Courtesans and Opium: Romantic Illusions of the Fool of Yangzhou

Phoenix rents a house because of a ban on prostitution;

Jia Ming buys ginseng in order to stop smoking opium.

After Yuan You and Clerk Bian had finished their discussion and parted company, Yuan went to the prison, where Fazi had already delivered the clothes and other items. At the sight of Yuan You, Wu Zhen jumped to his feet and knelt down in front of him: “Brother, thank you, thank you for everything!”

Yuan You quickly bowed in return: “Do get up! We’re brothers, after all. There’s no need for this sort of thing.” He helped Wu Zhen to his feet and asked about the shackles, which had been removed the night before.

Ge Ai came to the office. “Well, Master Yuan, now that you’ve spoken to your friend, tell me, did we do the right thing?”

“You did indeed, thank you.” Ge Ai withdrew, and Yuan You told Wu Zhen about his discussion with Clerk Bian.

Wu Zhen sighed. “All the enemies from my previous lives have come together in this one! But we can’t escape our destinies. I’ll just have to let fate take its course.” Before leaving the prison, Yuan You tried at length to console him.

Fazi followed Yuan out and invited him to Wu Zhen’s house, where once more he took a seat in the reception room, while Fazi went to the rear quarters and reported to Mistress Wang. She brought out a note for eighty thousand cash and gave it to Yuan, and he told her of his discussion with Bian Zhichi.

She began to sob. “With regard to the twenty-four thousand that you promised him, would it be all right if I raised a second loan today and sent Fazi over with the money tomorrow?”

“Yes, tomorrow will do.”

“There’s one other thing I want to talk to you about. I’d like to visit the prison myself to see my husband. Would that be possible, do you think?”

“I’ve settled all of the prison expenses. If you wish to visit him, just go in with Fazi, and you won’t have any trouble.”

Yuan You took his leave of her and, after changing the note into fifty thousand cash in strings of nine hundred and twenty, gave the money to Duan Qinggeng and Ge Ai. The following morning he went back to the teahouse to meet Bian Zhichi. They greeted each other and, following a show of deference, took their seats and poured tea for themselves. After some idle conversation Yuan You gave Bian two notes, the gifts he had promised the day before for the clerk and his copyist, one of ten thousand, the other of two thousand, both in strings of nine hundred and twenty. After checking them, Bian put them away and produced a small white envelope with a plum-red slip attached to it that contained the copies and handed it to Yuan, who cast an eye over it and then put it away. After they had had their breakfast, Yuan You paid the bill, and they left the teahouse and went their separate ways.

At the prison Yuan You gave the copies to Wu Zhen, who studied them intently:

Petition from the runner Bao Guang:

Subject: Request to go to trial as result of search and arrest.

After receiving a special directive to work with the various local wardens in searching for and arresting people who smoke opium, I duly cooperated with them. I found that Wu Zhen, a runner for the Yangzhou Customs, put his trust in magical charms and was defying the law by smoking the proscribed substance. In cooperation with warden Fang Shang, I personally went to conduct a search and make an arrest. With my own eyes I saw Wu Zhen in the act of lighting an opium lamp and smoking. I arrested him together with one pipe, one opium lamp, and one packet of opium. I have now brought him and the paraphernalia to the yamen. I hereby set forth the circumstances and earnestly request a merit award as well as an interrogation and response.

Respectfully submitted.

month day

Brought Wu Zhen before the court for interrogation. The said runners made a timely search and arrest, and naturally this office ought to reward them. But one cannot make a false arrest and stir up trouble; that would be a grievous mistake. The opium paraphernalia seized are to be stored in the treasury, and a receipt will be issued.

Wu Zhen testified: “I am thirty-three years old. I was previously employed as a runner for the Yangzhou Customs but was dismissed for neglect of duty. I have long suffered from a stagnation of the vital forces that frequently becomes acute, but I have found that when I smoke a small quantity of opium, my condition improves. Recently I heard that runners were making searches and arrests, so I didn’t dare smoke anymore. When last month—I forget the exact date—I met the military licentiate Wu Jingyu, he tried to borrow several tens of thousands of cash from me, but I declined because I had no money. To my astonishment he bore a grudge against me and conspired with runners Bao Guang, Xiang Guang, Xu Guang, and others to bring opium paraphernalia and plant it on me in order to frame me. Wu Jingyu told me that if I could produce several hundred thousand cash I would be exonerated. I was unwilling to do so, and they brought me here to court. At the present time I truly do not smoke opium, and I ask as a great favor that Wu Jingyu be brought before the court for interrogation.

