A talk between aunt and nephew ends in a bitter outburst,
And a quarrel between husband and wife leads to jealous rage.
Lu Shu was in Fragrance’s room, standing beside the dressing table and watching a maid comb Fragrance’s hair. He held a white copper tobacco container in his hand and was bending over to fill Fragrance’s pipe. When Felix arrived at the Jinyulou, he went upstairs and stood in the doorway of the room before pulling aside the door curtain. The sight of his page at the door gave Lu Shu an uneasy feeling, and he flushed. “What is it?” he asked.
“Sir, your aunt would like you to go back and see her. She has something important to say to you.”
Lu Shu frowned. “All right. I’ll go after lunch.” Felix went back downstairs.
Lu Shu waited until Fragrance had finished her toilette and then had his lunch. Felix had to come upstairs several times to hurry him up before he finally left for his uncle’s house. When Wang Fu saw him come in, he sprang to his feet with a cry of “Sir!” Lu Shu acknowledged the greeting and went straight through to the rear quarters, where he greeted his aunt respectfully and took a seat beside her. A servant offered him tea.
“You’ve been living with us for several months,” began Mistress Lu, “and your uncle has been too busy to attend to you. You’re young, and we haven’t taken you to see the sights, which was very remiss of us. I’ve been wondering, do you have any other relatives in Yangzhou? Or any friends? And why do you stay out for whole days and nights? Last night when your uncle came home he asked me all of these questions, and I didn’t know how to answer, so today I sent your page to invite you here for a little talk.”
“After I arrived in Yangzhou, I met a man named Yuan who had served a term of exile in Changshu and with whom I had become close friends. I swore brotherhood with him and several others, and I’ve often spent time with them. Sometimes we’ve gone on rather late, and they’ve invited me to stay the night. That’s why I haven’t come back.”
As he finished speaking, Mistress Lu started to weep. “Oh, dear! What evil has the house of Lu committed that we should produce such an unfilial wretch? You lead a riotous life, you squander your money—and then you try to fob me off with all these lies! I expect your father gave you money to come here and buy a concubine precisely because you were behaving wildly at home. He must have thought that taking a concubine would cause you to have a change of heart. When you got here, you ought to have told us why you had come. Of course we’d have helped you find someone and get back home in short order. But you never said a word about it. Instead you went out and took up with a pack of scoundrels and squandered all the money you had brought with you in those frivolous places. Let me ask you this: how will you ever be able to face your parents when you get home? Well, I give up. The trouble you’re in is all of your own making. The only thing that concerns me is that your parents are sure to blame my husband and me for it. They’ll say our nephew came to Yangzhou with money to buy a concubine and didn’t ask a penny from us. Not only did we not find anyone for him, we let him run wild in Yangzhou and spend all his money while we stood by with our hands in our pockets, shutting our eyes to what he was doing. Frankly, if my son had gone to stay with you and done nothing but spend a thousand or more taels to no earthly advantage, I’d have blamed your parents, too, in those very terms. But whoever could have imagined that you, you little swine, would fail to tell us anything at all? It would be a false charge against us, but it’s not one we could ever refute.” As she said this, she began a tremendous weeping and wailing and shed buckets of tears, all the while continuing to revile him.
Lu Shu had been doted on and spoiled from childhood on, and he had a proud and conceited nature. No matter how serious his misdeeds had been at home, no matter how much money he had squandered, his parents had never raised their voices to him or scolded or cursed him. Now, on hearing his aunt’s words, he felt no regret, just a sense of mortification that quickly turned to anger. “There’s no need to be so angry, Aunt. In any case the money that I spent I brought with me; I never borrowed a penny from you. If you’re afraid my parents will blame you, well, I’ll be home soon and I’ll explain to them that I never told you anything. You certainly won’t get the blame.”
This answer only made Mistress Lu more furious. “I say a few words to you, and you flare up! You young people are simply too ignorant! Tomorrow I’m going to write to your parents, and then I’ll have a servant take you home. No matter how you carry on there, at least it won’t be in front of me, making me angry.” She told the maid to call Wang Fu in. “Go down to the dock and hire a boat,” she told him. “Tomorrow you’re going to take the young master home.”
“Very well,” said Wang Fu.
“Don’t bother, Aunt,” said Lu Shu. “You’re just afraid that I’ll stay on in your house and ask you for a loan when I run out of money. Well, I’m leaving right now. Felix, pack up my bedding and call in a porter to carry the bags.”
This retort made Mistress Lu so furious that her limbs turned to ice and she lost all power of speech. Wang Fu tried to dissuade Lu Shu, but Felix called a porter, packed up Lu Shu’s bags, and handed them to the man to carry. Still seething with resentment, Lu Shu left by the main gate, accompanied by Felix, who was watching the bags. Wang Fu was afraid that his master might question him when he returned home, so he secretly followed them to see where the bags were taken.
