by Bangqing Han
White Orchid came up to meet them and said, “I want to ask a favor: would you mind sleeping here tonight?”
An astounded Pendant asked, “Why?”
“Just think, there’re so many rooms in Panorama Hall, and my servant girl and I are the only ones staying here. It’s really creepy, and I’m too frightened to sleep. I was just going to call on you at Pear Blossom Court when you called out for me. I’d be ever so grateful if you’d keep me company for one night. I’ll be all right tomorrow.”
Hairpin dared not make the decision; she turned to ask Pendant.
After pondering over this, Pendant replied, “Basically, it’s OK for us to sleep here, but it’s best if we avoid any possible awkwardness. If you don’t mind roughing it at our place, it’s better for you to come with us.”1
“It’s indeed better that way. That won’t be roughing it at all,” White Orchid replied.
And so the servant girl blew out the oil lamp and held the candlestick up high to light the way down. She then shut and secured all the doors. Pendant and Hairpin did not linger to admire the scenery but led White Orchid and the servant girl straight back to Pear Blossom Court. On finding the courtyard door tightly shut, they knocked repeatedly for a long time. It was quite some time before a sleepy old crone tottered out to open the door for them.
“Is there any hot water?” Hairpin asked at once.
“Hot water? You’re asking for the impossible! D’you have any idea what time it is? The tea stove went out long go!” the old woman replied.
“Just shut the door and go to bed, and shut your mouth as well,” Pendant said. Only then did the old woman hold her tongue.
The four of them went up to Pendant’s room in the dark. Hairpin struck a match to light the candle the servant girl had brought and invited White Orchid to sit down. Pendant wanted to offer White Orchid her bed, but White Orchid would not permit it and instead suggested they share it. Pendant complied. Hairpin saw to the servant girl, settling her on the couch in the outer room. Pendant then found a copper tea kettle and burner and fetched water herself to make tea while Hairpin produced a big platter of Cantonese snacks. They put these before White Orchid, who felt uneasy for having caused them so much trouble.
The three of them sat around under the lamp, talking heart to heart. When they came to questions about family, it turned out that none of them had living parents. This increased the bond of sympathy among them.
“To be orphaned when you’re little, now that’s really miserable,” Pendant said. “However caring your brother and sister-in-law may seem, they’re always thinking how they can take advantage of you. A child doesn’t know anything, not even when she’s been swindled. If I had a father or mother, would I be here now?”
White Orchid responded, “Exactly. My parents had just been dead for three months when my paternal uncle sold me as a slave girl for a hundred dollars. Luckily I got wind of it and told my maternal uncle, who paid off the other uncle with his own life savings. That was when I entered the business. But I had no idea my maternal uncle was rotten as well. When my business got a bit better, he swindled five hundred dollars out of me and never showed his face again!”
Hairpin, seated beside them, listened in silence, her eyes bright with tears. White Orchid turned to look at her and ask, “How long have you been here?”
Pendant answered on her behalf, “Her case is even more disgusting. When she came here, her father came with her. At least she called him Father. Later, when I asked her, I found out that it wasn’t her father at all. It was her stepmother’s lover!”
White Orchid said, “The two of you are quite lucky to have ended up here, but my fate is destined to be a sad one. The trouble is I don’t have a friend by my side. Whenever anything important happens, I brood about it all alone. Who can I talk to? When I’m upset about something, I just bottle it up because there’s no one I can tell. It’s so difficult to find even a maid or a servant girl who I can get on with.”
“But you also have cause to feel satisfied as well; you’re much better off than the two of us. Though we’re together, what’s the use? We haven’t got the least bit of freedom, so how can we help anyone else? Besides, who knows if we’ll still be together in a couple of years’ time?” Pendant said.
“When it comes to the future, nobody can tell. Who knows where we’ll end up? There’s no other way but to live one day at a time and just see what happens.”
Hairpin broke in, “Yes, you’re right, for us it’s living one day at a time. As for you, what’s so hard about figuring out your future? Mr. Hua is extremely taken with you, and once you marry him, you can sit back and enjoy life. That’s not difficult to foresee, is it?”
