CHAPTER 17

A young woman in distress is escorted to the Bright Purity Nunnery; driven by poverty, Gao Guoqin returns to his native place

Now I put down my lute and raise my glass.

The wind is rising, while the waning moon

Brings on the month of autumn frosts.

Our song is like that sad song that we sang

In leaving Zhengdingfu so long ago.

Though fate may tear the two apart,

It cannot break the tie that binds their hearts.

THE three men—Zhao Wenhui, Su Beishan, and Ji Gong, who were sitting in the outer room—looked up as the bamboo curtain was lifted. They saw a gentle and beautiful girl, about eighteen or nineteen years of age, coming out of the east room. Her hair was neatly combed and dressed into a dragon coil. She was wearing simple white mourning clothes.

As soon as Su Beishan saw her, he knew that she was a girl from a good family. He asked her to tell the circumstances of her coming to the house of prostitution. With a most melancholy air, the girl explained from beginning to end the details of how she had sold herself in order to obtain money to bury her father, and how afterward she had been treacherously resold to the old procuress.

The two yuanwai were exceedingly touched by her story. Zhao Yuanwai asked, “Spring Fragrance, are you able to compose poetry?”

Spring Fragrance replied, “I have had some acquaintance with the classical style and a general understanding of some of it.”

Zhao Yuanwai said, “If that is so, perhaps you could write a couple of impromptu verses of the kind that influences the reader’s feelings, so that I may read them.” Zhao Yuanwai had suspected after reading the first poem that she might not have written it herself. Therefore he wished to test her knowledge of the classical style.

Spring Fragrance, however, did not ask whether that was the case. Taking a brush in her hand, she wrote a poetic sketch of a wandering musician who played the piba, or Chinese lute.

She learned of harlots from the village girls

And carelessly let virtue slip away.

She hates the old songs now, that once they used to sing,

And in her mirror looks for white hairs among the black.

She thinks of home but knows there’s no one there,

While tears fall, dampening her rouge.

In towns and hamlets that she passes through,

Wherever men are gathered with their wine,

She lifts her piba, strikes its strings

And with the music tells her tale.

When she had finished writing, she handed the verse to Su Yuanwai and Zhao Yuanwai to read. They and Ji Gong praised it. Su Beishan said, “How sad it is that a person with such talent as Spring Fragrance should have fallen into the hands of a procuress!”

“Grievous indeed, and lamentable!” added Zhao Wenhui.

Meanwhile, they saw that Spring Fragrance, drawing a deep sigh, had again been writing, using as a reference the classical story of a great beauty who, though of obscure origins, had married an emperor. Spring Fragrance had constructed some verses with quite a different theme, but had included in her version some of the vocabulary of the famous tale.

The business of spoiling flesh and bones

Is a precarious and melancholy trade.

And for the girls, a school where most will fail.

To one, there comes a high official of the court

Still in his robes of richest silk.

Told just today he is disgraced and must resign,

He comes to see a prostitute in his despair.

But this she does not know.

She goes to meet him on her lily feet,

And he finds solace in her arms.

The polished surface of her mirror shows

That fabled beauty of most ancient times.

She dreams of swaying empires by his side.

‘Tis spring. The rains have made

The world a sea of mud.

They marry and she learns the truth.

Position and salary both are gone,

And destitution lies not far ahead.

After Ji Gong and the others had taken the poem and read it, all three exclaimed, “Good!”

Zhao Wenhui said, “Come, come! I also will write a poem!” The old procuress brought him the writing set. Without stopping to think it over, Zhao Wenhui took the brush and wrote with a flourish:

How in this house of lust and shame

Can hearts like ours so fill with joy,

Having now found Spring Fragrance here

And heard her tale of misery?

Her purity, her firm resolve

She kept despite men’s treachery.

And though she had to wait for us,

We’ve waited long for such as she.

Su Beishan was eager to show off his ability to write verses. What he wrote was:

Ranking with ivory and precious gems,

Among the luxuries our trade with Indochina brings,

Are feathers of the brilliant kingfisher

The magic alchemy of this bird’s small body

Converts the iridescence of the fishes’ scales

Into a gleaming blue like nothing else.

The fish are dazzled thus and made unwary

Of this swift bird’s most cruel and fatal beak.

Our artisans affix bits of these blue kingfisher feathers

To delicate gold and silver leaves and flowers.

Such ornaments may beautify a residence of wealth,

But chiefly they are used for crownlike hats

Which lords and ladies sometimes wear

And others fortunate enough to own them, too.

Our young wastrels love kingfisher hats

With shoulder-touching tassels on each side.

In gowns of soft and brilliant silks

That hide the various cruelties within their hearts.

Masters and victims, too, of every vice,

They come with loud and strident laughter,

Dazzling the slaves of the procuress,

Soon to be soiled and faded flowers.

But our Spring Fragrance now has seen

And heard in twice these thirty days

More than enough of all these vicious follies.

