The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai

by Bangqing Han

  Following his track, Grandma continued her efforts. “Would you look after us a bit just like before, Mr. Fang? You could carry on seeing Jade Wenjun, but please also come here now and then, OK? Throw a couple of drinking parties and mah-jongg parties. We’ll try our best to please you.”

  “Mah-jongg parties and drinking parties are so commonplace! Wait a couple of days, and I’ll write another couple of poems for her.”

  “Mr. Fang, parties may be commonplace to you, but they’re good for us. You take all the trouble to write something, but it’s no use to her. Even if you don’t want mah-jongg and drinking parties, give her a party call when you go to a dinner; that would be good, too.”

  He laughed derisively and said, “Oh, such vulgarity!”

  Seeing that Thatch Fang was too dumb to see her point, Grandma turned to Laurel and said something in street slang. Laurel just nodded. This was of course beyond Thatch Fang. When Grandma had filled the water pipe, Laurel asked him to place his order for supper. He begged off strenuously but to no avail, so he told them instead not to order from a restaurant but to get some smoked and salted meat. Grandma relayed the order to the menservants, and when the food came, she took it upstairs along with the homemade dishes and rice.

  CHAPTER 60 :: An old man gets an opium addict for a wife, and the keeper-turned-thief performs a vanishing act

  After Thatch Fang and Laurel Zhao had had supper, Grandma cleared the things away and went downstairs. Thatch waited a little while before he took his leave. Laurel, having tried in vain to make him stay, saw him to the staircase landing and called out loudly, “Grandma, Mr. Fang is leaving.” Upon hearing this, Grandma caught up with him. “Mr. Fang, hold on a minute. I’d like a word if I may.”

  Thatch asked, “What is it?”

  She whispered into his ear, “I suggest you stop going to Jade Wenjun’s, Mr. Fang. Our place is just the same. I’ll be your matchmaker; how about that?”

  This abrupt proposal both startled and gladdened him. His heart thumped wildly, and his body turned quite numb with excitement. Thinking he was still hesitant, she again whispered, “Mr. Fang, you’re a guest of long standing; it doesn’t matter. We’ll count it as a party call, and on top of that, there’s just the servants’ tips. It won’t come to much, don’t worry.”

  He grinned silently, which showed her he was willing, so she dragged him back upstairs.

  Laurel asked on purpose, “Why were you in such a hurry to leave? Eager to see Jade Wenjun, right?”

  Grandma answered before he could, “He sure was, but he’s not allowed to go now.”

  “Jade Wenjun is calling for you; beware! If you go there tomorrow, you’ll get a beating,” Laurel said teasingly.

  “Stuff and nonsense!” Thatch Fang said repeatedly.

  Having played her role, Grandma went off. Laurel prepared a pipe of opium and offered it to Thatch, but he shook his head, saying, “I don’t.” She then smoked it herself. Seeing this, he asked, “How much of a habit is it for you?”

  “I just do it for fun. A pellet or two can’t be called a habit,” she replied.

  “All addicts get the habit from smoking it for fun. It’s best not to touch it.”

  “Don’t worry. How can I work if I’m addicted?” she replied.

  He went on to ask about her situation, and she asked him about his work. It happened that one of them had no surviving family, and the other had neither wife, nor concubine, nor children. This lonely old couple thus developed a certain empathy for each other.

  “My father was a brothel owner,” Laurel told him. “When I was a virgin courtesan, I didn’t lack for clothes, jewelry, and furniture; they were all my mother’s things. But we were swindled by a client who left unpaid bills worth a thousand dollars. As a result, the house closed down and my parents died. After that, I rented these rooms and have ended up in debt for three hundred dollars.”

  “Shanghai is full of such heartless swindlers, so it’s hard for all you working girls. Now, with people like us, who have been in the city for decades, we give the occasional party call or come for a tea party. While it’s not lucrative business, we always honor our bills, so all the sing-song houses say we’re respectable people and treat us very cordially.”

  “I don’t have any vain hopes anymore. This is not an easy line of work, and I certainly won’t get the best kind of business. I’m willing to make a home with any guest who’ll pay my debts for me.”

