The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai

by Bangqing Han

  Soon afterward, both Benevolence Hong and Lichee Zhuang came over to Jewel’s room. Rustic Zhang and Simplicity Zhao hastened to greet them and invited them to sit down. Simplicity asked Rustic to broach the subject of his dinner party. Rustic sneered a little, but before he could raise the matter, Jewel saw what Simplicity was after and broke in, “What’s so embarrassing about a dinner party? Young Mr. Zhao would like to ask you two gentlemen to dinner. Now, isn’t that simple enough?”

  Simplicity had no choice but to reiterate the invitation.

  “I’m of course at your disposal,” Lichee Zhuang said pleasantly.

  Benevolence Hong pondered. “Will it be just the four of us?”

  “We’re too few,” Simplicity said and turned to Rustic Zhang. “D’you know where to find Pine Wu?”

  “He’s at the Fidelity Company, but I don’t think he’d come if you just send him an invitation. You and I will have to deliver the invitation in person,” Rustic replied.

  “Then may I trouble you to go there on my behalf?”

  Rustic gave his assent. Simplicity then begged Benevolence Hong to invite a couple of other guests for him.

  “Let’s ask Cloudlet Chen,” suggested Lichee Zhuang.

  Benevolence Hong replied, “I’ll come back later with whoever I run into,” and so saying stood up. “I’ll be back at six. Now I need to take care of a few things first.”

  Simplicity again repeated his earnest request for Benevolence’s assistance. Jewel saw him out of the room, but Lichee Zhuang ran after him and said, “If you do see Cloudlet Chen, please say I’d like to know whether he has taken my things over to Script Li’s yet.”

  Benevolence Hong promised to do so and then walked down the stairs and headed out of West Chessboard Street. A ricksha happened to pass by. He took it and rode to West Floral Alley on Fourth Avenue. Having paid the ricksha man, he went into the residence of Little Rouge at the mouth of the alley.

  “Pearlie,” he called out in the small courtyard.

  A maid looked out from an upstairs window. “Mr. Hong, do come up.”

  “Is Mr. Wang here?”

  “No, sir,” said Pearlie. “He hasn’t been for three or four days now. D’you know where he is?”

  “I haven’t seen him for a few days, either. Where’s the maestro?”

  “She’s gone for a drive in a carriage. Come up and rest for a while, sir.”

  Benevolence Hong had already turned to go, saying casually, “Never mind.”

  “If you see Mr. Wang, do bring him along,” Pearlie called out.

  Benevolence Hong gave an affirmative grunt as he departed. Crossing to Third Avenue through Co-security Alley, he arrived at Twin Pearl’s house in Sunshine Alley and walked straight through the parlor. It was all quiet. A lone manservant called out, “Mr. Hong’s here.” No answer came from upstairs. Benevolence went up, but the stillness was undisturbed. He lifted the door curtain himself, walked in, and, finding no one about, sat down on the divan. Only now did Twin Pearl come over from the room opposite, walking in slow graceful steps and holding her water pipe.

  Seeing Benevolence, she asked with a smile, “Where did you go last night after you left the restaurant?”

  “I went home.”

  “I thought you’d gone with friends to a party, so I told the maids to wait up for you for quite a while. Turns out you went home!”

  “Sorry about that,” he said smiling.

  Twin Pearl also smiled. She sat down on the stool in front of the divan and filled the water pipe for him. As he reached for it, she said, “I’ll hold it for you,” and put the pipe to his lips. He inhaled it in one breath. Suddenly, the sound of shouting and cursing came through the front door and surged into the parlor, followed by the noise of people coming to blows.

  “What is it?” Benevolence asked, startled.

  “It’s Golden and her family again,” said Twin Pearl. “No end of quarreling night and day. It’s partly Worth’s fault, too.”

  Benevolence went to the window to peer down. He saw the maid Golden pulling at the pigtail of her husband, Worth, but he didn’t move an inch. Now he laid his hand on her topknot, and, with one hefty push, she went straight down. Lying face down on the floor and unable to struggle to her feet, Golden nevertheless kept yelling, “Beat me if you dare!” Worth, without a word, pinned her down with one foot and started hitting her with his fist. His blows rained down all over her body, from shoulders to buttocks, and she started screaming like a pig being butchered.

