by Bangqing Han
Yet this likewise brought a sullen retort from her. “Did I say you were wrong?”
Unable to think of anything else to say, Jade Tao went to open the door and call for the maid, Big Goldie. To his surprise, River Blossom had got up early and came out from her room in the back. She greeted him and was delighted to hear that Elder Sister was feeling better. Come the time Beckon was up and had helped Big Goldie tidy up the place, he told the menservants to take two of his cards to hurry the guests, Gao and Qian.
Toward noon, Vigor Qian arrived with Second Bai Gao. Jade Tao welcomed them into Water Blossom’s room. After greetings were exchanged, everyone took a seat, and tea was served.
Second Bai was the first to speak. “I’ve newly arrived in Shanghai and have no intention of practicing medicine. But my friend Vigor told me of your command, and I appreciated your esteem too much to turn down your request. May I suggest we do the consultation first and chat after that?”
Jade Tao naturally agreed. Beckon hurried off to get things ready and then notified Jade, who told River Blossom to keep Vigor Qian company while he took Second Bai into Water Blossom’s room. Water Blossom greeted them faintly and then put out her hand on a small foreign-style pillow. Second Bai sat down on the edge of the bed, carefully regulated his own breath, and then felt her pulse on both wrists. After that, he told them to lift the window curtains so he could look at her tongue.
The examination over, Jade Tao accompanied him back to the room opposite, where River Blossom had set out a writing brush, inkstone, and poetry writing paper on the table. Beckon rubbed ink stick on the stone to make ink. Vigor Qian moved to one side. Jade Tao asked Second Bai to sit down and then explained, “Water Blossom’s illness goes back to the ninth month of last year when she caught a cold and ran a fever a few times. It was nothing serious. But by spring this year she had gone downhill. Every time she got better, she fell ill again, as if the illness were chronic. It wasn’t fever, either. It started with her losing her appetite, so she ate and drank less and less, sometimes not eating for a couple of days. She got so thin, she was just a bag of bones. She did seem to get better in the summer, around the fifth and sixth months, but even then she still had a fever, though it didn’t immobilize her. She herself thought that she was recovering and didn’t take enough care. The day before yesterday she went for a drive to Luna Park, and she just stayed in bed all day yesterday, completely exhausted. When she’s irritated, she gets short of breath, and if you ask her questions, she says not a word. She only eats about half a bowl of congee a day, and that just turns into phlegm. She can’t sleep at night, and when she does, she breaks out in a cold sweat. She knows all this bodes ill, and she cries, which makes it even worse. I wonder if anything can be done about it?”
Second Bai replied, “This is consumption. If she had taken a concoction to strengthen her respiratory energy and improve her general condition when she first fell ill in the ninth moon last year, she’d have been all right. The fact that you mistook it for a fever led to a bit of a costly delay. This relapse has nothing to do with the carriage ride; it’s more a matter of her poor condition. The root cause of her illness is a weakness in her circulation and respiratory systems. This is aggravated by poor digestion. But that alone wouldn’t give you consumption. I take it that she is extremely bright and has overworked her mind, accumulating worries and sorrows over the years, thus doing damage to her digestive system. Such damage is evidenced in an emaciated appearance, physical feebleness, coughing and congestion in the chest, a sour acid taste in the mouth and hiccups, very little intake of food and drink, and an intermittent fever. This is what is called consumption. The problem is, the damage has gone beyond the digestive system to the heart and kidneys. Irritation and sweating are just some of the symptoms. In a few days, she’ll experience many other problems, chills and aches in her back and knees, palpitations, and wild dreams.”
Jade broke in, “You’re right; she has these problems even now. She often cries out from fright in her sleep and on waking says it’s a dream. As to her back and knees, they’ve been aching for a long time.”
Second Bai picked up the writing brush and dipped it in the ink. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Given her poor appetite, she probably has trouble taking medicine, too.”
Jade replied with a frown. “That’s right. And even worse is her habit of covering up her illness to avoid seeing a doctor. If she sees one and gets a prescription, she stops taking the medicine as soon as she feels a little better. There’s a prescription for pills that she never even touched.”
