The Columbia Anthology of Yuan Drama
Page 29
Consorting with the virtuous, your wisdom will soar. (Speaks:)
You only deceive others, Rascal; you have never fooled me. (Sings:)
When first you emerged from the womb,
Your mother swaddled you,
Fed you tasty delicacies,
And raised you to manhood. (Speaks:)
It is only because you would not attend to the family business that your father fell ill from anxiety and died. (Sings:)
First you sent your sorrowful mother to an early grave,
And then you caused your father’s death as well.
Just look at you! Just look at you!
How can you call yourself a son who provides for his parents in old age?
RASCAL: Don’t look down on those two, Uncle. They’ve both read half of The Essentials of the Comprehensive Mirror.
ELDER: Rascal, let me tell you what you do every day—do not try to deny it!
RASCAL: Uncle, you tell me what sort of people I should respect and which sort I should not respect, and I’ll listen.
ELDER (sings:)
[Song of the God Nezha]
When you see a new actress arriving in the city … (Speaks:)
Worthless wretch! You say, “Come along …” (Sings:)
At once you send out an urgent invitation.
And when you see a respectable woman knocking at your door … (Speaks:)
Then you say, “Come in quickly …”38 (Sings:)
Then you descend the steps to meet her.
But when you see a proper scholar coming to your gate, (speaks:)
Then you say, “There’s no one at home, no one at home!” (Sings:)
You withdraw inside and hide.
You disdain those who snatch the toad and break the cassia,39
You respect only women whose beauty makes the moon pale and flowers blush.
You have none of Yan Pingzhong’s skill in making true friends.40
[Sparrow on a Branch]
You love only slender waists—
The ones like pliant branches.
A frequenter of dance halls and singing terraces—
Not to speak of that life of “evening moon and dawn flowers.”
Remember the days when to the tune “Six Little Ones”
The “Rainbow Skirt” dance was yet unfinished,41
On looking back the candles were burned out, the incense blown away. (Speaks:)
Rascal, the day will come when you will be a beggar!
RASCAL: Is that so? Just read my right palm: that’s not in my future!
ELDER (sings:)
[Dodder]
Have I not repeatedly admonished you,
Telling you that you’re sowing calamity’s roots and seeds?
You’ve neglected your humble wife, the treasure of your house,
Preferring instead seductive charmers, the bane of every home.
Ah, son,
You’re making yourself a pauper, frittering away the family fortune.
You only want to hear “Cassia Fragrance”
To the notes of sandalwood lute.42
But instead you’ll beat a beggar’s clapper
To lines from “Lotus Blossoms Falling.”43
[Six Little Ones]
Just there is concealed a snare,
Needles hide everywhere in silk padding; there are daggers in their smiles;
How can you escape the slapping and the hitting?44
These are nothing but mermaid silks within the bed curtains,
The most intoxicating brew,45
And the fatal allure of those voluptuous beauties.
Half a mat of that realm is as treacherous as eight hundred li of Liangshan,46
As dangerous as nights when the moon is black and the wind is high!
Those foul “mists and flowers”
Wait only for you, dissipated wretch,
To give them certificates worth five thousand salt ships
Or ten thousand loads of tea.47
[Same tune as above]
You’re captive behind their doors,
A prisoner in their trap—
A world where there are neither officials,
Nor the law of the realm,
Nor are there officers,
Not even prisons.
You began with the wealth of Golden Valley,48
But you frittered it away in a trice.
Let me tell you, there’s no way to escape;
It’s hard to get off this path.
You’ll be flayed and your feathers all plucked,
Until your whole body is scraped clean;
Then you’ll be broiled, toasted, boiled, or roasted.
Those bawds are armed with steel teeth and claws:
Even though your hands may be nimble and your feet quick,49
Your bones will melt, your body will dissolve. (Speaks:)
Rascal, what is the real reason for your visit?
RASCAL: I wouldn’t dare come for no reason, Uncle. Today I’ve come just to report that in the ten years since my father passed away, I’ve been rotting, sitting at home idle, with many expenses but no income. You could say that I’ve “sat and eaten the mountain empty, stood and eaten a hole in the earth.”50 It’s also said that a thousand strings of cash stored at home aren’t as good as a daily income of only a few. I’ve been thinking: since I’m originally from an old merchant house, I’d like to go into business with some partner now. But I lack the capital. Now that I think of it, there’s nothing left at home that’s worth any money. There’s only this one mansion that’s still worth five or six hundred ingots. If I sell it for capital, then quick as a wink I’ll make big profits.51
ELDER: Oh! Then you’ve already either mortgaged or sold your oil shop, your pawnshop, your treasures and your valuables, your produce and your property! You have only this mansion—your home—and you want to sell it too. If you do sell it, I’ll buy it.
RASCAL: If you want it, Uncle, go and inspect the whole house: the east corridor, the western lodge, the front hall, and the rear apartments, the gate, the windows, the outer and inner doors, upstairs and downstairs. Then make me an offer.
ELDER: But I do not need to look at it. (Sings:)
[One-half]
I care not if beams are old in eastern corridor or western shed.
RASCAL: The front hall and the rear apartments were recently tiled.
