The Golden Lotus, Volume 1

by Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng

  The two magistrates made out a warrant and sent two runners to bring out Laiwang. He was severely beaten and put into sealed fetters, and the men were ordered to start immediately for Xuzhou, and leave Laiwang in charge of the governor there. Laiwang had been so long in prison that he was in a wretched condition. His clothes were falling to pieces. There was no one to whom he could appeal for help.

  “Brothers,” he said to the two runners, “now that I have been through this trouble, I have not a penny in the world. I should like to get some traveling money for you. Will you have pity on me and take me to my master’s house? My wife is there. She will give me clothes and things and I will sell them for journey money, and so make things more agreeable.”

  “You don’t seem to realize,” the runners told him, “that this is all your master’s doing. He will give you neither your wife nor your boxes. Isn’t there anyone else whom you can ask? We don’t mind overlooking it for Master Yin’s sake, and taking you there to get a little money and rice for the journey. Don’t worry about traveling money for us.”

  “Brothers,” Laiwang again said, “for pity’s sake, take me to my master’s door first. There are one or two neighbors whom I will ask to say a good word for me. Probably I won’t get much, but I may get something.”

  The two runners agreed. Laiwang went to see Ying Bojue, but Bojue pretended not to be at home. Then he persuaded his two left-hand neighbors, Jia Renqing and Yi Mianzi, to go and plead with Ximen Qing that he might be allowed to have his wife and his possessions. Ximen would not even come out to see them and ordered his servants to drive them away from the door. Jia and Yi were so greatly abashed that they did not know what to do. Huilian, Laiwang’s wife, was unaware of all this. She never heard a word of it, because Ximen had given orders that any servant who mentioned it to her should be given twenty strokes.

  The two runners took Laiwang to the house of his father-in-law, the coffin merchant Song Ren. Laiwang wept as he told his father-in-law the story, and Song Ren gave a tael of silver to the runners and a peck of rice to his son-in-law for food upon the way. So, weeping and bewailing, Laiwang set out on the highway for Xuzhou, leaving Qinghe at the beginning of the fourth month.

  Day after day Huilian expected her husband to come. She gave the boys food to take to him, but they ate it themselves as soon as they were outside the gate. They came back and said: “Brother enjoyed that food and all is well at the prison. He would have been out before this but the magistrates haven’t been to the court for a few days. In any case, he will be home in a day or two.”

  Ximen Qing deceived her. “I have sent to the court,” he told her, “and he will be out very soon now.” Huilian believed them, but, one day, she heard a rumor that her husband had been taken out of prison and had been begging at the door for his clothes. No one knew where he had gone. She questioned the boys time after time, but none of them would speak. One day, however, she caught Daian as he was coming back from waiting upon his master, and said to him: “How is your brother getting on in prison, and when is he coming out?”

  “Sister,” Daian said, “I will tell you. By this time he has reached the River of Shifting Sand.” Huilian pressed him, and at last Daian, with a great show of reluctance, told her how Laiwang had been beaten and banished to Xuzhou. “Don’t get excited about it,” the boy said, at the end, “and above all, don’t let anybody know I told you.”

  It was more than Huilian could bear. She shut herself in her room and sobbed bitterly. “Oh, my man,” she cried, “how could you fall into the trap and let yourself be treated so? All these years you have served him, and now you have not even a single suit of good clothes to cover you, and they have driven you far away. How bitter it is! Buried away as I am, I do not even know whether you are alive or dead.” She sobbed a while. Then taking a long kerchief, she fastened it to the lintel of the door and hanged herself.

  The Beanpole, Laizhao’s wife, lived next door to Huilian. As she was coming from the inner court, she heard the woman weeping in her room. Then she noticed that the sound stopped and she could only hear a kind of gasping. She knocked at the door but there was no answer. She was frightened and made Ping’an, one of the boys, climb through the window and get into the room. Huilian, with all her clothes on, was hanging from the lintel. The boy cut her down at once and opened the door. They brought ginger broth and poured it down her throat, then sent word to the people in the inner court. Wu Yueniang, Li Jiao’er, Meng Yulou, Li Ping’er, Ximen Dajie, and the two maids, Yuxiao and Xiaoyu, all came to see, and Ben the Fourth’s wife also came to look. The Beanpole was sitting on the floor supporting Huilian who was sobbing soundlessly. Yueniang spoke to her, but she only hung her head. A froth came from her mouth.