Thereupon Second Bai dashed out a prescription, the writing brush moving swift as a hare. He began by detailing his diagnosis and then listed the herbs and their different methods of preparation. He handed the sheet to Jade Tao. Vigor Qian also came over to look at what he had prescribed. River Blossom, thinking there was something interesting, pulled at Jade’s arm to have a look. When she saw it was just a sheet of paper covered with cursive writing, she lost interest.
Jade Tao had a quick look at it and saluted Second Bai, expressing his gratitude. Then he asked, “Another thing: when she first fell ill, she used to cry and fret, but now she doesn’t do that at all. Does it signify complications?”
“Not really. Previously, her problem was restlessness; now it’s weariness and fatigue. All this stems from the heart. If she could stop worrying, take the right nourishment, and rest well, she’ll recover faster than by taking medicine.”
Vigor Qian asked, “Is this illness curable?”
“There is no such thing as an incurable illness. But if an illness has dragged on for a while, the recovery will also take time. She’ll be all right for the next couple of months. The autumn equinox is probably the critical time. After that, we’ll be able to tell if she will completely recover.”
Jade Tao, on hearing all this, was severely shaken. When he recovered, he asked Second Bai and Vigor Qian to make themselves comfortable while he took the prescription into Fair Sister Li’s room. Fair Sister had just woken and was sitting up in bed. He read out the diagnosis and the list of herbs and then repeated to her what had just been said.
She, too, was shocked. “Second Young Master, what do we do now?”
Jade Tao had no answer; he stood there numbly. Only when the table had been set outside and Big Goldie repeatedly called out for “Second Young Master,” did he toss the prescription down and go out to join his guests.
::
1. [In the mutual teasing between clients and courtesan, men invariably go for sexual innuendo while women often claim to be their opponent’s mother. Eileen Chang considered this a roundabout way of calling the man a son of a bitch. This is not necessarily true as such teasing is often friendly. Both this case and that between Snow Scent and Elan Ge show no malice. E.H.]
2. [This arrangement would have made her his unacknowledged concubine while all the time she wanted to be his wife. E.H.]
CHAPTER 37 :: A willing apprentice is rewarded with torture, and a brothel hand is blackmailed into a loan
Jade Tao came out to River Blossom’s room and asked Second Bai and Vigor Qian to come to the table. The three of them drank and chatted; there were no other guests, and they did not summon any other girls. River Blossom tuned her pipa and prepared to sing, but Second Bai said, “Don’t bother.”
“Second Bai likes opera. Sing an aria; I’ll accompany you on the flute,” said Vigor Qian. Beckon handed him a flute; he played as River Blossom sang two sections of “Pale Sky, Light Clouds” from A Small Banquet.
This put Second Bai in a good mood, and he followed with “Sitting in a Southerly Breeze” from Viewing Lotus Flowers.
“Would you like to sing?” Vigor Qian asked Jade Tao.
“I’ve got a bad throat. I’ll play the flute; you sing,” Jade replied.
Vigor Qian passed him the flute and sang “South Creek”:
Parting brings endless sorrow
After two months together, I’m suddenly
alone …
He finished the whole aria. Second Bai cheered. Taking her chance, River Blossom poured a large cup of wine and urged him to drink. As Jade Tao was rather depressed, Second Bai ordered rice to be served as soon as he had drained his cup. Feeling apologetic, Jade pressed him to take three more cups of wine.
Soon the party was over, and the guests took their leave. After seeing them out of the parlor, Jade Tao hurried back to Water Blossom’s room. As Second Bai walked shoulder to shoulder with Vigor Qian out of East Prosperity Alley, he asked, “Water Blossom’s mother, brother, and sister, as well as Jade Tao, are all very affectionate toward her; there’s nothing to make her unhappy. I don’t understand why she should have such an illness.”