  Twin Pearl could stand it no longer. She shouted out of the window, “What d’you think you’re doing? Have you no shame?”

  Everybody downstairs also shouted in unison for them to stop. Only then did Worth let go. Twin Pearl took Benevolence by the arm and turned around. “Just ignore them,” she said with a smile and passed him the water pipe.

  A moment later, Golden came upstairs, her mouth in a pout, and her face covered in tears.

  “You will quarrel night and day, whether there are guests here or not, is that it?” said Twin Pearl.

  “He pawned my fur-lined jacket, and then he dared beat me!” Golden complained and started to cry again.

  Twin Pearl said, “What more can we say? If you were a bit smarter, you wouldn’t get the dirty end of the stick every time.”

  That took the wind out of Golden. She took the teacups and tea leaves, went into the parlor, and sat there weeping.

  Then Worth came into the room with a kettle of hot water.

  “What were you beating her for?” Twin Pearl asked.

  “You know only too well, Third Maestro,” Worth said with a smile.

  “She said you pawned her fur-lined jacket, is that true?”

  Worth sneered. “Third Maestro, why don’t you ask her what happened to the savings club money that was collected the day before yesterday? I said we should send our eldest to learn a trade, and that’d cost five or six dollars, but when I asked her for the club money, she couldn’t come up with it. That’s why I pawned the fur-lined jacket, which only fetched four-fifty. Just thinking about it makes me burst with rage!”

  “The money from the savings club was what she put aside from her own earnings. Are you saying she’s not allowed to spend it?”

  “You know the situation only too well, Third Maestro,” he said smiling. “If she did really spend it, I’m easy, but what expenses d’you suppose she’s got? If you throw money into the Whampoo River, you’d at least hear a bit of sound; with her, you don’t even get that.”

  Twin Pearl smiled and said nothing. Worth made tea, prepared a hot towel, and then went downstairs. Benevolence moved close to Twin Pearl and asked in a whisper, “How many lovers does Golden have?”

  She quickly held up a hand to silence him. “Don’t speak out of turn. You may be saying this for fun, but if Worth should hear you, there’d be no end to their rows.”

  “I don’t see why you should bother keeping her secrets. Even I have heard something about it.”

  “Nonsense!” she said sharply. “Sit down, I have something to tell you.”

  Benevolence returned to his seat.

  “Did my mother say anything to you?” she asked.

  He bowed his head and thought for a moment. “Was it about buying a new girl?”

  She nodded. “It’s all settled, but it costs five hundred dollars.”

  “Well, is she pretty?”

  “She’ll get here any time now. I haven’t seen her yet. I expect she’s prettier than Twin Jewel anyway.”

  “Which room will she get?”

  “The one across from mine. Twin Jewel will move downstairs.”

  He sighed. “I’m sure in her heart Twin Jewel wants to do well, too. The trouble with her is she’s not smart enough for this business.”

  “My mother has spent quite a lot of money on Twin Jewel, too.”

  “You go on being nice to her, and see if you can persuade your mother to be more philosophical about it. Just think of it as char
ity.”

  As they were talking, they heard the steps of unbound feet running into the parlor, and a voice saying repeatedly, “She’s coming! She’s coming!” He hurried over to the window again and saw that it was the servant girl Clever Baby, still panting from her great rush.

  Knowing the new girl had arrived, he leaned over the windowsill with Twin Pearl, waiting. They saw Twin Pearl’s mother, Orchid Zhou, coming through the door, leading a virgin courtesan by the elbow. Clever Baby walked ahead of them, and they all came upstairs. Orchid Zhou led the girl straight up to Benevolence. “Mr. Hong, take a look. What d’you think of our little maestro?”

  He stepped closer to look the girl straight in the face. Clever Baby told her to greet Mr. Hong. She murmured something indistinctly, so embarrassed that she turned away, flushed scarlet to the ears.

  He saw that she had the kind of charm that would arouse both love and sympathy. “Excellent!” he said in earnest. “My hearty congratulations! This girl will bring you a fortune.”

  “Thank you, sir. Coming from you, it’ll no doubt come true. I only hope she’ll make a real effort. If she could be like her three sisters, it’d be good enough for me.” Orchid Zhou pointed to Twin Pearl as she said this.

  He turned to smile at Twin Pearl.