With Felix watching over the bags, Lu Shu arrived at Ridge Street, passed by the Taiping dock, and called in at the Yichang Guesthouse. Wang Fu stood by the gateway until he saw the bearer emerge with only his pole and ropes. Confident that Lu Shu was staying there, he went back and reported to his mistress.
Mistress Lu was both angry and distressed—angry because Lu Shu was so worthless, ill-educated, and full of ignorant opinions, but distressed also because he was the only son on her side of the family, and judging from this behavior of his it would be impossible to preserve the family heritage.
It was the second watch before her husband returned and she could tell him what had happened. “The little swine is admittedly no good,” said Xiong Dajing, “but what your brother did was simply too ridiculous. Having given him a lot of money and sent him to Yangzhou to buy a concubine, why couldn’t he write and let me know? If I’d known, I could easily have found someone for his son and sent him home again. He would never have been allowed to stay in Yangzhou all this time! Now he’s spent all his money, so it’s no use even bringing the subject up. Let me go to the Yichang tomorrow and ask him to come and stay with us for a few days while I urge him to go home. That would prevent him from going from bad to worse in that inn. If he continues to behave in this disgraceful manner, we’ll never be able to face his parents.”
“I’m positive the wretch won’t come back.”
“In that case, we’ll have to think of something else.”
Early the next morning he went to the guesthouse, where Felix told him, “Sir, my master hasn’t returned from last night.”
Xiong Dajing gave a thin smile. “Tell your master that I came here in person to ask him to return to our house and stay with us. My wife may have said some critical things, but I hope that for my sake he’ll come back. There should be no animosity between family members. Tell him that from me.” Felix promised to do so.
Xiong Dajing then returned to his office and attended to business. On three successive days he called at the Yichang without finding Lu Shu in. He asked Felix if he had passed the message on. “I’ve told him several times,” said Felix, “but he’s never said a thing.” Xiong Dajing went home and wrote a letter describing in detail what Lu Shu had been doing in Yangzhou, his refusal to take correction, and his move to an inn in a fit of pique, then had a servant deliver the letter to Lu Shu’s family in Changshu.
Let me turn to Lu Shu, who, after the scolding from his aunt, had left in a rage and moved into the Yichang Guesthouse. He rented a single room, settling on a rate of two hundred cash a day for the room and board of both master and page, then went back to the Jinyulou, where he sat for quite a long time in Fragrance’s room before she finally joined him. “What were you doing that took you so long?” he asked.
“Oh, some hooligans came to Sister Cloud’s room downstairs to get a free tea party and smoke some free opium, and I was called in. If you don’t treat people like that with a little courtesy, they get mad and start a quarrel, and before you know it you’ve got to host a banquet and take the loss. It’s far better to go through the motions just to get them out the door and save trouble, rather than…” She stood up as Mother Xiao came into the room. “Godmother, please sit down.”
Mother Xiao took a seat and turned to Lu Shu: “Master Lu, the other day I spoke to you about several dozen taels that you owe us. Did you bring them with you?”
“As I told you the other day, I’ve sent someone home for money, but he’s not back yet. As soon as he gets here, I’ll pay you.”
“You speak of getting money from home, Master Lu, but do you know when it will arrive? We can’t wait any longer. I can’t tell you how many bills need to be paid with that money! Please go to a money shop, any money shop, and exchange something for money. I need it right now. If I didn’t need it so urgently, I wouldn’t keep on about it, or even mention the fact that you owe me anything. I’d be most grateful if you’d help me out by tomorrow at the very latest.”
After she had gone on and on in this vein, Lu Shu finally said, “All right! All right!” She continued her litany of demands and exhortations as she returned downstairs.
“And what about my gold headband?” asked Fragrance.
“I’ll have it for you within a few days.” She gave a sardonic smile, which made Lu Shu feel distinctly uncomfortable. He had supper there and stayed the night.
Early the next morning he went to the Futura, greeted the others, and joined them at their table. After they had had their breakfast, he drew Yuan You aside. “I’ve spent all my funds, and Mother Xiao is badgering me for money. Let me put this to you: I’d like to borrow twenty or thirty taels at any rate of interest you care to name. When my money comes in, I’ll pay back both principal and interest without fail.”
“I do have a few taels, but they’re all out on loan and can’t be recalled at short notice. The other day two interest payments fell due, but because I was always off at Qiang Da’s enjoying myself, the debtors never came to see me. Instead they brought their payments to the house, where my wife received them. They add up to about a dozen taels in all. Let me go home and collect them. We’ll meet here again tomorrow, and you can have the money then. As for your talk of interest, don’t be ridiculous!”
“I’d be ever so grateful.” The two men returned to the table, where they joined in the conversation before going their separate ways.
