soft and gentle, exquisitely beguiling, and it brought the sightseers together to gaze wistfully at her. A Ten Pots player picked up a two of bamboos, and when it didn’t match anything in his hand, discarded the one of characters and the nine of circles and called for a showing, completely misplaying his cards.
After Phoenix and Fragrance had sung their songs, everyone applauded, and then Cassia, Paria, Lucky, Cloud, and Lute each sang a popular song. The boatman brought along plates of refreshments. Wei Bi and Lu Shu gambled and won many sprigs of jasmine flowers and tuberoses, as well as Water Mice, which they sent ahead to the boat.
By now it was afternoon, and the pleasure boats, large and small, were out in swarms. There were many lantern boats, but also some rowboats with their covers removed that sped back and forth propelled by three oars. From the boats came opera as well as popular song; it was truly a case of “music and song filling the ear, gorgeous women in droves.” The small fishing smack with the fresh lotus flower lanterns rowed behind them with its two oars. In the cabin the passengers, who were so tightly jammed together that their bodies ran with sweat, gave an out-of-tune rendering of Xipi and Erhuang songs. A contemporary poet wrote a seven-word regulated poem entitled “A Night Outing on the Lake at Yangzhou on the Eighteenth of the Sixth”:
Male and female they mingle together—
It’s partly for worship, partly delight.
With clouds up above, the hills vivid green,
The moon on the water, ripples of light.
Lanterns shining skyward, the beat of oars;
There’s wine and song in the taverns all night.
They gather on purpose to honor Guanyin;
This Yangzhou is truly a festive sight!
The brothers paid for the tea and tobacco in the pavilion, and everyone boarded the boat again. By the time they had returned to Little Gold Hill and Peach Blossom Temple and enjoyed the sights there, the sun had set and all the pleasure boats had lit up. The lake was filled with lamplight, which reflected on the water like a thousand strips of flaming silk or a myriad sunset rays. Mooring the boat at a lively spot, they set the table for dinner and played guess-fingers. The boys of the band had their supper in the lantern boat and played and sang in the cabin, then circled their boat and hailed the other boats, which also began playing music and competing with them in song. When the lantern boat had hailed a dozen or more boats, it pulled alongside their boat, and the boys who played the male and female leads in the opera came aboard and toasted the passengers, played guess-fingers with them, and also sang two popular songs. Lu Shu rewarded them with four silver dollars, and they withdrew to the lantern boat, which their boatman continued to row back and forth. It was the fourth watch before the pleasure boats began to go back under Rainbow Bridge.
By this time the sworn brothers were worn out with partying, and they told the boatman to head slowly back to the Tianning Gate dock. When they arrived, the chairs of the Qiang Da courtesans were already there waiting for them. The courtesans clung to their lovers and asked to be taken home. The lovers nodded, and everyone collected his or her belongings and handed the toys, jasmine, and tuberoses to a servant to carry. Then they took leave of Lu Shu and Fragrance and got into their chairs and went as far as the Tianning Gate. Outside the guardhouse they saw two foreign-style lanterns belonging to the northern headquarters of the Yangzhou garrison. An officer and a few soldiers from the garrison were there to keep order. On this day the gate was open, and they went through it to Qiang Da’s.
Lu Shu and Fragrance collected their belongings and went ashore with Cloud and Lute. An endless stream of people was passing by. At Tianning Gate there was a kiosk offering free tea. It had a matting roof from which four split-bamboo lanterns hung bearing the words “Make Friends with Tea.” A number of country people, both men and women, were heading to the temple to worship. Others were standing in front of the kiosk drinking tea, while still others, tired out from all their walking, were sitting on the ground eating watermelons, cantaloupes, and dry rations. But Lu Shu was in no mood to look at any of them. Holding hands with Fragrance, he accompanied the courtesans back to the Jinyulou. He was as love struck as ever.
If you are wondering what happened, you must turn to the next chapter.
