The Golden Lotus, Volume 1

by Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng

  “You take so much trouble on my account,” he said, “that it makes me quite embarrassed. Tomorrow I will arrange for a soldier to come and wait on us.”

  “Please do no such thing,” Jinlian cried anxiously. “We are the same flesh and blood, and this house is home to us all. I am not waiting upon a stranger. Certainly this little Ying’er is not much use, and I can’t rely upon her. She always seems to do the wrong thing. But if we get a soldier to help about the house, I shall find him in the way in the kitchen, and it will fidget me to watch him.”

  “In that case,” Wu Song said, “I can only accept your kindness gratefully.”

  Not long after Wu Song had taken up his abode in his brother’s house, he gave Wu Da some money and asked him to make arrangements to give a party for the neighbors. They came with presents to pay their respects to Wu Song, and a little later Wu Da gave another party in return. Wu Song presented his sister with a length of colored silk to make dresses.

  “Oh, Uncle,” she cried delightedly, “I can’t possibly accept such a magnificent present,” but she hastened to add: “Since you have already bought it, I suppose I must not refuse.” She made a reverence, and took the silk. From that time, Wu Song was definitely established as a member of his brother’s household. Wu Da, as before, went to the street every day to sell his cakes, and Wu Song went to the Town Hall to perform his official duties. Whether he returned early or late, Jinlian always had something ready for him, and seemed delighted to wait upon him. He noticed this, but thought no more about it. Nonetheless, the woman was forever trying to lead him on by pretty speeches, though she found it no easy task, for he was really incorruptible. If he had anything of importance to say, he would stay long enough to say it, but if not, he went straight about his business.

  A month soon passed. It was the eleventh month, and they began to experience seasonable weather. The north wind blew violently for several days and black clouds gathered on every hand. Then the snow began to fall, and soon it filled the skies.

  For miles and miles the skies were filled with thick dark clouds.

  Snowflakes, dancing past the window ledge, in midair formed a screen like tiny flowers of jade.

  Zi Yu’s boat, on the Yan River, was held and forced to tarry.

  Soon was a mantle laid on the high palaces

  River and mountain bound with a chain of silver

  The skies filled with winged salt and driving, powdery dust.

  That day, Lū Meng, in his little hut, sighed

  For all his wretchedness.

  The snow continued without ceasing until the first night watch; the world was silver everywhere, and it seemed as though the earth had arrayed itself in a glorious garment of jade. Next morning, Wu Song went to the office and stayed till noon. Jinlian bade her husband go and sell his cakes and she went to ask her neighbor, old woman Wang, to go and buy some food and wine for her. Then she went to Wu Song’s room, and made up the fire, thinking: “Today I will make sure of him. Beyond a doubt I can do something to wake him up.” Afterwards, feeling quiet and lonely, she went and stood beneath the lattice and waited till she saw Wu Song trampling down the glistening snow as he hastened home.

  She quickly raised the lattice for him and smiled. “You look frozen, Uncle.” He answered her politely and came in, taking off his hat. Jinlian offered to take it, but he brushed the snow away himself and hung it on the wall. Then he unloosed his girdle, took off his outer gown of parrot green, and went into the living room.

  “I have been expecting you all the morning,” Jinlian said. “Why didn’t you come back to lunch?”

  “One of my friends asked me to lunch,” Wu Song replied, “and just now I had another invitation, but I decided not to accept it, and came home instead.”

  “Is that so?” said the woman. “Won’t you come a little nearer the fire?” Wu Song thanked her and, taking off his oiled boots, changed his socks and put on a pair of slippers. Then he brought a bench and sat down by the fire. Jinlian told Ying’er to bolt the gate and shut the back door. She herself went to fetch some of the dishes she had cooked, and set them on the table before Wu Song.

  “Where is my brother?” he said.

  “He has not come back from business yet,” the woman answered. “Let us drink a few cups of wine together.”

  “It is not late,” Wu Song said. “We had better wait for him.”

  “Oh, why should we bother about him?” Jinlian cried.

