The Golden Lotus, Volume 1

by Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng

  After this, she called the boy to her room every night and kept him there until daybreak. She gave him two or three of her golden pins, and put them in his hair. On another occasion she gave him a perfume box that she wore on her skirt. Unfortunately, the boy was not very discreet and, as he frequently went drinking and gambling with his fellow servants, it was not long before the affair became known. As the proverb says: “If you would have none to know your secret, you must do no evil.” One day the rumor came to the ears of Xue’e and Li Jiao’er.

  “That thievish strumpet has been high and mighty for a long time,” they said, “but now we have her.” They went and told Yueniang. She would not believe a word they said.

  “You only wish to make things unpleasant for her,” she said, “but you will annoy the Third Lady, and she will say you are slandering her boy.” They said no more, and went away.

  That evening Jinlian and the boy were amusing themselves. The woman had forgotten to shut the kitchen door. The maid Qiuju chanced to use that door on her way to the privy, and saw everything that was going on. The next morning, she told Xiaoyu, and Xiaoyu told Sun Xue’e.

  Once again Xue’e and Li Jiao’er went to tell Yueniang. They gave her all the details, and added: “Her own maid told us about it; it is not something we have invented to get her into trouble. If you will not do anything in the matter, we will tell Father ourselves. If he can forgive a whore like this, he can forgive a scorpion.”

  It was the twenty-seventh day of the seventh month when Ximen Qing came back from the bawdy house to celebrate his birthday.

  “He has just come back,” Yueniang said to the two women, “and this should be a happy day for him. If you will not listen to me, and are still determined to tell him, I will not be responsible for the consequences.”

  They paid no attention to her, and, as soon as Ximen came in, they both ran up and told him that Jinlian was carrying on with one of the boys. Ximen Qing had been in an amiable mood, but at this he flew into a towering rage. He went to the front court, and called, “Qintong! Qintong!” over and over again. Jinlian had heard what was happening, and, with trembling hands and feet, she told Chunmei to call the boy to her room. She begged him not to say a word to his master, and took the pins out of his hair, but she was so excited that she forgot the perfume box.

  Ximen Qing ordered the boy to the hall, and made him kneel down. Then he told some of the other servants to get a large bamboo and make it ready for use.

  “You rascally slave,” he cried, “do you confess your guilt?” Qintong made no reply.

  “Take out his pins and let me see them,” Ximen said to the boys. They looked, but could not find any.

  “What have you done with the silver pin with a golden head?”

  “I have no silver pin,” Qintong said.

  “Ah, you slave, you think you will deceive me, do you?” Ximen said, and ordered the boys to take down his trousers. Three or four of them stripped Qintong. On the jade-colored short trousers he was wearing the perfume box hung. As soon as Ximen caught sight of it, he made the boys show it to him, and recognized at once that it was the same one that used to hang on Jinlian’s skirt.

  “Where did you get this?” he cried in a fury. “Tell me the truth. Who gave it to you?”

  The boy was so terrified that it was a long time before he could speak, but at last he said, “I was tidying the garden one day, and picked it up. Nobody gave it to me.”

  This reply made Ximen still more angry. He bit his lips, and told his servants to beat the boy with all their strength. Qintong was bound and given thirty terrible stripes till his flesh was torn and the blood ran down his legs. Then Ximen told Laibao to cut the boy’s hair at the temples and turn him out, and on no account to allow him to return. Qintong kowtowed, wept, and went away.

  Jinlian soon heard all that had happened and felt as though a stream of icy water had been poured over her. It was not long before Ximen Qing arrived. She was so frightened that she trembled, and the blood in her veins seemed to freeze. She went forward to take his clothes, but Ximen Qing boxed her ears so hard that he knocked her down. Then he told Chunmei to shut all the doors and keep everybody out. He took a small chair, went out, and sat in the courtyard in a shady place. Then he took a horse whip, and made the woman take off her clothes and kneel before him. She bowed her white face, but did not dare to make a sound.

  “You rascally whore,” Ximen cried, “don’t pretend you are dreaming. I have questioned that slave and he has confessed everything. You had better tell me the truth. When I was away, how many times did you play your games with that boy?”