White Orchid burst out laughing. “You make it sound so easy. Well, if you put it that way, His Excellency is very nice too. Why don’t you two marry him?”
“One moment you’re speaking seriously, the next you want to make fun of us,” Hairpin complained.
Pendant, however, nodded. “This is serious talk as well. When all’s said and done, to be women in this world means we all have problems that we can’t put into words. How would anyone else know about them? We’re the only ones who do. I suppose you don’t find Mr. Hua, good as he is, completely satisfactory, right?”
White Orchid put her palms together in silent applause. “You’ve hit the nail right on the head. A pity I’m not staying here long term. It feels good talking to you.”
Hairpin commented, “Well, that’s hard to say. We don’t know if we’ll be leaving this place, or if you’ll be coming here, do we? As you said, we’ll see what happens.”
“If we get on well, it’s not necessary for us to be together all the time. We’d feel happier even when we’re not together.”
On hearing this, White Orchid said excitedly, “Why don’t the three of us be sworn sisters?”
Hairpin responded immediately, “Fine! Once we’re sisters, we can look out for one another.”
Just as Pendant was about to speak, there was a rustling sound outside, and, being timid by nature, she took a candle and pulled Hairpin along to check what it was. The moon had moved across the roof of the building; the bright stars had dimmed. Cocks were crowing in the surrounding countryside, but nothing stirred in the courtyard.
Having checked all around, they returned to the room, and the servant girl sleeping on the couch was awakened. Too tired to open her eyes, she asked, “What’re you doing?” They told her. “The sound came from downstairs,” she said. And, sure enough, they heard the rustling sound again. It was the girls in the troupe who slept downstairs getting up to use the chamber pots.
After calling aloud to confirm it was the girls, they returned to the room, closed the door, and said to White Orchid, “It’s almost dawn. We ought to go to bed.”
White Orchid agreed. Hairpin invited her to have more tea and snacks and then put the things away and tidied up before returning to her own room next door for bed. Pendant got up onto the bed and laid out two coverlets and then asked White Orchid to undress and take her place.
Having missed her usual bedtime, White Orchid could not sleep. She tossed and turned, but Pendant was quiet and motionless. Hairpin next door was snoring faintly. Then a crow skimmed over the rooftop, cawing. White Orchid lifted the bed curtains to peer out and found the white of dawn had illuminated the windows. She called Pendant’s name in a low voice, but no answer came. Draping her clothes over her shoulders, she decided to sit up in bed. Actually, Pendant was not asleep; she was just resting with her eyes closed. When she heard White Orchid sitting up, she did the same, and they started chatting.
“What d’you say to our becoming sworn sisters?” White Orchid asked.
“It seems to me we can look out for each other even if we’re not sworn sisters. But if we want to do it, let’s do it today.”
“Good, we’ll do it today. But how?”
“For us, it’s all a matter of how we feel, so we can do without the empty show of
feasting and presents. We’ll just buy a set of incense and candles, and when night time comes, the three of us will quietly kowtow several times. That’ll be all.”
“Fine. I think the less fuss the better.”
Seeing that it was already full daylight, Pendant wound up her hair simply, got off the bed, felt for her slippers, and then went to the area behind the bed. After a while, she came out, washed her hands, blew out the oil lamp on the dressing table, and returned to bed, where she sat hugging the coverlet. She asked White Orchid in a relaxed manner, “As sworn sisters, we’re like family; there’s nothing that can’t be said between ourselves, so I’d like to ask you about Mr. Hua. He seems quite all right to us. Why d’you find him unsatisfactory?”
White Orchid sighed before she spoke. “Even talking about it makes me feel frustrated! There isn’t anything unsatisfactory about him as a person, and we get along very well in every way—except for one thing. He is a man who fails to get ninety-nine things done out of a hundred. Anything that involves him personally, he won’t do. Even if you ask him to do the tiniest thing, he’ll consider thoroughly every aspect from every angle and make sure there’s no catch before he agrees. And if any busybody says it’s no good, then that’s the end of it. Now think about it, with a temperament like that, can he possibly marry me? Even if he wanted to, he’d never get round to it.”
