The Plum in the Golden Vase or, Chin P'ing Mei

by Roy, David Tod

  likely than not to hate you.

  If they feel that they are not receiving

  the treatment they deserve;

  They can be counted upon to abuse their

  spouses at least once a day.

  THE STORY goes that Wu K’ai escorted Yüeh-niang on her way back until the day that she arrived home. But no more of this.

  To return to our story, ever since Yüeh-niang had left home, P’an Chin-lien and Ch’en Ching-chi:

  In both the front and rear compounds,

  carried on with each other at home as though engaged in:

  The mating dance of a cock and a hen.

  Not a single day elapsed without their getting together.

  One day, Chin-lien noticed that:

  Her eyebrows were drooping, and

  Her waistline was expanding;

  all day long she suffered from:

  Lassitude and drowsiness, and

  Had no desire to eat anything.

  Calling Ch’en Ching-chi into her room, she said to him, “I’ve got something I need to tell you. For the last several days:

  My eyelids are reluctant to open,

  My midriff is gradually expanding,

  My belly feels quivering motions,

  I don’t feel like eating anything, and

  My body feels extremely lethargic.

  While your father-in-law was still alive I asked Nun Hsüeh for a fertility potion containing the afterbirth of a firstborn male child that would enable me to conceive, but nothing ever came of it. Now that he is dead, even though I haven’t been involved with you for very long, I am already pregnant. It was in the third month that I last menstruated, and it has been only six months since then, but I already have half a bulge in my belly. In the past I have been quick to criticize the faults of others, but now it looks as though I am likely to become a target of criticism. You’d better not remain:

  Still asleep in dreamland, but take advantage of the fact that the First Lady is away from home to go procure an abortifacient of some kind for me so that I can dispose of this fetus and be able to appear in public without embarrassment. Otherwise, if I have no alternative but to give birth to some benighted creature, I might as well commit suicide, for I won’t be able to:

  Raise my head and look people in the eye.”

  On hearing this, Ch’en Ching-chi said, “We have all kinds of pharmaceutical ingredients in our shop, but I don’t know which of them might serve as abortifacients, and I lack any recipe for their concoction. But you can relax. It’s not a problem. That Dr. Hu who lives on Main Street is proficient at prescriptions, both great and small, palpation of the pulse, and the treatment of female disorders and has been called upon by our household in the past. I’ll go and obtain a couple of prescriptions from him which you can take in order to abort the fetus.”

  “My good brother,” the woman responded, “you’d better get a move on if you want to save my life.”

  Ch’en Ching-chi, thereupon, wrapped up three mace of silver and went straight to the gate of Dr. Hu’s house and called to be let in. Dr. Hu was at home and came outside, where he greeted him with a bow.

  Recognizing Ch’en Ching-chi as the son-in-law of the prominent official Hsi-men Ch’ing, he offered him a seat, saying, “I haven’t seen you for some time. May I ask what brings you to my humble abode, and:

  What it is you would have me do for you?”2

  “There is nothing else I would trouble you with,” said Ch’en Ching-chi as he withdrew the packet of silver from his sleeve and offered it to him. “This is to defray the cost of the drugs. If I might prevail upon you to prepare a prescription or two for me:

  It would serve to affirm your goodwill.”

  “In my family’s practice of medicine,” responded Dr. Hu, “with regard to the preparation of complex prescriptions, palpation of the pulse, gynecology, pediatrics, internal or external medicine, the Chia-chien shih-san fang (Thirteen alterative prescriptions), the Shou-yü shen-fang, (Divine prescriptions for the realm of longevity), the Hai-shang fang (Overseas panaceas [from the Isles of the Blest]),3 and the various prescriptions for miscellaneous disorders, there is little that I have not mastered. I am also a specialist in the treatment of women both:

  Before conception and postpartum.