  “Oh, Heavens! Heavens!” Jinlian said, sobbing, “somebody has been telling lies about me, and I shall die if you believe them. All these days you’ve been away, I have spent my whole time sewing with Yulou. As soon as it was dark, I locked my door and went to bed. Unless there was something very urgent, I never even ventured to go beyond the corner door. If you don’t believe me, ask Chunmei. There was nothing I could do without her seeing.” She called to Chunmei: “Sister, come here and tell your Father all about it.”

  “You rascally whore,” Ximen said again, “I know you gave the boy two or three gold pins. Why don’t you admit it?”

  “These suspicions will be the death of me,” Jinlian cried. “Some nasty-minded strumpet who will come to a foul end has been telling you lies. I suppose she was jealous because she saw you always coming to sleep in my room. You know how many pins there were, there is not one missing. Count them yourself, and see. How can you suspect me of being so base as to carry on with a slave? If he were a full-grown slave, they would probably tell the same story, but this short-haired lad is hardly out of his cradle. There is not a word of truth in the story. They have made up the whole chapter of scandal.”

  “We will leave the pins out of it,” Ximen said, taking the perfume box from his sleeve. “This, I think, belongs to you. How do I come to find it on that boy’s person? Now perhaps you will not have so much to say.” And, with these words, Crash! fell the whip on her delicate white body. The pain was so great that she burst into tears.

  “Oh, dear good Father,” she cried, “you mustn’t treat me like this. If you will only give me a chance, I can explain everything. If you won’t give me the chance, but beat me to death, you’ll make a very nasty mess here. As for that perfume box, one day when you were away Yulou and I were doing some needlework in the garden. It wasn’t firmly attached, and it must have fallen down as I was going through the flower arbor. I looked everywhere for it, but the boy must have picked it up. I am sure I did not give it to him.”

  This certainly seemed to agree with what Qintong had said. Ximen looked again at the woman. Her flower-like body, unclothed, was kneeling as she uttered these softening words and wept so touchingly. His anger flew to Java, and he began to cool down. He called Chunmei and kissed her.

  “Did she play heads and tails with that boy? If you tell me I ought to forgive the little strumpet, I will do so.”

  Chunmei sat on his knee, and made herself most charming and affectionate. “Father,” she said, “you are making a fool of yourself. Mother and I never left one another the whole time. How can you possibly imagine that she would have anything to do with that slave? No, the whole thing is a plot made up by somebody, who is jealous. You must deal with the matter yourself, Father. If the story gets about, and you make yourself a laughingstock, that won’t be very pleasant.”

  Ximen Qing could say no more. He told Jinlian to stand up and dress, and bade Qiuju prepare a meal. Jinlian poured out a full cup of wine and, offering it to him with both hands, knelt to wait for its return.

  “This time I forgive you,” Ximen said. “Whenever I am away, you must keep your mind pure and your ways clean. Shut your door early, and be on your guard against thoughts of evil. If I ever hear of anything of this sort again, there will be no more forgiveness.”

  “Your word is my law,” Jinlian said meekly. She kowtowed four times
, and sat down to drink with him.

  So Jinlian, despite the high favor in which she was held by her husband, brought shame upon herself.

  Ximen Qing was drinking wine in Jinlian’s room when a boy knocked at the door and told him that Yueniang’s two brothers, Fu, the manager of his shop, Ximen’s daughter Ximen Dajie and her husband, and several other relatives had called to congratulate him on his birthday. He left Jinlian and went to receive his guests. Ying Bojue, Xie Xida, and the other brothers had also brought presents. Even Guijie had sent a servant with a gift. Ximen Qing was soon very busy receiving all his presents and sending out letters of invitation in return.

  Meanwhile Meng Yulou, who had heard all about Jinlian’s trouble, seized the opportunity while Ximen was not there, and went to see her without the others knowing anything about it. When she came, Jinlian was lying on the bed.

  “Do tell me what it is all about, Sister,” she said.

  Jinlian cried bitterly. “That little strumpet has been telling tales about me. She made our husband so angry that he thrashed me. I hate those two whores with a hate as deep as the ocean.”