Finding of the court month day

Interrogation has established that Wu Zhen, relying on his position as a runner for the Yangzhou Customs, brazenly flouted the law and smoked opium in defiance of the ban. He was arrested together with his opium paraphernalia by runners and a warden. Under interrogation in court he was evasive and refused to confess. He tried to confuse the issue with baseless charges intended to implicate others and proved stubborn in the extreme. He is to be held in prison pending further examination and investigation. Examine and submit to higher authority. Remand in custody.

After reading the document, Wu Zhen said nothing, merely sighed again and again. “In my humble opinion,” said Yuan You, “you need to get someone to appeal the case for you. If there’s no one to do so, and you testify as you did when the case is reheard, it’s Bian Zhichi’s opinion that the magistrate will definitely not believe you, and he is afraid you won’t be able to withstand the ill-treatment you’ll be subjected to in prison. Before the verdict is issued, you need to confess that you used to smoke opium but testify that you’ve broken the habit. If you’re lucky, you’ll draw a sentence of exile.”

“No matter what case is made, I’m afraid the magistrate will reject it. Not only do I have no one to step forward and appeal my case for me; even if I did, without money or influence it would be very hard to get the verdict overturned. In this situation, all I can do is accept my fate.” After chatting for a while, Yuan You took his leave.

A few days later, word came that the case was to be reexamined. Yuan You again took care of the prison officials’ gratuities on behalf of Wu Zhen, making a good deal of money for himself on the side. The magistrate ascended his tribunal and had Wu Zhen brought out for a reexamination, at which he testified as before. The magistrate roared at him and was about to have him struck in the mouth again, which so intimidated Wu Zhen that he felt that he had to change his testimony and do as Bian Zhichi had recommended. The magistrate pursued his questioning no further but ordered Wu Zhen to sign his confession in court and returned him to prison. Sentenced to exile, he was to wait in prison while the case was referred to higher authority, to the governor’s office and to the Ministry of Justice, and a warrant was issued to escort him into exile. But these events lie in the future.

Let me return to Bao Guang and the other runners. They had brought Wu Zhen to the yamen and petitioned the magistrate, who had conducted his examination and remanded the accused in custody. Two days after that, Bao Guang, Xiang Guang, and Xu Guang sought out Yu Jiafu to collect the money they had been promised. Yu arranged with them that they should wait in the teahouse while he went to see Qiang Da, who took him to a secluded place in the house and lit an opium lamp for him.

“Let me ask your advice on something,” said Qiang Da. “I would very much like to get Cassia to pay the whole forty thousand that we promised them. If you will help with that, of course there’ll be a present for you.” Yu agreed to help.

Calling Cassia in, Yu Jiafu said, “Your share of that money we promised the runners the other day amounts to forty thousand, and they’re coming for it today. Do you have it ready?”

Cassia was stunned, but she didn’t dare ask for further details. Unfortunately for her, there was no way she could raise forty thousand at short notice. She had to get Sanzi to take some of her clothes and jewelry, and even the patterned coverlet from her bed and her chiming clock, to the pawnshop in order to raise twenty-four thousand, which she handed to Yu Jiafu. “Godfather, please take this as an initial installment. Give me three more days, and I’ll find some way to get you the rest.” At first Yu deliberately withheld his approval, but eventually he took the money. At the teahouse he gave it to the runners, promising to clear the rest of the debt within three days.

