The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai

by Bangqing Han

  “But we are going home,” said Mrs. Zhao. “There’s nothing I’d like better than to go back right away, but Miss Flora wants to have a couple more days’ holiday, see a couple more shows, ride around a bit in a horse carriage, and do a bit of shopping …”

  Second Treasure, seeing that her mother was getting nowhere, stepped up hastily and cut her short, “Uncle, what Mother is trying to say—”

  Before she could finish, Benevolence pounded his fist on the table and barked at her, “I’m talking to your mother—you’ve no right to speak. Go look at yourself in the mirror. What have you turned into? Shameless little hussy!”

  The tongue-lashing made her cheeks burn. She withdrew to one side and started sniveling.

  Mrs. Zhao heaved a sigh and then picked up where she had left off, “Then there’s that brother Fortune of theirs, who’s got very attached to us—”

  At this, Benevolence violently stamped his feet and thundered at her, “You have the nerve to speak of ‘brother Fortune’! He’s ruined your daughter, d’you realize that?” He repeated this several times, thrusting his face down at hers. This so frightened Mrs. Zhao that she just stared at him, dumbfounded. No one uttered a sound.

  Flora, who was upstairs, heard the uproar and sent Clever to find out more. Seeing Simplicity peeking behind the door, Clever, too, stood there and listened. It was completely quiet in the parlor.

  After a long while, Benevolence’s anger somewhat subsided. He said in a clear loud voice to Mrs. Zhao, “Just tell me this: do you still want to go home or not?”

  “Why wouldn’t I want to go home?” said Mrs. Zhao. “But how am I to go home now? My wastrel of a son has scattered what little money I’d managed to save up in the last four or five years. And when we came out here, we had to spend some more. Now we haven’t even got the fare home.”

  “I’ll give you the fare. Go hire a boat and leave right away.”

  That stopped Mrs. Zhao dead in her tracks. She hesitated. “Of course it’s best to go home, but even if we have the fare, we still owe Miss Flora thirty dollars, and once we get back home, we’ll have no resources for the greater part of a year, no oil, salt, rice, or firewood. Who can we turn to then?”

  Benevolence sighed heavily. “All that you’ve said amounts to only one thing: you’re not going home. Well, I haven’t got enough of a fortune to take care of a nephew. You can do whatever you like, but leave me out of it. From now on, don’t come looking for me and give me a bad name. Just don’t think of me as your brother!” Having said that, he stood up and strode off without so much as a backward glance.

  Faint with anger, Mrs. Zhao collapsed in a chair while Second Treasure covered her face with her handkerchief and sobbed ceaselessly. Simplicity and Clever waited until Benevolence was at a safe distance before they came out from behind the door. Simplicity stood loyally by, wishing to comfort them but not knowing how.

  Clever said in surprise, “Why, that was Mr. Hong! Why was he so angry?”

  Mrs. Zhao told her to shut the front door and then called Second Treasure over and said, “Let’s go upstairs.”

  Simplicity followed behind. They went up together and sat down with Flora and Fortune as before.

  Flora asked Mrs. Zhao, “Are you going home?”

  “We really should,” Mrs. Zhao said. “Your uncle was right after all. But I just can’t figure out how we’re going to manage.”

  Second Treasure exclaimed tearfully, “Mother, how can you still say Uncle was right? All he did was reproach us. As soon as money was mentioned, he washed his hands of us and went off!”

  Simplicity chimed in, “Uncle spoke very strangely, too. Sister’s sitting right here, looking perfectly well, yet he said she was ruined. Whatever did he mean?”

  Fortune sneered. “Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but that uncle of yours is really outrageous. Even among us friends, we look out for each other when we’re in need, yet your uncle wants nothing to do with your problems! If you ask me, you’re better off without an uncle like that!”

  When everybody had expressed their opinion on the matter, it was put aside. Fortune spoke again to console Second Treasure and comfort Mrs. Zhao and also promised to find Simplicity a job. After that, he took his leave. Knowing she could not detain him, Flora simply enjoined him, “Come back for dinner later.”

  He promised and left the house. Before he had walked pass a couple of doorways, he suddenly heard a seductive voice call out “Eldest Young Master Shi.” He looked up. It was Third Treasure calling from her window and beckoning, “Come sit for a while.”

