Six Records of a Floating Life (Chapter two: Relaxation of Leisure 07)

    One can make several of these things and place them wherever one pleases, before windows or doors, and they will look like living plants, casting their green shade into the house, warding off the sun and yet allowing the wind to come through. They can be placed in any irregular formation, adjustable according to time and circumstances, and are, therefore, called "movable flower screens."

    With this method, one can use any kind of fragrant weeds of the creeper family, instead of peas. It is an excellent arrangement for people staying in the country.

    My friend Lu Panfang's name was Chang and his literary name Ch'unshan. He was very good at painting pine-trees and cypresses, plum blossoms and chrysanthemums, as well as writing the lishu style of calligraphy, besides specializing in carving seals.

    I stayed in his home called Hsiaoshuanglou for a year and a half. The house faced east and consisted of five beams, of which I occupied three. From it one could get a beautiful view of the distance in rain or shine.

    In the middle of the court, there was a tree, the osmanthus fragrans, which filled the air with a kind of delicate fragrance. There were corridors and living rooms, and the place was quite secluded. When I went there, I brought along a man-servant and an old woman, who also brought with them a young daughter.

    The man-servant could make dresses and the old women could spin; therefore Yun did embroidery, the old woman spun and the man-servant made dresses to provide for our daily expenses.

    I was by nature very fond of guests and whenever we had a little drinking party. I insisted on having wine-games. Yun was very clever at preparing inexpensive dishes; ordinary foodstuffs like melon, vegetables, fish and shrimps had a special flavor when prepared by her.

    My friend knew that I was poor, and often helped pay the expenses in order that we might get together and talk for the whole day. I was very keen on keeping the place spotlessly clean, and was, besides, fond of free and easy ways with my friends.

    At this time, there were a group of friends, like Yang Pufan, also called Ch' anghsu, who specialized in portrait sketches; Yuan Shaoyu, also called P'ai, who specialized in painting landscape; and Wang Hsing-Ian, also called Yen, good at painting flowers and birds. They all liked the Hsiaoshuanglou because of its seclusion, so they would bring their painting utensils to the place and I learnt painting from them.They would then either write "grass-script "or "chuan-script" or carve seals, from which we made some money which we turned over to Yun to defray expenses for teas and dinners.

    The whole day long, we were occupied in discussing poetry or painting only. There were, moreover, friends like the brothers Hsia Tan-an and Hsia Yishan, the brothers Miao Shanyin and Miao Chihpo, Chiang Yunhsiang, Loh Chuhsiang, Chou Hsiaohsia, Kuo Hsiaoyu, Hua Hsingfan, and Chang Hsienhan. These friends came and went as they pleased, like the swallows by the eaves.

    Yun would take off her hairpin and sell it for wine without a second's thought, for she would not let a beautiful day pass without company. Today these friends are scattered to the four corners of the earth like clouds dispersed by a storm, and the woman I loved is dead, like broken jade and buried incense. How sad indeed to look back upon these things!