  “Settling down is of course the best thing, but do be careful. If you should get swindled again, you’d suffer for the rest of your life,” he said.

  “It’s different now. When I was young and ignorant, I liked handsome young men who talked big. That’s why I got swindled. Now I’m going to choose a client who is honest and straightforward, so how can I go wrong?”

  “You can’t, except where do you find a client like that?”

  As they talked, Thatch Fang yawned twice. Laurel knew he liked an early night, so when it struck ten, she called for Grandma to bring congee and get ready for them to go to bed.

  Unexpectedly, Thatch Fang caught a cold in the night. He woke up feeling dizzy, with a blocked nose and a sore throat. Laurel suggested that he should stay in bed and rest there for a few days, so he asked for a writing brush and inkstone and wrote a note requesting sick leave from the poetry club. As a result, several of his friends in the club came to inquire after him. They were amazed to see Laurel waiting on him attentively and with great intimacy and considered it a lucky encounter for Fang.

  Laurel sent for the fashionable doctor Hill Dou, who prescribed herbs that encouraged perspiration. She then brewed and administered the medicine with her own hands. For three days, she did not leave Thatch Fang for a moment. In the daytime, she gave no thought to food or drink, and at night she slept fully clothed in a bed in the outer room. How could he but feel grateful to her?

  On the fourth day, when his fever had gone, Grandma seized the opportunity to encourage him to marry Laurel. Thatch Fang reflected that a bachelor life in an inn was really not a suitable long-term arrangement. Since Laurel did not mind his poverty and his age, surely he shouldn’t miss this chance for a good marriage? He was well disposed toward the idea. By the time he had fully recovered, he took his leave from them with thanks and went straight to the Longevity Bookstore in Bowling Alley to tell Old Bao about it. Old Bao was all for the idea. Overjoyed, Thatch Fang asked him to act as matchmaker and to go with him to Generosity Alley to discuss the matter in person.

  As soon as Old Bao came through the door, the courtesans, maids, and servant girls in the two side chambers shouted in unison, “Hey! Old Bao is here!”

  Crane Li happened to be in Grace Yang’s room. When he heard the shouting, he peeped out the window. Seeing Old Bao, he was about to call out in greeting, but the sight of Thatch Fang stopped him. Instead, he told Thrive to go upstairs and ask Mr. Bao to come and have a word.

  In about the time it took to have two or three meals, Old Bao finally came downstairs. Crane Li welcomed him and invited him to sit down.

  “What’s it you want to talk about?” Old Bao asked.

  “I asked Third Shu to come for a drinking party, but he declined. You’ve come just in time,” Crane Li said.

  “What d’you take me for?” Old Bao demanded loudly. “Someone to fill up an empty seat at dinner tables?”

  Crane Li hastened to put on a smiling face to persuade him to stay, but Old Bao put on a show of walking out. Grace Yang took him by the arm and asked in a low voice, “Is Laurel getting married?”

  Old Bao nodded. “I’m the matchmaker. She gets three hundred dollars to settle her debts and two hundred for expenses.”

  “Laurel Zhao actually has a client who’d marry her?” asked Crane Li.

  “Don’t you belittle her. At one time, she, too, was a popular courtesan,” Grace Yang said.

  As she was speaking, the man sent out to invite guests came to report back. “The other two gentlemen can’t be rea
ched. At Sunset’s, they said, ‘The Second Young Mr. Yao hasn’t been for a long time now.’ At Twin Pearl’s, they said, ‘Since Mr. Wang went to Jiangxi, Mr. Hong doesn’t come often.’”

  Crane Li said, “Now if on top of all this Old Bao is leaving, too, I’m aggrieved.”

  “Old Bao was just joking. He’s not leaving,” Grace Yang said.

  Not long afterward, the four guests that were coming—Amity Zhu, Cloud Tao, Whistler Tang, and Cloudlet Chen—arrived one after the other. Crane Li then gave the order for the table to be set and hot towels brought in. They took their seats and chatted as they drank.

  “Has your esteemed uncle gone home? I never even saw him once,” Amity Zhu asked.

  “He’s still here. Old Merit went back by himself,” Crane Li replied.