  Not having seen Third Treasure for a long time, he now discovered that she had developed a curvaceous figure. He thought this would be a good opportunity to have a cup of tea at her place and go in for further exploration. But it so happened that two other men walking toward him went into Third Treasure’s house just then and headed straight upstairs. Fortune checked himself, while Third Treasure turned her attention away from him to greet her two guests.

  Only one of them—Vigor Qian—was known to her. She asked the name of the other guest and was told it was Gao. She offered tea, a water pipe, and watermelon seeds. The routines over, as they sat talking, Vigor Qian kept calling Gao “Brother Second Bai.” Reminded of a character in the Beijing opera Rehearsal for a Wedding, Third Treasure chuckled. When Vigor asked her for the reason for her mirth, she covered her grinning mouth and did not reply. Second Bai Gao did not seem interested in this.

  After a brief stay, Second Bai Gao and Vigor Qian got up to leave. Third Treasure saw them out to the staircase. Walking shoulder to shoulder, the two men strolled leisurely out of Tranquillity Alley and turned into Fourth Avenue, where they stopped at the Western restaurant Sky in a Wine Pot. Vigor Qian offered to treat Second Bai to a Western meal there, and the latter accepted. They went in and chose a room of moderate size, after which the waiter brought inkstone and writing brush.

  “I’ll ask a friend to come and keep you company,” Vigor said after a moment of reflection. He filled out an invitation slip and gave it to the waiter.

  Second Bai saw that he had put down the name of Thatch Fang. “Is it the gentleman known as Old Fisherman?” he asked.

  “That’s the one. How did you come to know him?”

  “I don’t know him personally, but he writes poems, so I have often come across his name in newspapers.”

  Before long, the waiter came back to report, “Your guest will be here right away.”

  Vigor then turned to the business of calling girls to the party. He asked Second Bai, “Who’d you like to call?”

  “Just anyone will do,” Second Bai said with a frown.

  “Is it possible that not one of Shanghai’s numerous courtesans appeals to you? What kind of a girl have you set your heart on?”

  “I really have no idea. But since they’re courtesans, the words ‘chaste’ and ‘elegant’ wouldn’t apply; perhaps the carefree behavior of Madame Wang or the gay abandon of the young widow Zhuo Wenjun would be more their style.”2

  “You’re far too fastidious for a place like Shanghai,” Vigor said with a smile. “I for one have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Not to worry,” Second Bai said, smiling as well.

  Just then Thatch Fang arrived. Second Bai saw that he had a graying beard and cut quite a handsome figure in a boxy gown and vermilion shoes. When he learned Second Bai’s name, he laughed loudly and raised a thumb to signify number one, saying: “So here’s another great scholar from the south of the Yangtze!3 Delighted to meet you. Delighted!”

  Second Bai looked away without replying.

  Vigor wrote out two call chits, one for Laurel of Generosity Alley, who was Thatch’s girl, and another for Green Phoenix, his own girl. Second Bai then said, “The three girls we’ve visited today, let’s call all of them.” So Vigor wrote three more chits respectively for Third Treasure, River Blossom, and Twin Jade. After that, they looked at the menu and each ordered a few of their favorit
e dishes.

  “I see that our friend Second Bai is a practitioner of universal love,” Thatch said with a smile.

  “Not at all,” replied Vigor. “His book learning is so thorough that no courtesan appeals to him, so he’s calling just anyone.”

  Thatch asked, “Why didn’t you say so earlier? I know of one who’d definitely do the trick.”

  “Who is it? We’ll get her here and see,” said Vigor.

  “It’s Jade Wenjun of Prosperity Alley. Because she set her sights too high, your average client dares not approach her. It’s as though she’s reserved for a connoisseur like our friend Second Bai.” As this sounded rather appealing to Second Bai, he let Vigor add another call chit to the rest.

  Not long afterward, when they had finished the first two courses—soup and fish—the girl last summoned was the first to arrive. Second Bai carefully appraised this Jade Wenjun. Though she was only twenty, she had the emaciated look of a heavy opium smoker. There was little to recommend her, and Second Bai could not understand why Thatch admired her so much.