  “My elder sisters are all right now, both of them married. I’m left all by myself because nobody wants me, and you’ll have to keep me until I’m old and dead. What’s so good about that?” Twin Pearl said to her mother.

  Orchid Zhou guffawed. “You have Mr. Hong here. When you marry Mr. Hong, you’ll be twice as well off as Twin Joy. Isn’t that so, Mr. Hong?”

  He just smiled.

  “Think of a name for us first, Mr. Hong,” said Orchid Zhou. “When she proves that she knows the business, we’ll give you Twin Pearl.”

  “What about calling her Twin Jade?” he suggested.

  “Isn’t there anything that sounds better? Everybody’s Twin this and Twin that, what a bore!” said Twin Pearl.

  “Twin Jade is fine,” said Orchid Zhou. “In our business, the important thing is to be well-known. Call her Twin Jade, and everyone in Shanghai can tell she’s a sister of Twin Pearl and the other Zhou girls. That’s a lot better than using a new unknown name.”

  Clever Baby, who was standing to one side, laughed. “That sounds rather like the eldest maestro’s name, doesn’t it? Twin Joy and Twin Jade, don’t they sound about the same?”

  “What d’you know? About the same!” Twin Pearl told her off with a smile. “Go and get me the handkerchief hanging out on the veranda.”

  With Clever Baby gone, Orchid Zhou took Twin Jade to the room opposite. Seeing that it was getting dark, Benevolence Hong also got ready to leave.

  “What’s the hurry?” said Twin Pearl.

  “I have to go and see a friend.”

  She stood up as though she would walk him to the door but then remained standing there and just said to him, “If you’re going home later, drop by for a minute first; don’t forget.”

  He said all right and walked out of her room. By then the maid Golden was no longer in the parlor, so she must have gone elsewhere. As he approached the staircase landing, he heard the faint sound of someone weeping in the little mezzanine room. He peeped through the curtain. Instead of Golden, he found Twin Jewel, the other girl Orchid Zhou owned. She sat there with her face to the wall crying and brushing away her tears. To comfort her, he stepped into the room and tried to make conversation. He asked, “What are you doing here all alone?”

  Seeing that it was Benevolence, Twin Jewel quickly got up, gave him a smile, and greeted him by name. Then she bowed her head and remained silent.

  “Are you moving downstairs?”

  She just nodded.

  “The downstairs room is actually more convenient than upstairs.”

  She played with the hem of her jacket and remained silent. Unable to go further into the subject, he just said, “When you have time, go upstairs and visit with your elder sister. It’d be nice just to chat with her.”

  Only then did Twin Jewel murmur assent. Whereupon Benevolence Hong withdrew and went downstairs, with Twin Jewel seeing him off as far as the staircase.

  Benevolence left Sunshine Alley and turned east, heading for the Auspicious Luzon Lottery Store in South Brocade Alley. He saw the bookkeeper Bamboo Hu standing at the door looking around. As Benevolence went up to greet him, Hu hastened to invite him in.

  Without bothering to sit down, Benevolence asked, “Is Cloudlet here?”

  “Amity Zhu came a while back and went out with him. It looked like a dinner party,” said Hu.

  So Benevolence decided to invite Hu instead. “Then let’s go to a dinner party, too.”

  Bamboo Hu declined repeatedly, but Benevolence would brook no excuses. He just dragged Hu along to West Chessboard Street. Arriving at Jewel’s room at the Hall of Beauties, they saw that Simplicity Zhao and Rustic Zhang were there with another guest. Benevolence thought that would be Pine Wu and upon inquiring was proved right. As Bamboo Hu did not know anyone there, they all introduced themselves and then sat down to chat casually.

  By the time lamps were lit, only Lichee Zhuang was missing. When they asked Woodsy, she said he had gone shopping at Bowling Alley.1 The menservants set up the round tabletop, lined up the high-back chairs, and lit all the lanterns, which were paneled with silk framed with spotted bamboo. Simplicity, whose patience was sorely taxed by the waiting, started to pace the room, but the servant girl seized him and made him sit down again. Rustic Zhang and Pine Wu lay head to head on the divan, not smoking opium but talking about some confidential business in low voices. The Lu sisters Woodsy and Jewel sat side by side on the bed pointing to those present, talking and joking about them behind their backs. Bamboo Hu, who had little to say, looked at the calligraphy and paintings hanging scrolls on the wall.