  “What a foolish child you are,” Yueniang said. “If there was anything wrong, you should have told me. What sense is there in behaving like this?”

  She told Yuxiao to help support her, and said again: “Huilian, my child, if anything is troubling you, tell me what it is.” But though she spoke several times, Huilian did not answer. After she had questioned her for a long time, the woman began to cry, making a great noise and beating her hands together. Yueniang told Yuxiao to help her to bed, but she would not go. Then Yueniang and the others spoke firmly to her, and went back to the inner court, leaving Yuxiao and Ben the Fourth’s wife to look after the woman.

  After a while Ximen Qing pulled up the lattice and came in. Huilian was still sitting on the cold floor, and he told Yuxiao to put her to bed.

  “My mistress has told her to go to bed,” Yuxiao said, “but she won’t go.”

  “What an obstinate child you are,” Ximen cried, “you’ll get cold there on the ground. If you have anything to say to me, say it, and don’t behave in this silly way.”

  Huilian shook her head. “Father,” she said, “you are a fine fellow, and you have deceived me splendidly. Why do you call me your child? I am no child of yours. You are an executioner in disguise: to bury a man alive means nothing to you. And not only are you ready to put him to death, you must needs see his funeral also. Day after day, you lied to me. One day you said: ‘He will be here tomorrow,’ and the next day you said: ‘He will be here tomorrow,’ and I thought he really would come. Why have you sent him away and said nothing to me about it? You did it secretly, and had him sent far, far away, while I knew not a thing about it. To do a cruel thing like that you can have no conscience at all. Even after you had done your worst, you still kept the matter hidden from me. If you wished to get rid of us, why didn’t you get rid of us both? Why keep me here?”

  “My child,” Ximen said, “I have no quarrel with you. That fellow was a scoundrel and I had to send him away. Settle down quietly. I will look after you.” He said to Yuxiao: “You and Ben the Fourth’s wife spend the night here and look after her. I will tell one of the boys to bring you some wine.” He went out, and, after Ben the Fourth’s wife had helped Huilian to bed, she and Yuxiao tried to console her.

  Ximen Qing went to the shop and asked Fu for a thousand cash. With the money he bought a roast and had it put on a tray with a jar of wine, and told Laian to take the tray to the woman’s room.

  “Father told me to bring you this,” the boy said. When Huilian saw the tray, she cursed him.

  “You thievish young rascal. Take it away at once or I will throw it on the floor.”

  “Do keep it, Sister,” Laian said, “I can’t take it away again or Father will beat me.”

  He lay the tray on a table. Huilian jumped out of bed and took up the jar of wine. She was going to throw it on the floor but the Beanpole stopped her. Ben the Fourth’s wife looked at the Beanpole and put her finger on her mouth. They were sitting together when Ben the Fourth’s son came in and said to his mother: “Father has come home and wants his dinner.” The two women went out. When they came to the Beanpole’s door, Ximen’s daughter Ximen Dajie was there gossiping with Laibao’s wife. They asked Ben the Fourth’s wife where she was going.

&nbs
p; “My man has come home and wants his dinner,” she said. “I am going to see what he wants and then I’m coming back again. I did not mean to stay, but his Lordship pressed me, otherwise I shouldn’t have been there as long as this.”

  “What did Father say to her?” Laibao’s wife said.

  “I should never have thought Huilian was so peppery,” Ben the Fourth’s wife said. “She gave Father a piece of her mind and no mistake. There are very few serving women who would dare to say as much.”

  “She is not like other women,” Laibao’s wife said. “She has received his Lordship’s special favors. You can’t expect the rest of us to do what she can do.” She went away. The Beanpole said to Ben the Fourth’s wife:

  “Don’t be long, Sister.”

