A Concubine for the Family: A Family Saga in China

by Amy Kwei

  “Oh, there is the usual wasting of mouth water!” Orchid answered.

  “I heard the girls are taught not to bring the rice bowl to their mouths,” Peony volunteered.

  “They are also forbidden to slurp their soup!” Orchid mopped up the spilled water. “They learn silly things in that school, but some girls put on airs!”

  “The Western customs are strange, but these are not provocations.” Purple Jade frowned. “There must be some personal reason.”

  “The lord sent a message into town. Some family will come to claim the body soon.” Orchid gave the floor a vigorous scrub. When she stood up, she felt better.

  “Orchid, take this grocery list to the accountant.” Purple Jade thrust out the paper. Her firm order was given in a voice just loud enough to summon the authority of her class and breeding; she wanted no more speculation about the body. “Don’t go out the back door again. All the freedom and fancy learning did not bring this girl any peace!” She glared at her daughter.

  “Golden Bell said it is fun to learn how the electric light works!”

  “Hai,” her mother said with a sigh. “Western learning favors the practical, but it doesn’t build character. It is your father’s fault. He is too fascinated by Western toys.”

  Purple Jade stopped sipping her tea, remembering all the novelties her husband had brought into the house. Seven years earlier, Righteous Virtue had installed electric lights; two years later, he added “self-coming water” to the schoolroom and the kitchen; last year, he bought a new “gas car.” “That Shanghai chauffeur he hired,” Purple Jade shook her head. “He’s causing such an uproar among the servants!”

  She put down her teacup. The Dragon Well tea did not taste right. She dabbed her mouth with her handkerchief. It tasted as if it had been brewed with river water taken from the muddy shore. Water from the center of the river was clearer, although nothing could equal the clean, crisp taste of water from Tiger Run Spring. The Dragon Well tea of her household was always brewed from Tiger Run Spring water. The servants were delinquent. She must look into this.

  “Peony said the chauffeur is really interesting. Imagine, he said he isn’t afraid of any foreign devil.” Silver Bell brought her mother back from her private thoughts.

  “Are you afraid of the foreign devils, Silver Bell?” Her mother smiled. A few laugh lines appeared at the corners of her eyes, but her cheeks were still gleaming and taut.

  “No. Sometimes I go by the schoolroom to watch Miss Tyler. She doesn’t scare me. But the chauffeur says that in Shanghai men and women openly hug and kiss each other! The barbarians know no shame.”

  “That is exactly how I feel, my little heart-and-liver.” She took her daughter’s hand. “And that is one reason you are not going to the schoolroom.”

  “Will jei-jei also hug and kiss when she goes to Shanghai?”

  “Golden Bell is not going to Shanghai.” Her mother dropped the hand. “Now, are you ready to recite your lesson?”

  “No M-ma, it’s too hard to memorize things I don’t understand!”

  “It is good discipline to memorize. You’ll understand when you’re older.” Her mother opened the book. “These passages are relevant to what we were talking about. The first couplet says man is always born good and kind.

  Origin of man,

  Is always kind.

  “The second couplet says while nature will stay true, bad habits will corrupt man and bring him far from his original goodness.

  Nature brings close

  Habit channels away.

  “So the third couplet concludes that if a child is not properly taught, his good nature will change.

  If not taught

  Nature will change.

  Now, do you think you can memorize these few couplets?”

  “I’ll try. But I wish I could learn about the electric lights instead.”

  “Hai, what’s a mother to do?” she moaned. In her mind, she knew perfectly well how her daughters felt — as if a fluttering bird from that foreign picture had flown inside them.

  Silver Bell smiled. “M-ma, have you thought of a birthday present for Father?”

  “I am embroidering this vest for him.” She shifted in her seat. “Except for our chess games, he isn’t interested in anything I do anymore.” Her eyes narrowed as she reached for her embroidery. She did not mean to confide her innermost fears to her young daughter.

  “Father is a book-fragrant gentleman. You always said he never indulges in sleeping with the willows and lying with the flowers.” Silver Bell tilted her head to peer into her mother’s face.

