CHAPTER 16

Spring Fragrance meets a saintly monk in a house of prostitution; Zhao Wenhui sees a poem and feels pity for the writer

The flowers opened on a butterfly-filled branch

And, scattered by butterflies, they fell.

Ah! They are soiled and faded blossoms now

And butterflies wear only threadbare rags.

IN the alley, Ji Gong went up to the big, sturdy fellow and took hold of him with his hand saying, “A good thing you are! You won’t give good fortune a chance. If you had stood still for one moment, I would have given you those five strings of cash, but you wanted to rob and run, and that will not do. Your entire destiny is worth only five hundred cash. If you take these five strings of cash and run, I will haul you into the Qiantang prefecture court.”

When the great fellow heard this, he was frightened, and tearing himself away with great force, raced off. The monk said, “Follow!”

In his haste, the fellow was not paying much attention to where he was going. Just as he came to the mouth of the alley, he ran smack into a porcelain peddler and broke seventeen porcelain bowls. Together with two broken poles, the damages came to four and a half strings of cash. There was nothing the big fellow could do except pay. He was left with five hundred cash and the no longer surprising knowledge that he was actually not worth much, just as the monk had said.

The monk, having gotten rid of all his money, continued on his way until he saw coming toward him two familiar yuanwai. One was Zhao Wenhui; the other was Su Beishan. As soon as they saw Ji Gong, they came up and greeted him respectfully. Su Beishan asked, “How did your affair with the law turn out, Teacher? We heard that the prime minister had locked up our teacher and we were all most uneasy. Today I was going with Wenhui to the Monastery of the Soul’s Retreat to inquire about you.”

Ji Gong replied, “My affair with the law is over and Prime Minister Qin did not harm me.” Then he told the two about what had happened at the prime minister’s estate.

After listening, Su Beishan said, “Today, perhaps you might have a drink.”

Ji Gong said, “I was just thinking about having something to drink. Where would you two like to go now?”

Su Beishan said, “We have heard some gossip among the servants to the effect that a girl from an official family has fallen into the hands of the keeper of a house of prostitution. We would like to go and take a look.”

The monk said, “Good, I also will go and take a look.”

Zhao Wenhui said, “Teacher, it would not be fitting for you, sir, to visit a harlot’s house. You are a person who has left the world, teaching and studying the mysteries of Chan. If you go to such a place, how can you keep people from laughing at you?”

The monk replied, “To a conjurer, nothing is impossible! You two and I, the three of us, will simply go.”

Su Beishan laughed loudly. The three walked on until they saw an alley running from east to west. On a wall at the entrance to the alley was a board on which was written FRAGRANT FLOWER LANE. They entered, and at the second gate on the north side they saw a lantern hanging high above their heads. On the gate were written the words of the following couplet:

At the first watch, what joy with the exchange of fans and wine cups.

At the third cockcrow, the parting with largesse scattered as in an empty field.

After the monk had finished looking at the words, the three men walked in. As soon as they went in, the gatekeeper said, “Ah! the honorable venerable Zhao and venerable Su. The two yuanwai have arrived.”

The monk raised his head and looked about. Facing the gate was a high wall that screened the courtyard beyond from view. A huge, round pottery fish tank filled with large-leaved blooming lotus plants was placed before the screen wall. On the wall four lines of verse were written.

Though there are fairies in the underworld, the upper world has none.

And those beneath depend upon the help of those on high.

So we must lead into our chambers, night after night, new guests.

And change our bridegrooms as the stars, when seasons pass, move in the sky.

The three men went on into the courtyard beyond and were seated. The monk could see that the courtyard was paved with tiles. On the north side was a large raised building of five sections with a veranda in front and another courtyard behind. On the east and west sides of the main courtyard were matching buildings, each having three sections. In the east and west walls were matching open gates through which other courtyards could be seen. High above the main courtyard was an awning made of split bamboo mats spread over a framework of bamboo poles to keep out the sun. Upon the veranda pillars of the main north building, a pair of verses was written:

Before the pavilion of songs and dances

Are planted many flowers and lovely trees.

From within the pool of white lotus

A compelling fragrance unceasingly arises.

The large characters of the inscription had been regilded in recent days. The three men sitting in the courtyard saw a maidservant come out of the north building, and she asked, “Venerable Su and Venerable Zhao, why are you two being so quiet today, there under that big bamboo awning?”

