The Golden Lotus, Volume 1

by Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng

  Ximen Qing and Wang Liu’er enjoyed themselves for a long time. Daian gave food and wine to the sedan chair men, and they took Wang Liu’er home. Then he and Qitong lighted their lanterns and went home with Ximen Qing.

  CHAPTER 43

  The Lost Bracelet

  Sadness fills my heart

  The love that came so lately soon has gone again

  The past is past and nothing can bring it back.

  Yellow chrysanthemums beside the fence

  I know not whom your blossoms will delight

  Wine for a time can banish sorrow

  But sorrow returns before the wine is done.

  I have waited long beside the balustrade.

  The golden moonbeams slowly pass

  And pure dew falls upon the dark green moss.

  It was the third night watch when Ximen Qing returned. Wu Yueniang had not gone to bed. She was talking to Aunt Wu and the other ladies. Li Ping’er was there and offered wine to him. When Aunt Wu saw that Ximen had come, she went to her own room. Yueniang realized that Ximen was a little tipsy, but she took his cloak and told Li Ping’er to kowtow to him. Then they sat together for a while. He asked about the party, and Yuxiao brought tea. Then, seeing that Aunt Wu was staying in Yueniang’s room, he went to sleep with Meng Yulou.

  The next morning the cooks came early to prepare for the banquet. Ximen Qing went to his office to attend to the documents that needed to be dealt with. There Magistrate Xia thanked him. “My wife,” he said, “enjoyed your very kind hospitality yesterday.”

  “I fear, the entertainment we could offer her was very poor,” Ximen said, “I really should apologize.” Then he went home.

  Old woman Kong came before Lady Qiao the Fifth, and brought her presents. Ximen accepted them and gave a meal to all the servants. Old woman Kong went to rest in Yueniang’s room. Then Miss Zheng came. She made a reverence to all the ladies and sat down to have tea.

  Li Zhi and Huang the Fourth, having secured payment for their supplies of incense and wax, together with Ben the Fourth, brought the money from Dongpingfu. Ying Bojue was told of this and came with them to be present at the repayment of the debt. Ximen Qing told Chen Jingji to take a balance to the great hall and measure the silver. This was done and Ximen took the money. Huang the Fourth produced four gold bracelets weighing about thirty taels, and these were accepted as equal to a hundred and fifty taels of silver. They still owed Ximen about five hundred taels and asked to have their contract altered. “Come back after the festival,” Ximen said to them, “and we will see about it. I am busy now.” Li Zhi and Huang the Fourth addressed Ximen as “Old Father”, thanked him very heartily, and went away.

  Ying Bojue had not forgotten that the two men had promised him something for himself, and he thought this a very suitable opportunity to remind them of the fact. He was going out after them when Ximen Qing stopped him.

  “Why did you three go away last night without saying a word to me?” he said.

  “You were very hospitable yesterday,” Bojue said. “I had a great deal to drink, and so had you. I knew you were going to have a party here today and that you would be wanted at home to make arrangements, so I thought we had better go. Today I suppose you have not been to your office; you must be very tired after your exertions.”

  “It was the third night watch when I returned,” Ximen said, “but this morning I did go to the office to attend to some papers. I had a good deal of business there, and now I am hard at it getting ready for the banquet. I still have to go to the temple to offer the sacrifice appropriate to the festival and, after that, I have to go to Zhou Nanxuan’s place for a party. I don’t know how long it will take me.”

  “What powers of endurance you have,” Ying Bojue said. “You really are a lucky fellow. I don’t wish to flatter you, but I know no one else who could get through what you do.”

  They talked a while, then Ximen Qing invited Bojue to have a meal with him. Bojue excused himself.

  “Why has your wife not come yet?” Ximen said.

  “I ordered a sedan chair for her,” Bojue said. “She must be on her way now.” He made a reverence and went after Huang the Fourth and Li Zhi.

  Ximen Qing examined the four golden bracelets and liked them very much. He thought of the luck that had lately come to him. Li Ping’er had borne him a son; he had been given an official appointment; he had betrothed his son to the baby Qiao, and now he had done an excellent piece of business. He put the gold bracelets in his sleeve and went to see Li Ping’er. As he passed Pan Jinlian’s room, she came out.