Hoping to get Wu Jingyu to borrow the balance for her, Cassia told Sanzi to invite him over. Wu Jingyu, however, after conspiring with the runners to arrest her patron, was too embarrassed to meet her. A few days after the event he had sought out the runners in order to collect his share of the money. Bao Guang had begun by blaming him. “You had a grudge against Wu Zhen, but you didn’t attack him yourself; you used us as a cat’s paw. You got us excited with your talk of a wonderful opportunity, but all we found was a fool with no money. Now we’re burdened with the task of referring the case to higher authority at a cost of over a hundred thousand. Luckily we’ve got ourselves some side benefits, and we’ve made a bit of money at Qiang Da’s. Yu Jiafu is also getting us something, but it’s not even enough to take our colleagues to dinner. If it were not for our friendship, we’d hold you responsible for all this. But that you should actually want money from us—that’s just plain stupid!” Wu Jingyu had argued his case again and again, until finally some of those present managed to scrape up a thousand cash for him. His was a case of ruining another without benefit to himself.

And so he was in a dejected mood when Sanzi came to say that Cassia wanted to talk to him. He had heard that she had pawned her clothes and jewelry and was still unable to cover the debt she owed the runners. Her sending for me must mean that she expects me to find some way of raising the money, he thought. When I think of how many garments I’ve received from her, how much money and opium, how many nights I’ve spent with her free of charge, I did a terrible thing when I got her steady client arrested and involved her in paying off the runners. I’ve actually ruined that woman! But I have no money to help her out and no way of raising a loan. How can I possibly go and see her? “Tell Miss Cassia that I’ll be along right away,” he said to Sanzi.

Cassia waited for two days, but he still did not appear. As soon as her creditors heard that she had pawned her clothes and jewelry, they began pressing her for payment. The balance owed to the runners was due the next day, and she had no chance of borrowing it. She cried all night.

Early the following morning she asked Sanzi to take some odds and ends of hers to the pawnshop, raising over a thousand cash. She hurriedly washed and combed herself, then wrapped the pawnshop money in a linen kerchief, which she tied around her waist. To Qiang Da she said, “I’m going over to Wu Jingyu’s to get him to borrow some money for me. I’ll be back soon.” Because she often went out, and also because she was not going very far, he did not send anyone with her.

Once outside, she walked along the base of the city wall and through the Great East Gate, leaving the city by Tianning Gate Street. Recalling what Wu Zhen had said in the Duke Shi Shrine, she walked along the moat through the gateway of the shrine in the Scripture Repository and continued on to the east. At the Bianyi Gate dock she came upon a boatman from Yancheng whom she happened to know, and he invited her on board and asked what she was doing there all alone. “I have a heap of debts,” she said, “and my creditors are hounding me for money. There’s nothing I can do about it, so I’m running away. I want to go home.” She took the thousand cash from the kerchief around her waist and handed it to him. “If this isn’t enough to take me back, I’ll find the rest for you when we get to Yancheng.” By a lucky chance, the boatman had finished loading his boat and was about to leave, and he was more than happy to do a good turn that would cost him nothing. Setting off at once, he took her back with him to Yancheng.

After lunch that same day Yu Jiafu arrived at Qiang Da’s and asked him, “Has Cassia got together the balance that we owe the runners? There’s also something I need to tell you. The prefect has put out a notice banning prostitution. He’s sending out a number of deputies to search for opium. Hurry up and get all the girls in the house to lie low and avoid the storm. Magpies don’t have much in the way of brains. Don’t let any trouble occur, or it may be too much for you to handle.”

Qiang Da at once sent Sanzi over to Wu Jingyu’s to fetch Cassia, then told Paria and Phoenix, who were in the house at the time: “There’s another ban under way, and we’ll have to close down for a while. I’ll send Miss Lucky to her foster mother’s. You two had better think where you want to hide out for the next few days.”

Yuan You happened to be in Paria’s room when she heard the news. “The house has to close down,” she told him. “A few days ago I asked you to look into renting a place for us. Did you find anything?”

“There’s an empty house on Old Lane with three jian1 and two side rooms. The landlord is a friend of mine. You could move in there on a temporary basis, and then I’ll put down a deposit and close the deal. I’ll borrow some furniture, and you can live there.”

“Hurry up and talk to him about it. I need to be out of here by tonight.”

Sanzi returned and said to Qiang Da, “Wu Jingyu told me that Cassia never went to see him. I didn’t believe him, and I searched through the whole house, but he was right; she wasn’t there. I don’t know where she could have gone.” In a state of alarm, Qiang Da sent people out in all directions to search for her, but no trace of her could be found. He was forced to find some other way of raising the sixteen thousand, which he handed to Yu Jiafu to give the runners. Needless to say, Yu deducted a broker’s commission.