Vigor sighed before he spoke. “Water Blossom should not have gone into the brothel business. It’s really her mother’s fault. Since she ran a sing-song house, Water Blossom had no choice. Even then, her only client has been Jade Tao, whom she wanted to marry. Now, if he were to have taken her as a concubine, she wouldn’t have been unwilling. Unfortunately, Jade insisted on marrying her as his wife. This aroused the opposition of his uncles, his brother and sister-in-law, and all his relatives on the grounds that it’d be a disgrace for the family to take a courtesan for a wife. Water Blossom heard about it. Now, she had never wanted to be a courtesan in the first place and in reality had never worked as one, yet everybody called her a courtesan, and could she have denied it? Her illness came from the pent-up anger.”
Hearing this, Second Bai also sighed. They had reached the entrance to Generosity Alley. As Second Bai had another engagement, he saluted Vigor Qian and went on his way. Qian walked into the alley alone, and as he approached Green Phoenix’s house, he saw a courtesan in front of him staggering alongside the wall, leaning on a maid’s shoulder for support. At first he paid her no attention, but at the door he recognized that it was Gold Flower.
“Mr. Qian,” Gold Flower greeted him and then headed for Second Sister Huang’s little back room.
Vigor Qian walked upstairs. Pearl Phoenix and Gold Phoenix vied with each other to welcome “Brother-in-law” and ushered him into the room.
“Where’s Gold Flower?” Green Phoenix asked.
“Downstairs,” he replied.
In case Vigor had anything confidential to say to Green Phoenix, Gold Phoenix used Gold Flower as an excuse and went downstairs, taking Pearl Phoenix with her.
After Green Phoenix had been talking with Vigor for a while, the grandfather clock struck three. Since he knew Prosperity Luo came every day, he wanted to take his leave.
“Sit for a little longer. What’s the hurry?” she said.
He was still hesitating when Pearl Phoenix and Gold Phoenix came back with Gold Flower to see Green Phoenix, so he said good-bye and left.
The minute Gold Flower saw Green Phoenix, tears welled up in her eyes. “Elder Sister,” she whimpered, “I wanted to come and see you a few days ago, only I couldn’t walk. Today I made up my mind to come. Elder Sister, will you save my life?”
“What d’you mean?” Green Phoenix asked in bewilderment.
Gold Flower lifted her trouser legs to show her. Her calves were marked with long dark streaks—marks left by a whip. They were also covered in blood red dots that looked like stars in the sky—burnt marks left by a red-hot opium pick.
Green Phoenix was moved to pity. “I told you to try harder to please. Why wouldn’t you listen to me? Look at the state you’re in!”
Gold Flower said, “You don’t understand! This mother of mine is different from the mother here. If you don’t try hard, you naturally get a beating, but even if you do, you still get a beating. This time, it was because a client came three or four times, and then Mother said I was too eager to please him and beat me for it.”
Green Phoenix said with a great upsurge of anger, “You have a mouth, why didn’t you speak up for yourself?”
“I did! I said exactly what you taught me, Elder Sister. I said if she wanted me to do business, she had to stop beating me, otherwise I wouldn’t do business. When she heard this, she locked me in my room and called Old Mrs. Guo over to help her. They pinned me down on the divan, beat me all night long, and then asked whether I dared not to do business.”
“Then you should have flatly refused and let them go on beating you.”
Gold Flower replied with a frown. “Elder Sister, it hurt so terribly, I just couldn’t say no anymore!”
Green Phoenix said sarcastically, “If you can’t stand pain, you should have been a lady in a mandarin’s family. What are you doing as a courtesan?”
Gold Phoenix and Pearl Phoenix let out a giggle. Gold Flower hung her head and sat there in silent shame.
“Well, was there any opium?” Green Phoenix asked again.
“Yes, there was opium in a jar. I tasted a wee bit, and it was horribly bitter; how could you swallow it? Besides, I heard that raw opium would cause all your intestines to burst. Wouldn’t that have been painful?”
Green Phoenix poked two of her fingers at Gold Flower’s forehead, saying between clenched teeth, “You good-for-nothing!” Then she stopped herself.