  “What have you there?” she called to him. “Come here and show me.” Ximen said he would be back in a moment and went on to see Li Ping’er.

  Jinlian was disappointed when she found that he would not stop. “I wonder what treasure he has there to make him so excited,” she said to herself. “Well, if you won’t show me, all right. You little whippetysnip of a rogue, you’ll break your leg if you don’t look out. And if you go to her room, may you break both legs!”

  When Ximen Qing came to her room, Li Ping’er had just finished dressing her hair and the nurse was playing with the baby. Ximen let the child play with the bracelets.

  “Where did you get them?” the Sixth Lady said. “Take care the baby doesn’t make his hands cold.”

  “I got them from Li Zhi and Huang the Fourth,” Ximen said.

  Li Ping’er was afraid they would make the baby’s hands cold, so she took an embroidered handkerchief, wrapped them in it and then allowed him to play with them.

  Daian came. “Yun has brought some horses for you to see,” he said to his master.

  “Where have they come from?” Ximen asked.

  “He says his brother, Colonel Yun, has sent them.”

  Then Li Jiao’er, Meng Yulou, Aunt Wu and Miss Zheng came to see Guan’ge. Ximen Qing left the four bracelets and went to look at the horses. When all the ladies came in, Li Ping’er asked them to sit down and made a reverence to them, forgetting that the baby was still playing with the bracelets. After a while she discovered that one of them was missing. The nurse, Ruyi’er, said to her: “Have you one of those ornaments? I can only find three.”

  “No,” Li Ping’er said, “I haven’t one. I wrapped them all together in the handkerchief.”

  “Here is the handkerchief on the floor,” Ruyi’er said, “but the other bracelet is not there.”

  There was immediately a terrible to-do. Ruyi’er questioned Yingchun, and Yingchun questioned old woman Feng.

  “Ai ya, ai ya!” old woman Feng cried. “May I lose my sight if I have ever set eyes on them. All these years I’ve been coming here, I have never so much as touched a broken needle or a snapped thread. Your mother knows that I have never been greedy for gold. You are in charge of the baby. Why do you try to put the blame on me?”

  Li Ping’er laughed. “Don’t be so silly, old lady. But we have lost some gold ornaments.” She turned to Yingchun. “Why are you making so much fuss about it, you rascal? We must wait until your master comes back. Probably he took it with him. But it is strange that he should only take one.”

  “What are you talking about?” Yulou asked.

  “Our husband brought some gold ornaments here,” Li Ping’er told her, “and he gave them to the baby to play with. That is all I know.”

  Ximen Qing went to the gate and looked at the horses. The servants were there, and he told the boys to put them through their paces.

  “They may be Eastern horses,” Ximen said, “but I don’t think much of their condition. Besides, their action is anything but good. They can only walk. How much does your brother want for them?”

  “Only seventy taels for the pair,” Yun Lishou said.

  “It is not a great amount,” Ximen said, “but they can’t trot. Take them back and wait till you get something with more style. Then let me know. It’s not a question of price.”

  He went back to the house. A boy asked him to go and see Li Ping’er.
r />   “Did you take away one of those gold ornaments?” she asked him. “There are only three here.”

  “I went to look at the horses,” Ximen said, “I didn’t take anything.”

  “Well, if you didn’t, where has one of them gone? We have been looking for it everywhere.”

  “It was old woman Feng who took it,” the nurse said. Old woman Feng began to cry and swore she had done nothing of the sort.

  “Who did take it, then?” Ximen said. “Have another look for it.”

  “Aunt Wu and her sister-in-law came,” the Lady of the Vass said, “and I asked them to sit down, forgetting all about the ornaments. I thought you must have taken it with you. So I never found out for a long time and, when I did, the ladies were upset and went away.” She gave the other three bracelets to Ximen Qing.

  Ben the Fourth came and gave a hundred taels to his master and Ximen went to the inner court to put the money away.

  When she heard of the trouble in Li Ping’er’s room, Jinlian, who could never leave ill alone, went to Yueniang and told her what she thought about it.