  Now blood is the fundamental element in female physiology. It is stored in the liver and flows out of the viscera, moving upward to form breast milk and moving downward to form menstrual emissions. It combines with semen to create the fetus. When a woman reaches her fourteenth year menstruation begins,4 her conception vessel begins to flow, and her menses start to occur at their monthly intervals, which are normally thirty days apart. If her blood and vital energy are out of harmony, there will be an imbalance between her yin and yang. If there is an excess of yang, her menses will occur earlier than usual. If there is an excess of yin, her menses will occur later than usual. It is the nature of blood that if it is hot it will flow, while if it is cold it will stagnate. Either an excess or a deficiency may induce disorder. Cold tends to produce white, and heat tends to produce red. When cold and heat are out of harmony, it is likely to result in red and white vaginal discharge. Generally speaking, when the blood and vital energy are appropriately balanced, the yin and the yang will be in harmonious accord; the semen and blood will converge with each other; and the fetus will be conceived in the uterus. The two pulses emanating from the heart and the kidneys can be palpated to monitor this development. Should the semen predominate, the fetus will be male. Should the blood predominate, the fetus will be female.

  This is a self-evident principle.

  In the early stages of pregnancy the most important thing is to tranquilize the fetus. Unless suffering from some other ailment, the pregnant mother should avoid taking any drugs or medications. After the ten months of pregnancy, when the time for parturition approaches, special care should be taken lest postpartum problems should develop. Beware! Beware!”

  Ch’en Ching-chi laughed at this disquisition, saying, “I am not looking for a prescription to tranquilize the fetus, but for an abortifacient.”

  “Between Heaven and Earth,

  Love of life is paramount,”

  opined Dr. Hu. “Nine out of ten people only seek prescriptions that facilitate conception. How can you be looking for an abortifacient instead? I don’t have any. I don’t have any.”

  When Ch’en Ching-chi saw that he was objecting to his request, he added another two mace of silver to the sum he was offering and said, “There is no reason for you to concern yourself about it. Individuals have their individual needs. The woman in question does not expect to have a safe delivery and consequently wishes to abort her fetus.”

  Dr. Hu accepted the silver, saying, “It doesn’t matter. I’ll give you the prescription for a potion known as the Safflower Clean-Sweeper. If she takes it, in the time it would take her to walk five li the fetus will be discharged.”

  There is a lyric to the tune “Moon on the West River” that testifies to this:

  Take Radix Achyranthis, Eriocheir Sinensis,

  and Radix Euphorbiae,

  As well as Magnetite, Radix Knoxiae, and

  Daphnes Genkwa Flos,

  Together with Cantharides, Hematite, and

  Sal Ammoniacum,

  And dissolve them in a mixture of mercury

  and saltpeter.

  Also add Semen Persicae, and Tetrapanax

  Papyriferus,

  Secretio Moschi, Adenophora Tetraphylla,

  and Campsis Grandiflora,

  And decoct them all in strong vinegar to

  make the Safflower Potion.

  You can be certain that the fetus of the

  child will be discharged.

  Ch’en Ching-chi, accordingly, purchased two doses of the Safflower Clean-Sweeper, bade farewell to Dr. Hu, and turned them over to the woman on returning home, explaining to her, word for word, what the doctor had said. That evening, she decocted the Safflower Po
tion and proceeded to swallow it. Almost immediately her entire abdomen became filled with pain and, lying down on the k’ang, she had Ch’un-mei press and massage her belly. Who could have anticipated that:

  Strange as it may seem,

  in no time at all, when she sat down on the commode, the fetus was excreted. Claiming it to be only a menstrual discharge, she had Ch’iu-chü wrap it up in grass paper and discard it in the privy. The next day, when the workman came to empty the contents of the privy, he observed that it contained the plump white remains of a little male fetus.

  As the saying goes:

  Good deeds seldom become known beyond the gate;

  Bad deeds are quickly transmitted a thousand li.

  Before many days had passed, the members of the entire household, both high and low, were all aware that Chin-lien had been carrying on an incestuous affair with her son-in-law and had aborted her illegitimate fetus.

