The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai

by Bangqing Han

  Cassia smiled. “You see, Sunset is a top-class courtesan, a real maestro. They’re a cunning lot. People like us, on the other hand, are down to earth, with just a few clients. Once we get someone like Second Young Master, all we hope for is that his business prospers, his health is good, and he’ll go on patronizing us.”

  “There’s something I’d like to say to you,” said Mrs. Yao. “Since Second Young Master is at your place, I’m placing him in your care. When he goes to the foreign settlements, don’t let him call another courtesan. If he insists on doing so, tell the maid to send me a message.”

  Cassia repeatedly gave her promise. Still holding her by the hand, Mrs. Yao went downstairs in slow graceful steps, and they came out of the restaurant together. Cassia waited until the maid, Ma, had left with Mrs. Yao’s sedan chair before going home in her own. She found Mallow Yao lying on the couch smoking opium.

  “You’re certainly taking it easy!” Cassia said mockingly. “Second Mistress is going to give you a beating. You’d better watch out.”

  Since Mallow’s spies had already made their report, he was totally unconcerned and just sat there grinning. Having changed out of her party clothes, Cassia recounted in detail what Mrs. Yao had said and how she’d behaved. Mallow was so jubilant, he scratched his ears and his cheeks, not knowing what to do with himself. But Cassia gave him these instruction: “Later today, after you’ve been to the party, go home early. When Second Mistress asks about me, you should always say I’m nothing much, no comparison with Sunset Wei.”

  Before she could finish, he shouted, “How can I mention Sunset Wei? That’ll really mean a beating for me!”

  “Then just say second-class houses are uninteresting. If she asks you whether you’ll continue to come here, tell her just now you don’t have any courtesan that suits you, so you’ll just continue for a while. A couple of remarks in this vein will make Second Mistress very pleased.”

  Mallow could not say “yes” fast enough. They conferred a little longer before he left in his sedan chair for the bureau to attend to some official business. At nightfall, when the work was done, he went straight to the party. This evening, it was Elan Ge’s farewell feast for Lotuson Wang, held at Snow Scent’s in East Co-prosperity Alley. The company remained the same. Mallow had set his mind on going home early, so he left before dinner was over. The others, having drunk too much several nights in a row, were no longer in the mood for wine. They just sat for a while after dinner and then dispersed.

  As the party had ended early, Lotuson Wang walked with Benevolence Hong to Twin Jade’s in Sunshine Alley for tea and sweetmeats, and they sat together in Twin Jade’s room. Twin Pearl came over to greet them with this opening remark: “You look much better today. The way you drank last night was pretty scary!”

  Pearlie, who was toasting opium and rolling it into a pellet for Lotuson, said, “You should drink less, Mr. Wang. Smoking opium after you’ve had a lot of wine doesn’t make you feel so good, right?”

  Lotuson smiled and nodded in agreement. Pearlie placed the pellet in the pipe. When he started smoking, Lotuson sucked in the leftover opium gunk in the pipe. Scrambling up in a panic, he spat into the spittoon by the divan. Pearlie immediately took the pipe and cleaned it with a metal borer. Twin Jade, seated at a distance, signaled Clever Baby with her eyes, and Clever Baby took a large covered glass jar from a dressing table drawer. It contained crabapple preserves, which she offered to Mr. Wang and Mr. Hong. Something stirred in Lotuson’s memory, and he sighed.

  Having cleared out the pipe, Pearlie held it over the opium lamp for Lotuson to smoke, asking, “Is it true that at Maestro Little Rouge’s, there’s just her mother waiting on her at parties?”

  Lotuson nodded.

  “Not even a servant girl then, after Goldie left?”

  Lotuson nodded again.

  “It’s said she’ll be moving to a hideaway, is that true?”

  “I don’t know,” Lotuson said.

  Pearlie had only filled the pipe for him twice when he had had enough. He sat up cross-legged, indicating he wanted the water pipe. Clever Baby fetched it. As he smoked, two teardrops ran down his face. Pearlie could not very well inquire into the matter. Twin Pearl and Twin Jade looked at each other in silence. It was so quiet in the room, all they heard were the crickets chirping.

  Benevolence knew what was on Lotuson’s mind and realized there was no way to console him, so he just made small talk with Twin Pearl. They caught sight of the door curtain being slightly lifted and a head poking in. It seemed to have been a child.

