by AnonYMous
Lu Shu whispered in Yuan You’s ear: “Once I’ve left, I’d greatly appreciate it if you’d go and see Fragrance and tell her I’ve received a letter from home; something important has come up that requires my immediate return, but I’ll be back before long, when all of my debts will be paid, and paid in full. Tell her to take good care of herself and not pine. As for what I promised to get for her, I’ll definitely see to it once I return. Tell her not to worry.”
Yuan You smiled. “Don’t concern yourself, Brother. Of course I’ll see to it. I’ll definitely pass on everything you’ve said.” Lu Shu kept pressing him, but although Yuan You thought Lu Shu was behaving in a ridiculous fashion, he could hardly say so in front of him and merely promised to do as he was asked. The brothers all said their farewells. Lu Shu walked with them to the bow, and then the four men went ashore and watched as he gave the order to set off.
The brothers went back into the city with their pages and then parted company. In the following days they resumed their practice of meeting at Qiang Da’s. Drummer Hua searched for Lu Shu for a couple of days but failed to find him. Later he asked the sworn brothers and learned that Lu Shu had gone home. When he returned to the Jinyulou and told Mother Xiao and Fragrance this piece of news, they both exclaimed, “Good riddance! That man was a thorn in the flesh, and now we’ve seen the last of him! He won’t be bothering us anymore.” From this time forth Fragrance began to take on other clients.
Let me turn now to Wu Jingyu, who earlier in the Futura teahouse had retailed some items of gossip to Yuan You and the others. He lived not far from Qiang Da’s and had a relationship with Cassia, the split-fee courtesan on Qiang Da’s staff. Needless to say, he never had to pay for spending the night with her, and whenever he visited the house, he expected to be offered opium. He also made requests of her and borrowed articles to pawn. Often he asked her for money. She was afraid of what he might do and didn’t dare express any of the resentment that she felt. Recently Wu Jingyu had lost heavily in a gambling den, and, seeing that Wu Zhen was a steady client of Cassia’s, one who worked for the Customs and was therefore a pigeon ripe for the plucking, he spoke to her and asked if her client would lend him something to pawn. Cassia was not happy about the request, but she didn’t like to refuse. She thought hard for a moment, then said, “Speak to him yourself. I’m not going to get involved.” Wu Jingyu left the room without a word.
Two days later he went back to Qiang Da’s in the afternoon and happened to find Wu Zhen in Cassia’s room smoking opium. He pulled aside the door curtain, walked in, and bowed: “Greetings, sir!” When she saw him come in, Cassia scrambled to her feet and welcomed him. Wu Zhen also stood up, returned the bow, and invited him to take a seat, while the maid offered him tea and tobacco. Wu Zhen asked his name, and Wu Jingyu made some small talk before remarking to Wu Zhen, “Let me say that I’ve long admired you as a good fellow. There’s a little problem I have that I’d like to consult you about.”
“Please tell me what it is.”
“It’s just that for several days running I’ve slipped up and lost money, and I’d like to talk to you about a loan of twenty or thirty thousand cash, at any rate of interest you care to name, to be repaid in about two months. If you don’t trust me, ask your favorite as well as Qiang Da for a guarantee. I definitely won’t default.”
Wu Zhen didn’t like to refuse him to his face. “I see,” he said. “Give me a day or two, and I’ll get back to you.”
Wu Jingyu bowed again and said, “I’d be most grateful,” then left and went to one of the other courtesans’ rooms. Without letting Wu Zhen know, Cassia sent him a packet of opium so that he could satisfy his habit.
Wu Zhen lay down on the bed again and resumed his smoking. “I’ve been going out and playing around for years now. I’m not boasting when I say that I’m nobody’s pigeon. In fact, I’m something of a tough character myself. What a joke this Wu Jingyu is! I don’t know what he takes me for, that he talks so casually of borrowing twenty or thirty thousand of my hard-earned cash. Isn’t it ridiculous?”
“That sort of person is none too bright, making a living as a protector,” said Cassia. “But since he brought this up, I really think you ought to offer him something, no matter how little, if only to prevent a trivial matter from developing into a real nuisance.”