  At that moment Ying’er came in with the wine already warmed. Wu Song again apologized politely for causing so much trouble. Jinlian said nothing, but brought a bench to the fire and sat down. There were several dishes on the table, but she only took a cup of wine, looked at Wu Song, and invited him to drink it. This he did in one breath. She poured a second cup and handed that to him, saying, “It is so cold, you must drink this to keep the other company.” This, too, Wu Song drank straight off. Then he filled a cup for her. She took the wine and sipped it delicately, then poured out still another cup and offered it to him. Her milk-white breast was partially uncovered, and her disordered hair was like a beautiful cloud. Desire had given color to her cheeks.

  “People tell me you keep a singing girl over there by the Town Hall,” she said slyly. “Is that true?”

  “People always talk nonsense like that, but you shouldn’t believe them, Sister,” Wu Song said. “I never was that kind of man.”

  “I don’t believe you,” said Jinlian. “Your heart speaks one language and your tongue another.”

  “Ask my brother, if you don’t believe me.”

  “What on earth is the use of bringing him into it?” Jinlian said. “His life is one long dream. Judging by the way he goes about, you might think he was always half tipsy. He would not have to spend all his days selling cakes if he had a particle of intelligence. But have another cup of wine.”

  She filled three or four cups one after the other, and Wu Song drank them all. She drank a few cups too, till the spur of desire pressed her more acutely and the passion within her blazed so that she lost all control of herself and could hardly speak. By this time, an inkling of the true state of affairs was beginning to dawn upon Wu Song, and he looked away from her. After a while she rose and went to heat some more wine. Wu Song, left alone in the room, took up the poker and began to poke the fire. Jinlian was soon back again with a jar of wine that she had warmed. In one hand she held the jar and with the other she gently pressed his shoulder. “Uncle,” she said, “you must be cold with so few clothes.” Wu Song was now beginning to feel thoroughly uncomfortable, and made no answer. Seeing him thus silent, she snatched the poker from his hand and cried, “You don’t know how to poke. Let me do it for you. I want it as hot as a bowl of fire.”

  Wu Song felt even more uneasy, but he still said nothing. Jinlian was not in any way put out. She set down the poker and poured out another cup of wine. She drank a mouthful, looked meaningly at Wu Song, and said, “If you feel like it, drink what I have left.”

  This was too much. He snatched the cup from her hand and dashed the wine upon the floor, crying, “Don’t be so shameless,” and at the same time pushed her so violently that she almost fell. Then he gazed haughtily upon her.

  “My feet are steadfast upon the earth and I aspire to reach the heavens. I am a man with teeth in my mouth and hair upon my head. I am a man, I say, not a swine or a cur, that I should pay no heed to the sacred laws of honor or flout the precepts of common decency. You must not behave in this shameless way. If I hear any whisper of your ever doing such a thing again, my eyes may tell me that you are my sister, but my fist will not recognize you.”

  This made Jinlian so confused and angry that her face became crimson. She called Ying’er to clear away the dishes, and muttered, “I was only joking. How could you think I was in earnest? You are not an honorable man.” When the dishes had been removed, she went down to the kitchen.

  So Jinlian came to realize that her blandishments were without effect, except
that Wu Song had treated her roughly, while he, now sitting alone, grew angrier and angrier and thought very seriously about the matter.

  It was still early, about the hour of the Monkey, when Wu Da came back, carrying his baskets over the snow. He opened the door, put down his burden, and going into the house at once saw that his wife’s eyes were red with weeping. “With whom have you been quarreling now?” he said.

  “If you were not such a mean-spirited creature,” his wife cried, “things like this would not happen. But you never care whether outsiders insult me or not.”

  “Who has been insulting you?” Wu Da said.

  “If you really wish to know, it was that scoundrel, your brother. When the snow was very heavy, I saw him coming back, and I was kindly getting something ready for him, when he saw there was nobody about, and tried to seduce me. It is perfectly true: Ying’er saw him.”