Yuan You’s wife, Mistress Du, had quarreled with him more than once because he frequented the brothels and often stayed out overnight. His parents had tried to intercede, but to no avail, and by now they had become accustomed to the situation and simply let the pair go on quarreling. Yuan You, who had now been away from home for three nights in succession, returned this evening because he had promised to lend Lu Shu some money. After supper, he went to their room and said to his wife, “—— and —— brought in their interest payments. Get them out for me.”
“What do you want them for?”
“Brother Lu has asked if he could borrow some money. I agreed, and that’s why I need the payments. I’m going to put them together and lend them to him.”
As soon as she heard the name Lu, Mistress Du realized that he was one of her husband’s carousing companions, and anger welled up inside her. “This fellow Lu is from out of town, he’s not in business here, and he spends all of his time drinking and whoring. If you give him a loan, what security will you have?”
“When I was in Changshu, I was indebted to him and his father for many great favors. Now that he’s here in Yangzhou, how in good conscience can I turn him down the first time he opens his mouth and asks to borrow a few taels? Moreover, he says he’s sent someone home for more money, and as soon as he gets it, he’ll repay me. But even if he didn’t repay it, I’d still feel honor bound to lend it to him.”
“What a clever answer! It doesn’t occur to you that we never used to have any property of our own. All we had was the money we raised on the clothes and jewelry from my trousseau. At first you said you’d lend it out at interest to supplement the income we got from the family. But these days you’ve become so obsessed with playing around that you can’t even be bothered to go and collect the interest. Fortunately, the debtors were honest enough to bring the money here. I don’t know how many nights in a row you’ve spent with those whores, or how much you owe them, yet you come home and tell lies like this to trick me out of the money, just so that you can play the tycoon. Even if this story about Lu were true, I still wouldn’t make that kind of loan. With him it’s a case of ‘hit a dog with a meatball, and you won’t see it again.’ I’m going to keep on at you about this. I won’t wait until I’m dead for that interest money. Hurry up and recall those damned loans for me. If you’re willing to die, I’m willing to bury you. Once I have the money back, we’ll see just how much longer you can go on playing the phony tycoon! One of these days you’ll make me so furious that I’ll go storming down to those whores and vent my anger by tearing the witches to shreds!”
“A wife ought to know something about the Three Obediences and the Four Virtues. When people hear such jealous talk as that, they’re bound to laugh at you.”
Stung by the accusation of jealousy, Mistress Du began to wail. “You fool around all the time, sleeping with those whores, and never once have I interfered. You come home today and want to trick me out of some money so that you can go back to the whores and get yourself off.1 You’re not afraid of spending all your money; you can live off your whores. But we wives are helpless. Where can we go? I give you just a few words of advice, and you accuse me of being jealous!
“When a woman marries, she always wants the best from her husband, but I’ve had a wretched fate. During the years when you were always getting into trouble, you were tried and locked up in jail, and I was scared out of my wits and couldn’t sleep at night. Later, when you were sentenced to exile, I was left at home living on gruel and soup, waiting anxiously until you had completed your sentence and could return. And what did you say to me then? You said that you would stop leading a riotous life, that you’d pull yourself together and put your mind to making a living. I thought then that you were that pearl beyond price, a prodigal son who had turned over a new leaf. But you tricked me into pawning all the clothes and jewelry from my trousseau. You said you would lend the money out at interest to supplement our family income and enable us to get by. But ever since this Lu fellow arrived in Yangzhou, he’s been the bane of our existence. You’ve taken some drug that’s affected your mind, that’s what you’ve done—you’ve lost your soul to those whores. And I let you do it! And now today you want to trick me out of my money again! What hope do I have? I don’t want to go on living anymore!” She tried to ram her head into his stomach.
From listening to her tirade, Yuan You was already in an angry mood. He was on the point of standing up and striking her when she came charging at him. Turning aside, he grabbed at her hair. Her jade hairpins fell and shattered; her silver ear picks were flung to the floor. More furious than ever, she tried to grab his queue, but instead her nails made two scratches on his left cheek. He became angrier still and, gripping her hair, threw her to the ground, then sat astride her and was about to pound her with his fists when Maid Chen came rushing in and pinned his arms behind his back, while he reeled off an endless string of curses. His parents, who were deeply distressed that he and his wife were constantly quarreling and would never listen to reason, at first ignored the quarrel, but when they heard their son throw his wife to the ground and prepare to beat her, they feared it might lead to serious trouble and rushed forward and shouted at him. Not daring to argue with them, Yuan You relaxed his grip, then stood up and went outside. His mother pulled Mistress Du to her feet and tried to calm her, but she was in such a rage that she flung herself down on her bed, clothes and all. Husband and wife were now on even worse terms than before.
If you are wondering what happened, please turn to the next chapter.
