The Golden Lotus, Volume 1

by Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng

  After a while Laixing came back from his errand and took the pig’s head to the kitchen. Song Huilian and Yuxiao were there, playing a game with melon seeds. “Sister Huilian,” Laixing said, “the Fifth Lady and the Third Lady sent me to buy some delicacies. I have put them in the kitchen and the ladies wish you to cook them. When they are done, will you please take them to the Sixth Lady’s room.”

  “I am busy now,” said Huilian, “I’m making a pair of shoes for my Lady. Ask somebody else to attend to it. Why come to me?”

  “Well, please yourself,” Laixing said, “here they are. I’ve got other things to see about.” He went away.

  “We had better stop this game,” Yuxiao said, “and you go and cook the things. You know what a sharp tongue the Fifth Lady has. Don’t set it wagging.”

  Huilian laughed. “I wonder how she knows that I can cook pig’s head?” She went to the kitchen, filled a cauldron with water, cleaned the pig’s head and the trotters, found a suitable faggot and put it underneath the oven. Then she filled a large bowl with salt, put spices into it and mixed the ingredients together. She put the pig’s head into a container. In less than an hour it was so tender that the skin began to peel. With all the flavor of the spices it smelled exceedingly appetizing. She set the head on a large tray and put the tray, with saucers of ginger and onion, into a large square box. This she carried to the Sixth Lady’s room. Then she warmed the wine and took that in. Yulou chose some of the tastiest part, put it on a dish, set aside a jar of wine, and told a maid to take it to Yueniang’s room. Then they all sat down to enjoy their feast.

  Huilian came in smiling. “How do you like my cooking, Ladies?” she asked.

  “The Third Lady,” Jinlian said, “was just saying how clever you are. It is as soft and tender as can be.”

  “Is it really true that you only use a single faggot?” Li Ping’er said. “Hardly that,” Huilian replied. “If I did, it would be overcooked.” Yulou told a maid to pour some wine for the woman, and Li Ping’er picked out some meat and invited her to try some of her own cooking.

  “I knew,” Huilian said, “that you did not like things too salty, but I did not make it quite tasty enough. However, next time, I shall know exactly what you like.” She kowtowed three times and stood beside them.

  They drank till evening when Yueniang returned. Then they went together to receive her. Xiaoyu showed her the delicacy that had been put aside for her. “We have been playing chess today,” Yulou said, with a smile, “and this is what we won from the Sixth Lady. We saved some for you.”

  “It is hardly fair,” Yueniang said, “that one should pay for what all enjoy. I’ll tell you what. We will have a kind of festival, and each of us in turn shall give a party to the rest and we will have Miss Yu here to sing. That seems to me a better plan than gambling. What do you think?” They all agreed, and Yueniang continued: “Tomorrow is the fifth of the month, I will begin. Li Jiao’er can take the sixth, Yulou the seventh, and Jinlian the eighth.”

  “That will suit me very well,” Jinlian said, “for it is my birthday and I shall kill two birds with one stone.”

  They approached Xue’e, but she did not welcome the suggestion. Yueniang said they would not ask her again and Li Ping’er should take her turn. Yulou said that the ninth would be Jinlian’s birthday and perhaps her mother and Aunt Wu would come. It was decided that Li Ping’er should entertain them on the tenth.

  On the following day Ximen Qing went to visit a friend and Yueniang gave her party. Miss Yu, the singer, sang and played for them. Then came the turn of Li Jiao’er, Yulou, and Jinlian. On Jinlian’s birthday old woman Pan and Aunt Wu came to spend the day. Then it was the turn of Li Ping’er. She sent Xiuchun twice to invite Sun Xue’e but, though she promised to come, she did not.

  “I told you she wouldn’t come,” Yulou said, “there is no use asking her. She always tries to make out that we have all the money and she is as poor as an unshod donkey. Since she chooses to take that attitude, we’d better leave her alone.”