  “Later, when you go to Jade Wenjun’s place, you’ll see her study,” Thatch said to Second Bai. “Now that’s decor for you! One wall is lined with bookcases and another wall features four hanging scrolls, and all the poems her clients have written to her are framed in brocade. Where else would you find its like in the sing-song houses of Shanghai?”

  As the reason for Thatch’s admiration of Jade Wenjun dawned on Second Bai, he felt a pang of disappointment.

  Jade Wenjun picked up the subject. “There’re two poems dedicated to me in today’s newspapers. I don’t know who wrote them.”

  “Nowadays there isn’t any good poetry in Shanghai. Why don’t you ask Mr. Gao to write a couple of poems for you? He’ll make you famous, much more so than anyone else can,” said Thatch.

  Second Bai shouted, “Enough! Let’s play the finger game!” Vigor responded immediately, and the two were locked in combat. Thatch sat to one side, holding himself very upright. With his eyes closed and his head wagging, he mumbled on and on. Second Bai knew that the man was suddenly seized by poetic inspiration and so ignored him. After ten rounds of the finger game, Vigor, who was the loser, was about to ask Thatch to take on the winner. Just then Thatch burst out laughing. Having reached out for the inkstone and writing brush, he dashed something off and presented it to Second Bai with both hands, saying, “Such an artistic gathering as this calls for a poem. I have written a few vulgar lines, and I respectfully await your instruction.”

  Second Bai took the piece of paper and saw that it was a red card for writing out invitations; the poem was written on the back, which was white. He said, “That’s a nice invitation card. It’s made of foreign paper, isn’t it? What a waste!” He then tossed it on the table.

  To save Thatch from his embarrassment, Vigor took the poem and read it out loud. As he did so, Thatch slapped the table to mark the rhythm. Second Bai said impatiently to Vigor, “Didn’t you invite me to drink? Now I’m afraid I’m so nauseated I won’t be able to keep the wine down.”

  Smiling to cover his embarrassment, Vigor said, “I’ll play another ten rounds with you.”

  “Fine.”

  This time, Second Bai was the loser, but as the summoned girls had all arrived and each reached out a hand for a cup of penalty wine, he himself ended up not getting any to drink. After taking one cup for him, Jade Wenjun was the first to leave.

  Seeing that Second Bai did not take to Jade Wenjun, Thatch consulted with Vigor. “The two of us have to find him a more congenial girl. Otherwise we don’t do justice to his talent and sensibility.”

  “You go ahead. Matchmaking for him is beyond me,” said Vigor.

  Green Phoenix put in, “What about the new girl at our place, Gold Flower?”

  “Even I don’t think much of Gold Flower. How would she suit him?” said Vigor.

  “I disagree,” Second Bai responded. “Whether a girl suits me or not has nothing to do with whether she’s good.”

  “All right, then let’s go and see,” said Vigor.

  After they finished the Western meal with a cup of coffee, the guests and courtesans went their separate ways. Thatch, who had a date with Laurel, walked with Second Bai and Vigor as far as Generosity Alley, where they parted company. Thatch Fang went into Laurel’s, while Second Bai and Vigor Qian headed for Green Phoenix’s. Green Phoenix herself had gone on to another party, so Pearl Phoenix and Gold Phoenix both came to keep them company. Having been told by Vigor to fetch Gold Flower, Little Treasure went downstairs to carry out her order.

  Vigor first told Second Bai how Gold Flower had come to be there. “Well, Gold Flower was sold to Green Phoenix’s maid, Third Sister Chu. Third Sister’s own daughter, Perfection, managed to borrow three hundred dollars from a guest named Li, so they bought Gold Flower and put her here temporarily. She will go to a second-class house when the new season starts.”

  Before he had finished speaking, Gold Flower came in. After presenting them with watermelon seeds, she sat down to one side. Second Bai saw that she had a sluttish look about her that made her fine second-class material. Nor was she good at entertaining; though she sat there for a long time, she was completely silent. Second Bai felt he had had enough and rose to take his leave. Vigor wanted to go with him, but Gold Phoenix barred his way in a panic and pleaded, “Brother-in-law, please don’t go! Elder Sister will scold us if you do!”

  Vigor had little choice but to see Second Bai on his way. Gold Phoenix then asked him to lie down on the divan while she sat down on the humble side and toasted opium for him. He talked to her as he smoked. After he had had a few puffs, he heard a sedan chair come in from the street and go straight into the parlor. He knew that Green Phoenix had come home.