  “Who is it?” Twin Pearl shouted harshly. No answer came. “Come in,” she shouted again.

  Only then did the boy sidle up to her awkwardly. As she’d thought, it was Golden’s son, Eldest. He jabbered and gabbed, telling her goodness knows what. “Humph!” was Twin Pearl’s response. Eldest dithered about and withdrew. Then the sound of slippers came running up the stairs and into the room. Seeing it was Golden, an angry Twin Pearl just ignored her. Golden slipped out to the parlor to confer with Eldest, shame written all over her face. Benevolence laughed in spite of himself.

  Lotuson lay down again to smoke another couple of opium pellets and then told Pearlie to order Talisman to get the sedan chair ready. Benevolence, Twin Pearl, and Twin Jade saw him off at the top of the stairs. After Lotuson had left, Benevolence went into Twin Pearl’s room. Having finished tidying up, Pearlie came over to ask Benevolence why Mr. Wang was in such a bad mood.

  Benevolence sighed. “You can’t blame him really.”

  “Now that Mr. Wang has an official posting, he should be happy. What’s there for him to be angry about?” Pearlie said.

  “Mr. Wang had been fond of Little Rouge all along. He only married Constance because Little Rouge let him down. Who’d have known that Constance would let him down as well? Now because of that, he’s been seeing Little Rouge again. But though he’s seeing her, he’s still angry at heart.”

  “How did Constance let him down?” Pearlie asked.

  “Well, she did, and there’s no point in talking about it.”

  Now Pearlie told him about her visit to Lotuson Wang’s residence the other day and how she had overheard the beating of Constance.

  “That was a near thing!” Benevolence said. “Mr. Wang gave her a beating and wanted to cast her out. Then Constance took raw opium. In the end, it took several of us old friends of his to persuade them to make up. The nephew was driven out of the house, and that’s supposed to be the end of it.”1

  Pearlie sighed. “Constance is such a letdown! Little Rouge will be overjoyed when she hears about it. She’ll choke with laughter!”

  They were talking away merrily when menservants shouted downstairs. “The Younger Maestro is called to a party.” Pearlie went back to the room across the way to accompany Twin Jade to the party.

  Benevolence turned to Twin Pearl. “It’s a pity Mr. Wang is leaving. Otherwise he could take up with Twin Jade. That’d have been nice.”

  “Now that you mention Twin Jade, I’m reminded of something. My mother wants to ask you a favor, but I forgot to tell you,” Twin Pearl said.

  “What is it?” Benevolence asked urgently.

  “Twin Jade has refused to have any guests stay overnight since she came back from Rustic Retreat. Mother and I have spoken to her several times. She said Fifth Young Master is going to marry her, that it’s all been settled. We can’t very well tell her the truth. Could you please go and ask Fifth Young Master what he wants? If he wants her, he should take her home; if not, he should tell her, so she can start working again, right?”

  “I’d never have thought Twin Jade had it in her to hatch such ambitious schemes,” Benevolence said.

  “With the two of them, it’s all castles in the air. Even if Fifth Young Master is not betrothed, could he ever marry Twin Jade as his wife?” said Twin Pearl.

  Before Benevolence could answer, Twin Jewel, who had not seen him for some time and decided to snatch this opp
ortunity to come over, stepped into the room. She said right away, “Oh, a wife! Where is she? Let’s have a look.”

  Twin Pearl, disgusted with her loose tongue, glared at her, which made her shut up and withdraw to sit on one side. Golden followed her into the room and whispered in her ear, and Twin Jewel whispered back. Golden swore softly, turned around, sat down, took out a set of ivory dominoes, and started fiddling with it. Benevolence asked Twin Jewel how things had been with her lately.

  Soon Twin Jade returned from the party, and on hearing her Twin Jewel made herself scarce. Twin Jade came over and chatted for a while. When the clock struck midnight, Clever Baby brought them congee. Golden put aside the dominoes to wait on Benevolence, Twin Pearl, and Twin Jade. When they had finished eating, Clever Baby put away the bowls and chopsticks and Golden returned to her dominoes. Benevolence saw Eldest hiding in the darkness of the doorway and called out, “What’re you doing?”

  Eldest tiptoed away, only to return again to hover by the door. Twin Pearl was so disgusted that she just let him be.