“But if I did that, I’d never be able to go out and have any fun. A loan here, a loan there—I simply don’t have that kind of money! I’ve run across plenty of protectors and hooligans like him in my time, and even if I don’t do a thing for him, he’ll never be able to lay a finger on me! If you’re thinking he might bear me a grudge, well, those people who caused all that ruckus here, You Deshou and Yan Xiang, were accused by some house or other and a few days ago they were all arrested by order of the prefect and each one was given several hundred strokes with the light bamboo. Right now they’re on public display on the Parade, locked up in a large cangue. I’d urge him to cool down a bit, or he may be in for a nasty surprise himself.”
“If you have no money to lend him, why didn’t you tell him so to his face?”
“I was afraid he mightn’t be able to take it, so I hedged, but he’s bound to come and ask you about it tomorrow. Just give him my apologies and tell him I said that I don’t have any money right now and can’t lay my hands on any, either.”
“How very clever of you, leaving the hard part to me!”
“But you’re not the one he’s trying to get a loan out of! Just tell him what I told you.”
Several days later Wu Jingyu did come to Qiang Da’s and speak to Cassia. “What did Wu Zhen have to say about that matter I raised the other day?” he asked. Cassia told him everything that Wu Zhen had told her in confidence, omitting nothing. Wu Jingyu smiled sourly. “And to think that I took him for a good fellow! I never thought he’d turn out to be such a hypocrite.” He stormed angrily out of the room.
Cassia waited until Wu Zhen made his next visit and then told him what Wu Jingyu had said in anger, but Wu Zhen took no notice. Little did he anticipate that Wu Jingyu would bear a grudge and look for some way to ruin him.
If you are wondering what scheme he devised, please turn to the next chapter.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Runners create a disturbance in a brothel,
And a close friend pays a private visit to a jail.
Wu Zhen had not only refused to lend Wu Jingyu the money he wanted to borrow, he had also engaged in some bragging, which Cassia reported to Wu Jingyu, holding nothing back. From that reason, Wu Jingyu nursed a grudge against Wu Zhen and tried to think of some way to avenge himself. As luck would have it, at this time the prefect happened to circulate an order to his subordinates to investigate and arrest anyone caught smoking opium. The two counties of Yangzhou, Jiangdu and Ganquan, dispatched many runners to make arrests throughout the city, and numerous rich households suffered harassment and injury at their hands.
In Ganquan county there was a runner named Bao Guang, who had long been on good terms with Wu Jingyu. The latter wanted to avenge himself on Wu Zhen, and since he knew that every evening Wu Zhen went up to Cassia’s room at Qiang Da’s to satisfy his opium habit, he sought Bao Guang out. “Brother,” he said, “I have a present for you.”
“What’s that?” asked Bao.
“There’s a runner for the Yangzhou Customs named Wu Zhen whose family is worth several thousand and who spends every evening at Qiang Da’s satisfying his habit. Take a few men with you and around the second watch burst into Qiang Da’s, go up to Cassia’s room, and seize Wu Zhen and all his paraphernalia. With the perpetrator and the evidence in hand, you need have no fear that he’ll get off. I’ll be waiting for you in another courtesan’s room, and when you raise the hue and cry, I’ll make out that I know nothing about it and come in and act as mediator. He’ll be terrified of prosecution, and at the very least you should be able to get a few hundred taels out of him. But how would you propose to split the proceeds?”
“The general rule is twenty percent for the mediator, but I’ll give you thirty. There’s just one thing: can we be sure about this?”
“Like catching a turtle in a tub! Otherwise, I’d never have come and told you.” Having reached agreement, the two men arranged to put their plan into operation that evening.
“Do you know how to find your way to Cassia’s room?” asked Wu Jingyu.
“I’ve been to Qiang Da’s several times and had banquets there with courtesans. Hers is the room at the back on the east side, isn’t it?
“That’s right. I’ll see you there this evening.” He took leave of Bao Guang and went home to have his dinner, then left for Qiang Da’s.