“We always thought it was so easy for maestros and misses if they wanted to marry; they could choose whoever is a good sort and marry him. Having heard what you said about Mr. Hua, it seems you have your difficulties as well.”
Now it was White Orchid’s turn for questioning. “I want to ask you, too: do the two of you think you’ll get married?”
Pendant also sighed before she answered. “Things can’t be any more difficult for us. As we’re alone here, it doesn’t matter if I tell you a little about it. We’ve been here since we were little, so naturally we have to let His Excellency have his way with us. But because of that, things are now really awkward. His Excellency is over sixty, and should anything happen to him, we’ll be caught in between—neither mistress nor servant. What’ll people think of us? It’ll be too late to think of marrying then!”
“Hairpin was saying you might leave this place; is this what she meant?”
“She’s an intelligent girl; the only problem with her is the way she talks. Though she’s already fourteen, she doesn’t know anything about weighing her words and speaks whatever comes into her head. Just think, how can we say things like that at this time? Fortunately, she said it in front of you. If it had been somebody else, who then told His Excellency, we’d have been in a fine fix.”
Pendant yawned as she spoke, so White Orchid suggested, “Let’s sleep a while longer.”
“Indeed we should.”
White Orchid also made a trip to the place behind the bed. She saw a ray of sunlight had come in through the window, and the old women downstairs were getting up to open the gate and sweep the courtyard. It was around seven o’clock. The two of them hastened to lie down. “When you get up, please wake me as well,” White Orchid said.
“We’ll have a lie-in. It doesn’t matter,” Pendant replied.
Exhausted both mentally and physically, they fell asleep before they knew it and did not get up until one o’clock in the afternoon. When Hairpin heard them, she came in to tell them merrily, “There was a big joke today. It was said that two courtesans in the garden had run away. A huge number of people ran around creating havoc everywhere, and that went on until I got up and explained what happened.”
White Orchid could not help smiling.
Pendant told the old woman to relay the order to the household buyer to get a pair of large candles with cash payment and not to list them in the accounts. White Orchid also gave orders to her servant girl, “Make a trip home after lunch and on your way back go to the Qiao residence again and see if there’s any message for me.”
The servant girl left on her mission together with the old woman.
“Are we going to become sworn sisters today?” Hairpin asked anxiously. White Orchid nodded in reply.
Pendant warned her, “Would you please mind your tongue? All that talk about ‘runaway courtesans’! If Aroma had heard you, she’d have started imagining things. For that matter, this business of our becoming sworn sisters must be kept from Aroma as well. If she knows about it, she’s sure to want to join in. That’d be such a letdown.”
Hairpin gave her promise repeatedly, saying, “I haven’t told anyone about it.”
White Orchid said, “Well, don’t mention it before we become sisters. Once the ceremony is over, it won’t matter. It’s all open and aboveboard, and we’re not hurting anybody by doing so.”
Hairpin again promised to act as instructed. As they were talking, Aroma arrived and started interrogating the old women downstairs. On hearing her voice, Pendant called out “Maestro” from the window, and Aroma came up to greet them and deliver the host’s request for White Orchid’s company at lunch. White Orchid immediately took her leave from Pendant and Hairpin and followed Aroma to the Moon-worshiper’s Chamber.
When Harmony Qi saw White Orchid, he said, “It didn’t occur to me last night that no one else was at your place. Today I’ll have Aroma keep you company, and tomorrow night Iron Hua will be here.”
“Oh, please don’t!” White Orchid said in a panic. “I’m quite comfortable at Pear Blossom Court. We’ve agreed that I should go there tonight as well.”
“Then let Aroma go with you. You’ll have one more companion for your conversation,” Harmony said.
“I can’t agree. Aren’t I the same as Maestro Aroma? If you treat me as a guest, Your Excellency, I’d be too embarrassed to stay on. I’m going home!”