The three men entered the main building and saw against the north wall a long, handsome table of flowering pear wood. In front of it was a smaller square table of the kind called an “eight immortals table,” because it was just possible for eight people to sit at it, two on each side. At one side of the room was a long settee. On the center of the pear-wood table was a crystal globe with goldfish-like dragons with phoenix tails. On the east side of the table was a fruit dish filled with many kinds of fruit. On the west side was displayed a bronze mirror on a stand. Above the table hung a scroll painting of a mountain, and beside this painting was a portrait of a woman showing only her head and shoulders. At the bottom of the portrait was the artist’s title: A Pitiful Flower. On the edge of the portrait someone had scribbled:

Each part must be as lovely in such a winsome maid.

The artist painted only half; then at the waist he stayed.

How hateful that the colors could not find a clever brush

That might persuade the artist to add what’s not portrayed.

At either side of the two pictures, the landscape and the portrait, there was one of a pair of hanging scrolls of calligraphy. On them was written:

One who has known the heart understands

Fulfillment is to revel in every intimacy without distaste.

Zhao Wenhui, who was a connoisseur of calligraphy, looked closely at the scrolls and nodded his head. “Undoubtedly they were written by a dissolute person of great talent,” he thought.

When the three men had seated themselves, the old brothel keeper asked, “What wind has blown the venerable masters this way today? It has been a long time since you two yuanwai have been here.”

Su Beishan replied, “We have heard that you have a beautiful person as a new guest. Would you call her out that we may see her?”

The brothel keeper answered, “In my courtyard, all of the guests are newly arrived. I will call them out for you venerable masters to have a look.” Having said this, she called out in a commanding tone: “See guests!”

Then they heard outside ripples of agreeable coquettish laughter that sounded refined, yet dissipated. In came four pretty young prostitutes, neatly washed and combed and brilliantly dressed. Each had moth-like eyebrows and lightly powdered and rouged cheeks. They stood before Zhao Wenhui and Su Beishan and asked their names. When they saw that the poor monk was also sitting there, they covered their mouths and giggled.

Ji Gong said, “Good! Good! Su Beishan, how do these maidens look to you?”

Su Beishan replied, “Very good.”

The monk exclaimed, “These women all look good to you! I see a pretty whitened face that is simply carried on a skeleton and made to look beautiful with a little rouge. It is all killing people for profit!” So saying, he picked up a writing brush from the table and wrote on a sheet of white paper.

A girl within the harlot’s house,

Night after night with a new husband,

There in the wilderness that is her chamber,

Her white wrists pillow to a thousand men,

Vermilion lips ten thousand men have tasted.

Her clothes, the delicacy of her behavior

Simply assist the falseness of her feelings.

Those tender, sympathetic tears of hers are shed

Because she’s brought in new,

Thrown out when old.

Who knows how soon?

Zhao Wenhui and Su Beishan looked at what the monk had written and laughed, “Ha, ha!”

Then they heard the old procuress speaking. “Are the venerable gentlemen prepared to choose whom they will have to serve them?” Pointing to each in turn, she pronounced their names, “Orchid Fragrance, Autumn Cassia, Fragrant Lotus, and Little Plum.”

Su Beishan said, “None of these is the guest that has newly come into your home. We have heard that she is also a girl from an official family. Our reason for coming to this house of fragrances was to visit her.”

The procuress knew that these two men were heads of the wealthiest families in Linan, so she immediately spoke out. “The venerable gentleman need not speak of the newly bought person. That finishes it! Speaking of that newly bought one is most difficult for me. To begin with, people who eat the food of this establishment will no longer do so as soon as they begin to grow old. I had a girl called Naughty Flower. When she was told to eat, she would eat a mountain of food. The great man, Wang Shangshen, bought her to be his concubine, and I managed to make a few hundred ounces of silver.

“And then I bought another. She was from Qinling. Her father had been the magistrate of a department there and her mother had died very early. Because his work was criticized at the capital, they came here and were staying at an inn. Her father, named Yin Mingzhuan, wanted to find a place to live. Unexpectedly a confidence man cheated him out of several thousand ounces of silver. Then, after all that, he was not able to find work. He was very distressed. For three months he was sick at the inn. Father and daughter used up what money he had left and he died in debt. His daughter, Spring Fragrance, was sold into prostitution, and I used 350 ounces of silver to buy her.