A group of clients was being entertained at an introductory tea party in Cassia’s room, and Wu Jingyu took himself off to Paria’s room, which was the one opposite. When Cassia heard that he had arrived, she sent another packet of opium over to him, and he lay down on Paria’s bed and smoked. After some time the clients in Cassia’s room left, and by an odd coincidence at that precise moment Wu Zhen walked in. The lamp was lit for him, and he began to smoke.
During the second watch Bao Guang gathered his colleagues Xiang Guang and Xu Guang, as well as four or five constables, and had supper with them at a restaurant before lighting three torches and heading for Qiang Da’s. Qiang Da welcomed them in front of the reception room. “Is Wu Zhen from the Customs here?” Bao Guang murmured.
“Yes, he’s in Miss Cassia’s room. Would you like to speak to him?”
“Don’t tell him we’re here.” He had the constables sit in the front of the house, while with Xiang Guang and Xu Guang he went to Cassia’s room at the back, pulled aside the door curtain, and walked in. Wu Zhen was lying on the bed with Cassia opposite him, and both were smoking. Wu Zhen had heard steps outside the door, then had seen the door curtain being drawn aside and someone coming in. He thought it must be some acquaintance who had come to see him and scrambled to his feet. Cassia also stood up and, seeing who the men were, extended a welcome. “Godfathers, please take a seat.”
Bao Guang went up to the bed and bowed to Wu Zhen. “Please sit down,” said Wu Zhen. Bao sat on the edge of the bed, while his colleagues sat on chairs at either side. The maid was quick to offer them tea and tobacco.
“Your name is Wu?” asked Bao Guang.
“Yes. But I haven’t asked you your name.”
“I’m Bao Guang.” Pointing to the others, he said, “He’s Xiang Guang, and he’s Xu Guang.” Then, pointing to the lamp, he added, “Brother Wu, please go ahead and satisfy your habit.” He lay down beside the lamp.
Wu Zhen assumed that he wanted to smoke himself, and he said to Xiang and Xu, “Please come over and smoke.”
“We don’t smoke, but you go ahead,” they replied.
Wu Zhen lay down and made a pellet that he placed in the pipe before handing it to Bao Guang. Bao took it but did not smoke. “How big a habit do you have?” he asked Wu Zhen.
“I’m trying to stop, but I still smoke several a day.”
“I wouldn’t bother you unless it was absolutely necessary. We’re runners for Ganquan county, and our chief has sent us over with an invitation for you.”
Wu Zhen was startled. “But who could have accused me? And of what? Kindly show me the warrant.”
“No one has accused you. We’re carrying out orders to investigate and make arrests. When we have a perpetrator and the evidence in hand, why do we need a warrant?” At this point Wu Zhen realized that his opium smoking was the reason.
Just as he was about to explain himself to the runners, someone walked into the room and bowed to everyone. Invited to take a seat, he said, “I came here for some amusement because I had time on my hands after supper. I was just sitting in the room opposite when I heard you brothers arrive, and I gathered you were here on official business. Our brother Wu here is a good fellow, and when I heard what was happening, I felt I had to come over and ask about it. In all the cases I deal with, I try to find a face-saving compromise, but I’m a layman, unfamiliar with official business. I wonder if you might have some suggestions?”
“We, too, have long admired Brother Wu as a good fellow. So long as he treats us fairly, we’ll be able to send him off with a rap on the knuckles.”
“I wonder if you’d mind sitting here for a moment while Brother Wu and I go across to the room opposite? We’ll have a little chat, and then I’ll come back and report.”
“Why not? Go ahead and have your chat.”
The newcomer took Wu Zhen outside. Wu Zhen had immediately recognized him. He realized that because of his refusal to grant the loan, Wu Jingyu had conspired with these men to scare some money out of him. In his fury he would have liked nothing better than to sink his teeth into Wu Jingyu’s flesh, which was why he had let him talk to the runners without acknowledging that he knew him.
Now that he was sitting in Paria’s room, Wu Jingyu said, “I didn’t mean to speak out of turn, but in my opinion this matter needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. Of course it will cost you a few taels, but at least it will save you from being taken to court. It would be too late then for any regrets.”
“What a piece of luck that you just happened to come out and act as mediator!” said Wu Zhen with a sarcastic smile. “Why don’t you figure out how much money I’ll need to come up with?”