Upon hearing this, Aroma tugged at Harmony’s sleeve. “Don’t interfere if you don’t know what’s going on! They’re such a merry crowd at Pear Blossom Court, what would I do there?”
Harmony smiled and brushed the matter aside.
Soon Jade Tao, River Blossom, Modesty Zhu, and Twin Jade all sent word to excuse themselves from lunch, while Second Bai, Wenjun Yao, and Devotion Yin arrived one after the other and joined them at the table. Second Bai and Wenjun Yao, who were suffering from hangovers, did not drink. Devotion Yin, who felt exhausted, just rubbed his eyes and stretched himself, not even bothering to eat. Knowing White Orchid could hold her liquor, Harmony Qi told Aroma to urge her to drink. White Orchid barely wetted her lips and then upended her cup and begged to be excused.
They dispersed after the meal. Devotion Yin returned to his room to rest, while Second Bai and Wenjun Yao sauntered about. White Orchid also stepped into the courtyard. Aroma noticed that she was going back to Pear Blossom Court. She smiled and was about to say something to Harmony but thought better of it and checked herself. Harmony noticed this, however, and said, “Whatever you were going to say, just go ahead.”
Aroma was searching for an excuse when Greenie came in to say that the lady concubine wanted to trace some embroidery patterns. Aroma looked at Harmony, awaiting his wishes. As it was time for his afternoon nap, he said to her, “All right, go on ahead.”
“Would you like me to fetch Pendant?” Aroma asked.
He gave it a moment’s thought and then answered, “No, never mind.”
Aroma left word with the menservants standing on duty beyond the curtain to wait on Qi attentively and then went with Greenie to the inner courtyards.
Harmony Qi had a good nap. When the clock struck four, and there was still no sign of Aroma, he took a walk to kill time. As he strolled along, he found that he had passed through the garden’s inner gate, which led to the residence. He was going to look for Aroma, but now he suddenly thought of Dragon Ma, so he turned around and made for the study. There, he and Dragon Ma talked tirelessly until nightfall. He had supper there before he took his leave, ready to return to the inner courtyards.
He had just left the study when he ran into Aroma, who, all agitated
, shouted the minute she saw him, “Why on earth did you come here all by yourself? I looked for you everywhere in the garden; it’s worse than hide-and-seek!”
He calmed her down a bit, took her by the hand, and ambled along with her. When they got to the fork at the inner garden gate, she urged him to go to Panorama Hall. Though not enthusiastic, he obliged. They walked back into the garden and passed the lake house occupied by the Taos and Zhus without going in. When they approached the Bridge of Nine Twists, Aroma deliberately turned around and exclaimed in fake surprise, “Is that the moon?”
Harmony turned to look. He saw bright lamplight shining from the windows of Pear Blossom Court. Reflected by the whitewashed walls, it illuminated the entire courtyard, turning it a glowing red.
“I wonder what they’re doing,” she said.
“Playing mah-jongg, perhaps?”
“Let’s go and find out.”
“Oh, let’s not be a nuisance. We shouldn’t break up their party.”
And so she reluctantly followed him to Panorama Hall, their original destination.
::
1. [As members of the family’s theater troupe, the two girls have a lowly position and cannot stay in the guest quarters. It is only Qi’s fondness for them that makes Pendant say, “It’s basically OK.” E.H.]
CHAPTER 53 :: Flowers of different types are forcibly grafted together, and mating birds are driven asunder by a sudden alarm
Harmony Qi took Aroma with him to Panorama Hall. It so happened that both Second Bai and Wenjun Yao were in Devotion Yin’s room. There were greetings all round. Second Bai had a slim, roughly bound volume in his hand and was about to start reading. Harmony Qi saw from the label on the cover that it contained exercises in civil service examination essays written by the announcer, who had brought it to Devotion Yin to ask for his opinion and help. Harmony asked Devotion, “Has he made any progress lately?”
“Not bad. He’s showing some spark,” Devotion replied.