  “She is quite impossible,” Yueniang said, “we won’t bother about her any more.” They all went to visit Li Ping’er. Miss Yu went with them to make music, and there were eight of them in all, including Ximen Dajie and Aunt Wu. Ximen Qing himself was not at home and Yueniang told Yuxiao that, if he should come in and ask for wine, she should see it was given him.

  It was afternoon when Ximen returned. When Yuxiao took his clothes, he asked where Yueniang was, and she told him that all the ladies, with their guests, were with Li Ping’er, taking wine.

  “What kind of wine are they drinking?” Ximen asked. When he was told, he called for a jar of Lily wine that Ying Bojue had brought, and told Yuxiao to open it. He tasted a little and said: “This wine is just what ladies like,” and told the maids to take it to them. It happened that Huilian was serving wine to the ladies, and when she saw Yuxiao bringing the new jar, she very cunningly went to meet her. Yuxiao winked at her and pressed her hand so that she understood that Ximen had returned. Yueniang asked Yuxiao who had told her to bring the wine, and the girl told her. Then she asked how long Ximen had been back. “If your master wants anything to drink, set a table in my room. There is plenty to eat if he wants anything. You can wait upon him.” Yuxiao went away.

  Huilian stayed a while and then said she was going to the kitchen to make some tea. “There is some Liu’an tea in my room,” Yueniang said, “use that.” Huilian went to the inner court. There, Yuxiao was standing outside the door of the upper room, making a sign to her to go in. She pushed aside the lattice and went in. Ximen Qing was drinking wine. She went over to him and seated herself upon his knee, and they embraced each other lovingly. She fondled him with her hand until it became evident he was greatly stirred, and, from her mouth, she passed wine to his.

  “Father,” she said, “I have used all the fragrant tea leaves you gave me the other day; may I have some more? And have you any money? I owe some to Xue.”

  “There are a few taels in my purse,” Ximen said, “you may take them.” Then he would have unloosed her girdle, but she restrained him, saying she was afraid someone might come.

  “If you stay in tonight,” Ximen said, “we can enjoy ourselves.” Huilian shook her head. “There are so many difficulties in the inner court. We had better go again to the Fifth Lady’s room.”

  While they were amusing themselves Yuxiao kept watch for them outside the door. Xue’e happened to come into the court and heard the sound of laughing and talking. At first she thought it was Yuxiao talking to Ximen Qing, but then she saw the maid standing by the door. She stopped, and Yuxiao began to fear that she would decide to go in. “The Sixth Lady has sent for you several times,” she said. “Why won’t you go?”

  Xue’e laughed contemptuously. “I am one of those women who never have any luck,” she said. “However speedy the horse I ride, I can never catch up with them. How can I play with them? They can have ten parties, while I haven’t even the undergarments I need.”

  Ximen Qing coughed and Xue’e went back to her kitchen. Yuxiao pushed the lattice to one side, and Huilian seized the opportunity and slipped away.

  She went to the kitchen to make some tea, and soon Xiaoyu came and said that Yueniang wanted to know why the tea was so long coming. “It is just ready,” Huilian said, “I am only looking for some nuts.” She found the nuts and, with Xiaoyu carrying the tray, took the tea to the ladies.

  “Why has it taken you so long to make the tea?” Yueniang said.

  “Father is drinking wine in your room,” the woman said, “and I did not venture to go in. I had to wait for your maid to get the tea for me and then I had to go to the kitchen for the nuts.”

  The ladies drank the tea and began to play. Huilian leaned over the table and made comments on the game until Yulou grew angry. “Why must you put in your word when we are playing?” she said. “It is not your place to speak here.” Huilian was abashed. She blushed and did not know what to do with herself. Final
ly she went away.

  The ladies drank wine until nightfall. Then Ximen Qing came in. “You all look very jolly,” he said, laughing. Aunt Wu stood up and offered her place to her brother-in-law. “The place for you to drink is in the inner court,” Yueniang said. “Why do you, a man, come and join a party of ladies?”

  “Very well! I will go, ” Ximen said, and he went to Jinlian’s room. She followed him. He was already half drunk.

  “Little oily mouth,” he said, taking her by the hands, “I want to ask you just one favor. I wished to enjoy Huilian in the inner court, but there was nowhere we could go. May we come here?”