Let me turn to Phoenix, who, after hearing Qiang Da say that he had to close down, was hesitating over where to go when Jia Ming happened to come in. He had no sooner sat down than she said, “You’ve arrived just at the right time. Master Yu came along today and said that the prefect has issued a ban on prostitution as well as opium. He told Qiang Da to close down for a few days. Qiang has sent Lucky to stay with her foster mother and told Paria and me to find somewhere to lie low for the time being. Master Yuan has found a house for Paria, and she’s moving out this evening. That leaves me as the only one with nowhere to go. As I told you, my mother-in-law, husband, and brother-in-law are renting a tiny shanty with room for only one bed. If I go there, where am I going to sleep? As for another brothel, well, all crows are black, so I suppose if our place is closing down, the others will have to close, too, so that’s out of the question. I’m in a bind, and I’m worried about what to do. If only I’d known this earlier, there was an opportunity the other day that I could have taken.”

“What opportunity was that? You never told me.”

“I heard that someone from Shanghai had come to Yangzhou to hire girls and was willing to put up an advance of forty silver dollars. He wanted me to go, but I refused. Had I known about this, I’d have accepted.”

“Why didn’t you go? What a pity you couldn’t see the advantages! You could have taken the forty dollars, given twenty to your mother-in-law and husband to live on, and used the other twenty to buy yourself some more clothes and baggage. You could have stayed awhile in Shanghai, where I expect conditions are a bit better than here, made a few taels, and then come back. Wouldn’t that have been a good idea?”

“I did give it some thought, but there were several reasons why I couldn’t go. First, you and I are lovers; we’re never apart. How could I bear to leave you and go off somewhere else? Second, if I did well there, fine, but if I didn’t, how could I pay back the forty dollar advance? It would amount to being sold to Shanghai! Besides, what about all those debts of mine? My creditors would never have let me go.”

“Don’t say you can’t bear to leave me—that’s pure blarney. Tell me, how much do you owe altogether?”

“All told, thirty or forty thousand.”

“If you’d told me that you wanted to go to Shanghai, I could have called all your creditors together and taken over your debts, paying them off for you. That wouldn’t have been a problem.”

“I’ve put too much onto you already. How could I do it again? When I come to think of it, what a miserable life I’ve led from childhood on, with my mother dying young and my father marrying me to the Lan family as a child bride! At six my mother-in-law took me to Qingjiang and made me learn how to play and sing. I can’t tell you how many curses and beatings I had to endure! At twelve I was forced to sleep with clients, and for years I had to earn my living in the brothel business, suffering untold misery. Only with the greatest difficulty did I manage this year to get back to Yangzhou. I’d rather beg for a living here than cast my bones away in some other place. Anyway, so much for that! In Yangzhou I have a loving relationship with you. I can’t rely on others, but I can rely on you. If I endure a few more years of misery and save up a few taels—and if you help me out—I’ll buy a girl for that devil of a husband of mine, someone who’ll work to support him. I’d be willing to join your household, even if I had to do the cooking—anything, no matter what. Even if it killed me, I’d die content. Surely I’m not condemned to this business all my life!” The tears streamed down her cheeks.

Jia Ming surmised from this speech that Phoenix really did wish to marry him, and he felt a quiet satisfaction. “A relative on my wife’s side has a house of six jian and two side rooms on Ridge Street. It’s vacant at present, and he doesn’t have a tenant in mind. I’ll go and talk to him and ask if I can skip the deposit and be responsible for paying the few thousand a month in rent. I’ll also borrow some furniture from him. After that you can move in.”

“Good for you!” said Phoenix. “Talk to him as soon as you can.”

Jia Ming promptly went in search of his relative and explained that he would not be putting down a deposit but would pay four thousand a month in rent. He obtained the key to the house and also borrowed three tables. At the furniture store he chose a bamboo bed, a dressing table, six chairs, four stools, a tub, and a commode, then negotiated a price, agreeing to pay for the items at the next festival. He rushed back to Qiang Da’s and told Phoenix what he had done.