  “There’re too few of us today. Why not ask your esteemed uncle to join us?” Cloud Tao suggested.

  “He’d never agree to come to a sing-song house party! Last time, it was only because Script Li grabbed hold of him that he had to call several girls to the party,” said Crane Li.

  “Your esteemed uncle is a truly capable man,” said Old Bao. “In Shanghai, he counts as an old playboy, too, but he never spent much money. He actually managed to make some to take home!”

  “It seems to me if one wants to have a good time, it’s better to spend some money. Look at my uncle now; can you say he’s enjoying himself?” Crane Li responded.

  “Have you had good fortune this time round?” said Cloudlet Chen.

  “I’ve actually lost a bit more than last time. I owed Third Shu five thousand dollars that I only managed to pay up a couple of days ago. And I owe Prosperity Luo as much as ten thousand. I’ll pay him back when the oil is sold.”

  “D’you have any idea of the danger your deeds were in?” asked Whistler Tang, who then recounted in detail how Second Sister Huang had stolen the document box and held it for ransom. He also told them that in the end he acted as middleman in the negotiations, and Prosperity Luo had had to pay five thousand dollars to redeem the document box. Everybody at the table shook his head and made faces, saying, “So, Second Sister turns out to be a serious blackmailer.”

  Grace Yang laughed as she said, “All the madams in Shanghai are blackmailers. Old Bao would know, right?”

  Old Bao stood up to object to being dragged in. Afraid that he would play rough, she ran out to the parlor. Old Bao, in hot pursuit, got to the door when it so happened that the girls called to the party were arriving, and Jewel Lu lifted the curtain and walked into the room. Old Bao bumped his head against hers, evoking uproarious laughter.

  Old Bao massaged his forehead and returned to his seat. A smiling Crane Li made peace by calling Grace Yang back into the room and making her drink a cup of wine as punishment, but she considered it unfair. Collective judgment then sentenced Jewel Lu to a penalty cup as well, and that settled the matter. Old Bao then suggested that the finger game should commence. He set up a bank, and everybody took turns to play and drink to their hearts’ content. The party did not break up until eleven o’clock.

  After Crane Li had seen his guests out, he wanted to fetch something and asked for Second Kuang. The maid, Thrive, reported, “He’s not here. He dropped in briefly during the party and then left.”

  “When he comes, tell him there’s something I want him to do,” Crane Li said to Thrive. Then he sent the sedan-chair bearers away, saying, “When you see Second Kuang, tell him to come here.” The sedan-chair bearers took their orders and left.

  The next morning, as soon as he got up, Crane Li asked, “Where’s Second Kuang?”

  “The sedan-chair bearers are here, but Master Kuang isn’t,” Thrive said.

  Astounded, Crane Li shouted at the sedan-chair bearers, “Go and get him at the inn.”

  Not long afterward, the sedan-chair bearers reported back, “The waiters at the inn said Master Kuang didn’t go back last night.”

  Crane Li thought that it was just because Second Kuang was loath to leave some streetwalker’s lair. As he did not want to wait any longer, he decided to return to the Long Peace Inn on Pebble Road in his sedan chair. There, he entered his room and opened the trunk to get what he wanted. He was shocked to find that the trunk, which had been packed full, was now completely empty. Dumbfounded, he was at a loss what to do. When he opened the other trunks, he found they had all been cleared out. In desperation, he shouted, “Waiter!” The waiter, also panic-stricken, asked the bookkeeper to come up. The bookkeeper took a look and frowned. “Our inn is completely aboveboard. How would a thief get in here?”

  Crane Li, who knew it had to have been Second Kuang, stamped his feet in bitter regret. After saying a few words of consolation, the bookkeeper went off to report to the police. Meanwhile, Crane Li ordered the sedan-chair bearers to go quickly to Perfection Chu’s to fetch Pragmatic Li.

  Pragmatic rushed back as soon as he received the message to check his own things. He found they were all untouched. Only eight leather trunks, two covered baskets, and a pillow box belonging to Crane Li had been ransacked and all the valuables stolen. What was more, pawn tickets were found in a drawer, presumably left there by Second Kuang so that his master could redeem the things he had pawned. This made Crane Li feel a little better.