  “Yes, he is too noble.” Purple Jade shuddered at the thought of an unfaithful husband. “He deserves a better wife. All the wind-and-water men chose the best date and time for our marriage, yet we have no sons.”

  “Would Father take a concubine?”

  Purple Jade paused. Giving her husband a concubine — this would be the traditional way to ensure an heir. The thought sent her heart thumping. Somehow, her silk thread became tangled. She laid down her embroidery and looked for her scissors. “No, my little heart-and-liver, your father is too Westernized. If you do not go near the schoolroom but study your classics instead, I will find you a husband someday who is willing to take our name. Then no male relative would dare claim to be a master of this house.”

  “But Father says I must go to the school room, after I turn ten next winter.”

  Purple Jade stared into the empty space ahead. Fingering the mangled threads, she asked: “If you should become Westernized, who will marry you and serve as our heir?” Silver Bell was not listening. “M-ma, I’ll try to memorize the couplets!” She touched her mother’s back and ran off.

  “MORNING PEACE, JADE-jei.” Glorious Dragon entered his sister’s sitting room. He was five-feet-ten. In his gray wool suit he looked like an Oxford student on a foreign holiday.

  “Morning peace, Dragon, but it is already past ten o’clock. Were you up last night checking the company books I sent you?” Turning to her maid, she ordered: “Orchid, bring us tea.”

  “I don’t want tea.” Glorious Dragon motioned Orchid to stay and started pacing. “Everyone knows I’m here to check on our family business, but I don’t need to look at the books.” He stared at the ground. “I’m here to ask for your help. It’s a worthy adventure.”

  “What do you mean?” Purple Jade frowned. “What are you up to now?”

  “You know how Father used to call his nephew Yu Wei a depraved brat? Well, now he is addicted to opium and has so much gambling debt . . .”

  “He’s had to sell his mansion in town.” Purple Jade finished her brother’s sentence. “He’s a disgrace to the Chou family.”

  “Exactly!” Dragon stabbed the air with his hand; his voice rose in anger. “General Chin Bar-tau has turned it into an elite opium den — now called the Prosperous Dream.”

  “The same General Chin who’s in the secret police, and is one of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek’s bodyguards?”

  “That’s him! We must do something before the Chous lose more face.”

  “I’ll speak to my lord and see what he can do.”

  “I wouldn’t ask him and put him in danger. General Chin has connections to the underworld, and he’s so powerful politically you’ll jeopardize your husband’s career and maybe even his life!”

  “Yes, you’re right.” Purple Jade shuddered, twisting her handkerchief. Her rapid heartbeat seemed to have become a bird twittering inside her. She asked, “What can anyone do?”

  “I have a plan.” He winked. His eyes were a near copy of his half-sister’s. “I plan to go in there and create some disturbance.”

  “What kind of disturbance? What good would that do?” Her brother — the bright swath in her life — had always supplied challenges and diversions. Now she felt like a bird perched on that pine next to the bell-shaped mountain, ready to dive into the clear water.

  “You know the smokers are all lethargic and prefer a qui
et place. Maybe if I picked a fight and caused an uproar, people would shun the place.”

  “Oh no! You’re going to get both the Huangs and the Chous into trouble.” Purple Jade slammed the handkerchief onto her lap.

  “I’m not in town too often. If I put on a moustache, some glasses and a Chinese robe, no one will recognize me.” Glorious Dragon shrugged, but his eyes were sparkling. “I think a female companion might divert attention from me.”

  “How are you to pick a fight with people who loll around as if they’re half dead? They won’t fight back!”

  “I’m not sure.” Her brother paced away. “I’ll just take a look and improvise something. Maybe I’ll tip over some furniture, pretend I’m drunk or I’ve gone crazy. I promise you. I’ll return safely. No one will know I’m involved.”

  “Such bold plans.” Purple Jade snickered. She tried hard to silence the twittering bird. “I’m sure you’ll have no trouble starting a disturbance, but how are you going to escape?”

  “I’ll slip away in the confusion.”

  “Don’t get us involved!”

  “Haven’t you always blamed the foreigners for bringing opium into our country?”