Ji Gong said, “I also have a line or two,” and he recited, “Today, we have indeed opened our hearts to one another.”

Spring Fragrance, upon hearing this, broke in, “Teacher, you sir, who spend each day improving yourself, what would you have me do?”

Ji Gong said, “Quickly, quickly open this net in which we are caught, and let this poor monk tie his broken-down sandals so that he can be on his way.” As they all heard this, they laughed together. Then the monk said, “You two yuanwai now have a chance to do a truly virtuous deed.”

Su Beishan then asked, “Spring Fragrance, do you want to marry someone—what would you really like to do?”

Spring Fragrance answered, “If it were possible for some good person to save me from this fiery pit, I would like to ask whether I could become a novice in a nunnery. My ancestors would be grateful to you back through three generations.”

Su Yuanwai asked, “Procuress, what price do you want for this body?”

The procuress replied, “I spent over 350 ounces of silver for her. That does not include the fact that she has been in my house these two months with daily food and clothing.”

Su Beishan said, “Easily managed.”

Zhao Wenhui said, “Brother Su, let me take care of this matter. I will give five hundred ounces of silver to set her free from here. We will escort her to the old nun, Shining Truth, of the Bright Purity Nunnery at City God Mountain, and ask her to take care of Spring Fragrance.”

He then instructed a man from his household to bring five hundred ounces of silver immediately and give it to the procuress. He also told him to engage a sedan chair to take Spring Fragrance to the nunnery. As soon as Spring Fragrance heard this, she quickly kowtowed to the three men and begged them to escort her there safely.

Ji Gong said, “Very good. We three will go now and wait for you. Zhao Ming, one of Zhao Wenhui’s household people, and some others will go with the sedan chairs.”

Ji Gong and the other two left the courtyards of the procuress and went straight toward City God Mountain. Ji Gong said spontaneously, “Fate will be kind to those who do good, but heaven will not favor those who do evil. This poor monk now goes forward to reverse the errors of stupidity. I only fear that the person I now seek will not be able to control his agitation.”

Just as Ji Gong said this, he heard someone in front of them calling, “Ji Gong, you have come! I have been to the Monastery of the Soul’s Retreat three times and did not see you, but now today you have come! Something very distressing has happened at the Bright Purity Nunnery, and the old nun, Shining Truth, says that you are the only one who can help.”

Saying this, the person speaking ran forward and with bowed head knelt before Ji Gong. The monk judged him to be a man of about sixty years of age. He was wearing a cape of earthen-gray crane feathers, a robe tied at the waist with a sash, and white cloud design slippers. His face was pleasant and honest.

Now, what this person had come about was as follows. At City God Mountain there was another old nun called Pure Chastity. She had a niece named Lu Shi, called Simple Chastity, who was married to a certain Gao Guoqin. Originally they had lived inside the south gate of the walled city in Yuhang prefecture on Scholars’ Street. Gao Guoqin was from a wealthy family, but he knew only about books and nothing about managing money. As a result, after his parents died, shortly they had neither a roof over their heads nor a foot of land upon which to stand. Then the day came when they had neither a stick of wood nor a grain of rice.

At that time his wife, Lu Shi said, “It simply will not do to sit here until we die. There is a good everyday saying: ‘When trees are moved from one place to another, they may die. When people move in the same way, they may live.’ Why should we not go quickly to Linan? I have an aunt there who lives at City God Mountain. We can go there and find a place for you to study for your degree. First of all, we can get by from day to day. Secondly, you will be able to apply yourself, so that, when the year for the examination comes, you will have a chance to show your understanding of learning and you will be successful. How do you feel about this, my husband?”

Gao Guoqin responded, “This is the only thing that you and I can do. Let us go. There is no other way.”

The husband and wife then sold their old and worn furniture and a few odds and ends. Then, after counting up what they had made, they set out. On the same day they arrived at City God Mountain.

When the old nun, Pure Chastity, saw them, her heart was moved to pity. Looking about the temple, she chose a small building of three sections and told them they could live there. The wife, Lu Shi, was able to help by doing some needlework. Gao Guoqin was roused to great efforts in his studies in the temple. Husband and wife were quite contented during the first month.

One day, however, an unpleasant incident occurred. Shining Truth had a novice, named Wise by Nature, who was older than the rest of the novices. She could see that Gao Guoqin came from a wealthy and talented family, that both elegance and substance were combined in him, and that he was full of learning. Altogether she deemed him a refined young degree student, handsome and upright.

The two studied in the same hall in the temple and often had loud and spirited arguments. She would challenge him in the classical style and he would reply in the same manner. One day, when the two were alone together in the hall, Wise by Nature took a writing brush and wrote a stanza of poetry that she handed to Gao Guoqin. He took it and read:

Here in this other world of nuns all robed in white

I do not ask for Nirvana’s selfless bliss

Nor immortality achieved by Daoist arts

But only a little of the water

In which the willow twigs have soaked

Scattered between us as a charm

That there the lotus with the double stem may bloom,

A love fulfilled and shared in mutual delight.