  One day, Wu Yüeh-niang arrived home after having been away for half a month on her journey to and from T’ai-an prefecture. It was already the tenth month when she came home, and the members of the entire household, high and low, came out to greet her, feeling:

  Just as though she had fallen from Heaven.

  Upon arriving home, Yüeh-niang first burned incense to the gods of Heaven and Earth and the Buddha and then paid obeisance before Hsi-men Ch’ing’s spirit tablet, after which, she told Meng Yü-lou and her other sister wives, as well as the members of the household, high and low, all about what had happened to her at the temple on the summit of Mount T’ai and in the mountain stronghold. When she had finished, she couldn’t help weeping profusely. When the members of the household, high and low, had finished paying their respects to her, Yüeh-niang saw that the wet nurse Ju-i had brought Hsiao-ko with her so that mother and son were reunited. After she had finished burning paper money and serving wine to entertain Wu K’ai before he left, that evening her sister wives provided a feast in Yüeh-niang’s honor to welcome her home. But no more of this.

  The next day, Yüeh-niang, having braved:

  The wind and the frost on her journey,

  and been exposed to hardship and frightening events, found herself to be suffering from feelings of pain and lethargy throughout her body and continued to be indisposed for two or three days.

  Meanwhile, Ch’iu-chü, having been exposed to:

  An earful and a bellyful,

  of gossip about what Chin-lien and Ch’en Ching-chi had been up to, decided to go to the master suite and tell Yüeh-niang how the two of them had conspired to abort an illegitimate fetus and dispose of it in the privy, and how it had been discovered by the workman who came to empty the privy and consequently become public knowledge.

  Because of the way her mistress had beaten and abused her, she could not contain her resentment, but when she went to the door of the master suite, Hsiao-yü, once again, spat in her face, boxed her ears, and cursed her, saying, “You lousy tale-telling slave! Get out of here. My mistress has just returned from a long journey and is feeling so unwell that she has not even gotten up yet. Get out of here at once. The last thing she needs is to hear something to upset her.”

  This abusive reception caused Ch’iu-chü to:

  Swallow her anger and keep her own counsel,

  Nodding in assent and choosing to withdraw.5

  One day it was one of those occasions on which:

  Something is destined to happen.

  Ch’en Ching-chi came into Chin-lien’s quarters to pick up some clothes that had been stored there by the pawnshop, and he and the woman proceeded to fall to it together in the Flower-viewing Tower on the second floor.

  Ch’iu-chü took the opportunity to go back to the rear compound and summon Yüeh-niang to come see for herself what was going on, saying, “I have told you what they are up to at least two or three times, but you have not believed me. While you have been away the two of them have been getting together here at home:

  Sleeping from morning to night,

  And then from night to morning,

  and now they have actually smuggled out an illegitimate fetus. She and Ch’un-mei have forged an alliance with each other, and today he and she are up to their evil shenanigans once again on the second floor. I have not been telling lies to you. You should come see for yourself as quickly as possible.”

  Yüeh-niang promptly set out for the front compound. The two of them were just in the thick of things and had not yet come downstairs.

  Who could have anticipated that the parrot in a cage hanging under the eaves in Chin-lien’s room was capable of speech and called out in a loud voice, “The First Lady is here.”

  Ch’un-mei, who was in the room at the time, heard this and came outside where she saw that it was Yüeh-niang. Before she could call the woman down from the upper floor, Ch’en Ching-chi, with the clothes he had come to fetch in hand, came downstairs and headed for the door.

  Yüeh-niang took him strongly to task, saying, “My child, have you lost your memory? What have you come barging in here for:

  As if you didn’t know any better?”

  “A customer is waiting in the shop,” explained Ch’en Ching-chi, “and there was no one else available to come get his clothes for him.”

  “I left clear instructions,” said Yüeh-niang, “that in that case you should send a page boy in to fetch things. What excuse could you have to invade a widow’s quarters for no good reason:

  As if you didn’t know any better?

  Such conduct is utterly shameless.”