“As soon as Spring Fragrance came here and saw that I kept a house of prostitution, she became very upset and wanted to commit suicide. I talked with her and spent altogether one hundred ounces of silver making inquiries about the circumstances of her sale. Everyone said to go back to the creditors. They said that she had been sold as a concubine and that it made no difference whether or not she had been sold into a house of prostitution. Again Spring Fragrance wanted to die, but I reasoned with her. I explained how difficult it would be for me to lose 350 ounces and what a grievous thing it would be to me if she died.

“Then she was better and said she would live here with me temporarily, simply accepting my house as a place of refuge. She said that, if I met someone who understood verses or music, he might redeem her. Of course, she would not want to leave me with less money than I had paid for her. She wrote some pieces with her own hand, and a friend of mine suggested that I might show the paper to some refined merchant or member of the gentry.”

Su Beishan said, “Bring it and show it to us.”

The procuress brought a paper and unrolled it. When the two yuanwai saw it, they were startled. On it was written:

To whom may I describe my endless griefs and fears?

Only one glad to share another’s sorrows.

My words are not for ordinary ears,

Each line is written with a thousand tears.

When Ji Gong and the others had finished looking, they asked: “In which courtyard is the girl called Spring Fragrance? We want to see this person.”

The procuress answered, “The eastern courtyard is where my girls live. The three venerable gentlemen may come with me.”

Su Beishan and the others stood up and left the principal building. Going east, they passed through three gates. The courtyard they entered was somewhat neglected in appearance. There were buildings on three sides. The main building had a veranda in front and a small extension at the back. The men lifted up the bamboo blind over the center door in the main building and entered. On the north wall opposite the door they saw a series of four plaques.

On the first was pictured a girl standing in a gateway. Five or six young men had stopped and were staring at the girl. Above the girl was an inscription:

Her youthful phoenix curls wound round and round,

The wedge-shaped comb thrust through them white as silver.

How many passing men have looked and paused

And stood and suffered as they watched?

On the second plaque was pictured a seated girl combing her hair and a young man who seemed about to leave her. The girl was looking at him as if she were reluctant to let him go. The picture was extremely expressive. The inscription on this second plaque read:

Love that’s predestined should exist past death.

So how can two such mutual lovers part?

The spirit prints its picture on the flesh.

Each knows what now is in the other’s heart.

The third plaque showed a girl and a young man in a bedroom. They were holding hands. They were walking toward the bed and seemed about to get into it. On this picture were also four lines of characters.

Desire now like two orchid branches meeting

With flowers yet to open to the air.

The delicate beauty, feeling the wind and rain of love,

Now calls upon her master in her need.

On the fourth plaque was a picture of a bed with a canopy of mosquito netting. Within, a young man and a girl could dimly be seen in a loving embrace. Written above again were four lines of characters.

Joined now and all made right, the male and female phoenix

Ascend the many-colored clouds of spring.

She turns her head; the golden hairpin falls

And moth-like eyebrows hide in clouds of hair.

Flanking these plaques were two hanging scrolls of calligraphy on which was written:

The house where a dozen hairpins are hoarded

Welcomes three thousand guests with pearl-embroidered shoes.

The two yuanwai observed these unusual decorations as they went in and sat down. The building was divided into three rooms by two paper-covered lattice walls. Through the door into the east section a canopied bed could be seen. The arrangement was the same on the west side. On the east wall of the center room was a scroll depicting a picture of a Chinese junk with the god of wealth and honor aboard. On the scroll was written two sentences taken from the Four Books of Confucian classics.

If a man has wealth and rank his actions should proclaim them.

The scholar who is poor and lowly should act as becomes one poor and lowly.

On either side of this scroll was a scroll of calligraphy with the words:

Confucius commended the enjoyment of music.

He remained silent about sensual pleasures.

The old procuress went inside the east room and was heard to say, “Miss, just now I have brought the venerable Zhao Yuanwai and Su Yuanwai to visit you. They have long wished to meet someone of your outstanding talents.”

Then the visitors heard a charming but sad voice inside say, “Why, if these two venerable gentlemen have come to inquire about me, please take your slave out to see them.” Then, using her hand to lift the bamboo curtain, the girl came out into the center room.