  “My brother is not that kind of man,” her husband said. “He has always been high-principled and straightforward. Don’t make so much noise, or the neighbors will hear you and laugh.” He went to see Wu Song.

  “You haven’t eaten your cakes, Brother,” he said. “I’ll come and have some with you.” But Wu Song did not answer him and, after brooding there a while, started to leave the house.

  “Where are you going?” cried Wu Da, but his brother went off without replying. Wu Da went back to the room and said to his wife, “I called him, but he would not answer, and now he has gone down the road to the Town Hall. I’m sure I don’t understand what all the bother is about.”

  “You thievish, stupid worm,” Jinlian cried. “There is nothing to understand. The wretch is ashamed and dare not face you. That’s why he has gone out. Probably he has not the audacity to inflict himself upon us any longer, and has gone to tell somebody to come and take his things away. I can’t imagine why you bother about him.”

  “If he goes away,” Wu Da said, “people will certainly laugh at us.”

  “You silly creature,” Jinlian cried. “He is a shameless, immoral fellow, and he tried to seduce me. Is that a laughing matter? If you want him so much, go and live with him. I won’t put up with it. Give me divorce papers if you like, and then the pair of you can live together.”

  After this, Wu Da did not dare to open his mouth again, and he had to suffer his wife’s ill-temper for a long time. They were indeed still quarreling when Wu Song, with a soldier carrying a long pole, came back, packed up his luggage, and went off. Wu Da went after him, crying, “Why are you going away, Brother?”

  “Ask no questions,” Wu Song answered. “If I tell the truth, your good name will be ruined. Let me go.”

  Wu Da did not dare to question him any further, and was obliged to let him go with his luggage. Meanwhile his wife was scolding in her room: “That’s better. Relations always prove a nuisance in the long run. People don’t know the truth. Just because here is a young brother with a position at the Town Hall, they must needs conclude that he keeps his brother and sister. They never think that he is really eating us out of house and home. He is like a yellow quince, good to look at and rotten inside. I shall thank my lucky star if he takes himself off for good and all. Indeed there is nothing I hope more than that I may never set eyes on that piece of ill-fortune again.”

  Wu Da could not avoid hearing all his wife said, but still he could not make out what had really happened, and his heart was troubled. Now that his brother had gone back to live at the inn near the Town Hall, he still sold buns and cakes upon the street. He longed for an opportunity to go to the Town Hall and have a talk, but his wife gave him strict instructions that he must not dare to do anything of the sort, and he did not venture to disobey her. After Wu Song’s departure, the snow suddenly stopped. Ten days passed.

  The magistrate of Qinghe had been stationed there for more than two years and had amassed much gold and silver. Now he wanted a man of courage to take his treasure to the Eastern Capital, so that his relatives might take charge of it. In three years his term of office would expire, and knowing that he would then have to make his report to the Emperor, he thought it would be well to have this gold and silver in hand when he came to deal with officials more exalted than himself. But he felt the need of a stout fellow for the job, as thieves often beset the way. Then he thought of Wu Song. He was just the man. That very day he sent for Wu Song and said to him:

  “I am thinking of sending an important present to one of my relatives at the Eastern Capital. I mean Zhu Mian, one of the Grand Marshal’s officers. There may be some danger about the journey, but if you undertake it, I am sure all will be well. If you will do this for me, I will reward you handsomely when you get back.”

  “You have shown me so much kindness, Sir, that I should never think of refusing,” Wu Song replied. “I will set off as soon as you give me your orders.”

  The magistrate was now perfectly satisfied. He gave Wu Song three cups of wine, and handed him ten taels of silver as journey money. After receiving his instructions, Wu Song went to the inn and, after getting his orderly to buy some food and a jar of wine at a shop in the street, went to his brother’s house. When Wu Da returned, he found his brother waiting on the doorstep. He had told his servant to take the wine and food into the kitchen.

  Jinlian had not abandoned all hope, and when she saw Wu Song coming with wine and other delicacies she said to herself: “He must still be thinking about me, or he would not have come back. I may get him yet.” So she went upstairs to powder her face and arrange her hair, and when she had changed into a prettier dress, she came down to welcome him.