  “You needn’t trouble to say that,” Ben the Fourth’s wife said. “If I don’t come back, Father will kill me.”

  Ximen Qing told Ben the Fourth’s wife and the Beanpole to stay with Huilian, and late that night he sent Yuxiao to sleep there, hoping that the woman would gradually calm down.

  “Sister,” they said, “you are no fool. Why don’t you take advantage of this opportunity while you have it? You are like a flower that has just blossomed. Our Master loves you and that is as Fate has decided. You cannot, of course, rank yourself among the ladies, but you are much better off than the rest of us. It will be far better for you to cast in your lot with Father than with a slave. Besides, he has already gone. You may feel a little sad—there’s no harm in that—but if you keep on crying you will get in a bad way, and that will be just throwing your life away. There is an old saying: Strike the gong for a day, and be a priest for a day. After that, you need never bother yourself again about such things as virtue and chastity.”

  Huilian cried and sobbed. Days passed, and she still refused to take any food. Yuxiao told Ximen Qing and he sent Jinlian to talk to her. It was no use. Jinlian returned and said to him: “That whore can think of nothing but her husband. Everybody knows that after one night of marriage, the pleasure persists for a hundred nights; and lovers need walk but a hundred paces together for affection to remain with them forever. What hope do you think you have of capturing the heart of a woman as virtuous as this?”

  Ximen Qing laughed. “Don’t you believe it,” he said. “If she is really so virtuous, why did she get rid of Jiang Cong the cook, and marry Laiwang?”

  He sat down in the hall and sent for all the boys. He determined to find out who had told Huilian of her husband’s banishment. “If the culprit confesses,” he said, “he shall not receive a single blow, but if he doesn’t, and I find out who he is, there shall be thirty strokes for him and he shall be sent away from the house.”

  Shutong knelt down. “The other day,” he said, “when Daian came back with you, I heard my sister asking him questions in the passage. It was he who let it out and told her.”

  “Go and find Daian,” Ximen cried in a rage. But Daian had already heard what was going on and had run away to take refuge in Jinlian’s room. She was washing her face when the boy came in.

  “Mother, save me! Save me!” he cried, kneeling before her.

  “What do you mean by coming and frightening me like this, you little rascal?” Jinlian said. “What have you been doing?”

  “Father is going to thrash me because I told Huilian about Laiwang’s being sent away. Mother, you must go and pacify him. If he sees me when he is in such a temper, he will certainly kill me.”

  “You funny little rascal,” Jinlian said. “You’re as scared as a ghost. I thought it must be something serious enough to shake heaven and earth, and it’s only some trifling thing connected with that strumpet. Stay here.”

  Daian hid himself behind the door.

  Ximen Qing created a terrible uproar in the front court when Daian was not to be found. He twice sent boys to Jinlian’s room, but each time she drove them away with curses. Finally, with a horsewhip in his hand, he came along, like a whirlwind.

  “Where is the slave?” he cried.

  Jinlian did not pay the slightest attention to him. He went round and round, searching, and at last dragged Daian from behind the door. He was going to thrash the boy, but Jinlian snatched the whip from him and threw it on the top of the bed.

  “You shameless creature,” she said, “you are not fit to be a master. That whore spends her time thinking about her husband, and goes and hangs herself, and you try to vent your spite by ill-treating this boy. What harm has he done?”

  Ximen Qing rolled his eyes about, but Jinlian said to the boy: “Get off to the front court, and go on with your work. Don’t be afraid of him.” Daian slipped away and went to the front court.

  Jinlian could see that Ximen Qing still cared for Huilian, and decided upon a plot. She went to the inner court and told tales to Xue’e. “Laiwang’s wife,” she said, “is telling everybody that you were in love with her husband and created such a scandal that Father was angry and sent Laiwang away. You remember how he struck you and took away your ornaments and dresses. It was all her doing.”

  So Jinlian touched a very sore spot. She saw the effect she had produced and went off to Huilian with a different story.