ELDER (sings:)
I care not if rear apartments and front hall were newly built.
RASCAL: If you want it, Uncle, I’ll set the price at five hundred ingots. That won’t be too much, will it?
ELDER (sings:)
It’s not that your unworthy uncle complains about the high price you ask.
RASCAL: When can I have the money, Uncle?
ELDER: I cannot give you that much money all at one time—(sings:)
At most in half a month; maybe less than ten days.
RASCAL: This is a hot item, Uncle. I’m afraid that someone else will come along and buy it.
ELDER: You want five hundred ingots; I will pay you two hundred fifty first. (Sings:)
Of these five hundred ingots, I will pay half
And owe him for the rest. (Speaks:)
Son, you go bring it in here.
MASTER LI (brings the money:) Here are two hundred fifty ingots’ worth of notes, Father.52
(ELDER hands it to CUIGE; RASCAL snatches it away.)
RASCAL: Give it to me! Look at you—just what do you know about financial matters!
(Hands it to HU and LIU.) Brothers, you two take it.
ELDER: When you use up all of this money, you will have no more houses to sell so easily—just keep that in mind.
RASCAL: All right. We’ll talk it over and go into business, then quick as a wink I’ll make big profits. (To LIU and HU:) Brothers, these two hundred and fifty ingots are just enough. First go buy ten big sheep, order a dinner with five kinds of fruit and five vegetables dishes, and buy some “popped
sugar lions.”53 As for my wife, give her a table by herself, but you two can share the same table like lovebirds. Spread a separate table for me.
LIU: That’s just how we’ll arrange it.
ELDER (overhears:) Rascal, what are you doing?
RASCAL: Nothing, just discussing business. I’ll take this money, purchase a variety of goods, and pile them on tables spread out in a line. When passers-by see them, they’ll praise me, saying, “What a lot of capital that merchant has to lay out a spread like this!” Quick as a wink your child will make big profits.
ELDER: Be cautious, child.
RASCAL: Whew! The old boy almost heard that! Brothers, by the time we finish the first soup, the temperature should be getting hot.54 Then we should doff our hats, loosen our clothing, and open up the shuttered windows on all four sides.
ELDER: What did you say, Rascal?
RASCAL: Nothing, just discussing business. I don’t want to give them the money in a dark room; if money changes hands in a dark room, someone might be deceived. As the saying goes, “Better to do it by daylight than in darkness.” Open the shutters for me! I’m discussing business and quick as a wink I’ll make big profits.
ELDER: Fine, my son; then I have not wasted my time.
RASCAL: The old boy’s gone now. Brothers, after the meal and just before we split up, one of you watch the stairway door. The other can pour from the wine jug, and I will hold the cups. We’ll have a couple of quick drinks. Tell your “darling” Miss Ever-Ready to dance and sing the Flower Garland Sutra for her sea of worshippers.55
ELDER: Rascal, what are you talking about?
RASCAL: Oh, nothing.
ELDER: Such a fool! (Sings:)
[Coda]
You belittle a mansion that reaches to heaven;
You find fault with your fields outside the city walls;
With one sheet of paper you sold them all.
Do you know where you’ll be roosting from now on—
Sheltered from wind and frost only by a broken-roofed brick kiln.56
Ah, son! Consider it in your heart:
Night after night, day after day, only gaiety:
When will you put in a day’s work to return home all sweaty?57
You’ve sold off all your curios and valuables,
Squandered all your fine silver and crisp paper cash.
Ah, son! How can you exchange those endless Deng Tong coins
For Xu You’s gourd?58 (Exits.)
RASCAL: Brothers, make all the arrangements quickly, and then come and get me. (Exits.)
ACT 2
(ELDER enters with his wife, MADAME ZHAO, and son, MASTER LI.)
ELDER: I am Li Maoqing; I purchased the residence of the Yangzhou Rascal and paid him for it. Of course he did not do any business with that money! In all likelihood those two scoundrels have swindled him again. If that wastrel does not reform, I will have failed to merit my old friend’s trust. What should I do?
MASTER LI: Father, I have been in business for some time now with only poor results. I must have been born with bad luck.
ELDER: You are wrong, my son. Of those who do business, there is one type who is willing to advance and who dares to take chances; he bears the wind and braves the snow, endures the cold and suffers the chill. There is another type who fears the wind and is afraid of the rain, so much so that he does not even go out of his gate. Thus of Confucius’s three thousand disciples, only Zigong was proficient in increasing his stock, and he became very wealthy as a result.59 How can success stem from one’s fate and not from personal endeavor? (Sings:)
[Zhenggong mode: Proper Decorum]
I believe that the rich are those who work hard;
Poverty does not depend on one’s fate.
We must shape our destinies through our own efforts.
Some may say that poverty and wealth are determined before birth,
But no—if they were, we could just sit tight and wait!
MADAME ZHAO: Husband, describe to our child how you earned money when you were a youth.
ELDER (sings:)
[Rolling Silken Ball]
I remember, in my youth, fierce were my blood and spirit;
I’d fight hard for even a fly’s head worth of profit.
Aiya!—that’s why my old body’s all worn-out now.