  “You are a dirty creature,” Jinlian cried, “and I can’t find words bad enough for you. I don’t mind what you do with that woman elsewhere, but there is no place for you here. Besides, even if I were willing, that young scoundrel Chunmei would object. Ask her, if you don’t believe me. If she doesn’t mind, I will raise no difficulties.”

  “Very well,” Ximen said, “you won’t do what I wish. I shall have to spend the night in the grotto. Please ask the maids to take some bedclothes and light a fire for me there. It is rather chilly.”

  Jinlian laughed. “Really, I can’t tell you what I think of you. That slave’s wife might be your mother and you might be Wang Xiang, carrying out the duties of filial piety in winter. Only you’d rather lie on a warm bed than on ice.”

  “Don’t tease me,” Ximen Qing said, laughing, “but tell the maids to light a fire.” Jinlian agreed, and when the ladies separated that night, she told Qiuju to take bedclothes and a stove to the grotto under the artificial mound. Huilian, after escorting Yueniang, Li Jiao’er and Yulou to their apartments, asked if there was anything more she could do for them, and was told to go to her bed in the front court. She stood there for a short time and then, seeing that no one was about, went swiftly to the artificial mound.

  Huilian thought, when she went into the garden, that Ximen Qing had not come yet, so she did not close the gate, but when she reached the grotto she found he was already there. She went in. It was very cold and the ground was covered with dust. She took two sticks of incense from her sleeve, lighted them and set them in the ground, shivering although there was a stove. She first covered herself with the bedclothes and pulled a sable cloak over her, then Ximen shut the door of the grotto, got on to the bed, removed his long gown and unloosed the woman’s girdle. She placed herself upon him with legs outstretched. Then they came together and enjoyed the work of love to the full.

  Jinlian heard them go to the garden, took off her headdress, and going very softly, opened the garden gate and went to the mound. She did not trouble whether the moss made her feet cold, or whether the branches of the shrubs tore her skirt. She stood quietly outside the door and looked in. The light was burning brightly. She heard the woman say laughingly, “Showering ice upon an icy bed! You are in no better case than a beggar. You can find nowhere else to go, so you come to this icy hell. You are like a man who swallows a long string so that when he comes to die of starvation somebody will pull him out.” Then she went on: “It is so cold! Let us go to sleep. You do nothing but look at my feet though you know them perfectly well already. I have no new shoes. Will you buy some tops for me, and let me show you what beautiful shoes I can make?”

  “My child,” Ximen said, “of course I will. You shall have all colors tomorrow. Your feet are smaller than the Fifth Lady’s.”

  “There is no comparison between hers and mine,” the woman said. “I tried on her shoes yesterday and found I could get into them with my own shoes on my feet. But, so long as the feet are straight, it doesn’t matter much whether they are large or small.”

  Jinlian heard all this and was anxious to hear more.

  “Was your Fifth Lady married before she came here?” she heard Huilian say.

  “Yes,” Ximen replied, “she is one of the changeable kind.”

  “But how charming she is,” Huilian said, “I don’t wonder that she and you are like dew and water together.”

  Jinlian listened and was almost paralyzed. “If I allow this strumpet to carry on like this,” she said to herself, “she will be the end of me.” She would have gone at once and taxed the couple with their misdeeds if she had not been afraid of Ximen’s hasty temper. She knew that if she let the matter pass too long he would refuse to admit it, and decided to leave something behind to mark the fact that she had been there. The next day she would confront him with it. She went back to the garden gate, and, taking a silver pin from her hair, put it in the latch. Then she went to her own room, in a very evil humor.

  The next morning Huilian got up and went out, her hair hastily arranged. When she came to the garden gate, she was startled. The gate had not been locked, yet though she pushed, she could not open it. She had to go back to Ximen Qing, who called to Chunmei on the other side of the wall to come and open the gate. Then he saw the pin and knew that it belonged to Jinlian. He realized that she knew everything that had happened the night before. As for Huilian, it was as though she carried a ghost child in her womb. In the outer court she met Ping’an coming from the rooms on the east side. He looked at her and smiled.