  “Xue’e,” she said, “has been saying nasty things about you in the kitchen. She says you used to be a slave in the Cais’ household and that you are an expert at stealing other people’s husbands and carrying on with men. I heard her say: ‘If she has not been playing tricks of that sort with our husband, why did he send Laiwang away? She had better save her tears to wash her feet.’ “

  In this way Jinlian stirred up hatred in their hearts. One day it became obvious that trouble was brewing.

  It was the eighteenth day of the fourth month, and Li Jiao’er’s birthday. The old procuress and her daughter Li Guijie came to congratulate their kinswoman. Yueniang asked them to stay and entertained them with the other ladies in the hall. Ximen Qing had gone to a banquet. Huilian had taken some food, and, that morning, spent a few moments in the inner court. Then she went back to her room and slept till the sun was low. The maids came several times to call her but she paid no attention and would not leave her room. At last Xue’e, who was only waiting for the opportunity, went to see her.

  “You must be a person of most surpassing beauty, Sister,” she said, “since you cannot be persuaded to accept our invitations.” Huilian did not answer. She was lying on the bed with her face to the wall.

  “Are you thinking of your husband, Laiwang?” Xue’e said. “It would have been better if you had thought of him before. If it hadn’t been for you, this would never have happened and he would still be in Ximen’s household.”

  Huilian remembered what Jinlian had told her. She jumped off the bed. “Why have you come here,” she cried, “with your lewd tongue and your filthy temper? Even if I was the cause of his being sent away, it is not for you, of all people, to come and tell me so. You did not get off scot-free yourself. You ought to be very thankful that some people did not say all they knew. You are the last person to give yourself airs and talk about other people’s misdeeds.”

  Xue’e lost her temper. “You thievish slave, you loose woman,” she cried, “how dare you insult me?”

  “I may be a slave and a loose woman,” Huilian said, “but at least I am not a slave’s mistress. I may have carried on with Master, but that is better than carrying on with a servant. You stole my husband and now you come here and make a song about it.”

  Xue’e was now almost beside herself. She dashed forward and struck Huilian in the face. The woman was taken by surprise and her cheeks flamed scarlet.

  “Will you strike me?” she cried, and made for Xue’e with her head. They closed with one another and fought, till the Beanpole separated them. Then Yueniang came and upbraided them. “You ought to be ashamed of yourselves,” she said. “You never stop to consider whether there are visitors here or not. Wait till your master comes home and you’ll see whether I tell him or not.”

  Xue’e went to the in
ner court, and Yueniang, seeing how Huilian’s hair was all in disorder, said, “Go and attend to your hair. Then come and join us.”

  Huilian did not reply. She took Yueniang politely to the door and went back into the room. She locked the door behind her and cried bitterly. It was now getting dark and the people in the inner court were busy with the evening meal. Huilian could bear no more. She took two long ribbons, like those used for binding the feet, tied them to the lintel of the door, and hanged herself. She was only twenty-five years old.

  Later that evening as Yueniang was taking old woman Li and Guijie to the gate, she passed Huilian’s door. It was shut and there was no sign of life. She wondered what had happened. When she had taken leave of her guests, she came back and knocked at the door. There was no reply. This frightened her and she told some of the boys to climb through the window. They cut the ribbons and took the woman down. For a long time they tried to bring her back to life, for they did not know how long she had been dead.

  When Yueniang found that it was impossible to revive the woman, she was greatly upset, and told Laixing to take a horse at once and go for Ximen Qing. Xue’e, for her part, was very much afraid that, when he came, he would try to find out how this had happened. She paced up and down the hall and finally knelt down before Yueniang and begged her not to tell her husband of the quarrel. She was in such a state of terror that Yueniang began to feel sorry for her.

  “You are afraid now,” she said. “Why didn’t you have a little less to say before?”

  Then Ximen Qing came home. They told him that Huilian had been thinking about her husband and had cried the whole day. Then, at a time when everybody was busy, she had seized the opportunity and hanged herself. Nobody knew exactly when she did so.