  Green Phoenix came into her room, changed out of her party clothes, and then picked up a water pipe and sat down by the window. Through all this, she uttered not a word. Gold Phoenix, being intelligent, immediately pulled Pearl Phoenix into the opposite room, but Gold Flower just sat there with a blank face, like a wooden puppet.

  ::

  1. [Though the two girls have already been seduced by Fortune Shi, they still try to maintain a facade of respectability. E.H.]

  2. Madame Wang was the wife of the famous fifth-century calligrapher Wang Xizhi and a calligrapher in her own right. She was noted for her talent and self-confidence. Zhuo Wenjun was a widowed heiress of the second century who eloped with the writer Sima Xiangru after listening to a song he played on the zither. It comes as no surprise that soon Second Bai was to be introduced to two courtesans named after Zhuo Wenjun.

  3. [The name Second Bai means second only to the Tang dynasty poet Li Bai who was well known for his prodigious talent. E.H.]

  CHAPTER 32 :: Gold Flower gets a whipping for imitating her better, and Twin Jade leaves a handkerchief as a token for her lover

  It was only natural that Green Phoenix would want to talk to Vigor Qian in private, but Gold Flower just sat there, not realizing she was a nuisance. Green Phoenix stared at her for a long time and then saw the funny side of it. She asked, “Why are you sitting here?”

  “Young Mr. Qian called me upstairs,” replied Gold Flower.

  Only then did it dawn on Green Phoenix. With a sigh, she said, “Young Mr. Qian called you upstairs to make a match for you! Didn’t you know that?”

  Bewildered, Gold Flower answered, “Young Mr. Qian didn’t say.”

  Green Phoenix smiled ironically. “That’s wonderful!”

  Vigor held up a hand and said, “It’s not her fault. Second Bai is like that. I told him before we came that she wouldn’t suit him. Then when he got here, he kept fidgeting, so how was she to entertain him?”

  Green Phoenix looked away. “If I had bought a girl like her, I’d certainly break her neck and be done with it.”

  He said soothingly, “Why not try and teach her a thing or two? She’s new to the business, so naturally she doesn’t know what to do.”

>   “Humph! When I saw my maid beating her, it seemed like a sin. But even after the beating, she still never takes in anything you tell her. Wouldn’t you be angry, too?”

  Gold Flower answered hastily, “I remember everything Elder Sister says, only it takes time to learn. Isn’t that so?”

  Green Phoenix turned to her and laughed. “And what have you learned?”

  Gold Flower was stumped. Vigor Qian couldn’t help smiling.

  After taking two puffs from the water pipe, Green Phoenix said to him slowly, “The girl’s a lowlife by nature. It’s not as if she’s not scared of beatings, but will she try harder to please? No. She has to be told to make even the slightest move.” Then she turned to address Gold Flower, “I’ll be frank with you: if you go on like this, you’re going to get a couple of good thrashings yet.”

  Hearing this, Gold Flower started weeping quietly, not daring to answer back. Green Phoenix was moved to pity, too, and said with a sigh, “As a girl sold to the house, you should consider yourself lucky. Just imagine running into someone like my mother. You know Pearl Phoenix is quite a bit smarter than you, but leaving out the beatings she’s had, just the footbinding made her lose three of her toes.”

  Gold Flower still said nothing.

  Green Phoenix went on smoking. After a long pause, she turned to Vigor again, “Look at it this way: our madams buy us girls to have us do business so they can earn a living. Wouldn’t they starve to death if we didn’t know how to do business? Naturally, they’d beat us. If our business were a bit better, would they dare beat us? Of course not; they’d turn around to fawn on us. Only stupid courtesans like her would do business for the madam and still get beaten. I never could understand why they make themselves so cheap.”

  As she was talking, they heard another sedan chair come in, and then the menservants announced, “Mr. Luo is here.” Gold Phoenix was already at the stairs welcoming him, saying, “Brother-in-law, over here.” Prosperity Luo went straight into the room opposite.

  Vigor Qian wanted to take his leave, but Green Phoenix held him back and barked at Gold Flower, “Go and make yourself useful in the other room.”