  “If you had to play tricks with the boy,” Yulou said, “you might at least have made sure that I shouldn’t lose him. But don’t be unhappy. Our husband is bound to look at things from our point of view. If he comes to see me tomorrow, I shall tell him what I think about him.”

  “It is good of you to trouble about me,” Jinlian said. She called Chunmei, and told her to serve tea. They chatted for a while, and Yulou went back to her own rooms. That night, Mistress Wu was staying with Yueniang and Ximen Qing went to sleep with Yulou.

  “It was very wrong of you to distress Jinlian so unreasonably,” Yulou said. “She did not do anything. This trouble has all come from her quarrel with Xue’e and Li Jiao’er. Without taking the trouble to make any inquiries, you had my boy beaten. You have certainly been most unjust, and it makes things very awkward for the poor woman. Do you imagine our mistress would not have told you, if there had been any truth in the story?”

  “I did ask Chunmei,” Ximen Qing said, “and she said exactly what you say.”

  “The Fifth Lady is very much upset,” Yulou said. “Why don’t you go and see her?”

  “I will go and see her tomorrow,” Ximen promised.

  The next day was Ximen’s birthday, and many visitors came to take wine with him, Major Zhou, the magistrate Xia, Captain Zhang, and Uncle Wu, Yueniang’s brother. Ximen Qing sent a sedan chair for Guijie, and engaged two singing girls, who performed throughout the day.

  As soon as her niece arrived, Li Jiao’er took her to visit Yueniang and the others, and she drank tea with them. They asked Jinlian to come and see her, and twice a maid went to her room to invite her, but she said she was not very well and refused to come. Later in the evening, when Guijie was about to go home, Yueniang gave her a silk handkerchief and some artificial flowers, and went with Li Jiao’er to see her off. Guijie was anxious to go to the garden and pay her respects to Jinlian, but as soon as Jinlian heard she was coming, she told Chunmei to bolt and bar the corner door. When Guijie got there, Chunmei said, “My Mistress’s orders. I dare not open the door.” Guijie had to go away, greatly abashed.

  That evening Ximen Qing went to see Jinlian. Her beautiful tresses were all in disorder, and she seemed very weary and faded. But when he came, she took her clothes, served him with tea, and hot water to wash his feet, and showed him a hundred signs of affection. That night, as they played together, she did for him whatever he asked of her.

  “Brother,” she said, “who in all this household really cares about you? They are all just stale married women, nothing more. I am the only one who understands you, and you understand me. The others see that you show me favor and spend most of your time here; it makes them jealous, and they try to vent their spite on me. How could you be caught by such talk, and treat me so unkindly? There is an old saying: ‘When a farmyard chicken is beaten, it turns round and round; a wild one flies away.’ You may beat me to death, but I shall never run away. The other day, when you were at the bawdy house and kicked Daian, I never complained. The Great Lady and Yulou know that quite well. I said I was afraid the girls there would do you no good. I said singing girls in places like that care for nothing but money. What is true love to them? Is there a single one of them who really loves you? That is all I said. Somebody came slyly up and secretly listened, and then they plotted together to get me in disgrace. Fortunately, while people may injure others, they cannot kill them; it is only those whom Heaven wishes to destroy who die. In the future you will realize that I am speaking the truth, and you will know what to do if such a thing happens again.”

  Ximen Qing was completely won over, and his delight in her was greater than ever.

  Some days afterwards he mounted his horse and went off to the bawdy house, attended by Daian and Ping’an. Guijie had other visitors, but as soon as she heard he was coming, she went to her room, washed off her powder, removed her rings and ornaments, lay down on the bed, and pulled the bedclothes over her. Ximen Qing came in. He waited for a long time before the old woman appeared and made a reverence to him.

  “Why is it so long since you were here?” the old lady said. She asked him to take a seat.

  “I was very busy on my birthday,” Ximen Qing said, “and there is no one at home who seems able to attend to things.”

  “I am afraid my daughter must have been a trouble to you,” the old lady said.