It so happened that while they were talking, Second Sister and Mama Zhao were in the parlor, where the laundered and starched sheets had been spread out on two square tables for sewing. Hearing what Green Phoenix had said, Second Sister walked in and told her with a smile, “If you want to pass your own abilities on to her, you’ll have to do it in another life. Just think, since she went over there the month before last, only an old client of Perfection’s called Chen has given a dinner party there. It’s been almost two months now, and she’s only had one client, who ordered sweetmeats once and had a tea party three times. It turns out that this was none other than her lover who works in a hardware store. He went there after supper and stayed until midnight every time. That’s why his boss complained and Third Sister Chu beat her.”
“Well, if she had no dinner parties, what about party calls?” asked Green Phoenix.
“I told you she managed one dish of sweetmeats. What party calls are you talking about?”
Green Phoenix jumped up to confront Gold Flower. “So, you earn all of one dollar in a whole month! D’you want your mother to eat shit?”
Gold Flower dared not reply. Green Phoenix repeated her question several times and reached out to push Gold Flower’s head up. “Speak up! D’you want your mother to eat shit while you have a good time with your favorite client?”
Second Sister tried to intervene. “What’s the point of telling her off?”
Green Phoenix was so angry, her eyes popped out and her lips trembled. She shouted, “That Third Sister Chu is useless. If she has the energy to beat her, then she should beat her to death! Keeping her around just means losing more money.”
Second Sister stamped her foot and said, “Enough!” She then pressed Green Phoenix back onto her seat. Green Phoenix slapped the table and gave an order, “Throw her out! Even the sight of her annoys me.” Her hand came down so hard that a gold-trimmed tortoiseshell bracelet on her wrist was broken into three sections.
Second Sister cleared her throat and then said, “Now that’s bad luck we don’t deserve.” She signaled Gold Phoenix with her eyes.
Gold Phoenix took Gold Flower by the hand and led her over to the next room, but Gold Flower, feeling she had lost face, wanted to go home. Second Sister did not detain her. Yet Gold Phoenix was very friendly toward her and saw her out to the courtyard. They happened to meet Prosperity Luo, who had just gotten off his sedan chair. Unwilling to come face-to-face with Luo, Gold Flower stepped aside and waited until he had gone in before saying good-bye to Gold Phoenix. Leaning on a maid, she walked slowly out of Glory Alley and then turned into Treasured Merit Street, where she headed eastward, back to the Hall of Immortals on East Chessboard Street.
Having no idea how to deal with her misfortune, Gold Flower could only hope that Third Sister would not check on her so she could somehow get by. Unexpe
ctedly, the next day after lunch, when she was flirting with several menservants in the parlor, Old Mrs. Guo turned up at the door and beckoned for her. She hurried over in trepidation.
Old Mrs. Guo said, “I’ve found two nice guests for you. Now, you must try hard to please them, understand?”
“Where are they?” Gold Flower asked.
“Here they come!”
Gold Flower looked up to see a slim youth and an older man with whiskers who walked with a limp. Both wore a pale blue gown of mandarin gauze. Gold Flower welcomed them into her room and asked for their last names. The youth was named Zhang; the one with whiskers said he was Zhou. Both were strangers to Gold Flower, and Old Mrs. Guo only knew Rustic Zhang. The menservants brought nuts and sweetmeats that she offered them according to etiquette. She then went over to the divan to toast opium.
Old Mrs. Guo edged near Rustic Zhang and whispered, “The girl’s my niece. Could you look after her a bit? Give what you like.”
Rustic Zhang nodded.
“Shall I order a dinner party for you?” she asked.
Rustic Zhang firmly forbade it.
After dawdling for a while, Mrs. Guo tried again. “Why not ask your friend if he’d like to?”
“D’you know who this friend of mine is?”
She shook her head.
“This is Clement Zhou.”
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Guo grimaced and sneaked out. Gold Flower filled a pipe with opium and offered it to Clement Zhou, who, not being an addict, invited Rustic Zhang to smoke first. Seeing that Gold Flower had little to recommend her in looks, singing, or conversation, Rustic just smoked his fill of opium and then left the Hall of Immortals together with Clement Zhou. They strolled about at leisure and then stood at Fourth Avenue to look at the horse carriages coming and going and finally drifted into Splendid Assembly Teahouse for a cup of tea to kill time.