I’d risk life and limb in dens of tigers and wolves;
I cared not at all whether it was night,
Or whether it was daylight,
Whether it was rainy, or it was fair.
On the field of profit and fame I raced back and forth;
When did I ever know a single day of peace?60
I would be away for ten years or for five,
And so my present prosperity
Was built up through myriad pains and countless sufferings.
It is frightening to think of them all!
(CUIGE enters.)
CUIGE: I am Cuige. After Rascal sold our house, he took the money and went to Moonlight Tower with those two loafers, his so-called friends. There they drank and caroused with Miss Ever-Ready. I don’t dare keep silent about it, and so I’m going to report it to Uncle Li. And here I am already. Please announce me, Little Brother: say that Cuige has come to see Uncle.
MASTER LI (reports:) Father, Cuige is at the gate.
ELDER: Send her in.
MASTER LI (goes out:) Cuige, Father says for you to come in.
CUIGE (greets them:) Uncle, Aunt, myriad blessings.
ELDER: Why have you come, child? (CUIGE weeps.)
ELDER (sings:)
[If a Scholar]
I see that she cannot speak, breath catches in her throat;
I see that she cannot wipe away the tears streaming down her cheeks.
CUIGE: I am so angry at him that I could die! (Cries aloud.)
ELDER (sings:)
Pulling your ears and scratching your face so—
What good will it do?
CUIGE: Uncle, Rascal took the money from selling the house and, together with those two loafer friends of his, went to Moonlight Tower to drink with Miss Ever-Ready. When he has used up that money, he’ll even want to sell me. Uncle, what will I do if he does?
ELDER (sings:)
For my part I listen carefully
While you rail at him;
He, he, he—
How can he be so blind!61
CUIGE: Uncle, think of my late father-in-law: he worked hard to establish a family fortune with property as rich as fine brocade, hoping that his son and grandsons would pass it on. Who could have thought that Rascal could have squandered it all?
ELDER (sings:)
[Rolling Silken Ball]
Do not say that the family is not yet destroyed,
The family’s destroyer is not yet born;
Do not say that the family has not yet risen,
The one who will make it rise is not yet grown.
The ancients’ saying is proven true in every way: (speaks:)
Those who are parents … (sings:)
Would give everything to have their descendants
Flourish for generation after generation,
Wishing only that family and trade will grow,
That wealth and property will increase,
That year by year they will further prosper, further flourish. (Speaks:)
How could they know that for the children they rear … (sings:)
Would be adversaries from birth,
Flouting their every wish!62
Their mansions in the city, their lands in countryside—
Are to them like willow catkins in wind, duckweed on water.
Alas for the splendid future they might have had!63 (Speaks:)
My son, let’s take twenty or thirty stout fellows to Moonlight Tower to thrash those bastards! (Exits.)
(RASCAL, LIU LONGQING, and HU ZICHUAN enter.)
RASCAL: I’m the Yangzhou Rascal, and I’m having a great time! Today I’ll take my time drinking, and I won
’t go home until I’m really loaded.
HU: The wine and food are all ready.
RASCAL: Let none of us go home until we’re all really drunk. (Picks up a cup.)
(ELDER dashes in.)
ELDER: Rascal!
RASCAL (shows fright:) Oh, no! He’s come to break up my wonderful drinking party! Aiya! Uncle, I’ve invited my business partners out for dinner.
ELDER: Is this your “business,” Rascal? Is this how you “make big profits quick as a wink?” I ask you! (Sings:)
[If a Scholar]
It’s not the Festival for Sweeping Graves or the New Year,
Nor is there cause for celebration like a birthday;
For no reason you set out wine, spread the mats, invite a crowd.
LIU: He’s spoiling everything!
ELDER (sings:)
You honor …
What virtues in those knaves can you honor?
You respect …
What talent in those knaves can you respect?
Ah son,
Why do you follow such as these?
LIU: We’re not like that, Elder. We’re both scholars who have read half of The Essentials of the Comprehensive Mirror.
ELDER: Which of you has read half of the Essentials … (sings:)
[Rolling Silken Ball]
All you’ve read is the First Heavenly Classic on Fleecing Others!
HU: What about me?
ELDER (sings:)
You’re a cloth-robed scholar of how to strangle people! (Speaks:)
All you’ve ever learned is that one call, “Brother, wherever you’re going, take me along.” (Sings:)
You say you’ll be his groom and tend his whip and stirrups,
But even if you crash a thousand parties,
That will still not fill your bottomless pit! (Strikes HU.)
RASCAL: I’m imitating two of the ancients: I’ve learned how Lord Mengchang fed three thousand guests and how Gongsun Hong summoned the worthy to his eastern apartment.64
ELDER: Bah! A pity that you have no sense of shame! (Sings:)
Lord Mengchang was the son of a duke,
Gongsun Hong was a famous minister.
At court both were all reverence and respect;
In their homes they assembled only groups of worthies.
Where would we ever see scoundrels like you who neglect their wives … (Strikes him.)
HU: The old boy’s getting carried away with himself!
ELDER (sings:)
Or worse, these wretches who neglect their parents!
LIU: Calm down, Elder.