When Gao Guoqin read this poem and realized its meaning, the color of his face changed. “Little teacher,” he said, “this is unnecessary. Ours is the fate into which people are born upon this earth. A short time of happiness for a man and woman may spoil their good names for their entire lives and leave a foul reputation for all time. Even their ancestors might be held up to ridicule. Moreover, this is a blessed place of the Buddhist faith. How can one do wicked and disgraceful things here?”

When Wise by Nature heard these words, her face and even her ears turned red, and finally she left the hall. From this time on, whenever Wise by Nature saw Gao Guoqin, she was obviously ashamed and quickly went away. Gao Guoqin, for his part, felt that the nunnery was no longer a suitable place to live. Then he asked Pure Chastity to find him and his wife a couple of rooms below the mountain, saying, “My wife and I should move down from the mountain. It is not proper for us to live in a nunnery.”

There was nothing else that the old nun could do. She then found a building of three sections with a separate gate and a small private courtyard. It was a house belonging to Zhou Yuanwai, also called Zhou Bancheng. He asked the old nun the name of the prospective tenant.

The old nun replied, “It is one of my relatives who came from Suhang prefecture and is now living in the temple. It is my niece and her husband. There are just the two. This nephew-in-law of mine is surnamed Gao; his personal name is Guoqin. He is a studious person. Because it is not convenient for him to stay in the temple, they are looking for a place to live.”

Zhou Bancheng said, “Tomorrow bring Gao Guoqin and I will see him.”

The old nun therefore brought Guoqin to see the landlord the next day. Zhou Yuanwai saw that Gao Guoqin was an upright person, studious and refined. Immediately Zhou Yuanwai thought that he would like to help Gao Guoqin. However, Zhou Yuanwai feared that his help would not be accepted. He therefore spoke in a way that he himself considered to be rather abrupt. Nevertheless, he told his servant that, if Gao Guoqin missed any payments, he should not be pressed for the money. Such were Zhou Yuanwai’s feelings of commiseration for those in distress.

So it was that husband and wife moved down from the mountain and Gao Guoqin began to cast horoscopes for a living. If he earned one hundred cash, they would spend it for food, and if he earned two hundred cash, they would spend that on food. Thus they got by from day to day, although they were still in poverty. Without realizing it, they came to owe six months’ back rent. Yet they had not been asked for it.

Then something unfortunate happened. The landlord’s man who was responsible for collecting the rent asked for a leave of absence. He explained his duties to the individual taking his place, but this substitute did not understand the fine details. When he was examining the records, he realized that there was unpaid rent owed by Gao Guoqin. The substitute said to himself, “I must visit him.”

When this household man arrived at Gao Guoqin’s gate and knocked, Gao Guoqin’s wife, Lu Shi, who was inside, called out: “Who is at the gate?”

The man replied, “It is a man of the Zhou household who has come to collect the rent.”

Lu Shi said, “My husband is not at home. When he comes back, I will tell him.”

The household man said, “If he is not at home, is the money also not at home? A whole six months and nothing at home? You live on another man’s property and you are in over your heads with nothing to stand on. You don’t give money, you put off and put off some more. Now it is finished.”

Lu Shi said, “Wait until my husband returns—he will send you the money.”

The household man said, “Do not send it. We are going to fix this outside gate. You can lend us this gate for a while.” The household man then had the gate opening into the street carried away.

That night when Gao Guoqin came back, he saw that there was no street gate and asked his wife Lu Shi about it. Lu Shi said, “The landlord sent for his rent money and his household man carried the gate away.”

When Gao Guoqin heard this, he lost his temper and said angrily, “Zhou Bancheng has a great deal of gall! How dare he take the gate? I will go to the Qiantang prefecture court and make a complaint against him.”

Lu Shi countered, “Oh, sir, we have no money, and so we have no argument. For six months we have not paid any rent. If we made any accusation, it would be considered unreasonable.”

Just as the two were talking, they noticed the old nun, Pure Chastity, coming. She could see that they were troubled about something. When the old nun inquired, Lu Shi described the entire affair concerning the rent collector and the gate.

The old nun said, “You should not be living outside; you really must come back to my temple. It is so difficult to make money elsewhere. And you, sir, to be writing horoscopes for a living! Nowadays nobody wants a genuine horoscope. You could sell three imitation horoscopes in a day, but a genuine horoscope you couldn’t sell once in three days. People wouldn’t want it! You are too good a person to be doing this, sir! You don’t need to be on the outside.”

The old nun told Lu Shi to sweep up and then took the couple back to the temple, despite the fact that Gao Guoqin felt a great sense of unease about returning. At the nunnery she gave them their old quarters in which to live. As for the six months’ rent owed to Zhou Bancheng, she considered that to be incense money.