“You and I may not be close friends, but we happened to meet here today, and I’ve taken it upon myself to get involved. But you’ll need to give me some figures before I can start talking to them.”
“I may work at the Customs, but I have nothing whatever to do with management. From what these people say, all they’ve got is a general search-and-seize warrant without my name on it. Well, it’s just my bad luck, I suppose. I’ll give them twenty thousand cash. I’d be much obliged if you’d tell them that.”
“Just wait here a moment.”
Wu Jingyu went over to Cassia’s room and said to the runners, “Brothers, I have an offer, but please don’t be offended by it. I had a talk with Wu just now and he said he had a modest offer that won’t fully satisfy you; he’s offering twenty thousand cash for all of you. Note that I’m the honest broker here; I don’t have any stake in the case. Would you gentlemen deign to accept?”
‘Hold others cheap and you cheapen yourself,’” said Xu Guang. “Twenty thousand, why, it’s not even enough for the constables!”
“If he’s tried, he’ll be sentenced to exile,” said Bao Guang. “Even if he chooses to pay a fine instead, he’ll still have to put up thousands of taels. Since you’ve come forward to help him, tell him that if he knows what’s good for him, he’ll give us at least five hundred. Otherwise, we’ll also take Cassia and Qiang Da to court, where they’ll have to pay a lot of money as well as face a criminal sentence. Tell him to add up all the costs.”
Wu Jingyu went back to Paria’s room and spoke to Wu Zhen. “Did you hear what they said?”
“Of course I did, I’m not deaf. If they want hundreds of taels on these trumped-up charges, I wonder how much they’d ask for if I’d committed a murder! To be frank, I may look as if I’m dressed up in grand style, but these clothes are deceptive. Working as a runner for the Customs—that’s just a general title. If I tell people I have no money, they don’t believe me. If I did have a little, I wouldn’t be in this beggarly job. Since our friends found their way to you, I can hardly say that I have no money at all. I’ll offer them forty thousand, so that they can buy themselves a dinner. If that still won’t do, I’ll just have to let them press charges. If it’s my fate to be sentenced, I won’t be able to escape it anyway.”
“Brother, you say they have no warrant, but whether you’re right or wrong about that, if you don’t take this chance to come to terms with them, you’ll be brought to the yamen, where you’ll find it a great deal harder to put your money to work.”
“It’s not that I’m too stupid to see that; the fact is, I really can’t raise the money. Tell them
that if they don’t accept the offer, I’ll just have to go to the yamen with them.”
Wu Jingyu went back to Cassia’s room. “He’s prepared to put up forty thousand, not a penny more,” he told them.
The runners were furious. “Let’s hold him in jail until he raises the money!” they said. They called the constables to the back of the house, where they took out their chains and went to Cassia’s room and shackled Wu Zhen. Then they put Qiang Da in chains, too, on the grounds that he had allowed Wu Zhen to smoke a forbidden substance on his premises.
They also put Cassia in chains and were going to take her off with them. Weeping and sobbing, she cried out, “Master Wu, you’re burying me alive! I came here from a hundred miles away and endured the disgrace of making my living in this business. Many of my family depend on me. You and I were lovers! Just ask yourself this: when did I ever get a lot of money from you? Yet today you drag me in to be condemned. How can you bear to see that happen? You can’t say you have no money at all. Add a little more, and ask these godfathers to do me a favor.” Wu Zhen was afraid to involve Cassia in the case, and he asked Wu Jingyu to increase his offer by twenty thousand, but the runners still refused to accept it.
When the runners first arrived, they clearly meant no good, and Sanzi, fearing trouble, had rushed off to get Yu Jiafu. At this point Yu came in and, hearing that Qiang Da was in chains, went straight up to Cassia’s room, where he exchanged greetings with the runners. After learning the details of the case, he entered Paria’s room and quietly explained the situation again to Wu Zhen, urging him to increase his offer and buy himself some peace.
“I’m most grateful for your concern,” said Wu Zhen. “You ask me to increase the payment. It’s not that I can’t bear to part with the money; the truth is, I just can’t raise it. If I agreed to give any more, I wouldn’t be able to pay it.”