  “I can’t imagine what can have displeased you, Uncle,” she said, as she made a reverence. “For several days you haven’t been near us, and I have often wondered why. It is delightful to see you home again, but why did you trouble to bring wine and food?”

  “I have something to say to my brother,” Wu Song said. “That is why I have come.”

  Jinlian invited him to go upstairs, and they all three went to the upper room. Wu Da and his wife sat in the places of honor, and Wu Song sat down on a long bench. The orderly brought up the food and Wu Song invited his brother and sister to take some. From time to time, Jinlian glanced meaningly at her brother-in-law, but he paid no attention to anything but the wine he was drinking. When they had all drunk several cups, Wu Song asked Ying’er to bring a loving cup and, when the orderly had heated the wine, he took this cup in his hands and said to Wu Da:

  “Honorable elder brother: today the magistrate has ordered me to go to the Eastern Capital for him. I am starting tomorrow, and it may easily be two or three months before I get back, though I hope it will be less. What I have come to say to you is this: you have always been a long-suffering kind of man, and I don’t intend you to be imposed upon in my absence. Now, listen to me. You have been in the habit of selling ten trays of cakes, but in future you must only make five. Then you will be able to go out later and come home earlier. Don’t let anyone persuade you to drink; pull down the shutters and bolt the door as soon as you get home. If you do this, you will be saved a great deal of unpleasantness, but if anything disagreeable should happen, don’t let yourself be drawn into a quarrel. Wait till I come back, and I’ll soon settle the matter. Now, my dear brother, if you agree, drink this cup of wine.”

  Wu Da took the cup and drained it. “I will do whatever you think fit,” he said.

  Wu Song filled up the cup again and spoke to Jinlian. “Sister, you are no fool, and I don’t think I need say any more. My brother is so simple-hearted that the real management of the household is in your hands. You will remember the old saying that a proud appearance is not always the mirror of an honest heart. If you attend to your household duties as you should, my brother will have nothing to worry about. As our fathers used to say: ‘When the fence is safe, dogs cannot get in.’”

  Jinlian listened, and the crimson color spread across her face. She shook her finger at Wu Da, and addressed Wu Song through him. “You fool! What do you think
you will gain by insulting me like this? I have to wear a woman’s clothes, it is true, but I am as good as any man. I am always steady and reliable. A man might stand upon my fist or a horse ride over my arm. I am not a turtle to be wounded without bloodshed. Never, since I married Wu Da, has even an ant dared to sneak into my room. How dare you talk about dogs getting in if the fence is not safe? Tell the truth, not a pack of lies. I don’t care in the slightest what you say.”

  Wu Song laughed. “Don’t lose your temper, Sister. So long as your heart keeps company with your mouth, all will be well. But I shall remember what you have said. And now, won’t you drink this cup?”

  Jinlian dashed the cup aside and ran downstairs. Before she reached the bottom, she turned and cried, “You think you’re very wise and clever, but how is it you don’t seem to know that a brother’s wife should be respected as a mother? When I first married Wu Da, nobody ever mentioned his having a brother. Where have you come from? Are you really a relative or are you not? One would think you were the master of the house. Oh, it makes me wild to have to put up with such nonsense.” She went down the rest of the stairs, sobbing.

  The brothers drank several more cups of wine together till they could stay no longer, while Jinlian affected many airs and graces. At last they both went downstairs, and took their leave of one another with tears streaming down their cheeks. “Brother,” Wu Da said, “you must go, I suppose, but come back as soon as you can and let my eyes rejoice in you once more.”

  Wu Song said, “Wouldn’t it be better if you stayed away from business altogether, and let me arrange with somebody to supply you with funds?” Finally, he cried, “Remember what I say, Brother, and keep a watch on your door.” Wu Da promised.

  So Wu Song parted from his brother. He went back to the inn, packed his luggage, and saw to his weapons. The next morning he took charge of the magistrate’s presents, secured a horse, and set off for the Eastern Capital.