  Benevolence Hong told Mama Yeung to fetch an inkstone and a writing brush so he could write out the chits for summoning girls to the party. First he wrote two names: Woodsy and Twin Pearl. Bamboo Hu was for summoning Third Treasure of Tranquility Alley, and he wrote that down. Then he asked Pine Wu and Rustic Zhang whom they wanted. Pine named White Orchid of Nobility Alley, and Rustic named Cassia of Auspicious Cloud Alley.

  Simplicity looked on as the writing was done. He suddenly got an idea and turned to Rustic Zhang, saying, “Let’s summon Second Wang, too; that’d be fun.” This brought a harsh look from Rustic. Simplicity was contrite.

  Thinking Simplicity also wanted to summon a girl, Pine Wu spoke against it, saying, “You’re the host here, so you shouldn’t call any other girls.”

  Simplicity was going to say it was not exactly a courtesan he had in mind but could not find the right words. Luckily, the menservants shouted downstairs just then, announcing, “Young Mr. Zhuang coming up.” Woodsy rushed out upon hearing this, and Simplicity took the opportunity to walk off and welcome Lichee Zhuang. After Lichee had come in and greeted everybody, he went next door with Woodsy.

  Benevolence Hong called for hot towels. Mama Yeung answered and took the call chits downstairs with her. By the time the menservants had prepared the hot towels, Lichee Zhuang had also come over. They all wiped their faces. Lifting the wine kettle high, Simplicity Zhao respectfully indicated that Bamboo Hu should take the seat of honor. Greatly surprised, Bamboo adamantly declined even though Benevolence also joined in to persuade him. And so Simplicity had to settle for placing Pine Wu in the seat of honor and letting Bamboo take the second seat. The others all took their places after brief attempts at offering precedence to each other.

  Jewel came forward to pour a round of wine. Simplicity held up his cup to salute his guests, and everybody thanked him and drank. The first course, as was the rule, was shark’s fin. Simplicity was just about to help serve everyone when they stopped him, saying, “Don’t stand on ceremony; best to be casual.” Without much ado, he obeyed and just said “Help yourselves” once. After shark’s fin came the thi
ngs served in small bowls. Woodsy had changed into party clothes and had just come over.

  “The maestros,” Mama Yeung announced.

  As Woodsy and Jewel could not sing, two musicians just sat outside the curtain and played some tunes with their wind and stringed instruments. When they had finished playing, the girls summoned to the party arrived one after another. Like the Lu girls, Rustic Zhang’s girl, Cassia, was no singer, either. The minute White Orchid appeared, she asked Third Treasure, “Did you sing?”

  Third Treasure’s maid understood what she meant. “After you,” the maid answered.

  White Orchid tuned her pipa and sang a Suzhou prelude, followed by an air from Beijing opera. Lichee Zhuang was the first to get into the mood and called for big cups for the wine games. Mama Yeung went next door to get three large chicken-pattern wine cups and set them in front of him.

  “I’ll hold ten cups in the bank,” Lichee said.

  On hearing this, Pine Wu immediately rolled up his sleeves, bared his arms, and started the finger game with Lichee. After White Orchid had finished singing, she drank the penalty wine for Pine Wu. Having taken two cups, she drank two more as reserve credit and then apologized, “Sorry, I have to move on to another party now.”

  Twin Pearl arrived late, after White Orchid had gone. Benevolence Hong noticed that Golden’s eyes were swollen to the size of walnuts, so he took the water pipe from her and prepared it himself. Golden turned around and stood with her back to the party. Twin Pearl opened her nutmeg box, took out an invitation card, and handed it to Benevolence Hong. He took it and saw it was from Amity Zhu, asking him to attend a dinner party at White Fragrance’s house in Generosity Alley. On the back of the card, there was another line of minute writing, which read: “P.S. There’s an important matter that I need to consult you about in person. Pray come quickly upon receipt of this message.” This last line was marked with thick circles for emphasis.

  Benevolence had no idea what all this was about, so he asked Twin Pearl, “When did the invitation come?”

  “It’s been quite a while now. Are you going?”

  “I have no idea what it is that’s so urgent.”