  These accusations caused Ch’en Ching-chi to flee outside, as though:

  Whether his fate were governed by metal or by water,

  There was no place for him to hide.

  Meanwhile, the woman was so embarrassed that she did not venture to come downstairs for what seemed like half a day.

  When she finally did come down, Yüeh-niang gave her a real dressing down, saying, “Sister Six, from now on you had better not continue to carry on so shamelessly. You and I are now widows, and our status is not what it was when we had a husband. Though:

  Everything may remain sweet smelling at home,

  Our reputation will become malodorous abroad.

  Even basins and jugs have ears.

  What sort of shenanigans have you been up to with this youngster:

  As if you didn’t know any better?

  You have given our servants reason to make unspeakably obscene allegations about you behind your back. As the sayings go:

  Wu Yüeh-niang Catches Chin-lien in the Act of Adultery

  If a man is untrustworthy,

  He’s as weak as untempered steel;

  If a woman is unfaithful,

  She’s as pliable as sesame candy.

  If one is upright,

  One will achieve one’s aims without giving orders;

  If one is not upright,

  Though one may give orders they will not be obeyed.6

  If you were resolute and straightforward in your conduct, you would not give the servants any reason to criticize you behind your back. They have complained to me about you several times in the past, and I did not believe them. But today, I have seen what you are up to with my own eyes, and it is unspeakable. As I have admonished you today, you must form a resolution to protect our husband’s good name in the future. Take my own case; while I was away on my incense-burning pilgrimage I was threatened with violence and coercion by those ruffians two or three times. If I had not been rigorous in protecting my honor, I might never have been able to make my way home.”

  When Chin-lien was subjected to this tirade of criticism from Yüeh-niang, she was so embarrassed that her face became a patchwork of red and white blotches, and she denied the charges a thousand times over, saying, “I was on the second floor burning incense, while our son-in-law Ch’en was in the storeroom nearby collecting his clothes. Whoever said so much as a word to him?”

  At this juncture, Yüeh-niang, after disputing with her fo
r some time, returned to the rear compound.

  That evening in their quarters, Hsi-men Ta-chieh also took Ch’en Ching-chi to task, saying, “You lousy jailbird! You can hardly deny that you were caught red-handed with:

  Irrefutable proof of your guilt,

  yet you continue to babble on about it. What sort of shenanigans were the two of you up to on the second floor? It goes without saying that the two of you have been up to mischief together while keeping me in the dark just as though you had:

  Put a water crock over my head.

  That whore has stolen my husband while still trying to keep me entrammeled with her specious words.

  Like the bricks in the privy:

  She is both hard and smelly,

  and seems to think she can still continue to ride herd on me. She’s just like:

  The ramshorn scallion that grows by the southern wall:

  The longer it stays there the hotter it gets.

  And you seem to think that you can still go on scrounging for food in this household.”

  “You whore!” retorted Ch’en Ching-chi. “While your family has hold of my money, you have the nerve to accuse me of scrounging for food off them.”

  So saying, he headed off for the front compound in a fit of pique.

  From this time on, Ch’en Ching-chi kept to the front compound, no longer daring to enter the rear compound without some legitimate excuse. When it was necessary to get anything from the storeroom, either Tai-an or P’ing-an would come inside and go up to the second floor to fetch it. Food for the midday meal was no longer brought out to the shop from the rear compound, leaving Manager Fu Ming in his hunger no recourse but to take money and go out on the street and purchase ready-made noodles to eat. Truly:

  When the dragon battles the tiger,

  The one hurt is the innocent fawn.

  All the doors and gates were closed while the sun was still high in the sky. As a result, the amorous relations between Ch’en Ching-chi and Chin-lien were interrupted once again. Ch’en Ching-chi’s original family home had been looked after and occupied for some time by his maternal uncle, Militia Commander Chang Kuan, who had forfeited his office and was residing there in retirement. Ch’en Ching-chi resorted to going there for his meals, both early and late, and Yüeh-niang did not even bother to inquire about it.