  Ximen asked why Guiqing did not come to see him on his birthday. The old woman told him that she had been away; a traveler had taken her to stay with him at the inn, and she was still there. They talked for a while, and the old woman offered him tea.

  “Where is Guijie?” Ximen said at length. “Don’t you know, Sir!” the old woman said. “Ever since the child came back from your house, she has been terribly overwrought. She is not at all well. I can’t tell you what is the matter with her, but she has stayed in bed all the time and refused to leave her room. You must have a heart like a wolf’s not to have been to see her before.”

  “This is the first I have heard of it,” Ximen said. “Where is she? I will go and see her.”

  “She is lying down in her bedroom,” the old lady said. She told a maid to go and raise the lattice. Ximen Qing went into the room. Guijie, covered with the bedclothes, was sitting on the bed, her face turned to the wall; her hair was in disorder and she seemed in a sad way. She did not move when Ximen came in.

  “Why have you been ill since you were at my place?” Ximen said. The girl did not reply.

  “What has made you so angry? Tell me.” He questioned her for a long time, and at last she said:

  “It is all your Fifth Lady’s doing. Since you have someone in your own home who is as good as any strumpet, I can’t imagine why you come here and make love to a wicked girl like me. I may have been brought up in this house, but I don’t believe I’m any worse than some in other houses I could mention. I did not go as a singing girl that day; I came to give you a present. Your great lady was very kind and gave me flowers and clothes, and when I heard you had a fifth lady, I asked to be allowed to pay my respects to her. If I hadn’t done so, she would have said that the girls from the bawdy house are very ill-mannered, but I did ask, and she refused to see me. When I was leaving your house, I asked once more, and she ordered her maid to shut the door in my face. Really she is lacking in the very elements of politeness.”

  “You mustn’t blame her too much,” Ximen Qing said. “She wasn’t very well that day. If she had been, I’m sure she wouldn’t have refused to come and see you. But I’ve often felt like giving that little strumpet a beating. She’s always hurting somebody with that sharp tongue of hers.”

  Guijie slapped him lightly on the face. “Why haven’t you beaten her, then, you shameless fellow?”

  “You don’t know how severe I can be,” Ximen Qing said. “I have punished most unmercifully all the women and maids in my house, ex
cept, of course, my first wife. Sometimes I use a whip upon them twenty or thirty times or even more, and sometimes I cut their hair off.”

  “Oh,” said Guijie, “I’ve met men before who talk about cutting the hair off their womenfolk, but never one who did more than brag about it. You may have bowed three times and made reverence twice to them for all anybody could prove. If you mean what you say, go home and cut off a single tress, bring it here, and show it to me. If you do that, I’ll believe you are the greatest hero there is in this part of the world.”

  “Your hand upon it,” Ximen cried.

  “A hundred times, if it pleases you.”

  Ximen Qing spent the night with Guijie, and the next day, as he was mounting his horse to go home, she called after him: “If you don’t bring it to me, don’t dare to show your face here again.”

  This made Ximen very excited, especially as he was already half drunk. As soon as he got home, he went straight to Jinlian’s room. She saw that he had had some wine, and was most careful in her attentions. She offered him something to eat, but he would have none of it. He told Chunmei to make the bed, then sent her away and shut the door. He sat on the bed and ordered the woman to take off his shoes. She took them off. Then he got on to the bed, but he would not go to sleep, and sat on a pillow. He bade Jinlian undress and kneel down. She was so terrified that the sweat rolled down her body. She had not the faintest notion what was amiss, and could only kneel down sobbing quietly.

  “Father,” she said, “tell me what is wrong, even if it kills me. I have been so careful all day, and still I don’t seem to satisfy you. You are just sawing me asunder with a blunt knife. How can I bear it?”

  “You rascally little whore,” Ximen cried, “if you don’t take your clothes off, I will show you no mercy.” He called to Chunmei: “Bring me the whip that is hanging behind the door.”

  Chunmei would not go into the room, and he had to call for a long time before she slowly pushed the door open and went in. Jinlian was on her knees, and the lamp had fallen down beside the table. In spite of Ximen’s orders, the maid did not obey him.