  “Yes, they did!”

  “So why would you allow opium in our town?”

  “Oh.” Purple Jade fidgeted with her handkerchief, ruminating on the consequences if she should get involved. But the fluttering bird inside her seemed ready to take flight. She tried in vain to hold it back. “I know my lord will berate me for being too permissive with you. I have never refused you anything. But an opium den in town is truly obnoxious.” Her face turned red and she could almost feel the shaft of sunlight shining over that snow-capped Bell Mountain. Oh, she could almost taste the sweet wine of freedom. “What can we do?” she asked finally.

  “Be brave and help me!”

  “I’m not sure if I can help. You said you need a female companion?”

  “Yes.”

  Her heart was pounding like a drum, but she could feel the sunlight warming that crystalline lake. She furrowed her brow and mumbled, “You’re determined to do this?”

  “Yes, I’ll do it with or without your help.”

  It was so seldom that Purple Jade could do anything important outside her home. She would love to practice medicine, but who would want to train a female? Now her brother had asked for help. Maybe she could supply the female companion. Yes, Orchid would be useful. “Orchid is the only one I can trust.” The bird inside her took flight.

  Orchid looked puzzled.

  “I also thought she might be the most appropriate! Here. Glorious Dragon lowered his voice and pulled out a cheongsam and a pair of high-heeled shoes from his briefcase. He took out a Shanghai magazine and handed it to his sister. “Make her up to look like this.”

  Purple Jade thumbed through the pages, examining the photos. “Yes, no one will recognize either of you.”

  “You mustn’t tell anyone.” He glared at the women. “Especially the servants and my brother-in-law.”

  “Your plan is so outrageous, you might just pull it off.” A mischievous grin lit Purple Jade’s face. “I must go with you.” She felt as though she had dived into the limpid water of the lake and shuddered in the sudden chill.

  “What? Oh no!” her brother groaned. “People will recognize you!”

  “I’ll close the curtains and hide in the back of the car. No one will even detect a shadow inside.”

  “You won’t show your face?” Glorious Dragon smiled, his face flushed with excitement. “Good. I’ll tell my brother-in-law that I won’t need the chauffeur, and that I’ll take you out for a drive around four o’clock tomorrow.” He resumed pacing. “Orchid and I will disguise ourselves in the car, and I’ll park it behind the Silver Palace Restaurant across the street from the new Prosperous Dream. I heard that even though Saturday is their official opening, the den is already full of patrons.”

  Purple Jade shivered. Was it due to the imaginary snow-fed lake or her brother’s reckless plans? She felt lightheaded but could not stop. “Orchid, I’ll tell you what we’ll do later.”

  For the rest of the day, Orchid practiced walking on high-heeled shoes in the privacy of her mistress’s bedroom. She pretended she was in the back of the car and learned to take off her cotton jacket and trousers and slip on the cheongsam. Purple Jade helped her apply makeup and pile her hair into a chignon.

  Glorious Dragon did not tell his sister that he had already visited Prosperous Dream two days earlier. He found out that by four o’clock, the lunchtime crowd had departed but the evening patrons hadn’t yet arrived. In fact, the service personnel would have their evening meal at five and only a few malingerers would remain in the opium pavilion. The sickeningly sweet smell of opium smoke, mingled with the sour stench of perspiration sent him rushing out into the sunlight, reeling with nausea. To regain his composure, he took a stroll and found a cache of fireworks stashed just outside a corner of the opium pavilion, ready for the opening celebration on Saturday.

  When Glorious Dragon arrived the next afternoon to take his sister and her maid for a drive, no one suspected anything. Once inside the car, Purple Jade drew the curtains closed around the back seat. Despite her practice sessions, Orchid trembled so much that Purple Jade had to help assemble her disguise.

  “You’ll do just fine. Remember how families and fortunes are destroyed by the drug.” Purple Jade applied Orchid’s makeup and tried to keep her hands steady. She repeated the same instructions she had given the day before: “You don’t have to say anything. Just serve the opium the way they served my father when he was alive.”