  Presently they heard the menservants remove the lamp over the front door and shut up for the night. Twin Jade took her leave to go to bed, and Clever Baby brought them another basin of warm water. Only then did Golden put away her ivory dominoes to wait on Twin Pearl as she washed her face and removed her jewelry. The paraffin lamp was blown out, the lamp on the dressing table lighted, the multicolored embroidered quilt on the bed removed, leaving just a light coverlet, and the bed was made. Clever Baby having left, Golden returned to where she had been sitting, her head bowed. Eldest edged into the room and cuddled up against her. Benevolence thought, “Let’s see how this will turn out.”

  As Golden dawdled, Worth came in with a kettle to freshen the tea. He then turned around and stared at Golden, saying coldly, “Going home?”

  Golden pouted without replying, took Eldest by the hand, and went ahead. Worth followed close behind. Once they got to the foot of the stairs, there was bedlam: the noise of cursing and beating from Worth, weeping and yelling from Golden, howling and hopping from Eldest was intermingled with Pearlie’s and Clever Baby’s attempts to make peace, the menservants’ effort to pull them apart, and the sound of Orchid Zhou berating them all. The din was relentless.

  Benevolence did not want to miss any of it, but as he peered down from the top of the stairs, he could see nothing. All he heard was Worth swearing as he beat Golden, demanding, “Where on First Avenue did you go? Tell me, where on First Avenue did you go?” He repeated this one question over and over again. Golden neither confessed nor begged for mercy; she just cried and yelled for all she was worth. In a turmoil of confused activity, Pearlie, Clever Baby, and the menservants pulled and tugged but failed utterly to separate them or block his assault. In the end, it was Orchid Zhou who, driven to a show of ferocity, stopped him with a desperate shout, “You’re killing her!” As she shouted, Worth’s hands slackened enough for the others to pull Golden away. Pearlie and Clever Baby immediately pushed her into Orchid Zhou’s room.

  Still in a rage, Worth seized Eldest instead and questioned him, “What did you go with your mother to First Avenue for? A fine son you are, you swine!” A blow hit Eldest with every curse, making him howl and hop all the more, his squeaking reminiscent of the squealing of a pig being butchered. The menservants tried to snatch the child away, but Worth, who had grabbed hold of Eldest’s little pigtail, would sooner die than let go.

  At this point, Twin Pearl had had enough. With her hair all unkempt, she rushed onto the landing and called out, “Worth, you’re having a fine time lashing out like that, aren’t you? He’s a child, what does he know?”

  Seeing that Twin Pearl had spoken, the menservants rushed up and pried loose Worth’s hands. They carried Eldest into Orchid Zhou’s room as well. Since there was nothing he could do, Worth made for the front door and strode off.

  As Benevolence and Twin Pearl turned around to go to bed, they saw Twin Jade standing at her door, her hair uncombed, trying to find out if Golden was badly hurt.

  “Worth just wanted to humiliate her. If he hurt her badly, she couldn’t work, right?” Benevolence said with a smile.

  Thereupon they all went to bed. Golden and Eldest slept in Orchid Zhou’s that night.

  The next morning, Benevolence got up before Twin Pearl. Golden happened to be in the room, sweeping the floor. Her eyes were still tearful, and a deep frown showed her gloom. Benevolence wanted to say something to comfort her but found it hard to do so. After breakfast, he had to be on his way and did not want to disturb Twin Pearl, so he told Golden, “I’m off to Middle Peace Alley. Mention it to Third Maestro when she’s up.” Golden promised to do that.

  Leaving Twin Pearl’s house, Benevolence only had to walk down a couple of streets to reach the Zhu residence. At the sight of him, Longevity Zhang thought something terrible had happened. He asked in a panic, “What’s the matter, Mr. Hong?”2

  Slightly taken aback, Benevolence answered, “Why, nothing. I’m just looking in on your Fifth Young Master.”

  Reassured, Longevity led him straight into the inner study, where he met with Modesty Zhu. They sat down according to etiquette and began a conversation. Benevolence gradually came to the subject of Twin Jade. He praised her determination in refusing to receive any other overnight clients and suggested that perhaps Modesty should take her home. It would surely make for a nice romantic anecdote. But if Modesty were unwilling to do that, Orchid Zhou hoped he would explain this to Twin Jade face-to-face so she would not waste other opportunities just sitting around waiting for him.