  “Why are you laughing at me, you young rascal?” she cried.

  “Sister,” Ping’an said, “what is the matter with you? I was only smiling.”

  “Why should you smile without any reason, and before breakfast, too?”

  “Well, Sister, I’m smiling because you look as if you had had nothing to eat for three days. There is a hungry look about your eyes. I hear you weren’t in your room last night.”

  Huilian flushed, and cursed the boy. “You thievish, gawpy, ghost-catching young imp! What night was I not in my room?”

  “Your door is locked this very moment,” the boy said. “I’ve just seen it. How do you explain that?”

  “I got up very early to go to the Fifth Lady’s room and I haven’t been able to get back before now. Where have you been?”

  “I suppose,” the boy said, “that the Fifth Lady sent for you to salt crabs because you are so clever at anything to do with legs. And she sent you to the gate to find a basket seller because you are so good at putting one and one together.”

  Huilian snatched up a door bar and chased Ping’an around the courtyard. “You young rascal,” she cried, “I’ll tell my husband about this and he will treat you as you deserve. You are mad.”

  “Don’t be angry, Sister. By the way, whom did you say you’d tell?” This made her still more angry and she ran after him again.

  Daian, who happened to come from the shop, took the bar from her and asked her why she wished to beat the boy.

  “Ask the wicked little chatterbox himself,” Huilian cried angrily. “I haven’t a particle of strength left.”

  Meanwhile Ping’an took advantage of the opportunity, and made off. “Don’t be angry, Sister,” Daian said. “Go to your room and dress your hair.”

  Huilian took some small change from her pocket. “Will you buy me a large bowl of soup?” she said.

  “Certainly,” the boy replied. He took the money, washed his face, and then went to buy the soup. When he brought it, Huilian gave half of it to him. She dressed her hair, then closed her door and went to the inner court to wait upon Yueniang.

  Then she went to see Jinlian. The Fifth Lady was doing her hair, and Huilian served her most attentively, holding the mirror, carrying hot water and doing one thing and another. Jinlian never so much as glanced at her.

  “May I put your sleeping shoes under the bedclothes?” Huilian said.

  “Please yourself,” Jinlian said. “If it is too much trouble, I’ll tell my maid.” Then she called to Qiuju: “Where are you, you thievish slave?”

  “She is sweeping the floor,” said Huilian, “and Sister Chunmei is dressing her hair.”

  “Please do not concern yourself about my maids, but go away,” Jinlian said. “I will have my own maids to attend to me. Besides, my dirty place will soil your shoes. Had
n’t you better go and wait upon his Lordship? He likes to have women of your sort about him. He and I are the dew-and-water kind of husband and wife, and I am a twice-married woman. You, Sister, are of a very different kind; you came in a sedan chair. You are the real wife.”

  When Huilian heard these bitter words, she knew that all the happenings of the night before were known to Jinlian. She threw herself upon her knees. “Mother,” she cried, “you are my true mistress. Unless you raise your hand, there is no place for me to stand. Without your kind aid, I should never have been able to do what my master wished. The Great Lady is only a shadow, but you are my benefactress and I shall always be faithful to you. Mother, you may watch me as much as you like, and if ever you find me deceiving you, may I not die peacefully in my bed.”

  “I do not like to have dust thrown in my eyes,” Jinlian said. “If my husband wants you I shall not interfere, but I will not have you playing tricks and putting me in an invidious position. You must think twice before you decide to come between us.”

  “Mother,” Huilian said, “question me if you will. I shall not dare deceive you. Last night you did not really hear what was said.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Jinlian said. “Let me tell you this. One woman can never bind a man, and your master not only has several wives here, but a host of lady friends outside. But he always tells me what he does. There was a time when the Great Lady had some control over him, and in those days he used to tell her things, and did not tell me. You have not the authority of the Great Lady.”

  There was nothing Huilian could say. She stood there for a while, and then went away. As she came to the passage by the second door, she saw Ximen Qing.