  “Yes, I’ll try my best, Tai-tai,” Orchid answered. She had heard enough about the evils of opium, but she had never entered an opium den. She was intrigued, but also edgy. Her mistress had guided her all her life, and now her blind trust tempered her anxiety and excitement.

  Glorious Dragon drove into a quiet lane to take off his suit jacket. He slipped on a Chinese robe and put on a jaunty hat, glasses and a moustache.

  “Oh you look like a stranger.” Purple Jade laughed nervously.

  They parked behind the Silver Palace. When they saw no one was around, Glorious Dragon helped Orchid out of the car. Crouched behind the front seat, Purple Jade watched her brother adopt a splayed walk while Orchid clung to his arm. Orchid walked with mincing steps, which gave her a seductive sway.

  Purple Jade’s legs felt sore and she was twisted into an uncomfortable position, but she did not feel the usual pain in her feet. If she weren’t a cripple, would she have taken Orchid’s place in this plot? Yes, she might have. Her outrage at the presence of an opium den in town overshadowed her usual concerns with propriety and decorum. She perspired. She felt restless and young again. She shifted in the cramped space, fiddled with her handkerchief and imagined herself swimming in the aqua lake. She peeked out the window. Everything was quiet. Should she tap on the horn if she saw something suspicious? “Oh please, please don’t let anyone find out about our role,” she prayed to Kwan Ying Buddha.

  Glorious Dragon led Orchid into the parlor. As expected, the proprietor greeted them as he would any prosperous couple ready to forego dinner for the pipe — and so addicted that they need not be watched. Orchid, in her fancy clothes, passed as a prostitute. Her shaky steps amply demonstrated that she was in dire need of a fix and would lapse into oblivion after just a few puffs. Reassured, the proprietor left for his evening meal.

  The smokers lolled on their rosewood beds and sucked on their pipes. The opium lamps lit the artificially darkened den like fireflies, fluttering with each draw of the smokers. Glorious Dragon and Orchid walked by several wasted figures hunched over the miniature hurricane lamps. Some stared up at them with vacant eyes. Saliva dribbled from their gaping mouths, revealing smoke-stained teeth. The addicts would not have recognized their own mothers.

  Several serving girls hovered over the reclining bodies. Some twirled a thin stick in a jar of opium paste, shaping it
into a pellet. After turning and warming the brown blob over a small dusty lamp, they placed the pellet into the pipe’s porcelain bowl, inverting it over a glowing fire to burn the opium. The smoker sucked on the pipe and exhaled; thin wisps of fumes curled around his mouth and nostrils. Then he leaned into his pipe, and slowly and steadily he inhaled again. The little flame winked eerily in the darkness.

  Glorious Dragon chose a bed near the entrance for a quick getaway. After picking out the pipes and opium, he motioned the serving girl to leave them alone.

  Orchid began to twirl the opium paste. The atmosphere of lazy inattention stirred Glorious Dragon to action. With a sleight of hand, he pulled out strings of firecrackers from his robe and lit the long fuse lines. He hurled them toward the corner draperies where the fireworks were stacked outside the window. He threw his opium lamp after the firecrackers, adding fuel to the sparks.

  Firecrackers banged, immediately followed by screams and shouts. Fire crept up the draperies and burst into flaming columns that consumed the wooden beams overhead. Everyone, even those who looked comatose, struggled to reach the door. Some hobbled, some crawled on their hands and knees, and many had to be carried to safety.

  Once outside, Glorious Dragon avoided looking into the frightened eyes surrounding him. More loud bursts followed. The burning building ignited the fireworks outside, which looked anemic under the afternoon sky. The roar of flames sent everyone coughing and scrambling. The staff and other shouting men gathered to help. They flailed their arms in frustration. Their buckets of water could not contain the fire. Crowds gathered across the street; all eyes were riveted on the fiery display. Glorious Dragon and Orchid slipped into their car unnoticed.

  Purple Jade peeked through her curtains and mumbled her “oh-me-to-fu” to her Kwan Yin Buddha.

  “Oh, Dragon, you didn’t tell me you would burn this place!” Purple Jade gasped as soon as her brother came near. “People can get killed!”