  Modesty merely made noises acknowledging his request, and when Benevolence insisted that he give a firm answer, he prevaricated by saying he would do it another day. There was nothing Benevolence could do but take his leave and report back to Orchid Zhou.

  Having seen Benevolence out, Modesty returned to the study. He thought if he wanted to take Twin Jade as concubine, Harmony Qi was still the best person to consult. But Twin Jade had set her mind on becoming his wife and might be unwilling to be demoted to concubine. It’d perhaps be best to keep it from her until after their wedding ceremony. That way, she would have no choice but to accept a fait accompli.

  In the afternoon, having found out that his elder brother, Amity, had gone out, Modesty took a sedan chair and headed for Conical Hat Garden. The menservants there, who knew him well by then, led his sedan chair directly into the garden and on to Panorama Hall. When he got off, they reported to him that His Excellency was taking his afternoon nap and invited him to sit for a while in the secretaries’ room. Modesty nodded in agreement, so a manservant on duty led the way upstairs. He was greeted by the sound of ivory tiles clicking on a table, so he knew they were playing mah-jongg. As he hesitated, the manservant had already lifted the bamboo door curtain and asked him to enter.

  ::

  1. [From the scene in chapter 54, it’s clear that Constance and Lotuson’s nephew had an affair. E.H.]

  2. [Obviously, Longevity has already got news that his lover had been given a beating the previous night and was worried that something worse could have happened. E.H.]

  CHAPTER 58 :: Young Mr. Li throws away his entire fortune, and Third Sister Chu excels at preposterous lies

  As Modesty Zhu entered the center room of Panorama Hall, he saw that the four mah-jongg players were Crane Li, Second Bai Gao, Devotion Yin, and Aroma Su. They all stood up to greet him. Aroma said promptly, “I’ve lost a lot of money for His Excellency. Why don’t you take over for a while, Fifth Young Master?”

  Modesty made an excuse, saying, “I don’t know how.”

  “That doesn’t matter. Aroma will help you,” Second Bai Gao said.

  “Don’t you believe him. Who was it who played mah-jongg with Twin Jade at the Phoenix Pavilion if it wasn’t him?” Devotion Yin cut in.

  Modesty was thus obliged to join in and take a seat. They had just played four games when Harmony Qi, having had his siesta, came in at a seda
te pace. Seeing him, Modesty immediately stood up to give him his place at the table.

  “You carry on,” Harmony Qi said. But Modesty adamantly refused, so Harmony told Aroma to take over again while he chatted with Modesty. With all these people present, Modesty could not mention what was on his mind. He kept procrastinating until Harmony Qi decided to return to the game. He told Modesty, “You stay here tonight. Later, you can send for Twin Jade and spend a couple of days here. Don’t go home till after we’ve had the viewing of the chrysanthemums.”1 Modesty stuttered his acceptance of the invitation.

  It was getting dark when the mah-jongg game was over. They left Panorama Hall and strolled southward. Harmony Qi pointed across the water and said, “Well, it turns out that the chrysanthemum hill is completed and only the viewing shed is yet to be finished.”

  Crane Li and Modesty Zhu looked into the distance, but all they saw were three or four workmen squatting on the rooftops of some building in the southwest corner of the garden; there was no sign of any chrysanthemum hill. They looked left and right and caught sight of a section of vermilion railings in the midst of sprouting bamboos.

  “We’re right behind the chrysanthemum hill, so we can’t see it from here,” Second Bai explained.

  “Don’t worry about that! It won’t be ready for another day,” Devotion Yin said.

  As they were talking, they had reached the fishing bank, where there was a magnificent building with three rooms. The signboard hanging over the door declared it to be the Crisp Air Abode. The spirited calligraphy made the words look as if they were in flight. The sunset glow turned the sky into a myriad colors and illuminated all the rooms in the building. They walked around outside to admire the scene before they entered the house together. The menservants had already set the table for a banquet. When the girls called to the party—Grace Yang, Twin Jade, Wenjun Yao, and Flora Zhang—had all arrived, Harmony Qi invited his guests to come to the table.

  Grace Yang took an invitation out of her sleeve and unobtrusively passed it to Crane Li, who read it, tucked it into his sash-purse and began fidgeting. Preoccupied with leaving, what interest did the wine hold for him? Modesty Zhu, who was also preoccupied, was not in the mood for drinking, either. Things were therefore rather quiet at the table.