  In the midst of the bustle and confusion, a foreign policeman and two detectives arrived. They had come to examine the scene of the crime. Finding the roof, door, and windows all intact and seeing no sign of intrusion, they decided that it was an inside job. When Crane Li revealed that Second Kuang had not showed up all night, the detectives asked in detail about Kuang’s age, facial characteristics, and accent. Then they left.

  The waiter now told them, “Last week, we saw Master Kuang go out a few times carrying a large bundle on his back. We couldn’t very well ask him about that, could we? Who’d have known he had stolen things to pawn them?”

  Pragmatic Li said rather gleefully, “He’s quite an interesting character though. You’re a big spender who can take the loss in your stride, so he targeted you. Otherwise, why didn’t he take my things?”

  Crane Li, though angered by this remark, had no choice but to ignore it. He thought that as a stranger in town he had better not act rashly. On reflection, he decided that Harmony Qi was the only person he could consult, so he promptly set off for Conical Hat Garden in his sedan chair. As he was well known to the menservants at the garden gate, they led his sedan chair through the front gate and all the way to the second garden gate.

  Crane Li saw that the main entrance was now padlocked; only a narrow side entrance was left open. As he puzzled over this, a manservant saluted him with one knee on the ground and reported, “His Excellency got a telegram and went home. Mr. Gao is the only one who’s here. Please make yourself at home in Panorama Hall, Mr. Li.”

  It occurred to Crane Li that it would be a good idea to consult Second Bai, so he followed the manservant into the garden at a leisurely pace, heading for Panorama Hall.

  “Aren’t you lonely staying here all by yourself?” Crane Li asked.

  “That matters little, but it’s a real pity about the chrysanthemum hill. Mr. Dragon Ma spent quite a lot of thought on it, and now it just sits there, neglected,” Second Bai replied.

  “Then you should invite us over,” Crane Li suggested.

  “All right, I’ll have a party tomorrow then.”

  “Sorry, I can’t make it tomorrow. We’ll see in a couple of days.”

  “What’s keeping you so busy?”

  Crane Li recounted briefly how Second Kuang had run away with his valuables. Second Bai was shocked. Crane Li then asked him, “Should I report it to the magistrate?”1

  “That’s just a formality. It’s hard to imagine that the thief will be caught and the stolen goods returned.”

  “In that case, how about not reporting it?”

  “I’m afraid that won’t do either. What if he gets into further bad trouble elsewhere and people demand that as his employer you deliv
er him to court? That’s something you can do without.”

  “You’re so right,” Crane Li said repeatedly and then stood up to take his leave.

  “There’s no need for such a terrible hurry, is there?” Second Bao said.

  “I’ll go and wind this up and then come back to see you, how about that?”

  “I’ll be waiting,” Second Bai said with a smile. He walked with Li all the way to the inner garden gate where Li saluted him and left in his sedan chair.

  Second Bai was just turning to go when a young man rushed up to him and saluted him with one knee on the ground. Second Bai did not recognize him, so he asked for his name. It turned out to be Second Treasure’s brother, Simplicity Zhao, who was trying to find out if there had been any letters from Third Young Master Shi.

  “None,” Second Bai replied.

  Simplicity could not very well pursue this, so he drew back and stood respectfully to one side as Second Bai went back into the garden and ambled westward toward the chrysanthemum hill, which was erected in front of the Parrot Tower. The tower was a two-story building with five very spacious rooms on each floor laid out like an inverted “V.” As there was space in front of the tower, the chrysanthemum hill was also constructed in the shape of the inverted “V,” parallel to the building. The hill was as tall as the eaves on the tower, and the many pathways within led in all directions. A sightseer walking along the path would feel as though he were in a maze, “lost his way among the flowers,” as the poet says.

  Second Bai, however, knew the place well. He took a shortcut from the south side, along a stone path and across a bamboo bridge, and soon had left the chrysanthemum hill behind.

  ::

  1. The Chinese police and judiciary and those in the foreign concessions are completely separate. As Li is not a resident in the foreign settlements and Kuang may well have left Shanghai, the question of reporting to the Chinese authorities is an urgent one because employers may be held accountable for their servants’ misdeeds. E.H.]