  “Sister,” she said, “see how that foolish thing behaves. No matter how rich he is, he should not give gold bracelets to the baby to play with.”

  “I have heard that a bracelet has been lost,” Yueniang said, “but that’s all. I have no idea what happened.”

  “Nor has anyone else,” Jinlian said. “You didn’t see him. I did. He came from the front court with those gold ornaments in his sleeve, looking like the eight barbarians on their way to pay tribute. I asked him what he had got there and would have looked at them, but he did not even turn his head. He dashed off to the Sixth Lady’s room. Afterwards, I heard everybody talking about one of the things being lost. He had missed one and set them all looking for it. Even if he were as rich as Wang the Millionaire, he could not afford to throw gold away like this. Why, it must weigh ten taels and be worth at least fifty or sixty taels of silver. There will be a row about it yet. It is like a turtle escaping from a jar. The people in her room were all her own people, and she must take the responsibility for them.”

  As they were talking, Ximen Qing came in to give to Yueniang the hundred taels that Ben the Fourth had brought and the three remaining bracelets.

  “I got these,” he told his wife, “from Li Zhi and Huang the Fourth. There were four of them, but I gave them to the baby to play with and one is lost. I want you to send for all the maids in the house and question them. I am going to send a boy to the street for a piece of wolf’s sinew. If the missing piece of gold is produced, well and good. Otherwise, I shall make good use of the wolf sinew.”

  “You ought never to have given the gold to the baby,” his wife said. “It is cold and heavy, and it might have hurt the baby’s hands or feet.”

  “No, you ought not to have given it to the child,” Jinlian said, “but you could think of nothing but getting it to her room. I spoke to you and you wouldn’t look at me. Just like a red-eyed soldier with some loot that he didn’t wish anybody to see. Now that you have lost a piece of gold, you have the nerve to come here and tell the Great Lady about it. You ask her to examine all the maids. Well, if the maids don’t laugh at you with their mouths, they will laugh at you with their cunts.”

  This made Ximen Qing angry. He took Jinlian by the hair and threw her on Yueniang’s bed. He raised his hand threateningly and said: “I hate you. If it were not for what people would say, I would beat you to death, you bad little bone. You are always trying to show off your sharp tongue and interfering in matters that do not concern you.”

  Jinlian made a show of tears. “Because you are powerful and rich,” she sobbed, “you have become cruel. You only think about being brutal to me. Your words are brave; you don’t care whether you murder anybody or not. Go on, beat me, there is no one to hinder you. So long as I don’t stop breathing, it will be all right, but if I do, my old mother will certainly come and ask you a few questions. No matter how rich and powerful you are, if my mother goes to the court and accuses you, you needn’t think you will escape, just because you happen to be an officer. The post you hold is nothing very glorious and your ceremonial hat is a miserable thing. You can’t stand a charge of murder against you. Even the Emperor has no right to murder his subjects.”

  Ximen Qing laughed. “Oh, how cleverly you talk, you bad little bone. You say that my position is of no account, and that my ceremonial hat is in rags. I will tell a maid to bring my hat, and then you’ll see whether it is in rags or not. Go and ask the people in Qinghe if I owe anybody any money. You say I owe money.”

  “Why did you call me a bad little bone?” Jinlian lifted one of her feet. “What is wrong with my feet? Why should you call me names like that?”

  “You two are like a brass bowl and somebody banging it with an iron broom handle,” Yueniang said. “There is a proverb that says that the devilish man has a devil of his own, and, when he meets another devil, there is nothing he can do. The stronger-mouthed always comes out on top. Sister, your mouth is all you have to count on. If it were not quite so sharp, you would be done.”

  Ximen Qing realized that there was nothing he could do, so he put on his clothes and went out. On the way, Daian said to him: “A messenger has come from Major Zhou asking you to go there after the sacrifice.”

  “Tell Jingji to take a horse and go to the sacrifice for me,” Ximen said. “I will go to Major Zhou’s now.”

  The two stage managers and the actors from the princely family of Wang came and kowtowed to Ximen Qing. He told Shutong to arrange for them to have something to eat. “Amuse the ladies well,” he said to them, “and I will see that you are suitably rewarded. Do not open your boxes in the upper room.”

  The two managers knelt down and said: “If we do not play our parts well, we shall ask for no reward.”

  “This will make the second day they have played for us,” Ximen said to Shutong. “You may give them five taels of silver.” He mounted his horse and rode away.

  Jinlian was sitting in Yueniang’s room. “Why don’t you go to your room and powder your face?” Yueniang said to her. “Your eyes are all red, and you will not be fit to see the guests when they come. Really, you ought not to provoke him. I did the best I could for you. If I hadn’t stopped him, you would certainly have had a beating. There is always dog’s hair on a husband’s face. He doesn’t distinguish between the rights and the wrongs of a case, but is always ready to trounce somebody. Why did you make trouble with him just now? He lost his gold. Well, what if he did? It is no business of yours whether he looked for it or not. It didn’t happen in your room, and there was no call for you to start arguing with him. You must learn to keep your temper.”

  She calmed Jinlian, who went to her room to powder her face.

  Shortly afterwards, Li Ping’er and Wu Yin’er, dressed for the party, came to Yueniang’s room.

  “How did the gold come to be lost?” the Great Lady said. “The Fifth Lady and he quarreled about it and nearly came to blows. I stopped them, and now he has gone out to a party somewhere. But he has sent a boy to buy a wolf’s sinew and when he comes back tonight the maids will all be punished. What were the maids and serving women in your room about? They were supposed to be looking after the baby and they must have lost the gold. A piece of gold is not like a penny,”

  “He gave the baby the four pieces of gold to play with,” Li Ping’er said, “and I was busy entertaining Aunt Wu and Miss Zheng and the two other ladies. It was then one of the ornaments was lost. The maids say it was the nurse’s fault, the nurse blames old woman Feng, and old woman Feng cries and says she is going to kill herself. It really is a most mysterious business, and I don’t know whom to blame.”

  “I often play with the baby,” Wu Yin’er said, “but thanks be to Heaven, I was dressing my hair in another room and kept out of it all. Otherwise, I should have been dragged into it and, even if you had said nothing, I should have felt very uncomfortable. People often lose money, but in su
ch a household as yours it is most regrettable for such a thing to happen. If people outside hear about it, it will bring shame upon the household.”

  While they were talking, Han Yuchuan and Dong Jiao’er came, bringing their dresses with them. They kowtowed to Yueniang, Aunt Wu, and Li Ping’er and, rising, made a reverence to Wu Yin’er.

  “You did not go home yesterday, Sister,” they said to her.

  “How did you know?” said Wu Yin’er.

  “We went to the house in Lion Street,” Dong Jiao’er said, “where the Feast of the Lanterns was held, and Father told us to come here today.”

  Yueniang asked them to sit down and Xiaoyu brought them tea. The two girls stood up to take the tea and made a reverence to Xiaoyu.

  “At what time did you finish singing last night?” Wu Yin’er asked them.

  “It was the second night watch when we reached home. We went with your younger brother, Wu Hui.”

  After they had talked for a short time, Yueniang said to Yuxiao: “See that they have their tea in good time.” She was afraid it would be awkward if the guests arrived before they had had it. The table was set. There were two plates of spring dishes and four boxes of cakes. “Go to the Second Lady’s room,” Yueniang said to Xiaoyu, “and ask your sister Li Guijie to come and have tea.”

  Guijie and her aunt came in together. When they had made a reverence to everybody present, they sat down and had tea, and then the things were all cleared away. Yingchun, specially dressed for the occasion, came in carrying Guan’ge. The baby was wearing a silken cap of Good Fortune, with a gold brim, a long red gown, white silk socks and shoes. On his chest hung the cords and medals and on his wrists were little golden bangles.

  “Well, my young lord,” Li Ping’er said, “what have you come for? Nobody invited you.” She took the child and set him on her knees. The baby saw that the room was full of people and looked at them one after another. Guijie, sitting on the bed, played with him. “Brother,” she said, “you look at me so hard you must wish me to carry you.” She held out her arms to him and the baby nestled to her breast.